Page 4

CHAPTER 3

T he elevator opens on the fortieth floor, and Glasses hands me a card. “For the building and essentials. Do not lose it. I will not get you another one no matter how much you threaten or bribe me.” He steps back into the elevator as he looks me over. “Good luck. You’re going to need it.” The door shuts, and I turn back to the level.

He’s not wrong.

I’ll need all the luck I can get while serving under Major Black and his elite soldiers. They are the best, but they also have the highest mortality rate due to what they hunt—not to mention I hear he can be a picky, cruel bastard.

He’s my leader now, though, and I plan on doing as I’m told. I will make myself indispensable. Besides, this is what I wanted—a path to the top to become the best I can be. This is where I’ll do it.

“Watch out!” a voice barks.

I duck as a blade whizzes over my head, then I stand and look at the blond-haired Adonis who’s grinning as he hurries my way. “Sorry, drop, didn’t know anyone was coming.”

“Drop?” I ask as I glance over my shoulder to see the blade embedded in the wall next to the elevator.

“Yeah, anyone who comes to us always drops dead or out.” He chuckles, flashing straight white teeth. He has dazzling blue eyes and messy, short blond hair. He’s taller than me, stacked with muscles, and dotted with scars, and he has the hunter brand across his shoulder.

“I thought we couldn’t have weapons inside,” I say, refusing to acknowledge what he said. I won’t be doing either.

He grins, pressing his finger to his lips. “Oops. I won’t tell if you don’t.” He sticks out his hand. “Name’s Mav, and you’re the new kid.”

“Not a kid.” I take his proffered hand, adding pressure, and he groans as I let go.

“Got it.” He shakes out his hand. “Shit, you’re strong. What’s your name?”

“Tate.”

“Well, come on, Tate. Let me introduce you to the team.” Sticking his hands in his pockets, he waits for me.

I follow him down the hall. It’s pretty short, with a thin grey carpet. The walls are the same grey, and it has blade marks adorning parts of it. Once we walk through the door at the end, the utilitarian ambiance changes.

Talk about luxury digs. I’m used to sleeping in my car, motels, or even the shared bunks at outposts. This is a fucking penthouse. There are sofas in a pit facing a huge TV and a bar to the right before the windows. A basketball hoop hangs before me and a hallway leading away.

It looks like two floors were converted into one, with stairs heading up the middle and the walkway lined with doors.

“Those are our bunks,” Mav tells me. “Down here is the rec room. We have a private gym too—elite perks. Come on, they will probably be in the kitchen.”

Nodding, I drop my bag on the wood floor before I follow him to the hallway and down to the first open door. Music pours from inside. There are three guys sitting at the table, and Mav nods at a skinny one. “That’s Goose, as in duck, duck, goose,” he says. “The bigger one next to him is Santos, and the one on his other side is Wick.”

I turn to the man at the countertop, happily chopping away.

“That’s Ara. Yo, guys, meet the newbie.”

They turn, with Ara throwing his knife as if we are coming to attack him, not just entering the room. It makes me wonder what kind of situations he’s faced if he throws first and asks questions after, but Mav ducks like he’s used to it.

I don’t.

Catching the knife midair, I raise my eyebrow. “How many times will I have knives thrown at me today?” I remark with a smirk before tossing it back. It embeds into the cupboard.

“Thanks.” Ara nods, plucks it free, and returns to carving carrots.

“Newbie, huh?” Santos glances at the others. “I give her three days.”

“A week.” Wick throws some cash on the table.

Goose eyes me, and something in those big orbs unnerves me. “I give her a year. She looks like a killer.”

“Nah, I think she’s in it for the long run,” Mav says as he jumps into a chair and grins at me. “So, Tate, what do you think?”

“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll take that bet.” I throw some bills on the table. “Is this it?”

“Yup, this is it, plus Black. Welcome to the elites. Let’s see if you can hack it.”

Four Years Later

“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Mav sings, making me smirk behind my mask as his voice fills my ears. Goose and I share a look, and I nod to the left, gesturing with two fingers. He nods, his gun held out, and quickly but silently moves down the corridor branching off this hellhole of a maze.

Mav and Wick are on the next level up, Santos and Ara on the bottom level, and Black is on the top. I drew the lucky straw and got the newbie, Eric. I suppose he technically isn’t new anymore, but we all treat him as such. Hell, it took me almost two years to stop being the newbie and for them to accept that I wasn’t going to drop out or die. It’s hard to believe I’ve been with them four years, but our team just keeps growing, as does Black’s control. He’s in charge of nearly the entire northwest now, his name more famous than any other hunter’s, and we are right there with him.

