Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01) (20 page)

I woke the next morning, just after seven, with my heart pounding and my hair plastered to my face from sweat.

Last night, I kept falling asleep reading at my desk before I finally forced myself to bed after three. But every time I closed my eyes, I saw a faceless demon coming after me, and then saw my family in our old living room, covered in blood, just like I’d found them when they’d died.

Tears streamed down my cheeks and I scrubbed them away, viciously rubbing my face until it was dry.

Last night was the first time I’d had nightmares since I’d been here, something I’d just realized.

I hadn’t missed them.

Before I’d joined the CGE, I’d had them nearly every night. It was always the same theme. A faceless demon, my family, and me. Sometimes I was lying with them, on the ground, in a pool of blood, and sometimes I wasn’t. Sometimes I was stuck standing there, just staring at them, unable to move or help or scream.

I didn’t know crap about psychology or what dreams represented, but I had no doubt that the thought of leaving had played a part in the bad dreams.

“Ugh!” I half-shouted, pounding my fists on the bed. “Deal with it, Jade. You’ve been through worse. You can get through this.” Somehow. I had to.

I got out of bed and took a quick shower, hoping the water would help clear my head. It worked partially.

Standing in the doorway of the bathroom, I glanced around the room. Everything was packed—I’d taken care of that in between reading, unwilling napping, and note taking. My personal tablet was folded up and in my back pocket. I didn’t know Greene’s kicking-out policy, but in case he was the type to have me escorted off the property with a ‘we’ll send you your stuff’ comment before I was kicked to the curb, I wanted to make sure I had everything I couldn’t live without actually on me. My notes couldn’t hurt anyone, but since he’d made a big deal about the general population not knowing about demons, I wasn’t sure he’d let me leave if he knew I had them.

A quick glimpse of the clock told me it was still too early for my meeting with Greene. And though I wasn’t hungry, I needed to kill time—outside of my room—so I went down to the café.

When I got there, as soon as I stepped inside, I spotted Felecia sitting in the back corner with two other girls and a guy. She saw me and glared, making her friends turn and do the same. Still taking Greene’s advice, I ignored her and stood in line for food I wasn’t entirely sure I could eat or really wanted.

I managed to force one piece of toast down and was busy pushing the eggs on my plate around when Linc sat down in front of me.

“Good morning.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Says who?”

He stole a piece of cold bacon off my plate. “What’s going on?”

“I’m about to get kicked out. I think.” I hadn’t told him. By the time I got back to my room, I’d been in planning stage and hadn’t wanted the company.

“What?”

I made a face.

“What the hell for?” When I didn’t answer immediately, he grabbed my hand. “Jade,” he said, his tone soft.

I felt my eyes heat.
You are
not
going to cry. You’re not.
I closed my eyes and kept them closed until I was sure I wouldn’t let loose with the water works, and then I reopened them. “Because I let Felecia pull a crazy prank on me,” I said, and then told him about last night, making sure I kept my tone low so Felecia and her gang didn’t overhear us.

By the time I got to the part about the demon escaping and Felecia all but leaving me there to be killed, his jaw was completely slack and his eyes were wide. He looked over his shoulder, shook his head. “I can’t believe that. Greene knew she was there?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but I didn’t tell him though. He said a guard overheard us talking. I didn’t mention the whole thing about her just leaving me there.”

“You should have kicked her ass, Jade.”

“I think we both pretty much kicked each other’s ass.”

He looked over his shoulder again, tilted his head to the side. “Well, she kind of looks like she had her ass kicked.” He nodded, as if he approved. “But you don’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You don’t have a bruise on you that I can see.”

“I don’t bruise easy, or for long if I do. Never have.”

He glanced in her direction again. “I still can’t believe she did that. I knew she was a little off, but damn. That’s just…”

“Wrong? Dirty? Murderous? Psychotic?”

“Pick your adjective. They all fit.”

I managed a small smile and then sighed as I looked at the wall clock. I still had twenty minutes, but I wanted to leave before Felecia. “I’m going to go. Better early than late, right?”

