Chapter 25
Chapter
Twenty-Five
My heart pounded against my chest as I found myself stuck in a car with the hunter leader—enemy number two to the werewolves.
The last time I’d seen him, he had pointed a silver-tipped arrow to Layla’s and my chests, but I saved us, probably because I appealed to the hunter’s human side. He said he protected his kind—the humans.
“What’s up, Princess?” The hunter leader’s smile widened.
I raised my eyebrows. “We’re not that close, hunter.”
He’d changed in the last seven years. His eyebrows looked thicker. The scruff on his face couldn’t completely hide the long scar stretching from his bottom lip to his neck. It was so prominent that I could recognize this man anywhere, regardless of how much facial hair he grew.
“I have to be honest. I thought you’d become the Queen by now. These wild beasts need you to instill some humanity in them.”
“I don’t want to be their Queen,” I said flatly without disconnecting my gaze from him.
The man took two-thirds of the back seat, and I scooted back to the car door, my thigh digging into the car handle. Had he gotten bigger, more broad-chested? I would guess a human could change their body size like that with the proper training and taking supplements. But something seemed off.
“That’s a shame,” he said.
His body was more intimidating than I could remember, and he was armed. He carried a crossbow in his hand, and the sack of arrows hung on his back over a zipped-up leather jacket with white fur at the collar.
I couldn’t help but frown at it.
“Relax, Princess. It’s not what you think.” He grinned.
His smile didn’t seem fake, but he was the enemy. He could stab me with a deadly arrow aimed at the right body parts.
“What is it, then?” I asked, hoping he would say the fur was faux.
“It’s from a white fox I caught last winter.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them, shaking my head. “Will you stop hunting and hurting animals and werewolves?”
“Will the werewolves stop hurting humans?” he deadpanned.
I swiped my damp palms over my pants. “The King would never give an order putting humans at risk.” I pointed to my chest. “His own daughter is a human, remember?”
Although the man acted friendly at the moment, I still had to be careful. I wasn’t safe, trapped in a car with the hunter leader.
He frowned. “Princess,” he said with a sigh, “how can you be that naive? Your father can’t personally supervise all werewolves. He doesn’t know all of their whereabouts. Even if I believe that the werewolf King is so honorable, other werewolves are not.”
I opened my mouth to argue but closed it immediately. What if he was right?
I massaged my temples. “I guess werewolves and humans are the same in this regard. Some are good and some are bad.”
“But in human society, there are checks and balances. There are the police, governments, organizations, and laws. So, the bad guys are tried and sentenced. On the other hand, the bad werewolves keep doing bad things,” he said in a calm voice.
I stared at the strange man. So the hunters only hurt bad werewolves, was that it? He appeared human, but there was more to him.
Something was amiss.
“Why are you so casual with me today? Last time you were dead set on killing my cousin. You were serious and dangerous.”
I chewed on the inside of my mouth. I needed to control the filter between my brain and mouth. I could tick off the hunter leader at any moment.
“I’m still dangerous, Princess. But last time you saw me…I didn’t feel myself.”
I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that the trance he’d been in when I first met him in the wintry forest was because of Layla. But now wasn’t the time to get close and personal with the hunter.
I leaned away from him, but the door handle dug deeper into my side, and I winced. The hunter narrowed his eyes at me. My pulse quickened, and my gaze fell on his weapon.
“So, I see you upgraded to automatic crossbows,” I rushed out. “That’s just great.”
“Times change. Enemies become more trained and deadly. We have to keep up.”
I let out a heavy sigh. Just as it was ingrained in me since I was a little girl that vampires were our enemy, this man knew the same about the werewolves.
I had to push my mind to be open to possibilities other than what I had been taught. So, I saw his point.
“What do you want, hunter?”
He chuckled. “Long time, no talk, Princess. I thought we could chat today.”
I scoffed. “I don’t have time for this. What is your name again?”
“I didn’t give it to you.”
“Look, hunter, it’s fun chatting with you, but I have to go and help my people.”
The hunter’s broad shoulders blocked my view from the car window.
