Page 53

CHAPTER 52

D ays pass without incident, but we can all feel the tension in the air, and it keeps us all on edge, especially Tate. Something is coming. Even the commander, Shamus, does not allow us to go on any hunts. He keeps her close, feeling it as well.

Tate’s or Addeus’s actions have tipped the scales, and my magic tells me before this week is out, her vision will come true. It is not even the full moon yet, but we all know how the future can easily change. Everything she has tried to avoid will come to fruition, and the hunters she believed in will turn against her. She now wears her battle gear to the gym, no doubt sensing it as well. She’s withdrawn and barely sleeping or eating.

All that hard-won peace and rest was gone in an instant. Her friends became enemies, and everyone is a threat. I hate seeing it, and I hate even more that there is nothing I can do for her yet.

War is on the horizon, I feel it in my blood, and when it comes, we must be ready.

While she prepares, we do as well.

We put out the call to everyone we can. If we are to win this and keep her alive, then we will need all the help we can get. She will never ask for it, so we ask in her place.

As night falls and exhaustion settles heavily on my bones from the sacrifice I made today, I find her lingering in the dim living room. Her eyes are locked on the hill outside the window—the hill where she saw an army come towards her.

“My vision is going to come true,” she murmurs without looking at me. “I keep seeing a million different variations, but one thing is always the same—the hunters turn on us. There is so much death. It’s a battle no one wins.” She looks at me, seeming so isolated and alone. “I cannot stop it. I have tried everything.”

“Then we’ll face it together,” I tell her as I stop at her side.

“I gave everything to these people. I died for them, for what I believed in, and now it will get me killed again.” She releases a bitter, haunting laugh that carves something out of my chest. She tames the madness inside me, but in turn, she has taken part of the darkness into her.

She has become what she hunted, but it is not that which bothers her. It isn’t the price she paid. It’s the people she did it for.

What happens when you find out those you were willing to die to protect would not do the same for you?

It’s a bitter truth I have faced before, and it’s a question I cannot answer, nor a fact I can protect her from.

“Tate, you are not alone,” I remind her.

“I have never felt more alone in my entire life. Everything I became, everything I lost, it won’t matter. We will be ruined. Even if I survive what is to come, we will never recover from the loss.” She meets my eyes. “I am a hunter, Zeev. It is all I am, it is what I was born to be, and yet I have never hated it more than I do in this moment. My soul is ruined, bleeding from a thousand tiny cuts they made. One day, there will be nothing left of me. Being a hunter won’t kill me, but trusting people will.”

“Then I will be your shield and your medic. I will heal those cuts and protect your soul,” I vow.

Her smile is soft and sorrowful. “I had such fire in me, such belief in who I was and what I was doing . . . . They extinguished that and plunged me into the darkness, and in that darkness I found the monsters who called me home. I found you, and now I’m scared,” she admits. “I’m scared I will lose you, that I have led you to your death and that your belief in me will be your end, just like my belief in this place will be mine.”

“We will not let it happen. We would all gladly die for you, but our deaths will not be today or tomorrow. Whatever comes next, we’ll face it together and then pick up the pieces in the ashes. You cannot stop hate, but you can prevail against it. Yes, you were born to be a hunter, which means you were born to face this. Everything you have survived and endured does not end here. We do not end here. Let them try to take the loyalty and strength from you. I will be your shield, your medic, and the blade in the shadows slaying your enemies. Where you go, I go. I knew it from the moment I tasted your blood—not just because you tamed the madness, but because you embraced it. This was always my purpose, and now I know a few weeks at your side is not enough. Ten lifetimes will not be enough, but I vow this to you. Tate Havelock, monster tamer, I will not let your life end here, so bring on the future. I am ready. Are you?”

She stares into my eyes, putting herself back together. “I’m scared.” I know how much that cost her to admit.

Tugging her to me, I slide my hand into her hair as I press my forehead to hers. “Then let me be your strength. Do not let fear stop you. Embrace it like you do everything else.”

“I don’t know if I have it in me to slaughter our own people,” she whispers.

“You do. You have the capability to do anything, and they stop being our people the moment they raise a weapon against us.” The voice fills the dark room, and she pulls away to see Shamus.

“He’s right. We are your people, not them,” Fang says.

“Those in this room,” Ronan adds, all of them standing there, loving her.

