Ordained (25 page)

Abby looked each advisor in the eye before they turned away in fear. “
You
turned her against you.” As she left, she paused beside Ethan. “And you,” she said forcefully to him, “if I see you approach her again with malice in your eyes, it’ll be the last thought you ever have.”

An hour later, the protective charm around the manor had been re-applied, though for what purpose, Abby couldn’t imagine. No longer would any of the advisors or hunters lax into a false sense of security. The demons were being carried outside to the incinerator and the fallen hunters were being taken to the kitchen storage cooler. The clinical office only held one mortuary cooler, which of course was given to the dead advisor.

Abby paused in the middle of the arena floor, completely oblivious to the bodies moving around her. The blood smear on the floor drew her in, hypnotized her. It was the same spot she began her attack on Nathaniel when she was younger.

Noel gently touched her shoulder from behind. The untimely attack had been their wake-up call. He held her tight and pressed his cheek into her forehead. Their petty arguments and temporary distrust in one another would be forgiven and forgotten.

Emily and Daniel, like many others, were injured and currently getting treatment from Michael, who was also the in-house doctor. Daniel’s left leg was broken and he had a slight concussion from the fall. Emily landed partially over Daniel, so her injuries were less severe. Her left forearm was broken and her right arm had been sliced open as she tried to grip the rocky wall during the fall. All in all, the two were lucky to have landed on the flatter side of the fissure.

Abby and Noel decided to leave them be and tend to their own wounds. Their cuts were minimal, but with no immune system, wounds could easily lead to infection.

Noel hugged her hand and led her through the hallways. A voice boomed from around the corner and stopped them dead in their tracks. “You have one job. One job! To see the future and tell us what’s going to happen!”

Surprisingly, Noel reacted before Abby and ran down the hall first.

“We lost three people today because you couldn’t produce the future!”

Abby only had a split second to take in the scene before Noel interfered. Jayden had Valerie cornered in the room. She was practically in tears.

He slammed Jayden’s face into the wall. “What the hell is wrong with you?” Flabbergasted, Jayden was unable to respond. “Valerie, you’re done here.”

She rushed behind Abby for safety.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You’re nothing. You’re the Chancellor’s assistant, which means you do jack.” He released Jayden but kept him pinned just as he had done Valerie. “Do you know what would’ve prevented these deaths today? Besides the fact that you don’t properly train your hunters cause you knew Eraticus would kill them, you weren’t even competent enough to perform the protection barrier properly. The only reason you’re taking it out on Valerie is cause she wasn’t there to cover your ass. You want to blame someone for today’s tragedy? Try laying it on your own damn doorstep!”

Noel turned back to escort Abby and Valerie from the room. Jayden still hadn’t moved by the time they left.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Emily had buried herself deep in the foliage in the conservatory. Off the beaten path, she sulked in the rough, not caring that the ground was damp from the sprinklers. Her left forearm was broken and wrapped in a hard blue cast. It had been this arm she landed on when she fell into the darkness with Daniel. Her other arm was heavily bandaged and her body in general was scratched and bruised all over.

But it was the arm in particular that concerned her. Hunters genetically healed very quickly, but she feared her broken arm may not heal in time to help Abby. And although Abby had the ability to heal, she wasn’t sure if she could mend something this bad, nor would want to draw attention to herself in front of the Order.

Emily heard the greenery rustle. The sun was still shining brightly so she figured it wasn’t Abby. Sure enough, one by one, all the surviving huntresses were pushing through the plants. First Darby and Mira, then Me-ling, Anita and Giselle.

“You don’t really think you get to disappear after that, do ya?” Darby asked, sitting down next to Emily.

As the rest joined them on the ground, Mira jumped back up. “Dude! This is wet!”

Mira wiped her wet bum. Giselle, the only one still standing, ripped an elephant ear from the plant and sat on it.

Dumbfounded, Mira stated, “Why didn’t we think of that?”

Darby pulled her back down to the ground. “We’ve survived worse. Now sit down or Emily will start yelling again,” she warned with a smile.

“Seriously,” Me-ling said. “You can’t keep that stuff bottled up inside you like that.”

“Somehow I don’t think the Order would like you hanging out with me right now. Bad influence, ya know.”

“To hell with them,” snapped Giselle.

Emily turned to Anita and Giselle. She was so out of it she hadn’t realized they weren’t in the arena during the attack or the aftermath. “Where the hell were you two?”

“Susan had us getting some training equipment left behind in the children’s building,” answered Anita.

“We heard the attack, all the rumbling,” continued Giselle. “The advisors there locked down the building and told us to stand guard in case whatever was happening here made its way to them.”

“And did it?” Emily asked. No way the children would have survived.

“Yes, actually. But just one,” Anita replied, as Giselle nodded along in agreement. “It smashed its way through the front doors where we were positioned.”

“Ugly, smelly thing with tentacles growing out of its head.” Giselle scrunched her nose in disgust.

“I don’t think it was expecting any legitimate hunters to be there at the time. It went down rather easily between the two of us. It wasn’t nearly as threatening as some of the demons you guys got.”

Emily frowned. “So the protection barrier didn’t hold up there either? What the hell is going on? How are they getting through?”

“I don’t know,” said Mira. “All I know is I’ll be sleeping with one eye open from now on.”

Emily perked up. “Calley,” she gasped toward Mira. “You’re all alone now.”

