Whoever said what you learn at school is never used in real life did not go to my Academy. It wasn't math or something relating to the periodic table, but sneaking out without being caught was the best lesson, and most of it was self-taught. I am confident my school would be the only one who would first applaud your skills of truanting before then giving you detention. I even received a certificate for it at graduation.
After spending the darkest hours of the night snooping through my father's office to see what he had learnt about my brothers' disappearance, I left before they woke. My parents must be getting old, or my skills are only getting better as not only did I get to poke around without waking anyone, I also managed to leave with Dad's car.
I'd already been gone for nearly an hour when, at seven o'clock on the dot, he rang. Hitting the accept call button on the steering wheel, I readied myself for whatever was coming.
"Oh hey, Dad!"
"Elise Agatha Bunting, where is my car?" It was much more civilised than what I was expecting, though he did throw in my middle name.
"What makes you think I know?" Silence. "Fine, I may have borrowed it."
"For an early morning joy ride? Where are you?"
"Love to tell you, but there is a police car following me. I better not talk and drive, unless you reported your car stolen in which case I hope I get to find out what this turbo button does! Ciao for now!"
Hanging up, I was confident I could still hear him cursing me. His new car was his pride and joy, but it was the only one that had a full tank of fuel in it, and I had somewhere to go. He tried calling back a couple of more times, only I didn't bother answering again, and by nine o'clock I was joining the crowd of office workers that filled up the city like worker bees returning to the hive.
Adjusting my suit jacket, I blend in with the bulk of the people entering the building and skipping the front desk, I slip through with enough ease to get onto the elevator. No one speaks on the way up, the smell of coffee dominating the tiny space. I don't have far to go and get out on the third level, stepping out like I know where I am going and supposed to be there. Spotting the reception counter, I move up to it and smile as genuinely as I can manage.
"Can I help you?" The older lady asks uninterested.
"Can you please point me in the direction of um," I search through my bag, pulling out the paper I had scribbled down the details. "Mrs Paula Dane?"
"May I ask the nature of your visit?"
I laugh and I know it sounds fake, trying to do my best impersonation of the reality stars I'm addicted to watching.
"To work. She called me yesterday to like, assist her. I've been applying for work, and my Mum keeps riding my ass to get a job, and I'm like, seriously Mum? Because it's not like she even needs-"
"Miss, you will find Paula third door on your left." She hands me a temporary pass, and I snatch it from her quickly to hang around my neck.
"Thanks! This is like, totes cool. I'm so Sex and The City right now!" I clap excitedly and ignore the look that could only be of disgust she serves me with as I strut towards the door.
The second I step into the room, the telltale stench of dog hits me. Of course, Dane had to be a werewolf. As I walked along the corridor, I thought of Logan. He would probably be annoyed if he found out a Hunter was about to be harassing one of his species, and maybe that was why Dad hadn't gone this far yet. We try not to step on each other's toes and who knew, if even any, how many Trackers had her under surveillance.
The corridor opened into a caged room, and I can't help smile at the irony of the situation.
"Yes?" The woman stands up from her desk on the other side of the cage, and instantly I see her body stiffen.
"Mrs Dane?"
"Depends on who is asking."
I walk to the way in and notice the swipe box near the handle. Swiping the card I walk in casually, looking around and making sure there were no cameras set up. Behind her rows of filing cabinets filled the rest of the room and the mail bags were lined up by another door to the right.
"Sorry, how rude!" I walk towards her and extend my hand. "Hunter."
"I know what you are!" She hisses, the undeniable rumble of a growl escaping her. Her light brown eyes narrow in on me, and the tension only grows around us. Good thing there is a cage keeping her in place.
"I want to know everything about the pack you're a part of."
"Why? The local Trackers have no issues with us. We live in peace here."
"Really? Because your name came up when I started asking around about the disappearance of the Bunting boy." It was a lie, but she didn't need to know that.
She was at the bottom of a big pile, and whereas Dad had a habit of going for the obvious, I liked to look outside the box. I planned to start small and work my way up so trusting my gut, here I was.
"Bunting?" Her face paled as she clasped her hands together, while her thumbs seemed to be at war with each other.
"Yes. Anything you would like to share with me?"
She looked around the room, and I wondered if we were as alone as I thought only as our eyes met, hers had gone from a dull brown to pure gold. Her pupils dilated as the iris expanded, taking on a more supernatural appearance. For a second, I was thankful it wasn't a full moon while everything else about this encounter suddenly felt a lot less straightforward. So much for being at the bottom of the pile.
I expected her attack barely a second before it came. Her shoulders gave it away as she hunched forward, preparing herself to pounce as that's precisely what she did. She leapt over the counter, no longer contained in her cage and instinct kicked in as I brought my arms up to block myself. We fell roughly together as her nails extended to claws and took a swipe at my face. Instead, she tore the sleeve of my jacket, and with a groan of effort, I managed to bring a leg up to kick her off me.
