Hot water pattered against my back. I needed to hurry or I was going to be late... again. The formal, general meeting with the Covenant reps was in an hour and I'd just started getting ready. My last lecture had run over, then I'd had a couple appointments with some of my eighth-years about choosing internships, then Louis had been texting me all day about anything and everything.
After the soulmark exchange, the pizza guy had interrupted us while Louis was rubbing my soulmark, trying to elicit any noise he could from me. Dinner passed quietly, both of us still high on hormones and trying desperately to come back to reality, but once I got home—a whole ten feet away—I was able to think a little more clearly. While I still needed to do some research about it, I wasn't aware of how potent the soulmark hormones were, because that could easily end up being an issue if I couldn't control myself when I was out of the mask.
That night would be my first true test. Outside of meetings—be them strategy meetings or faculty meetings—Louis and I typically tried to steer clear of one another. Since we'd both be there and unmasked during that particular meeting, though, it'd be a good time to see if I were going to have any issues being around him without a mask now that we'd exchanged marks. That meeting would be a particularly good place, because even if it turned out that I didn't handle it well, there would most likely be wine and more than enough people around us for me to make an ass out of myself by inadvertently flirting with them.
I stepped out of the shower, grabbing my brush from the shelf and running it through my wet hair, then wrapping a towel around my waist as I padded into my bedroom to find my suit. With any luck, the meeting wouldn't last too long, especially if it meant that a horrendously awkward situation with Louis had the potential of coming about. Despite everything, even my attitude on the entire issue, we'd maintained near constant contact over the last few days via text message. He'd tried to convince me to come back over to his apartment, but I'd been able to put it off, because of work piling up. I had a shit ton of papers to grade, and they were second-year papers, so they would take even longer to sift through.
Besides, I didn't want to see him face to mask until I did a little more digging on the soulmarks. While I'd grown up with the stories about how special it was, I never believed it would happen to me.
As for the mark itself... I stopped, catching sight of myself in the mirror, and like I had every other time the last few days, my gaze went straight to my chest, my shoulder, and my left arm. Neither Louis nor I had anticipated how large our marks would be. I thought they would be small designs left only where the soulmate touched. Instead, it was a massive work of art that spanned my left pectoral, came up to my collarbone, wound over my left shoulder, and ran all the way down to my left wrist. On my chest was a compass with the cardinal directions labeled in thick, black letters. Black swirls resembling a winding road raced down my arm, stopping in a thick, black circle at my wrist. Louis had said that his was larger than what he'd thought too. Apparently, his ran all the way up his arm to his shoulder, just barely reaching his chest.
That was another question I had: what determined the size of soulmarks?
I turned my back to the mirror and headed to the wardrobe to dig out my suit. Once I dried off, I pulled the black button-up on with a black suit jacket and black slacks, followed by a pair of black loafers. It looked like I was going to a funeral.
Running my fingers through my hair again, I decided to skip the blow drying and went straight into decorating the underside of my clothes with weaponry. On either side of my waist set small handguns. Throwing stars dangled inside my jacket, while daggers were shoved into holsters at my ankles. Bringing out the old belt I only wore on special occasions, I carefully threaded it through the belt loops on my slacks, careful not to knock any of the filled magazines off the black leather. It was a black leather belt that looked completely ordinary until someone caught a glimpse underneath my jacket and saw that the entire back of it was made of ammunition.
Usually, I didn't go out quite so decorated. I wore a gun, sometimes a couple of throwing stars, a dagger on the days that I didn't want to go to the trouble of pinning the throwing stars, but only when something important was coming did I pack more extensively. I wasn't sure how many of the others—if any of the others, really—also brought heaps of weaponry with them to campus functions. Honestly, I didn't really know if I wanted to know. Knowing would help me plan better, but if I found out that no one else had the same nasty habit, then the solid proof that I was paranoid would be there.
