Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Julian
“If you look here at this graph,” Weaver pointed at the screen of his laptop, “you’ll see the trajectory for discontent amongst the supernaturals in regard to the new council.
This line here shows those who approve of the direction the council is taking them, which is much higher than the disapproval rating, but these recent events have made it dip a bit.
But I think once we nip this rebel business in the bud, we should be well on our way back to our normal numbers. ”
“Uh-huh,” I responded, not really caring about his graphs or approval ratings. My job was to hunt down supernaturals breaking the law, not to get involved in all this political drama. Leave that to the council and guild presidents.
“What do you think, Fawley?” President Fleming asked over the speaker phone. Weaver had screenshared with the president while he went over his new system that had absolutely nothing to do with our current mission.
Pulling the glasses from my face, I worked on cleaning them off. I hoped it would buy me time to think of a professional answer that wasn’t “Who gave a rat’s ass?”
“It… uh… sounds great, sir. I’m just having a hard time thinking about statistics when we have a lead on who attacked Durand.” I tried my best to sound professional and not annoyed as all get out.
Tate had texted a bit ago, telling me he had the note. We were going to reconvene in my apartment, but then the president surprised me with a conference call to go over Weaver’s data.
If it had just been the president and me, then I’d have been more forthcoming on why I wanted to leave, but Weaver didn’t know Jack or have the same attachment to her as the president and I did.
It would look bad if it got back to headquarters that we were prioritizing an off-duty hunter’s attack over hunter related information.
President Fleming cleared his throat. “Oh, yes, well, I can see how that would put some fire under your ass.” His way of saying why the fuck didn’t you say so sooner. “Weaver told me you crossed a few names off that list already this week.”
“Yes, sir,” I answered, trying not to let my impatience show. “The woman in the alley, Marianne, was part of an anti-council group, but was not part of the group that attack Durand. Gavin was also part of the same group.”
“And how could you tell that this Gavin fellow was telling the truth?” Fleming questioned, not just taking my word for it. “Weaver tells me he is a vampire, as well. You of all people should know that they are prone to lie to cover their own asses. Did you use every tool at your disposal?”
I cleared my throat. “Well, sir, to be frank, my position as a professor would make it hard, if not impossible, to use my usual tools for extracting information without exposing the mission. Hunting down Gavin to speak to him about his association with Marianne was already going to look suspicious.”
There was a pause on the other line. “How exactly did you obtain this information then, Fawley?” President Fleming asked.
I shot a look at Weaver, not wanting to bring him into our business, but not seeing any other way. “Someone was there before me.”
“You didn’t tell me this,” Weaver whispered harshly next to me. “We can’t be effective partners, if you’re keeping things from me.”
Ignoring the other hunter, I focused on the president. “When I arrived at Gavin’s dorm room, the door had been busted open, and someone else was in the process of interrogating him for the same reasons as us.”
“Someone else?” the president drew out.
Weaver glowered at me, waving his hands and obviously trying to get my attention.
I shot him a look that said shut up or else, which seemed to make him stop for now.
He crossed his arms over his chest and sank into his seat, sulking like a child.
Maybe he and Jack had some things in common, after all?
“Yes, sir, that’s what I said.”
There was another long pause. “And this someone else, they are on our side?” Fleming asked.
I barely held back a snort. “No, I wouldn’t say that, sir.”
“Then why didn’t you arrest them for attacking another student or at least report them? I know being a professor has forced you to be more sedentary, but I didn’t think it would make you soft, Fawley.”
I tried to think of the best way to explain what happened without giving too much information away to the hunter sitting beside me.
“I have no problem doing my duty, sir. However, in this case, I believed the normal protocol for this individual was not in our best interests as they would have dire repercussions should our mutual acquaintance find out.”
President Fleming blew out a hard breath over the phone, glass clinked in the background. “I swear to God,” he muttered, “that girl is going to send me to an early grave.”
“Sir?” I probed, wanting to get this meeting over and done with.
“Fine,” the president sighed heavily. “I accept your reasoning, though I don’t like it. Do we think this same person is responsible for the other member, Marianne’s, sudden demise and the message on the wall?”
“Most certainly.”
“Fucking hell.” He paused, breathing heavily over the line. “Fuck it. Do what you have to do to find those fuckers that attacked Durand. Even if it means working with him.”
Everyone knew when the president started cursing up a storm, you knew there was no room to argue and though I despised the thought of working with Kyren, I would do it, for Jack.
“Weaver!”
“Yes, sir!” Weaver jumped to attention in his chair.
“You will provide any backup Fawley requires in this aspect. This task is of equal importance to the main mission here. We need to nip this shit in the bud before it gets any further out of hand.”
“Yes, sir. Whatever you say, sir,” Weaver quickly agreed with him.
I swore if the president had been here now, Weaver would have pissed himself in fear.
Maybe it was a good thing that he didn’t go out into the field.
Weaver might have had a heart attack if he had to come up against a hostile supernatural all on his own.
“Fawley,” the president added on, sounding tired over the line, “keep me posted.”
“Will do, sir.” I hit the end call button before pocketing the phone and heading for the door.
“Hey, now, hold on a second.” Weaver jumped to his feet and followed after me.
“We’re supposed to be partners here. I can’t help you with this mission if I don’t have all the data points.