"It was a simple question," I muttered sarcastically, as I scrambled up and turned to face her.
She was crouched low, tense and her nails dug into the carpet as she readied herself to pounce again. If anyone walked in now, they'd be expecting to see a rabid dog from the noises she was making.
This time when she leapt for me, I was in a better attack position, and before she could get close enough to hurt me, I got ready with another kick, and as my foot connected with the side of her head, she went down with a snarl. She barely hit the ground before I was straddling her, pulling her arms behind her back, my knee in her back. This was more work than I was prepared to complete today, and thankful of my choice in jewellery, managed to slip off the moonstone beaded necklace I had on under my shirt. She struggled, and I pressed my knee down harder, contemplated stabbing her with the heel of my shoe instead, but the second I got the necklace over her head, she calmed down.
I wasn't fighting fair. Using the moonstone was equivalent of pulling hair or kicking in the groin; a low blow that would immediately give me an advantage. Then again, in this situation, anyone, human or otherwise, could come in and this would be awkward to explain. Werewolves had a weakness in the stone, and I can't remember the logistics behind it. I'm pretty sure I paid someone to do my assignment on this and other gemstones that harnessed power over certain species. As I had expected Dane calmed down, her struggles ceased, and I finally let her go, rolling her onto her back, she looked as though she was about to fall asleep. I hadn't expected that much of a reaction from her.
"Now, what do you know about the Bunting kid?" I ask softly, happy to take advantage of her not so guarded state of mind.
"He came here a few months ago. He wanted to speak to the Alpha of my pack." She yawned, her voice coming out dazed.
"Why?"
"I don't know. Jordan never turned up to the meeting I set up."
Dane was turning out to be a dead end.
"Did he say anything else. Anything at all?"
"He said I had to keep it secret, that someone was following him and he was hoping to get our help." She closed her eyes, and I half expected her to start snoring.
"Where is your Alpha?"
"At home."
I groaned, rolling my eyes. "Which is where?"
I was too late, and she did as I expected as her mouth dropped open with her head rolling to the side. She was asleep. I could probably find a pack of werewolves easy enough. It just meant more work for me, so it wasn't a total dead end. Getting up I opened the door of her office, and not so gently, dragged her back around to the other side. I kept the door open and pulled down the shutter of the counter she had jumped over, and then removed my necklace. I moved quickly, even going so far as to flick lock on before closing it. She woke up at the click and looking around her confusion left her face as she saw me. Instantly she was up, her rage evident as she growled.
"You coward!" She snapped, banging her fist against the metal bars as she fumbled to unlock it.
"I did what I had to," I tell her, pausing at the exit. "Now be a good girl and sit, then stay."
Her growls follow me down the corridor and before I go back out to the central area, I take off my jacket. Thankfully only the fabric had been torn and not my skin. Pulling out my mirror, I fixed up my hair and do a quick check there are no signs of what had just happened in the mail room. Dropping the pass off at reception, I practically throw it at the receptionist and was in the elevator before she could say a word. I catch her smiling as the doors close; bitch.
I check my phone before starting at the car and can't help frowning at the six missed calls from my Dad. Doing what I do best, I ignore them and start the drive home. Before I can turn the car off, he is outside and furious.
"Where were you?"
"Out." I shut the door and toss him the keys as I pass him to go inside.
"Stop right there young lady! Your behaviour has been getting more and more out of control. I know you didn't want to come here, but that is no excuse and-"
I was going to let them carry on for a bit, sometimes I think it's a form of therapy in this house, but I feel slightly, maybe a little, guilty. So I put him out of his misery.
"Dad! Enough. I didn't want to tell you what I was doing because-"
"Because why? Still got your plans to run away or whatever nonsense you're on about this week?" He snaps sarcastically.
"It's not nonsense," I yell back wondering if he'll even let me explain.
Mum appeared from the kitchen with her hands on her hips as Dad, and I keep on yelling at each other. It had turned into a contest to see who could be the loudest by this point and she beat us both.
"Enough! Elise, apologise to your Father! Victor, let her tell you why she left!"
I stopped as quick as Dad, yet whereas he went to start arguing with her, I picked up on the fact she seemed to know something.
"You read my diary!" I screamed louder than I had been doing with Dad.
She smirked, not hiding it and I covered my face with my hands as the next words came out of her mouth.
"Did you go see Logan?"
Even knowing she was going to end up reading it, why did I put any of that crap in there?
"Mum" I whined, racing upstairs I made sure to slam my door.
