• This is the second book of The Collected series •
"Those who bring pain are here to save, and those who bring hope will bring death. A great evil rests on the horizon, eating away at each setting sun. Nothing is as it seems while you beg for salva...
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Today was a good day. The first good day I could ever remember having. Tusks informed me that soon, I'd be coming face to face with the red blooded monsters. The Collectors were attempting to make a deal with them, a deal Tuskless was sure they wouldn't take.
And if they made a single wrong move, I had permission to kill.
"What are you smirking about?" My newest 'trainer' sat across the table from me. I called her Mark, because she had strange green markings down her arm and like Tusks and Tuskless, wouldn't provide me with a name.
"You really can't guess?" My fingers tapped restlessly on my leg, I wanted to move, I wanted to fight. But they claimed I still had much to learn about the red bloods.
"Yes well, you must learn a few things before you get too excited." She leaned forward, her foul breath washing over my face. "You need to learn the inside of your enemies head."
"Then can we get to it?" I was finally able to breathe in again when she leaned back.
"First, they will try to manipulate you. They will try to be your friend, insist you are their friend, they will claim they know you. The lengths they go to bring you to their side may be ridiculous, but convincing. You must not fall into their trap." I gave her a simple nod when she looked down at me with those beady eyes. "Second, I have a question for you. Have you ever wondered why you look different then the rest of us?"
"Because I'm the protector." I recited the words that have been spoken to me so many times before.
"Yes, and as our protector, you were created to look like our enemy. This is because they may be less willing to injure something that looks like them." Not many things could get a reaction out of me, but this did. I felt my eye twitch and my jaw drop slightly.
"You mean to say, that I, look like them?" I balled my hands into fists, "is that why everyone is so scared, of me?"
"Yes, Number Four. But you must remember that no matter what you look like, you are one of us." She walked to my side and placed her abnormally large hand on my shoulder. I forced myself not to pull away, not to move a single muscle. "Now, you must learn how dangerous they are."
"I've been trained to fight them, I know." I breathed a sigh of relief when she moved away again.
"But you don't know enough." Marks snapped, shaking her head, "as far as we know there are three red bloods, two winged creatures and an alien trained in war. However, there may be more, we do not know."
"Tell me about the red blooded monsters." I could feel the rage for them boiling in my chest.
"There are two females. The first has the power to manipulate metal, we will be meeting in an environment with zero metal." I almost laughed, this whole place was a rust bucket, we'd have to be meeting somewhere away from the Collecting Point. I'd never left the Collecting Point before. "The second can control fire. The last time we fought she did not have control, however that was seven months ago. The third is a male and very dangerous. He can inflict injury and pain by touch or thought alone. He also has a Satari living within him."
