Hunter: Eclipse

Chapter 8

Sitting in Ailin's office, the mood was dark. She looked as calm and composed as she always did, but her eyes gave it all away. Mostly cat-like, the anger she must have bottled up inside was pouring from them. Apollo sat silently beside me, looking at something on the bookcase to Ailin's left and I wasn't entirely sure what was happening. Not just right now, but with everything - especially after that little vote.

Ailin's phone rang as I went to speak and she answered it curtly. "Yes?"

Her eyes shot to me, briefly to Apollo and then back to me as tightly pressed lips frowned. "What do you mean, she's missing?"

"I can explain that!" I whisper, knowing it was about me from the shift in her mood. She wasn't exactly angry anymore. I think it was just, furious.

"She is sitting in front of me right now. I assure you, Elise is fine." She growled, before hanging up the phone.

"Don't. Say. A. Word." Ailin spoke slowly. Closing her eyes, she breathed in deeply, and the stress ball that I got her because it looked like a ball of yarn, was now in her hand and close to being torn apart. "Why did you not tell me, you, were behind the vampire, issue?"

"It's just that-" I started only she cut me off.

"The time and resources that have gone into working out the cause of, I mean, really Elise. Then you just happen to tell everyone the Treaty did it?"

"Technically the power of the Treaty was-"

"And now you're part of the Council?"

"It's been a big few days?" I mumble, not sure if she was even listening.

"Also, that was Zane calling, worried as your brother and apparently that one," she points to Apollo, "are concerned as you've been missing for two days give or take."

"I did say I can explain that."

Claws emerge from her hands, and the stress ball didn't stand a chance as they pierce through the rubber. She extends sharply, the ball gone and in its place a sprinkling of pieces instead.

"Please, explain. Explain it all." She sighs, sitting back in her chair.

So I do, starting with Jordan being attacked, the Norse Gods, Hade's training disaster session that is responsible for those missing rumours, and I finish by asking what the hell happened exactly to make me on the council.

"You accepted. Actually, I believe your response was, um, okay." She snapped sarcastically. "So I now have to worry about the vessel that contains the power to enforce the Treaty, is now on the Council that is meant to govern and in a roundabout way, control our world."

"It kind of makes sense?" Apollo adds before Ailin glares at him.

"When I became president, and I was informed of an ancient power that gives the Treaty its, well, magic, I thought it might have been special ink. When you return from whatever realm it was and told me what happened, I was in shock. No offence intended Hunter, but I was not sure what to think when this, gift, was bestowed to you."

"No offence taken. I'm not even sure about it all myself." I shrug.

"No one, not even the other Council members can know you are the holder of the Treaty. Huntington kept it secret for all those years, the power filled the world, and we live as we do because of it. I do not ever recall a time when the Treaty responded to a people, to an event, in that manner. If you reveal too much, you risk revealing yourself. It can't happen again, and you can't talk about the Treaty that way."

"I get what you're saying, but things are out of control right now. Something-"

"Something was being done. Your people exist to get it done and did so before there even was a Treaty. All of us here, all Treaty-keepers, demon, vampire, wolf or one of your kind are here because we believe in this world and a lot more than what wasn't written on a piece of paper." Ailin growled. "Powers that are new take time. I understand you are going through a change and you will not learn about your abilities overnight, or in a week or a month. We are all here to help you, but you must not draw attention to yourself!"