“Emma.” I recognized his serious business tone. No BS allowed. No time for cuddling or emotional breakdowns. “We have a lot to discuss. Why don’t you sit down?”
Sit down? I didn’t want to sit. I didn’t want to be here. What I wanted was for him to take me home. I didn’t like the sound of this one itty-bitty bit, but when my dad commanded, you obeyed. At that time, rebellion wasn’t something I’d ever thought about. Maybe I should have…
Folding my hands neatly in my lap, I sat on the edge of the cot-like bed. It was probably better I sat anyway, since my knees were wobbling and my legs were shaky. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”
“This, Emma, is the family business, and it is time you took your place.”
Family business? My place? This was the first I’d heard of it, but I still didn’t understand the need for such extreme theatrics. I rubbed my sweaty palms on the thigh of my jeans. “I don’t understand. Why drag me here?” Not to mention scare the piss out of me.
“It was necessary. Trust me. If I could have done this anymore…delicately, I would have, but precautions were a must. This facility is highly guarded and off the radar.” He paced in the tiny room as he talked. Two steps to one wall, two steps back to the other.
Under my fear and skepticism, my interest was piqued enough for me to ask, “Why? What is so secret about this place?”
His red hair glinted off the overhead lights. “Demons. And, more importantly, their half-breeds, Divisa.”
I gulped. Oh boy. If he only knew how much I did know about half-demons. His dark green eyes narrowed at me. Something inside me told me that I needed to kick up my surprise a notch, like someone who didn’t know that demons walked the earth. “Deviza?” I echoed as if it was a foreign word, tripping over the pronunciation and trying to look confused.
That seemed to do the trick as he relaxed his shoulders—well relaxed for the sergeant, as I have nicknamed him—and continued, “I know that this might be hard to believe, but we live among demons disguised in human forms. They prey on us, manipulate our minds, get us to do things we normally wouldn’t do. Rape. Murder. You name it. They impregnate our women and leave them to raise their half-breed bastards. These abominations are dangerous. Extremely dangerous. They need to be taken care of. To keep families like ours safe, we need to wipe every Divisa from existence.”
I twiddled my fingers in my lap, trying to look anywhere but at my father as I tried to process what he was telling me. He hunted Divisa. He hunted people like Travis. And he expected me to do the same.
I gulped, swallowing back the bile rising in my throat.
I was going to hurl.
“From here on out, I will no longer be your father… I will be your instructor,” he informed in his deep military voice. There was no room for argument. My shoulders were rigid even though I knew I was in a hopeless situation.
My stomach fell through the concrete floor as I realized I wasn’t getting out of here or this situation. Dread overwhelmed me. I knew there was one thing I could never admit, that I had to keep hidden for my sake and for the protection of the guy I loved. My dad—errr instructor—could never find out what Travis was. Never. That was if he hadn’t already figured it out. Everything in my body told me it was vital that I told no one what I already knew.
Those first few days I was na?ve and delusional.
I should have listened to that sinking feeling in my gut that told me my dad already knew what Travis was. He might have met him only twice, but maybe that was all it took to decipher Travis as something other than human. But I was no expert yet, that was for sure.
For now, I played dumb.
The first thing my instructor confiscated during my training was my iPod. Before, I’d never left my house without it. I was always moving to the beat of music. In the car, relaxing on my bed, walking the halls between classes, anywhere I could get away with it.
Hall High.
I couldn’t believe how much I’d miss it. Being homeschooled wasn’t what it was cracked up to be. Sure it sounded glamorous when you were sitting in a classroom day in and day out, but I thought it sucked.
It probably had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t been given a choice, like most things in my life lately. My freedom and decision-making had been stripped from me. My worst fears come true.
Six months ago all I had wanted to do was graduate with my class, in the town I loved, and study dance at a great college. It was amazing how fast dreams could be crushed.
In a blink, I saw the life I’d always envisioned disappear. In its place, I saw blood, death, and murder. I saw someone I didn’t recognize as myself. I would never again be that na?ve, youthful girl. Dancing was a useless dream, my instructor told me that first day…a little girl’s fantasy.
Cruel words from my own father, who was now my mentor.
I was given a new path in life, one I just accepted because in the beginning I thought I could save Travis. But really, there was no other alternative.
Not if I wanted to survive. I wasn’t given one…
Chapter 2