by T. A. Kunz
Tears pool in my eyes. It’s been a while since the last time I had a good cry. Four months to be exact. Growing up, my dad saw it as a sign of weakness, and always taught me to work through the emotions and never show them to others. I guess that explains one of my nicknames back at the Hunters Academy: Ice Princess.
Heath rises from the chair and moves over to me. He pulls me in for a firm hug and I fully embrace it. I feel like my guard is completely down at this moment, and deep down, I’m glad it’s Heath who’s here to see me like this. The warmth coursing through my body from being this close to him makes me feel safe and secure.
“I’m here for you, Liv. We’ll get through this, okay?” he whispers close to my ear, and doesn’t let go of me.
“My mom wants me to get the masking spell redone until this all blows over, but I can’t do that. She says the Guild is after me to bring me in, but I need to focus on finding who’s behind all this. And if I’m disguised, then they won’t recognize me, and I want to be able to draw them out of hiding,” I explain into his shoulder.
Heath leans back in order to look at me. “Maybe you should consider getting your tattoo finished,” he says softly, never losing eye contact.
“I intend on doing that later, but first I need a huge favor.”
“Sure, what do you need?”
“Be my plus-one to the Alpha Nu Gamma party tomorrow night.” He doesn’t answer me; he just sends me a perplexed look. “If this person is going to make another pass at Angelica, that’s where they’re probably going to do it. I need to go to that party before I get the masking spell, but I promise I will right after.”
He sighs. “This is completely against my better judgment, but I’ll do it.”
“Thank you.”
He chuckles to himself. “You know this means you owe me again, right? I’m keeping a running tab, just so you’re aware.”
I feel my phone buzz in my pocket and pull it out to see my alarm going off. It’s for the one class I have today, and I’ve missed it for the past two weeks. Gateways is easily my least favorite class this semester. It’s a waste of time because all we do is map out our freshman year and write in our “goal journal” about what we hope to accomplish in college. We also take tours of the different departments on campus to help us decide on a major if we haven’t already. So, to say I haven’t been driven to go would be a huge understatement.
I groan. “I’ve got class in thirty minutes.”
“You’re not going, are you? Shouldn’t we be discussing what we’re going to do tomorrow night?”
“I’ve missed this class too many times already, and I need it to graduate. It’s so lame, but unfortunately, it’s also a requirement,” I say dryly.
“Do you want me to tag alon—”
Heath’s interrupted by the sound of the chime on the parlor’s front door as it swings open. My back is to the entrance, but judging by how big his eyes are, what just walked in isn’t a good thing. Before I can turn my head and look, I hear a familiar voice.
“Olivia Adams, you’re wanted for questioning in regards to the murder of Elder Tobias Young.”
I spin around and see exactly the person I suspected they’d send after me. My brother, Malcolm.
It looks like my Gateways class is shot again this week.
“You know damn well I didn’t do it, Malcolm,” I say. “You don’t have to take me in.”
“Yeah, I kind of do. You may have turned your back on all of this, but I haven’t. The Guild wants you, and what the Guild wants, I retrieve. It’s that simple.”
“You’ll have to go through me first,” Heath pipes up, causing my brother to puff out his chest and get into a defensive stance.
I put my hand on Heath’s shoulder, causing him to glance over at me. “I got this.” He sends me a concerned look, but concedes with a nod.
“If you won’t listen to reason, then I guess I’m going to have to beat some sense into you, big bro,” I comment, moving away from Heath toward the middle of the parlor floor.
My brother relaxes his stance and moves closer too, but doesn’t completely lower his guard. “Just like old times, huh?”
“Yep, I guess so.” I stare down my brother as he measures me up. “We’re really about to do this, huh?”
“We don’t have to. You can just let me take you in,” he replies, widening his stance before throwing up his hands out in front of his face like a boxer.
I shake my head and mirror his stance. “Not gonna happen. I need to find out who did this, and I can’t do that in custody.”
“One way or another, Olivia, you’re coming with me.”
“We’ll see about that,” I sneer.
Malcolm’s the first one to throw a punch, and I slap it away just before dodging his follow-up right hook. I back away slightly, putting some distance between us in order to calculate my counterattack. I test him and go in for a fake low kick to his leg, and when he reacts, I try to catch him off-guard with a left crossover. He blocks my attack and rams his shoulder into my chest, sending me shuffling back.
He takes a calculated right swing in my direction, and I dip out of the way unscathed, ducking behind him. Malcolm immediately fires off a high kick back after his punch fails to make contact. I block it with both hands and attempt to sweep his other leg, but he leaps over it with ease. He follows up with a high punch right at my face. Sliding to the side, I maneuver out of the way and spin in close to him to drive my elbow into his stomach. He blocks it before giving me a forceful shove away from him. We’ve been evenly matched combat-wise for the last year or so, and just like during our most recent sparring sessions, I’m finding it hard to break his defenses, and vice versa.
We both shake off our frustration and join back in the middle of the parlor, facing one another again. I keep signaling for him to make the first move, but every time, he denies the request. We’re at a standstill. I remember back to a particular sparring match we had a few months before I left the Guild. He was so proud of how far I’d come in my training, and with graduation from the Hunters Academy looming near, he decided to help me prepare for my final exam. Standing here facing off against him makes me miss that time together. Now look at us. We’re practically enemies.
