Invincible (A Centennial City Novel) (29 page)

I closed my eyes. I would not let them see how badly the news had shook me.

Then again, I wasn’t terribly surprised. The Fellowship had a way of culling the older members, and Adrian had been old, by Fellowship standards. “The last time I saw him was a couple of days. He told me Elder Chang had rescinded his orders and I was to return to headquarters. He left and I never saw him again.”

And I would never see him again. I closed my eyes again before tears had time to form.

I wouldn’t cry. Death was my everyday companion. I had seen it happen to far too many people in my life. Another person dying was nothing new, nothing special.

The first flickers of doubt ran across her pale, almost elven features. “You are denying a great deal of things.”

“I had no reason to kill my handler,” I said and stopped talking before my voice could break. I had no intention of letting them see my emotions. That was no one’s business but my own. “How did he...die?”

Almost lost it for a minute there.

She regarded me carefully and then sat back down on her haunches again as if she could see the truth from a foot off the ground. “Garroted. There was a lot of blood.”

Bitch. She didn’t have to say the last sentence. Probably just to see my reaction, of which I had no intention of letting her see. “There usually is if a wire is used. Leather or fabric, not so much.”

“You really are a cold bitch, aren’t you?” she asked quietly, carefully. “How long have you worked with Adrian? Ten years? And yet, you sit there, cool as the fucking Queen of Sheba. Can’t you even fake some tears?”

I smiled. “For you? For the Fellowship? Fuck you, Beth.”

I didn’t get slapped this time.

Instead, a hand tangled in my hair and pulled me abruptly off the chair. Pain exploded across my temples and a small sound escaped my lips as I fought to keep from having the scalp torn off my head.

“You think this is funny?” The smell of alcohol was almost nauseating as a heavy set face with a jaw a bulldog would have envied pushed itself into my line of sight. I presumed it was his hand pulling my hair. “There are people dying out there. Someone knows who we fucking are and they’re picking us off like flies in a fucking blizzard. Is it you? Are you the one setting the bloodsuckers on us?”

I let him see the surprise in my eyes. It wasn’t hard. Considering how well identities of Hunters were guarded, the fact someone knew enough Hunters to get them killed was something very, very new. And very, very dangerous. “I have given my life to the Fellowship. The Elders were the ones who’ve given me a reason to live. I considered Hunters to be family.”

Until now.

I might forgive, but it wasn’t going to be any time soon. Considering how much I had given the Fellowship, the pain and horror I’ve been through, my treatment at the hands of Hunters made anger seem almost too easy.

He pulled me closer until I could count the individual pores on his face. “You think you’re so tough, don’t you?”

I wasn’t an idiot. “No. I don’t. Every day I am thankful I am still alive.”

Although, if I had my way, this one wouldn’t be this time tomorrow. I never forget a face and his would stay engraved in my mind for a very, very long time.

With a snarl, he let go of me and I staggered on wobbly knees, one hand on the chair back. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of seeing me fall.

“Sit down,” said Beth, eyes hard as rocks. “We’re not done with you.”

I shook my head. I refused to be the whipping boy any longer. “No, actually, you are done with me. Elder Chang told me to infiltrate Noir stronghold. I did that. Now, all I have to do is kill him. Why is that so hard for you to understand?”

The sword was still slung over my right shoulder. Either they were stupid or...no, they were just stupid. Overly confident. Pride does come before a fall. If push came to shove, in the most literal and figurative sense, I would draw to save my life. I would die, but at least I would not die alone.

Surprisingly, she did not force me, but opted to stand herself. Standing about half a foot shorter than myself, I saw her look up, up and let her see me smile. I was petty enough to want to make her uncomfortable. It was a careful line between annoying someone and angering them and I had little wish in angering Beth.

“Since you left, we’ve lost thirty-seven Hunters.”

I blinked. “You assume I keep track of casualties. I don’t.”

Her lips thinned. “On any average month, losing ten would be bad. You’ve been gone for a week.”

“And you think I’ve been feeding Noir information.”

“Who else would?” she asked, eyes blazing. “How can we trust you when you have broken the one rule we hold sacred?”

Obey.

I clenched my teeth and looked around the circle of Hunters, all of them very unhappy. Their fear smelled like burning leaves and I pinched my nose, trying to dispel the unsavory scent from my mind. “It was for the greater good. An opportunity unlike any other presented itself and I took it. If that is wrong, then fine, I am sorry.”

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it,” she spat out. “I’ve lost five friends and I intend to see their deaths revenged.”

I stared at her, incredulous, all rational thought gone from my mind. “Are you joking? Even though I haven’t done it, you’re going to kill me, just to satisfy some twisted sense of justice?”

Her fists clenched and unclenched at her sides. “Someone has to pay.”

“Right,” I murmured. “If my death should appease your pathetic revenge quest, then so be it. But just you. Has anyone else here have anyone they want to avenge? I’ll take you all, one by one, until this is settled and only one person still stands.”

Several of them opened their mouths, and I realized that while I was good...I wasn’t good enough to take everyone in gladiator style. “But before you put your hand up, let me at least appeal to your common sense. I have given everything to the Fellowship. My mother was killed by a bloodsucker. My father was turned into one of them. I have nothing to gain by following their orders. Indeed, I would have everything to lose.”

A stout, bearded man with a chest as wide as he was tall spoke up. “Oh yeah? Then why are you protecting one of them?”

Frustration turned my voice hard, sharp. “Accuse not, unless you know the full truth. The one I protect was a human until five days ago. He was part of the Fellowship, looking for the vampire who turned his fiance and killed their unborn child. Like me, he seeks the downfall of the entire race.”

“So he turned into a vampire?” Beth asked, sarcasm turning her words sour.

