Chapter 24

Ren felt his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. He swallowed down sour reflex and clenched his fists so hard that he was on the verge of pulling a muscle.

He didn't know what he was expecting when he heard about the gathering that was going to happen at the city hall. It surely wasn't this. He didn't know there were so many supporters of the Hunter Society. When people talk about the HS now, they talked about it like it was thousands of years ago. It was a community that was even condemned by the Reginae government.

Well, that was until now.

"Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for coming." A round of applause and whistles erupted.

Ren could only see the back of the man. He was average height, not too tall, but with the nice black suit he was wearing, he looked taller. He seemed like he loomed over everyone else, even those that were on stage with him.

Ren's gut clenched as he looked at the awaiting faces in the crowd. He saw people that he knew. From school, people that he saw frequently everyday, standing in the crowd with huge grins on their faces like they had won some prize or something. Or that they were part of a revolution that was going to change everything.

He was sick as he thought that that they might actually think that. They saw vampires as pests, as monsters that were ruining their perfect society. Everything that was wrong with their lives was because vampires were ruining everything.

He startled when he thought one of the people in the crowd at looked right at him.

He cursed on his breath.

"Get down," he said while tugging on the sleeve of Ashton's coat.

They crouched down so they were hopefully hidden by any wandering eyes. Maybe it had just been his imagination, but he still had this worrying twist in his gut that someone had seen them.

"I'm sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances." There was a lengthy hush that fell across the growing crowd.

He paused for affect. Ren could see that he was looking out in the crowd, turning his head left and right as if he would be able to meet every single person's eyes at least once. There was something upsetting about the man. Even though Ren hadn't even seen his face, he could just feel that there was something wrong about him.

"As you already know, three young souls were taken away from us. Their families are here with us today to say a few words." He stepped to the side, turning just so that Ren could catch a glimpse of his profile.

His hair was an inky black that fell to just the nape of his neck. It was hard to make anything out besides that he was older—possibly edging close to fifty—and had a slim looking face.

Ren squinted his eyes, hoping to see more of this off-putting man, but then the families of the killed teenagers stepped up with him on the stage that had been set up.

The families were grieving of course. Ren wanted to look away when a woman sobbed about her son who'd been mauled so bad that they couldn't identify his body. But he forced himself to watch. He wasn't sure why he felt like he had to. It wasn't the feeling inside of him that was always earning for chaos that was making him do it.

He needed to see how sad the families were maybe because it would push him harder to find out what was going on.

Or maybe he was trying to keep some sort of humanity though there wasn't a drop of human blood in him.

A few more people spoke about the teenagers that he'd heard about on the news. It felt like the run of the mill things people said about anyone who died. They were good people and they had gone too soon. Ren tried to believe that, but it was hard to when they were supporting a group that had killed innocent vampires and witches just because of who they were.

Sympathy had to be given before it can be received.

"The last guests I'd like to welcome before we proceed is Mr. and Mrs. Carsons."

He didn't know how he knew they were the parents of the dead girl—Carla. He knew somehow, on a gut feeling that crushed his insides and caused him an intense pain that was on the same level as being stabbed in the gut.

The world was swirling around him again. It was for a different reason. He wasn't being overtaken by anger or the dark lust that wanted him to rip people apart. He was shaking because ehe saw her again.

She was among the crowd. Her bright blond hair stood out not only because it was a golden hue. It was glowing like the sun. The rays shot out like laser beams. If he wasn't so shocked by her presence he would have flinched from how blinding the hair was.

Though that wasn't the strangest thing. Not even seeing the dead girl alive again was as horrifying and strange as when her eyes turned to him and looked right at him.

She stared him down like her life—her lost life—depended on it. Ren's tongue lodged in his throat. He was no longer breathing, no longer feeling anything. He was a mass of flesh that was being baked by the creepy gaze.

Her eyes were pure black. The whites of her eyes were stained with the dark inky color. She was soulless. Hollow and not the girl that had lived in that body before.

A large smile stretched across her face. Her skin pulled tight. As if she were wearing a mask.

She kept staring him down until there was a large gust of wind that knocked branches and brush into his vision.

The connected between them was severed.

When he was able to see again, she was gone.

"—and we want to thank the Hunter Society and Mr. Glendell. It means so much tons that they are working night and day to find our baby." The woman turned her head away, covering her mouth as she let out a choked sob.