“Your people will be fine. You didn’t kill me when you had a chance, which counts a lot for me. You’re also a human, so you automatically get a brownie point.”
My neck muscles twitched, and I fidgeted on the seat. Did that mean he wouldn’t kill me right now?
“Great. Things are looking up for me, then,” I said in a mocking voice.
If he would let me live, then what was he after exactly? I clutched my leather bag, feeling the books inside. No, he couldn’t possibly be after my books, too.
I stared at him and let my instinct feel his aura. The hunter filled the car with tension and dominance, and he exuded a faint supernatural presence. The last time I’d seen him, I hadn’t been so close to him, and I didn’t catch it.
I took a deep breath, blew out my cheeks, and then released a hot breath. He was a leader of a human group, but what was he exactly?
“Are you a supernatural?” I asked.
The filter between my brain and my mouth had malfunctioned. It would have made more sense if I’d asked him politely to get out of my car. But my curiosity got me more involved with this man.
His entire demeanor changed in an instant. His body stiffened. “I’m half werewolf. Mom was a human, and my sperm donor was a werewolf.”
The note of hesitation in his tone didn’t escape me.
He probably didn’t plan on revealing so much to me. I imagined how, if I lived to see another day, I would explain to Dad that I had made friends with the hunter leader. I stifled the snort that wanted to escape my mouth.
“Then why kill werewolves?” I asked.
His eyes hardened, and he said in a stern voice, “Our chat is over. Now, onto business.” His gaze lowered to my bag. “I want the book.”
All friendliness dissipated from his voice.
I gripped the leather tighter. I was in a tight spot, stuck here with a deadly half-werewolf hunter with weapons on him.
“The book, Princess.”
My life was at stake because of the two books again, but last time, Torin had saved me from the bullets of the thugs who visited my office in the library. This time, Torin fought for his life in the forest, unsuspecting I chatted with my new friend in the car.
I took a deep breath and called on my courage. “I can’t give you the book.”
He pressed his lips together and scowled at me. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but I didn’t want it to show.
“So you found out I have some beastly tendencies, and you’re still pressing your bag against your chest as if I can’t pull it away. Do I have to use force?”
His tone told me he was serious, and a pinch of anxiety infused my veins.
I swallowed hard. “Maybe we can reach a compromise. I’ll show you the books, but you can’t take them away.”
He raised his bushy eyebrows, and his lips twitched. “You wanna pinky swear on it?”
A cold chill ran down my back. I had no chance against him. But I could still use my wits instead of fists.
“What kind of books are you looking for?” I asked as I slowly unzipped my leather bag and waited for his answer.
“I need The Book of Thoradis,” he said.
“Why would you look for such a powerful book—”
“That’s my business. Now hurry up.”
I took both books out of the bag and held them. “The blue one is The Book of Banished Souls, but I haven’t yet figured out the second one. I wouldn’t know what The Book of Thoradis looks like, but the brown book is not it.”
The books were linked to me, but it wasn’t the time to reveal my birthmark daisy wheel symbol now.
“Then check on the title of the second one,” he said. “I don’t see anything on the covers.”
He reached for the brown book, and I pulled it to my chest. He crooked an eyebrow.
“Let me read it for you. No one else but me can display the title and the riddle to open it.”
He gripped his crossbow and smirked. “I trust you, Princess. But if you betray me, we won’t be chatting during our next meeting.”
The throbbing of my heartbeat sped up. “Okay, okay. I don’t work well when I’m harassed.”
He shrugged. I returned the blue book inside the bag and held the brown one close to my face. I blew a hot breath over the front cover, as I’d done with the other book.
The wiggly lines appeared and moved in an erratic manner.
The hunter’s eyes widened. “I only see the little lines moving but no words.”
I brushed my fingertips over the leather, touching the tiny scribbles. The lines changed direction and formed coherent words.
The little lines only worked with my touch, like the safes that required a fingerprint to open.
“The title is The Grimoire Book of Athame,” I said, lifting my gaze again.
The hunter leader let out a humph sound. “Never heard of it. Athame is a knife, but I don’t know much about it.”
