The bell chimed quietly, signaling the end of class. Everyone rushed out of the room. No stragglers stuck around to ask me last minute questions, thank the gods. I was exhausted; I still ached all over. Yesterday's assignment had taken more out of me than what I'd thought.
Once I got home to assess the damage, I found I was right—it was all psychological, but that didn't make it feel any better. In fact, I felt worse than I had after the last two assignments. There was also a migraine blooming on the right side of my skull, just throbbing, aching around my eyes and in my teeth. The day was almost over. I could finish up my office hours, one more lab, and then go home, lay down, and just—
"I need a word with you." Louis. Fucking hell. He tore into the room, bursting right in and slamming the door shut behind him. Nothing about the situation looked even remotely appealing, and I wasn't in the goddamn mood to deal with his shit. "What the fuck were you thinking?"
Starting with harsh language and all was he? Well, if he were going to resort that low from the second sentence, then I sure as hell wasn't going to take the high ground. He'd just stepped on the landmine. "Well, I certainly wasn't thinking that you were going to burst through the goddamn door to throw another fit that'd put a toddler to shame. What's on your mind, Blanc? Enlighten me."
Louis's brows shot up incredulously, and a humorless smirk crossed his lips for a split second before he came forward, face blank, and pounded his fist against one of the desks. "You fucked up. You sent Hunter 27 in after I told you not to, and do you have any fucking idea what that did to him?"
"More idea than you'd think," I spat. "You're not the only one with access to the infirmary records." A quick lie, but it was necessary after my mouth almost got away from my brain.
"I didn't need them. Fuck Covenant Code, this is more important than that. You sent my Hunter straight into a trap. You sent him straight into an illusion, and we didn't think he was going to make it out alive. By the time we found him, he was in a pool of blood, he couldn't speak, and—"
"Look, Blanc, I'm sorry you're all bent out of shape over one fucking Hunter, but he knew what was in the job description. You can't come in here acting all wounded and pissed off because a job hazard actually fucking happened. Based on what I read from the few reports that came in this morning, he was just fine. He was cleared medically, and not to mention that sending him in to take the fall for the rest of the team was the only way to ensure that everyone else could get in and finish the assignment.
"Whether you realize it or not, the objective of the Covenant isn't to protect Hunters. It's to save lives. It's to serve the defenseless. Anyone that says they're a Hunter should be prepared for the risks that come with the job. It seems 27 had no problem with it, so what the fuck is wrong with you?" I waited, staring at him, wondering what the fuck he would say to counter it, and then, I had an idea. It was cruel, not very fair, but I wasn't in the mood to play fair. I wanted to rip him apart, send him fleeing the room to get the hell away from me, and leave me the fuck alone.
I straightened up, walked around the desk, and leaned against the front of it, the edge pressing into the small of my back as I folded my arms over my chest. "27 is the Glass Hunter, isn't he? He's your soulmate?"
Louis's face drained of color, his bubble bursting with the secret out. As far as he knew, I'd deduced it from how he was acting. He was being painfully obvious though.
"I suspected it during the meeting, but I never thought I'd be right. Gods, Blanc, there's a reason the Covenant pushes for secrecy, it's so shit like this doesn't happen. Like it or not, your soulmate is a Hunter. He knows what he's doing. He knows the risks. Maybe you don't like it, but you have no authority, no right to come in here and—"
"Shut the fuck up." His voice was harsh and cold, recovering quickly from the shock of my guessing. "Not all of us are estranged from our soulmates, Rivian. I still give a fuck about this man, and maybe I don't want to see him throwing himself into the line of fire to protect everyone else. Maybe I'm not ready to see him sacrifice his fucking life after I just got him back. You don't have a goddamn clue what you're talking about. You made a bad call, that was it."
"No, it was fine. You're just pissed off because you didn't get to play hero and your precious boyfriend got a little bruised up. If the Glass Hunter is as fragile as a bruised peach, then instead of having you come fight his battles, maybe he needs to resign until he can get the guts to Hunt again."
"What, like you?" Louis raised his brows, stepping a little closer, slowly making his way right down the aisle of empty student desks. "I sure as hell haven't seen you out in the field, putting your ass on the line anytime recently."
"I don't have to explain myself to you. You aren't worth the breath."
"And you aren't worth shit," Louis said. "I know you're heading up strategy right now, and that's fine. I understand why. I shouldn't have said what I did during the meeting, but right now it's different. We're alone. I can say whatever the fuck I want to you behind closed doors, because this isn't professional. This is me expressing in the nicest form I possibly fucking can about how furious I am with the fact that you almost murdered the man I love, that you subjected him to psychological torture from some of the worst demons of fear in existence, and that you have the audacity to stand there looking like a cocky bastard and tell me that this was his fault.
