Hunter Academy 2: In The Dark

Chapter 4

“Well wasn’t that helpful,” Erik muttered clearly thinking that their conversation was over and we had gained no useful information at all.

“First of all, I know how to deal with my problems; I have been doing so for a long time,” Alexandria said in his direction. She sounded calm and assured; she knew he would hear her. “And second of all, I could have asked a number of people to help me, but I asked you. I asked you for a reason.” Gabriel froze and glanced over his shoulder. “I asked you because I have certain information that you might find useful. Information you have been having a hard time finding out from anyone else.”

Suddenly Gabriel was back. He pushed Alexandria into the wall and held her wrists. She gave him a calm look. She wasn’t worried about what he would do. His fingernails dug into Alexandria’s skin drawing blood.

“Tell me,” Gabriel growled. His once handsome features were contorted; he didn’t look so handsome now. When Alexandria didn’t respond he hissed, baring his fangs.

“Wow, Alexandria sure knows how to choose guys,” Liz whispered. I rolled my eyes but ignored her comment. I kept my eyes on the mirror.

“Oh? So now you’re interested in what I have to say?” Alexandria asked. Gabriel’s grip on her wrist tightened and his fingernails dug in deeper. Alexandria looked at her wrist and then sighed.

She kicked out and broke his hold on her. He stumbled to the ground and then looked up at Alexandria with an icy look. “I wouldn’t treat me that way if I way if I were you,” she said. “I’m one of the few people that can give you what you most desperately want. Don’t you want to find her? What am I thinking? Of course you want to find her,” she said.

Find who? Who was Gabriel interested in finding? It seemed very important to him. I could see emotions in Gabriel that I had never seen before, and never thought I would see. He looked sad, guilty and concern at the thought of finding some female. Who was she to him?

Alexandria rubbed her wrists. I saw bloody crescent shapes where he had hurt her. They were there for a bit before her skin healed and left no trace behind to even hint that she had been harmed.

“Fine, I’ll tell you what you want to know and you tell me what I want to know,” Gabriel offered. Alexandria nodded; this was likely just what she wanted. Gabriel got up and stepped closer to her as he eyed the deserted street.

Alexandria reached into the pockets of her fashionably ripped jeans and pulled out a folded slip of paper. She held it out to Gabriel and he snatched it away quickly and read it eagerly. He exhaled slowly and gave her an appreciative nod.

“Thank you, this is the most helpful piece of information I’ve gotten.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “How long have you known about this? Did you know about this before and only told me about it now because you needed my help? You know how long I have been searching for information about her.”

Alexandria sighed. “Not long. I heard about it recently and just checked into it when I needed your help. You didn’t exactly help yourself when you denied my first few invitations to meet.”

“You’re as self-serving as ever,” he accused her. She shrugged, not bothered by his comment. She stared at him as he absorbed the newly acquired information that Alexandria had given him. “I was dealing with something. You knew that if you would have mentioned the information you had that I would have come. But apparently your little task isn’t that important if you’re not in a rush to find out all you can.”

“Of course it’s important to me. I was looking into other information. I’m not just relying on you, although you were always the best at discovering wanted information. So are you going to tell me what you know or not?” Alexandria said impatiently.

“They’re not happy with you,” Gabriel said now back to normal. He put the piece of paper away and for the moment seemed to put it out of his mind.

Alexandria rolled her eyes. “Wow, thanks so much for telling me something I already thought of. Was I not clear enough? I wanted more specific information, something I could use to my advantage, as leverage, at least.”

Gabriel shook his head. “They’re trying to right some massive wrong. I’d be careful. I have heard nothing about how they’re going to go about this but watch your back. I would consider letting some more people know about this problem. Like maybe Damien should know?” Gabriel suggested.

I froze and I could feel Erik’s and Liz’s eyes on me. Alexandria shook her head. Based on her quick answer she had already thought about it and decided I would know nothing.

“It doesn’t concern him. He doesn’t need to know.” I stared at Alexandria eyes, they looked unreadable. She didn’t get to decide what I was told.

“Oh really,” Gabriel exclaimed. “Cause it seemed to me that it involved him greatly. He is involved isn’t he?” Alexandria glared at him and Gabriel smirked. “Now I understand a bit more. I think I know why all this is happening.”

Alexandria shook her head; she didn’t want him to guess. Gabriel laughed and opened his mouth, ignoring Alexandria’s warning expression. I leaned in with anticipation and then the mirror went blank again. I stared at it in disbelief and then looked at Erik. He gave me an apologetic look.

“I’m sorry, Damien, I couldn’t keep it up any longer. My energy is spent.” Erik yawned to prove his point. I sighed and with one last glance at the mirror I stood up. “I want to get down to the bottom of this and if I could hold out a bit more, trust me I would have.”

If only he could have had enough energy to keep the magic going for a bit more. We had missed Gabriel giving us important information by just a few seconds. I felt annoyed but I forced myself to think about something else. It was Erik’s fault.

“It’s alright. That was still insightful. We’re just going to have to find Gabriel and find out what he figured out for ourselves,” I replied. If we found Gabriel, then we could get the information out of him, one way or another.

“Yeah that’s if he’ll tell us,” Liz replied. “But if he doesn’t, we’ll make him.” Liz was obviously thinking along the same lines as I was. It was good to know that she was on the same page.

“It doesn’t matter; we know more than we did before. So I would say one of our next steps is to find Gabriel and see if he knows anything that pertains to our mission to find out what Alexandria’s secret and how it pertains to me.”

What if he doesn’t actually know her secret?” Erik inquired. “It’s a possibility. He may have given her some information but what if he doesn’t understand what for.”

“He didn’t look like he didn’t understand,” I said. “Even if he doesn’t know her secret he can tell us what he told her and we’ll build on that.”

“Yeah, I suppose.”

Well I need some time I need to think about what we just found out before we do anything else,” I said as I left the room. Erik and Liz made no move to stop me. They remained in Erik’s room.

I went to my room and shut the door behind me. I needed some time to process the information. I didn’t like that she had gone to Gabriel, her ex, for help. She should have to go near him. She could tell me what she was dealing with; I could be the one to help her instead of Gabriel. Deep down I knew I was being jealous but I couldn’t help it.

If Gabriel thought I should know then the secret Alexandria was keeping was harmful. She should tell me but instead she’s going behind my back and trying to deal with it herself. My fist clenched and I gazed out my window with unseeing eyes.