House of Slide: Hunter

by Juliann Whicker

  The rest of the ride I focused on staying calm while Matthew sat beside me holding a book in his slender fingers. I could tell that he constantly gauged my mood. He didn’t want this plane ride to end the usual way.

  “I’m fine,” I said, folding my feather covered arms over my leather covered chest.

  “I didn’t say anything,” he murmured.

  “Where’s my mother?”

  “Resting,” he replied without looking up.

  “When are you two getting married?”

  He finally raised his mottled eyes up to me and I saw in him what I saw in myself when I’d looked in the mirror. He didn’t fit, either.

  “She’s the Head of the most prestigious House on the North American continent. I am a humble Hybrid with only one House to recommend me.”

  “One House?”

  He gave me a tight smile that couldn’t hide the anguish in his eyes. “DelaCroix is fallen, alas. I disbanded the House rather than sacrifice its members.”

  I clenched my jaw as I remembered running away, the Hollow One who killed my father. Matthew couldn’t like running away any more than I did. Of course fighting was worse than suicide, because you became your own enemy. I felt nauseous as I gripped the white and blue armrests remembering the eyes of the Wild bodies after they had become possessed by Lost Souls. “I thought he was Lewis. I’m still unstable. I can’t keep it together for one…”

  “I think it may very well have been Lewis,” Matthew said, leaning towards me. “Don’t crash the plane, but I find it likely that your beloved came back as the Hollow One.”

  I stared at him and felt my body grow very cold. I almost did lose it. Matthew’s hand came up to paralyze me, to knock me out, but I jerked my head back and held very still, trying to breathe normally.

  “Lewis said that I should avoid the Hollow One.”

  “Maybe he knew who he was,” Matthew said, settling back as though I hadn’t almost killed us all.

  “You really think that Lewis isn’t dead?”

  “I think that the Lewis you knew is dead. I think his body is host to a million Lost Souls. A million is a lot of Hollows, Daughter.”

  I chewed on my upper lip. I didn’t like him calling me daughter, as though he could replace my dad so easily. Had Lewis really killed my father? I felt an aching moment when I couldn’t breathe. My dad couldn’t die. He couldn’t be snuffed out so easily by a translucent man who wasn’t Lewis. Lewis would never kill my father. He’d never hurt me like that.

  “I don’t believe you. That wasn’t Lewis. I was just seeing things.”

  Matthew sneered. “It’s possible, but considering the fact that he died a mere hundred miles north of us, I think we would have heard something about the trail of death he left in his search of your father if the Hollow One came from further away. On the positive side, the second voice was not as clearly mad as the first.” He gave me a flat smile.

  “How is it possible for someone I burned to come back to life? I burned him. Nothing was left besides ashes other than a few fingers I couldn’t find.”

  “All it takes is one strand of DNA. The process involves the Nethermist. The Hollow One must have enough Nethermist to be able to transform particles from one state to another with the genetic map of one cell. You transform energy from one state to another. He’s doing that same thing, only on a grander scale.”

  “It’s still impossible.”

  “It is impossible,” he said dismissively, turning the page of his book. “Almost as impossible as marrying your mother.”

  I slid my hands over the feathers, trying to stay calm. Lewis was alive? He couldn’t be alive. I’d worked so hard to convince myself that he was dead. Even if he was alive, he’d try to kill me if I saw him again, the way he’d killed my father. I still felt broken, the broken bond still ached.

  “It’s not Lewis,” I said, rubbing a feather between my fingers. “I would feel better if it were Lewis, more whole.”

  “If you say so,” he muttered.

  “Matthew,” I whispered.

  He looked up and I saw the weight of the loss of his House, the worry and responsibility he felt.

  “I’m sorry about your House. I hope everyone got out alive.”

