Huntsman by Cambria Hebert

38

Earth

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The phoneinside my jacket was heavy.

The rose tattoo against my hip felt more like a freshly seared brand.

I was not innocent, not even at birth.

I was guilty—guilty by association, guilty by action. But I wouldn’t consider myself guilty of offing the man who’d killed Riley.

Some people deserved what they got.

The first thing they did at the station was test my hands for gunpowder residue. It seemed tedious and stupid, but I cooperated. Why wouldn’t I? The results would just make Fig look like the asshole he was.

I didn’t touch guns.

Not since that night.

Afterward, I thought I’d see the inside of a cell, but since I hadn’t been officially booked yet, I was led back out front for questioning. I wouldn’t be as forthcoming with the questions as I was for the hand test.

They let me sit for a while on the metal chair, acting as if they had to supervise the transportation of the bodies to the coroner’s office. Acting as though letting me sit in the center of a police station would somehow make me nervous and more likely to talk.

They weren’t that bright, were they?

Giving me time to sit here just gave me more time to think up some plausible story. Not that I needed one. I’d already told them what happened in the alley, and it was the truth. First time I ever told the cops the truth.

Figures they didn’t believe me.

Morons. Especially Fig, who walked around like he’d made a big arrest and was the most important contact on the case. Paul trailed behind him, still a little green from his recent encounters with dead bodies. Occasionally, I’d feel his eyes, but I never looked up. I was back to forgetting his name.

“We’re gonna need to search you now.” Fig stopped beside my chair, staring down as though he were intimidating.

I cocked my head just slightly to the side, angling my eye to pierce him with a look.

Clearing his throat, he drew back but put his hands on his hips like that somehow made up for the way he faltered.

“No,” I said.

His mouth slackened, eyes narrowed. “What do you mean no? I didn’t give you a choice.”

“You didn’t arrest me. You can’t just search me without my permission.”

“You’re refusing?”

“Yep.”

“Trying to impede the investigation?”

The ankle I had crossed over my knee slid free, my boot landing on the floor with a stomp. “If I wanted to impede your cop playtime, I wouldn’t be here.”

Fig’s jaw hardened, and his voice dropped low. “Now listen here—”

The glass double doors to the station burst in, rattling against their frames. Everyone in the place stopped what they were doing to stare around at the group stepping in off the street.

Three people strode right inside, but as they walked, more fanned out behind them into the shape of a wide V. An entire team of people moving like they were one. The unmistakable air of confidence, money, and intimidation flooded the room, nearly choking out everything else.

I watched, schooling my face into a bored expression when, in reality, I was not bored at all.

In the center, a tall, blond man, wearing a blazer cut to hug the width of his shoulders and the taper of his waist, set the pace. His tie was straight and glossy. His austere features, which usually looked dopey when staring at my brother, were schooled into granite, daring anyone to challenge.

On either side of him were two shorter men dressed in suits. They wore glasses and carried leather briefcases. They didn’t gaze around to assess their situation. They, too, stared straight ahead as if it didn’t matter where they were because they’d dominate regardless. Those men were flanked by two more men just like them.

Bringing up the rear of the team were Beau and Neo. Neo was dressed in ripped jeans, boots similar to mine, and a lightweight jacket. Beau was wearing the same casual clothes from earlier, but now he had a beanie pulled over his wayward red hair.

They didn’t match the men they flanked, but their aura was just as powerful. Clothes do not make the man. His attitude did.

“What the hell is this?” Fig spat.

“You arrested my bro. Did you expect me not to make a call?” Beau said, almost as though he were bored.

“What the hell is going on here?” Neo demanded. Ever the hothead. I didn’t find it as annoying when it was aimed at someone else.

“Earth!” Fletcher exclaimed, popping out from behind Ethan to push between him and one of the other men.

I started to get up, but Fig had the nerve to push me back into my chair. I made a growling sound and opened my mouth to yell, but someone beat me to it.

“The officer is abusing his power. Using force when unnecessary,” one of the men carrying a briefcase announced.

The other three who looked just like him all hummed in agreement.

Lawyers. Not only did my family come, but they brought lawyers.

Fletcher completely ignored Fig and rushed around him to stand right in front of me. “Earth! Are you okay?”

“Don’t I look okay?”

“Beau said someone tried to kill you.”

I slid a glance to Beau. He shrugged. “He’s family.”

Sighing, I looked back at Fletcher. He was just as capable as the rest of us. Hell, he’d never had it easy. But his innate kindness made that difficult to remember sometimes, along with his smaller size and big eyes. It made it really hard to involve him in this shit. But Beau was right. He was family, and that meant I wouldn’t leave him out.

