Page 13 of Stalk the Dark
That couldn’t be right. “The brief I was given listed ten operatives.”
Haiden snorted and pulled plates off shelves to set them on the table. “Your brief is outdated.”
If that was the case, then…He was the cook, which meant he wasn’t active duty, which meant… “You’ve been running the chapter with onlythreeactive operatives?”
This made no sense. Dracul territory was too vast to be covered by such a small chapter. “What happened to the others?”
“They died,” Edwin said. “It was reported.”
But the brief said differently. Something wasn’t right here. I pulled out a chair and parked my ass. “How did they die?”
Haiden snorted again, but Edwin replied. “There was a fire in New Town, and our team was close, so we got called in. We managed to get most of the humans out of the building before…yeah…”
Commendable that they’d saved lives, but… “Why isthe Order on call for fires?” Haiden and Edwin exchanged glances. “Hello? What is going on here?”
“You…you really don’t know how it works here, Miss Lighthart?”
It sounded strange hearing myself referred to by my surname. “Call me Orina. And no, I obviously don’t.” My short time with Mary and Jeremy had convinced me of that much. “Explain it to me.”
Edwin looked to Haiden again, and the older man gave him a nod. “The Sangualex are responsible for policing Dracul territory.”
“Sangualex?” What the fuck was that?
“It’s a vampire operation,” Edwin said. “They deal with any threat to the humans, but we get called in for the minor cases. We’re essentially backup for…whatever they need. There are no cold ones here, so we’re kinda redundant. Oh, except you. You have a real job to do with Ezekiel.”
The Order had hunted cold ones for centuries—beastly creatures that used humans as incubators for their young. These beasts could only be taken down by a blessed blade, and they’d been around for centuries. The Order had been formed to cull their numbers and exterminate them, although extermination was still a work in progress.
So, yes, the cold ones were our main prey, but— “The Order is about more than hunting cold ones. We keep the peace. We protect humanity. Wearethe law. Yes, I’m here as Ezekiel’s watcher, but I’m also head ofthis chapter, and it’s my job to make sure we do those things.”
Brittle laughter drifted in from the doorway carried by a tall, athletic woman dressed in the standard Order ensemble of black on black—easier to hide the blood stains.
Her curls were pinned on top of her head, leaving her heart-shaped face free of any stray tendrils. Her mouth was painted a vivid red which sat perfectly against her brown skin. It was the only obvious makeup she wore, and it accentuated her derisive sneer nicely when she spoke.
“The law? The only law here istheirlaw, and the sooner you understand that the better.”
“Hello to you too, Padma,” Haidan said dryly.
She pulled out a seat opposite me and dropped into it, her hard gaze fixed on me like twin coals. “So, you’re my replacement?” She looked me up and down. “Heading up our stellar operation and babysitting the uber vamp. It should be an easy enough ride if you take my advice and steer clear of him. He’ll wreak havoc no matter what. The operatives that survived their duty were the ones wise enough to keep their distance and do their time. They lived, and they left words of warning in the archives.”
“I’m not into hiding from my problems. I face them head-on.”
“Then you’ll get yourself killed.”
“Maybe. But I’ll make damn sure to save a few lives in the process.”
“Like the two humans you saved today?” Her smile was cold and empty.
“Padma!” Haiden admonished.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “No. She’s right. I failed today. But I won’t fail again. I’ll find a way to control him. I won’t let him kill again.”
“He’s killing right now.”
“What?”
“Why do you think your freelance hunters were on the road to Branwood Castle earlier?”
“Padma…” Haiden warned.
