Heartless

Heartless - Chapter Nine

HEARTLESS

CHAPTER NINE

I stumbled in to the room, propelled by Hunter’s unceremonious shove, trying, unsuccessfully, to keep my balance and not make a total fool of myself. I knew that I must’ve already looked ridiculous, toppling about in my heels and short sparkly dress, with my hair a tangled, knotty mess from the motorcycle ride there. I’d been doomed to make a terrible impression from the moment I’d walked into the hunter’s headquarters, no matter how gracefully I did it.

With a mounting feeling of dread, I looked up into the room for the first time. A group of people was clustered around a modern looking glass table that was piled high with large files and stacks of paper so tall that they nearly obstructed some of the people there from my view. Apparently, though, my entrance had been surprising enough to draw these people’s heads out from behind the barricades, and I could feel everyone’s eyes focussed on me. The second that I had walked in a few had jumped out of their seats, already reaching for their stakes in the way that only a well-trained hunter would.

The whole room was silent. As they all stared at me, I stared straight back. I took in their faces one by one, my eyes sweeping over the inhabitants, feeling my heart sink. Seeing Hunter in the city that first time had been enough to bring back old memories that I had tried so hard to suppress, but seeing a whole room of the people who had so completely failed to protect me was prompting a whole whirlwind of memories, regrets and old wounds.

There was Mort, who had been the leader of the group back when I’d first met them. He’d convinced me that I didn’t need to learn to fight because the hunters would take care of the vampire easily. He still looked the same as he had back then: dark hair, dark eyes and an overall aura of hostility. Next to him was Ant, with his curly brown hair and olive skin. He’d grown his hair out, and now it reached down to his shoulders in loose waves.

I paused for a second as my gaze settled on the space between them, where two people I’d never met before were sat – a middle aged woman with dyed pink hair in a short pixie cut, and an official looking man in a crisp suit and tie. I wondered who they were and if they were going to pose a threat, making a mental note to ask Hunter later if they didn’t introduce themselves.

Then there was him – the one who had hurt me the most. He was staring right at me, his face betraying no emotion. I tried to let my gaze sweep over him in quick evaluation like I had done with the others, but I couldn’t help but spend more time than was necessary looking at the man who I’d once called my friend. At first glance, he looked just the same as he had when we first met, but the longer I looked the more I saw little differences. His hair was cut shorter so it’d lost its dishevelled look, there was a faint scar running across his cheek, and something about his determinedly passive expression made him look years older.

“Surprise!” Hunter proclaimed jovially, breaking the silence. He stepped inside the room himself, shutting the door behind us with a click. He was savouring each second, enjoying the tense atmosphere and his part in creating it.

Mort lowered the sheet of paper that he’d been reading, still staring up at us. “It certainly is a surprise.”

“A good one?” I asked, crossing my arms.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you, Anne.”

“So I’ve heard,” I replied, letting the sarcasm edge into my tone. “It’s nice that you’re so happy to see me, though. I can really feel that you were concerned about me all of these years I’ve been missing with my crazy vampire stalker still on the loose.”

“We’ve been looking for you,” Ant spoke up, a hint of an Italian accent still lingering in his words even after all his years away from his old country.