“Come find me when you’re done, okay? We’ll talk.”

“I will.”

When I reached for the tray, he grabbed it from me. “I’ve got this. Go on.”

“You just want the bacon,” I said, trying to force a smile.

He winked at me. “I do like bacon.”

“Thanks, Linc. I’ll see you around.”
Maybe. Hopefully.

As much as I’d miss this place if the unthinkable happened, I’d miss him as much—if not more. He was probably the best friend I’d had since…well, ever.

I’d never had friends at the Pond. Mrs. Gill had home schooled us, so I hadn’t had school as an escape or a place to make friends. And at the house, I’d kept to myself to prevent getting into fights. It didn’t help a lot, not since the others really didn’t need a reason to start one with me. If I was quiet or even nice, they thought I was acting better than them or being passive-aggressive. If I made noise, then I was looking for trouble. It’d been a lose/lose situation all around.

I took one last look around the cafeteria and sent Linc another smile. The right side of his mouth lifted in his typical half-smirk.

Yeah, I’ll definitely miss him.

I blew out a breath and made my way to Greene’s office, which was down the hall from the café court.

The door was open so I took a quick peek in and then went inside. There was a woman sitting behind a desk. She didn’t look like Mrs. Barnes at all, but she was just as impeccably dressed. Spotting me, she nodded. “He’s expecting you, Miss Hall. Just go in.”

My stomach felt weird, like it had zombie-butterflies trying to eat away at my insides. “Thanks.”

I went in and started to say something before I realized he was on the phone. He held up a finger. “Miss Porter, I’ll have my assistant send over a team immediately. Someone should be there within thirty minutes.”

Since I’d never been inside it before, I took a quick glimpse around his office. His walls were a dark brown with beige trimming in the middle. He had bookshelves lining the entire right wall with actual books on them—the paper kind that no one had used in…well, before I was born. I couldn’t quite make out the titles, and though I was curious, I resisted the urge to get a better look. Today probably wasn’t the best day for snooping.

There were a few abstract paintings hanging. I didn’t know what—if anything—they were supposed to be. Art was lost on me. His desk was huge and, other than a computer, was clutter-free. There wasn’t even a picture of his family or anything. I hadn’t thought about him having—or not having—a family before. In fact, I’d never even considered where he lived. Did he stay here with the Prospects? Did he have a place somewhere else?

Is that really important now?

I gave myself a mental headshake and kept my eyes forward. Greene looked really director-ish behind his desk. Somehow, it was a complete one-eighty to how he seemed roaming the halls or when he’d picked me up from the Pond. He had that boss-like vibe and attitude down, but he’d never seemed so larger than life.

Or maybe he just seemed that way now because he held my future in his hands.

He replaced the phone and then pressed a button. “Mrs. Matthews, I need a team deployed to Sam Porter's location immediately. She should be sending over her GPS coordinates now.”

The receptionists’ voice rang through. “Yes, sir. I’ll see to it as soon as I have the information.”

“Thank you.” He pressed the button again and then sat straight up. “Good morning, Miss Hall.”

I hope it’s going to be one.
“Morning,” I said, trying to force some semblance of cheerfulness to my tone. I failed. Miserably.

“Take a seat.”

Nope. Not going to be a good morning.
Telling me to take a seat was like the equivalent of the we-need-to-talk conversation starter, which never ended well. “Okay,” I said, doing as I was told.

“Is Miss Fitzgerald waiting outside?”

“I don’t think so. She was still in the cafeteria when I left.”

“Very well.” He leaned forward. “Tell me, Miss Hall, why do you want to be here?”

“You know why.”

“I do, but I would still like to hear it from you.”

Didn’t he know by now that I actually hated talking? Especially when it mattered, when there was something important on the line. He was just giving me an opportunity to babble and bury myself even deeper, if that were possible.

I sighed. “Because I want the demon that killed my family.”

“Is that the only reason?” When I hesitated, he shook his head. “Now isn’t the time to hold things back, Miss Hall. If you have any other reason, I’d like to hear it.”

