Page 21 of Buzz Kill (Smoke & Mirrors Tavern #7)

Chapter twenty-one

ALWIN

“This one here’s us,” Billy said as he pushed open the door to a room that would have been considered large if there weren’t four beds crammed inside. “Bathrooms are down the hall, gotta get there early if you don’t wanna wait for a shower to open up. Breakfast is in the dining hall at seven-thirty. Don’t wanna be late for that so it pays to be an early riser ’round here. They said my last roommate’s gone now so you two can have your pick of the beds,” he said as he sat on the second bed on the left.

Declan and I claimed the two beds on the right and I directed him to the further bed so I could take the one closest to the door. He moved without question, dropping his backpack on the foot of the second bed.

“I know y’all didn’t sleep much last night, but the new recruit seminar starts in ten and they told me to show you the way.”

“We are fine,” I assured him.

The sooner we got started, the better. We needed to work our way up quickly to get access to those in charge. Wasting time in the room would accomplish nothing. Billy led us to a large room filled with seats and I dragged Declan inside. He grumbled about not being able to sleep through the lecture so close to the front, but dutifully followed and plopped down in the seat next to me.

The man at the front of the lecture hall stood on a stage with the Origin Order emblem hanging prominently behind him. The cross with the interlocking double O made the room feel more like a church, and I wondered if that was intentional. Many people, both humans and non-humans, were raised with the notion that they should never question their faith. Perhaps that feel of the room was intended to ensure the recruits here didn’t question the words these hunters put in their heads. They certainly wouldn’t be the first to use religion to further their own agenda.

There was a small podium off to one side, but he stood in the middle of the platform, adjusting a lapel mic that would ensure the men in the back would hear him. The man introduced himself as Michael Cranson, a name I recognized from Sage’s research.

The speech started off with a welcoming tone, hitting all the points one would expect in giving the men his respect for their dedication to protecting humanity from evil. He spent some time driving home the seriousness of the issues they would be trained to deal with, and he used the excuse of his responsibility to keep them alive for the next part — the rules. The further he got into the extremely restrictive rules that included a complete lack of contact with the outside world except for monthly monitored communication home, and the random searches of both the recruits and the rooms, the more the tension in the room grew.

Michael Cranson was surprisingly charismatic and despite the growing list of restrictive rules, he managed to keep the crowd on his side, convincing them that their sacrifices would keep their loved ones safe and allow their children to grow up in a world that wasn’t overrun by monsters. By the time he was done, there wasn’t a man in that room that wasn’t convinced he was training to be a hero. One who kept his identity hidden but saved the world again and again. The ones people didn’t even know to thank, but the reason they were able to go home to their families each night.

“He’s good,” Declan murmured too softly for anyone but me to hear.

Once his speech was done and the men were riled up and ready to get started, Cranson handed the stage off to the one in charge of the training program. A stern man with a buzz cut took the stage and there was no doubt he’d spent most of his life in the military. Some of the men in the crowd straightened in their seats automatically, as if fighting the urge to stand at attention. Surprisingly he didn’t give a military rank when he introduced himself, merely offering the name Instructor Benning.

He went over curfew and mealtimes along with the strict training schedule that would not be difficult for me, but humans might find challenging. Overall, our biggest obstacle would be finding the time to dig for information when they controlled every moment of the day. Considering I would no doubt excel in the training, my best bet might be trying to get information out of the instructors.

We’d seen that the compound was rather large on the way in. Given the circumstances, it would take a while to conduct a thorough search. It would be far faster if we could get someone to tell us where their leader was hiding, but that didn’t seem likely unless I could get them to trust me enough for a discussion about security, which again, would take time we didn’t have.

Training at all levels included field time for physical training and class time to learn about the things they would be facing once they became hunters. The recruits all started at the same level, but Benning explained that we would be evaluated weekly by the instructors and moved up to more advanced classes based on those evaluations. How long we spent in the training program depended on how hard we worked, but the average was three months per level. Most recruits went through three levels of training, but the most promising could go on to specialized training to take on more advanced roles with the sect.

It was an intense program for good reason. In their world only the strong survived and the implication behind the words was that if you didn’t make it through the program, it was because you were weak. No doubt, no one wanted that label.

“Shoot me now,” Declan grumbled under his breath.

The hunter on stage couldn’t have heard him, but since we were at the front, his sharp eyes zeroed in on the movement of his lips.

