Hunter Circles Series Books 1-3: An Urban Fantasy Box Set

by Jessica Gunn

  I closed my eyes and fell back, knocking my back against the closest wall. “Shit.”

  “Do you hear my thoughts?”

  No. All I heard was white noise, none of his mind’s words. White noise and power. Good power. “I see your Alzanian magik. It’s definitely there. Just… locked.”

  I blinked away the power until all I saw was Shawn on the floor still clutching his knee. His shirt had been knocked askew, revealing a tattoo creeping up from his hip onto his back. One I hadn’t seen before and likely never would have otherwise. His chiseled muscles made it hard to see from this angle with the lights above. I couldn’t make out what the design was beyond something that looked like a fire or wave of water.

  “That’s good, then,” Shawn said, tugging down his shirt as he stood. “At least Jaffrin wasn’t wrong about that after all, huh?”

  I nodded. “Guess so. Hold on.” I closed my eyes and built up mental walls again, tightly locking up my telepathy behind barriers that’d keep me sane. “I haven’t let my power go like that in over a decade.”

  “Is it overwhelming?”

  “Yeah. Pretty much.” I pointed to his hip. “What’s your tattoo of? Looked like fire or water or something.” Which was ironic, considering my own tattoo of a snowflake, hidden most of the time by a long pair of jeans.

  Shawn froze, then looked down at the spot his shirt now covered. He chuckled once. “Hah, that? That’s, uh, a long story.”

  “Sure it is. We all do stupid things when drunk. Let’s hear it.”

  He shook his head, shifting his weight from foot to foot nervously. “Nothing like that.”

  Then why was he so worried about telling me?

  “Then how’d you get it?” I asked. “I mean, if you want to tell me.”

  Shawn shrugged, his default response to everything, it seemed. “I was in New Orleans, back before I knew about demons. We took this ghost sighting tour. I’d never go back to the French Quarter now that I know about the demons that lurk there. But I didn’t back then. Anyway, this guy told us a ridiculous story and then my college friends and I all got this fire water tattoo to commemorate it. Stupid, I know. But we weren’t drunk at the time.”

  “Fire water,” I repeated. “How… random.”

  Something slid to the bottom of my stomach, a concern that something in his story didn’t add up. New Orleans? The French Quarter? That whole area might as well be Landshaft 2.0, if not for the massive Earth Circle presence in the area.

  “Yeah,” Shawn said, chuckling again as he ran a hand through his sweaty hair. “That’s why I don’t talk about the tattoo too much. Or let it show. Stupid mistake.”

  “Right.”

  But as Shawn and I climbed back up to the first level of our team’s townhome, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to the story. And unfortunately for Shawn, my gut instincts were usually right.

  CHAPTER 11

  BEN

  A shrill alarm broke through the blackness of sleep like a blinding strike of lightning. One moment I was completely out of it and the next, I sat up straight, confused.

  What in the hell?

  I rubbed the sleep and confusion out of my eyes with the palms of my hands as the alarm went off again. No—not alarm. My phone. Reaching over, I peered down at the caller ID.

  Avery. What?

  I swiped my thumb across the bottom and answered the call. “Hello?”

  “Ben, it’s Avery.”

  “What’s wrong?” If Avery was calling me—not Jaffrin, not some admin—then I almost didn’t want to know.

  “Nothing,” Avery said. “At least, I don’t think so. But Jaffrin got word Hunter’s Guild has already been rebuilt.”

  “What are you talking about? It was just destroyed.”

  Something shifted on his end of the call, like he was moving around and had switched ears. “They did it with magik. Because of what the Guild stood for in the war.”

  A neutral place, generally the only one mediators from both sides went to in order to speak with each other without worry.

  “Okay, so why are you calling me about it?”

  “Because Jaffrin doesn’t seem interested in scoping out the place,” Avery said, his voice low.