  “They didn’t. The Hollow One rang the doorbell. My man answered it and the Hollow One took his life, leaving his body empty of soul in the hall. The Hollow One walked through my House emptying everyone he passed until he got to the ball room. I don’t know if he was drawn there by your father, or you. The bond is still there, but broken. Does he feel the brokenness, or just drawn to his soulmate? You’re the key, Dariana. You’re the key to all of this. You’re not a Hollow lure anymore. If you were, he wouldn’t have killed anyone when he saw you; he’d be transfixed, frozen in the perfection of your soul. I thought that was what Devlin wanted you to be, but knowing him before he turned, loving him, binding him, I think your role is much more complicated than that.”

  “If only Devlin could tell us.”

  His gaze sharpened. “If only someone could read imprints.” He went back to his book, turning the page carefully.

  I leaned back in my seat, forcing myself to stay in that space, counting my scars and feathers, focusing on the scuffs on Matthew’s shoes instead of the ache in my chest when I thought of Lewis, alive, dead, killer of my father.

  The plane touched down with a jolt that brought me out of my half doze. I opened my eyes to find Matthew watching me with an unsettling intensity. He gave me a flicker of a smile.

  “We made it.”

  If only I felt like we’d made it somewhere. I still felt lost.

  The drive in the passenger’s seat of my mother’s black car seemed to take a long time.

  “Where are we going? You missed the exit towards Sanders.”

  She glanced at me then back to the road. “I have to go to Slide for the transfer.”

  “What transfer?”

  She drove in silence with her hands gripping the steering wheel before she answered. “The new Head of the House. All the members will swear fealty. The title, Head of Slide will transfer.”

  “Dad said that you were the next in line. But isn’t that Satan? He’s the Son of the House, and he’s older than you, right? Is that what that was about in the helicopter? You’re next in line? You’re Slide? You hate your House. How did that happen? You can refuse. You should refuse.”

  “You’re in line after me,” she said in a flat voice. “If I decline, you become Head of Slide, and you are not ready for that.”

  “But you’re tainted and can’t even kill a demon without becoming corrupted. Giving you that much power is a really bad idea.”

  She smiled at me as though genuinely amused. “Power. I have power enough to bring the world to its knees. You think being Head of the House of Slide comes with anything other than confinement and regulation? I will feel my father and his father, and his father inside my head, leading me, urging me, pushing me to do and be everything that is the best for Slide.”

  “What about Matthew?”

  Her mouth trembled. “What about him?”

  “He’s still your Intended.”

  She took a shaky breath. “If a union with Matthew would be the best for the House, that’s what will happen.”

  “He’s not like that, controlled by his heritage. You can do whatever you want.”

  She laughed and shook her head. “What do I want?”

  I shrugged helplessly. I wanted Lewis. I wrapped my arms around my body and tried to focus on the feel of feathers and leather. Lewis killed my father. Not Lewis. Lewis was dead. I’d burned him. Maybe he’d come back to life as the Hollow One. Not Lewis. Not anymore.

  “Do you think that Lewis is the Hollow One?”

  “No,” she answered quickly.

  “Matthew thinks so.”

  She shrugged. “Lewis is dead. Even if it were Lewis’s body, he’s not there anymore. It doesn’t matter who he was. He’ll never remember the life he had
before he turned. When the Lost Souls have all found new homes, he’ll be left a broken, mad creature. Killing so many takes its toll. Thinking of him as Lewis…” She shook her head. “Matthew should not have told you that, even if it’s true, it does no good to see him like that. We are part of Devlin’s plan to save the world. That means being able to destroy the Hollow One when the time comes.”

  “Destroy him? Destroy Lewis?”

  “He killed your father,” she said in a harsh voice that chilled my veins.

  “Is that Devlin’s plan? He told you that the point of all this was to kill someone that I loved? What would that do to my soul?” I asked, hearing my voice rise.

  “You need to be ready to do what you have to do.”

  “I’m not ever going to kill Lewis,” I said flatly.

  She raised an eyebrow. “No?”

  “If that’s what Devlin wants, he shouldn’t have taken my soul and made me love him. Lewis saved me. He gave me his soul with our first kiss. I can’t kill him. I don’t care how many other souls are inside of him, as long as there is a single strand of Lewis’s DNA in him, I’ll lay down my life for his.”

