Blood and Burning

5

“Call me if you need anything.” Johnny hoisted my two duffel bags up off the sidewalk and into the trunk of my beat-up, old Honda Civic. “I’ll drive out there in the middle of the night on a random Tuesday if you need me.”

I rose my brows in surprise. “You’d go?”

“If you need me,” he reiterated. “I’ll come help you if you need help.”

“Thank you, Johnny.”

“I know dumbass is bringing you a mission pack, but—”

“I’ve got all my weapons and my med kit,” I assured him, and then I hesitated. “I’ve also got some of Van’s weapons.”

Johnny gave me a small smile. “Make your first kill with Van’s blades.”

I smiled back weakly, and then my gaze fell down to my shoes. I kicked at a pebble. Johnny squeezed my shoulder.

We spent the night curled up in my bed, applying a cold pack to my face, watching Van Helsing, and eating orange chicken and lo mein. We made it halfway through Queen of the Damned before I fell asleep.

When I woke up that morning, the mess we’d made with our takeout was cleaned up, and I found the leftovers in the refrigerator.

Before Johnny woke up I took a quick shower. I secured my long, obsidian black hair to the back of my head with a claw clip. My eye was a deep purple, so I slapped some arnica oil from my med kit on it.

Now, Johnny and I stood in the parking lot in front of my apartment building, leaning against the side of my car as we waited for Conrad and Hannah.

Sure enough, they arrived at 8am on the dot. Johnny’s car was parked next to mine, and Conrad pulled his sleek, slate gray Mercedes into an empty spot on the opposite side of the parking lot from where Johnny and I stood.

We both watched as Conrad climbed out of the car, his perfect, crunchy, eggshell hair not moving even the slightest bit in the breeze. Whatever product he used made his dirty blond hair look matte; it didn’t shine at all in the golden early-morning sun.

He walked around the front of his car to open the door for Hannah, and as she climbed out, so did my partner, from the backseat.

When I saw her, I scoffed.

Johnny leaned in close to me and asked under his breath, “Who is that?”

“She’s one of the students who attended that demonstration yesterday,” I mumbled back.

“Seriously?” Surprise was evident in Johnny’s tone.

“What the f**k is Conrad thinking?”

We both watched as the girl stood by and patiently waited for Conrad to pop the trunk of his car. She seemed to be avoiding looking in mine and Johnny’s direction. Her auburn hair was twisted into a braid and reached about the middle of her back. Her hazel eyes were a little too far apart for her face, and she had a square jaw. Her bottom lip was plumper than her top lip, and she smiled politely at Conrad when he came to help her retrieve her bag.

The three of them finally crossed the parking lot to join Johnny and I. The girl dragged a suitcase on wheels and had a lavender-colored backpack slung over one shoulder. Conrad carried a larger black backpack, too.

“Good morning,” Conrad greeted us pleasantly.

I crossed my arms over my chest and gave him a smirk. I couldn’t help myself. “What is this? You don’t like this girl because she questioned you yesterday, so you’re sending her off to be killed?”

The girl stiffened and I heard her inhale sharply.

“Hazel, please don’t start,” Hannah sighed.

“No, it’s fine,” Conrad insisted, before Hannah had even finished her sentence. “Nerves must be getting to her.”

I rolled my eyes. “I can assure you, I’m fine. However, I did specifically request you not bring me bait. I don’t need bait.”

“Erin isn’t bait,” Conrad said smoothly. “She has shown an astounding propensity to learn about the work that we do. She will be joining you for that purpose. This will hopefully be quick and simple, Hazel.”

“Erin needs to have had experience in smaller towns with more supervision and guidance before you send her off on a big mission with just a partner and a backpack full of sharp toys,” I argued, “but I’m not the boss.” I extended my hand toward Conrad and ordered, “Give me the pack.”

He slipped the backpack off of his shoulder and gave it to me. I looked Erin up and down. She was a little taller than me. She was thin and it seemed she was uncomfortable being scrutinized.

“Get in the car,” I said to her.

“Okay,” she squeaked out.

I turned to Johnny to pull him into a tight hug.

“Anything you need,” he whispered into my ear, “I’m a phone call away.” I felt him slip something into the back pocket of my shorts.