“No matter what happens,” Jarek says.

Tem smiles. “Wherever you go, mistress, we are with you.”

“Trust in us the way we trust in you,” Addeus implores.

“They are right. The creatures in this fucked-up family are your people, not those who are willing to harm you for trying to save lives. Some of them will turn against you, but it means you are walking the right path. When the battle comes, remember who stands at your side and who stands opposite it,” I tell her.

A flare fills the night sky, and we all turn to see it.

“It’s here,” she croaks before she clears her throat. “They are early. I didn’t see it happening tonight.”

“Something changed,” Shamus murmurs. “It doesn’t matter. Whether it’s tonight or tomorrow, we are ready.” He looks to her. “We will kill any who turn against us. We keep this place safe and rebuild after. First, we need to survive the night.” He grabs her then and kisses her solidly. “Do not die or I will bring you back and tie you to me like I did that fool.”

“You too.” She looks at us. “That goes for all of you. Nobody dies tonight—not one of us, at least. Everyone else? Kill them. I give you free rein to slay whoever would harm us or our cause.”

“You just unleashed monsters,” Fang jokes. “Let’s hope they are ready for that.”

“It doesn’t matter if they are not,” I reply as an explosion rocks the building. “They are coming either way.” I look at Tate, we all do, and she composes herself before our very eyes.

“This is our last stand, right here. We’ll make our way through the building and outside. We’ll give ourselves room to manoeuvre and work as a team. Addeus,” she snaps. “I want constant reports on what is happening. Keep every door locked bar the ones we need. Ronan, go get their numbers and report back. Fang, stay behind me, and when I say, call them to us. Tem, change and block their vision with your shadows. Jarek, I want shields for all of us. Focus on them and keep us safe. Shamus, we need every weapon you have.”

“And me?” I ask.

She looks at me. “You’re my general. Let’s go to war.”

Ronan reported that the siege is from inside and outside. They had been gathering quietly, collecting weapons to take us by surprise. Hunters from all over approach Stalkers’ Rest, their lights illuminating the outside area in case we make it out.

“At least we’ll clean up your hunters all in one night.” I chuckle as we walk from the apartment to the stairs at the end. Addeus shut down the elevator so they cannot take us by surprise.

“That’s one way to look at it,” she mutters.

“Those who are not involved are locked in their rooms. Shouldn’t we let them help?” Addeus suggests.

“No, it is not their fight. It is ours. They could get hurt or die, and we will need their numbers to keep our guild alive when this is through,” she reasons as she opens the door and peeks into the stairwell beyond.

“Addeus is right. We should let them fight,” Shamus suggests. “Not all are against us, Tate. This is their home too.”

She looks back at him, debating it. “And if they die?”

“We’re hunters. We face death daily. At least they would die protecting something important. They have trained for this, so let them fight.”

I know she hates the thought of any more blood being spilled because of her, but sometimes leaders make hard choices. “Unlock their doors and let them choose. They can either wait it out or fight with us. I will not force them to, but I won’t take their choices away. Now let’s move before they blow the whole building while trying to get to us.”

Just then, small explosions meant to fill us with fear rock the building. Ronan has already reported that they are not causing major damage, just trying to spread our forces thin so they can pick us off one by one.

“Can you get me on the speakers?” she asks Addeus. He simply nods and holds out his hands. She clasps his, and he nods.

She clears her throat, and it echoes around the hallway from the speakers. “Fellow hunters, this is Tate. I am with Commander Vilaran. Tonight, we are under attack by a very familiar evil—those within our own ranks who wish to betray our commander, our laws, and the very fabric of what it means to be a hunter. They want their crimes to be kept hidden, and they want to get away with murdering innocents in the name of our guild. Now, because our commander and I would not let that happen, they seek to end us all. I will not ask you to fight, since this is a war I started, but your doors are unlocked. You can stay inside and wait to see who wins, or you can pick up a blade and fight. It is your choice. No one will order you to. Tonight, you must choose for yourself who you wish to be.

“I, like most, have lived, breathed, and suffered for this cause, for the belief that what we do has merit. We are hunters. We are the shield between good and evil. We bloody our souls to keep the world safe. We are the line between humans and supernaturals, but we are not indiscriminate killers. Some among us are, however, and they are afraid of what I will do when I find out they are no better than the monsters we hunt. Well, they should be. Tonight, I will cleanse this organisation of the evil that has rotted its core. For those who are here to do us harm, I only have one thing to say—you have come to die and we salute you.” She nods at Addeus, and he cuts off the transmission.