You leaving out critical mission data leaves me blind and unable to come up with an accurate plan of action going forward. I need you to—”
“No,” I stated, turning to face him head on.
With several inches on him, I forced him to look up at me as I spoke my next words.
“You are here to assist me, Weaver, not the other way around. There’s some information that you are not privy to and, as the higher-ranking officer, I will decide if it is prudent to share that information with you or not. ”
“But how can I—?”
I waved a hand in front of his face. “I don’t care. Focus on what you do best, gathering data, and let me do what I do best. Then hopefully we will both get out of this hell hole sooner rather than later.”
Not waiting for him to answer me, I stalked out of the office and practically jogged down the hallways until I reached the teacher’s quarters. I had expected to see Tate and Kyren waiting for me at the door, but they weren’t there.
A light beneath my door had me turning the knob, my hand reaching for the gun I held at the small of my back. Not many were stupid enough to break into my apartment. Only one person had actually done it before and she wasn’t supposed to be on campus right now.
Still, I stayed on high alert until a deep chuckle and the clinking of glasses made me aware of who my burglars were. I relaxed my hand on my gun as I walked into the apartment, finding both the vampire and the wolf helping themselves to my wine, cuddling on the couch.
“Please, make yourself at home,” I drawled, closing the door behind me.
Tate grinned, throwing an arm over the back of the sofa. “You were taking too long so we let ourselves in.”
Kyren simply watched me with an unreadable expression on his face.
“And do I want to know how you got into my apartment?” I arched a brow, unhooking the watch on my wrist and emptying my pockets for the day.
Tate locked eyes with Kyren, a small secretive smile on his lips.
Sighing, I shook my head and grabbed a full bottle out of the fridge. Not bothering with a glass, I popped the cork and took a long drink of the dark red liquid.
“That bad, huh?”
I glanced over at Tate, who watched me with growing sympathy. “The Hunter’s Guild president called a sudden meeting to discuss data and statistics.”
“Ouch,” Tate winced, glancing at Kyren again. “I told you he wasn’t blowing us off.”
Kyren shrugged a shoulder but still didn’t speak.
“So did you learn anything we could use?” Tate shifted around so that he could see me fully from the couch.
I took another swig from the wine bottle. “Not unless you count learning that my new partner is a tool and a coward.”
Tate chuckled, and I swore I saw Kyren’s lips twitch.
“He — the president — wanted to know how I found out that Gavin and Marianne weren’t the ones who attacked Jack.”
Kyren stiffened.
“Don’t worry,” I quickly added, “I didn’t rat you out. Though it was interesting explaining the situation with that brown noser in the room. Thankfully, the president also happens to be Jack’s godfather, so you’ve got that going for you.”
I gave Kyren a pointed look. “That isn’t a free pass to just go around and kill other supernaturals just because. This time, your actions benefited the collective cause of keeping Jack safe. Next time, it might not be so easy to justify.”
Tate bumped Kyren on the arm, widening his eyes at him until he muttered under his breath.
“What was that?” I lifted my hand to my ear, pretending I didn’t know exactly what he had said.
Kyren glowered. “Thank you.”
A smug smile crossed my lips as I dipped my chin in his direction. “You’re welcome.” I sat the bottle down on the counter and turned to Tate. “Now, did you get the note?”
Tate stood from the couch and dug into his pocket, producing a piece of paper with words printed on it. “I tried to get a scent off it, but either it’s been too long, or they charmed it. Honestly, I’d be counting on the latter. Far too easy to get a witch to do your dirty work around here.”
I hummed as I looked the note over. There weren’t any distinguishing marks. No sigils like the card from the witches had on it. These people didn’t want anyone to know who they were until it was too late.
Well, that didn’t work for me.
“Think we could find one of these witches?” I inquired.
“Well, Tabby from one of the witch covens is working with Jack to see about controlling her powers. Maybe we just ask her?” Tate offered, picking his and Kyren’s glasses up and taking them to the sink where he rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher.
Would you look at that? I guess not all wolves were such filthy animals.
Tate arched a brow at me in a silent question at my staring, which I blatantly ignored.
“I don’t see why not. Do you know her?” I placed the note on the island beside me. “I don’t want to get Jack involved if we don’t have to.”
“Agreed,” Tate and Kyren said at the same time. Then Tate added, “I have her in one of my classes tomorrow. I’ll ask her then. You can hold on to it for now. Maybe see if your brown noser can find any clues on it.”
“I’ll just send him a picture. He wouldn’t know anything about magical qualities.” I pulled out my phone out to take a picture of it, then handed it over to Tate.
I sent the picture to Weaver, asking him to see if he could pull any clues from the paper and writing. Who knew? Maybe the computer whiz had some techy way of hunting down where things came from. Couldn’t hurt to ask.
“How did you get this from Jack, anyway?” I asked as we walked them out of the apartment.
Tate gave me a shit-eating grin and winked. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
No, I had a feeling I really didn’t.
God save me from cheeky werewolves and broody vampires. If working with them without killing either of them didn’t win me points with Jack, then I didn’t know what would.
I stared at the picture of the note on my phone one more time. If I knew one thing, with us three combined, we would find who attacked Jack and make them pay… slowly.