I had just finished my homework and was about to get something to eat when I heard the door open. I stopped dead in my tracks and wrapped my hand around the hilt of my dagger. I kept perfectly still not making a sound.
Had my father or I been too careless with our hunts? Had someone realized who we were and found out where we lived? If we were able to find them, surely they would be able to find us as well. I hoped that whatever it was could be killed with silver though, because that was all I had on me.
"Electra, are you home?"
I sighed and my shoulders slumped. It was only my dad.
My dad? He wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow. I put my dagger back and walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah, in here."
I sat at the island, hopping up on the stool and waited for him to come in.
My dad walked in, going right past me and to the kitchen table, setting down his hunting bag.
"Did you get those bullets done?" He asked me.
"They're in the basement. They're all cast; the hollow ones just need to be filled with the powder. How do those work anyway?"
He grabbed a glass and filled it with water. "At the body temperature of a werewolf, and the combination of the speed of impact, the bullet's tip should break and release the powder into their blood stream. That mixed with how their blood reacts to silver, well it should be all you need to kill them. Won't even have to hit them in the heart, the powder will travel through the blood stream."
I was glad that his back was to me at the moment because I wouldn't have been able to hide my reaction. All I could think about was Jared getting shot with one of those bullets and there being nothing I could do to save him. Just another reason I wouldn't want him jumping in the line of fire for me.
"So, why are you back? Is the conference over already?" Getting to the question I'd originally wanted to ask, and the one I needed now to get my mind off thoughts of Jared dying from wolfsbane running through his blood.
"Yes and no. I came back because there was an interesting proposition that had been brought up by a small group of members."
"Oh really? And what would this proposition be?"
"Training."
I raised my brows. Training? That was their proposition? We already had training. I mean I already had training, I didn't know what other hunters did to learn the ways, but I'd already been there and done that.
"Really?"
"It's been brought up to have a more universal way of handling our hunts and to have the same training for every incoming hunter. There's talk about setting new hunters up with an education program. They would learn everything they need to about the monsters we hunt and how to follow through while out on a job. The procedures that need to be taken and how to gather information on your own if you come across one of them.
"The program would include that as well as some combat training. There would be different levels that each person would go through until they graduate the program. Once it's completed the person would be a 'licensed hunter' so to speak."
A program that taught everyone the same stuff, one that taught everyone how to fight. That seemed interesting.
"Well I don't think it's a bad idea. It could be pretty useful in fact. If everyone knows the same stuff and if everyone has the same protocols, then everything would run smoothly."
"I'm glad that's what you think, because I signed you up for it."
"What?" I asked trying not to yell.
"It's still in its experimental phase, this would be the first test actually, and while you've been a hunter for a few years now, you're still one of the perfect candidates to try out the new system."
"But I've already learned everything, Dad. I don't need to go in there and listen to everything all over again." What I really didn't need was them pushing the same rhetoric down my throat that I had already heard. I was already trying to sort everything through on my own; I didn't need The Organization telling me what to think and how to view things like Jared right now.
"You've learned what I taught you, but I think that having this universal program will really benefit The Organization."
"I don't know if its right for me though, Dad. I've already learned everything."
"Well I guess you'll find out first hand. I've already enrolled you and there's no going back now. It's going to be a two-week course at headquarters. I'll be in talks with your school and you'll do all your homework. I'll proctor any tests you have, but your next two weeks will be spent there in the experimental program at Organization headquarters."
I kept my mouth shut tight. I knew there was no arguing about this. He'd already made up his mind and there was no way I was going to be able to change it. A part of me thought this was because of all the back talk I'd been doing recently.
"When do I leave?" I asked trying to hide my frustration.
"Tomorrow afternoon, we'll drive straight through. We should get there around ten in the morning on Monday."
I had to leave tomorrow afternoon. I didn't have any time to prepare myself. I wasn't sure what I was going to be in for and there was really no way to find out. I didn't think my dad even knew what was really going to happen. From the sounds of it, they'd thrown this together rather quickly.
I left the kitchen without saying another word. I really wasn't happy about any of this. I didn't want to go and listen to the hunter mantra right now. I needed time to sort everything out, a way to figure out what I was feeling, and spending two weeks in hunter central wasn't going to help me figure anything out.