“I’m good, Fletch. You know I can take care of myself.”

He nodded but said, “You don’t have to.”

See why I wanted to protect the kid? I half smiled. “That why you got your boyfriend to bring down four lawyers?”

Fletch frowned. “He’s not just my boyfriend; he’s your family.”

Ethan stepped forward, palming the back of Fletcher’s neck. Fletch looked up at him with a sappy, gaga expression, and I rolled my eyes. “Only two are mine. The other two are Ivory’s.”

I glanced around again, expecting Ivory to pop out like Fletcher did even though she was never the type to stay hidden.

“She’s not here. I brought them,” Neo said, realizing who I looked for.

“Where is she?”

“With Virginia.”

An odd sense of unease wormed through me at the mention of V.

I’d literally just finished telling her I wouldn’t kill any more people, and now look at me in jail for murder.

“I didn’t call her, just the lawyers.” Neo finished.

I nodded, relief easing a bit of my worry. It was better that way. She didn’t belong here any more than V did.

“You’re all going to have to leave. This is impeding an investigation,” Fig announced.

Clearly, it was his favorite thing to say.

“Actually, we are this man’s counsel, and telling us to leave is impeding his rights.”

Four lawyers. Not just any lawyers either. The best money could buy. And they were here for me.

Even knowing who I was, even knowing I probably wasn’t wholly innocent, my family came immediately, and they brought an entire calvary. Even Neo, who I’d literally been fighting the night before.

If I ever doubted how they all felt about me, it was clear now. We were family. Always.

“What are the charges?” one lawyer asked.

Fig sputtered, and while he did, I answered the question. “They didn’t actually arrest me yet. They brought me in for questioning.”

“Without a lawyer present?” The counsel eyed Fig.

“They haven’t asked me anything yet. Just did a gunpowder test on my hands,” I said, showing them my palms. “Right before you came in, he told me he had to search me. I told him no.”

“Only people who have something to hide refuse!” Fig bellowed.

“My client is well within his rights to refuse. If you aren’t going to press formal charges, then we insist he is let go, and we can schedule a time for questioning tomorrow. With his counsel.”

Fig pursed his lips. “Which one of you is his counsel?”

“They all are,” Ethan commanded.

Fig paled a bit. Dude was scared of Ethan. I fought the urge to laugh.

“He killed someone! Maybe even both of them!” Fig pointed at me.

“Murder is a hefty accusation. I would assume if you had actual evidence, he would already be booked and in a cell? Since he isn’t, I would have to ask you to refrain from accusing my client, or you could find yourself being sued for slander.”

Fig turned red and sputtered some more.

“I’m going to piss,” I announced, standing from the chair.

“You can’t!” Fig demanded.

“Going to the bathroom is a basic human right,” someone said.

I kept going, letting myself into the basic room, which was hardly a step up from a gas station bathroom. Still, by Grimms standards, it was decent.

There were three sinks along the wall, and I went to the one in the center to wash off all the remnants of blood and residue from the gunpowder test. The water was tepid at best, nothing I would call warm, but at least it didn’t feel like ice.

I stared down at the red-stained water swirling around the drain before being swallowed. As Riley’s blood vanished from my hands, I felt a weird sense of sadness. What was left of his life was being washed away, sliding into the underbelly of the city to be diluted even further until not even a hint of his DNA could be recovered.

I didn’t kill him, but I was responsible for his death.

As the water cascaded through my fingers and slid over my palms, more and more of him disappeared, and the clear turned a shade of pink. Flashes of him lying there, bleeding out, filled my mind, making it impossible to see anything else.

The sound of the gunshot was still knocking around inside my head. If he’d just left town like I told him… If he hadn’t been snooping around for more info, then he wouldn’t be dead.

“Hoping to run up the station’s water bill?”

My head snapped up as I stared into the mirror at Neo standing just inside the door.

I didn’t even hear him come in.

“Following me to the bathroom now?” I quipped, pulling my hands free of the water, shaking them, and sending droplets everywhere. But I still left the spigot on.

His boots scuffed over the floor, and the sink beside mine turned on. The sound of rushing water in the small room intensified. “Give it to me,” he said, voice low.

I played stupid. “What?”

His head tilted slightly toward the door. “Whatever it is you don’t want them to find.”

I wasn’t a man who was shocked by much. I mean, really, when you lived the way I did, the only surprise was actually being surprised.

