thing with three buttons, one for the car door, one for the trunk and the other for...something. Two more keys completed the keyring, although I had no idea what they were. Judging from the way she held them out to me, as though it was something slightly disgusting, I didn’t think she was aware of what they were for, either. “Milly already had the car pulled around to the front, Ailward,” she said. “Is there anything else you will be requiring, you or your Master?”
I shook my head, relief making it hard to keep my features even. “Not at all. Thank you.”
A faint blush rose on those white cheeks as she curtsied, as prim and proper as anything that must have seen the insides of a French king’s salon. “It is only as my duty demands.”
“Er. Right.” She sounded a bit too biddable and I found myself wondering just how docile she truly was. “Thank you.”
“Not at all. Have a pleasant drive, Ailward.”
I was halfway down the drive when I turned around.
She was still there, in the open doorway, waving.
“Amaryllis?” I called out.
“Yes, Ailward.”
“Do you always smile?”
Something flickered in her eyes, something familiar, something that reminded me of Shannon. “Most of the time, Ailward. Sometimes, I find it hard.”
I believed it.
I just wished I didn’t.
16
Chapter Sixteen
I left the car half an hour away from the Sanctuary, just in case. I didn’t trust anything Noir would give me and besides, it seemed in bad taste to show up at the front gates in a vehicle provided by the vampire I was supposed to eliminate.
When I knocked on the large wooden doors, I expected the inevitable clank of metal against metal and the rectangle of wood to pull back, exposing light brown eyes I didn’t recognize.
“Yes.”
I tugged down the neckline of my shirt and let them see the brand above my collarbone. “Fellowship.”
The doors should have opened then. I never had reason to believe otherwise.
The doors did not open.
The eyes narrowed. “Yeah? So what?”
Momentarily surprised, it took me a moment to respond. “So what? You’re supposed to let me in. Or has protocol changed since the last time I was here?”
The person chuckled, safe and secure behind a six-inch thick doors. “Things have changed. They called in all hunters. All hunters came. You’re not one of them. Nice try. Now piss off.”
I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been treated like that. As a hunter, there was a certain measure of respect accorded to me and for this person to use such language with me...it was a new experience and not one I was willing to get used to. “My name is Hwang. My handler is Adrian. My contact is Chang. Let me in.”
The eyes narrowed even more until they were just slits. “Or what?”
Flabbergasted didn’t even begin to cover how I felt. “Is my handler there or isn’t he?”
The man sighed. “Wait.”
There was a hurried, whispered discussion made all the more evident due to the fact he didn’t shut the peephole, and I heard the sounds of footsteps leaving the doors.
The eyes returned, still suspicious. “We’ve sent for the handler. Step away from the doors. Don’t come back. They will come for you.”
Whatever that meant.
I held up my hands and took a step back, just as they asked. Something had happened, that much was certain. Feeling curiously empty and somewhat apprehensive, I leaned against the wall, noting with some surprise that mine were the only footsteps to disturb the snow that had fallen since two days ago.
Two days was a very long time for people to neither leave nor arrive.
What the hell was going on?
My answer came half an hour later when the eyehole slid back again and the same person hissed at me.
“Hey you.”
I merely looked at them, not feeling particularly like replying.
“We’re letting you in.”
“Took you long enough, didn’t it?”
“Shut up,” he snarled and then vanished again.
But the doors were opening with a shuddering sound, knocking the snow off the high concrete walls.
I fought to keep the surprise from my eyes. “A welcoming party? You shouldn’t have.”
A few of the face I recognized, but most of them were unfamiliar. No smiles, just a blank solidarity that made the pulse beat faster in the back of my head. “What’s going on?” I asked, voice shaking.
“Come with us.”
A slightly built figure detached herself from the crowd, two burly Hunters standing aside to let her pass.
Williamson. She had always been somewhat frail, but those scars were fresh. One particularly horrendous one looked