Hired

II

'Did you sleep well?' Nolan asked as he walked into the kitchen. Vivienne sat at the island, her hair wet from the shower she just took, with a cup of tea in her hands.

'I appreciate your civility, Nolan, but please don't.' she said as she held her hand up as a sign for Nolan to stop the small talk. They had breakfast in an almost deafening silence.

'So how did you find out about them?' Vivienne asked after putting down her mug after her final sip of tea. The last sip of tea is always the most disgusting thing. There is always stuff at the bottom and it is appallingly bitter. A shiver ran down her spine as she forced herself to swallow.

'Not too long ago, the school was attacked by... Something. I still don't know what it was. The Sheriff's department wants us to settle for 'large animal', but I never bought it for a single second. I was trapped in the library with some other students. We were told to hide and keep still. Suddenly they burst through the door.'

Nolan stared blankly into the distance, barely blinking. His eyes started to turn dry. For a second, Vivienne felt sorry for him. She wanted to stop the interrogation, but her curiosity won.

'Who?' she asked. Her voice was soft, almost a whisper.

Nolan grit his teeth. 'Them. Werewolves. That gigantic thing, Scott McCall, Liam too.' Nolan was picking at his fingers the entire time he was talking. Again, he looked terrified. 'I thought I was going to die that night. And everybody—they just dismissed it. They act like nothing happened!' That's when Nolan turned to face Vivienne. He looked at her with fire in his eyes. 'They won't be saying that anymore. Because we are going to expose them. We are going to make sure everybody knows what kind of monsters walk around in our very high schools and we will end them.'

Nolan stood up. He opened his mouth to say something else, but stopped himself and just sighed. His dry eyes had become wet and he rubbed them quickly.

'Sorry about that,' he said with a short smile, 'Let's go. We should head to school. I'll introduce you to everyone that already believes.' Vivienne stood up and followed Nolan's lead. Her mind bombarded her with questions. About Nolan, about the supernatural, about Monroe. Maybe she'll see her today.

At school, everything seemed normal to Vivienne.

'You've ever been in a place like this before?' Nolan asked.

'Yes, I haven't spent all of my teenage years in a stinky bunker.' Vivienne hissed at him.

'Just checking...'

Vivienne followed Nolan to his locker, where a tall boy was waiting for him. His jawline was square, his hair was up. He analyzed Vivienne from head to toe.

'Who's this?' he asked.

'Gabe,' Nolan started, 'this is Vivienne. Vivienne, this is Gabe.'

'Is she with us?' Gabe asked. Nolan almost had to stand on his tiptoes to reach Gabe's ear to whisper something in it. The way he loudly chewed his gum disgusted Vivienne profoundly.

'I did not sign up for this, Nolan.' Vivienne said, 'Hell, I didn't sign up for any of this!'

'I thought this was your job,' Gabe said and laughed. He crossed his arms and leaned against the lockers.

'I am not some professional werewolf hunter,' Vivienne said with a mocking tone to her voice, 'I thought I was here to eliminate someone. Not to wage war against people with glowing eyes and fangs.' She held eye contact with Nolan for a couple of seconds before walking past him.

'Black told us about the penalty. He told me you know damn well what you're in for if you run away,' Nolan said. His body was all tensed up. He wanted to sound threatening, but Vivienne noticed insecurity in his voice. Hearing Nolan speak those words fastened her heartbeat, because it was exactly what she was planning to do—run away from Downstairs.