Looking around my room, sure enough, the diary sat on my desk and glaring at it, I threw it in the bin. It was a stupid idea anyway. Collapsing onto the bed dramatically, I was utterly furious and embarrassed, feeling more like the twelve-year-old I thought I was being by even writing in the diary.
Logan had asked me what kind of Bunting I was. Well, I'll sum it up for him now. I'm a barely eighteen-year-old girl who just went to question a werewolf. I live with my parents, who pretend to care yet know the reality of their lids making it to thirty is as likely as us taking a trip to the moon. My brother is missing, and I don't want this life.
My brother is missing.
Sighing, I sit up, and I let go of the tantrum and argument I wanted to have Spying my bag in the bottom on the open wardrobe, the one I kept packed ready for the day I walk out and don't come back. The day I start my life away from the monsters and the realities of our world.
My brother is missing.
I can't walk away and never know if he is even alive or dead. I can't leave not knowing what happened to him.
Opening my bedroom door, Mum and Dad are talking quietly now. By the time I've changed into my jeans and something more comfortable, Dad is outside checking his car and Mum is back in the kitchen. I walk down the hall silently and go back into Dads office. Finding his map of the different animal shifters and werewolf territories around here, I get the notes he had about her and glance over them to see if it did have her pack on it. It didn't, but a few more checks of those she has been associated with link them to one within a purple circle. That's where I am going to next.
"Looking for something?"
I squeal, dropping the chart and turn to find Dad looking, proud? Maybe he was just impressed he got to sneak up on me for once.
"No."
"Your Mother told me you're going to start trying to find Jordan too?" There it is, I knew those words would come back to bite me in the ass.
"I said might, and this has nothing to do with it." I snap defensively.
"Sure honey. So the Tracker, Logan is it?"
"What about him?"
"Did he tell you something, the car GPS tells me you went to a building owned by werewolves and now you're looking at the territory map?" He picks it up, looking over it before handing it back.
I fold it up and put it away, shrugging. "No, Logan is just an asshole. I saw something in one of your files I wanted to check out."
"Which one?" I point to the locked filing cabinet, and he raises an eyebrow.
See, break and entering, sneaking out, even theft in some cases are things that scream lousy parenting and a warning sign to regular people that their daughter was well on her way to becoming a criminal.
Instead, it makes my Dad proud, and it shows by the way he is now talking to me. He wants to know what I do, and he probably wants to pack our bags and head up to the wolf pack together. Talk about family bonding time, whatever happened to a camping trip or seeing a movie?
"Well, I'm not happy about how you went about things, but it's good to see you taking an interest. Finally." He nods gruffly, trying not to let me see that he is trying not to burst from excitement.
"I'm not. Don't get carried away Dad. I only wrote that crap in there to shut Mum up."
There, now I've done it. Dads face falls, his eyes narrow. He isn't going to be exploding with joy anytime soon. The twitch appears under his eye, and his hands curl into fists. I have a feeling that what's coming could rival the argument that broke out when I said I wanted to go to college and fuck being a Hunter. Instead, he lets out a long gust of air and closes his eyes. He takes a moment before walking over to his desk and pulling out an envelope.
"Well if you've been snooping for no reason, I'm surprised you didn't see this. It came yesterday."
The logo on the front tells me what it is, yet he is too smug for it to be good news and my stomach sinks.
"You kept and read my mail?"
"It came yesterday, you were out late and gone by the time we got up." He sits down, too pleased with himself.
It had been over a week since I had my interview and I'd been waiting for this. Opening it up I don't even finish reading it before its tossed into the bin at the side of the desk.
"Stop looking so happy. Don't you have a son to find or have you given up already?"
I'm not proud about going for a low blow, but today I seem to be all about fighting dirty.
"Now listen here," He starts, standing up.
A smart person would know not to poke the bear, but apparently, I'm not that smart. I couldn't even get into college. The closest moment we've had to father-daughter bonding in months gets ruined, and I storm back to my room. We are too alike. Mum says it all the time. We are stubborn. We both have to be right. Right now, I don't care, and neither does he.
"We are a family, and I demand you start acting like it!"
"Acting like a family? How the hell do I do that? Instead of going out for a picnic, we scout out demons. My brother is missing, ordinary people call the police and don't have to worry about them getting dragged into a portal to hell or getting sucked dry by a vampire."
Against my better judgment, I grab the stupid diary from the bin and my runaway bag. I open my window, and before Dad can stop me, I jump down to freedom going straight to my motorbike.
"Don't you dare leave, Elise!" Dad yells from my bedroom window and for the first time in my life, I let him have the last word.
I say nothing as I start it up and take off down the side of the house and as I turn onto the street, he is running after me. He can't keep up as I shift it into gear.
I will find Jordan and do what he can't.
Then I'm done.