He said the words, and I knew he meant them, but I was still nervous. He’d told us that he’d been drinking only animal blood for several years. I hoped that was true. Because if he’d been drinking human blood, he was dangerous. Especially when he was fighting.
I realized they’d been talking while my mind wandered, and once again I told myself I needed to leave. Once again, I didn’t. Instead I stayed and listened.
“Allie...”
“What?”
“Never mind.” His voice was soft. I’d heard that tone before.
“What?” She repeated, but this time her tone was soft, too.
“You know what. But I’m one hundred and twelve years older than you.”
“Yeah, but you never stopped hell from busting out all over with your blood.” I heard the tease in her voice. A kind of sensual hum. “So I’m thinking there’s something pretty ancient inside me. Like maybe a thousand years ancient. Which means I win.”
I realized I was smiling. In fights and in romance, my kid could hold her own. And I was a terrible mother for not leaving, but I told myself the floorboards might creak. So better to just stay perfectly still.
“So if you win, what’s your prize?”
“I— Oh hell, you are,” she said, and right then, I knew I had to l go. They deserved privacy. But at the same time, I was terrified that this was the moment when Jared would break my daughter’s heart, and she’d need me.
But if so, I had to trust that she’d find me, and I had to force myself to walk away now.
Like it or not, she was growing up and finding her own path. It was both bittersweet and poignant knowing that her path led away from me. But what kept me sane was knowing that same road would always lead her home.
7
“We’re here,” Marcus called, striding through the double front doors that we’d opened wide. Now the van was parked on the circular drive and the students were piling out of the side doors.
The gate was locked behind the van, and the housekeeping staff was already out there, unloading luggage onto carts that they’d wheel to the former servants’ wing that now serves as the dorm and recreation room area. Each student had already been assigned a room and a roommate, and if the staff did their job right, each kid would leave the welcome meeting to find their room with their belongings at the foot of their bed.
After that, the plan was dinner—pizza since we were still short a kitchen team—and a movie in the theater. Because how can teens move into a house that has an actual theater and not use it right off the bat? We hadn’t decided what to watch yet, but I planned to do a search for spooky movies set in boarding schools. Allie’s suggestion, and I thought it was a good one.
Moving forward, Marcus and Cutter would be using the theater for reviewing training tapes, a plan that I was one hundred percent behind. So long as we still got to have movie night every now and then.
Right then, though, it was time for introductions, which meant that I was soon to be on deck, and I stood on the fourth step of the grand staircase so that I’d have a bit of height over the rest of them.
The first to follow Marcus in was a tall, wiry girl with short hair, no make-up, and huge brown eyes—which I only caught a glimpse of in the two seconds that she looked up from the floor. She was wearing a tank top under overalls and slouched into the room. She had to be Ana, as Jessica had killed Dani, the only other girl in the group. I knew from her profile that she was fourteen and had gotten noticed byForzascouts when she’d successfully fought off a hellhound.
Not an easy feat, as I well knew.
She took a spot a few feet away from where Mindy and Eliza stood, the only students in the room. I frowned, thinking that I should have interrupted Jared and Allie after all. And that they’d be getting a rude interruption any minute, because I was about to send Eddie after them.
“We’re here, we’re here!” Allie’s shout came from behind me, and she and Jared hurried into the room. He met my eyes, his apologetic. Mine, I’m sure, were cold. Allie had an excuse, albeit a crappy one. She was a student.
But Jared was an instructor. He should know better. He winced, mouthedsorry,and moved to stand by Eric and the rest of the instructors.
I tried to catch Allie’s eyes, but she was purposefully avoiding mine as she slid in beside Ana.
The next kid to settle into a spot was Ren, a fifteen-year-old Chinese American from Manhattan whose parents had been killed in a demon attack when he was only six. The scouts had kept an eye on him over the years, and when he successfully managed living on the streets after running away from his foster home, they offered him a place at a shelter while quietly assessing his potential as a Hunter.
He wore baggy jeans and an oversized tee that swallowed his slight, but clearly agile body. His close-cropped hair accentuated his eyes and easy smile. A little too easy, as I think it covered nerves. Then again, under the circumstances, who wouldn’t be nervous?
The last to enter was Bruce, who strode in like he owned the place. Tall, blond, and athletic, he looked like the solid fighter the scouts had reported him to be, and he’d proven himself by taking out the Jessica demon, but I worried about his ability to play well with others, especially after reading about his series of foster homes and history of disciplinary problems.
Hunters tended to be loners, so if I was right, it wouldn’t be a huge problem. But at the same time, the students at this school needed to be able to trust each other and follow instructions. He’d been noticed after a hot-tempered Hunter had taken him on after Bruce had inadvertently let a demon get away.
So there they were, only three candidates. Even five was a small number, and I knew that it was getting harder and harder to recruit Demon Hunters. I hoped we could find the eighteen I was shooting for next semester, but I wasn’t optimistic. Father Corletti once told me that kids don’t have the interest anymore. They’re used to video games and digital demons. They don’t want to truly get down and dirty. And most of them don’t believe the world is worth saving.