  What the hell? Avery never went behind Jaffrin’s back about anything. He was the epitome of a stuck-up, goody two shoes. Especially when it came to being Head Boy of the Fire Circle. Not that Jaffrin’s treatment of him helped any. It was pretty clear Jaffrin was primping Avery to be a candidate when Jaffrin’s term as Leader was up.

  “Again, why call me?” I asked. “Our team just went for a day and a half straight. If it’s not an official mission, I don’t understand what you want.”

  “I want to check it out, but I don’t want to take my team and I don’t want to go alone,” Avery said. “Not after the attacks there. It’s too dangerous, which is probably why Jaffrin hasn’t assigned anyone to go.”

  “When did he receive this information?”

  “Early this morning.”

  So sometime after we’d left, then. “Okay. You want me to go with you, then? My whole team, or…?”

  “You,” Avery said. “I’m sure we can handle it. But I also wanted another team leader to come just in case we find something. To verify.”

  My eyes narrowed. “What exactly are you expecting to find?”

  His voice lowered again. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m not going alone. And why I’m asking you to join. Obviously when Kinder attacked the first time, magik-users didn’t stand a chance. So I’m not sure I’d have any luck, either. But it might be interesting to see who flocks to Hunter’s Guild on the first night it’s reopened.”

  My stomach roiled. “Are you saying you’re expecting Kinder to attack again? That her aim was to shut down the Guild?” If the attack at Arnie’s was any indication, Kinder was purely after powers and magik. The Guild would have a plethora to choose from, so would Arnie’s bar. If the Guild became a target again, I didn’t want to be there when it was attacked.

  “Maybe,” Avery said. “I don’t know. But I’m going tonight to scope out the place. I figured one lone Hunter, maybe two, won’t get noticed. But a whole team of us would.”

  I chewed the inside of my cheek. The rational side of me screamed this was a bad idea, but Avery had a point. With the Guild down even for a few days and now reopened, a lot of people might show up. And given the demon and Hunter mix, it might be a good way to glean information about what the other side thought about Kinder’s attacks.

  “All right,” I said. “What time?”

  “I can meet you outside the Guild in an hour,” Avery said. “Just have to check out of Headquarters for the night.”

  “One hour. See you then.”

  The call clicked off and I stared down at my phone, weighing the risks and potential rewards of what we were about to do. If anyone from Darkness’s Empire had any information about Kinder’s whereabouts or exact agenda, Avery and I needed to take this risk.

  But I wouldn’t send us alone.

  I hopped out of bed and threw a hoodie on over my T-shirt before stalking down the hall to Krystin’s room. Her door was still shut, though the sounds of some TV show playing downstairs told me at least someone else was awake. The last few days of constant action had worn us out. I’d slept for almost twelve hours straight myself. Something I haven’t done since college.

  I knocked lightly on her door and shoved my hands into the front pocket of the hoodie as I laid my covered head on the door frame. I was still exhausted. My head buzzed around the fog of sleep, even Avery’s words not enough to wake me up.

  Footsteps echoed behind Krystin’s door. The doorknob twisted and she opened the door. “Hey.”

  I lifted my head. “Morning. Er, night.”

  She looked over her shoulder at her alarm clock. “Damn. Talk about confusing nights and days.”

  “I know. I’m all messed up too. Hey, do you have plans tonight?”

  Her
gaze flashed up to mine, confused. “Um, Ben—”

  I closed my eyes. Idiot. “No, not like that. Avery called.” Except part of me did want to ask her for plans like that. It was the same part of me that had liked our kiss a week ago way too much for people who’re supposed to be working on a team together. A team with a hierarchy, albeit a small, not really functioning one.

  Her brow furrowed. “Really? I didn’t realize that weasel had our numbers.”

  I chuckled. “Weasel?”

  “He liked to rat me out when we were younger,” she said. “Whenever I showed up late or got caught at a bar underage.”

  “Sounds like Avery.”

  “What’d he want?”

  “Hunter’s Guild has been rebuilt and is up and running as of tonight, apparently. The glory of modern magik at its best.”

