11. Eleven

Eleven

My intestines felt like they were in the grip of some sadistic clown tying a balloon dog. I wasn’t sure if it was the corruption or regular, plain old nerves.

Cyrus pulled the SUV onto a narrow, twisting road lined with ancient trees. Jagged, snow-capped mountains towered in the distance. Dark clouds blocked out the sun, casting grim shadows over the forest.

I hadn’t been to the Gray compound since I was a child, but I could remember the tall wooden walls and gate, covered in sharpened spikes and barbed wire like a weird military base in the middle of the mountainous forest. Hunters valued their privacy.

The car was quiet. Maybe a little conversation would ease my anxiety.

Quillon ran a cloth down the barrel of a rifle, sitting in the appropriately named shotgun seat.

“Is that another gun?” I leaned forward and raised an eyebrow. “How do you fit them all in that tiny bag?”

The corner of Quillon’s mouth lifted in a smirk. “I have my ways. We must maintain some mystery in the marriage, don’t you think, love?”

And now I was more worried. Great.

I sat back in my seat and picked at the loose silver threads of my hunter duster. I figured if the Grays saw a hunter approaching their gates, they may give me a chance to explain myself before firing a crossbow bolt at my forehead.

Felix was asleep, resting his head on Skye’s shoulder. Skye had a book open in his lap, but he was looking out the window at the passing evergreen trees. When I glanced at Shael beside me, he was staring back.

“You okay?” He pushed his wild red hair out of his face.

I nodded. “Just a little nervous, I guess. The last time I was here was like a different life.”

“I know what you mean.” Shael’s ruby eyes grew distant before they focused back on me. “But we’re here with you now.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.” I sighed. I hadn’t really thought this through. I’d been so desperate to do something that I may have put everyone at risk again. “I’m not sure how they’ll receive a traitor and the Aegis. Max is the most level-headed hunter I know, but the bar’s low.”

Shael grasped my hands in his. “Everything will be alright. One way or another. As long as we’re all together.”

Warmth flooded my body, both from Shael and from his words.

Everything will be alright as long as we’re together.

I wasn’t the same scared girl who fled her compound six years ago. I’d been alone then, even when I’d been with my family. Now, I had people who would risk getting trapped between worlds to find me.

I smiled as the car slowed. The gates from my memory came into view at the end of the road.

“Stop the car,” I said.

Cyrus brought the SUV to a slow stop, and I opened my door.

He twisted in his seat, grasping my wrist before I could get out. “What are you doing?”

“Let me handle this. You may know how to kill hunters, but I know how they work. This is a delicate situation.” One I still wasn’t sure wouldn’t end in all our deaths.

Cyrus’s face was impassive as I counted the seconds. We wouldn’t have long before hunters stormed out of the gate to take care of unannounced trespassers.

Finally, he released me. “Be careful. If anyone points a weapon at you, I won’t be so patient.”

I nodded and jumped out. My boots hit the concrete, covered in pine needles and thin patches of snow. The biting cold seeped through my leather duster as I approached the towering gate.

A pair of hunters peeked their heads and their crossbows over the side of the wall.

“Stand down.” I raised my hands and the end of my braid above my head. “I’m a hunter, see? I’m here to speak with Max.”

I glanced over my shoulder at the sound of another door opening. Cyrus was making good on his promise. I shook my head, and a muscle popped in his jaw. But his door didn’t open further.

“Don’t move,” one guard called down, his crossbow still pointed at me, while the other guard disappeared.

I counted my breaths, misting in the cold as the seconds ticked by. My numb hands, still raised, shook with my shivering. Maybe their plan was to simply freeze the stranger to death.

A familiar face peered down at me from the top of the wall. My gasp caught in my throat. She looked so much like Mom.

“I’ll be damned,” Max said. I winced as she shone a strong light down at me. “It’s my niece.”

I dropped my arms and waved at her. “Hey, Aunt Maxine.”

Max shut off her light and turned to the other guard. “What are you waiting for? Open the gate!”

“Right away, Matriarch,” he responded. The gate groaned as it slowly opened before me.

Max appeared in the opening, flanked by a dozen hunters, dressed in their leathers and strapped with enough weapons to put even my father to shame.

“You had one more arm the last time I saw you,” I said. Not my best opener, but it wasn’t my worst.

Max’s right sleeve was cut off and sewn shut.

“It’s been a long time. Even hunter blood can’t protect one from an imp’s teeth.” Her sharp silver gaze passed over me, inspecting me like I was doing to her.