As I finished packing the weapons, I stopped, looking at the top shelf in my closet at an item I hadn't had to use in a while... Smoke bombs. Before, smoke bombs would've just inhibited attacks, but now they might serve a purpose. If something happened at the meeting—or anywhere, really—and a demon attacked, I would need the cover. I would need something to cover myself while I fought, so no one could watch me, so no one could speculate that I was the Glass Hunter. While I was fighting, I didn't need the added stress of attempting to disguise my fighting style to be unrecognizable.
I grabbed two of them and popped them into one of the open slots near the front of my belt. Something I realized about myself was that regardless of what happened, I was going to fight. Having the smoke bombs would help, because while I knew I would still fight, I would have that split second of hesitation that Louis or someone else would see, would think my technique was too similar to the Glass Hunter's, was too good for someone that had been retired for so long. That split second of hesitation could cost lives and resources. There was no reason to be any more reckless than I had to be.
My phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand. I shut the closet and turned, picking up my phone to find another text from Louis.
What are you wearing?
I snorted, barely suppressing a laugh as I replied. Fifteen minutes before the meeting and you're trying to sext?
Fuck off, lol. I'm just trying to figure out who you are in this room full of professors.
Well, it'd be a good chance to screw with him since I wasn't even there yet. I'm in a black suit sitting at one of the tables.
Such a peach, narrowing it down from 100 people to 70. At this rate, I'm gonna figure it out in no time.
That was what I was worried about. I pocketed my phone and walked back through the house, stopping by the small mirror at the corner of the living room. Pushing up my glasses and running my hands through my hair again, I forced myself to turn and walk out of the door. My hair wasn't even close to dry, my glasses were dirty, I'd forgotten my cologne... Fuck's sake, I was really going to have to step up my game to being early as the Glass Hunter, because it sure as shit wasn't happening as myself.
I hurried across campus to Cinder's Hall. By the time I got there, it was five minutes past five. Swearing, I slipped through the main doors, spotted an empty table in the back corner and slid into one of the white, folding chairs surrounding it. As I sat there, settling in and pretending like I hadn't just sprinted across campus, knowing full well that I was already late, I scanned over the room. Everyone sat in cliques at their tables, chattering to one another, smiling and making plans. There was really no good excuse not to. It was a Friday, not to mention everyone was in formal wear, which meant it'd be a great night to sit on my balcony with a bottle of wine and watch my colleagues stumble home, attached at the mouth with a fellow coworker, or better yet, a complete stranger.
As I kept looking around the room, my gaze drifted to the front, where two Covenant representatives stood, Jackson and Louis speaking with them. The reps were in all black, Covenant seals pinned to their blazers, and not looking a hair out of place. Jackson looked all business, which he really had to be as the head of the campus. Louis, on the other hand, was grinning, chatting easily with the reps. Even when we were younger, he'd had no problems speaking with them and often was able to get them to relax and relate instead of acting like soulless monsters, which was really helpful since both of our teams liked pissing them off at every turn.
Louis looked great, though. He always cleaned up nice. A tailored, gray suit with a turquoise button-up. His hair was slicked back, and he was clean shaven. And, as far back as I was, I could make out the faint black lines winding over his hand.
Switching my gaze to avoid any suspicion, I made another lap around the room, spotting all of the members of both the Division 01 and strategy teams. They were spread out, for the most part, save for Remy and Meredith, whom of which were sitting together at a table near the front with a few of the espionage and cyber professors.
As I watched them, the hairs on the back of my neck rose, like someone was watching me. Glancing up and around, I noticed Louis's gaze flicking around the room, like he was looking for someone. Following his gaze, I noticed he was locating the strategy team members. He leaned over to the reps, gesturing out to the crowd and nodding. A second later, Louis had turned and walked up the steps to the platform at the front of the room, straight to the podium.
"We'll start the meeting momentarily," Louis said into the microphone and looked around the room, which fell silent the moment he opened his mouth. "First, I need all the members of the strategy team to the front, please."
