But it was not the haunting beauty of the woman, or her sudden appearance that made Cassie freeze instantly. No, it was the person by her side. The boys brunette hair stood out in sharp contrast to the snow as it tumbled around him in wet straggles. Snow was beginning to coat his hair, turning it a grayish brown color. Nausea curdled in Cassie’s stomach, a lump of terror lodged in her throat. Dani took a step closer to her, pressing against Cassie’s side.
Cassie didn’t know what to say, what to do. Chris and Melissa moved closer, huddling tight against them. Isla flashed a smile at them, flicking the snow off of her as she shook back her long dark hair. With a crooked finger she beckoned tauntingly for them to come outside. “What do we do?” Dani asked softly.
Isla bent swiftly; lifting the boy from the ground she forced him to his feet as she held the back of his shirt. Blood trickled down his neck, staining the thin shirt he wore. Melissa gasped sharply, while Dani moaned. The boy was young, no more than twelve or thirteen. “We go out there,” Cassie said softly.
“Cassie…”
“We have to Melissa. We have to.”
Melissa sighed softly, nodding slowly. “I know that, but I think we need to prepare a little first.”
Cassie bit nervously on her bottom lip as she studied the swirling snow. Aside from Isla the scene was blessedly, deceivingly tranquil. The beauty of the snow was so out of place and wrong with the monster standing amidst it. It should be a fiery scene from hell out there, or at least thunder and lightning instead of the silent wonderland surrounding her.
But no matter how surreal it all was, Cassie knew that they had to go out there and face it. That she had to go out there and face it. “Get the supplies, meet me out there,” she said softly.
“Cassie.” Chris grabbed hold of her arm, halting her progress. “Melissa and I are coming with you. Dani, in the living room there’s a trunk…”
“I know where it is,” Dani interrupted her voice bordering on hysteria.
“Grab some supplies out of it and meet us outside, I have a feeling we’re going to need your ability the most.”
“Julian would have warned Isla about that,” Cassie said softly, fighting the urge to ring her hands nervously.
“Is Julian out there?” Melissa asked sharply, her eyes intent on Chris.
Chris’s gaze became distant, his body stiff. He was silent for a moment and then he shook his head. “I don’t feel him out there, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t. He was able to keep himself cloaked from me before. Unless he wants us to know he’s there, we won’t.”
Fear curdled through Cassie but she abruptly pushed it aside. There was no room for fear here, there never had been. There never would be. “Go Dani,” Melissa urged gently.
She turned to hurry away, but Cassie grabbed hold of her arm, and slipped her cell phone into Dani’s hand. “Call Devon,” she said softly, hoping that Isla could not hear her over the rising crescendo of the wind, and the door.
Dani stared fearfully up at her, her eyes watering with tears. She nodded abruptly and fled the room. “Come on,” Chris urged.
He reached forward and pulled the door open. Cassie winced slightly as the sharp sting of the icy wind hit her. The sneakers she slipped on did little to barricade her feet against the cold snow. It trickled down inside of them, freezing against her sockless skin. She wanted to hug herself against the cold, but she didn’t dare keep her hands occupied with anything at the moment. She would need them to defend herself soon enough.
Isla smiled at them as she released the young boy. He fell back into the snow, barely lifting his head before letting it drop again. Cassie took a step toward him, wanting to go to the boy, to save him, but Chris halted her. “Where’s your friend?” he inquired coldly, raising his voice to be heard across the distance.
Isla shrugged a dainty, bared shoulder. She had to be freezing, but she showed no signs of it. “I wanted this to just be the two of us; Julian graciously agreed to it.”
The two of us? Cassie’s gaze darted worriedly to Chris and Melissa, terror filled her. The two of us would not include them. She was certain of that. And they would not leave her, so what exactly could Isla have planned that would get rid of them?
***
“That was the most I could find on any of the other Hunter’s with Cassie’s ability, or lack thereof.”
Devon stared out the window as Luther finished speaking. His hands clenched and unclenched, his mind raced at a hundred miles an hour. He didn’t know what to think about what Luther had just told him. “But you found records of the one Hunter like Cassie dying in a strange manner? Of her acting differently than the others?” he asked softly.
“Yes, strange behavior was recorded about her before she died, or The Commission killed her.”
Devon turned sharply, anger boiled through him. “Killed her?” he demanded sharply.
Luther nodded as he rubbed at his temples. “Yes, The Commission would not want to admit that there was a mistake somewhere in the bloodline of The Hunters, and they wouldn’t want anyone else to know about that mistake. They would want to make sure they buried it, even if it meant destroying the only piece of evidence there was. The girl herself.”
Disgust curdled through Devon’s stomach at the thought of the cold hearted bastards that ran The Guardian’s and The Hunter’s. At one point The Commission had consisted of the twelve oldest Guardians, and they had dictated where every Hunter and Guardian would go. Devon had no idea how many of them were left, if any, after The Slaughter. After hearing Luther’s words, he hoped that they were all dead, because if they weren’t…
If they weren’t, they would come for Cassie.
Fury tore through him at the thought. He shook as he tried to control his rage, his hands fisted at his sides as he fought the urge to smash the walls. “They destroyed the girl,” he growled.
Luther’s eyes were broken, lost, as he met Devon’s gaze wearily. “I believe they did. It was only pure luck that I ran across a book with notes from that particular Hunter’s Guardian in it. He didn’t want her death covered up, he wanted what happened to her to be known, but unfortunately he didn’t have a choice.”
“The Commission made him cover it up?” Devon inquired.
Luther hesitated, his eyes darted nervously around the room. “I think they killed him.”
Devon’s eyes widened, his hands fisted even harder as his mouth dropped. “What?” he demanded sharply.