The Huntress : The Alterealm Series Book 1

Wanda paced around the room without pause. If she didn’t stop soon I was going to snap. This place wasn’t exactly big enough to pace without being in plain view all the time. It was distracting as shit.

“Wanda, come and sit down and you need to answer some questions. We need to know what’s going on.” Troy told her from where he leaned against the wall.

From the moment we got here, his eyes skimmed the room like he was waiting for something to scurry out and bite him.

I stood near the window keeping an eye out for any movement in our direction.

“You said there was a way to transport right to someone if they have a connection?” I made eye contact with Troy, he nodded. Turning, I gave Wanda a look. “Do you have a connection with anyone like that?”

She finally perched on the edge of the couch. “No, but it won’t matter.”

“What do you mean? Troy straightened and came to stand in front of her.

“The person I’m hiding from has power.” Her eyes darted around the room as if someone was watching. “He can find anyone without a connection to them.”

Squatting down in front of her, Troy eyed her. “There is only one person aside from Chase and I that can do that…”

She nodded before he could finish. “Don’t say his name,” she pleaded.

Oh please, I thought, were we really going to do the he-who-shall-not-be-named thing? “Who?” I blurted out.

Glancing at me over his shoulder, I could see the doubt on his face. “Earlier when I told you we weren’t going to disturb someone, that person.”

I scrunched up my face trying to remember that conversation. “This Marcus the magician guy?”

Wanda squealed and squatted down in a corner, watching the ceiling.

“Wanda, Daxx is protected from all otherworldly powers, you are safe.”

With huge eyes, she looked at me like I suddenly grew wings or something just as screwed up. “I have to get to Clairee.”

“We can’t find her.” He stood up and moved over to stand beside me.

“I know, I told her where to go and not to come back until I contacted her.” She huddled closer into the corner. “If I go where she is, we’ll both be safe.” Like a ping pong ball her eyes bounced between the two of us. “I was afraid to cross back alone.”

Shrugging, I glanced out the window again. “We’ll take you.”

“No.”

I turned to look at her. “Why not.”

“The two of you can’t be seen with me.”

Troy made an exasperated noise. “She’s right.” He glanced down at me. “We’re going to need a little help.” Moving away he pulled his phone out of his pocket and headed into the kitchen.

Leaving me in the room with the freaked-out witch, I felt like I was supposed to do something I wasn’t all the comfortable with. Sighing, I went over and sat down in front of her. “It’s going to be okay.”

She practically threw herself at me, sprawling across my legs. “I’m so glad I found you.”

Not knowing what I could possibly say to that, I chose not to say anything and just placed my hand on her head and left it there. Glancing back to the kitchen I hoped Troy made fast work of his phone call so he could come back and get me out of this awkward position. I tracked and chased people, comforting them was not on my resume.

“Michael and Raf will be here shortly.” Troy announced as he came back into the room. He stopped and gave me the oddest look. I shrugged and tried to send back one that said to get me out of this spot. His lips quirked like he was holding back a smile then he cleared his throat. “Wanda, get off the floor and tell me what’s going on.” He used that authority voice, so she responded immediately. I needed to find out how he did that, so I could start using it when needed.

Before I could pick myself up off the floor, Michael and Rafael were towering over me. Wanda turned and threw herself at Rafael, he held her and sent his ruler an inquisitive look.

Michael held out a hand to help me up. “Raf used to be one of the guards at the witch’s temple.” He offered in explanation to the hug.

I paused long enough to note that in their realm witches were allowed a temple, some things were very different indeed.

For the next hour, I stood by the window keeping watch and trying to figure out what was going on. They were all up to speed and apparently, I had some catching up to do. I found out that Michael was the equivalent of a detective, so having him present was a good idea. Rafael was a guard, so yeah escorting the witch back seemed logical for him.

This Marcus guy had been a very bad magician. Wanda and her buddy witch Clairee had stumbled on his latest creation, a device that any one from their side could wear to cross over. This was not just bad but life altering, in a chaotic kind of way, letting those cross that were confined for a reason. Just what my side didn’t need, otherworld beings that were a cross between a serial killer and pedophile. We had our work cut out for us.

When they got to why she came here and found me, I was thrilled to discover it had been hard to do. No one wants to think they’re easy in any way. This was where things started to get less clear for me. If I was understanding this right, the three-way conversation, there was someone on the inside and that was the reason why Wanda had to track my ass down and then hide out. Things were starting to sound more like my homeland on the other side than they had in the last few days.

“She’s going to have to die over here.” Michael stated in a tone that made it sound like they were discussing the color of her shoes.

Pushing away from the window, I moved over and looked from one to the other. “What?”

Troy leaned back and then jumped forward again like the couch bit him. “Wanda will have to die on this side if there are others here tracking her they can report back that she’s gone.”

“So you’re going to kill her?” This I wasn’t feeling easy with.

Rafael shrugged. “It’s only on this side.”

Holding my hands up, I shook my head. “Okay, back up. Won’t she be dead on both sides?”

