Read Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01) Online

Authors: Lanie Jordan

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Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01) (7 page)

BOOK: Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01)
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“That’s it?” The boy’s shoulders sagged. “Basically we’re doing nothing?”

“Let me make something perfectly clear. This isn’t a vacation home. If you stay, you’ll live as well as work here. To work here, there are things you need to know. If you don’t learn them, or have no interest in learning them, then this isn’t the place for you. The existence of demons isn’t new to those we recruit, but the CGE is. We can’t and will not risk our organization on people are who are not properly trained to handle it. More than that, you need time to fully grasp what you’ll be gaining by staying here and what you’ll be giving up.”

“What will we be giving up?”

“Social lives outside the CGE, Mr. Jacobs,” he said, speaking to the same boy. “We won’t keep you from speaking to your acquaintances, but your lines of communication will be monitored for a certain period of time, to make sure information isn’t leaked. This is standard procedure with all of our recruits, even the adults. What we do here is classified and must be kept from the general population.”

“So our phones will be tapped? Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes. It’s done out of protection for what we do, not out of distrust for you. This isn’t something we’re hiding from you and we could have.”

All around me, people started to frown. The idea wasn’t exactly great, but I could see how it was necessary. Personally, it didn’t bother me. The only people I knew were Fishface and her Tadpoles, and Greene couldn’t pay me to talk to them again willingly. Well, I imagined he
could
pay me to talk to them, but I’d hate it.

When no one said anything, Greene went on. “There are monthly trips into the city for outside activities and shopping, but for the most part, your time will be spent here, in the North Tower.” He pointed to the building.

“What’s in the other building?”

“The other building is the South Tower. That’s where our research is conducted, Mr. Anderson. It’s strictly off-limits to all Prospects. The only people allowed in there are our scientists, doctors, and some of our senior staff. No one else.”

I noticed the Anderson kid and another guy share grins. I didn’t need to be psychic to know what they were thinking. They wanted to get into the South Tower. Not me. If that’s where the doctors were, then that was one place I would avoid.

“Okay, so what happens after the probationary period?” the Harris guy asked. “What do we do in Phase One?”

Greene walked to the front of the podium again. “I’m about to make many of you unhappy with this answer, but you’ll be studying demons the majority of the time.” A few people beside me rolled their eyes. Greene noticed. “Make no mistake,” he said, cutting off the next round of hand raisers, “this isn’t going to be as fun as some of you undoubtedly hoped it would be. There are rules to adhere to, regimens you will be expected to follow. And studying. Lots of studying.”

“This sucks,” someone muttered. “I thought we were going to kick some demon butt!”

Greene’s gaze landed on who’d spoken. “Do you know how many types of demons there are? Do you know how to kill them? Do you honestly believe you’re strong enough to do so?”

“Uh—well—no. Maybe.”

“You would get yourself killed in minutes. Hunting demons isn’t easy. There are dozens of species, and what kills one would likely tickle another. It takes time to learn the differences. It takes time to learn about the weapons used. And it takes even more time to become proficient enough to fight one by yourself. One of our new Prospects was witness to a fight today. Miss Hall?”

I’d been paying attention to his words, but even so, my head snapped up at the sound of my name. I swallowed back a lump and cleared my throat. “Yeah?”

“How would you say Peter performed earlier?”

I thought about it for a minute. “He was pretty good. But…” I trailed off, unsure if I should continue.

“But what? Go on.”

“The demon—whatever it was—almost escaped. Even after Peter shot it with three tranqs, it almost tore a hole through the side of the van. And it managed to bust the back door open. If he—Peter, I mean—hadn’t shot it twice more, it probably would have escaped.”

“Thank you, Miss Hall. That was my point. An experienced field agent had trouble. One of our best. He shot the demon, as Miss Hall described, and not with one or two tranquilizers, but with five. Any one of those shots would have been enough to take down a dozen men. The first one
should
have been sufficient to take down this demon.” He sighed. “None of you are ready for that. Not yet. But in five months, you’ll be one step closer.”

“What kind of demon was it?” a guy shouted.

“Was it ugly?” someone else asked.

I shuddered at the memory. I had no idea what it was, but it’d definitely been ugly.