"Fuck you, Alexei Rivian." He whipped around, storming toward the door, shoulders taut and fists clenched.
"I swear to the gods, during the next strategy meeting, if you so much as open your goddamn mouth to say a word about 27, I'll report you to the reps. Just you fucking watch."
"Bite me." Louis slammed the door behind him, making the entire room shudder.
If we'd been in the apartment complex instead of an academic building, nothing would've stopped me from walking right through the door and decking that son of a bitch. And the next time I had the chance, I didn't have a clue as to how I'd stop myself from trying.
The day went by with me forcing my blood pressure to go back down, trying not to exacerbate my migraine, and just trying to make it until I could go home. Once classes ended, I left everything on my desk, not planning to do anything but rest, maybe a little reading, and maybe a little meditation or yoga to calm down after the incident with Louis.
With a long afternoon of alternating between reading and stretching, I wound up on the balcony as the sun was setting. A cigarette was perched in one hand and a quarter of a bottle of whiskey was in the other. Everything still ached, but I felt a little looser, and I wasn't nearly as angry as I'd been. I was still pissed enough to grit my teeth every time I heard Louis on the other side of the wall, but not enough so to storm over there and knock his teeth out.
Throughout the day, he'd been sporadically text messaging the Glass Hunter. As mad as I was, I thought it best to wait to reply until I calmed down completely; otherwise, I'd be all too tempted to drag him into a completely different argument just to have a chance to bitch him out again. Then again, I could always sucker him into a sparring match where I could kick the hell out of him without any real consequences from it...
It wasn't a bad idea, but maybe not for right then. Louis would refuse since I was still recovering, and I didn't really feel like getting thrown around the sparring ring when I already felt like I'd been hit by a bus.
Yet again, I gritted my teeth, hearing Louis's patio door slide open and his lounge chair creak as he sat down, heaving a sigh. I rolled my eyes and took a drag off my cigarette, trying to calm down, tune it out, and enjoy the evening, the cool fall air, the gold and pink sky... And the phone, vibrating obnoxiously in my pocket, against my thigh.
I frowned and dug it out, realizing it was Louis calling the burner phone. There wasn't a chance in hell I was about to answer that. Carefully, so I didn't accidently answer it, I slipped the phone back into my pocket, growing more irritated every ten minutes as another phone call came through, text messages interspersed throughout.
By the time night fell and it was well-past his usual bedtime, Louis had called eleven times and texted me twice that amount. I hadn't checked the messages, and I didn't really give a shit. Anything involving Hunting or demons or whatever the fuck else would've come through to Alexei as well. That phone had lit up with a traffic notification half an hour ago, and that was it. Whatever was happening had to do with Louis, but he had more people to turn to than me. Not to mention that I wouldn't be in the picture for a whole hell of a lot longer either, so there was no point in worrying about it.
I walked inside the house, slid the patio door shut, and locked it. I turned to put the last of the whiskey on the makeshift bar against the wall, but stopped dead in my tracks when I caught sight of the black apparition. It stood at the front door, the shadow stark against the white wall from the moonlight spilling in from the window.
That was the first time I'd seen it fully alert and aware since that day at Dana's.
This was the day. It was my turn.
I moved over a few inches. Trying to set the bottle down, trying to grab the gun hooked on the side of the cabinet underneath the table, keeping my eyes on the demon: it vanished. As soon as the shadow dissipated, I dropped the bottle and jerked the gun off the cabinet.
I stood back up. The shadow appeared right in front of me. I shot at it, but the bullet phased through it. It extended a hand, and the gun fell from my grasp. My body went rigid and immobile. My voice caught in my throat. No, no, not again. I couldn't do it again. Fuck!
As I began to see the walls of my apartment slip away, my home fade into the black, I could hear that goddamn phone still vibrating... and a loud, urgent knock on my front door, a voice calling through it. And then, nothing. Silence. Darkness.
I fucked up.
*** *** ***
While preparing to capture me, Rainier must've helped the demons do their homework, because the cell I regained consciousness in was a metal manipulator's worst nightmare. It was so much like before, when I was younger and still under the malevolent wing of Director Rainier. That time, however, I knew better. I knew none of it was for the greater good, and instead, everything I'd fought to do, all the good I'd tried to inject back into the world would shrivel up and die at the feet of the man that taught me everything I knew.
The floor, the walls, the ceiling, the bars containing me, it was all made of wood and plastic. Just beyond the bars was a very light, yet highly visible layer of magic. A blue tint emanated from the edges. It was a barrier. While I didn't realize why at first, the more I examined my surroundings, the more I noticed how shit the placement of my cell was. Instead of being sectioned off, I'd been placed in what looked like their security room.