Michael rubbed a hand over his forehead like his head was starting to ache. “No. She will be alive on our side. She just won’t be able to ever cross again.” He scowled at Troy. “Will you please call Chase so he will stop trying to jump into my head?”

Troy grinned. “I blocked him.”

“Me too.” Rafael added with a smile.

Michael sighed. “Well apparently I’ve no skill in blocking him out. My head is going to explode shortly.”

“You guys can talk in each other’s head?” I forgot about killing Wanda.

Standing up, Troy pulled out his phone again. “Not really talk, we just know when one of our brothers is trying to reach us or get our attention.”

“That’s handy,” I mused.

Michael rubbed his temples. “Most times it’s great. He’s just being a little pushy with it tonight.”

Moving over by the door, Troy spoke quietly into the phone. I couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, he nodded a few times and then his eyes started moving all around my place as if he was describing it. I looked around trying to see how he’d see it, and then I remembered my bedroom on that side and the dining room and decided he was probably trying to explain that I lived in a shoe box that had seen better days.

Putting the phone back in his pocket, he glanced at me briefly and then looked at Michael. “As soon as you two make sure Wanda is safely tucked away, swing around to Chase’s and fill him in on all the details.”

Rafael nodded and then held out his hand to Wanda. “Let’s go get this over with.”

Hesitantly she took his hand.

“We’ll see you when you get back.” Rafael said to Troy.

Then Wanda, Michael and Rafael were gone.

I looked around quickly. “Where are they going?”

“To make sure Wanda’s death is public.”

Scowling at him, I went over and looked out the window. “Shouldn’t we be in on this?” Because seriously I wanted to see how this was going to be accomplished.

“No.” He spoke from right beside me, almost making me jump onto the window ledge. “We can’t be seen with her.”

With nowhere to move, I looked up at him. “I missed the part where someone explained why to me.”

Reaching over, he pulled a small section of my hair forward, in the light from the weak street light outside; it looked like it was as blond as his. “Because whoever is helping by following Wanda will go back to Marcus and tell him that the Night King and Huntress are up to speed on what’s going on.”

It took a few seconds to click. “Oh and we don’t want him to know we have any clue.”

“Right.” He leaned closer.

Leaning my head back against the wall I tried to keep a little distance between us, not because I didn’t want to be near him but because I did want to be near him. Complications like that I didn’t need at this messed up reality of my life. “Easier to apprehend when they think all the top people are clueless.”

“Exactly. I don’t know who is helping from the inside, but from now on the only ones to be trusted are my brothers.”

With my head up like this I realized I was giving him my open neck as he moved closer and inhaled softly beside my skin. “And you’re sure about your brothers?”

“Absolutely. That connection we have that allows us to get each other’s attention is also a great way to monitor one another.” His breath brushed over my throat as he spoke.

“That seems like invading each other’s privacy.”

He chuckled. “We don’t pick up on everything, just serious mood shifts and stress.”

“Oh.” Swallowing, I craned my head around so I could look into his eyes, they were red. Pushing gently on his chest, until he backed up, I moved out of the corner and into the open room. “We should get back and see if we can track down this bad guy then.”

“I’m making you uncomfortable, again.” He stayed where I left him.

“A little. I’m still trying to figure everything out.” And being physically attracted to you and your twin are seriously messing with my head. Maybe it was just because I’d been alone for a while. Actually, almost eight months if my math was right, yeah that had to be it.

“I’m sorry you were just tossed into this. I forget that I’ve had years to digest all of it.”

“And wait for my arrival.”

Grinning, he leaned back against the wall. “And wait to see if the prophecy was true.

“You didn’t always believe it?” I sat down and studied the way he stood there, almost blending into the wall, not moving in the slightest. He’d had years to hone the predator gig too.

“Not always. When I was younger I didn’t want to believe that my future was dictated by a prophecy.”

“Don’t you mean my future?”

Glancing out the window, he shook his head. “There’s more than one prophecy, there’s actually many.”

That made me feel better. “And the others, have they come true?”

He moved away from the window and came over to sit on the arm of the couch. “I can’t answer that entirely, things are progressing in a way that says they are infallible after all.”

“It makes me feel a little better that it’s not just my life being directed.”

He looked around the apartment silently for several minutes. “Would it be hard to give up this up and take what is yours on my side?”

When I considered the stained ceiling, cracks in the wall and sloped, peeling floor, I had to admit it wasn’t a hardship to accept what he offered. “Why can’t I do both? I have a job here.”

“You have a job there.”

“They both seem to be tied together. You have runners, I track runners. Does it have to be one or the other?” I started to get that feeling I was missing something again.

“Not if you want to do both, no, at this time I don’t see a problem with it.”

I didn’t ask more, figuring his answer would be more cryptic explanations. I was tired; it had been one hell of a day so far. He straightened suddenly like he’d heard something; I sat forward and reached for my raptor.

“We have to go back now.” He stood up and held out his hand.

“Spidey senses tingling?”

He smirked, “something like that.”