Mira shook her head in disagreement. “No, no I’m not. Me-ling and I are going to bunk together now,” she said solemnly as the two wrapped their arms around each other.

“But seriously, Emily,” Darby insisted, “really cool the way you laid into the Chancellor like that. Even the guys are impressed.”

“Finally, one of us got to tell ‘em off,” Giselle added dreamily.

Emily tried to hold back the smile, but couldn’t. “I wasn’t done bitchin’.”

“No need,” Mira replied bluntly. “Abby pretty much finished the speech for you.”

“I do like the way they recoil into themselves every time she comes near them,” said Me-ling happily. “I hope I’ll be able to scare people like that one day.”

Giselle turned to Anita with pursed lips and a shaking head. “Every time. How do we keep missing all the good stuff?”

Anita laughed shortly. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. On one side, we dodged a bullet not being there. On the other, I really hate that we weren’t there. Maybe Calley and Constance would still be here if we had just stuck around two more minutes.”

“Don’t think on that for one second,” Emily stated firmly. “Their deaths are not your fault. They’re not any of our faults.”

After two hours of chit-chat, the cloudy sky darkened. Still going strong, the girls only paused when Abby pushed through the greenery.

“Hey,” Emily said as she stood over them. “How’d the cleanup go?”

“Well, you know me. Nothing I like better than disposing of dead demon bodies,” she replied sarcastically. “Uh, the Order brought in pizzas for dinner if anyone’s interested. Guess they weren’t up for cooking tonight.”

“Cool.” Giselle sprang quickly to her feet.

The others were a little slower to follow, seeing as how they all sank into the wet ground. Emily remained situated where she was. She hadn’t been particularly close to the two women that died, but the thought of eating while they lay lifeless in a refrigerator just sickened her.

“It’s the least those jerks could do,” complained Anita.

“Are you coming?” Darby asked Emily.

“No. Abby and I need to talk privately for awhile.”

The girls said their goodbyes. As they left, Abby got a peek at their backsides. “Well, at least they match.”

“Yeah.” Emily adjusted her own wet bum in the ground.

Detecting her discomfort, Abby offered a reprieve by suggesting they switch locations.

“Nah. I’ve managed to make myself a nice little hole in the mud. Pull up a leaf,” she said, waving her hand towards the plant Giselle was sitting on.

“How gracious of you,” she cringed sarcastically, sitting down carefully to avoid the same fate. “So, first demon battle since Eraticus. How ya holding up?”

“That’s not why I’m in here.”

Abby raised her eyebrows in a distrustful manner. “Alright, then why did you come here, before the girl brigade showed up that is?”

Emily stared out into the foliage. She watched it sway gently, still reacting from those that just passed through. “Just trying to figure out why they lie to us all the time.”

“The Order?”

“Technically lie isn’t the right word. Lying would indicate telling us something in the first place.”

Puzzled, Abby waved her hand in front of Emily’s gaze. “You wanna help me out by telling me what the hell you’re referring to?”

Emily motioned to the journal on the ground. She had already discussed the contents with the other huntresses. Originally worn, she had added a few wrinkles to the book herself by over-reading it. Abby picked it up and flipped through the handwritten paperwork.

“This is one of the books you took from the Chancellor’s office.”

Emily nodded. “They knew Eraticus tracked down and killed us on our twenty-fifth birthday, long before Valerie, even long before your time. They had notes on the mistakes we made fighting him. Which means, they actually trailed some of the hunters to their death. Not to help us but to watch us die.”

“Ugh.” Disgusted, Abby replied, “That’s just sick.”

“Glad you agree with us.” Frustrated, she added, “How the hell could we succeed when we weren’t even aware he existed? And then this. You knew everything about each of those demons. What species and how to go about killing them. We didn’t.” She paused and shook her head. “We never had a chance. All those hunters lost. They were our friends, our family.”

Abby handed the journal back to Emily. “Well, I can’t really speak for the Order of today but the old one didn’t give a rat’s ass about the lives of their hunters. They always had another training to fill the void.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t work for them anymore. I think it’s time for new leadership. Viva la revolucion!” she joked as she waved her fist in the air.

Abby, however, wasn’t laughing. In fact, she nodded her head in disagreement. Emily was afraid she would react this way.

“Oh, come on Abby. We’ll learn more from your kind in a few years than all the advisors put together for a lifetime. We have the same objective: kill vampires. Why can’t we work together?”

The groan that escaped her throat was like nothing Emily had ever heard. She was clearly going to need some convincing.

“Emily, it doesn’t really matter who you work for. Both roads lead to death. You won’t be any happier dying under my guidance than you would the Order’s.”

“But we don’t have to. Let us work with the Order until we die. Then you can reincarnate us and have us help your organization. The Order would never know.”

“I can’t just go around reincarnating people I don’t know. It may not be what they want. And who’s to say that once they’re reincarnated they’ll even want to continue fighting?”

“You didn’t know me,” Emily replied boldly, crossing her arms in a matter-of-fact manner. She winced when she felt the rawness of her broken arm, but kept it crossed regardless.

“Actually, I did.”

Emily strained her eyes and racked her brain, trying to remember a time in which she may have mistakenly met her and forgotten about it. Perhaps an acquaintance she spoke to briefly on the street or maybe even a fake victim at some point. But nothing.