“So what about you? Where are your parents?” she asks, as if on cue.
Normally that question would bother me, as I hate to reflect, but with her it doesn’t.
“My parents were killed when I was fifteen.”
Her jaw drops and she looks down at her coffee. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right.”
“Both of them?”
I nod, taking a big chug of my soda. “Yeah. There was a robbery at our house—not the house I live in now, but the family one we had when they were alive. I don’t know what happened exactly, but my mother answered the door and the rest is history.”
“Who was it? Did they catch him?”
I shake my head. “No, and I’m positive it was more than one guy, because otherwise my father wouldn’t have let—”
“What about you?” She leans forward, setting her cup to the side. “Were you…?”
“No, I wasn’t there, but we were supposed to be. My sister and I. It was dinner time on a school night. We were always home then, but Rosie was late coming from her friend’s house down the street, so my mom sent me to get her. I was gone twenty minutes, and when I came back…”
I don’t want to recount the rest. By the way her hand is covering her mouth, she’s shocked enough. I don’t need to tell her they were shot in the back of the head. Or how I found my mom lying dead, in the dining room, on her favorite imported rug. Or my father lying face down near his gun closet. And I don’t want her to feel the need to console me, so I stand up and take my plate to the sink.
She follows right after me, but doesn’t say anything at first. Instead, she takes the plate from my hands. “I’ve got it,” she says, turning on the water with a vengeance. “I just can’t believe people. Why? Why would people be so evil?”
“I don’t know,” I answer quietly.
She finishes rinsing and sets the plates in the drying rack. We turn around so we’re side by side, leaning our backs against the counter, and then she processes the information. “And ever since then, you’ve been killing those things like a machine?”
I shrug it off. “It’s what my father did. It’s what I was born into.”
“No mother, no father…? Just risking your life and killing all the time?”
From there, I tell her about my relationship with Rosie, Dani, Petric, and Andre, and what we do for fun. The basketball, the off-roading, the traveling. I try to convince her that there’s more to my life than hunting Hybrids, but I’m not doing a very good job.
She takes my hand in hers and leads me to sit on the sofa. Turning her body toward me, she lifts her knees so they’re nearly on my lap.
“I think I’m beginning to understand you,” she says.
“That’s good. That makes one of us then.”
“I’m serious.”
“Me, too.”
“What are you so confused about?”
Here’s where I admit that I’m still coming to terms with what I’m doing, by being with her at all. How it goes against everything the Circle stands for. By the end of my admission, I’ve more than piqued her interest in my family history.
She asks me where the Syndicate comes from, how they know about the Hybrids and how come no one else does. I decide to answer her questions and start with how the Hybrids came to be. After all, I’ve mailed the letter. There’s no point in holding back now.
Chapter 14
FAMILY HISTORY
Learning our history is a requirement growing up. In order to understand our place in the family, we have to know everything. Reciting all of it would be second nature, but I choose to only tell her the necessities.
“My family is from Romania. In the fifteenth century, there was a famous ruler who was ruthless and cruel. People feared him like he was the devil himself. During his reign, villagers were brutally punished for even the simplest of crimes.”
She was listening attentively, and I comfortably put my arm around her and told her what happened next:
After awhile, villagers started going missing and would later be found dead, with their bodies mauled. At first people thought their ruler was behind it, but then they started to suspect someone or something else.
Rumor spread that Transylvania was cursed. That’s when my ancestor, Octavian, decided to do something to protect the people. He and his brother, Vladimir, started to track the attacks.
At first they used Karelian Bear dogs to help find the unknown beast, but, on several occasions, a dog would take off on a scent, only to be found dead. They realized they needed a stronger, faster hunting animal, so they brought in snow leopard cubs.
Octavian and Vladimir trained the cubs to hunt, and their wives helped take care of them. A few months later, the cottage where Vladimir and his wife, Angela, were living was attacked during the night. Vladimir immediately released the cats, and they chased the creature into the forest, but his wife was seriously injured.
She hadn’t seen what had attacked her, but said their leopards saved her life. The next day Octavian and Vladimir found one of the leopards lying in the forest, barely alive. There was a trail of blood leading away from him, but the creature was never found. They believed the leopards killed whatever it was, because the attacks on the villages ceased.
Eventually Vladimir’s wife fully recovered, and they thought the cat did as well. But in the months that followed, it became withdrawn and unpredictable. Octavian and Vladimir suspected some sort of rabies-like infection. Octavian wanted to kill the leopard, but Angela refused.
Shortly after, one of the trainers was bitten while feeding the leopard. After that, Angela took up the task of caring for him by herself, but she was bitten as well, confirming they could no longer save it.
My uncles made the decision to kill it. My aunt’s wounds healed again, but then they noticed the trainer didn’t. He became unpredictable and violent, and it didn’t take long before he became just as unstable as the cat. That’s when they began to figure out that the infection must only affect males.
The bitten trainer became so delirious and dangerous that Octavian decided he needed to be killed too, but he was like family, so they procrastinated until it was too late. He escaped the village, and the attacks started happening all over again. Octavian and Vladimir knew it was the trainer because of the human-sized bite marks on the victims.
