Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01) (5 page)

I got out of the car and jogged up the driveway to the house. Ignoring Mrs. Gill, I rushed past her, then the girls still in the living room, and went directly to my room. I dropped down on the floor and dug underneath the bed for my bag. I tossed it on the bed, rushed around the room to gather the rest of my stuff, and then shoved everything inside. Ten minutes later, I threw the bag over my shoulder and went back outside.

I wouldn’t miss a thing about The Pond, not for a second. Not the house, the area, the girls. Especially not Fishface.

Without a word or look to anyone, I went to the car and waited patiently for Greene. He was still talking to Mrs. Gill. His tone was soft, so I couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Mrs. Gill’s face was bright red, so I didn’t think she liked whatever it was. Her mouth opened a few times, but from what I could tell, I still didn’t think she’d said anything. Maybe she couldn’t think of what to say, or maybe Greene didn’t want to hear it and cut her off before she could voice her opinion. Either way, it was the first time I’d seen her quiet for more than two minutes.

I watched her face get redder and her breaths quicken.

A minute or two later, Director Greene turned his back to her and walked away. Mrs. Gill’s eyes flashed with anger, and then her gaze bore into mine. The contempt showed clearly.

“Well?”

Greene raised an eyebrow. “If you’re waiting for an invitation, I believe I already extended one.” He pulled the door open, held it.

“I’m going?” The thought both scared and excited me.

“Yes, Miss Hall.”

“How? She just handed me over?”

“Yes and no. One thing you should know about me, Miss Hall, is that I do my research and I’m always prepared.”

“So you knew I’d come with you and you brought…paperwork or whatever?”

“No, I didn’t know you’d join us. I had hoped, and I was relatively sure you would, but I didn’t know with any kind of certainty. However, as I said, I do my research and I believed the odds were in my favor.”

“But how did you get her to let me go?” I scrunched my brows together, and in a lower tone, said, “Was it…legal?”

He chuckled again. Him and the other two. “Of course it was legal. Now, is the how really that important to you? Do you honestly want me to discuss the legalities of this?”

I frowned. I was really curious how he’d just gotten Mrs. Gill to give me up without much of a fight, but maybe the how wasn’t all that important, not if he kept his word. “I guess not.”

“Then shall we go?”

Nodding, I quickly jumped into the backseat and tossed my bag to the floor between my legs. My stomach was jittery and squirmy at the same time, like there were bunches of butterflies in a sea of nausea.

He got in on the other side of the car and told the driver to go. “Are you ready?” he asked, glancing at me.

Was I?

Ready to leave Mrs. Gill’s care? Definitely, without a question or second thought. But ready to join the CGE…that I wasn’t so sure about. I didn’t really like change, and I couldn’t deny that a part of me wanted to run and hide from the truth about demons. Ignorance, I decided, could be bliss under certain circumstances.

But I couldn’t run.

I knew the truth. And right or wrong, good or bad, I’d get the opportunity to find the thing that took my family from me, like I’d been trying to do for almost two years.

But was I actually ready to do this thing? No, not yet. Not entirely, anyway. Soon though, with Greene’s help, I would be.

I looked out the window, watched as the last miserable, Fishface-filled year of my life flew by in a blur of trees and fences and houses. Nodding slowly, I whispered, “I will be.”

*~*~*

A few hours later, the car pulled up to a small guard shack. I pushed up in my seat as a man leaned out of a small window. He looked at David and Peter, and then flicked his gaze over me before nodding to Greene. “Welcome back, Director,” he said. A second later, the mechanical arm blocking our path raised and we drove through.

“Welcome to the CGE, Miss Hall.”

I rolled my window down and peered out. Straight ahead were two five-story, coffee-cream colored buildings. There was a catwalk connecting them near the top floor.

On the right side of the driveway, there were hedges that spelled out ‘CGE’, and on the left, a huge pool and track, both surrounded by rows of bleachers.

I frowned. “What is this place?”

“Didn’t you read the sign outside?” Greene asked.

I shrugged. “No.” Did he really expect me to? He brought to me a facility that trained demon hunters. Was I really supposed to pay attention to signage? I’d been too busy ogling.

“No one ever does.” He sighed. “This is the Consortium of Genetic Engineering, or the CGE.”