She didn’t wear any obvious weapons, but she’d have concealed blades under her leather duster. A hunter was never without their tools. Years of use creased her faded leathers. Rusty tattooed dots covered every inch of visible skin. The hunter marks crisscrossed her hand, neck and face in swirling patterns. Her silver hair, streaked with dark gray, was gathered in a twisted bun at the nape of her neck.

“Your father said you were dead.”

“Yeah, well ...” I scratched the back of my neck where my hunter marks burned. “You know how he is.”

Max’s expression darkened. “Unfortunately. What brings you back to the Order? And to my compound, no less?”

“Have you heard what happened to the Titus and Luna families?”

Her brow scrunched. “The Tituses disappeared like many others. I spoke with the Luna Patriarch about a week ago. He believed the attacks weren’t random. He seemed to think there was some big conspiracy. That hunters around the world are being targeted.”

“We have a lot to talk about.” I winced at the sound of a second car door opening behind me.

Max’s gaze moved to something behind me. “You’re not alone.”

“So don’t freak out—”

“You brought outsiders.” Max’s voice was low.

The hunters raised their crossbows as Shael appeared beside me ... followed by the others. All crossbows shifted their aim to Cyrus as he came up to my back.

“The Aegis?” Max propped her hand on her hip. “Well, you certainly know how to make an entrance. You are your father’s daughter, after all.”

I stepped forward. “The Luna Patriarch was right. And now they’ve disappeared too. I know who’s behind it, but we can’t stop him alone. I wouldn’t have come, but we’re out of options. We all are.”

Max studied the Aegis men.

“Come in.” Max’s duster fanned out as she turned on her heel. “I’d ask you all to leave your weapons at the gate, but I suspect that would make little difference.”

My boots squelched in the mud as I walked through the gate between rows of hunters, watching with suspicion. My men followed, surrounding me like a wall of muscle and magic.

The breath rushed out of me. I couldn’t believe that actually worked. Any other hunter would have attacked us.

It had been ages since I’d been in a compound. My heart pounded painfully in my chest. I hadn’t thought I’d step foot in one again.

Log cottages lined the muddy street, smoke rising from their chimneys. A large garden patch filled the space to our right. A woman stood from her position, crouched over the green leaves of the compound’s winter crops, dusted in snow. Her hand covered the dagger at her hip as she watched us pass.

Every hunter was a warrior, but that wasn’t all we were. Some were gardeners, lumberjacks, masons, leatherworkers, blacksmiths or even bakers. Compounds were meant to be self-sufficient. I was never any good at anything but fighting. Luckily, as the heir, that was all that was expected of me. To be a strong warrior. One worthy of following into battle.

Fat snowflakes began falling from the sky. I glanced over my shoulder at Skye. His magic surged above the rest, filling my nose with the scent of the ocean and freshly cut grass. It crashed against my barriers like the waves of a stormy sea. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. His stormy eyes met mine, and he shoved his hands into his pockets.

“Are they sparring with steel swords?” Felix asked.

The children in the training yard stopped their sparring matches and stared as we walked by.

I snorted. Hunters graduated from wooden swords as soon as they were strong enough to lift steel. “Don’t worry, they’re not sharpened. Probably.”

Max led us up the steps to the great hall. It was the center of the compound and where the Matriarch lived with her family. Or rather, where she would have lived with her family.

The wooden structure stretched high into the sky like the tall spires of a church. The doors were already open, revealing a roaring fire in a stone hearth and a long table at the center of the room.

I slowed as I entered the warm room. “I don’t remember quite so many dead things the last time I was here.”

The slanted ceiling stretched high above our heads, supported by crossbeams. Stuffed birds hung from them by strings.

Furs draped over every surface, and countless animal trophies covered the wall. Mostly heads. It was a vegetarian’s nightmare. Or perhaps a druid’s. I glanced at Felix. He surveyed the room with wide eyes.

Shael walked up to what used to be a bear, standing on his hind legs and roaring. He poked a pointy white tooth as Felix made a face at him.

I was just glad it was only the animal kills on display. I didn’t think I’d be able to explain away the mounted head of a fire elemental.

“I’ve done some decorating since Marcus died.” Max gestured to the table and took a seat at the head.

“Was it between this and a live, laugh, love sign?” I chuckled, but Max didn’t laugh. She was always the stoic sister.

Max grabbed a bottle from the table and filled a glass with a thick, red liquid. “Would you like any?”

I sat in the seat closest to her and shook my head, not daring to look at any of the guys. It was a reminder of what hunters were. We fed on the blood of otherworlders. Families other than the Morgans needed it to survive. The Morgans usually took it through touch.

“Ah, that’s right.” Max swirled her glass and took a sip. “You have your father’s blood.” The guys took their seats at the table; Felix and Shael fighting for the chair beside mine. “So, who are these men to you?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but no words came out. What were we to one another? I’d die for any of them, but we’d never had the “What are we?” talk.

