Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (18 page)

"It doesn't
pay very well," Felix said.

"I don't
care. I have plenty of money and we can take better paying jobs when I get more
experienced."

"Alright.
Post a reply that you're interested and then sit back and wait."

I did as he
said. Seconds after I hit the submit button on the reply, my new cell phone was
ringing. Felix told me the number for my phone was already programmed in my
profile on the server and if the family was interested in hiring me for my help
they would call. This family was desperate.

The father of
the young girl was the one who called me. He explained that his wife was far
too emotional to talk on the phone right now. He told me where they lived and
said he would tell us everything he knew as soon as we got there.

Since all of the
Nesmyr and Lovac lived in the forest near the facility, their house would be a
short drive. I didn't expect to being going out on my first job immediately but
Felix told me to start packing my backpack with gear. Before we left, we
stopped at the clothing shop. I picked up my items and changed into one of the
outfit so I could carry my stake with me.

We walked out of
the facility and Felix led me to one of the many cars parked there but he
turned and blocked me from getting in the car.

"I just
want to warn you that there is a very good chance we won't find the Zhulik that
took this girl and even if we do there's a small chance she's still
alive."

I took a deep
breath. I didn't think about that yet and I still didn't want to. If it came to
that, I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to handle it.

"We still
have to try, don't we?"

He nodded but
didn't say anything. He opened the passenger side door for me and walked around
to get into the driver's seat. He started the car, adjusted the mirrors and
typed in the address to the house we were headed to in the GPS. Then we were
off.

"You seem a
lot tenser than I imagined you would be," I said.

He glanced at me
and gave me a sad smile. "I've taken a few of these jobs where someone's
child has been taken. None of them have ended well. I try to avoid them now. I
prefer the jobs that don't involve someone being kidnapped."

"You should
have told me. I could've picked something else."

"No."
He shook his head and reached over to squeeze my hand. "I saw how much you
wanted to do this and I think it will be good experience, too. I just hope we
can save this girl, for all of our sakes."

We drove through
the winding roads of the forest without saying another word, holding hands the
whole way. I watched all of the trees go by and was amazed at how green
everything was. I was so used to living in flat places all of my life and never
seeing anything as beautiful as forests and mountains. Then it occurred to me
that most of the Nesmyr and Lovac lived in places with a lot of forest or
mountains.

"Do Zhulik
usually stay in the same areas as Nesmyr or do they wander around
everywhere?" I asked.

"They
mostly stay in the same areas. We all prefer the more secluded places. Why do
you ask?"

"Well, I
was just wondering how a woman got pregnant with a Lovac baby in a place like
Wyoming."

"She
probably went on vacation to one of the areas where Zhulik are. I've never seen
a Zhulik travel that far away from the highly populated Nesmyr areas."

I thought about
all the times I had a headache growing up and thought Lucas must be different
from other Zhulik. Maybe that was the reason he’s been alive for so long.
He doesn’t stay in the areas near Nesmyr all the time.

I sighed and
Felix gave me a sad smile, rubbing his thumb along my wrist. I could see the
worry in his eyes and I regretted wanting to take this job. I didn’t want
him to suffer because of me. 

We pulled into
the driveway of a small little cabin a short time later. The Nesmyr parents
were waiting at the front door, eager for us to get started and get their
daughter back.

"Hello,"
the father said. His eyes were puffy but he had stopped crying. His wife, on
the other hand, still had silent tears running down her face. "I'm Jeremy
and this is my wife, Colette. Please come in."

"I'm
Felix," Felix said as we entered their house. "And this is Avery.
She's the one you talked to on the phone. I'm here to help her train. This is
her first job."

Jeremy and
Colette gave each other an unsure look. I knew they were worried that I
wouldn't be able to help them because I was so inexperienced but I was all they
had. They probably couldn't afford anyone else.

"Don't
worry," Felix said. "She has some pretty amazing skills and I've been
doing this for a few years. We'll do everything we can to find your daughter.
Now, when did it happen?"

We had taken a
seat in their living room and Jeremy put his arm around his wife to comfort
her. I knew he was taking this just as hard as her but he was trying his best
to be strong. There was a picture of their daughter on the table behind them
and I tried to commit it to memory.

"Last
night," he said. "The doorbell rang and Ellie, our daughter, ran to
open it before we could stop her. We were both upstairs at the time and after
she opened the door, we heard her scream. We rushed downstairs but it was
already too late. The Zhulik already had her and we barely got a glimpse of his
face before he ran off into the woods with her."

Poor Jeremy had
started to sob while talking and he took a deep breath and wiped his eyes.
Colette had started to sob loudly and at one point it had become hard to hear
Jeremy over her but I think we managed to understand everything.

"Do you
know who the Zhulik was?" Felix asked.

Jeremy looked
down at Colette sadly and she just buried her head in his chest even more.

"Yes,"
he said. "It was Colette's twin brother, Colin. We had just heard that he
had turned a few days earlier. Colette was already devastated from that and
then this happened. It's been a rough few days."

"Do you
know where he lives? Have you heard of any sightings of him with other Zhulik
in the area?" Felix asked, no sympathy in his voice at all. He was all
business when it came to these jobs apparently. I made a note to ask him later
if they were taught to be strictly business or if that was just him.

"I can give
you the address to where he lives, though I'm not sure if he still lives there
now that he's turned. I don't think he's been a Zhulik long enough to be
sighted anywhere or with any other Zhulik yet."

