Page 1 of Huntress and the Thorn Court
1
“We’re pulling in now.” I removed the earpiece and tossed it onto the dash not waiting for a reply. The device was uncomfortable the way it dug into my ear, but it was a necessary evil. I needed my hands free to load my magazines with rounds of silver. Even if the moon wasn’t a beacon in the sky, after the call I’d received, I’d have suspected the peak in the lunar cycle.
Eric, my second in command, drove us with haste while the rest of our squad stayed on assignment. Breaking away from our regular routine had us heading to Washington Park. The objective was to prevent a turf war between the werewolves and vampires. They’d been at each other’s throats long before I was born, and the Hunter Order was the only thing preventing a battle that would no doubt spill onto the streets of the human world. If humans became aware of the preternatural world, it needed to be on better terms, not because of the body count piling up in the streets. The silver bullets were just a precautionary measure. Werewolves tended to be a bit hot tempered, not that the vampires were much better. They just tended to be more devious in their behavior. It was just luck that a silver bullet worked on both species.
While there were other preternatural forces in the world, from witches to Fae, which we hunters were rumored to descend from giving us the supernatural ability to handle ourselves against all the others, no one really gave the Order much trouble outside of the vampires and wolves.
Pulling into the parking lot, the streetlights glinted off the windows. The almost full moon assisted the lamps in their job to brighten the unoccupied park. Stepping out of the car, I slapped my magazine and chambered a round before holstering my gun. The cool night air licked at my skin. My boots crunched against the gravel adding to the nighttime melody of the cicadas. The soft scent of pine was a heavenly aroma. I spent so much time in the city, that I relished the fresh air. The park was all but abandoned this time of night, which was good for us. It meant less pryinghumaneyes.
Vacant benches formed a circle around the playground where, during the day, parents might sit and watch their children play. Cobbled paths wrapped around the park for the occasional cyclist or mother pushing her baby’s stroller. Glancing around for those who had summoned me, I came up empty. Their cars were parked alongside ours, but they were deserted too. Tracks on the ground made a path that vanished into the tree line.
Careful of where I stepped, I moved with a graceful precision that I had acquired over my years of training. Branches reached out like arms, while roots protruded out of the ground in hopes of tripping me. Fallen leaves crunched under my feet covering the ground like a blanket. I could just make out a clearing up ahead. Hushed tones reached me as I strode into the open space. Lush green grass grew thick from the ground here. Two of my fellow hunters were huddled in a whispered conversation, while several others were scattered throughout the area guarding our transgressors.
“Blake,” I spoke to the higher-ranking hunter. “What do we have?” I flexed my hand trying to adjust my new bracers. They were too stiff. Once broken in, everything moved with my body like a second skin. My leather corset and matching pants made me look more like a dominatrix, especially with all my weaponry. I needed my clothing to be light and flexible. My corset wasn’t the traditional type, but a special one that had been spelled by a high priestess from our local coven. I saved her daughter’s life and my payment was all my leather attire to be supernaturally impenetrable. She also added a second spell to make it light as a feather. It had taken awhile to adjust to feeling like I wore nothing.
“It’s Malcolm.”
With a sigh, I glanced over my shoulder. Eric stood there like I knew he would and yet I never heard him follow me from the car. He was instinctual like that and had honed stealth that I would kill for. I teased that it was imbedded into his DNA as a samurai descendant. His ebony hair was tousled. Doe brown eyes shaped like almonds bore into me, awaiting my orders.
“Take the vampires. I’ll speak with Malcolm.”
With a curt nod, he did as I requested. It was one of the reasons he maintained his position as my second. Eric held his tongue and did as ordered but still had a mind of his own. He’d speak up when necessary.
Malcolm had been a problem over the years and I’d been called out to deal with him more than once. He was low ranking in his pack, but not because he lacked the dominance. His temper had gotten him into more than enough trouble. He insisted on dealing only with higher-ranking hunters. So, it tended to fall on me.
There was a peace treaty between the two species and it was our job to be sure it remained intact. Blake did well before I arrived, having separated the two groups, putting as much distance between them as he could manage while still keeping them in the same vicinity.
“Malcolm?” Approaching the werewolf I recognized, I knew immediately he was furious. It radiated off him, like an invisible cloud of toxic energy. My hand brushed against the gun at my side in a nonthreatening way. It’s why I chose a thigh holster. In a seemingly relaxed state with my hands at my side, my gun sat just under my palm. To any onlooker I would appear unguarded, but the truth was I was always vigilant. “What’s going on? Blake says you had a bit of a tiff?”
“Don’t patronize me, Isabel!” He spat, pacing like a caged animal. My hands went up apologetically, attempting to pacify him with nonthreatening body language. Malcolm was close to losing it. “It’s those bloodsuckers’ faults. They know better than to be here. This is our territory.”
“Now Malcolm. You know this is neutral territory.” I heard the patronizing tone that time, but this information wasn’t new. The land where we now stood had once belonged to the local pack, but Gideon, the Alpha, and would be king of the United States werewolves, had given up the rights to it, making it neutral in order to secure a larger parcel near his home base.
“It’s ours and they just want to spite us by prancing around all over it.”
His eyes flashed amber, the first warning that his wolf was close to the surface. “I don’t mean to sound condescending, Malcolm, but you need to calm down. You know you cannot change here. Humans are too close by.” While the park was empty, the suburb nearby might notice a humanoid wolf walking around their streets. My words did little to soothe him, not that I had expected them too. A younger wolf stood a few feet from Malcolm’s left appearing desperately helpless. “What’s your name, kid?”
The boy seemed surprised I’d spoken to him. “Uh…Cyrus.”
I smiled sweetly trying to deliver an air of calm. “Cyrus,” I said testing his name on my tongue. “I need you to help me calm Malcolm down. If he shifts out here where humans might see, we have orders to put him down.”
His eyes widened with fear. “Uncle Malcolm,”Uncle?“Do what she says. Calm down.”
Malcolm’s bones began popping and breaking, his body was transforming. Removing my gun from its holster, I readied myself, as he approached the no return point. I’d shoot him before he got there. “Bring it back, Malcolm,” I demanded stepping back taking my stance. “You have until three. One…” I took aim pointing my gun at his liver. It wouldn’t kill him but a bullet there would pump enough silver into him to stop the transition. “Two…” Sliding my finger between the trigger guard, I watched his teeth elongate. Taking a deep breath, I squeezed the trigger. “Three.”
The gun went off and the world slowed. Cyrus leapt in front of his uncle just as I pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot hadn’t even registered when the bullet hit. Cyrus slammed onto the ground with a thump. My eyes went wide taking in the crimson blooming, soaking his shirt just over his heart. How had I not seen him move?
Malcolm was beside Cyrus in an instant, taking the boy into his arms. His transformation had completely rescinded. “You stupid boy. She was never going to kill me.”
Cyrus’s mouth opened and closed like he was trying to speak, but no words came out. Blood gurgled in his throat in a sickening way until he went silent. It was deafening. Even the cicadas ceased their song.
Shocked, gaping, and frozen, I stood there unsure what to do. I’d taken a life before, but this felt wrong. The boy was innocent. Malcolm lifted his icy blue eyes aiming them at me. “He was my nephew.”
“It was an accident.” I spoke with as much confidence as I could muster, even though I was faking it. I could break down later, but here and now I had a job to do.
“This was my fault.”
“He was trying to protect you,” I all but whispered feeling the guilt of the boy’s life weigh heavily on me. Later, I reminded myself.