I plopped down on my bed, covering my face with a pillow to hide myself from the world. I rolled over and reached under the edge of my bed, pulling out the small leather journal. I traced the pattern that had been burned into the cover with my finger before I grabbed a pen on the nightstand.
I opened the journal and flipped the pages until I landed on a blank one. I pulled the cap off the pen and started writing.
December 10, 2014
I'm at a loss. I don't know what to do. I don't have anyone to talk to about any of this. I can't talk to my dad about Jared, and I can't talk to Jared about hunting. It's like I have to live two separate lives. Jared knows I hunt, he knows what I hunt, and I know he doesn't like it, though he tries to hide it most of the time. At least when he's around me.
He's a werewolf. There I said it, Jared is a werewolf and the scary part, is that I still like him. He goes against everything I learned from my dad, it was a werewolf that killed Mom after all. You already know that though, I've told you many times. How can it be that I like someone who is the very something I've hated ever since I knew they existed?
Jared told me that we are mates; that we're fated to be together-if I even believe in fate. If that's the case then fate has an extremely twisted sense of humor.
I've started to wonder if there's more to this world than The Organization is telling us. I've learned that all creatures are evil, but Jared has been showing me just the opposite.
I've been trying to sort out what's going on. Trying to find out what the truth is. I want to believe Jared, but it's hard to leave something that I've known for so long. But now I'm being taken to headquarters to learn about the hunters all over again and I don't know what to do. I can't tell my dad no, but I also know that this won't be good for me. I need time to figure things out on my own, and I can't do that under the watchful eye of The Organization. I know they'll be watching my every move while I'm there.
I sighed and closed the journal. I was tired and I didn't know what else to say. Words weren't enough to express what was going on. I felt like I was the fallen debris after a tornado ran through, and it was going to take a while to sort through the mess left behind.
I got up and went to my closet, pulling out a duffle bag and throwing the journal in the bottom before filling it up with clothes that I would want. I didn't know if there was going to be a dress code in this place, but I figured jeans and t-shirts wouldn't kill anyone.
When I finished packing the clothes I crawled into bed wishing tomorrow afternoon just wouldn't come.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was standing in the basement; looking around at all the weapons we had lying around. It was the first time I had actually looked at them, and there were quite a few that I had never used before. I took my usual, sliding the wooden stakes in my boots, placing my dagger in the waistband, and two guns concealed in my jacket and my jeans.
I then grabbed my small bag, throwing in extra ammunition as I walked around the room. I picked up the compact crossbow and arrows that came with it. Silver tipped arrows. It was definitely something I wouldn't mind learning how to use better.
I added the bow and arrows to the bag, walking around. I looked at the untouched bottle of Holy water, the one thing I couldn't use. If Holy water worked to begin with, I would only ruin it, taint it.
I decided I was good with what I had. If I needed anything else, they could give it to me there. I was pretty sure headquarters would have everything under the sun that could kill anything and everything.
I grabbed both of my bags and headed out to the Jeep, throwing them in the back. My dad was already out there waiting, and I hopped in, putting my headphones in right away. I really didn't feel like talking about any of this with him. I was going and that was enough for now. I didn't expect that to be too much of a problem considering there was typically never any car talk anyway.
I put the seat back and turned to face out my window, watching as everything flew past. I dozed in and out of consciousness, taking short naps here and there. I knew I was going to have to drive at some point and it would be best to get as much sleep as I could now.
~~~
Just as I had suspected, around sunset my dad pulled the car over and asked me to drive. All I had to do was stay on the interstate, there wouldn't be a single exit or anything for me to take. Great, that's just what I needed, a completely boring road at night. As if driving didn't already put me to sleep.
My mind found ways to keep me occupied though, with thoughts of what the experimental class would be like, the different things they would teach us, the combat styles we would learn. And that thought inevitably led me to thoughts of Jared.
It seemed like Jared and hunting were one in the same. Whenever one of them popped into my head, the other was sure to follow soon after. What was I going to do about these two?
I knew there was no way I could be with Jared and keep hunting the same way I did. Something was going to have to change. Either I would have to step away from Jared permanently, or I was going to have to change the way I hunted.