“This way, kid,” I murmur, keeping my back to the hallway wall of the abandoned hotel that was marked as a vamp hotspot. Two teams were sent in, and none made it back, which is why they called us.

We get the job done when no one else can. It’s one of the reasons I hung in there through all the shit I experienced. It was rough at the beginning. They weren’t open to accepting a new hunter, never mind a woman, but I proved myself time and time again, and even Major Black has come to respect and trust me. It’s made us into an unstoppable unit, a family—something I didn’t even know I needed after my father passed, but I’ll admit it’s nice having someone to watch my back.

They have become my brothers, my friends, and the people I trust most in this world. I might have had my reservations because of the rumours about this unit, but I know now that most are unfounded. They might have different ways of dealing with shit sometimes, but they always get the job done and, more often than not, the stuff they do is to keep this world and our unit safe. Others wouldn’t understand, especially that commanding prick Vilaran who tries to mess with our every hunt—always calling meetings and wanting to talk.

Always calling me an angel.

Shaking my head, I focus on the hunt. A distracted hunter is a dead hunter, and I don’t plan on dying tonight nor any night after this.

“T, you good?” Santos checks in. “Anyone got anything?”

“Nah, this is too quiet,” Wick comments dryly. “Maybe they are hiding in the walls.”

“Or the floor like the rats they are,” Ara hisses. He really hates vamps, but no one hates them as much as our commander.

“Silence,” Black barks. “Move silently and clear your floors. No more chatter unless it’s to count the fangs you pulled.”

“Yes, sir,” we answer in unison. We might give each other shit and joke, even sometimes with Black, but we all accept his power. It’s probably why he’s such an asshole. Trying to control six wild, opinionated hunters? Yeah, can’t be fucking easy.

I do not envy him his job, though they are right—it’s too quiet. We need more information before we end up like the other teams.

“What are you doing?” Eric whispers to me.

“Watch my back,” I respond softly as I lower my gun, my torch hitting the mouldy carpet as I tug off my glove. I glance over to see him turning, scanning the hallway, the back of his hunting uniform blending into the shadows. Turning to the wall, I find a spot where the plaster isn’t caved in, eaten, or broken.

Closing my eyes for a moment, I lay my ungloved hand on the peeling wall and focus on the images that flood my brain—images and flashes from those who have recently touched it.

One touch is all it takes and I see it all, which is why I always wear gloves. I don’t want to know the last time my friend wanked off to the thought of me, so they stay on unless necessary.

Like now.

“T, report,” Black commands, no doubt knowing I have grown bored of this game. He doesn’t question how I know things, just uses it like a skill. It’s something they all accept.

I open my eyes and smirk as I step back, lifting my gun. “They heard us coming and ran. Most are hiding in a false ceiling on the top floor, and more are on this level in a secret, sealed room. Eric and I can handle the few here. You take the rest on that floor.”

It’s risky giving orders, but he’s too happy about hunting to care.

“Understood. Converge on me. T and Eric, when you’re done, meet us there. Whoever has the most teeth when we leave gets off training duty for a week,” Black commands.

That gets us all moving. No one wants to train the newbies. It’s too much hard work and whining on top of our own hunts. I hear the quiet steps of the team moving up the winding staircase, and I tap my helmet as I see them walk past like wraiths. Eric and I turn around, and we head farther into the hallway and towards the secret room.

It’s not hard to find now that I know what I’m looking for. It’s through an old library, and the door looks like part of the wall. I point it out to Eric as we move into position.

Pressing my back to the wall, I share a look with Eric and start to count down on my fingers. When I drop the last one, he rips the door open, and I hurry in as he follows. I sweep the room in seconds, my finger on the trigger, and when a body lunges at me, their fangs bared in the dark, I fire. The holy water infused round goes straight through the centre of their skull, and they are dead before they hit the ground.

There’s a roar, and more fly towards us from the dark. Eric and I press our backs together, our torches splashing across the room as we fire.

I drop two more in rapid succession as I move deeper into the room, firing when my torch lands on another and then another until my mag is empty.

Dropping my gun, I pull out a knife and throw it. It embeds in the vamp running at me, the force of his own trajectory slamming him against the wall like a bug. It goes silent then, and I walk over, pulling my blade free and carving out its heart before turning to check on Eric.

He’s coated in blood, his gun still raised, but he doesn’t seem hurt. There are four bodies at his feet, and another six—the ones I killed—are also in the room.

