Dani’s lower lip began to tremble, and despite her best intentions not to have it happen, Cassie felt her heart softening toward the girl. “Yes, and I thought that they had been right. I knew then that there was something wrong with you, and I was so very frightened that one day you would hurt one of us.”
“And you called your brother?” Luther inquired his voice tight with anger and disbelief.
“Yes. When Joey left me behind, he went back to the people that had helped to raise us. He came back here.”
Horror curdled through Cassie as the true depth of Dani’s betrayal set in. “He didn’t leave you behind because you actually wanted to stay. He left you behind to spy on us.”
Panic flared through Dani as her eyes darted wildly around. Though she appeared to be looking for an escape, they all knew that there wasn’t one for her. Her mouth opened and closed, her eyes rolled wildly in her head. She looked like a crazed horse that had been trapped and cornered. The only difference was that Cassie would have sympathy for the horse; she had none for this girl.
“Well!?” Chris shouted causing Dani to jump in surprise.
“Yes,” she admitted in a strangled voice.
Chris sneered at her, his eyes raked her with disgust. Melissa remained unmoving, her face hard though her eyes narrowed minutely. Luther cursed loudly as he slammed his fist into the sill. “We trusted you!” he exploded.
Cassie jumped in surprise, more rattled by Luther’s lack of composure than Dani’s admission. Luther was always stoic, he was almost robotically in control of his anger. “Luther,” Melissa said softly.
Luther scowled at her as he turned on his heel, pacing restlessly back to the window. He cast one last scathing glare at Dani before turning his attention to the day beyond. “What happened when you called your brother?” Cassie inquired, surprised by how composed her voice still was.
Dani swallowed nervously, her hands clenched tightly before her. Though she knew that she was surrounded by people that hated her, she seemed to have regained her composure. “The Commission has grown stronger over the years; some lost members have even been relocated. They have been working here for many years doing new research.”
Dani broke off; her gaze focused on her hands. She was twisting them back and forth in what had to be a painful manner. “They were trying to create more Hunter’s!” Chris gasped, taking a startled step back as the realization sank in.
Cassie shuddered, burying her face in Devon’s chest for a moment as she tried to retain her swiftly unraveling composure. “Yes,” Dani said softly. “Our race needs to be rebuilt before it is completely extinguished. Otherwise there will be no protection for the human race against the vampire’s.”
“We are not all monster’s you know,” Liam grated.
Dani nodded, her hands turning red as she continued to twist them. “I know that, but for the most part, you are.”
Liam glared at her for a moment longer, drawing Annabelle closer to him. “In order to create new Hunter’s you need vampires. That’s why I was captured,” Julian deduced.
Cassie lifted her head as Julian began to pace restlessly back and forth, running his hand through his hair. He was like a caged tiger ready to snap, but he had to stay in control for awhile longer. They needed more answers, and as much as she had grown to despise Dani, she could not allow Julian to kill her while in a state of rage. Cassie truly believed he was trying to better himself, and killing Dani was not the way to do it.
“Yes,” Dani admitted. “And they also needed you for your power. They tried using younger vamps, but it didn’t work out well. The Commission felt that if they could get their hands on an Elder, it might make a difference. They felt that might be the key that they were missing in order to get the combination of human and vampire blood right.” Julian shot her a fierce glare, his eyes momentarily flaring red.
“And they couldn’t take Devon, they couldn’t be sure that they would be able to keep his ability for mind control locked down. And they didn’t know if they could keep him under control, especially…” She broke off, her gaze darted to Cassie. “Especially since they didn’t think they would be able to control Devon with Cassie around. So they took Julian.”
Devon’s hands had tightened on Cassie; his attention was focused on Julian, who looked about ready to rip the store apart with his bare hands. Cassie clung to Devon, fighting back the shudder of terror and dread that wanted to shake her. Devon rested his cheek against her hair. “Breathe love, just breathe.”
She hadn’t even realized she had stopped breathing until that moment. It exploded out of her, leaving her shaken and on the verge of tears. They wouldn’t have been able to control Devon in there. He would have lost complete control of himself if he had seen what they did to her every day, seen what they had put her through. And they probably would have destroyed him. The thought left her hollow, cold, barely able to breathe as she held him against her, trying not to shed the tears in her eyes.
“But they couldn’t figure it out,” Dani continued in a shaky voice, watching them wearily. “Everyone knew that The Hunters had been created from vampires, but no one knew how, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get the combination right.”
Cassie inhaled sharply, her fingers dug deeper into Devon’s arm. He held her gently, his hands rubbing over her as he tried to put some heat back into her suddenly chilled body. “So they ended up creating monsters,” Cassie whispered. “They created the monster’s that are running loose in this town right now?”
“Yes, but they didn’t mean to. They were trying to do right; they were trying to protect people.”
Cassie stared at her in disbelief, her mouth suddenly dry, and her heart thumping loudly in her chest. “How did I not know anything about this?” Luther demanded fiercely. “Why had I never heard about the other Hunter’s like Cassie, but you were told about them?”
Dani was silent for a moment, she licked her lips nervously. “It was only The Commission that knew about the ones with no powers, and what they could become. They kept it hidden from the other Guardians.”
“Why would they do that?” Melissa asked softly.
“To limit the liability,” Luther answered his voice full of horror at the realization. “The Commission could take out The Hunter without having to deal with a fight from their Guardian. And most Guardians would put up a fight against them; they would die to protect their Hunter. But if The Guardians weren’t informed about the dangers that the lack of abilities might hold, then The Commission could make the death or disappearance of The Hunter look accidental; they could blame it on vampires. Their Guardian’s never had to know what had really happened to them.”