“I don’t want what happened to my family to happen to anyone else’s family.”

“You want to stop the demons? All of them?”

“If that’s what it takes, yes. I was doing this before you came along.”

“Yes, you were. But if I’m not mistaken, you had yet to find a single demon.”

“I would have.”

“I’m sure you would have tried.”

My eyes narrowed. “I wouldn’t have
tried
. I would have. And I could do it easier now. I know what to look for—I didn’t before.”

“I see.” He leaned back again, looking unimpressed.

For some reason, it pissed me off. I jumped to my feet. “Those things took my family. They killed Celina.”

“Yes, they did. A woman you had no connection to. A woman who, until that day, you didn’t even know existed.”

“It doesn’t change anything. I met her. I knew her. And even if I didn’t, I know she didn’t deserve that death. No one does.”

“No, I suppose they don’t.”

“You brought me here. You proved that demons existed and that you could find them. I can’t just go back now and pretend I don’t know what I do. I can’t sit by and do nothing.”

“And if you leave today?”

My stomach plummeted but I kept my head held high. “Then I’ll do what you were going to help me with. I’ll find the demon that took my family, with or without your help. Without or without CGE training. It’ll take longer, but I’m not giving up.” And I wouldn’t.

“I believe you.”

I shook my head. “I messed up. I get that. I’ll take the responsibility for it because I should’ve known better than to believe her.”

“And if you could do it over, would you do the same thing?”

“I—” I knew what I should say. I knew what he wanted to hear, but I wasn’t going to lie. “Probably. I still would have wanted to find out something about Celina, and if I didn’t have the information, I still would have sought it out.”

Slowly, he nodded. “Thank you for your honesty.”

I waited to see if he’d say anything else, but he didn’t. “That’s it?”

“I’d like to speak with Miss Fitzgerald first. Would you mind waiting outside? If you see her, please send her in.” He lowered his head and started reading over something on his computer screen.

A non-verbal
dismissed
.

After making me wait all night for his decision, and then having this conversation, he was going to make me wait even longer? My jaw clenched down painfully and my teeth ground together.

Wordlessly, I stormed out. Felecia was sitting in one of the chairs with her head resting against the wall. When she heard the door shut, she opened her eyes and immediately went into glare-mode.

I took a seat on the opposite side of the room, sitting as far from her as possible without leaving the waiting area. “He wants to see you.”

“Are we out or not?” she asked, still sitting.

“I guess you’ll have to tell me.”

She pushed herself up, said, “Whatever,” and then went inside Greene’s office. The door closed behind her with a snap.

Greene’s assistant rolled her eyes.

After a few minutes of silence, I started tapping my foot on the ground for something to do. I glanced around, hoping to find some kind of reading material. Nothing. Not even a magazine. At this point, I would have settled for elevator music—and I
hated
elevator music. I had my personal tablet, but until I knew what was going on, I wasn’t risking taking it out of my pocket.

Another twenty minutes passed before the door reopened. I sat up straight, watched as Felecia stormed away without even glancing at me.
Crap.
The look on her face had my stomach dropping.

“Miss Hall?”

I wiped my hands across my jeans and stood, staring at the open door. I didn’t want to go back in there. If he was going to let me stay, why wouldn’t he have just said so?

Then again, if he was giving me the boot, why wouldn’t he have just said
that
?

Damnit!

I bit my lip, released a breath, and then went back inside and retook my old seat.

Greene was wearing another one of his impassive looks that didn’t give a clue to what he was thinking. Couldn’t he just give away something that’d tell me if I was gone or not? This suspense thing was killing me.

“Before I give you my decision, I want to explain something to you. Most here are under the impression that, on the hunting side of things, all we do is take care of issues when they arise. We learn of an attack, we take care of the problem, and then we start over from there. While I wouldn’t call it inaccurate, it’s far from being entirely true.” He paused a moment. “We work as hard to
prevent
attacks as we do to clean up the messes. Finding a demon after it has killed someone helps the general population, of course, but what does it do to the lives already destroyed?”