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Brice jerked his thumb over his shoulder, so Thane got up and followed. He was wearing nothing but his briefs, but it didn't matter. Everything for the hunters was communal, and no one else would come back here but a few priests. Scrubbing at his face to wake himself up, Thane followed Brice back into the main room.
It was empty. The priests would have someone listening to emergency calls and scrolling through various reports. If they got anything, an alarm of sorts sounded. Otherwise, the hunters basically just sat on their ass and got paid by the Church. It was a pretty good deal - until they got something.
But the main room was bright enough that Thane opened the slip of paper to read the note. He wasn't shocked to see a request to talk to the Cardinal in his office the next morning. Thankfully, it was at nine, not the ass-crack of dawn. That meant he'd at least be rested when he had to play mind games.
"So, how'd it go?" Thane asked, folding the note and crushing it in his hand.
Brice laughed once. "Nothing. I stripped down, then stood butt-ass naked in that room for the first hour, repeating the name they gave me."
"What name?" Thane asked.
"Valka Sorensen." Brice lifted a brow.
Thane shook his head, letting Brice know that one wouldn't work. His words, however, were chosen for anyone who might be listening in. "Yeah, that's the same one they gave me. Took a while, though."
"Yeah, well, I was at it for over four hours. After the first, I sat on the blanket they left and kept repeating it. Like a chant, you know? I just said it over and over. Think they know?"
"Place is wired for audio," Thane explained. "Anything yousaythey can hear."
"Whispers?" Brice asked. "Because I may have grumbled about stupid priests and cold rooms not helping my dick much."
"Less," Thane said, knowing they weren't talking about his complaints. Brice wanted to know how Thane had used another name. So he mouthed, "Like this."
Brice nodded. "Well, when the Cardinal called me into his office afterwards, I thought I was about to get my ass chewed for that. I just figured they had a camera or something in there. Anyway, he wanted to have a chat."
"Good chat, or bad chat?" Thane asked.
"He wanted to know why you'd been able to summon her, but I'd failed. He asked about my perceptions, if I'd noticed anything at all. Things like temperature changes, odd sounds, or any contact on my skin. I had none of it. I told him it could be because I was scared shitless of her, though. In all honesty, I didn'twanther to show up, and while I tried, I couldn't convince myself to truly want her to respond any more than he could get excited about breaking his own arm."
"Makes sense," Thane agreed, because it was a damned good line.
Brice glanced over at the door to the bunk room, then lowered his voice so it wouldn't carry. "I told him it's been a little tense around here, what with Lucas still in the hospital, so many of the guys gone, and all these new ones running around like nothing happened. I get it, they weren't there, but we all lost friends, and it sucks."
Thane smiled. "Not bad, Brice."
"Kinda been listening to you lately," Brice admitted. "Sometimes you slip, but it's never enough to really be obvious. Just normal frustration, and we all have it. But how many demons do you think they've summoned back?"
"No idea," Thane admitted. "What I really want to know, though, is why you're telling me all of this? Why aren't you worried that I'm going to walk right out this door and let the Cardinal know everything? What if I've been testing you this whole time, trying to see if you're truly loyal, or if that demon bitch already has her claws in your mind?"
Brice just looked at him as if Thane was a fool. "That day she knocked me out instead of killing me? You were at the same pub as her. Not a big pub. Not a little pub either, but it also wasn't that busy. There were seven cars out front. So, maybe fifteen people in the whole place."
"Ok?" Thane asked.
"And you didn't see her," Brice went on. "When we caught her in a loading area, Kevin said something about you being there, and she asked who. He said a hunter, and she was pissed that she couldn't even get a drink without us finding her. So, why didn't she blame you, let us take you out, and reduce the number of people following her by one?" He leaned in. "And you told her your name in the club. She told you hers. He said Thane, and she asked who - but sheknows your damned name."
"Shit," Thane breathed.
Brice caught his arm before he could walk away. "Took me until tonight to figure that out, so I'm pretty sure you're safe. I'm also the one who reported..." His words trailed off. "Fuck."
"Yeah," Thane agreed, realizing that Brice had just figured it all out. "She didn't let you live because you froze. She let you live to make a cover story."
"But why me?" he asked.
"You didn't try to hurt her. When she told you to stop fighting, you did. You gave her your shirt! You cooperated, helped her, and were the perfect choice to repeat exactly what she wanted."
"Why?" Brice asked.
"Because I saw her there. Yeah, I was on a date. Yeah, it went badly, because when I followed Dahlia into the bathroom, she tried to kill me. I just convinced her not to."
