The Huntress : The Alterealm Series Book 1

The next week of my life was a blur, filled with so much new information that I was close to a system crash, and needed a break from it soon. In that time, we had managed to find two runners with illegal devices and bring them to justice. Victor was justice on their side.

I would have liked to ask what became of them once they were caught, but that man wanted nothing to do with me. The only time he stayed put and didn’t find a reason to be somewhere I wasn’t, was during a meeting, at meal time or practice. I still found it hard to believe he was five hundred years old. His mannerism was dated but he looked to be in his thirties and moved like he was in his twenties. I hadn’t found the chance to spar with him yet and didn’t know if I wanted to take on someone that had been fighting since the fifteen hundreds.

Yet.

During the numerous trips around their side I found myself with either Michael, Rafael or Quinton. I was happy to find out, by the way that they didn’t live entirely underground and that there was a top side that had life and buildings, not just an orange-hued wasteland. The buildings and towns actually resembled my side, only it was cleaner here and, for the most part, a more pleasant place to be. I hadn’t been to Chase’s domain yet, but if my intuition was right our hunt for wrong-doers was going to take me there at some point.

Michael, I had discovered, was one of those that never offered up information. The conversations when we were alone were minimal and never about anything I hadn’t asked. I didn’t see us bonding in a buddy sort of way, so I stopped trying and focused on learning the laws he explained and working on finding the offenders.

Rafael was just as he’d seemed that first time he’d grabbed me and tried to hug the breath right out of me. It wasn’t hard to see he was the youngest in the large family, even if in this case that meant being one hundred and ninety years old. We talked about anything and everything when we were out following leads in the search for Marcus. I really didn’t want to meet him after hearing some of the stories. I always thought mages were something from fantasy books and movies, he was a little all too powerful and scary for my taste.

When I was with Quinton I was the most comfortable, which considering the way the guy looked, was a little strange. I still didn’t know what had happened to him, but after seeing a picture of him posing with all of his brothers, I couldn’t help feeling sad that such a nice-looking guy had met with disfigurement, and no one spoke about it.

More than once I’d almost requested that he tell me what happened, but I sensed it was going to be hard for him and I didn’t want to do anything that messed up my time with him. I’d seen the looks cast our way, the odd expressions on enough faces to know he didn’t chum around with anyone, or he hadn’t until I came along; and I wanted to keep it that way.

In all of the things I’d seen since finding out there was an alternate reality to my world, the thing I found the strangest was they weren’t dependent on technology. Oh sure, they had phones and computers, but they lived without them as extra appendages. That was something I hadn’t seen on my side for most of my life.

If you took away the modern clothes and technology, there were times you would think you stepped into another era all together. Their weapons, for the most part were based on the medieval time period, just newer and improved. They preferred these because after that things became less useful. I still had questions and thoughts about that, but time would tell.

The one thing they did have, and I was very excited about, was a huge TV room and just about every movie I could possibly think of. It was odd to think that these people that could lived as long as they did liked to sit around and watch movies when they found the time, but it was also something that made me feel more connected.

Hurrying down the hall, proud that I hadn’t got lost for two whole days now, I turned the corner and almost barreled right over Mitz. Skidding to a stop, I grabbed her arms so she wouldn’t tip over with the box she was balancing in front of her. “Sorry, Mitz.”

She smiled at me around the box. “No harm done. Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“Another meeting.”

She smiled in that motherly way. “I’m sure they won’t start without you.”

I shrugged, “I dunno, a few of them are getting really moody lately.”

“Victor is always moody, Leone too it’s part of their charm.” She shifted the box so it balanced on her hip and she could see me.

I laughed. “I wasn’t talking about them.”

“Oh, is there a problem I don’t know about?”

I wanted to get there, but there just wasn’t a way to be rude or hurry Mitz, she had an aura that warned you’d be struck down if you tried. “Arius only growls lately and if Chase winds any tighter, he’s going to explode.”

“Hmm. Arius does that from time to time, I think it has to do with his telepathy skill sometimes he can’t turn it off and it overwhelms him.” She shifted the box again. “And I know Chase is having a few issues on his side that he thought were long settled, so he’s going to be strung tight for a while until it’s all resolved.”

I studied her for a moment. “You just know every aspect of their lives, don’t you? How have you managed to stay sane this long?”

Another maternal smile. “It’s my job, but more than that I suppose. Those boys are like the ones I never had. My mate and I always wanted children, but fate didn’t see it that way.”

“I’m sorry.”

Hugging the box, she patted my cheek softly. “Don’t be, love. I’m just happy I finally have a daughter after too many male filled millennia.”

I only smiled at her. I had no choice, my heart had jumped up into my chest and stayed there, blocking off my air so I couldn’t speak.

“You run along now. I’ll see you after dinner.”

“After dinner?” What had I forgotten now?

“Mmm hmm, tonight’s the night all of the ladies are getting together to pick our gowns for the party.”

I didn’t remember a party. “Party?”

She made that tsk sound older women love to make at you when you’ve done something silly. “The party to celebrate the arrival of our long-awaited Huntress.”

“Oh, right, that party.” I hadn’t forgotten, just blocked it from my mind.

“Chase said it would have to wait a bit, with so much going on, but we can still have the gowns ready when we get the go ahead.”

“Sure. Sounds great.” I tried to sound happy about it. I failed. I stood there with a fake happy smile on my face as Mitz moved in the other way. Just by the way she shook her head, I knew she was onto me, at least she didn’t say anything about it.