My ancestors immediately put together a team of hunters to capture the trainer. They asked for volunteers, and many strong, brave men stepped forward. They were called the Guards.
After a week of not being able to find him, they acquired more dogs to keep in the villages for protection and sought out the help of two women who claimed psychic abilities.
With help from the psychics, the Guards did find and kill the trainer. Afterward, they examined the body and were horrified to see physical changes. He was emaciated. His spine was widened and protruding. His nails were yellowed and long. The whites of his eyes were also yellow. He exhibited feline characteristics of their big cat, so they called him Hybrid.
They burned the body so news wouldn’t spread of what happened, and they thought all was well until they heard a neighboring village was nursing a man who had been bitten by an animal and was now delirious.
And that’s when the Syndicate was officially formed. The Guards added the two psychics, who became our Readers, and Octavian and Vladimir were the leaders. They felt responsible, so they spent the rest of their lives trying to track down all the people who would become infected, before they could hurt anyone else.
When word spread that there were foretellers and humans hunting the creatures, people started crying devil and witches, so the Syndicate went undercover. Each member was sworn to secrecy to protect themselves from persecution. And that’s what we’ve been doing ever since.
I finally take a look at Riley, and she’s staring up at me, mute. “You okay?” I ask.
“Um…yeah, I think so.” She blinks. “So how did your family end up in America?”
“Well, when men were infected, they realized they would eventually be killed, so some of them fled before the infection overtook them. They ended up in places all over the world, so the Syndicate gathered more volunteers and split, eventually multiplying into several Syndicate cells.”
“And no one knows, after all these years?”
This is where I really shock her. “The government knows.”
She pulls back, sitting up. “What?”
“There’s a lot your government knows that they don’t tell you.”
“How? Why?”
“In 1947 there was a sighting and attack in Roswell—”
“The aliens?” she interrupts.
“That’s what they want you to think. It was actually Hybrids, but the government didn’t want to cause an uproar, so they covered it up with an outrageous story of a UFO crash. The newspapers ate it up, and people have speculated and believed ever since. What they don’t know is that the government successfully covered up the real truth.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. And the government has been paying the Syndicate big dollars ever since. We handle the Hybrids and keep the public from finding out about it.”
“Unbelievable.”
I’ve noticed that our bodies are no longer touching, but don’t make a move to close the gap. Choosing to let it all ruminate, I sit there still and quiet. After a few minutes of thinking, she asks, “So you still have these Readers that foretell their existence?”
“Yes. We all meet once a month at what we call the Circle. There, we have the Guards—there are eight of us now—and five Readers, and three Elders.”
“Elders?”
“Yeah, they’re the Octavian and Vladimir of our time, the ultimate decision makers and organizers. The lead Elder is given his position by birthright, and the others are elected by the Circle.”
“And a Reader or an Elder told you to kill me?”
“At the Circle, the Readers write down the name and location of a Hybrid, and the lead Elder, Henri, assigns a Guard to each name.”
“So my name was chosen and Henri assigned you to me?” I nod. She exhales strongly. “And Henri is in charge because he’s a descendent of Vladimir or Octavian?”
“No. Vladimir’s descendents are in charge of the Romanian Circle. Henri’s not related to Octavian. He was voted in because his father was the one who set up our relationship with the government, helping us thrive financially…and because there was no one else more qualified.”
“You said you were related to Octavian.”
“I am. But when my father died, I was only fifteen, so the Circle voted Henri in.”
“So you’re supposed to be an Elder?”
I laugh. “Yeah, but when I’m older. I’m not Elder material.”
“But your dad was, and you will be too, right?”
“I suppose.”
“And is that why you didn’t follow through on what Henri told you to do?”
I think about that for a second. I do have a hard time seeing Henri in the place my father used to be, but don’t consider myself oppositional.
“I don’t think so. It just didn’t feel like the right thing to do. Then, when I saw you…”
“You saw me and what?” she whispers.
“I saw you and… I just knew I shouldn’t.” That’s enough information for now.
“I felt it too,” she says. I turn to her, hoping to read her face for signs of clarification. “When I saw you, it felt like you came to protect me. I don’t know how to explain it, but I felt that. And then when you showed the nurse your tattoo, I freaked out. I was confused and scared.”
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore.”
She scoots back over to me and leans her head into my chest. “So what happens now?”
“Well, I have to find out why you were selected, who selected you, and if you’re still a target.”
“How do you plan on doing that?”
“Our next Circle is Wednesday, so I’ll figure something out.”
“I know you don’t have to be here, but it means a lot to me. And I promise I won’t ever hurt you, or your family.”
I smile, feeling a blind sense of trust. She looks up at me and pulls my neck closer to her. Our lips meet, and she melts into me, becoming a part of me. A part that I won’t let be hunted and killed. Even if Henri considers me the traitor.
