Broken Angel (Book 1 in the Chronicles of a Supernatural Huntsman series)

by Shannon Lee Martin

The training room was similar to the hall from earlier—very similar in fact. I turned in a circle to see if I could spot any differences. I was almost certain we had gone a different way, but then again maybe we hadn’t. Finding my way to my room from wherever we were was going to be tough. I hoped Holly had a good sense of direction.

  “Who can tell me what a black dog is?” David asked as he tossed his clipboard aside casually. It skid across the floor and didn’t stop until it hit the wall with an echoing crack.

  He walked to the center of the room, unzipped his hooded sweatshirt, and tossed it aside too. His hands made a loud clap before he rubbed them together. It was the first time I saw anything that resembled a smile on his face.

  “Anyone? Black dog. Come on.”

  Ryker stepped forward, his chin turned upward. “A black dog is a malevolent apparition,” he said with confidence.

  “Right, and how do you get rid of it?”

  There was a heavy silence as everyone shuffled their feet and looked around the room. Even with Ryker’s explanation, I still wasn’t entirely sure I knew what a black dog was. Wasn’t apparition just another word for ghost? First lesson in and I was already behind.

  “Paige,” the instructor called out.

  His voice fell deaf on my ears. I knew what he said, but I in no way associated the word with me for some reason. Holly elbowed me in the ribs. I jolted out of my rambling thoughts and returned to the dimly lit room.

  “Kamlyn Paige, front and center!” David called out as he turned his back and walked away.

  He headed for a door on the opposite side. Everyone else turned to stare as I stood there dumbfounded. They all knew I was a non-descendant and that I knew nothing about the paranormal. The instructor had to know that as well. What was he expecting me to say in front of everyone, with their eyes burning holes into me as they stared?

  I cautiously walked up to the front. Some of the initiates looked at me with judgmental faces. A few had twinkles of encouragement in their eyes as they watched, Holly among them. Why were there so many watching me? I thought we were split into groups of seven. All thirty five initiates were there to see me fail at my first attempt at being a Huntsman.

  When a minute went by with me standing by myself in silence, the others got restless. One girl bit her nails absentmindedly while another rolled her eyes and sighed. Ryker whispered something to his two lackeys and they both snickered while pointing at me. Holly caught my eye and gave me two thumbs up with a cheesy grin.

  Finally, David came back from the other room. He was holding a small black wooden box in the palm of his hand. I turned to him. My hands were involuntarily shaking.

  “In this box,” he said, “is a black dog. If I let it out, how are you going to stop it before it kills everyone in here?”

  My heart raced. Was he serious? He couldn’t be. There was no way he would put all our lives in danger to teach a lesson. I stood frozen while everyone looked on with wide, fearful eyes. It was quiet enough to hear the individual breath of each person. I swallowed, though my mouth was as dry as a desert.

  “Excuse me?” I asked softly.

  His dark, thin eyes stared back at me unblinkingly. His face relaxed, but it still contained an air of annoyance in the lines of his forehead and mouth. He gave one, slow blink before he sighed and spoke again.

  “If I open this box, how will you stop it?”

  I looked over my shoulder for any help I could get from the others. No one seemed to know what to do. If they did, they weren’t talking.

  “Um…”

  “Go grab your bag,” he said.

  I scrunched my face, putting deep wrinkles into my forehead.

  “Go. Grab. Your. Bag,” he repeated slowly.

  Well, I didn’t last long. Not even the week Ryker had predicted. I walked back to Holly and she handed me my bag. Her expression was soft and her eyes conveyed how sorry she was to see me go. I walked back to David with my shoulders sunken low. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall in front of everyone.

  “Take out your shotgun and load it.”

  I furrowed my brow and stood still, staring at his tanned and tired face like he was speaking in a foreign language. Half an hour ago was the first time I had ever held a gun in my life. He never showed us how to load them, only what the bullets looked like, and gave each of us a few boxes.

  There was nothing left to do but improvise. What was the worst that could happen? The gun wouldn’t fire and the black dog would eat me alive?

  The gun was heavy in my hand. I fumbled for the box of shotgun shells and took out two. I tried to remember what David had done when he first showed us the gun to load it. As I turned it over in my hand I recognized the magazine loading port. There was a click as I opened it and shoved the shells inside in what I hoped was the correct way. Even though I wasn’t sure what it did, I pumped the fore-end with an echoing click.