  She whistled low. “I can’t believe it’s back already.”

  “Me either. And I couldn’t believe Avery had a decent idea for once too. He wants to go tonight and see who shows up now that they’re open again. He’s interested in what information we can find out about what Darkness thinks is going on.”

  Krystin looked off to the side, tilting her head. “It’s not a horrible idea.”

  “I was wondering if you’d like to go?”

  She glanced back at me with a smirk. “And ruin the fun guys’ night out?”

  “Ha ha. You wish.”

  Shrugging, she said, “Sure. I don’t mind. Besides, I figure the reason you’re asking is because you either don’t trust Avery’s intentions or you want another magik-user with you—just in case.”

  “The latter. It might get messy, even with the protection magiks—assuming they’re back up.”

  “If they’re reopening the Guild I’d bet they’re even stronger this time. You probably won’t be able to so much as swat a fly in there anymore.”

  “Not that those stopped Kinder.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Krystin said. “What time do we leave?”

  “Avery said he’d meet us there in an hour.”

  She nodded. “Sounds good. I’ll go get ready.”

  “Me too.”

  KRYSTIN and I met Avery an hour later as planned. When Rachel asked where we were going, I told her it was part of a mission Jaffrin had assigned. She at least seemed to be happy I wasn’t going alone.

  The night air wrapped around me as if I’d dunked myself in ice water. I shivered fiercely as we walked up to the front door of Hunter’s Guild.

  “This is the first time we’ve all properly gone out together,” Krystin pointed out.

  “Fantastic. Let’s continue this where it’s warm,” I said.

  Avery nodded as he flashed his Fire Circle knife at the door. “Agreed. I’m freezing my balls off out here.”

  The man working security let us in and, as we entered the building, an unnatural sense of calm exploded over me. For the first time in years, I felt wholly relaxed. “Damn.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Krystin said. “That’s their new protection magiks all right. It’s like getting dosed with an anti-psychotic.”

  “’Cause you’d know what that’s like,” Avery commented as he scouted out the inside of the Guild.

  “And you wouldn’t?”

  “Back to your corners, kids,” I said.

  Krystin rolled her eyes. “Oh, please.”

  “I hear it’s you two that need separate corners, anyway,” Avery said.

  Right. Ignoring that.

  The inside of Hunter’s Guild looked almost exactly as it had before, two floors and with a wooden staircase leading up to the second. A bar area took up the left side of the ground floor, although now, unlike before, smoke from cigars flowed freely from the space instead of being trapped by an invisible magik wall. Large steel beams now stood in place of the wooden originals that’d fallen during Kinder’s attack, but aside from that, all the booths and stools remained the same. As had the atmosphere—at least, what of it I could feel past the relaxing effects of the protection magiks.

  “Whatever magik they’re using, they need to bottle it,” Krystin said as we plunked down into a booth on the far side of the room, back inside a dimly-lit corner. The cushions were a deep brown and not as soft as the old ones. “I haven’t been this relaxed and not wanting to punch something in weeks.”

  “Same.” If I thought about things enough—like Riley being in Canada or Kinder killing innocents—the anger still came, but the impulse to act, to do something about it, didn’t.

  “Wish they’d use them at Headquarters,” Avery said as he flagged down a waitress and ordered a round of beers for each of us. “The people running the magik illusion on the outside of the building have enough issues, though being able to keep irate Hunters or locked-up demons quiet would be nice.”

  Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “You capture that many?”

  Avery shrugged, watching the waitress retreat to the bar. Demon waitress, I should clarify. Her deep red eyes were enough to put me off, but Avery seemed less deterred, especially considering the miniskirt and low-cut top beneath those eyes. “You don’t?”

  “No,” Krystin said. “We usually dispose of the ones we fight.”

  I could almost hear the rest of her sentence, something to the effect of: You know, because we can actually take them down. Unlike you’re powerless team. Though it was true, judging them based on not having magik was stupid. Plenty of Hunters throughout history went after demons without magik. We were just the lucky few who got to deal with learning how to control lightning and whatever else might manifest.

