Page 123 of Court of Evil

They still don’t respect her decision to have us here, and most of the hunters think she has bewitched their commander, and now this. Suspicion and mistrust are rife. I spent the night invading the electronics of Stalkers’ Rest, reading text messages and watching them through cameras. There are whispers, nothing concrete yet but enough to have me worried, so when Tate goes in to shower, I slip away. I wander the halls of Stalkers’ Rest, tracking those I need to. Half my brain is locked on the cameras I have invaded, following their movements back to a storage room. The mics pick up the whispers, and I enhance them so I can listen as I move silently.

“She’s out of control. We will be next!”

“We need to stop her before it’s too late.” They look around nervously at the servers and weapons filling the room, and they have no idea I’m right there with them.

“We should sneak in tonight while she’s sleeping and slit her throat.” I mark that one to die first.

“With those monsters around, we don’t stand a chance,” another mutters.

“If we can lure them away, I can lock them in a room from the control centre.” This is from a man wearing glasses. He’s not a hunter, he’s too skinny, but he looks just as angry.

“I still don’t get why he’s here,” another says.

“He has just as much to lose. If she starts looking into it, she’ll find he helped cover us more than once,” the leader replies. “It’s a plan. We’ll strike tonight.”

“And the commander? He won’t be happy. It’s obvious he’s whipped,” one scoffs.

“Then we end him as well, if need be, and take control ourselves. He’s gone weak and soft because of her. We’ll spike their heads with their victims’ and take control of the hunters.”

I reach the door, and despite it being locked, I simply switch it in my head and it slides open. I step in and relock it behind me. They all turn, their eyes wide. “What the fuck? How did you get in here?”

I point at the camera blinking in the corner. “You should have been more careful. I am everywhere, and I hear and see everything.”

They draw their weapons as I grin.

“You’re going to need them. Not one of you is leaving this room alive. Nobody touches what is mine.”

“Kill him first,” Glasses orders. “I can use him as bait to lure them and lock them here.”

One pulls a gun and aims it at me. He fires twice—one into my skull and one into my heart—but I do not even jerk from the impact.

I stare down at the bullet hole in my chest then raise my eyes back to them. “Pathetic.” I smirk. “Many have tried to kill me.” The bullets wiggle free from my skin as it heals, and I catch them and fling them faster than their guns can. They embed in the skull and chest of the one who shot me and he falls to the ground, dead.

The others roar and leap at me with raised blades. I let them, batting them away like flies, but one climbs onto my back and saws at my head. My circuits fizzle and my vision goes out for a moment. When my eyes come back online, my head falls to the side, almost detached. My vision flashes from colour to black and white as I reach behind me, pluck him from my back, and toss him into the wall. He hits it hard, and when he crumples to the floor, I know he is dead. I cannot sense his heartbeat anymore.

My head hangs from my body, more annoying than anything, so I lift it up, put it back into place, and feel my body mend as I advance on them. They are wide-eyed and terrified, backing into the wall.

“Please, we’re sorry!” the leader shouts. “We’ll leave her alone?—”

“Yes, you will. I will hand your bodies to her as an apology for you.”

Ripping his head up, I sink my fangs into his neck and tear out his throat. He falls, and I turn to Glasses as he pulls out a tablet and unlocks the door, rushing towards it. I lock it with my mind, and he slams into the door, pounding uselessly against it as I advance on him.

“Your skills will not save you now. I am the heart of this building. It obeys me, not you.” He taps on his tablet before gripping it against his chest as he watches me.

“I can help?—”

“I need no help.” My hand wraps around his skinny neck as I lift him into the air. He turns red then purple, beating at me before I snap his neck and drop him. Glancing around, I find they are all dead. I wipe my mouth clean of their disgusting blood since I only want hers, and then I get to work.

It doesn’t take much force to rip their heads from their bodies, and then I unlock the door with a blink, my vision finally fixing and returning to colour as I heal. These hunters were useless. My girl put up more of a fight than all of them together. It’s no wonder she won my trust and loyalty.

Keeping their heads in my hand, I wander through the corridors. Hunters see me coming and gape in shock. I locate her by using the cameras and call the elevator in my mind. When I step inside with some horrified techs, they scramble to get out. I skip the floors I don’t need and get off at the gym where she is with the others.

It falls silent when I walk in, and she senses it and turns, her mouth dropping open. I don’t stop until I stand before her, lowering to my knees and holding up their heads. “My love, I bring the heads of those who would do you harm.”

“Addeus.” She blinks at me as Shamus moves to her side.

A crowd forms, and I feel their anger.

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