Reveille (The Hybrid Disasters, Book One)

Chapter 10: Demons

"I thought DPO experimented on supernaturals. Why would you want to stay with them?"

"Supes," she corrected. "DPO does experiment, but they only take willing candidates. They've actually been a huge help to our community. Right now, they're working hand in hand with some of our world's most influential figures from all castes to create a governing body that will work alongside DPO once our community is fully exposed to the human race."

"Supes are planning to expose themselves to humans?" I asked. I'd never fathomed that something like that would happen in my lifetime, but from the way Lolly was talking, it sounded like it might be happening soon.

"As soon as each caste has a representative and those representatives vote on a single caste member to become the President of the SC, or Supernatural Community as they're currently calling it, they'll announce to the world we're here. Of course, we'll be more thoroughly governed by human laws to appease humans and their fears, but the important thing is that we won't have to hide anymore, and vicious supes, like the ones that killed my pack, can be held accountable for their actions," she explained with utter conviction. 

I was so moved by how emotional she was about the subject that I had stopped stretching and sat back down on the bed to listen more intently.

Lolly continued to elaborate. "Right now, the SC operates independently within their own castes for rules and regulations. With cross-caste issues, the offended caste may take their own revenge and kill whoever is responsible for the injury. More often than not, the offended caste is forced to let whatever happened go, because the caste is usually much weaker than the accused and that caste can't really do anything about it, or they simply don't have the means to determine who actually committed the offense. DPO is going to fix all that." Her voice held a tone of assurance that was not only impressive, but also quite convincing. Her passion made me passionate about the subject.

"That lawlessness is appalling," I replied apologetically as she finished her tale. "I really hope DPO can help implement that change soon." 

Lolly nodded absently. She appeared lost in thought.

"So, what is it that you do here?" I asked to lighten the mood.

"I train mostly. I'm only sixteen, so there isn't much I can do right now. When I turn eighteen, I can become a DPO Agent."

"Sounds exciting. I'm happy for you," I replied honestly. She was a sweet girl, and it sounded like she really did enjoy being at DPO.

"There's a shower around the corner. They brought some training clothes in for you this morning. Training usually starts at 0600, but they said today we could come down whenever you were ready."

I left Lolly and went into the tiny bathroom to shower. When I was done, I put on the training uniform, which consisted of black spandex shorts that reached mid-thigh and a black sports bra with DPO stamped across the chest in white block lettering. I'd also been given a pair of black sneakers and white crew socks. I put the clothes on and tied my hair back with a ponytail I borrowed from Lolly. When I was finished and ready to go, Lolly snickered.

"Wait, how come I didn't get a shirt?" I complained. Lolly had changed out of her pajamas. She was wearing the exact same thing I was, except she had a dry-fit black tank covering her torso.

"You're supposed to have one too. I bet Adam didn't send you one on purpose," she giggled. "I'd give you one of mine, but it's laundry day," she said, frowning. "I hate laundry day. There's only one laundry facility here despite there being close to a hundred trainees living here at a time. You always have to wait for a machine to free up, no matter what time of day you try to do your laundry."