Right now, standing in this grim, small bathroom, I was. Maybe I shouldn’t be. After all, he had shown up when Beau called, and he’d brought two layers in tow. The rift between us made me doubt that, though. No. It made me want to challenge it. Sure, it seemed there might have been a change last night when he left me standing outside the Tower. But still, I wanted to push.

“I killed him,” I deadpanned, my voice somehow blending in with the running faucets.

Maybe we were trying to run up their water bill.

Or maybe we used the sound to muffle our low conversation.

Neo showed no visible reaction to my words. “Both of them?”

“The one who trashed my bar and killed Riley.”

Recognition and something else sparked in Neo’s black eyes. “You knew his name.”

Not just his name.He was too young to die.

Neo shifted closer, held my gaze, and nodded solemnly. His hand came up between us. I gazed down at his waiting palm.

“This would make you an accessory,” I cautioned, flicking a glance to the door.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

My fingers curled into my palm, a loose fist resting at my side. We were still at odds with each other, yet here he was, palm outstretched, not an ounce of condemnation in his eyes.

You really accept me like this?

“You told me no more.” I promised not to kill again.

As if either of us needed reminding.

“This was different. The laws of the street. Eye for an eye.”

That cliché sent me spiraling back into the past, to a night I couldn’t seem to keep my head out of.

The sound of the gun ripping into flesh was distinct. Sort of like a thump, sort of like a thick squelch. It lasted a fraction of a second, but I would always remember that sound.

Time seemed suspended. Everything else went on mute, and I saw the eyes of my target widen, eyes everyone said were similar to mine.Is that what I would look like if someone shot me?

Astonishment was more powerful than the first rush of pain, and it shined so bright I could almost see my equally shocked expression in her eyes. But the band holding time snapped, and we were thrust back into reality where nothing lasted more than a second.

Pain glazed over the astonishment, and her entire face grimaced as she looked down. Dark crimson spread over the fancy silk blouse, dousing the thin fabric and making it stick to her body like a second skin.

Her manicured hand hovered over the wound but didn’t touch.

Shouts and pounding feet erupted. Chaos filled the night, and the steam from the vents thickened the air even more. I watched as she bowed toward the ground before dropping into a heap. Her legs were tangled, one high heel askew on the pavement.

I’d just shot my mother.

The only living parent I had left.

There was a time in my life I would never have imagined this, despite being born and bred to kill. I’d fought my own nature. Hell, I’d fought my own nurture, but somehow I still ended up here.

Who was responsible? The woman dying on the ground—the creator? Or the one who pulled the trigger?

The gun slipped from my fingers, landing on the pavement with a dull thud. I stared down at it. A thin trail of smoke wafted up from the barrel.

“Get him!” The command cut through the heavy ocean I seemed to be drowning in.

Adrenaline surged, making me remember how I’d gotten here in the first place. I took off, racing toward the back of the alley, leaping onto the fence creating a dead end.

With the reflexes of a young teen, I scrambled up the wire quickly, ignoring the knicks and cuts it left in me along the way.

Add them to the list of scars I will always carry.

Below me, the fence vibrated as men launched onto it, first trying to shake me free. I swung my leg over the top, and a litany of curses floated up.

The sound of guns cocking made my heart stop. I glanced back just as the first shot went off.

The heat of the bullet was so close it nearly singed my face, and I leaped off the top, throwing myself toward the ground.

More gunfire erupted, but it was secondary to the pain that radiated through my limbs when I hit. I felt my flesh split. The warm rush of sticky blood coated my chin and slipped down my neck.

I tried to scramble up, but the bullets shattering the asphalt around me kept me down.

Covering my head, I closed my eyes and waited for one of them to actually hit their mark. Perhaps running hadn’t been the answer at all. Perhaps dying was the only way out.

“Sagyeog-eul meomchuda!” Cease fire!

The shooting stopped immediately, but I still lay on my belly, covering my head.

Heavy footfalls stopped beside me, and a heavy hand slammed into my back. I didn’t fight as I was hauled off the ground, dragged up on my wobbly feet.

“I’ve got this,” the man holding me yelled.

“How can we trust you with him?” someone called back.

“Eye for an eye.”

“Even if that eye is your brother’s?”

“The Black Rose demands it.”

I started trembling a bit, the adrenaline melting away even though I’d just been sentenced to death. An odd sense of acceptance, of being indifferent to death, washed over me.

On the other side of the fence, the men turned away. There was more yelling and maybe some crying as they all gathered around the fallen woman.

“You killed our mother,” a cold voice yelled as I was tossed into the side of a building.

Smacking hard, I bounced back, legs giving out as I crumpled to the ground.