“Do you have a problem with that, recruit?” the man asked.

The room went still as Declan was singled out. The sorcerer had not been one of the ones who’d automatically straightened in his chair when this man took the stage and his posture had only grown worse the longer the lecture went on. Now he sat slouched in the seat with his arm stretched out over the back of the empty seat next to him.

He flashed the man on stage a lazy smile. “No sir, can’t wait to get started.”

Benning arched an eyebrow at the cocky response. “Let’s see if you’re still saying that next week.”

A quiet laugh rumbled through the crowd, but Declan didn’t look bothered in the least. Even being surrounded by hunters who would kill him without a second thought if they found out who he was didn’t ruffle the man in the least. I supposed he’d seen far more dangerous things in his life. But no matter how he judged these men, no matter how friendly they seemed at the moment, they were our enemies. They were dangerous and our time here was not to be taken lightly.

“You wanted to see me, sir?” I asked as I stepped into Instructor Benning’s office.

“Take a seat, son.”

The man gestured to the chair in front of his desk and I sat, waiting for him to speak. While I didn’t know what this meeting was about, my performance couldn’t be called into question. I was at the top of all of their classes. Which everyone knew because they posted the rankings in the classrooms where all the recruits could see.

It was also how I knew that Declan was dead last in all of his classes, not because he wasn’t the smartest one there, but because not one of the instructors was happy with his attitude. He could sleep through class and still answer every question asked flawlessly. If they were ranking based on his answers alone, he would have been at the top of the class while his physical training fell right in the middle of the pack with seemingly no effort at all. Unfortunately for him, this was not a skill the hunters admired. Nor was his ability to sneak contraband in to share with his fellow recruits.

We’d been in their program for three weeks and in that time, I’d already been moved up to the next level of training and earned some recognition from the instructions. While Declan had earned fame among the recruits for his ability to get alcohol, junk food, and pornographic magazines. I’d provided him with one of my holding pouches to pack additional items he might need during our mission, and it was only now that I realized that may have been a mistake.

While several of the other recruits had failed inspections thanks to the items Declan provided, he’d never once been caught. And despite that, they seemed to know exactly who was at fault. They singled him out again and again, but they never managed to trip him up. And though his antics didn’t earn him any respect among the instructors, he’d instantly become someone nearly all of the recruits went to for everything. He heard every rumor first and had his finger on the pulse of everything that happened around the training camp. While I didn’t approve of methods that drew so much attention, they were effective. Many of the recruits had friends or relatives at higher levels within the sect and there was no denying they heard things, no matter how cut off from the real world they were.

My daily morning runs had been taking different routes since we arrived to follow up on the many whisperings he’d heard about from the others. Their security guards stopped me at first, but after a few days of training the instructors gave me special permission to be out running before the other recruits were even out of bed. No doubt their minds were whirling with the thought of how many non-humans I could take out. And the answer was as many as I needed to. But never for their purposes.

“I wanted to talk to you about your room arrangements. Some of us think it might be beneficial to move you to a different room.”

I kept the irritation off my face, but the thought of being separated from Declan made my stomach clench. Especially with all the negative attention he was drawing. I needed to be there in case he got into trouble. But if the hunters decided to force the issue, I couldn’t break our cover to refuse.

“That is unnecessary,” I stated evenly.

“See, you’re one of the most promising recruits we’ve had come through here and we don’t want you to be dragged down by anyone. We thought that putting you in a better environment might help your performance.”

My eyes met Benning’s. “Has my performance thus far given you reason to believe there’s a problem?”

The question was for his benefit. My performance was on par with my cover. A human with exceptional talent born to a military family. The story was that I’d served for a few years but left the military after learning one of the men I’d served with wasn’t human. No matter where they placed me, I couldn’t allow my abilities to stand out any more than they already did. The last thing we needed on this mission was to be suspected as non-human.

Benning cleared his throat. “I wasn’t implying that you are the problem. The thing is, we’ve seen plenty of promising recruits come through here, but we’ve seen just as many who didn’t take it seriously. What we’re doing here is to prepare you for the real world. For the things you’re going to face once you move on after training. The sad truth is, the men who don’t take this training seriously never make it very far once the safety of the training field is gone. I know you and Harrison came here together, but it would be a real shame to see a man with your talent end up dragged down by someone like him.”

“Someone like him?” I echoed darkly.

