Face the Dark (Hunters of the Dark #3)

by Dave Ferraro

  ***

  Cameron pulled at his hair and paced back and forth in his room manically. He didn’t know what he felt at the moment: anger, frustration, fear, worry…and a rush of adrenaline. Was he really glad that he’d gotten away with it without anyone getting hurt? He was so disgusted with himself. How could he be happy to get away scott-free? He deserved to pay for what he’d done. And how frustrating that the werewolves hadn’t stopped when he’d ordered them to…and that they were werewolves in the first place!

  “Tessa!” he screamed into his room, as if that would suddenly summon her. How could he have thought that he could trust her? Demons they could maybe handle. Werewolves were another thing. What was he doing? How had it come to this? He opened his shirt and stared down at his chest. He still couldn’t see the mark she’d put on him to repel the wolves, but he knew it was there. Proof of what he’d done. Yet…it had protected him. Why would Tessa have protected him if she’d meant to screw him over? It didn’t make sense. He just felt like this had gone out of control very quickly. This wasn’t what he’d wanted.

  “You rang?”

  Cameron started, and stared at the girl who sat at the edge of his bed nonchalantly, like it were the most natural thing in the world. The pink stone that rested over her forehead twinkled in the light, as mesmerizing as her blue eyes. He shook his head, as if shattering a spell.

  “You…heard me?” he asked hesitantly.

  “I’m monitoring you,” she confirmed with a slow smile. “You didn’t think I would just throw you to the wolves, did you? We need you if this is going to succeed.”

  “Wolves,” Cameron repeated. “Appropriate choice of words.”

  Tessa sat up, a small frown cracking the perfect mask of her face. “What do you mean?”

  Cameron watched her for a moment. Was she serious? She really didn’t know?

  “Cameron?” She stood up and approached him slowly. “What’s happened?”

  “Werewolves attacked us.”

  “Werewolves.”

  “Five of them.”

  Tessa stared at him without blinking, then sighed. “Hmmm. It seems that Trivillis is becoming more trouble than he’s worth these days.”

  “Trivillis?”

  Nodding, Tessa sat down on the edge of his bed and patted the seat next to her. Cameron obliged, a little uncomfortable with how close he was to her, but wanting to hear what she had to say.

  “Trivillis is the demon we decided to mark your hunters with. He’s little more than a warlock, really. He found some relic, an amulet or something equally as boring, and it transformed his human blood to demon blood, granting him more power than he previously had. But he’s still human, in most ways. He can just wield magick a little better. And he doesn’t age. But he’s still as weak and vulnerable as a human, despite his blood. A pretty minor demon in the scope of things, one that we were confident your hunters could overcome, provided he hadn’t found some other trinkets over the years to make himself even more powerful.” She shook her head. “It seems that he’s mastered some pretty powerful spells if he’s able to make werewolves do his dirty work for him. He’s most likely controlling them with a rune that’s unique to his demon blood.”

  “Yes, there were runes,” Cameron confirmed.

  Tessa smiled. “Ah. Good. It’s unfortunate that this was such a…surprise. But I take it no one was seriously injured?”

  “Not really,” Cameron admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

  “And they wouldn’t touch you, correct?”

  “Worked like a charm. They wouldn’t touch Shanna either, just like you said. Or Rachel, for some reason.”

  Tessa blinked. “Rachel?”

  “Yeah,” Cameron shrugged. “The werewolves found Shanna and Rachel together and just left them alone.”

  “Left them…” Tessa stood up abruptly, suddenly agitated. “You did administer the drug to Shanna as I instructed, correct? And you infected the others through the air conditioner?”

  “Well, yeah,” Cameron nodded, then frowned. “Oh.”

  “Oh?” Tessa narrowed her eyes. They looked so intense that he felt like they were burning a hole into his mind.

  “Well, Rachel did take the drink I’d intended for Shanna. Before I made another one for Shanna. I forgot that she didn’t drink alcohol either.” He saw fury gathering in Tessa’s eyes, so he drew himself taller as he protested. “But that was after I administered the drug through the air conditioner. I swear! You’re the one who said she couldn’t be marked twice!”

  “And she can’t.”

  “Then how-”

  “I don’t know!” Tessa snapped. “Let me think.” She closed her eyes, eyelids moving as her eyes slid back and forth rapidly beneath them. Cameron watched her in silence, trying to work out the mystery in his own mind, but coming up with no possible solutions. Everyone was in the mansion when he’d administered the drug. Everyone except Shanna and Felicia. And Quinn. But Felicia and Quinn never had the first component introduced to them, so they weren’t marked at all. Rachel should have been inside along with everyone else. Unless she’d snuck out…but why should she have?

  “The psychic,” Tessa said, opening her eyes. “She’s the only x factor in the equation. She must have felt something and somehow arranged this, made sure that Rachel was outside of the building when you administered the second ingredient in the air conditioner. She probably had an impression that she would drink the other ingredient you’d intended for Shanna. Consciously or unconsciously, it doesn’t really matter. We’ll deal with it.”

  “We?”

  “Yes. We.”

  Cameron swallowed hard. “I don’t want anyone to get hurt. I couldn’t live with myself.”

  Tessa was silent for a moment. “Then you’d better make sure to protect them. Remember that the werewolves can’t harm you until they kill the others.”

  “But they wouldn’t listen to me.”

  Tessa smirked. “They don’t have to listen to you. They just can’t touch you. You, however, can touch them. Carry silver with you at all times. And use it, without fear of retaliation. If you don’t want anyone to be hurt, escort anyone who leaves the mansion.”

  Cameron nodded. “Okay. I can do that.”

  “Good. Now Shanna and Rachel…have they manifested any symptoms yet?”

  “Yes. They’ve seen something when they’ve been unconscious.”

  Tessa nodded. “Good. At least something’s going according to plan. Don’t be alarmed if anything happens to them. Remember, they won’t be harmed by this demon. It will toy with them when they’re unconscious, but nothing else.”

  “Okay.”

  Tessa let out a little sigh and smiled reassuringly. “You alright?”

  Cameron shrugged. “Yeah. I’m just…I want this to be over.”

  “Oh, it will be soon. Just hang in there a little longer. And remember your reward. It will be worth it.”

  He nodded as she touched his cheek.

  “You’re doing very well,” she told him. He closed his eyes. Her hand felt cool against his face. Like a salve to his problems and worries. It was comforting.

  He felt the hand move away, too soon, and yearned for it back. He opened his eyes then, and found that he was alone.

  A little unnerved, Cameron sat up and walked into the bathroom, staring at his reflection, with accusation in his eyes. He didn’t like what he was doing, but it would be over soon, and everything will have turned out alright.

  He touched his cheek, fingers dancing lightly over his scar.

  Everything will be alright.