Chapter 33

I sit on sofa in the warehouse whilst i wait for Mihai to finishes speaking to the men guarding us, he said we have to wait here a little longer until the coast is clear. But there is something he isn’t telling me, i just know it.
I don’t like secrets, i never have. But how can i force him to tell me when he is so clearly against me knowing?
This was never a problem back home, father kept nothing from me, not even when there was trouble. He always said it was better to know what to prepare for rather than going into a situation blind.
I think he was right, not knowing what is really going on is giving me major anxiety.
I stand, quietly folding the blanket i was using and placing it on the arm of the old sofa, if Mihai isn’t going to tell me what is going on then I'll have to find out for myself. And i will find out, even if i have to go around him.
I walk towards the table of computers, nervously glancing towards the three doors several times before peering down at the screens, searching the cameras for Mihai.
I have to press a few buttons, but i find him near the kitchen, talking to someone with black hair and a scar down the right side of his face. I don’t know who he is, and i don’t care, i just need to get out without being seen.
I look down at the mobile phone left on the table, my heart skipping a beat, and i pick it up before i can change my mind, dialling the only number i know by heart.
“Hello?” comes a voice i never thought I'd here again.
Despite all our problems, i still love my father, even if we don’t always see eye to eye.
“Dad.” I say slowly, “Don’t hang up, please don’t... I’m sorry.”
“You think that your apologies mean anything to me, Mae?” He grumbles coldly, “You are lucky to be alive, what were you thinking letting the Nati brand you?”
“It isn’t like i chose it, dad.” I say, clenching my free hand at my side, “You always assume the worst of me, and it isn’t normally the case.” i sigh, trying to calm my anger, “I didn’t call you to argue, i called to say goodbye.”
I hear a scoff down the line, “Don’t be ridiculous Mae, you are coming home.”
My eyes go wide, “What makes you think I’ll do that, dad? I am fine where i am, and besides, the council want me dead, it wouldn’t be safe to come home.”
He's crazy if he thinks i can just walk back into my life like nothing ever happened, i am a different person now, and i want to be with Mihai, i don’t care that he is a Nati.
We don’t choose who we are born as, but we can choose who we want to be and what we want to do with the lives we have, and i have made my choice. I choose Mihai.
“I have friends on the council, important friends, and i can call in a few favours to get you pardoned.” He says, his voice as cold as ice. “But if you ever do anything like this again, Mae, you are on your own.”
I stare at the cameras in front of me, Mihai still talking to the same vampire by the kitchen.
I have a little more time.
“Dad.” I say, my voice small. “I don’t want to come home.”
“Don’t be stupid Mae, you are not thinking right, the Nati has gotten into your head.” I hear talking on the other end of the phone. “Your brother’s will be there soon, and you will come home with them, you clearly cannot be trusted to make your own decisions.” There’s a pause. “Maybe the hospital for Nati pets will be a good place for you to recover.”
He has to be fucking joking.
I would never go to that place; the people are tortured until they say they never loved the Nati who owned them. Some don’t need the encouragement, but others, like me, grow fond of them and the life they give us.
“What do you mean my brother’s will be here soon?” i say, suddenly hyper aware of my surroundings. “Did Sean even tell you that he tried to kill me?”
Does my father mean they are going to the mansion? Or do they know this warehouse?
I need to find out. We could all be in danger.
I hear a small growl of anger, “He told me that you let the Nati chop off his hand and leave him for dead.”
“That is not what happened!” I shout, “Mihai was trying to protect me!”
“It doesn’t matter, you’ll soon be returned to where you belong.” He says a hard edge to his voice.
My anger bubbles inside of me like an overflowing pan on a stove, but before i can say anything the line goes dead.
He hung up on me.
Fucking coward.
I look down on the screen, clicking the mouse until i find the cameras at the very edge of the property, the mass tress that surround the complex dark and quiet. It would be easy for agents of the council to hide out there and not be seen.
But then i see it, the flash of movement, the glint of a blade, and i panic, my heart beating so fast that I'm sure it is going to burst from my chest at any moment.
I look around the table, searching for a microphone, or something that i can use to warn Mihai and the others that we are no longer alone.
We are under attack, and my father is the one who organised it, which means we are royally fucked. My father knows what he is doing when it comes to this kind of thing, and i don’t. I'm just a foot soldier. I don’t make plans.
Maybe if i give myself over they’ll spare Mihai and the others.
I laugh at myself, of course they won’t spare them, once a hunter, always a hunter.
Or should i say, once a murderer, always a opportune killer. They murder everyone they find, whether they are there by choice or not, it doesn’t matter to them.
But they’ll spare me, all because my father ordered it.
I find the microphone connected to the computer and i press the button, the noise of my own panicked breathing flooding the speakers.
“We are under attack.” I shout down the speaker, “We are under attack.” i say again, louder this time.
I watch as Mihai looks straight at the camera, his eyes narrowed, but i see the slight worry on his face.
He doesn’t know whether I'm joking or not.
He doesn’t believe me.
“Hunter’s.” i scream, just as a bomb explodes near the south gate.
And then all hell breaks loose, and I'm thrown to the ground, my head bouncing off the concrete floor, my eyes blurring.
I can’t pass out, not now, not when Mihai needs me.