Felix nodded and
seemed to be taking mental notes of the conversation. I felt like we were
detectives and wished I had a pen and paper to take my own notes. "New
Zhulik tend to make their new homes close to their old ones. Do you know of any
caves or places that would make good hideouts near his house?"

"Well,"
Jeremy considered. "I think there are some old caves a few miles from his
house but that's all I remember."

"Is there
any more information you can give us that you think might be useful?"

"He was
always such a kind-hearted man. We were twins and I thought that meant I knew
everything about him," Colette said, sobbing with every pause. "I
just don't understand why he would choose to turn or why he would come after my
baby. He was always so great to Ellie."

"I'm sorry
for everything that has happened to you," I finally said. I couldn't stand
Felix sounding uncaring to them anymore. "You both seem like such nice
people and you don't deserve any of this. I promise we'll try our best to bring
your daughter back to you safe and sound."

"But we
can't promise that will happen for sure," Felix said, ruining the moment.
I caught him glare at me for a brief second before returning a neutral look to
the couple.

Colette sobbed
harder and Jeremy didn’t look happy with Felix. "We understand how
this might end but we need someone to at least try to save her. Are you sure
you're willing to help us even though we can't pay very much?"

"Absolutely,"
I said, before Felix could say something rude. "Do we need any more
information, Felix, or are we done here?"

He glared at me
again, obviously not happy about interrupting his interrogation. "No. I
think we have everything we need. If we could get you to write down the address
to his house we'll start our search. We'll call you if we find anything."

Jeremy wrote
down the address to Colin's house and said a grateful thank you to me and a not
so grateful thank you to Felix. When we were back in the car I turned on Felix.

"What the
hell was that? Why were you so rude to them? Their daughter was just kidnapped
and you were acting like they just lost a pet rock." With how caring Felix
had been towards me last night, I was shocked to see such an uncaring side to
him. Maybe I didn’t know him as well as I hoped I did.

"That's
just the way I work," he said as he turned on the car and we started
driving. He refused to make any eye contact with me. "It's better to not
get too emotionally attached to a situation like this in case the worst
happens. I would rather try not to care about how nice this family is and how
devastated the mother looked in case we have to bring them a lifeless body or
no body at all."

"It doesn't
hurt to try to be a little positive." I lost the harshness in my voice.
Felix did care but he was protecting himself from the situation. I
couldn’t be mad at him for that, even if I didn’t believe in it.

"Just trust
me. After you go through enough jobs, you'll start to toughen up, too. You'll
go crazy a lot quicker if you don't."

"Isn't
there some middle ground? Can't you be detached from the situation but still be
nice to the people you're working for?"

He shrugged.
"I suppose some people can. Riley was a lot like you when she first
started, too. She was always positive and always sympathetic to the people she
worked for. She learned how to detach herself from the situation after her
first few losses but was still able to be kind to people. I can't manage to
find that balance. The minute I start to be kind I feel sympathy and then it
all goes downhill from there."

"You must
have a bad reputation for being rude then."

He laughed.
"Not really. A lot of Lovac come off as rude when they take jobs. We're
also very good at what we do so most people tend to look past our attitudes. Of
course, people like Riley that can do their jobs well and keep a good attitude
are in high demand. I bet that couple will give you an excellent review,
whether we come back with their daughter or not."

"The people
we work for can give us reviews? Like how people give reviews for a
restaurant?" I shook my head, thinking that was completely ridiculous.

"Yes. It
helps Nesmyr decide which Lovac they want to hire if they have more than one
applying for the job. Some Lovac are more suited for certain jobs than
others."

"We really
are just like prized cattle, aren't we?"

Felix grimaced
but didn’t disagree. "It could be a lot worse. The Nesmyr could keep
us in cages, with collars to keep track of where we are at all times, like
Zhulik do with some werewolves. At least we're able to come and go as we please
and we're not even forced to fight or take jobs if we don't want to. I've known
of a few Lovac who chose to leave the headquarters of their area and live as
much of a human life as they could."

"Why don't
more Lovac do that? It seems to me that trying to live a normal life would be a
lot easier than this."

"We're
raised to fight and protect Nesmyr. We don't know anything else and most of us
actually enjoy the excitement. I feel like a human life would be too boring for
me. I know you think yours was boring."

I shrugged.
"It wasn’t completely boring with moving around all the time, but
having no contact to the outside world was pretty awful. I feel a lot freer now
and I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed beating you up."

He laughed and
the mood lightened slightly. "Most Lovac enjoy the fight and thrill, too;
at least the ones that don't abandon their duties. When they do that, they're
practically shunned. It's not against the law to talk to them but most people
prefer not to. Upper class Nesmyr refuse to acknowledge they ever even existed.
They're just stuck up though and think all Lovac should be kissing their feet
for allowing them to fight and earn their precious money."

"That's not
fair. They shouldn't be banished for doing what they want to do."

"It happens
all the time in other cultures. If a child doesn't want to carry on the family
business they sometimes get shunned. If one person decides they don't want to
follow the rules of a strict religion they sometimes get shunned. Like I said,
not everyone shuns the Lovac that choose to do something else but it is highly
frowned upon."

"Yeah but
it still isn't fair." I wasn’t sure why I was arguing with Felix
about Lovac I had never even met. My sympathy just got the best of me and I
hoped those Lovac were living the life they weren’t allowed to have
growing up.