Chapter 9
‘Don’t shoot!’ a male voice shouted.
‘Jesus, what are you doing?’ someone else yelled. ‘It’s us!’
Evie lowered the rifle slowly. Ash stepped forward out of the shadows, his hands held up in a gesture of surrender.
‘It’s only us,’ he repeated, as Vero appeared scowling behind him.
‘You couldn’t just ring the doorbell?’ Evie asked, her heart hammering wildly. ‘I almost killed you.’
‘We didn’t realise you’d be armed,’ muttered Ash, frowning at the rifle.
‘Well, what are you doing sneaking around my orchard in the dark? Who does that?’ Evie asked, anger taking over now the adrenaline was draining away.
Ash took a small step forward, bringing his arms slowly to his sides. Evie saw that he was moving fine, as fluidly as ever – with no trace of the injury he’d sustained in the fight at the Bradbury two months back.
‘We needed to talk to you,’ he said, ‘and Vero figured showing up at your front door might not be such a good idea. What with your mum being home.’
Evie studied him closely for a second, her eyes flitting to Vero before returning to settle on Ash.
‘What do you want to talk to me about?’ she asked, already feeling pangs of unease.
Ash paused, his dark brown eyes glimmering in the moonlight. ‘How are you?’ he asked.
Evie shrugged in answer.
Ash nodded as though he understood what that little gesture meant. ‘Any news of Victor?’ he asked. ‘Has he been back here?’
‘No,’ Evie answered. ‘But I’m going to find him.’
Ash shot her a questioning look, but then he nodded once again. He understood the need for revenge. It was the one thing they all had in common, other than grief. Cyrus had once claimed that revenge was what made the world go round. Back then Evie had argued with him that it was love. But now she knew better.
‘Just ask her, Ash.’
Evie’s eyes flashed to Vero. She was wearing her normal ensemble – Doc Marten boots with green laces, and a pretty floral dress with a lace collar. Her wrists were bound with leather cuffs and her hair was cut short and spiked upwards. In the moonlight, Evie could see the piercings on her face glittering like shadow blades.
‘Ask me what?’ Evie asked, her stomach already contracting tight in trepidation.
‘Have you been watching the news?’ Ash asked.
Evie drew a long breath. She’d known as soon as she’d laid eyes on the two of them that that’s why they were here. She’d just been praying that she was wrong.
‘I take it by your silence that you have. So you know what’s happening, then?’
Evie paused a moment before nodding.
‘You know that it’s not a serial killer, right? You know it’s unhumans?’
Evie nodded again.
‘It’s the ones that got here before we closed the way through,’ added Vero.
‘It’s not just Thirsters. We can handle those,’ Ash carried on. ‘And the Mixen and Scorpio that came through seem to have gone to ground.’ He held Evie’s gaze. ‘We think it must be Originals.’
A shiver of goosebumps ran up Evie’s arms.
‘There must have been others, besides the one you killed in the Bradbury. It’s more than we can handle alone,’ said Ash, fixing her with a pointed stare.
‘You don’t say,’ Evie replied tersely. It had taken five fully trained, heavily armed Hunters to stop just one Original. There was no way on earth the two of them could stop one, let alone more than that.
‘That’s not the only problem,’ Vero added. ‘We think they’re making more.’
Evie stared at her, the blood running cold in her veins.
‘It would account for the number of people going missing,’ Ash continued. ‘The police are keeping it all quiet. But the homicide rate is up three hundred percent.’
‘The police couldn’t handle a stray dog,’ Vero spat, ‘let alone this. It’s a good job there are still some Hunters around to handle it for them.’
‘You’re still hunting, then?’ Evie asked.
Vero frowned at her as if she was stupid. ‘What else are we going to do?’ she snapped.
Evie shook her head. ‘I don’t know. I just figured that … I mean …’ She hesitated. ‘You wanted out, didn’t you?’
‘After it was over,’ Vero said. ‘And does it look like it’s over to you?’
She strode towards Evie, her teeth flashing in the darkness. She looked a little like a rabid Thirster, Evie thought, taking a minute step backwards and gripping the gun tighter. She had learnt to be wary of both Vero and her sister, Risper. Though Risper had turned out to be an ally in the end, for a time Evie had been her target practice. And Vero and she had never exactly bonded either.
‘There are still unhumans out there,’ Vero said ‘and we’re Hunters, unless you forgot. We can’t just stand by and let it happen. This is our realm.’
‘We came here to see if you’d help,’ Ash interrupted, stepping in front of Vero. ‘We figured you might join us.’
Evie saw the doubt flickering across his face as he waited for her response.
‘There are no other Hunters?’ she asked, her voice uneven. ‘No one else who can help?’
‘No,’ Ash said. ‘There are no other Hunters who can help. Don’t you think we’ve already thought of that? We’ve exhausted all other options. That’s why we’re here.’
His words landed as hard as a slap. Evie didn’t say anything.
Vero took Ash by the elbow. ‘I told you we shouldn’t have bothered with her,’ she said, tugging him backwards. ‘Come on, let’s go.’
‘No,’ Evie said, reaching out and grabbing Ash’s arm.
He turned back to her impatiently.
‘It’s not that,’ she said. ‘I want to help.’ She paused. ‘But …’
‘But what?’ he asked.
She hesitated, wondering what to tell him. ‘I need to deal with something first.’
‘Listen,’ hissed Vero, rounding on Evie, ‘we gave you time. And space. We kept away these last eight weeks even though things were getting out of hand and we could have used you. But we’re all dealing with stuff, you know. Not just you. We need to end this,’ she growled. ‘We owe Risper that. We owe Cyrus that.’ A pause. ‘You owe him that.’
Evie staggered back a step, reeling at her words.
‘Is it Victor?’ Ash suddenly asked. ‘Is that the thing you need to deal with?’
‘Yes,’ Evie admitted.
‘OK,’ Ash said, nodding. ‘How about this? Come back with us. We have weapons.’ He glanced at the hunting rifle in Evie’s hand. ‘You’re not going to get very far against Victor with that. You know how well armed he is.’
Evie scowled at him.
‘You help us get the situation under control – help us wipe out all the Originals. And we’ll help you find Victor in return. Is it a deal?’
Evie didn’t say anything. She just chewed it over in her mind. She wasn’t going to be able to find Victor and kill him if she was dead, which was what was most likely going to happen to her if she agreed to this deal to hunt Originals.
‘Are you a Hunter or not?’ Vero asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Evie studied them both, her mind whirring. ‘You think the three of us can deal with Originals? You think we have any chance – at all?’
Ash held her gaze. ‘I don’t know. But I do know one thing – we have to try.’