“It would so seem,” Chloe sighed. “I think we can both agree that it would be best if they stayed apart for now,” she offered.
“Probably for the best,” Claire returned with a smile as they both stepped into an elevator that would take them both to the top floor of the building. “You’ve gathered quite the number for yourself,” Claire said.
A smile crossed Chloe’s face. “Actually, most of them found me rather than the other way around,” she stated.
“Will they all fight?” Claire asked.
Chloe’s smile saddened a bit. “No, but most of them will,” she granted. “There are children and a few really weak ones among them that probably wouldn’t do much good in battle,” she offered the assessment almost clinically. Almost like she was trying to forget that all the rest were in all likelihood not going to fare any better than the ones she was going to spare from battle. “I’ll be taking them personally to Europe,” she went on. “The battle will in all likelihood break out on this continent. Aside from Dan and all the rest of us, an ocean is not a bad addition to what will lie between the dark phoenixes and my people,” she said. “At least those of them that would remain,” she added a bit more somberly.
“Hey, let’s not give up that easily, have a bit of faith in Dan,” Claire encouraged with a smile as they stepped off the elevator.
“The last time you told me that and I didn’t listen, I almost ended up dead, so I’m with you on that one this time around,” Chloe conceded with a smile back at the hunter. “Anyway, what’s been going on with you? We’ve barely had a chance to exchange two words with Dan’s return and all,” she went on. “How does it feel to lead a whole faction of the magical community?”
“Oh, you have no idea,” Claire said dramatically causing the both of them to laugh. “I think I’m having a bit of an easier time than you are,” Claire said after the bit of laughter. “Hunters are trained in battle from the moment they can walk, all I’ve been doing is keeping them on their toes and making sure they keep practicing doing what they’ve always been doing,” she said with a shrug. “I mean yes, there was the whole nasty business of killing all my predecessors, but past that not too many things posed any challenge,” Claire added. The hunter did not miss how Chloe’s jaws clenched at her mentioning of the killing of the former leaders of the hunters. A sigh escaped her. “This may sound odd coming from me to you given who you are, but you need to get used to the idea of killing and death Chloe,” Claire stated with a note of concern in her voice. “Cause where we are headed, that’s almost all there will be,” she pointed out.
Chloe’s lips pursed. “I know Claire,” she answered. “But did it not strike you? The nonchalance with which you mentioned the fact that you had killed a whole generation of hunters? You glossed over it as if it was some minor detail,” she pointed out. The necromancer paused her eyes regarding the hunter. Her gaze clearly showing that she saw something that she wasn’t all too happy about. “I don’t know Claire, I just don’t want us to turn into the very monsters we’ve been fighting,” she offered quietly. This time it was Claire who clenched her jaws, the words hitting her harder than she would have expected them to. Chloe was right and even more concerning, her father had been right. Up until the necromancer had pointed it out, it hadn’t struck her in any real way that she had essentially taken out more than half of the hunters in existence. It was nothing short of a massacre, they’d not only killed those who’d attacked them, but had also hunted down any that she had deemed a threat. Even with the fact that Ember and Athena had helped in the endeavor, it had been largely her doing. Yet it hadn’t bothered her in any real way up until then. “I’m sorry Claire, I didn’t mean to…”
“No you’re right,” Claire conceded guiltily cutting Chloe’s apology off. “Whether we consider them bad guys or not, I don’t think we should ever come to the point where killing is just a matter of course, or an insignificant detail,” she expressed. “That’s the kind of person I was, the kind of life I led while I was still under my father’s control, it won’t be my life or who I am even after I’m free,” she added a bit more resolutely.
Chapter Five
Start from the beginning