  I looked up into the instructor’s unflinching face for any approval on what I had just done. Sweat gathered at my hairline and on the back of my neck. A chill ran down my spine and raised the hairs on my arms. With a deep and calming breath, I prepared myself for what would be let out of that box.

  David took two large steps back and lifted the lid. At first nothing happened. Then slowly, a thick, black fog lifted from inside and ran down to the floor like water in slow motion. It swirled around and gathered itself into the form of a giant dog. Its eyes were large, glowing, and level with mine. A rumbling growl emitted from deep within its throat. Razor-sharp, white teeth appeared as its lips curled back into a snarl. One massive paw moved forward and hit the ground with a dull thud. The figure was entirely solid in form.

  I stumbled back and screamed. The shrill cry bounced off the walls of the room. I tried to raise my gun, but my hands were shaking too much to aim.

  “What the hell is this, David?!”

  I saw Don march up to the front of the room. When I looked back at the black dog, it was sitting neatly at David’s side and had its tongue hanging out of its mouth. Its long, shaggy tail swished across the floor happily.

  “Oh, lighten up, Vander. I was just having a bit of fun,” David chuckled and reached up to pat the dog on the head, which was level with his shoulder.

  “This isn’t a game. You scared these poor kids half to death. And what if Kamlyn had shot it? Huh? What would you have done then?” Don fumed. His face turned a violent shade of red and a large vein bulged in his temple.

  “For five years, not a single student has ever shot at Hairy Jack.”

  David continued to stroke the giant dog’s head as he eyed Don playfully. It was obvious he thought Don was too uptight and he didn’t care one bit what the old man thought about his teaching methods.

  “I don’t give a shit. I don’t like it!” Don growled through his teeth.

  “Well, with all do respect, Huntsman Vander, this is my class and you really don’t have a right to say anything about the way I teach my initiates.” David’s face morphed all at once. A challenging scowl instantly replaced the playfulness displayed earlier. “And it’s not my fault you brought in a non-descendant. She’s won’t be receiving any special treatment from me.”

  Don went to open his mouth, but snapped it shut again. He raised his finger and pointed it within inches of David’s nose. Even from where I stood, back with the others, I could see his hand shaking with fury. He turned and stormed out of the room without another word.

  The tension in David Yu deflated. His stance loosened and his face relaxed back to its previous playfulness. A small smile pulled at the corners of his bowed lips. He opened the box again. Hairy Jack hopped into the air and morphed into the slow swirling fog before disappearing inside. David shut the lid and placed the box on the ground.

  No one dared to speak a word. We all waited in perfect silence for him to explain. He rubbed his hands together and gave his first full smile, teeth and all. But he wouldn’t win me over with his ch
arming grin. Not after what he said. I didn’t expect special treatment, and I didn’t want it. He had no idea who I was or what I had been through to find the Chamber of Darkness.

  “As you heard, that was Hairy Jack. I found him when I was out helping someone on a hunt my first year as an instructor. I like to bring him out to show my initiates first because you should know that even though you’re sent out there to hunt creatures of Darkness, not all things of Darkness are evil. Hairy Jack, here, is as harmless as they come and if I had killed him like they wanted me to, we would have missed out on some great times together.” He spoke of the massive, scary apparition like it was a Jack Russell Terrier.

  We continued to stare in silence. I could feel the heavy weight of fear lifting from the room. Shoulders relaxed, eyes deflated, and fists unclenched. After a while, I completely forgot about my nervousness. The crowd broke apart and David walked toward me again.

  “Sorry to say, but you totally failed that one, Paige,” he said as he firmly patted my shoulder. “Glad you did, though. I’d be lonely without my Hairy Jack.”

  “Next time you could try actually teaching,” I said with bite.

  Instead of getting mad, David simply threw his head back and laughed wholeheartedly. It was deep and melodic. He patted me on the shoulder again, more firmly this time. I wanted to wince at the strength of his hand, but I bit the inside of my cheek instead.

  “That’s all for today, boys and girls. I can hear my bed calling for me. Follow me and I’ll show you to your rooms.”

  The class dispersed and walked a ways behind David in small cliques. “Way to suck, Paige,” Ryker said as he pushed past me and Holly on his way to the front. Everyone around him laughed.

  “I think you did great,” Holly said loudly so everyone could hear. “Better than most of them would’ve done, I’m sure.”

  I let out a quick huff of dim laughter and thanked her for the support.