“I can wait here all day, Olivia,” he says with a sneer. “I’ve got the patience of a saint, sister. You’re well aware of that.”
“Well, then I’m glad I got my lack of patience from Dad,” I respond while twisting my body into a spinning back fist punch, but stop suddenly when he puts his hands up to block it. I transition into a sweep kick, which he jumps over before sending a knee toward my face. I block with my forearms and shimmy over to the side. I throw a quick jab into his stomach, but he doesn’t react. It feels like I hit a brick wall.
He releases a small laugh under his breath. “All right, enough playing around,” he says before rearing back his arm to throw a punch.
I launch back into a reverse handspring and feel my feet connect with him before I land upright again. I have no idea where that move came from. Desperation, most likely. Malcolm’s standing there shaking his head and trying to catch his bearings after my successful attack.
“Where in the hell did you learn that move?” he asks, checking his lip for any sign of blood.
“I’ve always been one to think quickly on my feet. I had a great teacher, remember?” I see the slightest hint of a smile try to shine through on his face.
He laughs. “Yeah, I’m good, but I never taught you anything like that.”
“Have you had enough of this nonsense?”
“Not even close,” he replies, mimicking my defensive stance.
“Do you seriously not believe me when I say I had nothing to do with Tobias’s death?”
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter what I think, Olivia. This is what the Guild wants me to do,” he growls.
“I don’t want to fight you, Malcolm. I could use your help.” What I’m saying doesn’t seem to be fazing him. He
still looks bound and determined to bring me in. “Seriously, can you put aside all this Guild bullshit and hear me out for once in your life as my brother?”
“What the hell do you mean by that? I did nothing but listen to you for years. We were in this life together, and you left me for your own damn selfish reasons.”
I can hear the hurt in his tone. “Is that what you think happened?” I ask, lowering my guard and bringing my hands to rest at my sides, showing no hostility. He’s sounding like he never heard the real reason I left.
“You left so quickly. I had to hear why you did from our friends and the Elders. Mom wouldn’t say anything, and Dad refused to even acknowledge the issue. What else was I supposed to think?”
“Malcolm, the Guild had Tara and her family killed. Did you know that?” I ask. “My best friend, who was innocent, was a victim of your precious Guild.”
“She must’ve done something to deserve it,” he comments, still not relaxing his guard.
“Come on, Malcolm. You knew Tara. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body. It was all her dad’s doing. He was the one the Guild was after. But they went too far,” I explain, trying to plead with him to understand.
“Is that why you left?”
“That was the only reason. I couldn’t be a part of an organization that could do something like that. I refused. I couldn’t fight for them knowing what they had done to innocent people. They killed Tara’s sister and mom, Malcolm. What did they ever do to deserve that?”
He finally relaxes his stance and drops his guard. “Are you sure you haven’t lost your mind? Because you still sound as crazy as you did last night.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty positive that my mind’s perfectly fine. Besides, why would I lie to you? What would I gain from lying to you about something like this?” I reply, feeling irked by his stubbornness.
“Why didn’t you say anything to me before, sis? We used to talk about everything, and I felt so betrayed by your actions. Topher tried to convince me that you had to have had a good reason, but I didn’t listen.”
“Well, this is the truth, whether or not you believe me,” I state, moving closer to him. “I’m sorry for leaving like I did, but I had to. Please understand that.”
He releases a heavy sigh and moves closer to me. “I honestly had no idea about Tara. I know how much she meant to you, so I guess I can’t blame you for what you did,” he mentions, which causes me to breathe an internal sigh of relief.
“Thank you, Malcolm. I needed to hear that from you.”
“The Guild’s still after you, Livie. And you know they won’t stop until they capture you.”
“Or until we find out who was responsible for all this,” I reply.
“We?” he asks with an eyebrow turned up.
“Yeah. Heath and I could use your help with this.”
“I’d risk banishment if I were to even think of helping you. If any of them caught a single word about this, we’d be locked up in the same cell,” he explains. “Not to mention your little friend here would be dealt a harsher punishment.”
“First of all, his name is Heath. And second, look … I don’t care if you believe me about what I saw, but someone who looked exactly like you and had all your mannerisms crashed the party I was at last night. So, either it was you and you don’t remember for some reason, or this was the work of someone else.”
He seems to be in deep thought over the information I presented. “I can’t, sis. I’m sorry. I’ll give you a pass for Tara’s sake, but if the Guild sends me after you again, we’re going to have to do this all over. As much as I don’t want to, I will.”
Talk about a damn kick to the heart. My own brother is choosing the Guild over me, and it hurts like a bitch. There was a hint of hesitation on his part, a glimmer of hope that he’d change his mind, but I guess water is thicker than blood. This is blind obedience at its finest right here.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I manage to say, “but I guess the Guild’s code wins out almost every time, right?”
He nods. “A word of advice?”
“Yeah, shoot,” I answer.
“If you don’t find the answers you’re looking for, turn yourself in. It will make it easier on everyone.”