  Avery readjusted his focus when the waitress returned with our drinks. “Whatever works for you guys, I guess.”

  The waitress unloaded a tray of drinks and Avery paid her. Then he offered up a cheers and the drinking commenced.

  “So,” I said. “How did you want to do this tonight?”

  “Not sure,” Avery said. “Looks like there are plenty of demons to choose from regarding information.” He looked around the room, staring at each of the three dozen demons in turn. Another group, Hunters, I thought, gathered at the bar.

  “That’s not exactly a good starting point,” Krystin said as the front door to Hunter’s Guild opened.

  “No,” I said, “but we could—”

  The noise in the room cut out in an instant, from roars of laughter and raucous drinking to dead quiet immediately. Walking into the Guild were three newcomers, each decked out in pale yellow cloaks that billowed around them as they walked. Their cowl hoods were up, hiding their features. But the clasp in front bore a symbol: EHC intertwined together with a white rose.

  “Shit,” Avery said, ducking his head to focus pointedly on his drink.

  Krystin and I did the same, she resting her elbow on the table to block her face from view.

  “You’re not kidding,” I said.

  Krystin spoke quietly, her words sharp. “What’s the Ether Head Circle doing here?”

  “It’s just their representatives.”

  “That’s what they always say, then some poor town or city ends up on the wrong end of their puppeteering,” Avery said.

  Krystin shifted in her seat, closer to me and as far away from the Ether Head Circle representatives as possible as they trailed through the main area and upstairs into one of the private rooms. “Doesn’t make it any better. I thought they didn’t give a shit about what happened here.”

  “Yeah, until Kinder attacked,” said Avery. “Now everyone cares.”

  “Maybe they’re here for the same reason as us.”

  “It’s not Aloysius, for god’s sake,” Krystin snapped, still hiding her face beside her beer bottle. “It’s just Kinder. Is she a traitor to the Fire Circle? Absolutely. And she’s powerful as hell. And immortal.”

  “You’re not helping,” I said dryly.

  Krystin peeked up at me. “My point is that she’s not more powerful than Aloysius, which means, even though immortal, she can be stopped. If we do it right.”
<
br />   “And when has ‘doing it right’ ever worked out for us?”

  She rolled her eyes and looked up to the door the Ether Circle representatives had gone through.

  Avery lifted his head. “They might be there all night. We’re safe for now, but—”

  “Let’s not fuck with the Ether Head Circle, okay? I can’t handle them on top of everything else right now,” said Krystin.

  “Amen,” I said under my breath.

  “Better still stay hidden though,” Avery said. “Especially since Jaffrin doesn’t know we’re here.”

  Both Krystin and I nodded, accepting our immediate fates, but something still nagged me about Hunter’s Guild after the rebuild. Magik had rebuilt this place fast, but could it put the divide between demon and Hunter back together?

  “Oh, shit,” Avery said, once more looking around the room. “There. Not good.”

  Krystin and I followed his line of sight and arrived on a table full with patrons on each side. Seven people crammed around a tiny wooden table.

  “What’s that all about?” Avery asked.

  Krystin’s eyes narrowed. “At least five of them are actually demons, but…” She stared down at her drink and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. After a few moments, she looked up again. “Their auras are shadowy but bright—fluorescent, actually. All except one. The guy at the head of the table is a witch, not a demon. They’re wearing contacts.”

  “Better not blow their cover, then,” I said. “Might be another Hunter.”

  Krystin shook her head. “If I can tell, the demons can, too. He’s not hiding his witch aura at all.”

  I looked at her. “Did you when you pretended to be a demon?”

  Krystin nodded, but Avery jumped in and asked, “You faked being a demon? Why?”

  “Long story,” she said, watching the table. Her face paled. “Ben.”

  I watched long enough to see one of the demons nudge the witch closer to the demons on the side of the table. That’s when I saw the handcuffs, heavy chains poorly masked by some failing magik.