Without a moment of hesitation, she kicks the door open and stalks down the stairs, her footsteps loud. She is not hiding, and neither are they. We barely reach the next flight before the door bursts open, and a surge of angry hunters pours from within—a trap.

She simply laughs, grips the railing, and flings herself over it, letting those who would grab her fall to their deaths. When she lands on the other side of Tem, her eyebrow arches as she reverses their trap. “Foolish men.” She nods at me. “General, these are yours.”

I know my smile is cruel as my bloodlust takes over, and all I see is red. I unleash everything inside me, everything my sister tried to lock away. I become the blade Tate wields. I will be the evil they fear.

I will be the reminder that humanity is not the strongest race out there.

We are.

Their blood splatters across their sacred halls, their screams echoing for all to hear as I carve through their masses like a well-aimed gun. My magic tears them apart as easily as my hands, shredding them like tissue paper. My laughter fills the air like a haunting melody as their screams reach a crescendo. They attempt to flee back into the hallway, but the door shuts, and Tem grins at them. They try to move down the stairs, but my girl is there.

Her hand darts out and smacks into the wall, creating a barrier. “Uh-uh, where do you think you’re going?” She grins, and when they lunge left, she does the same, grinning all the while. “Didn’t you want to fight? I warned you that whoever stood against me would die.” She looks at me where I stand in their masses. “Continue.”

A knife soars towards my face, and I stop it with a blink, freezing the person on the spot as I duck under the frozen blade and move their arm. I point it at their own face and unfreeze them. They see it coming, their eyes widening, but their momentum will not allow them to stop it as they drive it into their own face and fall into the crowd, only to be trampled.

A bullet hits my side, but the slight sting is barely felt, more like an irritating tickle, but it gets my attention, and I grip the man’s neck, lifting him into the air as he turns a myriad of colours. The hunters freeze, their eyes widening as they watch. I know my eyes glow, as well as my hair and skin, as my magic moves through me, down my arm, and into him. Thousands of tiny shards of glass cut him from the inside out, tearing through his organs, muscles, and veins, and when his mouth opens to scream, blood pours out, not sound. More streams from his eyes, nose, and ears as he kicks and moans. Finally, he bursts like an overripe fruit, all within seconds.

All from a single touch.

I turn back to the others, just a fraction of their numbers remaining, and I smile pleasantly. “I would run if I were you.”

One throws himself over the stairs to avoid me, but I simply click my fingers and bring him back with my magic. When he floats in the air before my girl, I force him to his knees. The others fight to get past as I laugh, and then I do the same to them, capturing them with my magic and forcing them to their knees as she watches. I move through them, opening their mouths. “We are sorry. We are nothing but fools meant to die.” I control their words, and her eyebrow arches at me as I dive into their brains and tear them to pieces.

I make them into nothing but empty shells, ripping out every thought, memory, and feeling, and I let them choke on who they are. When I finally stop their hearts with a thought, I let them crumple down the stairs like broken toys.

I stand amongst their bloody bodies. “Shall we continue?”

“Let’s.” She opens the door to the floor and steps inside, and we follow.

The hallway is empty, tinted orange by a flashing alarm and lined with open doors. I hear whispers and shuffling, and so must she.

Her knife drags along the wall of the corridor as she prowls down it. “Come out, come out, little mice. I can hear you scurrying around.”

At an open door, she tilts her head and looks inside. “Ah, there you are.”

“You traitorous bitch!” comes a roar, and a body hits her, knocking her back into the opposite wall. She holds up her hand to stop us from intervening, and I lean casually into the wall to watch as the huge woman smashes her fist into Tate’s face.

Her tongue darts out, tasting the blood on her lip from the hit. “That is the only blow anyone will land on me tonight,” Tate says before she grips the woman’s face. She starts to scream as she stumbles backwards, and when she hits the opposite wall, her eyes are muddled, giving Tate an opening she doesn’t waste.

She doesn’t hesitate as she embeds her knife in the woman’s chest, letting her view her own death as Tate looks back at us with a grim, determined smile.

“Let’s go.”