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After that quick tryst with Celeste, I should be fine. My appetite should be somewhat calmed. Instead, as I walk down the hall, I feel more predatory than before. It’s alive in my veins, the craving for the hunt.
The real thing.
“Kaden, there you are,” says Nolan. He approaches clutching his drink. “The Owner is looking for you. He’s joined us in our dining room. He says it’s very important.”
I grit my teeth, though I oblige. I am a member of the club out of obligation and tradition. Not of my own volition. If it were up to me, this club would be disbanded, and everyone belonging to it would spontaneously combust into flames.
The world would be better off.
On my way following Nolan, we pass by a distraught Mrs. Vanderson and her husband. She’s weeping into her handkerchief as he rubs her shoulders and tells her it’s okay.
“You were right, m’dear,” he shushes. “But you shouldn’t say that type of thing out loud. You know how they get.”
“H-he attacked me, and y-you did nothing.”
My gritted teeth grind together. No one notices. It’s subtle enough that it doesn’t reflect on my face.
On the outside, I look bored and indifferent. On the inside, I’m making a mental note to return to the Vandersons. They just may be the why I’m looking for. Two people toxic enough they cause harm with their irrational prejudice based off characteristics as natural-born as something like skin tone.
There are far more valid reasons to hate someone than a hue of color. The stupidity astounds me.
The Owner waits for me at the head of the table. He sits in his majestic robe and gold-plated bauta mask in the shape of an owl. The mask conceals his entire face from view. He wouldn’t have it any other way. The rest of the table has been cleared. Others, like Talia and Mr. Newton have presumably been dismissed.
Nolan and I stop at the opposite end.
“You wanted a word,” I say.
He sips from a goblet plated in gold. The liquid slips under the opening of his mask where his mouth is, and he gives a slow nod.
“Yes,” he says in a voice many would call deep and mysterious. “Nolan was just reminding me of your after hour proclivities.”
Nolan nods too. His nod is faster, more eager. The pride on his face vanishes when he glances at me.
“What about them?” I ask with restraint.
“The woman who escaped tonight,” he says. “She was not a player. She was some guest brought illegally into our club.”
“Yes, and…?”
Nolan sucks in air. The Owner stills.
Both are surprised by the impatience in my tone. My lack of deference to him. I remain indifferent.
“And we do not allow outsiders to escape once they’ve been invited inside,” he explains. “Yourhobbywill be of use.”
“You want me to capture her and return her to you.”
“I want her eliminated. She cannot be allowed to get away under any circumstances. Is this something you are willing to undertake?”
A moment of silence passes. Nolan’s stopped breathing at my side. The Owner peers at me from behind his gold, molded mask with his gold-plated goblet. I consider my options and his offer.
However, it’s the urge that rises up. That senses the opportunity at my fingertips. It climbs up inside me like a monster buried within.
My expression remains the same while my eyes tell a different story. They flash with hunger.
“Yes, it’s something I’m willing to undertake.”
5Kaden