I hugged him tighter. “Thank you,” I whispered back.

When we pulled apart, he stooped to look me in the eyes. “I’ll call you if anything exciting happens with Adam. Or if I get to set any broken bones at work.”

“I’m rooting for you.”

“Be safe, Hazel,” Hannah told me.

“You’re to check in with me daily,” Conrad said.

I didn’t answer them.

I climbed into the driver seat of my car, and Johnny ducked into his. I watched through my windshield as Conrad and Hannah turned to walk back across the parking lot.

I shifted my weight to retrieve whatever Johnny had given me from my pocket, and immediately upon turning the picture over in my hands, my heart clenched.

It was a Polaroid photo of him, Van, and I. I stood in between them, and they both towered over me. All three of us were smiling at the camera. Johnny was posing, with his fingers clasped under his chin and his head tilted to the side. I had looped my arm with Van’s, grasping his wrist with my other hand, and I was leaning my head on his shoulder.

God, it had been a while since I’d seen a picture of him. Just the sight of his pale blue eyes and his dimpled cheeks made my pulse increase. I could still remember the way his skin felt against my fingertips. I could still remember how he smelled.

I squeezed my eyes shut and tucked the picture into my sun visor. I glanced at Erin, but she was paying me no mind, staring out the window.

As we drove away from my apartment complex, I put the address of the Airbnb into Apple Maps.

“This drive will take about 18 hours,” I said to Erin, as she fidgeted with the sleeve of her jacket. “We’ll probably stop at a hotel somewhere around California state lines. Redding, maybe. Maybe a little farther in, so the last leg of the trip tomorrow isn’t so bad.”

“Sounds good,” she agreed.

An awkward silence settled between the two of us. Neither of us spoke another word for the entirety of the fifteen minute drive to the gas station just before the freeway. We split up inside the building for snacks, and when we were finished, Erin silently reclaimed the passenger seat, with her bag full of snacks in her lap. I fueled up the car.

Once we were back on the road, on the freeway, Erin was the first to speak. “I’m not bait.”

I glanced at her, one eyebrow raised. “What are you, then? An up-and-coming legacy hunter? Just a transfer?”

She shrugged one shoulder. “Neither, I guess. I survived an attack a few years ago. One of Albrecht’s hunters died to save me. Took me a while to get ahold of Conrad.”

“Oh.” I was not expecting her to describe such unusual circumstances at all.

“What are you?” she asked.

“I guess I was an up-and-coming legacy hunter.”

“You were?”

“Mm-hm. I was partnered with Conrad’s favorite hunter. He blames me for his death. Hasn’t dispatched me since.”

“When Conrad offered me this mission, he told me about some of Albrecht’s greatest hunters. He showed me that picture of you and Evander that he has in his office.”

“Yup.”

“I didn’t realize that he was dead, or that you don’t hunt anymore.”

I glanced at her again. She was frowning, a troubled look on her face.

“Do you…remember how to hunt?” she asked hesitantly.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yes, I remember how to hunt. I’m actually dying to sink my blades into a bloodsucker, and not for one of Conrad’s f*****g demonstrations.”

“But you haven’t been on a mission since your partner died?”

“No, I haven’t. Been about a year.” There was that nagging feeling of uncertainty again, and then I continued before I could stop myself. “The first mission we ever did together, he saved my ass. After that, he only called me princess, unless I pissed him off. We got matching tattoos in Wisconsin, after we unintentionally wiped out an entire nest. He told off my sister for being a snooty b***h more than once. It is not my fault he’s dead. I tried.”

“Are you sure he died?” Erin asked quietly.

My stomach churned at her implication, but I knew. “Yes. They weren’t concerned with turning him. They tore him apart.”

“Well, I’m no Evander, but hopefully it’s at least…pleasant. To have me around, I mean.”

“How long have you been training for?” I asked, steeling myself and changing the topic of conversation, despite the way my chest ached with guilt and fear. “What have you learned?”

“I’ve only been training for about four months,” Erin admitted, almost sheepishly. “Haven’t learned much.”

I sighed and shook my head. f*****g Conrad. Still, I assured her, “That’s fine. If Conrad really sent you with me just for the experience, you’ll gain plenty. No better way to learn than in the field.”