Not even twenty feet away was a wall of cameras. Everything was made of metal and glass, things I could manipulate if the barrier broke. Rainier must've remembered that I was one of the few elementals that didn't need contact with an element to influence it. Something was strange about what the cameras monitored, though...
I squinted, trying to figure out why it looked so familiar when a door creaked loudly, echoing through the room. Heavy footsteps followed it, only one set, and then former director Halston Rainier appeared. He stood, in full solid form, hands clasped behind his back, clad in a tailored black suit, black hair pulled back into a short ponytail, and gray eyes staring straight through me. He hadn't changed a bit.
"I vaguely remember unmasking you when you were younger, not long after you were drafted. You've changed, Alexei."
I didn't say a word, just sat up straight with my legs crossed so I wouldn't have to listen to him lying down like I used to. That just brought back one too many memories, and I was already fending off the beginnings of a panic attack.
"You look older, more stressed." He bent down slightly, squinting, as if to get a better look at me. "Right under your eyes are the shadows of a broken man. I always told you that you would never make it in the real world." Sighing, Rainier stood back up, tall and straight, always making himself look larger, more intimidating. "You were always meant to be a weapon: sent out for your job, brought back, cleaned and stored, not to be tampered with until the next use. It may take some time to break some of your new habits, but I think we can get you back to your old routine." He cocked a brow, watching me, watching every part of my face, like he was gauging my reaction and trying to see if he was getting to me.
Again, I kept my mouth shut, refusing to offer a reaction. Once upon a time, he used to provoke me like that for fun, so he'd have a better excuse to break my jaw or let a representative come into my cell to give me 'private defense lessons' that typically consisted of them beating the hell out of me, casting spells on me to shove me into what was essentially an hour of psychological torture, and when I was really lucky, they'd drug me and give me a chance to escape reality for a few hours.
"Cat got your tongue?" he asked, tilting his head. "Or has the world had the pleasure of you finally going mute after all these years?"
Unable to help myself, I smirked. The world fucking wished. At the very least, Louis Blanc wished. Without my mouth, I wouldn't be in half the mess I was right then.
"Well, if you're going to be like that, we'll start immediate preparations for your storage. If you don't speak, you're no fun to break. One way or the other, before you go back under, I'll get to hear you scream again." A cruel, sadistic grin curved his lips as he turned, walking away from me without another word. He disappeared back through the door behind the wall, somewhere past the cameras.
Once he was gone, I started looking at the cameras again, knowing it would be a distraction until I could breathe deeply and think clearly about how the fuck I was going to get out of there, especially with Rainier, gods knew how many demons, a wooden cell, a magical barrier, and almost definitely another solitary cell to throw me into. They would rob me of my senses and shut down my mind, subject me to nothing but blackness and pain, Hunting and serving.
Fucking hell. Deep breaths, Rivian. Pull yourself together, for fucks' sake. Shaking my head at myself, I blinked, frowning as the camera at the top left corner changed. It'd been focused on a room with one rectangular table and several chairs surrounding it. The door behind the table swung open, and six people filed in, all of them taking their seats.
As they sat, adjusting themselves, my stomach dropped. It was the strategy team. I squinted, crawling further forward to get a look at their lips. If there was any audio on the feed, it was turned down too low for me to hear it, but I could read their lips.
"—calling you here so late, but it's important. At approximately 22:30, the sounds of a struggle, as well as gunshots, came from Alexei Rivian's apartment." Louis ran a hand through his hair, his brows knitting together. "I went to check on him, and he wouldn't answer the door. I heard him screaming, and everything was silent after that. When I opened the door, the apartment was empty, but there was a broken bottle, a gun, and a black mark staining the floor by the patio door. The apartment was empty, no residue was noticed, nothing. It looked like nothing had happened."
"Have you informed the Covenant reps?" Abigail asked.
Louis shook his head.
Rent propped his chin on his fist. "Did you report it to investigative?"
"No."
Meredith leaned back, folding her arms over her chest. "Then what have you done, Louis?"
"I called this meeting," he said, shrugging. "I think I know what took him. Investigative and the reps are just going to slow down Unit 01's rescue efforts, and if I'm correct, we don't have a lot of time." Louis sat up with a deep frown still set on his face. "When Alexei and I went to speak to Dana, we were attacked by an emotional tracker, but it attached to Alexei. With it was some form of former director Rainier. They threatened to capture him, and based on the lack of residue I found and the black spot on the floor, it suggests that he was taken by them.
"All we need to do is scry for him, maybe using Underworld maps while in his apartment, using something he values, and it'll take us straight to him. Unit 01 can rescue him, then report all of this to the reps and investigative."
