14. Fourteen

Fourteen

I ducked. The hunter blade sliced through the air where my neck had just been. Max wasn’t playing around. The clang of weapons filled the misty morning air.

Every hunter started their day with training, and it just so happened that it was part of the Aegis’s routine, too. My men sparred in the corner while every hunter of the compound filled the rest of the training yard, exercising or fighting. I could still barely believe it. I used to be so afraid of my Aegis finding out who I was, but here they were, sparring beside hunters.

Well, in the same general area as hunters. Close enough.

Max swung again, and I blocked her blade with two of my own. She was just as capable as she’d been with two arms.

“What happened, anyway?” I asked, arcing my blades to meet her long sword in a shower of sparks. “To your arm?”

“A group of demons was terrorizing a town up the mountain.” Max took a step back and drove her sword into the mud. She shrugged off her hunter duster, hanging it on a nearby post. She gazed down at the stump poking out of the right sleeve of her T-shirt. It was still wrapped in bandages. “Good thing we’re trained to use either hand.”

I stayed in my crouched fighting stance while she pulled her sword from the muck and charged again. I stepped to the side and parried her deft strike.

“I’d never be able to tell you weren’t left-handed. You said it was a demon?” I spun to face her again.

“Demons have been acting strange.” She twirled her sword and circled me. “Traveling in packs.”

“I’ve heard.”

“The police are powerless against demons, and the Aegis has been conveniently absent.” She glanced at Cyrus over my shoulder. “Heard over the radio that a woman called about an imp eating her goats. I went right after another hunt. It was foolish, but it couldn’t wait. There were young children in the house.”

She finally dropped her sword and swept a strand of hair from her moist forehead. “I’d only expected one, but they quickly surrounded me. Bastard ate my arm, sword and all, but I still managed to cut his throat from the inside before he severed it.” She lifted her chin and stood a bit taller. “I killed them all.”

“Good thing hunter blood neutralizes imp venom.” I sheathed my swords and eyed her wound. “Probably because the venom is magical.”

Max blinked. “Venom? How do you know—”

“Donald. My imp friend.” I waved my hand through the air when her eyebrows flew up. “It’s a long story. Remember that imp that ate half my father’s motorcycle while we were hunting the druid pack in Arizona?”

Max pressed her lips together. “That imp’s a tricky one. Your father’s been after him for decades, but he always slips away.” She rubbed her chin. “You have an imp as a friend and his name’s Donald?”

I nodded. “He’s a bit gross at first, but he can be fun. He’s probably eaten some whole live goats, but he hasn’t eaten any babies. Probably. That I know of ... Since I met him definitely.”

Had he eaten any babies?

I shook my head. I was getting distracted.

“He was the one who alerted me to the strange demon behavior.”

“What did he think was causing it?”

I stared at my hands. My veins were dark beneath my pale skin. I pulled my sleeves down. “Who knows? Demons revel in chaos. Could be anything.”

Max surveyed the training yard. Her eyes stayed on my men, sparring in their corner. Flashes of orange fire lit up the misty morning and icicles rained down on Felix, who dodged them in his house cat form.

“So, you’ve really gotten close with otherworlders,” Max said. Felix shifted into a griffon, gaining the attention of nearby hunters. They lowered their weapons and gazed in awe at his onyx form.

“They’re really not so bad.” I crossed my arms, unsure of where this was going.

All my life I’d been told otherworlders were the enemy. Not to be trusted. They were made of magic, stolen from God. And they probably ate babies.

That last one still might have been true. I’d have to ask Donald.

Felix bowed his head to one of the smaller kids. The girl reached a tentative hand up and stroked his feathered head. She let out a squeal and giggled. There was a moment of stunned silence. Then, all the children descended.

“Show them your dragon!” Shael yelled from the Aegis corner. The children gasped and began chanting “dragon.”

“No.” Max chuckled and turned back to me. “They’re not.”

Ari wasn’t spared either. He stood at the fence, his glamour up, but hunters could see right through it. Heat crept up my cheeks as I remembered last night.

I didn’t know what came over me, but I doubted the corruption really made me want things I didn’t. It just seemed to elevate whatever emotion was already there.

A group of children gathered around Ari, peppering him with questions, their eyes wide and filled with wonder.

“Why are you wearing that?”

“Are you daeva? Your eyes are purple.”

“Look at his hands. You have a lot of scars.”

“How many people have you killed?”

I held my breath. Ari’s scars and past were a sensitive topic for him, to say the least.

Ari looked away and released a raspy grumble. His shoulders hunched. “More than you can count.”

The kids gasped and shared a look. “Cooool.”

Ari seemed to grow taller.

“Can we see more of your scars?” one girl asked.

“No.”

I snorted. Felix had told me something when they first discovered my identity. “ We’re all misfits. You fit right in.” Maybe hunters and my Aegis men had more in common than they thought.

“Matriarch.”

I started. A guard had come up behind us while we’d been talking.

He looked past me, frowning at Max. “There’s a hunter at the gates.”

“What?” I drew my blades again. “Who is it?”

The guard addressed Max again. “He came out of nowhere. One minute there was nothing then, he was there.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”

“Who is it?” I asked again through clenched teeth.