  “You’ll sacrifice others as well, like your father?”

  I ran a hand over my head, feeling the metal runes, cool under my fingers.

  “It’s not my place to defend the world from Lewis. My place is to defend the world from the demon mistress.”

  She sighed and stopped talking until we drove up the hill, through the wealthy neighborhood and to the wrought iron gates of Slide.

  After the long trip up the hedge-lined drive, we parked in front of the double doors of the Italianate mansion. She sat there gathering her courage before she suddenly moved, leaving the car and briskly walking up the steps. I could barely keep up. The double doors opened for her and she went inside. I followed closely. In the dim interior, people I’d never seen before lined the halls, watching my mother as she passed. I followed, feeling more and more on edge by the emotions of the people she ignored who seemed to be tearing her apart with their skepticism bordering on animosity.

  It wasn’t hard to feel their emotions. This was the House. These people were the House, and the Head had died leaving an unstable Daughter to lead them against an ever more dangerous world.

  I licked my lips as I felt a wave of anguish from a man to my left whose impassive face could not hide his uncontrollable grief. The woman beside him met my eyes for a brief moment, communicating disapproval for the Hybrid before she looked after my mother. What would they think if they knew that she was a Hybrid with Hollow blood?

  My mother’s back grew straighter the further she walked, her black suit blending with her long wavy hair that she’d left down her back. She stepped through two large doors held open by Stanley and Seth who gave her the barest nod. Seth looked through me, Stanley scowled.

  “Good to see you made it safe,” I said with a smile as I patted Stanley’s arm earning me another scowl. I held my smile on my face. It wasn’t his fault that Lewis had broken a cue stick in his shoulder. Lewis.

  I fought down the wave of pain as I followed my mother into an enormous room with a vaulted ceiling. The walls were lined with Wilds, other less Wild, even some Cools and a surprising number of Hotbloods.

  Satan and Grim stood in the middle of the room, talking quietly to each other as my mother walked up to them.

  “Helen,” Satan said with a nod.

  “Eldest first?” she asked.

  Satan shrugged and flicked open a lighter. I leapt back as fire exploded into the room around my mother, but the flames twisted away as she spun them into a tornado around her, leaving her unsinged and unharmed. She wove runes in a complicated pattern I couldn’t follow and threw them at Satan. The impact tossed him up until he hit the forty-foot ceiling. He came down in a free-fall and hit the floor with a stomach-twisting crunch.

  He lay there unmoving as Grim raised his eyebrows. “That was a beautiful rune.”

  “Thank you,” she said as she cracked her knuckles and spread her fingers. “Shall we begin?”

  Grim moved quickly, blocking a flare of runes before he cast his own green sparks at my mother, blinding her as he moved, trying to get inside. She blocked his hand with her forearm, keeping him from coming into contact with her skin. I could feel the intensity of her concentration as she fought, moving with such beautiful feline grace, keeping her movements small and explosive until she brought Grim down with a complicated maneuver that kept his hands away from her skin.

  She had one boot on his back as he lay motionless on the floor.

  “Who’s next?” she asked, her voice sharp and clear.

  A surge came from the walls as a big Wild almost Satan’s height came charging towards her.

  A knife whizzed past my head and hit the man in the chest, knocking him back a step. I turned and saw Matthew of Carve walking towards us in a long black coat, black pants, and black cowboy boots with actual silver spurs on them that clinked as he walked.

  He moved with rhythm, the wrinkles on his face more symbolic of power than age.

  “Carve?” my mother asked in an icy voice. “To what do we owe this dubious honor?”

  He kept walking towards her until he made it to my side.

  “I don’t like it when people get too excited about inflicting violence on my Intended,” he said, brushing her hair away from her face before she knew what he was doing. He turned and went to Grim who he hoisted off of the floor.

  “You’re here to keep order?” my mother asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

  “He is your Intended, unless you want to give him back the knife,” I said, unsheathing my blade.