“I’m her boyfriend,” Shael said, grinning from his freshly won seat beside me.

“I’m also her boyfriend.” Felix waggled his eyebrows from Shael’s other side.

Quillon sat back in his seat at the other head of the table. “I’m her husband.”

Max raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been busy.”

“You have no idea.” I rested my chin in my palm.

Skye still stood by the door, his teal magic gathered around him. Snow still fell outside the open doors.

“He’s my own personal rain cloud. Don’t mind him,” I said. Max’s attention turned to the last man in the room.

“I’m her ...” Cyrus ran a hand through his light blond hair. A lock slid back onto his forehead. “Captain.”

Max flinched. “You’ve joined the Aegis?”

I pulled on the sleeve of my leather duster. “Well, not exactly—”

“She’s a part of my team,” Cyrus said. His deep voice brokered no argument.

Warmth crept into my cheeks, and I pressed my cold hands to them. I needed to change the subject. I was much more comfortable with the impending apocalypse.

“I got involved with the Aegis when we were fighting a woman named Valeria Orsava. She commanded armies of undead on Draqaar, but it wasn’t her magic that raised them. It was …” His name caught in my throat. “It was Sebastian Castelle.”

Max coughed on the blood she was drinking. “Castelle?”

“Yes. He’s behind the hunter disappearances. He visits the compound in the morning, offering unlimited power. Then he returns in the evening.”

Max took a deep breath and traced a line of hunter marks on her forearm. “He does have a history of killing hunters.”

“I’m not so sure he’s killing them anymore. At least not at the compounds. You know what Mom used to say about souls? I think she was right. And there were no souls left behind in the Luna compound.”

“What is he doing with them?”

I bit my lip. “I’m not sure.”

“Why visit in the morning? Why not just surprise them?”

“We believe some have joined his cause,” Cyrus added grimly. “Voluntarily.”

Max scoffed. “Outrageous. Hunters would never turn on their own kin.”

“I think Sebastian and I are proof that isn’t true.” I cleared my throat. “He attacks with corrupt hunters. A boy from the Titus compound confirmed this. Some of his own family drank Sebastian’s blood and turned on their kin.”

“Corrupt hunters?” Max shook her head. “Why drink his blood?”

I averted my eyes. “His promises of unlimited power aren’t exactly an empty promise.”

The crackling of the fire and muted sounds of sparring filled the silence.

Max tapped her blunt fingernails on the table.

“That’s why I came here. We’ve been trying to take them down for months, but they keep slipping through our fingers. We can’t do it on our own.” I leaned forward. “Hunters are the only ones that can hope to fight their power, but not alone. It’s only a matter of time before Sebastian visits the Gray compound. We need each other.”

Max was still silent. Maybe she didn’t understand the stakes. Maybe she didn’t think we could help.

“I have a plan to take him out,” I said.

Cyrus’s frigid gaze found me, but I ignored him. I had to trust. To have faith that she would understand.

“I’m searching for a Reaper. He’s supposed to ferry souls and mana to the Aether, but I believe he’s stuck below a hunter compound. If we can find him, he can help us get rid of Sebastian and restore balance to the worlds.”

Max sighed. “I can’t say I approve of your actions or your alliance with the Aegis, but you’re right. Sebastian is a threat that cannot be ignored. I’ll speak with the elders, but the decision is mine. There’s more at stake here than our Order’s code.”

She cut her gaze to Cyrus.

“But I want to make one thing clear. I’m only agreeing to work with my niece.” Her gaze softened on me. “You’ve grown to be just like your mother, you know. She was headstrong but gentle-hearted. I always told her it would get her into trouble.”

“Yeah, well. You were right.” My chest ached. Being around hunters again, staring into Max’s face, so similar to my mother’s was getting to me.

Max grasped my hands. They were callused and rough. “I know what really happened. After the incident with the druid, Katlyn suspected they may cast her out, but we never thought Elias would let them—”

I pulled my hands away. “Can we stay here tonight?”

Cyrus’s blond eyebrows rose. Skye finally looked up at me. Thunder boomed, far too close, as lighting flashed in the windows.

Max sat back in her seat. “All right. If you trust them, I’ll trust you. For your mother.”

Shael regarded Max uneasily as he whispered to me, “Are you sure you want to stay here? We can get another hotel.”

I shook my head. I wanted to be here for Max’s discussion with the Elders, and perhaps forcing the hunters to be around the Aegis men might make them realize they weren’t the boogey men we thought they were.

“We have plenty of room, otherworlder. We won’t bite.” Max smiled, flashing her filed fangs. “This time.”