Chapter 15
HENRI’S CIRCLE
Wednesday comes around more quickly than I expected. Rosie has figured out that only one Reader came a day early for our last Circle. Dorina and her Shadow both arrived on a flight at eight o’clock the night before. That means they’re probably the ones Rosie saw going to Henri’s study that night. I can’t outright confront Dorina, but I can watch her more closely for any private interaction she may have with Henri.
As usual, I greet Adela when she arrives. After a quick embrace, Eugen grabs her bags, and she starts in with trivial complaints about the traffic. At first, I’m relieved that she seems unaware of the unusual turn of events. Then I start to feel a need to fill her in, hoping maybe she could give me some advice. Maybe even tell me what she sees in the future, but not now. Henri would definitely notice if I started sneaking off with Readers.
Instead, I play it casual, showing more respect to Henri and the Elders than usual. I want to come across as ready to serve, reliable, the Vasi that Henri has always believed me to be. The last thing I want is for him to think I have intentions of going against the Syndicate, because I don’t. All I want is for someone to provide me with a reasonable explanation as to why a female was targeted. No theories, but accurate predictions. Until I get that, no one is going near her with a twenty-foot pole.
I mingle around the living room, watching the rest of the Readers arrive. Dorina comes last, and I expect her to avoid eye contact with me, but she nods directly my way and we exchange kisses on the cheek. There’s no tension whatsoever in her embrace, but she probably has no clue that I refused to kill one of her targets. Then again, how would she? Readers don’t know who gets assigned to whom.
“Vasi,” she says with her chin up, eyeing me through her bifocals. “You’re turning into such a handsome man. Your mother would be so proud.”
Eugen speaks up. “Isn’t that the truth of it?” He slaps my back, and I find myself enjoying the seemingly normal encounter, until Alexandru arrives. He comes through the front door and is instantly welcomed into the arms of Camelia and Adela. They exchange embraces, and Alexandru catches my gaze while he hugs Camelia. His look is cold enough to send a chill down my spine.
Immediately, I decide to step up my game.
“So,Vasi,” Dorina says, pulling my attention back. “Tell me, dear, how have you been? Are you keeping everyone in order here?”
Her question shocks me to the point where I have to work at keeping a straight face. Then it occurs to me that she’s joking. Or is she? Dorina has always been friendly to me. All the Readers have, but she seems to be glued to me today while going out of her way to question me. Maybe it’s just my imagination.
Regardless, I’m happy when Dani, Andre, and Petric come around the corner and Dorina momentarily breaks away to greet them in a similar manner. Dani looks at me like I’ve done something wrong and can’t wait to get me alone. I wonder if there’s a sign on my forehead that says I stayed with Riley last night.
Dani smoothly steps around Dorina and makes his way over to me. To my relief, Dorina follows, striking up conversation with Dani and Petric. I’m listening, intrigued by the undivided attention she’s giving us. Meanwhile, Alexandru, Simon, Ovidui, and Nicolae are huddled in a corner, with their hands in the pockets of their dress pants. I watch as they all appear to be unfazed by the upcoming call of duty. A few of them even catch glimpses of their watches, surely counting down the hours. Observing them makes me wonder if they care about maintaining the safety of civilians or maintaining their accustomed lifestyle, and then I hear my name.
> “Vasi?” Turning back, Petric is staring at me and Dorina is gone. “That was rude. Dorina was talking to you.”
“She was? What’d she say?”
“She was just going on about how proud she is of all of us, and how she hopes we don’t grow up too fast and have to face the dangers of the world.” He mocked “dangers” by wiggling his fingers in my face.
“What are you, like, two years old?”
He punches me in the chest. I counter quickly with a smack to the side of his head. Our horseplay is interrupted by a sharp clearing of a throat.
“Ahem,” Rosie interrupts, standing in the doorway. “They’re ready for you.”
“All right. Let’s do this,” Andre says. “Let’s bust some chops.”
How naïve they seem right now. If only they knew how choppy I suspect things are going to get.
As we make our way down the hall, Dorina’s words play out in my mind. What did she mean by hoping we don’t grow up too fast? Could she know how messy things are getting?
If she thought Henri was up to something, I highly doubt she’d suspect him of using his youngest Guards to carry out the task. No, she’d assume he’d have one of the older, more experienced ones do it.
If she’s really concerned about us, I may have a chance at getting information out of her after all. If she supported what Henri ordered, then she would have been conversing with Alexandru’s group instead. This is all complete speculation, assuming that Dorina is even the one who visited Henri or fed him Riley’s name, but it’s worth hoping for.
Once we reach the meeting room, Shadows and Scouts remain outside, and the rest of us file in. I sit in my normal seat, appreciating the fact that I have a good view of each of the Readers. Everyone takes their seat, and I take special note of Alexandru’s final gaze in my direction just after he sits. I’m not sure what his problem is, andI wonder if he’d be all up in my face if I hadn’t visited him.
Henri calls everyone to silence, and the normal order of things begins.
He welcomes us and goes through his rehearsed call to action, and then stands and hands the black pens to Valentin and the stacks of mini parchment paper to Stefan. The three make their way down from the platform.
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