Page 12 of Dark Reign

‘In other news,’the one on the right began,‘an anonymous tip has led to the recapture of seven human females who were reported missing just last week, right here in our Dynasty’s capitol.’

‘That’s right,’the other confirmed.‘Camp Lester was the most recent victim in a rash of thefts that have resulted in numerous sows being stolen from local facilities.’

O.C. scoffed from across the room. “That’s all we are to them, swine and warm-blooded juice boxes.”

He fell silent again as the broadcast continued.

‘Yes, Catherine, and there’s even been an increase in missing donors, resulting in many orphanages raising security measures.’

I hated when they referred to human children that way. Donors. As if they volunteered to be bled to feed these monsters.

‘We’re talking doubling the number of huntsmen and wolfpacks on site, as well as landmines. Some have even gone as far as employing hives of roamers to patrol their property, with hopes that they’ll aid in this effort to catch the infiltrators before they make off with Ianite goods,’the woman added.

Liv moved a pencil across her notepad at warp speed. She kept both in her pocket just in case she needed to jot something down. Pertinent information about security changes was definitely worth notating.

‘Natalie, wouldn’t you say these fringe, vigilante groups are becoming a growing problem? Especially with this newfound boldness?”The Ianite I now knew as Catherine had asked.

‘Most definitely. And it would be negligent not to cite the source of this boldness.”

The room went silent and the team collectively held their breath, faint smiles ghosting on their lips as they all waited for it.

‘If you ask me, we have Blackbird to thank,”she added with an air of sarcasm.

The team erupted with cheers and fist pumps. A media mention for me was a media mention for us all.

“You know?” Alex piped up. “It’s too bad we have to operate in secret, because whether these people realize it or not, we’re famous and it’s all thanks to them. Every time some‘fringe, vigilante group’shows up on the map causing trouble, they blame it on Blackbird.”

He was one-hundred percent right about that. We had somehow become the posterchild for an entire movement of humans who’d grown tired of being mistreated and oppressed for centuries.

Banks walked over and gave my shoulders a hard shake. “And you thought the mask was a stupid idea,” he teased.

“Oh, Istillthink it’s a stupid idea,” I assured him with a laugh. “If it didn’t bring awareness to the cause, I would’ve ditched it a long time ago.”

It was true.

Shay stumbled across the mask when she and O.C. went on a scavenging run for supplies. There it was—silk covered, decked out with faux, black pearls and sequins, small feathers, and a short beak that protruded from the center. It was bagged at a nearby dump, a favor from one of many Ianite galas, I was sure. They had a flare for the elaborate, and their parties—typically grandiose masquerade balls—were the perfect time to flaunt their money and excess.

Shay had the bright idea to bring the thing back to basecamp. At first, I wore it out on a mission as kind of a tongue in cheek way to poke fun of the contrast between the two worlds—the lavish way of the Ianites, and the scarcity our people faced, but it stuck. All it took was one still of me captured on a closed-circuit camera, and all of a sudden, the Ianites didn’t see me as just another misfit human fighting the tide. From that one image of me dressed in all black, wearing the mask, I became the icon for an entire movement.

Blackbird.

“Quiet,” Liv said, shushing everyone. “I’m trying to hear.”

The room went silent again, and we continued listening to Natalie and Catherine’s report.

‘You raise an interesting point, Natalie. However, some might consider it presumptuous to assume all of these thefts have been orchestrated by Blackbird and her team.’

Catherine paused to laugh.

‘Mentioning a team was totally a slip of the tongue,’she admitted,‘but come on … we do have to assume there’s a team out there helping Blackbird with these foolish missions, right? There’s no possible way one girl could manage all this on her own.’

Natalie nodded in agreement. ‘Oh, absolutely. I always imagine a team of mindless imps, pressing buttons and calling the shots behind the scenes.’

The two on television laughed.

The eight of us did not.

‘But to address your original thought,’she continued, ‘to say that Blackbird, personally, has had a hand in all this might be a stretch. However, I’m definitely comfortable going on record stating that her boldness, her callous disregard for The Mortal Bylaws—or Standard Forty, if you prefer to call them that—has inspired these rogue thinkers and the defiance that seems to be spreading like a plague.’

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