I supposed these next two weeks would have a large impact on what my decision would be. I knew, whether I wanted to admit it or not, what I was going to learn and what I was going to do there was going to heavily influence me. It was headquarters after all. They were the center of The Organization, run by families even higher up the scale than the Jaeger's were, and we were pretty high up there.
I kept driving through the night, stopping only for bathroom breaks or to get gas, leaving my dad in the car as he slept away.
When the sun started to rise again and my stomach growled, I pulled over and woke my dad up. We went through the drive through, getting breakfast and we switched places again, letting him drive the rest of the way, which gave me time to take another nap.
Around eight thirty I felt my phone buzz and I looked at it, seeing that I had missed a bunch of texts, almost twenty from Stacey, and one from Jared.
I opened the one from him first, reading it over.
You're not in class. I hope it's not because of me.
I felt the blush creeping into my cheeks and I turned the brightness of my screen down so my dad wouldn't be able to see anything if he happened to look over. I knew exactly what Jared meant though, he hoped it wasn't because of what had happened, how he had a lapse of control in the moment and had started shifting. I didn't know how to explain to him that his slight transformation hadn't affected me in that way, that somehow against everything I knew, it had actually excited me that I was the reason he couldn't quite keep control of himself.
I knew it was extremely dangerous for him to have the lapse of control, but he had been working for two years to get that, and yet it crumbled because of me.
No, I'm going to be gone for two weeks. Last minute trip. I replied back, unable to tell Jared the whole story.
Oh, was all he sent as a reply.
I took a deep breath and went over to the arsenal of texts Stacey had sent. They were all freak out texts wondering why I wasn't in class, if I was alright, if Jared was a crazy ax murderer who had killed me over the weekend.
I groaned inwardly. I didn't even want to think about how she had found out that Jared and I had been together over the weekend. Stacey always knew everything and there was no point in questioning it. What did entertain me though, was the thought of how she'd be staring awkwardly at Jared through the entire first period. I had to fight a giggle on that one.
I'm 100% fine. Alive and all in one piece. I'm just going on a last minute trip. Sorry I didn't tell you sooner.
It didn't even take a full minute before my phone buzzed back with a response.
You better be sorry. I was having a total freak out for no reason. I was about to go up to Jared and confront him after History let out. You have no idea.
I tried my best to hold in my laughter again at Stacey's overactive imagination. Though considering no one knew much about Jared yet, I could understand her apprehension. Thinking he was an ax murderer may have been taking it a little too far though.
No, Jared was not a crazy ax murderer. Instead of an ax he used claws and fangs.
I spent the rest of the ride assuring Stacey that I was completely fine, that I was just on a trip with my dad, and that I would be back in two weeks. She hadn't seemed happy about the situation, but I knew she'd deal. She always had Jennifer to talk to, and it wasn't like we had every class together anyway.
When I'd told her that, she'd just said that it still meant there were nine more classes and ten lunches that we wouldn't have together.
Oh I was going to miss her overreactions the next two weeks.
I could see it off in the distance. I had seen the place one other time before but I'd been so young, and at the time I hadn't known what it was.
Headquarters for The Organization doubled as a church, a massive church. Services were held every Sunday morning to keep up appearances, and most hunters were in fact spiritual. However, what wasn't common knowledge was that it doubled as The Organization's main base.
There was an entire level below the church that the public had no idea even existed. There were rooms all over above ground that no one knew about as well. I'd only been told about the secrets the church held after my dad had told me about the hidden world and The Organization. Rooms had been sound proofed to bring in creatures so The Organization could get information out of them. Other rooms held weapons; they had one main storage room upstairs as well as downstairs in case there was ever an attack. I went over the floor plans in my mind, remembering what each room held and who had access to get into them. There were a few that I didn't even know about because of clearance levels.
I sat up straight in my seat and my fists clenched tightly. The closer we got, the bigger the building became, and the less comfortable I was. My palms started to sweat.
It was like my fate was looming over me, closing in and getting ready to take me over, and I had no where to go but toward it.
**************
Well this was an interesting turn of events. Poor confused Electra being forced to go to this experimental schooling thing.
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