That didn’t answer my question, not the real one. “I mean, what is it exactly?”

A soft chuckle filled the air. “You’ll find out soon enough.” When the car rolled to a stop, he got out and walked around to meet me. “Our recruits are what we call Prospects. They’re not agents yet, and—”

Anger, hot and fast, burned in my stomach. My hands balled into fists at my side. “You said you’d help me find—”

“The demon that killed your family, yes, and I will. But this isn’t a one-day training center, Miss Hall. This isn’t a quick course in demon hunting. There are things you have to know, to learn, to train for, before you’re ready to see another demon, let alone look for one. Demon hunting takes a lot of time and even more dedication.”

“I have dedication.” I didn’t have much but I had that.

“And are you willing to put in the time necessary?”

“How much time are we talking?”

“Anywhere from three to four years, depending on your progression.”

I gaped. “Three to—why didn’t you tell me that before?”

“Would you still have agreed to come?”

Would I have? “I…don’t know.”

“Did you have something better to do? You had almost two years, Miss Hall. How close had you come to finding demons on your own?”

I glared my answer.

“What kind of person do you want to be? Do you want to be reckless and get yourself killed doing something you know nothing about? Or do you want to learn everything you can and reach your goal? If you’re the former, then I wasted your time and mine. If you’re the latter, and you truly have the dedication to see this through, then the wait shouldn’t be an issue. This is your decision.”

“I have the dedication,” I muttered again.

“Good.” He glanced down at his watch, making it apparent he had other things to do. “You still have a few minutes until Orientation begins, so we need to get you an ID and give you a few minutes to clean up.”

I was still seething mad, but I nodded anyway. I probably looked like a train wreck with all the blood and dirt over my face and clothes. “Wait. Why do I need an ID?”

“No one is permitted on the CGE property without an ID. All visitors and personnel are required to carry one, so the guards know who belongs here and who doesn’t.”

“Why do I feel like I’ve walked into Area 51 or something?”

Greene smirked. “Nothing quite that secretive, but we don’t offer school tours here. This way,” he said, gesturing me to follow.

As I trailed behind him, I glanced to my left. They were a handful of teens and some adults gathered around the track. Some were running, some were in the middle sparring. I turned back in time to see Greene open a large glass door of the far left building. I came within inches of walking into it—and him. He shook his head.

I gave a small, sheepish smile and let my gaze drift back to the people at the track. “Are they all demon hunters?”

“The majority of them, yes. Or rather, they will be.”

“Are there more? Teenagers, I mean.” I couldn’t exactly gauge anyone’s age from here, but they didn’t all look like adults.

He nodded. “Yes. Typically, we have anywhere from fifty to seventy-five Prospects. Right now, I believe there are fifty-nine. That’s not including today’s arrivals, of which you make thirteen.” He must’ve seen my eyes go wide, because he chuckled and motioned me forward again. “It’s a lot to process, I know.”

A lot to process? I almost snorted. Talk about the understatement of the century. Didn’t he realize how low-key his words were? It was like calling Air Force One a puddle jumper, or saying the White House was like any other house on the block.

Greene had mentioned others before, so I’d been expecting some. But not…I did a quick count in my head…seventy-two. That meant there were seventy-one others who, like me, were here to be trained or already training to hunt demons.

Greene put his arm on my shoulder and said, “Don’t worry. I think you’ll like it here. More, I think you’ll fit in.” He guided me into the building. “This is the North Tower. Should you stay, this is where you’ll spend the majority of your time.”

Once we were inside, I stopped and turned in a slow circle. The flooring was white linoleum and the walls were a light, almond brown. To my left, there was an elevator and doors to who knew what kind of rooms. I looked to the right, which had the same setup as the left. Directly in front of me was a long desk with two men behind it. Behind them, more rooms and two more elevators with a door labeled ‘maintenance’ between them. How many elevators did one place need?

The place was loud, I discovered quickly. And busy. Teens and adults alike shouted at one another; footsteps hammered the ground as people ran this way or that. A football whizzed by and narrowly missed hitting Greene’s head. He stopped, turned. I followed his gaze to the offender, a tall boy with dark hair. One glimpse of Greene and the kid’s eyes went saucer-wide, and then he ran, heading in the opposite direction of us.