“I don’t answer to traitors of the blood,” the guard snarled.

“Christopher!” Max snapped. “Answer her.”

A muscle popped in Christopher’s jaw. “He says he’s from the Castelle family, but that’s impossible.”

Shit. Felix had shifted back, though he was still shirtless, and was now jogging over with the other guys. He must have heard the guard’s news.

“No, it’s not.” Max took a deep breath. “There’s one surviving member. Sebastian Castelle.”

I thought his brother had survived, but now wasn’t the time to ask.

“Don’t let him in,” Cyrus commanded as the Aegis men arrived.

“I’m not an idiot, bennu.” Max snapped. “And if you’re smart, you will all stay out of sight while I deal with this.”

Max strode away with the guards, climbing the ladder to the walkway that spanned the walls.

Quillon leaned in and whispered, “I spotted a crack in the wall when we came in. Should give us a good view.”

I nodded, and Quillon led us to a section of wall beside the large gates. The Grays gathered behind the gates or perched up on the wall.

A large crack split the thick wooden wall. I pressed my palms to the waterlogged wood and peeked through.

My breath caught in my throat. Sebastian stood at the gates. His hair was longer, and the silver locks brushed the base of his neck. He wore his weathered hunter leathers, but if he carried any weapons, they weren’t visible. His aura was almost entirely dark now. Faint threads of silver wove through the black cloud.

“I see you have other guests.” He indicated the SUV on the side of the road. “Did they receive a warmer welcome?”

“You have a lot of nerve showing your face around here.” Max’s strong voice carried on the still air. “Your father was a good friend of mine. He loved you more than anything.”

Sebastian’s face flashed with wild anger before he reined it in, replacing it with an almost gentle expression. “I’m not here about that.”

“Then why are you here? Speak quickly or I’ll have my guards open fire.”

The corner of Sebastian’s lip twitched. “I’m here with an offer.”

“We want nothing from you.”

Sebastian tilted his head and took in the others gathered atop the walls. “I wouldn’t be so sure. I offer what the elders have always sought to keep from us.” He raised his voice until it boomed throughout the compound. “Our true power isn’t in the elimination of magic, but in its embrace.”

Max sucked in a breath. “Blasphemy.”

“Not blasphemy. Truth.” Sebastian snapped his fingers. A ring of fire rose at his feet. The flames caught in the spiraling tornado that he summoned around him. Hunters gasped as he raised a metal ball above his head. Runes flared to life on its surface, shooting rays of golden light in every direction.

“What’s that?” Shael whispered.

“An ancient bennu artifact,” Cyrus grumbled. “How did he get his hands on that?”

“What does it do?” I asked.

“A great artificer created it during the first war with the demons. It’s meant to store demonic energy and release it in a great blast.”

“So, Sebastian has a demon bomb,” I said. “Lovely.”

Sebastian opened his eyes, and his gaze snapped to our peephole. I pulled away, pressing my back to the wall. Had he seen me?

“Consider my words. Our people have been under the thumb of a false Order and power-hungry elders for too long.” Sebastian’s voice held an edge of madness. I hazarded another look through the crack. “I offer a different path. A path of freedom and power.”

He pocketed the demon bomb. “I’ll be back. And I expect a final answer.” His aura thickened around him until shadows encased his body. “Oh, and I know Arsyn Morgan is harbored here. I’ll give a special reward to anyone who brings her to me.” He held up a finger. “Unhurt.”

And with that, he disappeared.

“Shit.” I pushed away from the wall and jogged to meet Max as she and the guards climbed down the ladders. “You all have to get out of here,” I said. “Sebastian will come tonight, and he’ll bring an army of hunters more powerful than any other and can use magic like him.”

Max’s gaze was blank. She stared over my shoulder at nothing. “Hunters with magic? I ... I don’t understand.”

Whispers spread through the gathered hunters. They’d formed a crowd, now.

“It’s something I’ve been trying to understand myself.” How could we have gone so many centuries with so much untapped power? I lifted my sleeve to show my masking rune and channeled some mana into it. The lines slowly filled with golden light. “I stumbled upon it accidentally, but it seems hunters have always been able to use the mana we consume.”

Max watched me activate my rune with a slack expression. It morphed into anger. “The angels sent us here with their gift to protect earth from otherworlders, but they failed to tell us about the greatest weapon we could wield?”

“Perhaps it’s meant as a test of will.” A woman stepped forward. Steel rings pierced her frizzy silver braids. “We must not be tempted by magic.”

Quillon scoffed, earning a few glares.

I stepped in front of him. “Now’s not exactly the time to get into it, but I think the angels we’re told we descended from were actually reapers. But they’ve gone missing. I’m searching for one here on Earth. He’s about this tall, silver hair and eyes like us, speaks in riddles, is a bit of a diva—”

Felix elbowed me.

I sputtered like a broken record. “Not the most pressing issue. Right now, we need to pack up and get the hell out of here.”

“We don’t take orders from you,” a man yelled from the back.

Murmurs and growing cries spread. “The elders have lied to us!”

