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1171 Words
“So,” Hannah paused to take a sip from her can of Dr. Pepper, “how are you?”
I just stared at her. She brushed a few loose strands of jet black hair out of her face with her free hand.
“How’s your eye?”
“It’s fine, I guess.”
“That’s good.” Another sip of her soda. “Did you do the steri strips yourself?”
“No.”
She just nodded.
She sat beside Conrad, and I sat opposite from them, on the other side of his desk, in a cushy grey chair.
His office was simple and clean, with mostly white and grey and honey brown furniture, and with nothing but a few random pieces of abstract art on the walls—in other words, it was stark and boring.
Much like Conrad.
He was clicking around on his computer, and he hadn’t even acknowledged me. Hannah glanced at his screen, and her brows rose just a fraction. They exchanged a look, and Hannah nodded and shrugged one shoulder.
Conrad turned his computer screen around to show me a listing online for an Airbnb. I scanned the page, confused. It was a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Santa Barbara, California. The front yard was flanked with palm trees on either side. There was what appeared to be a family of plastic pink flamingoes stuck in the grass near a row of perfectly-trimmed, square hedges in front of a bay window.
My brow furrowed and I looked up at Conrad. “Are-are you transferring me?”
He shook his head. “Quite the opposite, Hazel. I’ve got a mission for you.”
I sat up a little straighter, and I was sure surprise registered on my face. “A mission?”
“Yes. Hopefully fairly quick and simple. And if you’re successful, we can talk about sending you back into the field on a more regular basis.”
“Fairly quick?” I asked. “Why do I need an Airbnb?”
“Hopefully fairly quick,” he clarified. “And simple for you.”
My attention shifted back to the listing on his computer screen, and I scanned the photo of the outside of the house as the gears turned in my head. “Isn’t Santa Barbara where…” I trailed off.
“Yes, Santa Barbara has been…problematic,” Conrad confirmed, speaking slowly, carefully.
My eyes flicked to the side to meet Hannah’s, but she averted her gaze. She took another sip of her Dr. Pepper and turned her head to look out the window on the right side of the room.
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms over my chest. “Refresh my memory, Conrad, since you’ve kept me locked up in this place for just over a year now. What has happened in Santa Barbara?”
He exhaled through his nose and he narrowed his eyes at me slightly. “A powerful coven has surfaced, and it seems nobody can pinpoint who or where they are. Several other organizations have tried—”
“And we’ve tried, what, four times?” I interrupted.
“Correct.”
“And everyone who has gone to investigate doesn’t return.” I c****d my head to the side. “Probably being inducted into this super powerful new coven, yeah?”
“You’re the only hunter I know who has a shot at tracking these bloodsuckers down, Hazel.”
“Hunter?” I feigned confusion. “I don’t hold that title anymore.”
He ignored me and continued, “Everyone else in the area has all but given up. I heard Steinbech is considering contacting an organization in one of the Carolinas.”
“Why do you care about Santa Barbara, Conrad?”
“Can you imagine how the success of an investigation like this could propel our status as an organization?”
“We’re already one of the best in the country.”
He sighed again, this time plainly growing frustrated. “Hazel, I don’t trust anyone else to do it. You can choose your partner. You can take my credit card. I’ll fund your entire mission.” He paused to pull his wallet out of his back pocket, and he slapped a platinum credit card onto the desktop between us. “I want whatever head vampire is in Santa Barbara dead by our hands.”
“My hands. Not ours,” I corrected him, and then I jerked my chin towards his card. “What’s the pin?”
“3915.”
I leaned forward to grab a pen out of the cup full of them near his keyboard, and I jotted the number down on my hand as I said, “If this is such a quick and simple mission, I’ll go by myself. I don’t f*****g want a partner.” I replaced the pen in the cup.
“Hazel, you know that’s not how we do things,” Hannah interjected.
“If you don’t have anyone in mind, I’ll pick someone for you,” Conrad offered.
“I don’t give a s**t,” I said, with a dismissive wave of my hand. I glanced at the listing one more time, and then I asked, “How do we even know Santa Barbara is where this coven is based?”
“With all the information that everyone who has attempted to track them down has gathered, we are confident they’re based in Santa Barbara,” Conrad replied.
“And if I find they’re not?”
“I trust you to make the executive decision to leave Santa Barbara at any point, if necessary.”
“Are you sending me on a suicide mission? Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“If I wanted to get rid of you, I would have a long time ago,” he assured me.
I frowned.
“You leave tomorrow morning,” he said simply.
A small smile crept onto my face. “And what if I decline?”
His entire demeanor changed in an instant, his body visibly stiffening and his expression shifting to something akin to a stifled glare. “It would be a shame if your connection to Evander’s death was leaked, wouldn’t it?”
My smile dropped. “Excuse you?”
“My word holds a lot more weight than yours does, Hazel. I crafted the story that everyone knows, I can make a claim that I’ve recently discovered more information.”
I steeled myself. “You’re a f*****g asshole, Conrad.” I stood up from my chair and snatched his credit card off of the desktop. “Find me a good f*****g partner. I will not babysit some live f*****g vampire bait.”
“If you do wind up with bait, please don’t use them as such. You need to keep your new partner alive, Hazel.”
“f**k you,” I spat, and then I turned on my heel and stormed across the room to leave.
- Writer
