Post 5: Safe

Hunter

Hunter sat at the bottom of the long staircase on the first floor of the safe house. Tall ceilings stretched above him and the soft cream colored pillars surrounded him. Honestly, he’d always felt comfortable in this house, it was like a castle and reminded him of his homestead back on Arinth. Back home he’d lived with all of his family in that one castle, Hunter’s Peak. It could’ve covered a village or a city on Earth. He shook his head as home and the memory of his brother Zurich’s death crossed his mind. He had other things to think about than the past. Arinth was better left in the sky, Zurich was buried in the past; he had to stay in the here and now. Immortal or not, a distracted warrior was a dead warrior; as the humans say.


He waited there on the stairs because he knew being around the guys would drive him crazy. They held a secret that only he was excluded from. He knew because their auras held a yellow tint to them that he saw when he was tracking someone. His tracking abilities went far beyond the ‘smelling someone’s scent’ or ‘following a trail’. If he wanted to know something he could usually see an aura or have a vision of the next steps or clue to the puzzle. He could be fully awake or dead asleep when he solved a case. This one was different though, close to home. They were betraying him somehow, not that it felt that deeply rooted. They weren’t being honest about something. The question he now posed was ‘what happened last night’?


The last memory he had was just after snapping the neck of a Sprite and being hassled from Tristan about Ascendance. He’d thought on it, Ascendance was one of the hardest things to ignore as an active warrior. When the life source of one leaves its body upon death it enters the surviving immortal and he is filled with the combined power. Hunter had only known one other person who’d given into Ascendance. His older brother Zurich had been killed by a man filled with the life source of a Malus filled with dark power. The rouge had given in to Ascendance and was tracked by Zurich to Malvroy. Hunter’s brother found him and misjudged the situation; he’d died believing he could still save the rouge soldier’s soul. No, Hunter would never give into Ascendance. He reminded himself to stop thinking about his brother, again.


Standing, Hunter rubbed the back of his neck as a pain shot up his spine. For some reason he’d woke up on the couch in the library. He knew they were keeping a secret from him and that was a beginning clue. He’d blown a great deal of money at the mattress store on the perfect bed in his room and had no idea why he hadn’t been allowed to sleep on it. Tristan had put a barrier on the second stairs and every other path that would allow him to go up to the second floor to his room. He knew something was going down that he might not like because even Technik, who was always eager to use their mental connection, had shut him out. He entered Tristan’s office just to the right of the front door in time to hear Mendax speak.


“I’m not sure what you want from her. She’s telling the truth. She has no idea how she welds the power. She knows she has it I’m sure but she doesn’t know why or how. I’m not biased in anyway, she’s not my mate.” Mendax, who usually held a light joyful tone, was angry. His voice was tight and disgruntled. From what he could see, Mendax had fisted both hands and was slightly turned away from their leader as if he couldn’t bear to look at him. Hunter cocked his head to the side, listening, straining to hear the converse. He used his abilities as a hunter to hide his presence.


“I want nothing but the truth. I told you to go up and see what she knew, not make buddies with her! Don’t test my authority, Mendax. She’s not your mate; she felled two of your comrades. We are not trying to be her best friend, human or not, she’s dangerous. We don’t know if she’s telling us the truth or not and you are the only one who can do that. Don’t make me out to be the bad guy, here. I have to protect my team and I won’t be questioned about my decision on this.” Hunter’s brows scrunched together as he stepped into the room. Tristan hardly ever threw around his title or weight with the team. He never used his Influence on them and rarely raised his voice in anger.


“I’m assuming this has something to do with my waking up on the couch in the library. Can someone tell me why I’m not allowed upstairs or in my room?” Hunter rubbed his hand were the barrier had burned him. “Or couldn’t someone, at least have told me there were barriers up? I walked straight into one!” He was agitated but kept his voice low. He didn’t know what was going on and things already looked pretty heated but he was sure it had something to do with him. A silence answered his question. In the corner of his eye a deep yellow haze circled their healer. “Doc?” The man’s aura wavered just before he opened his mouth.


“You killed a Sprite last night, Hunter.”


“I know. I remember that part. What happened next?” The men looked uncomfortable until finally Technik spoke up.


“You were knocked out by a woman, she has some special ability. First she burned Vectio in the eyes when he made eye contact with her and then it was like she put you in a coma, paralyzed you. Your eyes were awake but you couldn’t hear, speak or move. We brought her back here and are keeping her prisoner in your room.” He spoke fast as if in a hurry to get his part of the retelling over with.


“Why in my room?” Chase looked to Tristan for the answer as earlier he’d seemed adamant about it.
“She was comforted by you. Honestly, I don’t think she meant to hurt you. I think she was just overwhelmed. You relax her for some reason.” Tristan’s admitted.


“Why me?”


“That, we don’t know.” Mendax was the one that spoke and Hunter turned to look at him. Hunter’s pupils expanded just before he smiled, nodding in understanding. Mendax looked over Hunters shoulder to Tristan and nodded slightly. Hunter scratched the back of his head as an odd feeling filled him and then dissipated.


“Well, sounds like you guys have things under control here. If you don’t mind, I’m starving. I’ll go talk to Cook and see about dinner.” Hunter left the room, his mind completely taken over by the want to eat.


Once he was gone from the room, Julius sat heavily in the chair behind the desk before jumping up. He whispered an apology to Tristan before going to stand at the bay windows and look over the courtyard. The small circular fountain that sat in front of the safe house glistened in the sun. The stone Aztec warriors that stood in the water stretch tall above the spurts that surrounded them. The safe house was the epitome of man cave crossed with a warrior cove. It was perfect for the group and held a very high status among the Dark Warrior community.


“Is it safe?” Julius’ voice was low but they all heard him. He stood, his back to them, pretending extreme interest in the stone warriors on the other side of the glass. Vectio was the one who responded.


“Is what safe?” Julius, still incredulous that Vectio had actually spoken to him, turned to him and looked him in the eye.


“That we’re not telling him the truth, that we’re not telling him she’s his true mate. Is it safe?”


“I’m not sure. It’ll have to do for now.” Tristan spoke this time, his voice tough. He wasn’t a fan of lying to his team but until he knew exactly what he was dealing with when it came to Adrian, it was better Hunter didn’t know. Was he making the right decision? He had to be.




"The only way to be a writer is to write, write and write. The only way...is to write." -Irma Jemison