“Why should we have to flee our home?” Christopher jumped on a crate. His hunter blades swung on his hips as he stood and pointed at Max. “The Matriarch is the one who let the outsiders in. She’s not even a Gray by blood.”

A cry of agreement rose from a few of the hunters. Max watched quietly. Her face was impassive, but I knew her well enough to see the rage that boiled beneath her calm demeanor.

“I say we listen to what the man has to say.” Christopher didn’t let up. “Sebastian’s the only one willing to show us the truth.”

“He’s insane!” The words burst out of me. I couldn’t stand to just listen anymore. “He killed his whole family and raised undead to lay waste to a world. He won’t show you the truth.” Bile rose in my throat at the memory of what they left at Valeria’s estate when they fled. “He’ll just use you until you no longer benefit him, then he’ll leave you to rot.”

“Will he teach us how to use magic?” a young woman asked. Hunter marks climbed over her cheekbones.

A frustrated sigh escaped me. “Aren’t you listening to me?”

“Oh, we’ve been listening.” Christopher pulled his swords and pointed them at me. “The man said we’d get an extra reward if we bring you to him.”

Auras surged at my back. The intense power nearly burned my skin. What was it that Cyrus said about hunters pointing weapons at me?

“Oh, gods.” I reached for my whip. This was about to get ugly. “You’ve done it now.”

Everything happened at once. Felix launched himself at the man on the crate, shifting into a huge black cat mid-air. Half a dozen hunters pulled their weapons and charged us. Ted wrapped around a sword, and I pulled, launching it over the wall.

Thick vines burst from the ground. Shards of ice and balls of fire flew. A deafening crack split the air, emitting the acrid smell of gunpowder.

“Stop this madness!” Max yelled over the clamor. “We are kin.”

Cyrus moved as a blur of golden light. He stopped abruptly, an arrow embedded in his chest. I rushed to him. He waved me off and ripped the arrow out. His aura flickered as the hunter blood did its work, sapping his magic.

Max’s wide eyes found the young hunter who had fired the arrow. “Netta?”

I ground my teeth. She’d hurt Cyrus.

“You said it yourself. The other compounds are falling to him.” Netta loaded another arrow and aimed her crossbow at Max. “There is only one choice to survive.”

She let loose the arrow.

Corruption burst from my stomach, and a blast of air shot from my hand. The arrow sank to its feathers in the mud. Darkness clouded my vision as I crossed the distance to Netta.

“Enchanter!” Cyrus called, but another hunter charged at Max. Cyrus caught the hunter out of the air and slammed him into the ground.

I sheathed Ted and balled my hands into fists. I resisted the corruption’s urging me to use magic. Magic wouldn’t be useful here, anyway. Instead, I pulled my swords from my belt.

Netta pulled another arrow from her quiver and aimed at me. She fired. I sliced my swords through the air, and the arrow fell to the ground in three pieces.

Then I was on her. I slashed her string, and she threw the crossbow to the mud, pulling a dagger from her belt instead.

I smiled. “Cute.”

Fear flashed in her eyes.

Darkness rose in my heart, choking out any pity. She hurt Cyrus. She tried to hurt Max. She was weak. Nothing.

She blocked my first blow, but I pushed mana into my arms until my speed became blinding. I sliced her arm with my sword. Then her cheek. Blood welled from the cuts and dripped down the hunter marks on her skin as I opened more.

The smell of her blood filled my nose.

A cramp seized my belly, and I doubled over. It was hunger. Gnawing, empty hunger.

“What are you doing?” she panted, fighting for her life.

I slammed the pommel of my sword against her skull with a sickening crack.

She collapsed to the frozen mud. Blood dripped from a hundred cuts. My stomach cramped again, and I fell to my knees beside her. I licked my dry lips. I needed mana. I needed to feed.

The blood of the weak will bolster the strong.

My blades clattered to the ground, and I pressed my hands to the sides of my head. I’d heard that before.

My mother’s face filled my tunneled vision. “Arsyn.”

A hundred cuts sliced her skin. My father drank from a fresh wound. I wiped her blood from my chin.

“Arsyn,” my mother said again. I reached for her hands, but there was only one. What happened to her other hand?

“Enchantress?” Another voice cut through the fog, and my vision cleared. Max knelt in front of me.

My mother wasn’t here. She was dead.

Max squeezed my hand. “There you are. Come up now.”

She lifted me to my feet, and a new set of warm arms encircled me. “I’ve got you, Enchantress,” Shael whispered in my ear. Shael. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, pushing the darkness down again. I drew on his power. His magic. His light and warmth.

When I opened my eyes, all my men surrounded us, concern on their faces. The rebel hunters had failed. A few lay bleeding at our feet. Their silver blood stark against the dark mud.

Cyrus held Christopher by the collar. He pressed a runesword to Christopher’s throat, drawing a strangled cry from the hunter.

“You are the ruler here.” Cyrus nodded at Max. “I will defer to your judgment.”

Max pressed her lips into a thin line and released my hand. She turned to regard the captive. “You were once my kin. I raised you. Trained you. Bled for you. Now you are nothing but a traitor. There is only one payment for treachery.” She drew her sword. “Blood.”