Not now she knew who the target was.
Killing them would destroy her mother’s carefully-laid plans, and one of her family’s main ways of stopping the Wake.
Which meant she needed a new plan.
Fast.
Nicole was escorted back out into the corridor to a stone-faced Kyan. This time, though, they didn’t put the blindfold on her. She took him in with the pristine white hallway. He looked formidable, every inch the stoic, dangerous hunter she’d first believed him to be.
His quick, assessing glance down her body and to the arm thankfully still unscarred communicated enough:
Are you okay? Did they hurt you?
She couldn’t allow her eyes to soften even a fraction, but hoped he could read the message in the blink she gave him.I’m all right.
He still shot a look to the Empyreals either side of her.
‘I need to get the kit for a hunt,’ she said.
Kyan’s momentary stillness revealed his surprise. He masked it by nodding slightly. ‘I’ll take her.’
The Empyreals glanced at each other but let Kyan go ahead. Nicole hid her relief. Their acquiescence was working. If they were able to move relatively freely, they were more able to getout.
Nicole followed silently, scoping out the tall, clinical corridor and its dark floors as Kyan led her into a small mess hall.
The starkness was as much of a surprise as the mission she’d been given. After all this artistic conspiracy, after secrets steeped in art and hearing of Irish Demon Gods, she’d expected … more. More internal iconography, more luxury. But then, would that make for more well-adjusted Empyreals who might want their own spaces? Their own things?
Three Empyreals were inside, all of whom did a double take when they realised she was there. They looked between her and Kyan as he started straight through to a doorway on the opposite side of the room.
‘Don’t you want to introduce us?’ one asked. He was tall and in his mid-twenties. His skin was a brown so light it looked golden and his short hair had a tight curl.
‘Maybe later, Leo, she’s got a mission,’ Kyan said.
‘A mission?’ piped up one of the others. This one was sitting on one of the tables, a boot up on the attached bench. His head tilted, his longer wavy hair coming to his chin, shadowing his warm brown skin, slight stubble covering his jaw.
‘How’s that work?’ Leo asked, examining Nicole more closely.
‘You an Empyreal, honey?’ asked the Empyreal behind them. ‘Akira will be pleased there’s another girl around here.’ He chuckled, but there was a note of curiosity in it.
And curiosity wasn’t always a good thing.
It led to suspicion. It led to questions.
Nicole shot him a look over her shoulder. She warred between making herself seem small and non-threatening or showing a little of that calm huntress, and chose the former. She looked up at Kyan, skirting closer to him.
Everyone needed to underestimate her.
‘This way,’ Kyan said, hand hovering behind Nicole’s back as he brushed past Leo and guided her across the room.
The murmuring started before they left the room and Nicole forced herself not to look at Kyan to get a read on how he felt about the others. The ones that had kidnapped them hadn’t had nearly that much personality. Because they were more influenced by the Wake’s leaders?
The sound behind them muted when they passed into the next corridor. Everyone here had heightened hearing, yet it wasn’t soundproofed. Evidently, they didn’t even have total privacy when they closed their doors.
This hallway was lined with rooms. There were no numbers or locks on the doors, though. Barely anything to distinguish them, until Nicole realised they were bedrooms. And one, just one, drew her with the faintest scent of Kyan. She stopped.
‘What is this?’ Nicole asked.
She stepped inside.