Sweeping my torch across the space, I ensure there are no others, nor is there anywhere else for them to hide.

I pull my mask down and blow out a happy breath. “Got ten here,” I say into my earpiece.

“Good work. Going radio silent now,” Black comments.

“Understood.” I flick mine off as well as I look around the mess of bodies stuffed into this tiny, stinky room. Why they live like this, I will never know. Most live in courts, protected and united. Some choose to abandon that, either due to a desire to follow their own laws or start their own court. It never ends well. Then you have the ferals, though none of these are.

They killed humans though; command told us that. Hell, some were even feeding on them, and I can see the rot starting to spread under their skin. Vamps are not made to feed on our kind, but it doesn’t stop the desperate from doing it—not that I’ll ever tell Black how I know all this. He’s firmly in the all monsters need to die bracket. I’m more in the middle. Those who hurt others? Absolutely. Those who are evil? Of course. Those who just want to live in this world alongside us? Nah, and I keep that part of my life closely guarded. I’ve made friends with monsters over the years by offering them respect and trust when no other hunter has. It gets me the intel we need and even some friendships. What my unit doesn’t know won’t hurt them.

“Collect the teeth. I’m going to check for stragglers,” I command Eric. “We’ll burn the bodies together at the end.”

Pulling out a wicked knife, he nods at me. “Got it, T. Be safe.”

Smirking, I pull up my mask once more. “Where is the fun in that?” I joke as he chuckles and gets to work extracting what we need. Heading out of the secret room, I sweep the rest of the floor and find half-eaten bodies of the previous hunters. I close their eyes, offering them the only respect I can. An extraction team will come in and take their bodies for purification and burial—well, whatever is left of them.

Peering into the room, I see Eric with a handful of fangs in his hand. “You done?”

He tosses me mine, and I shove them in my pocket. “Let’s get moving, newbie.”

“When will I stop being a newbie?” He sighs as he follows me towards the stairs.

“When another newbie comes in,” I joke as I smack his shoulder. “Lighten up, I’ve got your back.”

“I know. I don’t think I would have survived this long without your help,” he admits. “Especially with that wendigo.”

“That’s what teammates are for,” I reply as we reach the stairs. I let him go first, and even as we chat, my eyes sweep the area. You can never be too careful.

A noise makes my head jerk around, and my eyes narrow on the corridor. “T?” Eric calls, stopping on the stairs.

“Go help the others,” I order. “I’ve got this.”

He nods reluctantly and heads up to join the rest of the team while I move back down the corridor.

I walk into the hall, following my instincts down a level to where the others were and through the winding corridors. Moonlight shines through the broken windows to my right, their tattered curtains fluttering in the wind. While most doors along the hallway are open, there is a stack of cardboard, rubbish, and even a wood pallet between two of the doors. Something about it catches my attention.

It’s piled too perfectly. Crouching, I shine my torch into a small crevice. Eyes gleam in the light, and I jerk back, ripping away the front layer to reveal a young, terrified girl hiding there. More vamps cower behind her.

“Please,” she whispers, her hands held high. She’s so fucking young, she can’t be much past the change. The others behind her are just teenagers, and they are all frightened. “We had nowhere else to go. That’s why we are here. We have never hurt a human. Please don’t kill us.”

Dropping my gun, I frown. “I’m not going to kill you. We only hunt those who hurt our kind. Go now.”

“They killed Emmie,” she whispers, pointing down the hallway. “They enjoyed it. That’s why we hid.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Hunters. They want to kill us.”

She must mean the other teams. I lower my gun. “Well, I don’t. Go home, for fuck’s sake, but remember, if you kill a human, I’m coming after you.” I step back to allow them to pass.

“Thank you, thank you.” She pushes the others past me, eyeing me warily. I watch them leap down the stairs with a shake of my head. What I said is true—we are hunters, but we don’t hunt and kill innocents. The others here killed people, we knew that, but those teenagers didn’t. I can tell.

Her words come back to me, and I hesitate before I lift my gun and move farther down where she was pointing.

There’s a huge suite with an open door at the end, and I hesitantly follow a blood trail on the floor, only to stop in the doorway. My gun drops as I stare at the mess.

There is a kid on the bed—Emmie, I’m guessing. She’s no older than eighteen. Her eyes are wide and terrified, and her mouth is open, her fangs gone. Her dress is ripped down the front with deep slashes across every inch of her chest.

Moving closer despite the bile crawling up my throat, I shine my torch on her clenched fist. I glance at her face as I reach out and uncurl her fingers. Her hand opens, letting me know rigor hasn’t set in yet, but it’s what’s in her grasp that makes me gasp—black torn camouflage with a patch on it.

