We all stand there. Staring at each other. Smiling politely. Or rather, Rowan and I smile politely. Lukas and Torin just sit there, stone faced and looking profoundly uncomfortable. The silence is stretching into something truly unbearable when, surprisingly, Andrew is the one to break it.
He drops a hand lightly on Rowan’s shoulder, giving it a small, meaningful pat.
“Honey…” He says. Just one word, but the tone is pointed.Rowan sighs, her shoulders dropping slightly.
“Damn it. I suck at undercover stuff. I should really work on that…” She exhales sharply, her forced smile slipping away as she rubs a hand over her face. Then she straightens. Her expression shifts, not hostile, not exactly serious, but more… Intentional.
“Okay. Let me start this conversation over.” She says. I watch as she takes a deep breath, tucks her wildly colorful hair behind her ears, straightens her shoulders, then reaches out to me with an extended hand.
“Hey. I’m Rowan.” she says, her voice a little firmer now.
“I work as a hunter. This is my husband, Andrew. I travel a lot, but he lives here full time. Because of that, I tend to keep a close eye on things in this city.” She explains. I shake her hand automatically, processing way too many things at once.
“So, before I ask you more questions, I’m going to start by telling you what I know.” She continues, still holding my gaze. I tense up because this feels like the part where things start going downhill.
“Rina and Torin had a lot of trouble with Solem not too long ago.” Rowan says.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on him since then. And in the past few weeks? Shit. Has. Happened.” Rowan carefully enunciates each word as she crosses her arms, her expression flickering with something sharp.
“Either the world has gone crazy, or there’s a necromancer in town.” She finishes and my stomach drops. She knows, Rowan knows. She pauses and her gaze shifts. It settles directly on Lukas.
“Something that I’m fairly sure you are aware of, Mr. Hollen.” She adds. Lukas locks up. I see it happen, the way his whole body goes rigid, his muscles locking into place like he’s trying to hold himself together. She knows about his dad. This is SO not good. The hunter, or huntress? I don’t even know what term she prefers, but whatever she is, she knows. She knows that Lukas’s family is involved. I don’t need to read his mind to know that he’s about three seconds away from a full blown panic attack. Lukas’s hand shoots out, gripping mine in a vice like hold. Not just tight. Too tight. Okay… Maybe not three seconds. The panic attack might have already started.
*I won’t tell you to calm down, because I know that’s a total waste of time. But please breathe.* I tell Lukas mentally. I step in a little closer, trying to offer some kind of reassurance. Lukas doesn’t move. His grip on my hand is tight, his breathing shallow, his whole body so rigid I suspect he would topple over if I pushed him right now. Andrew, standing just behind Rowan, takes a subtle step forward and gently grabs his wife’s hand.
“Darling… You’re scaring them.” He says calmly. Rowan frowns.
“I am?” She seems genuinely surprised. Andrew just raises an eyebrow.
“Oh…” She blinks, looking slightly thrown.
“Sorry. I was just trying to make a point.” She apologises. This woman sounds way too comfortable for such a tense situation. I take a slow breath, my pulse still too fast.
“And what point was that?” I ask carefully.
“That there’s no point in lying to me.” Rowan says plainly.
“I know the necromancer went missing, and now you two, who are definitely involved somehow, are hiding someone in the back of the bar. I can do that math.” Rowan crosses her arms, tilting her head. There’s a beat of silence. Then she waves toward the bar.
“The thing is, Rina’s a friend of mine.” She continues, her voice suddenly a lot brighter. I follow her gesture to see Rina still wrangling her group of overly enthusiastic vampires. She does glance over at us, curious, but she doesn’t seem concerned. That’s… Reassuring. Rowan keeps talking.
“And I’ve been keeping an eye on Torin for years. Despite his reputation and parentage, he’s usually pretty well-behaved, especially by demon standards.” She says. Torin doesn’t react and she glances over at him.
“We’re not exactly friends…” She admits.
“But I’ve known him long enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.” Her gaze flicks back to me.
“So, I’m going to ask again, who are you talking about?” She’s firm. Not aggressive. Not threatening, at least not intentionally. But she’s also not backing down. I glance at Lukas, but he’s still frozen. Panic has locked him in place. So I look at Torin instead. We’re backed into a corner here. Rowan already knows way more than we planned to share. But would staying silent be safer? Or are we better off telling her the truth and risking incriminating ourselves?
Hunters don’t exactly follow the same rules as human police. If Rowan decides we’re guilty, she could literally execute us on the spot. And no one would stop her. Because if she’s a hunter… I doubt there’s anyone in this room who realistically could. Not sure what to do, I turn to Torin. Lukas trusts him, and Torin knows Rowan better than we do. Maybe he can give me some kind of indication on how to handle this. I make deliberate eye contact with him and for once, he doesn’t look away awkwardly.
“Rowan has always been… Fair. She doesn’t make decisions until she knows she has all the information.” He answers simply. Huh. Well. That’s something. Based on that, she sounds reasonable. Plus, she has awesome hair, so I’m definitely still inclined to like her. But more importantly, hunters, as a whole, are terrifying, yes. But they’re not evil. They usually only step in when someone truly dangerous is getting completely out of control. Sure, they act as judge, jury, and executioners. And yeah, some of them are extreme. But there’s a reason they exist. And a reason why people respect them. And the ones who don’t deserve respect? Well. They’re the kind of people who end up hunted themselves.
*I’m going to tell her… Everything. If you have any objections, now is the time to stop me.* I send the thought directly to Lukas, giving him one last chance to intervene. He’s heard my reasoning. He knows why I’m making this decision. If he wants to stop me, he can. But if he stays silent, if he lets me continue, then I’m going to assume that he agrees with me. Or that at very least he agrees that we don’t have another choice. There’s no point in dragging this out. No point in hiding things. If we’re lucky, Rowan will understand. Hell, she might even help us. By all accounts, she’s a reasonable person. Torin trusts her to be fair. That has to count for something.
But what really convinces me that trusting her is the right decision? She brought her husband.
Andrew clearly loves her. And yeah, Rowan is terrifying, but if she was truly dangerous in an unhinged, unpredictable way, I doubt Andrew would be so comfortable around her. You don’t casually bring the love of your life along to an execution. She wouldn’t have brought him if she planned to kill us. She’s not here to deliver some kind of judgment. She’s here for information. Lukas still hasn’t said a word, he hasn’t tried to stop me. I take that as silent agreement. So, I take a deep breath and nod. Rowan has been waiting patiently, watching me mentally debate the issue. She isn’t pushing, just waiting. I let out a slow exhale. Then I finally answer.
“The person we’re talking about… Is a kid.” I start carefully. Rowan doesn’t react, she just listens.
“A kid who got caught in a terrible situation, and asked for our help.” I quickly add. Rowan nods slowly, her expression unreadable.
“Tell me about this kid.” She says calmly.