Benning was a smart man and he picked up on the warning in my tone. “Look, I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve seen plenty of men like him come through here thinking they can skate through life on someone else’s coattails, making friends and ignoring the rules. Maybe that’s worked for him on the outside, but in our world only the strongest survive. Don’t let yourself be weighed down by someone with no ambition. People like him never make it far in life. That’s especially true in this kind of life.”

It took a moment to unclench my jaw so I could respond. “With all due respect, I don’t believe anyone like Henry has ever come through your program before and you’ve judged him without seeing his potential because he doesn’t care what any of you think of him. The fact that you’ve failed to see what he’s truly capable of says more about your instructors than him.

“Henry doesn’t have to struggle to be better than the rest of the men here and he’s not going to kill himself trying to prove anything to you when the men he truly needs on his side are the ones who will be in the field with him one day. He may be more difficult to control than your other recruits, but that says nothing about his abilities. He is not riding my coattails, as you say, he is the one person I trust to have my back without question.

“Your judgment of him is wrong. Henry never had the chance to skate through anything in his life. He is one of the strongest people I know, and I intend to stay by his side.”

I forced my mouth shut with effort. I’d already messed up, giving Benning the impression that I was more loyal to Declan than I was to the hunters. It was a bad move, but possibly not entirely out of character. Though the look Benning was now giving me didn’t bode well for us.

“You seem rather… attached to him,” the man hedged.

“He’s saved my life more than once,” I answered, attempting to smooth things over.

At that, Benning relaxed back in his chair. “I see, so you feel indebted to him. If nothing else, he does seem to inspire a certain… loyalty among the men. We’ll leave the dorm assignments for now, but moving to the advanced classes comes with better accommodations. You would be moved to a double room at that point and our elite trainees get private rooms. Harrison is not receiving the markings necessary to move up the ranks as quickly as you are, but perhaps I’ll keep a better eye on him after what you’ve said here today. That’s all for now, Stevens. Better hit the dining hall before you miss dinner.”

I nodded at the man and made my way out of his office. I hadn’t done Declan any favors with my comments in there. If anything, he was probably going to be irritated that I’d made the mission harder on him. Skipping the dining hall, I went straight to the room we shared with Billy and found Declan in nothing but a pair of loose sweatpants with a towel wrapped around his neck. He was fresh from the shower and I managed to pull my eyes away with great effort to the other recruit in the room with him.

The man had shoved something in his pocket when I arrived and his eyes widened when he took in my expression. “Uh, I’ll get going. Thanks again.”

Declan snickered when the kid bolted out the door. “Geez, you nearly made him piss his pants. What happened?”

“Who was that?” I demanded.

Declan raised an eyebrow at me and while I could see the glamour, I could also see through it to the real smirking man beneath it. “That was Sommers. He’s been a recruit with us since day one, remember?”

“Why was he here?”

“Just picking something up.”

My eyes ran over him once more, from his dripping hair to his bare feet. His glamour hid the curse marking his skin, but I followed the dark murky lines that curled around his defined shoulders and I had the strange urge to taste the lingering drops of water there.

Declan grabbed the towel and roughly dried his hair before tossing it over a chair. “So what happened with Benning? Why’d he want to see you?”

The topic brought the memory of what I’d done to the forefront and I finally met his eyes again. “He wanted to move me to another room.”

Declan’s face fell and I was slightly satisfied by the fact that he hated the idea as much as I did. “Shit. They’re worried I’m corrupting you, huh? What did you say? Do you think there’s any way we can convince them to let you stay?”

“They will leave me here for now, but you will need to be more careful.”

“I’m always careful.”

“In order to change their minds, I told him that they didn’t see what you are capable of. That you were better than any of the men here and they’d failed to see your potential. Benning may be keeping a closer eye on you going forward.”

I waited for Declan’s irritation at messing up his plans, but instead a smile bloomed over his face. “You said that about me?”

He stepped closer until I was backed up against the door and turned the lock next to my hip. I’d barely sucked in a breath before his lips were on mine, but it took me only a moment to switch our positions and pin him to the door instead. Goosebumps broke out over his bare skin, but mine was on fire. It had been too long since we’d had a moment alone and the need burning beneath my skin was impossible to ignore.

Finally. Finally , I had Declan melting under my touch again. His breath coming faster, his heart pounding so loud I could hear it, his fingers trembling where they slid under my clothes.

Finally, I had him right where I wanted him.