I shook my head. “What’s the other building?”

“The South Tower.” Putting his hand on my elbow, he guided me along. “You’ll learn more about that later.”

As we approached the desk, the men behind it rose and nodded to Greene. “Afternoon, Director Greene,” the shorter and wider of the two said. He wasn’t necessarily fat—just built like a tank. His arms and neck had to be thicker than my thighs.

“This is Miss Hall. She needs a temporary Prospect ID.” He turned to face me. “I need to go prepare for Orientation. There are restrooms on the other side of the elevators, down the hallways.” He pointed. “You saw the track on the way in?” I nodded. “When you’re done freshening up, take a seat in the bleachers. I’ll find you afterward and we can continue our conversation.”

“Okay.”

He said something to the guards then walked away.

I puffed my cheeks out and released a loud breath.

There was a slight repetitive hum of a printer and after a minute, one of the guards reached forward and put a lanyard around my neck. He gave me a stern look. “Do not lose this or give it to anyone else for any reason. Understand?”

“So selling it online would be bad, then?” I asked, completely deadpan. A vein in Tank guy’s neck jumped. I took a step back and threw my hands up. “Kidding.” Maybe demon hunting didn’t come with a sense of humor. “Thanks.”

Before they could say anything else or rethink giving me the ID, I went to the left in search of a restroom. I lifted the ID and glanced at it. It was plain, but not paper—laminated. The left side had the CGE logo in large print and the corresponding words in smaller letters. The right side had my name and basic information: height, weight, hair and eye color.

I frowned. My hair wasn’t brown. It was…multi-tonal, with reds and chocolately browns. And, damnit, my eyes were blue-green. Not blue. Not green. Blue-green.

For a research facility, their research left something to be desired. At least they had my height and weight mostly accurate. They put me down as one-oh-five (though I had no idea how they knew how much I weighed) and five-foot-four (which was a few centimeters taller than my actual height).
Close enough.

I sighed and took another left at the hallway. It was short, only about fifteen feet deep, and at the end, there was a set of glass-windowed doors that lead to a staircase. To my right, a door marked ‘Security’, and on the left, another maintenance room and the restrooms. I pushed the door to the women’s room open and went inside.

After taking care of the immediate issues, I stood in front of the mirror and winced at my reflection. I looked…a lot worse than I thought. Blood smeared my cheeks and there were streaks of it down my ears and neck. There was grass—grass!—in my hair, from being shoved to the ground, I thought, scowling. My tank top and pants were stained.

Basically, I looked like I’d escaped from a swamp. I sniffed the air. And smelled like it. Or maybe worse.

I reached down for my bag. My hand met air. I closed my eyes. My bag wasn’t there. It was in the car where I’d left it. “Stupid, stupid, idiot,” I muttered.

Doing the best I could, I washed my face, finger-brushed my hair, and flipped my shirt inside out. There was no use trying to clean it. I gave myself one last look in the mirror and shook my head. My reflection still showed a swamp-escapee, but at least now I didn’t look like I’d slept in it first.

As I left the restroom, I caught the scent of pepperoni. It made my mouth water and my stomach growl. I’d been with Greene for the last four hours or so, and it was hours before that when I’d had breakfast. Hopefully this Orientation thing came with some food.

Slowly, I made my way to the track, following herds of teens. When I found some who looked as out of place as I felt, I decided I was definitely going in the right direction.

I took a seat at the back of the bleachers, away from anyone else, with the sun beating down on my back. Greene was already there talking to a tall boy with a mostly-shaved head. A few minutes later, a woman approached and the boy took his seat.

The woman had ‘business’ written all over her, from her dark brown hair to her high-heeled shoes. Her dress suit was dark blue and wrinkle free. Her brown hair was in a tight bun at the back of her head, and I bet if I’d had a closer view that I wouldn’t have found one stray piece flying around.

I shook my head. Wearing a skirt I got. It was May, so it was already hot. But the long-sleeved jacket? I wasn’t a fashion expert, or what anyone could’ve called professional, but I couldn’t imagine wearing a suit in this heat unless someone held a gun to my head and forced me. Even then, I wasn’t sure I could do it.