Sighing, I stood and walked across the room, going straight to the front and falling in line with the others. Louis gestured to the table. Everyone filed in, taking a seat. I took the seat at the very end on the left, the seat that gave me the best view of all the entrances and exits, as well as the seat furthest from Louis.
Louis came around to the front of the table to address the team. "We're going to have to field a majority of the questions coming from the other Hunters. From what I understand, everyone on the team has a Hunter from one of the Units speaking to them to relay information, so be prepared to field questions from whichever team you're working with. It should mostly be announcements and formalities, though."
Everyone nodded, and Louis took his seat three chairs down from me. The Covenant reps and Jackson came up next, taking the seats on the far right side of the table. Jackson took a sip of the water he'd left in his spot, and then went to the podium to address the Hunters.
"Greetings, Hunters! Thank you for joining us, and thank you for dedication to this assignment. I know you haven't had much time on the assignment yet, but you have all been working hard and delving deeply into the case from what I understand. Before we go further and anything more than recon is being done, Mr. Grimault and Ms. Rosean have a few general announcements and talking points for us. Following their talks, there will be a brief question and answer session with the strategy team, so if..."
As Jackson spoke and I observed the others staring up at him, fidgeting, picking their nails, checking their phones underneath the table—well, first I realized that my colleagues had worse manners than my fifth-years—and second, the entire atmosphere of the room shifted. It wasn't particularly noticeable at first. The air turned cooler, my pulse quickened, the hair on the back of my neck rose... And then, it was like the whole thing bottomed out. The air felt thick and heavy, like I couldn't catch a full breath, like something I couldn't see was stalking me in the shadows... My adrenaline kicked into overdrive and out of sheer force of habit, I glanced over at Louis.
Was he feeling the same way? Did he notice that the sensation of the room had changed?
I blinked, forcing myself to look straight ahead again. There was no way in hell I'd look to Louis normally. I'd handle it myself. Some of the other Hunters were shifting and glancing around, like they noticed something eerie, like a shadow moving through the black, stalking its prey and waiting until it was vulnerable to strike.
Searching the room, I couldn't see a thing. Like I was scraping through layers and layers of cement, trying to clear the scales from my eyes, I kept digging for something more than the faces of my colleagues looking back at me.
Black plumes of smoke apparated into the room. As the smoke dissipated, lanky, grotesque, smoke-like demons hovered in the air, all of them armed, all of them menacing. For a second, everyone sat still, taking in the situation and assessing. Unlike them, I'd made my decision before I'd stepped foot into that meeting.
I was on my feet, hand braced on the table, and launching myself over it. As my legs cleared the table, feet hitting the platform, I had a pistol in one hand and a throwing star clutched in the other. Clicking the safety off, I began shooting just as the demons surged at me, noticing that I'd begun attacking. The front line of three fell, all of them struck with a bullet to the head. One wrapped around to snag me from the side, but was clipped in the shoulder with a throwing star. Just enough to distract it until I got a second.
Darting forward, further into the fray, I jumped onto a table, dropping a magazine and popping a new one in. The sound of gunfire echoed through the room as I continued shooting, hitting any of them I could. As I fired, I grabbed my next weapon—the smoke bomb. I popped the pin out and rolled it into the fray, engulfing the entire place in thick, black smoke. It was hard to see the gun in my hand, let alone the demons coming for me.
The fight continued, but the more I shot and fought, the fewer demons I found and the more outer noises I heard. The others Hunters had finally pulled themselves together and joined the fight. I'd moved so quickly and done so little prior to the smoke grenade that it was unlikely any unnecessary attention would be drawn to me, but there would still be a lot to account for since I was supposed to be retired.
The entire situation would look strange, but it wouldn't be completely unbelievable. As much as I trained with the students and pushed them, it would make sense that I could follow through. Besides, I hadn't done my usual routine as the Glass Hunter. Typically, I found a perch and picked people off, I avoided close combat, because I was bad at it. I also tended to use less throwing stars and knives. Those were last resorts only. So, the alibi would be shaky, but plausible.