“Get the hell up, you traitor!”

I got up, standing straight and refusing to look like I regretted what I’d done. The poison in my veins regretted nothing at all. The son inside me mourned a mother.

Lifting my chin, I steadied my gaze on my big brother’s. “Annyeonghee gaseyo.” Good-bye.

The memory of the gunfire made me jolt.

When something heavy hit against my shoulder and squeezed, I went on autopilot, grabbing him and forcing him face first against the wall.

“Easy,” Neo said, holding his hands up in surrender.

I dropped the hold immediately, stepping back. He turned to face me, not an ounce of anger in his face. “Where’d you go?”

“Nowhere.”

Surprisingly, he accepted the non-answer and stepped close as though he wasn’t worried I’d slam into him again. “They’re going to come looking for us.”

Reaching inside my jacket, I palmed the flip phone that wouldn’t ring again. But it was still evidence, and if they called the last incoming number, the phone on Riley’s dead body would likely ring.

Reluctantly, I handed it to Neo, and it disappeared inside his jacket. He moved away, shutting off the water and turning toward the door.

“Are you doing this for her?” For his sister who would be hurt if I got taken down.

“No. You were my family before this stuff with V, and you still are.”

He went out first, leaving me to follow behind.

“Search them!” Fig bellowed the second we both left the bathroom.

Two officers started toward us, but Fletcher rushed in front, tripping over his shoes and falling into Neo.

“Sorry,” he said, still holding on to our brother but pulling back to stand. “I was trying to help, and I ended up just falling.”

“You need new shoes,” Ethan declared, pulling Fletch into his side and locking an arm at his waist.

Fletcher rolled his eyes. “These are new.”

“Well, they must be faulty if you’re tripping everywhere.”

“I’m gonna email Dior and tell them you said that!” He threatened.

Who the fuck was Dior?

Ethan smiled, amused, tucking Fletcher even closer against his side. I swear the guy would carry him around if Fletcher would let him.

“I said search them!” Fig burst into the conversation, motioning for the two officers staring at Fletch and Ethan to get back to work.

“You can’t search me. I’m not even here as a witness,” Neo said, folding his arms over his chest.

Ivory’s two sharks stepped up to his sides as if they were his personal guard dogs.

“He could have passed something to you he didn’t want us to see!”

I schooled my face into a bored expression.

Neo sighed dramatically. “Fine. You wanna search me? Go ahead.”

Fig eyed him.

Neo made a face. “What, now that I’m agreeing, you suddenly don’t think I’ve done anything wrong?”

Fig gestured toward Neo, and the officers started patting him down, looking inside his jacket.

I was on red alert but kept my uninterested face plastered on. What the fuck was he thinking? Was this a setup? Maybe hadn’t been doing it to keep his sister from being hurt but to keep me from his sister.

My tongue slid across my teeth as I seethed in anger and betrayal.

Was this to get back at me for almost killing Ivory?

Eye for an eye.

The words he’d just spoken haunted me along with the memory I’d just relived as though it had been yesterday and not many years before.

I sucked in a breath, realization crashing over me like a tsunami.

“See?” Neo spat, straightening the collar on his jacket. “Nothing. Just me taking a piss.”

Even in the chaos happening inside my mind, even with the loud thumping of my heartbeat, I realized what he’d done.

Fletch, the little pickpocket, snatched the phone to make Fig and friends look even more idiotic.

If the back of my neck wasn’t tingling and my gut screaming, I would have been impressed by the teamwork. And relieved Neo didn’t betray me.

I was, but none of that mattered.

I was being set up.

They knew any charges I got hit with wouldn’t stick. They knew I’d be hauled in and held here anyway. Hell, they probably even knew what a bumbling moron Fig was.

They were just buying time.

An eye for an eye.

You kill one of ours, we’ll kill one of yours.

Riley didn’t really count as one of mine. And the guy I’d slashed in the alley wasn’t the one they’d come all this way to exact revenge for.

The Black Rose demands it.

How easily they’d isolated my weakness.

“Virginia is alone.” The words ripped out from a dark, dangerous place. The poison I tried so hard to keep calm bubbled up as if my veins were a cauldron someone was chanting over.

All the chaos happening around us quieted. Everyone turned to me.

“No, Ivory is with her,” Neo said, his voice measured, but I could almost feel his panic rise.

“Christ,” I spat, pushing past the cops toward the door. “They’re alone!”

I heard my name being called. I heard people insisting I couldn’t leave. I only stopped to snatch my blade and harness off Fig’s desk before fleeing that shitty station and into the night.