“It was a Coralux demon, or what our agents refer to as a Sharphynx, as it looks like a mixture between a Shar Pei dog and a Sphynx cat. It’s also a recently discovered hybrid.”

“A hybrid? A mix of two demon species?”

“Yes,” Greene said, nodding to the question asker, a girl with blonde hair. “A Coralux demon is a hybrid that we believe was crossbred from an Osolux demon and a Coradad. When we first learned of the problem in that area, we originally assumed an Osolux demon was responsible. Obviously, we were wrong. This raises another good point. Hybrids are becoming more and more common, though we aren’t sure why. A lot of the time, they’ll possess certain traits of one of the demons they were crossbred with. It makes it difficult to determine which species we’re dealing with, and which weapons would be most effective.”

A girl in front, with long black hair, raised her arm. Greene called on her. “That’s what we’ll be studying? Hybrids?”

“Yes, the different demon species and the hybrids.”

“Is that all we’re doing? Studying demons and nothing else?”

“Not quite.” Greene’s gaze went to someone in the front row. “Mr. Stone?”

A tall guy stood up and walked to Greene. Saying nothing, he turned and faced the crowd. It was the same guy I’d seen Greene talking to earlier—the one with the mostly shaved head.

“And I think…” Greene smiled and his gaze landed on me. I groaned internally, even before he called me name. “Miss Hall. Care to help in a little demonstration?”

I didn’t like being the center of attention and that’s exactly what he’d made me. Again. All eyes went to me and I could all but read their thoughts from their expressions. They were probably thinking the same thing I was: Why me?

No! No, no, no!
“Sure.” He motioned me forward, so I stood and started down the bleachers, praying I didn’t fall flat on my face in front of everyone. When I reached the track, I stood on the other side of Greene, looked up. I was almost afraid to ask, but… “What did you have in mind?”

“A simple sparring match, perhaps? To show the differences in technique. Your street style, Jade, versus Lincoln, who has had a bit of formal training since joining us.”

“Why do I get the feeling I’m being set up to fail?” I muttered under my breath, earning anxious laughs from the people behind me and a smile from Greene.

Lincoln grinned ear-to-ear. “I’ll take it easy on you, don’t worry,” he said with a quick wink. He picked up boxing gloves and handed me a pair.

I’d never worn any before and fumbled putting them on. Lincoln cracked his knuckles and had his pair on in half the time it took me.
Yup. Definitely set up for a fall. Big time.
But it didn’t mean I couldn’t—or wouldn’t—give as good as I got.

It wasn’t like he was the first guy I’d ever been in a fight with. But he’d had real training, probably things like karate or whatever. No one had taught me anything; I’d learned through life experience, and a lot of those had been bad ones. My choices had been limited: learn to defend myself or get the crap kicked out of me.

I’d learned to fight.

I wasn’t the best at it, but I hadn’t lost a fight in over a year. At least, not a fair one-on-one fight.

And this one didn’t seem like it would be fair.

Bending my knees slightly, I angled my left foot in front of me and brought my fists up to guard my face. “Ready when you are,” I said, though it was mostly a lie.

Bouncing lightly on his feet, Lincoln began to circle me. He tested me by punching out with his right hand. I blocked easily with my left, waited half a beat, and then returned the hit. He repeated the same move twice more, tapping me with barely enough force to scare a fly away. Finally, I let my hands drop. I twisted to face Greene. “Okay, what’s the deal here? He’s wasting my time.” I turned back. “What’s the point in this? Are we supposed to spar or dance—”

The last word came out a squeak as he sent his fist flying into my stomach. I barely had time to blink before he hit me again, this time in my shoulder. I stumbled back, but before I could catch my balance, he tripped me and I hit the ground hard, landing on my back My hand went to my stomach as air rushed from my lungs again.
That’ll learn me.

After I was still for nearly a minute, Lincoln stepped forward. He removed a glove and held his hand out.

I would have accepted it gracefully, but the concerned look pissed me off. “Thanks,” I said, hesitating half a second before reaching up. When he wrapped his arm around mine and started to pull, I brought my legs up and yanked back. As he fell forward, I planted my feet on his chest, and then I pushed up, sending him flying over me. I was back on my feet before he hit the ground.

Whoops and cheers rang out behind me.