Picking a few more demons off with shots to the head, the smoke began to clear. It was barely enough to see the floor and my surroundings, but it was enough of a cue that I returned to the front, taking my seat like I'd never even moved. If I could instill enough doubt, people may have doubted that I was the first to attack.
As I sat there, surveying the room, all the steaming piles of ash caught my eye. Not a single demon was left, though the Hunters on the floor were still whipping their heads around like there were. None of them were armed, all of their hands and clothes stained with black splotches of demonic remains. There were a few splashes on me, but nothing like the others. Knowing I'd have to make it quick, I allowed my gaze to slip over to Louis. His eyes were on me, a little wide, his brows knitted together, but once he saw that I was looking, he had enough grace to look away and pretend like he hadn't been watching me. Head to toe, demonic remains coated him, staining his gray suit and his pretty face.
He ran his hand through his hair and glanced around, surveying and ensuring everyone was safe and the demons were gone. Well, it seemed as though everyone made it out fine and all the demons were gone. Something was strange about the entire situation, though. It was a smaller fleet of demons and it was a weaker set as well, typical smoke demons, what was peculiar about it was the timing of the attack. All that time and they picked the night of the general Hunter meeting, the very one in which the two Covenant reps were in attendance, to attack? Something wasn't sitting right with me, and by the constipated look on Louis's face, he agreed.
Jackson, the reps, and Dr. Ponds were still at the table, but Louis, Meredith, Remy, and Abigail were all making their way back to the front. As they returned to their chairs, they didn't sit in the same order. Instead, Louis took the chair next to me, his face blank and grim. I kept my eyes straight ahead, pretending I hadn't just slaughtered half the force, as well as hadn't noticed the look Louis had given me.
While he still had no proof, it was imperative I do something soon to throw him off.
Mr. Grimault stood and made his way to the podium. "As this meeting has been compromised by the attack, we will have to reconsider how to relay all of our announcements. As of now, this attack will be under investigation by the Covenant. The timing of the attack is something Ms. Rosean and I consider suspicious, and until we can confirm otherwise, everyone at this institution will be considered under investigation by the Covenant. Ms. Rosean and I will be around to your various units within the week in order to relay all announcements. All Unit leaders will be notified of these meetings. Dismissed."
Like a wave, everyone rushed from the room. Hunters, whether they were covered in demonic remains or had sustained injuries slaying a horde of demons, they were always ready for a night out, which was what most of them still intended to do, which meant my night of watching from the balcony was still in place.
Following the crowd and wanting to get as far away from Louis, the strategy team, Jackson, and the reps as I could, I slid off the platform and blended in with the crowd, making tracks for the doors. I wanted to get home, get in my pajamas, find the wine, and get settled before I missed the fun.
*** *** ***
The cool nighttime air felt nice as the wine warmed me, flushing my cheeks and giving me just enough of a buzz to find my colleagues stumbling home even funnier. The thick, fuzzy black socks, slippers, sweatpants, and hoodie also did a nice job of keeping me warm in the cool, fall air. One by one, they stumbled past, making me chuckle. At the same time, I was texting Louis—as the Glass Hunter.
So far, it'd been mostly small talk, like what our plans were for the weekend. While he'd loved to build up to a discussion, it was odd for him to beat around the bush as much as he was. Honestly, it was beginning to grate my nerves. Just as I considered shooting him a text asking him to just fucking tell me what he wanted, my phone vibrated in my hand.
Can I call you?
I blinked. It wouldn't be an issue. I'd just have to go inside and put the mask on so I could use the voice synthesizer. It'd also be a good opportunity to screw with Louis. I'd heard him out on his balcony, his shoes scuffing against the cement patio. If I left my slippers propped up on the railing, like I was still sitting out there and lit a cigarette to leave out and burn while I was inside talking to him, it'd give the illusion that I was still outside watching.
Sure, I replied, lighting a cigarette, perching it on the edge of my chair and slipping my shoes onto the railing before sneaking inside. As soon as I fished the mask out of my closet and wriggled it over my face, my phone began buzzing.