Seeing how easily the hunter dismissed the book, I wondered if the vampires after the book were also after the wrong book. My books were witch ones, but a god supposedly wrote the one he sought if the myths were true.
“Thank you,” he said, and my mouth fell open.
Now he found his manners?
I made an effort to close my mouth. “Don’t think we’re on friendly terms, hunter. You still kill my kind.”
“I have my reasons. But for what it’s worth, I’d like us to be on friendly terms. I have a feeling things will be different when you are the Queen.”
He pulled the car lock up, and all the doors unlocked. I wanted to squash his expectations of me becoming the next Queen, but the hunter was fast. The man exited the car, and I had to follow.
Close to the trees, the ground was a bloody mess of limbs and gore. My stomach tightened painfully.
I stood next to the hunter, who watched the chaotic fight before us for a long moment. I felt so small next to the massive man. He could crush me in one go.
Was the leader thinking about his next move and which side to take—the vampires or werewolves?
Without disconnecting his gaze from the battle, he said, “I can’t promise I won’t try to kill the Alpha next time. He’s the scariest of them all.”
“No, you won’t.” My pulse sped up as I darted my gaze around the open area, searching for Torin.
The hunter shook his head. “I don’t understand why you stand up for this abomination of a creature between a vampire and a werewolf.”
I lifted my chin high. “He’s not an abomination. Torin is a mixed race, and so are you.”
The hunter’s head snapped my way. His eyes widened and darkened. He placed the crossbow under his arm and cracked his knuckles. The sound faded with the bone-crunching, flesh hitting flesh, grunts, and groans from the fight.
I might have taken it too far. Now would be the best time to remind him I was his new best friend.
The hunter pulled an arrow from his sack, set it in his crossbow, and aimed straight ahead to the field. He sent it into the back of a vampire closer to our side. The vampire had his hands squeezing around the neck of a werewolf warrior. The vampire released the other man when the arrow struck him.
Torin’s man looked our way, nodded at the hunter, and snapped the vampire’s neck swiftly. He only needed the distraction the hunter provided him with. The warrior’s hand shifted into his wolf claw, shredding the vampire’s throat.
I gaped at the hunter who had helped a werewolf.
“You’re right,” the hunter said, his gaze locked with mine.
“W-what?”
“The Alpha and I are both abominations.”
He abruptly broke into a sprint, faster than a human. A whistle rang in the open space, and a group of hunters started running toward the forest.
The hunter leader was after The Book of Thoradis—that much I knew. But I couldn’t understand which side he was on. The uncertainty only made me warier of him.
As I scanned the chaotic battlefield for Torin, my heart pounded in my chest. The scent of blood and sweat filled the air, mingling with the echoes of growls, snarls, and sounds of flesh hitting flesh.
Wolves swiped their sharp claws at the cunning vampires. The warriors who stayed in their human forms fought the enemy gladiator style.
Upon the departure of the hunters, two things became clear.
The vampires outnumbered the werewolves. If the vampires caught the werewolves and held their gazes long enough, they could compel them. Werewolf agility, sharp claws, and supernatural strength meant nothing on the battlefield against an enemy that could manipulate our warriors' minds.
And worse—Torin was nowhere to be found.
My mind spun out of control, letting doubts emerge.
A disturbing thought entered, playing what-if scenarios in my head and spinning it like a hamster wheel. My stomach churned as my gaze swept through the severed body parts and pools of blood scattered across the ground.
No, Torin was the strongest.
Movement at the edge of my vision drew my attention. My heart sank as I spotted a slender figure gracefully leaping over a brown-ish wolf. It wasn’t Torin’s silver wolf. Regardless, the werewolf was one of ours. In a few seconds, the wolf would be in so much trouble.
With a surge of adrenaline, my legs propelled me forward toward the impending clash between the vampire General and the brown wolf. As I neared their fight, my senses heightened. The metallic tang of blood grew stronger, intermingling with the earthy scent of the forest.
"We protect our own," Dad had taught me.
Although the odds of winning a fight against the vampire General didn't appear in my favor, I planned to stop him from hurting the wolf.
Somehow.