A hunter’s patch.

They were hiding because they saw a hunter do this.

This body isn’t old.

This wasn’t another team.

This was tonight.

Horror washes through me, alongside denial.

I hope I’m wrong, but I have to know.

Dropping the material, I tug off my glove and hesitate for a moment. I could walk away and pretend I never saw this, but that’s not my style. I need to know. I have to know. My life is hanging in the balance right now, the rope holding me up ready to snap and drop me through the floor.

Touching the body with a shaky, bare hand, I let the truth come to me.

Flashes fill my head of her running and screaming as masked hunters chase her. They laugh as they holster guns and pull out their knives.

“Let’s have some fun, shall we?”

I know that voice—Ara.

“Nah, we aren’t fucking this one. No time, just kill her quickly. You can have your fun next time.”

“Fuck it.”

I feel her skin split as if it were my own. The agony, the terror . . . I see it all.

I feel her die.

I recoil in horror as I stare at the bleeding corpse. My team did this. When I was on the other floor, they were here, torturing and killing this girl. They didn’t care that she was innocent. They wanted to kill her.

They tortured her before she died. Moreover, they enjoyed it.

Who is the real monster here?

I don’t know how long I stare at the body before I realise I need to move. If they find me here, I’m done for. Pulling on my glove, I stumbled from the room and towards the stairs, my brain caught on what I saw.

My world crumbles around me, and the last four years spent working and living with these men fill my head. They patched me up and looked after me when I was sick . . . . It all darkens and sets alight as I see the truth behind their actions.

I walk upstairs in a daze, stumbling into the room their voices are coming from, only to still. My eyes widen in horror once more. It wasn’t a one-off or a mistake.

I’ve ignored so much during our hunts. Bile claws at my throat as I see the young bodies spread around, ripped apart and killed for fun. My team just stood there, laughing and joking.

This isn’t about keeping our race safe. It’s about killing.

The kid was right—they wanted to kill them regardless of their innocence.

“Ah, T, there you are!” Wick calls, grinning as he holds up some tiny fangs from the kid at his feet, whom he kicks with his boot as he steps over him.

I don’t know why, but the fact that they assume I would be okay with this makes me angry.

I scan the room, seeing the faces of their kills. They are young, just kids, who probably came here to rebel. They didn’t hurt anyone, they were just existing, and my unit played with them before murdering them. No wonder they went radio silent.

My eyes land on Eric, who’s happily carving fangs from heads of the others’ kills as if this is normal.

“This is wrong,” I whisper.

My eyes land on our major, who holds the head of a girl so young, she still has her baby fat in his hand, ready to carve into her.

“This is wrong,” I repeat, my hold on my gun wavering.

Black tilts his head, watching me from his crouched position. It’s then I see the missing patch on his shoulder.

He killed the girl. He tortured her.

“They are monsters, Tate. Don’t forget why we do this,” he warns, his voice cold and eyes sharp as he watches me.

“I have never forgotten,” I hiss, disgusted. “Have you? We do not kill innocent?—”

“None of them are innocent,” Ara snaps. “No matter what they look like.”

“They are abominations,” Wick says sadly.

Goose nods. “We are helping.”

Oh god, they really believe that. I stare at the men I trusted, the men I love like family, and I wonder how they were able to hide this side of themselves from me for so long.

How did I not see it?

I stare at them, realising they all feel the same way. I’m the only one who doesn’t agree with this. Maybe this is why I kept my secrets for so long. Part of me knew . . . My stomach churns as I beg them with my eyes to tell me I’m wrong. I’m frozen in horror, but they watch me with confusion.

“You’re monsters,” I snarl, lifting my gun and pointing it at them. “This is not what we stand for or what we do! We protect innocents. We don’t kill them!” I scream, aiming my gun at Black. “We don’t do this. Command will know about this, and they will stop you.”

Black eyes me as he straightens, pocketing the fang he carved from the kid’s head. “They know what we do, but they don’t care as long as we get results. I’m sorry you feel that way, Tate. I thought you, of all people, would understand. I’m disappointed in you.”

I almost laugh. He’s disappointed in me?

“Knock her out. We cannot deal with her here.”

“Wait—” I lift my gun, but a noise has me turning just in time to see Santos’s gun heading right for my face.

“Sorry, T,” is the last thing I hear before everything goes dark.

My own team is attacking me, and I plunge into the darkness feeling angry and betrayed.