“Rosalind!” Beaming, Tammi flipped her long, blonde hair behind her shoulders. As she took in Rosalind’s grim expression, the smile quickly faded from her face. “What’s going on? You look like you’re about to cry. Is this about Josiah?”
“Sort of.” She dropped her clothes on her bed. “I actually have to go meet him in Harvard Square to talk about some stuff.”
Tammi crinkled her brow. “What stuff? Is this one of those conversations where you have to sit there and listen to him rehash all the reasons he dumped you? Because I would skip that if I were you.”
“No. It’s work-related, but probably just as painful.”
“Oh, right. Your mysterious job that no one is allowed to know about.”
Rosalind sighed. “Not for long. I’m pretty sure I’m about to get fired.” She shouldn’t be talking about this, but she was still so charged up from the encounter with the mage. It was hard to even think straight.
Tammi cocked her head. “Okay, what exactly do you do at night? Because I’ve been vacillating between stripper and assassin for a while.”
Rosalind’s phone beeped, and she yanked it out of her pocket. “Hang on a second. What the hell? It’s Mason.” Rosalind and her father didn’t exactly have a close relationship. In fact, she only ever thought of him by his first name—when she thought of him at all. And he never texted her.
When she unlocked her phone to read the text, panic curdled her stomach. It simply read:
I tried to save you from yourself, but I can’t protect you any longer.
Her breath caught in her throat. Did her father really know about her failure already? “This isn’t good,” she whispered. The last thing she wanted to do was talk to Mason, but she needed to find out what was going on.
“What isn’t good?” Tammi asked. “You seem all dramatic.”
Rosalind paced the floor as she dialed his number. His voice mail picked up. Jerk. It was just like him to send a cryptic, panic-inducing text and then shut off his phone. A cold sweat broke out on her forehead, and she threw her phone in frustration.
“Rosalind!” Tammi said. “You’re freaking me out. What is going on?”
“Mason is an asshole.” Rosalind picked up her phone from the pile of discarded clothes on the floor. Luckily, it hadn’t broken, and she jammed it into her pocket.
Tammi unscrewed the top of a nail polish bottle and began painting her toenails. “You already knew that. But I’m guessing whatever you’re upset about has to do with your father?”
“I don’t even know.” Rosalind took a deep breath, suddenly desperate to confide in her friend. “Can you keep a secret?”
Tammi stared at her. “Of course I can. Plus, I’ve told you my secrets.”
Rosalind was the only one on campus who knew Tammi’s original name: Marcus Robbins. Twenty years before, Tammi had been born into a boy’s body. And while that part wasn’t a secret, Tammi didn’t want anyone knowing about her birth name. And she especially didn’t want anyone seeing the photos of her awkward mullet phase.
Rosalind sat at the edge of her bed, just below her poster of a bearded Darwin. “I’m just trying to figure out where to start.”
“Oh, just come out with it. Whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as the time I had to tell my fundamentalist parents I was transitioning.”
She raises a good point. Rosalind dug her fingernails into the duvet. “Okay. The thing is, I’m part of the Brotherhood. I’m a demon hunter. I was supposed to kill a redcap tonight, and I messed up.” It came out in a rush. She already felt a weight off her chest.
“What?” Tammi knocked over her nail polish, and a pool of crimson stained her duvet.
“Josiah is my ex-boyfriend, but he’s also my Guardian in the Brotherhood,” Rosalind said. “He dumped me because the Brotherhood forbids novice and Guardian relationships. And I’m supposed to be reporting to him in about fifteen minutes, so he can fire me for screwing up.”
“He can wait. This is fucking huge. I did not have you pegged as a Hunter. I wasn’t even sure if Hunters were real. Can you even fight?” Tammi stood, her face flushed. “Start from the beginning. How long have you been a part of the Brotherhood?”
This really was a long story. “I became a Hunter at eighteen, but I’ve been in the Brotherhood since I was five. That’s when Mason adopted me. The one good thing he ever did for me was introducing me to the Brotherhood. The order gave me stability and a sense of belonging—everything Mason failed to give me. I always thought a future with the Brotherhood was my destiny. I thought I’d be promoted to Guardian someday, leading a group of novices in the ancient tradition of the hunt. And then, tonight, I messed everything up. Again. They can’t risk having incompetent people fighting demons. It’s too dangerous.”
“What happened?” Tammi asked breathlessly.
An image of the mage’s cold, icy stare flashed in Rosalind’s brain, and she shuddered. “I’ve already racked up two failed kills. Three, and you’re out. Tonight, I was supposed to kill a redcap, but I let the situation get out of control.”
“You let him get away?”
“Not exactly. He bit me.”