Chapter 62 The First Test

Chapter 62 The First Test
The peace lasted three days without anything breaking it, three days of sleeping past dawn and eating real meals at a real table and not looking over my shoulder every time I walked through a door, and I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to breathe without a knot tightening in my chest. Three days of pretending we were normal people in a normal house, of watching the snow fall and the fire burn and the people I loved just exist without anyone trying to kill them.

Then the car showed up.

Jenna spotted it first, her hand going to the iron rod she kept by the door while she pressed her face against the window glass. "Black sedan, no plates. Just sitting at the edge of the parking lot, engine off."

Kael limped to the window and peered out through the gap in the curtain, his cast bumping against the frame. "Council?"

Jenna shook her head, her jaw tight. "No markings. Different make than what Verina's people use. I don't recognize it."

The car didn't move for a full hour, just sat there with its windows dark and its engine cold, and Dorian came to stand beside me at the window with his shoulder pressed against mine. "Could be nothing," he said, but his hand found my elbow and held on.

"Could be." I didn't believe it for a second.

The driver's door opened eventually, and a woman got out, tall and broad-shouldered, her coat worn and patched in several places, her boots heavy and scuffed. She didn't look like council, didn't move like council, and she walked toward the front door like she owned the place and everyone in it.

Zoe appeared in the hallway behind us, her voice low. "Someone's coming up the walk. She's not slowing down."

The knock came before she finished speaking, three sharp raps against the wood.

Jenna opened the door with the iron rod hidden behind her back, her body blocking the entrance. The woman stood on the step with snow melting on her shoulders, her breath fogging in the cold air. "I'm looking for Arya."

Jenna didn't move an inch. "Who's asking?"

"Name's Lena. I was sent by the hunters. We need to talk."

My blood went cold in my veins, a chill that had nothing to do with the draft from the door. Hunters. The people who killed supernaturals for a living, who had been looking for us ever since we took down the Commander and made ourselves targets.

I stepped forward, moving past Jenna's shoulder. "I'm Arya."

Lena looked me over, head to toe, her eyes flat and assessing. "You look younger than I expected someone like you to be."

I didn't respond to that.

She glanced past me at the others gathering in the hallway. "Can we talk inside? I'm not here to fight anyone, I'm here to talk."

Jenna looked at me, her eyebrows raised. I nodded once, and she stepped aside to let Lena pass.

We sat in the living room around the fire, the flames low, everyone positioned between Lena and the exits. She didn't seem to care about any of it, just sat on the couch with her hands on her knees and her eyes steady on my face. "I'm not going to waste your time with small talk, so I'll get straight to it. The hunters have been watching you for weeks. You killed a vampire council member, you destroyed a demon, and you made a deal with Verina. That makes you a player now, whether you wanted to be one or not."

I stayed standing by the window, my arms crossed. "What do you want from us, Lena?"

Lena leaned forward with her elbows on her knees. "The hunters are divided right now. Some of them want to kill you because that's what hunters do, some of them want to recruit you because they see your value. I'm in the second group, and I think I can convince enough of the others to agree with me."

Kael laughed from his spot against the wall, the sound dry and sharp. "You want us to work for hunters? The same people who kill our kind for sport?"

"I want you to work with hunters," Lena corrected, her eyes flicking to him. "There's a big difference between the two. The hunters who want you dead aren't going to stop just because you hide in this hostel forever. They'll find you eventually, they always do."

She pulled a folded piece of paper from her coat pocket and set it on the table between us. "There's a rogue nest of vampires operating about two hours north of here. They've been feeding on humans for weeks, leaving bodies in the woods, and the council won't touch them because they're protected by a powerful elder who sits on the council itself. We want to take them out, and we want your help doing it."

Dorian moved to stand beside me, his hand finding the small of my back. "You want us to do your dirty work for you."

Lena shook her head slowly. "I want you to help us, and in return I'll make sure the hunters who want you dead stay away from you permanently. I'll put my reputation on the line for all of you."

I looked at Dorian, his face tight but his eyes steady on mine. He nodded once, a small movement that told me everything I needed to know.

"What's the catch?" I asked, turning back to Lena.

Lena smiled, a thin expression that didn't reach her eyes. "No catch. Just the job and the payment after."

I picked up the paper and read the address, a warehouse on the outskirts of a small town. Two hours north. Doable.

"We'll think about it and get back to you."

Lena stood up and walked to the door, pausing with her hand on the frame. "One more thing. Verina knows about this, she's the one who told me to come to you. She said you'd be interested in the offer."

The door closed behind her, and the room went silent.

Jenna broke it first, her voice flat. "She's playing us, Verina is playing us, everyone is playing us."

Vance shook his head from his chair by the fire. "Or she's offering us a way to prove ourselves to both sides at once. The hunters and the council."

Mira pulled her knees up on the couch and wrapped her arms around them. "What do we do? What's the right call here?"

I looked at the paper in my hand, the address written in neat block letters. At Dorian, waiting for my answer. At everyone else, waiting for something to hold onto.

"We do the job," I said, folding the paper and tucking it into my pocket. "We take out the nest. We show them what we can do, and then we decide who we want to be."

Dorian stepped closer to me, his hand finding mine. "And after that?"

I looked at him, at his tired eyes and steady presence. "After that, we figure out the rest."

He nodded, slow and sure. "Then let's get started."