The Huntress' Name (sequel to The Huntress)

Chapter 30

"No, I'm going through. I have every right." Someone argued with the security posted outside.

Sarah stormed into the room, her hair pulled back into a tight bun, and her stride exuding all the power of a skilled hunter. When she saw me though, she faltered.

"What, don't know what to say now?" I asked with a short huffy laugh.

"This isn't anything to joke about El. You do realize what's going on, don't you?" Sarah muscled up the courage to get closer.

"I think I know all too well what's happening Sarah. Dad sold me out for this hunter farewell," I spat.

"He didn't sell you out! He took the only option he could. If it wasn't this, then it was shooting you in the woods like a dog."

"Like a wolf, you mean."

Sarah flinched. I wondered if her stance on hunting had changed after I left. She'd been against it, but now I was starting to wonder. She seemed too much on our father's side.

"What? He couldn't come down here and talk to me himself?" I continued.

She shook her head. "Do you really think he wants to see his youngest daughter behind bars, about to..."

"About to be executed?" I supplied. "Well considering it's partially his doing I'm in this position, then yes. Yes I do think so. I think he should be here. Look me in the eye, admit what he did."

Sarah turned her head.

"Ah. He can't look me in the eye." I laughed again. "His little prodigy, falling in love with a werewolf. Running away to be with him instead of killing him like I was supposed to. It's really his fault, you know."

"How in the world is it his fault, Electra?" Sarah crossed her arms.

"Well, you see... father had Jared and his family looked into. It came up completely empty. He's a turned werewolf, you know. One who didn't choose it, he was just attacked one night by the kind of werewolf I have no problem killing. He's the only one in his family though."

Sarah finally looked me in the eye.

"If that had come back with something, anything, if it had said Jared was a werewolf, at that time, I would have killed him. I still didn't know any better. All supernatural creatures are evil, right?" I shrugged. "Right then and there, I would have put a bullet in his brain or a dagger in his heart and wouldn't have thought twice about it."

"You could have just walked away," Sarah whispered.

I stood up and went to the bars that separated my sister and me. My fingers wrapped around the metal that could hold the strongest werewolves and vampires.

"But I couldn't. If I could have, then I would. Do you really think I chose to be a fugitive of The Organization?" I shook my head. "You have no idea. And then the more I learned about them, about all of them. They're no different than us, Sarah. They do good, they do bad, sometimes one will do both. We placed the label of evil on them and decided to hunt them down because of it. Don't you see?"

Sarah took a step back. She didn't want to see. She couldn't drop the veil that had been placed in front of her eyes. It didn't matter how much she said she wanted to try to help supernaturals. She didn't want to help them, she wanted to find a way to separate them from whatever it was they "suffered" from. Because she thought what they had was evil. She didn't want to hunt, but that didn't mean she didn't still believe in what our father and The Organization had taught us since our mother's death.

"The Son of Sam, The Yorkshire Ripper, Ted Bundy, The Zodiac Killer, Doctor Salazar; the real Hannibal Lecter. They were all human just like you and me, and they committed some of the most despicable crimes. But we don't hunt down humans, we try to protect them. We try to protect people like those serial killers and rapists." My hands squeezed the bars tighter. "I'm done dealing in absolutes. I'm done going off the basis that every supernatural alive is a killer. If that means I have to die for it, then so be it."

Sarah swallowed hard and her feet moved backwards. After a couple steps she turned around and quickly made her way out.

My shoulders relaxed and I dropped my hands in front of me. Maybe it was best my whole family didn't come. I could barely handle Sarah. There was no way I would have been able to handle my brother and father, too. I would have asked for one of their guns and gotten it over with already.

I went back to the bench, my home until all this was finally over.

I wondered if Durin would be there. If the entire Organization made their way, then surely that would be him as well. Would he come to see me, or would they be keeping him away? Maybe they found out about his involvement in all of it. I wasn't sure I'd be able to live with myself if he got in trouble with them because of me.

I won't have to live with myself, I'm set to die, I reminded myself.

I had plenty of time to sit and think, every life-changing decision running through my mind. I may have been the last one to agree to hunting, but I'd been the most invested in it. I had followed every rule, believed in everything my father had taught. It had been him who had turned me into that killer, but I'd allowed it. How could it have been wrong if my mother had done it?

Giving Jared a chance. I knew what it could have cost me while I was with The Organization. I had still decided to give whatever it was we had a shot. It had probably been the only good choice I'd made.

Running away. Our only shot to actually having a life, and then me running straight to The Torch. I'd had good intentions, they were always good intentions. I wanted to be as prepared as possible to keep Jared and myself safe. But good intentions don't always make the right decisions. Hindsight is twenty, twenty though.

Jared had been right to walk away. Klarke and The Torch had turned me into something worse than I had been already. I didn't just go out and kill supernatural creatures, I spent hours, days, torturing one. That wasn't me. If he could barely stand the thought of me killing supernaturals, then torturing one, especially one who had been a friend, definitely had to be a breaking point. I didn't blame him at all.

I hoped he would have a good life. Maybe he could find a better woman, werewolf, human, whatever, who would be good to and for him. Suddenly the vision that witch had given me wasn't my worst fear. It was something I wanted for him. Maybe he would just forget about me. He wouldn't have to know what happened. If he did, he would only feel guilty.

With that fear melting away, I finally felt peace wash over me. I didn't have any fears left. No one would know where Jared was, he could go off and live a life. My fears had only been about him, and now I could let that go.

I took a deep breath in and let it out again. The lights went off in the cell. Apparently it was time for bed. I was once again forced onto their schedule, but it wouldn't be for much longer.

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So close to the end now. Just a couple more chapters left.

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Red Assassin