Lincoln jumped up. His jaw was taut, his eyes narrowed. I smiled.

Can’t leave well enough alone, can ya, Jade?
Everyone told me pride would get the best of me.

He picked up the fallen glove, shoved it back on, and without warning, came at me. I ducked out of instinct, and then winced when his hand plowed into my stomach again. He may have put the gloves back on in the literal sense, but he’d taken them off figuratively.

His leg swung out as he tried to kick my feet out from under me again. I jumped over them, rolled, but got up too slow to avoid another hit. This time when the air rushed from my lungs, it wasn’t exaggerated. Getting to my feet, I feinted with my left hand, struck out with the right, and delivered the same blow he’d just dealt me. Unlike me, he recovered quicker and then ran at me like a charging bull. My eyes went wide and I went down hard again. Before I could think to move, let alone breathe, he was on top of me and had my arms pinned above my head by holding my wrists down.

I glared. He winked.

My heart did a one-eighty. Its slow and steady rate picked up speed and my breathing followed suit. But I didn’t know what had caused it: the fight or Lincoln himself.

His steel-blue eyes were fixed with mine and I could almost make out my own reflection. It was the first real close-up view I’d had of him, at least now that I had little choice but pay attention. His eyes were kind of…mesmerizing.

I shook my head, glaring again as I tried to ignore the warmth spreading from my wrists down my arms. There was an annoying buzzing in my ears.

Reality came crashing back in surround sound. Clapping and laughter drowned out everything else.

“Well done,” I heard Greene say from somewhere above me. Lincoln blocked my view so I couldn’t see exactly where he was.

After half a minute, Lincoln slowly released my hands and smiled down at me. If it’d been a snarky I’m-better-than-you or a you-had-that-coming smile, I would have been okay. I probably would have decked him, but it would have been okay since that was what I’d been expecting.

But not this smile, though. My heart gave a hard thud against my ribs and then stopped. That smile could do some serious damage.

He moved to the side to give me room to sit up, and as I did, I kept my gaze locked with his. He pushed to his feet and offered his hand again. This time when I went to reach for it, he pulled back and raised his eyebrows. I got the message: Don’t do something you’ll regret. The side of my mouth lifted in a half-smile and I gave a small nod of understanding.

He reached down, pulled me to my feet. I opened my mouth to say something but saw Greene out of the corner of my eye. Seeing me watching him, he smiled and bowed his head slightly.

He said something to the kid in front of him then walked over. “You did very well, Miss Hall. Of course, I’m not surprised. Peter said you were a good fighter.”

I didn’t argue, but I still wanted to know how Peter knew that. I’d run from him, but we hadn’t exactly fought or anything.

A group of people from the bleachers ran down and clapped me on the shoulder. I heard “awesome!” and “that was so cool!” more times than I could count.

How was losing a fight awesome or cool?

Well, technically I hadn’t lost. Probably would have, though. Either way, I didn’t see how it was awesome.

I glanced to my left and found a girl with short black hair staring at me with a nasty sneer on her face. Guess I wasn’t the only one who didn’t think it was all that awesome.

“Thank you, Miss Hall and Mr. Stone, for the demonstration,” Greene said, forcing my attention back to him. He put his hand on my shoulder. “Could I have a moment?”

I nodded and sent Lincoln a parting smile before following Greene away from the crowd.

He led me toward the pool, away from some of the noise. “Typically, I require all Prospects to take a few days and mull things over, to consider the pros—and more importantly, the cons—of staying here. Most of them, as you can see, have already decided on what they
think
they want.” He turned, his eyes on the bleachers and the other Prospects. “But some, I’m sad to say, will decide otherwise when the time comes. And even more, as I said earlier, won’t make the cut.”

He didn’t exactly ask any question, so I nodded, unsure of a proper answer.

“My point is, I’m curious, Miss Hall; have you decided? Have you thought about it anymore? Is this something you think you’d like to do?”

This time, I knew the answer but still didn’t say it immediately. Living at the Pond with Fishface and her little Tadpoles had been hell. There, I’d had fighting. There, I’d been in a constant state of misery. And waiting. Waiting for Mrs. Gill to send me off somewhere; waiting for the other girls to try to attack me.

BOOK: Breed of Innocence (The Breed Chronicles, #01)
4.73Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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