Her husband put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. She put her head in his chest and held onto him like it was all that she could do. Again, Ren wanted to look away. He'd seen Carla's body. But they hadn't.

"We'll find her. We'll find out who did this."

Ren's blood went cold. He felt Ashton stiffen too at the mention of the missing body. She was mostly burned to bits. When—if—they found her there wasn't going to be much left.

The couple walked off the stage, leaving the man up there by himself. Ren moved closer, angling his head so that he could see more of the small stage. There were other people there that he hadn't been able to see the first time around.

There were six other men that he didn't recognize. They were large bulky men that looked more like body guards than regular people. They have been or they could have been part of the Hunter Society. He didn't know.

He saw someone else by the edge of the stage. They had just walked up there and they were looking around like they were searching for someone. Ren tried to see their face, but he was too far away.

The guy—Mr. Glendell—was talking again.

"It's been a long time since the Hunter Society has been in the public eye. Vampires have turned the tables against us. My grandfather had served as the leading officer in the Society for over forty years before it was forcefully shut down by the government."

He paused.

"But we've been working hard all these silent years. We've kept Reginae safe from violent assailants. I'd like to have a moment of silence for our fallen brothers and sisters."

Slowly, the people in the crowd bowed their heads. Ren held his breath as if they would be able to hear him in the deafening silence. Ashton snickered beside him.

Ren sent him a glare, but Ashton was staring at the man with a wide smirk on his face.

"He's good," he said, slowly and thoughtfully. "They're eating every piece of bullshit he's saying."

He abruptly stood up.

Ren widened his eyes and tried to grab onto the bottom of Ashton's coat, but he missed. Ashton wasn't looking at Ren, he was still staring at the city hall, at the crowd, and at the man that might just be the leader of the Hunter Society.

"Where are you going?" Ren panicked. He looked back at the crowd, knowing that they wouldn't be able to hear them, but they might be able to see them hiding in the bushes. That would be hard to explain. It would make them look more suspicious than if they were just walking by.

"I've seen enough. There isn't anything that we're going to get from that show. It's all for the public's sake." He was heading off in the direction that they'd come.

Ren thought about staying there and seeing what else would happen at the gathering, but he decided that Ashton was right about this one. Something about the whole thing rubbed him the wrong way and it wasn't just the man running the thing. It was all the mystery behind it all. He wished right then that it would have been as simple as looking up information about the Hunter Society on the internet.

If anyone was permitted access in their homes and wasn't being monitored at all times, he would have gave it a go, but that unfortunately wasn't the case.

He got up and walked away. "What now?"

Ashton was hunched down, his eyes downcast on the ground. Ren didn't run after him. He merely watched and tried to guess what he was thinking by his body language.

"I need to see the marks on the other bodies. I don't believe the Hounds went out to kill two others. They weren't even found in the forest."

Ren blinked. He didn't know what to say because he was still thinking about what Ashton had said.

"Are you saying that the Hounds killed the girl?"

Ashton let out a frustrated noise. "I mean, who else? It makes perfect sense. You saw how messed up her neck had been. Only the most fucked up vampires would mull her like that. There was blood everywhere. Would you waste that much blood?"

Ren audibly gulped. He turned his face away, hoping that Ashton hadn't caught the blush on his cheeks.

"No."

"Me neither. If it wasn't a vampire who killed her, high chances are that the Hounds did."

He stopped. He grabbed Ren's arm, pulling him in close. Ren had to remind himself to breathe.

Ashton stared into Ren's eyes.

"If you're hiding something from me, I'm going to find out."

Ren narrowed his eyes. He yanked his arm back.

"And if you're hiding anything from me, then I'm going to find out."

Ashton snorted. "Right. Like your stupid threats are going to keep me up at night."

He nodded to the path. "I'm heading back. I'll come find you tomorrow."

Ren was going to ask what they were doing tomorrow, but Ashton already done with the conversation. Ren stared at his back, wondering if he could stand the Mantel long enough to find out what was going on in Montis.

He walked home. The cold didn't bother him. He enjoyed being numb for a while so that he could go over the choices in his head. His thoughts were surprisingly calm considering what had happened.

They had barely made any progress. He knew that it wasn't something that was going to be solved in a couple days, but the slow pace they were going, he felt like there was nothing he could do.

It felt so out of his control.

And he could just feel that his days were numbered.