The Ghosts

Chapter Two, Part Three

Gregori opened the door to the security office and I stopped after only taking a few steps in. There were more people than the last time crammed into the small space. And they all turned to look at us.

“Ah, good,” Gregori said. “Everyone’s here.”

I looked at him, wide-eyed and a little freaked out. “What?”

He pulled me forward and closed the door. “Everyone,” Gregori gestured towards me, “as you know I’ve been assigned a recruit this year. This is Georgiana.” I glared at him. He knew they’d all be here. Then again, they were his men so why was I so surprised? “Geo, this is everyone. Well, everyone under my command that is. 37 in total. You’ll have the pleasure of getting to know all of them over the next year.”

“Hi.” I gave them a weak wave.

Several of them grinned and as I looked over the crowd, I noticed there were no women in this branch of the Guild. Interesting.

“I expect everyone to treat her with respect.” He eyed a few people in particular. “Yes she is a girl, yes she’s a Slayer Hybrid, but she’s better trained than most of you. Which means she can kick your ass, so let’s all be nice and get along, got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

The chorus of voices sounded like a boom and I almost flinched by how loud it was.

“She will be working alongside most of you as well as myself so I expect you to teach her the ropes about being a member of this office. I know she’s a girl but we’ll make due with what we got.”

I punched him in the arm without thinking and it wasn’t until seconds later that what I did might not have been the best thing. He was the commanding officer of this section and hitting him maybe seen as disrespectful. So I regretted it until several people snickered while others just smiled. Gregori brushed it off like what hit him was nothing more than a mere breeze.

“Any questions?” he asked them.

“Did you really kill four people?” someone asked me.

“Um…yes?”

“Really?”

“Yes, she has. I’m sure she will be more than happy to show you her tattoos later. When I said questions, I meant something relevant, Whaley. Not something you could confirm by reading her file.”

“It was relevant, Cap. Hearing it from her tells me she at least knows what she’s doing and I’m not going to end up with a bullet or a stake in my back if I take her out in the field.”

I smiled and looked at my feet. “He has a point.”

Gregori rolled his eyes. “Anything else?”

“She’s more than welcome to keep any of us company when you’re busy, Cap. I’m sure everyone here has a thing or two they can teach her. And we’re all more than willing to keep an eye on her, keep her safe, and make sure she stays out of trouble and all that.”

Everyone started nodding and I looked at the guy who talked. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him. He was an older guy, maybe around the same age as my father. That was pretty elderly by by Slayer standards.

“Thank you for that, Jarek. I’ll think about it. If there isn’t anything else, get back to work.”

The bullpen burst into talking and several of the men brushed past me to get out the door. Just like that the attention was taken off us and diverted back to what they were doing before we walked in. These men were definitely efficient.