Turning, I hurried to the dining room that doubled as our meeting room. I’d asked Quinton why and he said it was the neutral ground. I wasn’t sure why exactly, but I left it at that.

As soon as I stepped through the door, the dark aura hit me. Something was wrong. The men were all huddling to the one end of the room and too many were talking for me to pick up anything helpful. I looked for Quinton in the group, but as tall as he was a few of the others were taller and I couldn’t see him.

“What’s going on?” I began moving to the end of the table.

Chase spun around, a look on his face I could only describe as pure anger.

“Chase?”

He sighed and stepped back to let me see in the towering group of them, in the middle was Quinton and it looked like he’d had the hell beaten out of him. Rushing over, I stopped right in front of him.

“Quint? What the hell happened?” One eye was swollen with a big gash above it oozing blood down his face. The other side didn’t look much better. When I leaned back and looked a little further, I spotted the blood dripping down his arm and the hand on the other side looked like it was crushed.

Quinton didn’t answer, just stood there his deep brown eyes staring into mine. I could see the shame he felt and somehow pieced it together. If he were any one of his brothers he’d be healing by now.

I turned and looked a Chase. “Is someone going to help him?” Glaring up at them, I growled. “I’d open up a vein myself, but I doubt it’s what he needs.”

Chase looked at Quinton and tucked his hands in his pockets. “I’m afraid our blood on each other isn’t effective.”

“What?” I looked at Troy to confirm, the pained look in his hazel eyes did that. “So what, we just stand here and let him bleed on the floor?” I looked up at Quinton. “Get into the kitchen. Now.” Shaking my head, I pushed my way through them and waited for him to limp along behind me.

Pointing to the stool by the counter I went over to the sink and turned on the tap. Opening a few doors, until I found a bowl and towel, I filled it and went over to him. “What happened?”

He still didn’t answer. As gently as I could, I wiped the blood away to see how deep the gashes were. The one above his eye was the worst so far. I went and got some ice out of the freezer and put it in another towel, thinking only for a second that Mitz would forgive me for ruining her white kitchen linens.

Placing his hand in the towel, I moved to the blood on his arm. “Why doesn’t blood work for you like it did on me?”

“Because I already have it in my veins,” he mumbled with his fat lip.

“Oh, you can speak. Good. Now what will help you?”

He shook his head, so I took that as nothing.

“What happened?”

“Went into the wasteland, for some quiet to think—” he hissed when I moved the towel to look at his hand again. “It’s usually empty at this time of night.” Gritting his teeth, he allowed me to look at his ribs. Bruises were already visible. “Saw a bunch that seemed a little skittish so I went to see what they were doing…”

“How many is a bunch?” I asked peeling the shirt away from a slash on his chest.

“Four.”

“And?” There was no way around getting his shirt off without hurting him, so I pulled it off his arm quickly and waited until he settled back down on the stool before I began dabbing at the cuts on his arm. “Obviously, they had blades...”

“Devices too,” he said breathlessly. “I got two of them off their wrists.”

“Where are they?”

“Victor.”

“And the fucks that did this?” I couldn’t get the bleeding to stop on his arm.

“Two crossed before I could get them, Raf and Michael are bringing the other two in.”

I didn’t like the way he rasped while talking. “Ever hear of calling for back up?”

“No time.”

I couldn’t say too much on that point, I’d been in the same place too many times myself. I’d also come home looking like he did more often than I was comfortable admitting.

Quinton coughed and grabbed his ribs. There were tears in his eyes before he managed to stop, then he wheezed while panting to regain his breath.

I was close to tears myself. Rushing over, I got him some water and brought it back. “Tell me what to do to help.”

“You could donate a little of your essence that has all of my brothers panting.”

Turning, I looked at Chase who now stood in the doorway. “Would that help?” I looked at Quinton to see him glaring at his brother. Tying the towel on his arm, I went over to Chase. “Would that help?” I asked in a louder voice.

His eyes flicked briefly to his injured brother behind me before looking down at me. “Yes. He won’t though. He hasn’t in all these years since…”

“Enough.” Quinton boomed and then started coughing again.

Rushing back over to him, I held him while he coughed so he wouldn’t fall on the floor. “So, you’re taking yourself out of the game? That cough means a few mandatory organs have been damaged, along with I’m guessing three, maybe four ribs. Your hand is now a useless paperweight…”

“I’ll get better,” he gasped, his brown eyes pleading with me to drop it.

Chase was beside me in a few strides. “Quint, we need you now, not in a few months after you recover.”

“I said enough. I won’t do it.” He started to get up and then started coughing again. Doubling over, he lost his balance almost fell to the floor.

Chase grabbed him and got him back up on the stool. I stood there feeling helpless and frustrated. Not a good combination with me. “Help me get him back to my room, where he can at least lay down.”

Chase’s eyes skimmed over my face before he nodded and helped him to his feet. “Raf and Victor found the two that didn’t get a chance to cross.” He paused when Quinton stopped and looked at him through swollen eyes. “They’re in more dire shape than you are.” Quinton gave a satisfied nod and began to move again.

Moving closer, Chase supported most of his weight. “They were one of mine and one from your side.”

I thought he was talking to Quinton until I looked at him and it was me he watched. “What does that mean?”

Quinton grunted and grabbed his ribs with his good hand. “That this is a bigger mess than we thought.”

“Great,” I murmured holding the door open.