  I felt everyone’s eyes on me all of a sudden, me and the knife. I heard whispers, ‘Carve’s dagger?’ ‘If the girl has Carve’s dagger, Helen must have more gifts.’

  “Enough,” my mother said, raising a hand dismissively. “Carve’s alliance with Slide will have new terms which will be decided after the transfer. Right now, Carve is an interloper.”

  She clenched her jaw as she thought about taking the dagger and stabbing Matthew with it.

  “Come on, Helen,” he whispered, his voice as crooning and compelling as words could be. “Bring your knife to my lips. I’ll never kiss another blade,” he sang as he handed her the knife I hadn’t even noticed him taking from my hand. The guy had skills.

  She shifted the hilt in her hand as she cocked her head, then spinning, threw a rune at a Wild who had pulled a gun out to shoot at her. Both he and the gun went flying, knocking a half dozen other House members down.

  “You think I won’t stab you?” she asked as she whirled back to Matthew.

  He smiled, showing his teeth. “I look forward with anticipation to the moment you pierce my flesh.”

  The intonation and intent made me blush and wish I was anywhere besides in this huge room where muttering Wilds were growing angrier by the moment. One second they were unhappy, the next they decided to do something about it.

  I ducked beneath the punch of a skinny Wild with brown hair and black runes on his arm I saw when his fist passed my head. I grabbed his fist and twisted, punching him in the throat at the same time I broke his arm.

  I gasped and pulled back as he stumbled away, choking. I hadn’t meant to hurt him. He was part of the family. What was going on? Was this normal to have an all-out brawl in the middle of the elegant mansion? It wouldn’t be the first time I’d been stunned at the irrational Wild violence.

  Stanley came out of nowhere, throwing green runes at me that I blocked with a surge of buzzing energy, but the impact knocked me down.

  Matthew hauled me up by the elbow before he blocked a thrust from Helen, ducking behind her before he wove a rune that shot like a green arrow at Seth who fell back, cradled by a cloud of air that he must have control over.

  “This is ridiculous,” my mother hissed as she frowned at me, at Matthew, at all of us.

  Matthew grinned. “Such is the natu
re of love.”

  She scowled at him and twisted away from him to come in lower probably going to stab him in the thigh, but had to stop when a Wild woman darted in from behind, grabbing her hair and pulling back her head, exposing her throat.

  I leaned the woman hard, dipping inside her head and creating a vision of a tea party where we must not make noise.

  The woman pulled away, embarrassed, and sat down in the middle of the melee to pour herself an invisible cup of tea.

  “Dariana, that is entirely unacceptable,” my mother said, glaring at me. “Fix it.”

  “No,” I said, turning to the Wild on the other side of me. I reached inside of his mind and sent him on a fishing trip. He turned and pulled back his invisible rod, casting it with a shower of green sparks from his unfinished rune.

  Matthew laughed while my mother growled, unable to focus on Matthew while the other Wilds came at her, at him, at me.

  I leaned them, easily staying out of reach when I bent minds so that I was slightly to the left of where they thought I was.

  “You’re paralyzed,” Matthew said, his hands around my mother’s neck, spinning her around before he kissed her.

  A unanimous gasp went up as Carve kissed my mother with an elaborate show of passion that made me want to throw up my heart so that it would stop hurting so much. Lewis. I wanted Lewis and I wanted my dad, and I wanted all of these people to stop, just stop fighting because none of us were the enemy. The enemy was her, the demon mistress, out there and making powerful bad Wilds even more powerful. We had to stop her. We had to unite. We had to stop attacking each other or we wouldn’t survive her or the Hollow One. We should be planning, organizing, getting as many allies as we could and stopping the spread of the demon taint. We had to find a way to survive the Hollow One and destroy the demon mistress.

  They finally broke apart and my mother raised her hands out. Everyone slammed against the walls including me and Matthew. My head pounded as it cracked against the wall, leaving me dizzy on the floor, putting my palms against the smooth surface.