"Hello?"
"Hey," Louis said. "I thought I'd give you a second so you had enough time to put your mask on."
"I appreciate that." I tapped at the throat of the mask, noticing the synthesizer sounded weaker than usual. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. I barely saw any of the action anyway." Which, was something I knew as I'd taken care of the majority of the demons at the meeting, but he didn't know that. As far as he knew, it was Alexei, the professor that annoyed the hell out of him.
"Same here," I said. "It was like they appeared and everything went dark."
"Yeah, Rivian used a smoke bomb."
"What?" Sounding confused, but trying desperately to stamp it down so it didn't come across as over acted, I continued. "Why would he do that?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out. From what I understand, he's retired. He doesn't hunt anymore, so for him to have those sorts of abilities and need to use a smoke bomb just seems really weird to me."
"Abilities? I saw him get up, but I was so focused on figuring out how to get rid of them that I didn't really notice anything until the smoke hit." There was no reason to egg on the things he saw when I got up and started fighting. Besides, there had to be others that were unsure of who began the brawl, of who took down the majority of the demons.
"Let's just say this: for a retired Hunter, he was awfully prepared for a fight. I don't know, maybe I'm overreacting, but something about it just seems really strange to me... Do you know Rivain well?"
"Not particularly," I said, creeping back through my house, over to the sofa, sitting carefully and quietly. The walls were so thin that I could hear Louis cough and clear his throat, so there was no doubt in my mind he heard the same small, typically inaudible noises, which made everything so much more difficult. "We're really not more than acquaintances."
"Do you know anyone that knows him well?"
Fucking hell, I realized what I'd done was suspicious, but Louis was barking up the wrong tree. Something about his line of questioning wasn't digging toward the Glass Hunter and Alexei, but sounded more like Alexei had something a little more sinister to hide.
"Not really. If I had to guess, I'd say someone in the assassination department. You never really see him with anyone, you know?"
Louis fell quiet for a moment. "Yeah."
"And, if you think about it, it makes sense that he still keeps things fresh even though he's retired. He is the chair of the assassination department, so he probably feels like he still needs to keep up with everyone since he isn't fighting anymore, especially now that all of this is happening," I said, leaning back on the sofa, watching as my cigarette started burning shorter and shorter, the ashes falling into the ashtray beneath it in clumps.
"I guess. He was the only one that was armed, though. It was almost like he was prepared for it."
"You really think he had something to do with the attack tonight?"
Louis sighed, like he was running a hand through his slicked back hair and shaking his head, maybe pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't know, but with the evidence I have, it doesn't seem impossible. What do you think?"
Well, I knew for a goddamn fact that I didn't have a thing to do with the attack. Nothing from that setup would benefit me in any way. Of course, Louis didn't know that, because he didn't know that his soulmate, the man sitting on the other end of the phone, was Alexei Rivian.
"I think that for now, it's best not to speculate. Let the Covenant and investigative teams do their jobs, while we worry about ours, yeah?" Even if the Covenant started suspecting me for some reason, all I would have to do was show them my Hunting record. While it was rare and rather taboo, Covenant officials occasionally had cases in which they had to see a Hunter's face, but they were sworn to secrecy, and after confirming identities and clearing the case, their memories were wiped to avoid demonic interference.
So, it'd be a pain in the ass, but nothing that I wouldn't be able to settle.
"I suppose," Louis muttered, not seeming even somewhat content with the answer I gave him. "So, you wanna come over sometime this week?"
"Mm, let me get back to you on that one. I haven't looked at my schedule for next week yet, so I'm not sure which days I'm free."
"Okay. Well, take care."
"You too."
We cut the line, I took off the mask, and crept back outside, putting out my cigarette and pouring another glass of wine. On the other side of the thin barrier between our balconies, I could hear Louis sigh and his wooden rocking chair creak.
How could he despise me—Alexei—so much, while foaming at the mouth for me—the Glass Hunter—to come to his apartment and act like a proper soulmate?