“I sought entrance into Noir’s house. He provided me with an entrance. Together, we’ll take them down. But if you kill me here, everything will have been for nothing,” I said and then drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “But if you want to try your luck and see if killing me will bring your friends back, then by all means. It’s been a long time since we’ve had a match like this.”

I was only half-bluffing. But a half-bluff is still a bluff. I didn’t want to fight, didn’t want to waste energy on a pointless fight, but if it meant the difference between walking out of the “interrogation” room and being a stain on the floor, then I would fight.

No one could accuse me of being bloodthirsty, but if it came down to it, I would fight to kill. Experience taught me that people in the Fellowship, or maybe just people in general, did not take to defeat kindly.

Would anyone take my bluff?

“If I kill you, they’ll quit hunting us,” said Beth, a disturbing finality to her voice. “I know it.”

I’d known she probably wouldn’t back down, not when she looked so sure of herself and her misguided convictions. But if I could just get to everyone else... “Well? Anyone else think she’s right?”

No one met my eyes, not even the guy who almost scalped me.

That was reassuring. Somewhat.

“Don’t be fucking ridiculous.”

The voice had changed, rougher than I remembered, but the soft drawl was the still. “There’ll be no fighting, not on my watch. Williamson, you’re on probation. No, on second thought, get the hell out of here. Don’t come back until I call you. That’s an order.”

It hurt to turn my head and my cheeks felt hot, heavy. I was going to look like I’d been hit in the face with a van which I guessed wasn’t entirely far from the truth. “Trent. It’s been a while.”

It wasn’t just his voice that had changed. The scars were new, almost painfully new.

His trademark sparkling smile didn’t look the same. Not with a scar bisecting the left side of his face, starting from under a startling silver eye and ending somewhere past his high Chinese collar.

“It’s pretty bad.”

Guiltily, I drew my gaze back up to his face. Was this how a man felt when he got caught staring at a woman’s chest? “I was just thinking how painful it would’ve been.”

His smile widened until he was practically leering at me. “Bet you weren’t.”

I almost rose to his bait. But almost is a far cry from actually doing so. “Is this how you greet people now?”

The smile faded away in an instant and he took another step into the room. The temperature seemed to drop a few more degrees. “I’m sorry, Ran. This wasn’t how I wanted you to be welcomed. I heard from...” he stopped and then shook his head. “I heard from Adrian what you were doing. If what he said was right, then you should be given a hero’s welcome, not...not this,” he said and nodded at my blazing face. “Beth will be punished, make no mistake.”

“Now, hold on just one second. The Elders--”

“Never told you to turn this into a blood bath,” interjected Trent. “It was supposed to be an investigation. Threatening your own team members is not an investigation. As of now, you’re off. Pack your bags and find somewhere to cool your head.”

She looked away but not soon enough to hide the shimmer in her eyes. “They have to pay. Someone has to pay for what they’ve done.”

Something in Trent’s face softened. Not much, but the furrow between his eyes relaxed, almost imperceptibly. “Someone will pay, but not Ran. You have no idea how much she has given us. Accusing her of treason would be like calling me a traitor.” His voice hardened. “Or is that something you want to do? Would you like to beat a confession out of me as well?”

She shook her head mutely and rubbed a wrist over her eyes.

Idiot. That’s why I never got close to anyone. I wasn’t unfriendly to those I came into contact, but I was all too aware of the dangers of our mission. To not expect death was to open yourself to pain and I was no fool. That I had survived this long was always something I marveled at. I walked into every encounter prepared to die and the Gods or Fate had smiled upon me. That Beth let the sorrow control her emotions, her moves made me think less of her. More than her urge to take my life. If she had any other reason for killing me, be it to show her strength or through some long hatred, I would have taken her challenge gladly. But to accuse me of a cravenly crime...that I could not, would not accept. “The pain will pass.”

My words felt woefully short and yet it was nothing but the truth.

She turned on me, one hand clenched into a fist that could knock me senseless in one blow “You know nothing! Don’t you dare to patronize me, you cold bitch.”

Trent put a hand on her shoulder, as if to remind her of his presence. “You don’t know this. It’s the only reason why you aren’t taking her words to heart.”

“Know what?” she asked, eyes flashing.

He looked at me with his silver eyes over her head and in them, I saw memories I thought I had forgotten. But even I’m not that lucky. “Fourteen years old, Ran was part of the Fellowship. She was training here.”

Someone gasped. I hoped it wasn’t me. “You bastard.”

He squared his jaw. “Your doubters need to know. They need to understand. They need to know why you hunt monsters. They need to know you have lost more than they could possibly imagine. A lesser person would have gone insane. But you...somehow, you channeled that rage. They took everything from you and you became stronger.” He closed his eyes for just one moment as if seeing memories playing on the insides of his eyelids. “Before we were raided, you were...passable. Not really anything to write home about. But after...Jesus, Ran. It was like watching someone completely different.”

I remembered. My scars twinged at the remembrance of the pain. “Please. Stop. It’s in the past. It’s over.”

The hate was still there, but it was tempered by something else. Pity? “Who did you lose?”

I felt like the highlight of a circus freak show. Still, if it kept me alive, then I could stand the stares and quiet speculation. “Family.”

That was all I could, would give them. Anything more and I was going to embarrass myself in front of a group of people who wanted more than to see if I bled just the same as them.

She turned away and left the room without so much of a backwards glance, not another word and after a moment of awkward silence, everyone else milled out, leaving me alone with Trent.

“Thank you.”

He let one shoulder lift and then drop carelessly. “Why? All I did was tell them your history. Now, let’s get out of here. This place always rubs me the wrong way.”