"I can't believe you want him back," Abigail said, making me snort. She wasn't wrong, even for Louis and all his kind-heartedness, I wouldn't have gone after his ass, not after our argument yesterday.
"He is a valuable member of this team, not to mention a talented professor and mentor. We have our differences, but I wouldn't wish this on him. He is a civilian, after all."
Abigail nodded, frowning. "So, we really have no choice but to dispatch a rescue unit."
Louis nodded. "If he was a Hunter, it might be different, but he's not."
"We can go back to his apartment and scry tonight, give the location to Unit 01 and dispatch them tomorrow after classes," Dr. Ponds said.
"I wish we could dispatch them earlier, but since we have no way of knowing exactly what they're going to walk into, it seems irresponsible to deploy them a few hours before classes or during lunch. For all we know, this could take hours."
"He can wait. Alexei is stubborn enough to hold his own for that long."
Louis bit his lower lip, running his fingers through his hair again. "Okay, Meredith and I will do the scrying, Dr. Ponds, will you relay the assignment to Unit 01? Abigail, Remy, file a sudden absence request for Alexei so administration doesn't notice anything peculiar for when he doesn't show up for classes tomorrow. If there are no further questions, the meeting is dismissed."
Everyone vanished from the room except Meredith and Louis, who stayed behind, still sitting adjacent one another. Meredith frowned, watching Louis concernedly.
"What's really going on, Lou? You seem really bent out of shape for Alexei getting into some demonic trouble."
Louis's shoulders shifted, like he sighed, and placed his head in his hands. "Before all of that and even during some of it, I kept trying to call the Glass Hunter, but he wouldn't pick up. He still wouldn't afterward. Do you think he was captured too?"
Meredith leaned over, wrapping her arm around his shoulders. "I think when we meet up with the Unit 01 members, you're going to get an answer to that question. I know you don't want to think about it or consider it, Louis, but if the Glass Hunter isn't at the Unit 01 meeting, you should at least start reconsidering Alexei being the Glass Hunter."
"No," Louis said, face falling, hardening. "He and Alexei aren't the same. Alexei is... He's everything I hate. He's a coward, he's arrogant, he's cruel and sadistic and disgusting. The Glass Hunter is nothing like him, not at all. There's no way in hell—"
"I'm telling you, Louis, if the Glass Hunter doesn't show up—"
"But what about when I saw Alexei and the Glass Hunter—?"
"It could've been a spell, you know that. You're smarter than this. Stop being so blinded by your emotions, Lou, and face it. If we go into that meeting tomorrow and the Glass Hunter is nowhere to be seen, then I would be willing to wager everything I've ever had and will ever have that Alexei is your soulmate."
"I love you, Mere, but you're wrong about this one. They're both students of Rainier, so it's really not all that surprising that they would both be abducted."
Meredith rolled her eyes. "Well, whatever happens in the next twenty-four hours, stay on your toes. Regardless of what happens during the rescue, when we get back, we're going to have some pissed off Covenant reps, not to mention whatever the fallout of Alexei being abducted was." She stood up, stretching as she kicked her chair back into place. "Let's get the scrying over with so there's still enough time to squeeze in some decent shut eye."
Louis nodded. "Let's go."
They vanished from the conference room, while I sat there, going back through every other assignment we'd had. Everything had gone smoothly, but everything had had such a strange set up. Almost always engaged in a ritual, always overly prepared and injuring most of us... These cameras had been for more than security. They were strategic devices. That was the demons' way, Rainier's way, and the Aquireign's way of one-upping us, of tearing us down at every turn, at providing us with the illusion of winning the battle when in all reality it was all likely little more than setups. They probably already had the whole gang back together and were planning to come for every Aquireign survivor still drawing breath.
They were dealing out small victories, making us feel as though we were accomplishing our goals, moving further, putting the pieces together. In all reality, we were hopelessly behind, and now that they had me, they had a weapon to extinguish other Hunters.
They also had bait to lure the rest of Unit 01.
I was their weapon. Rainier was going to lock me up and break me out to kill people I knew, to kill comrades I'd worked alongside of and respected. But, he was also going to draw my team into the lair, slaughter them, and lead the Aquireign into taking everything else.
They had to be stopped. I had to find a way out, find a way to demolish the camera feeds, figure out where the leaks came from in the first place, rehabilitate the investigative and strategy teams, set them on the path to getting to the real root of the Aquireign resurrection...
Sleep.
I had to...
Scream.
I had to...
Darkness.
Louis... Meredith... Dr. Ponds, they all needed to stay away.
Solitude.
They were just going to get killed.
Glass.
It would be all my fault.
Shatter.
I had to save them. I had to stop this. It wouldn't happen again. None of it could happen again.
Rise.
Hunter calibrated and prepared to comply.
We were fucked.