I laugh to myself. “I’ll keep that in mind,” I state with a touch of sarcasm.
“See you soon, sis,” he calls out over his shoulder as he makes his way to the entrance of the parlor. He lazily throws his hand up to wave goodbye before shoving open the door to leave.
“And then there were two,” Heath comments behind me. “Your brother’s a real piece of work.”
“Yep, but he’s just doing his job.”
“So, do you by any chance have a plan for tomorrow night?”
“Of course I do,” I reply quickly. He sends me an interrogative look, like he isn’t so sure.
“Okay, so maybe I don’t have a plan per se, but I do have a general idea.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Hey, it’s better than nothing,” I respond.
“I foresee quite a long night ahead of us … and not the fun kind,” he laughs.
If someone would’ve told me three days ago that I’d be here tonight staking out a sorority house in order to capture an assassin, I would’ve laughed in their face.
Peering through a tiny window that leads into the basement, I’m finding it hard to shake the feeling of being a total creeper while watching the sisters of Alpha Nu Gamma perform their strange little initiation ritual with the new pledges. I always thought the whole wearing-hooded-robes-during-an-initiation thing was just in the movies, but nope. It’s very much real.
I glance up to the roof awning that wraps around the entire first story of the house when Heath lets out a low exasperated groan. He decided it’d be best if he played the part of lookout while I played the part of Peeping Tom. And even though he’s not so keen on heights, he still volunteered to be our eyes from above.
“We’ve been here for twenty minutes and there’s been no strange activity whatsoever. Unless you consider the two of us spying on a bunch of sorority sisters strange … which I do,” he jokes.
“If our person’s going to strike again, this is most likely where they’re going to do it,” I whisper back, even though no one other than him could probably hear me if I spoke at a regular volume.
“I thought we were supposed to go to the party, not the pre-party girly time,” he quips.
“Will you hush and go be all incognito somewhere else?” I huff.
“Fine. I’ll let you know when I have nothing to report.”
Men are such pains in the ass.
“Oh, and I brought Spike with me tonight,” I say, pulling my gaze back up to him.
“Spike?” he asks, confused.
“Yeah.” I flash the Guild-certified curved dagger up at him.
“Why do you call it that?”
“Uh, because it’s spikey, obviously. This little Mauler destroyer was the only thing I took from the Guild before I left.”
The second thing I should’ve taken was the Mauler-producing stone I was issued during my sophomore year at the academy after I turned sixteen. Receiving one of those stones is like getting a driver’s license in the Witch Hunter world. It’s the only way a Hunter can summon Maulers, and after stumbling into my current situation, I feel it would’ve been quite the asset to have.
I examine Spike’s curved blade that splits into a fork at the tip like a snake’s tongue. It’s my only weapon that can take down a Mauler, since it’s infused with light magic and a Mauler’s born of dark. It feels good to hold it again during a mission. Me and this blade have some fond memories, and it’s what won me highest Mauler kill count in the annual competition my junior year at the Hunters Academy.
Slipping the blade into my jacket’s inner pocket, I focus my attention on the little ritual happening in the basement. I notice Angelica’s wearing that bracelet again. I wonder if that means Hattie isn’t here right now. My ey
es shift over to Tara as she and the rest of the pledges draw back their hoods and stand there waiting for their next command.
I think back to the conversation I had with her in our dorm room. The moment she caught wind of our little covert operation, she demanded to be a part of it. Even though I didn’t think it was the best idea, I gave in. She made several valid points, again, and she was right, again.
When loud, erratic banging sounded at our dorm room door several hours before tonight’s party, it surprised the hell out of both of us. It was a few of her potential future sorority sisters there to “kidnap” her and bring her back to the house for the ceremony. Thankfully, we’d already gone over the quasi-plan for tonight before the ladies showed up.
The drive over with Heath was just as riveting. He wasn’t satisfied in the slightest with my “plan,” but he decided it was better to go along with me than against me. I don’t get why he’s so quick to help me when I need it. It’s not like I’ve been the best person to him lately, but I won’t lie that it’s nice to have someone like him to depend on.
“I’ve got nothing,” Heath calls down to me in a hushed whisper.
I roll back onto my heels to peer up at him and see his head poking out over the edge. “Okay, well, keep watching. I know this person’s going to show up tonight. I can feel it.”
“Got it,” he replies, and I see his eyes return to searching the front yard.
Heath rises up from his crouched position and moves closer to the edge of the roof toward the front of the house. “I think there’s some movement between the trees over there across the street,” he says, pointing to the woods a little ways from us.
I sigh, realizing I have to leave my post to go check out what he’s talking about. In a lowered stance, I hurry over to the chest-high hedgerow that lines the sides and part of the front lawn. I keep my eyes peeled for any sign of the movement Heath mentioned, but I don’t see anything.
Glancing back at Heath, I notice him waving his arms, trying to get my attention. When our eyes lock, he gestures to the street behind be, but I can’t see what he’s pointing at through the thick bushes I’m crouched behind. Rising up slightly, I peek over the well-manicured shrubbery and gasp when I see three Maulers stalking toward the sorority house with my brother smack dab in the center of them.