12

CHAPTER 11

Early the next morning I was in the bedroom standing in front of the mirror giving my outfit the final touches. I wore a navy, pin striped suit, pants of course, and a crisp white shirt. French cuffs and a daring, but not excessive, V necked plunge in front. I placed my necklace around my neck and turned to survey the carrying case for my knives.

There was no way I was leaving my knives in the hotel room despite knowing that there was no way the Affairs' Office would let me in with them. My sword was in its sheath laying on the bed.

The suit was form fitting and wouldn't permit hiding knives anyway. I bought it on a whim, knowing the chances of wearing it were slim. I sighed again as I thought about hiding blades around the suit. Maybe if I cut some slits on the bottom of the pant legs for ankle straps. I fiddled with the cuffs. What if I had them refit for some wrist sheaths. I looked down and surveyed my cleavage. My eyebrows arched up. I pulled the sides of the jacket and shirt away from my chest and surveyed my bra, trying to visualize a way for it to contain blades and sheaths. Ezra found me this way.

Ever one to take the advantage, he moved lightning quick so that he was also staring down into my cleavage. I hastily let go of the clothes and jumped back a little, "Hey! I was just-"

He smiled slyly and rose a black eyebrow, "No explanation necessary."

I was flattered, but choose instead to say, "Ugh." I turned and closed up the carrying case. "Is everything ready?"

He moved me to face him and deftly hooked the hoop earrings in my ears that I'd forgotten about.

"Yes. Shall we go?" He grabbed my knife case with one hand and held out his other arm for me.

"Sure. Let's go play." I said as I grasped my sword and we walked out of the bedroom. Taurin was standing in the sunlight coming from the window, it gave a halo effect around his body. As he walked toward me I looked from one demon to the other. They were both beautiful. They both had straight noses, but that is where the similarities ended when in human form. Taurin's long, not quite platinum, hair was free and flowing to his waist. Ezra had black, shoulder length hair tied back in a queue that would give a person glimpses of a red sheen. Taurin's eyes were a sparkling pale blue. Ezra's had an iris and pupil that merged because of their deep black color. Sometimes flames seemed to flicker behind them. Ezra's cheekbones were prominent and created shadows over his face. Taurin's skin tone was white while Ezra's was darker, tanned. His lips were thin, but just as kissable as Taurin's full ones would be if I ever decided to kiss him while shoving a knife in his chest.

Ezra had on an entirely black suit with a garnet pin used to close the top of his shirt. Taurin had on a navy suit similar to mine. I tried not to notice how much it fit him to perfection.

"How odd," I said looking at Taurin. He raised his eye brows questionably at me. "You know what I'm talking about."

"I think it gives the illusion that we are," he paused, wagging his blond eyebrows at me, "suited for one another." He grabbed me around the waist and half twirled me. Thankfully, I wasn't wearing my heels yet.

"Are you implying that you went through my clothes to find out what I was wearing?" My free hand was on his chest attempting to stop him from getting any closer to me. He moved in regardless.

"Yes," he said.

I looked at Ezra with astonishment, "And you let him?"

His hand on my back pushed me in closer to him and his sly smile, "I have several more brilliant touches that I would like to show you."

"No thanks, I need to put my shoes on."

I looked around to find them. Ezra had them in his hand already. "Ah, there they are, excuse me." He let me push myself away. I walked over to Ezra and grabbed my shoes. I whispered furiously to him, not caring that Taurin could hear me, "I can't believe you let him do that!"

He shrugged and said in his matter of fact voice, "There are more important things to think about today."

I gave him a short breathy growl, "Fine, let's go."

"Our chariot awaits," Taurin said, ushering us out the door in a gentlemanly manner.

"Where did you come from?" I asked.

His mouth opened to answer.

"It's rhetorical. Don't answer, because I don't really want to know."

"Then don't ask," he said, mimicking my tone.

I glared and didn't talk to him for the whole trip to the Affairs' Office. When we got to the four story building I listened to my heels click up the stone steps and onto the marbled floor. I felt like a business professional. I even had a case, it only held knives though. For a brief second I thought to myself, I could be a lawyer, even a secretary, maybe a chronicler, like Aubrey. Reality came back to me when Taurin reached the front desk first to announce us. I twitched my lips and used my hip to push him to the side while I handed the letter to the female at the desk.

As she skimmed it I told her I had weapons to declare. She never looked up, just signaled with her hands to someone to the right. When the security guards appeared I handed over all my weapons to them. One of them held a clipboard and he asked me to print here, sign here, initial here, and here. I rolled my eyes as I did as he asked. The security guards eyed the two demons warily. If I hazarded a guess I'd bet they didn't know what they were, only that they weren't human. It was the effects of the building.

The building was warded. Built specifically on an engraved pentacle with rune castings. If a person walked around the building they would be able to see the end points of the star and the circle around the perimeter. The surrounding streets, also merging in a pentacle form, were warded too. Part of this warding was to give people working here the ability to know if they were talking to someone who rated as supernatural. It was also a misguided attempt to null magic, although how can you null magic if it's your DNA, which was the case with demons. Its success rate was minimal at best.

I thanked the guards and the front desk personnel as she directed me to the second floor and Ezra and Taurin to the third floor. I was on my way to see personnel on the human floor. The two demons were on their way to the supernatural floor.

I left them to ride the elevator and decided to take the stairs. As I walked I wondered to myself what the supernatural community thought about having to share a whole floor for all their different communities while humans got to have a whole floor to themselves. When I reached the exit door I wondered to myself why I thought wearing high heels and walking up stairs would be a good combination.

Since I didn't take the elevator I walked around a corner to come up to the reception desk. The receptionist was dressed in a bright red suit, her blonde hair tumbled artfully around her face. I watched the light glint off her glasses that were dangling around her neck.

"I'm Dove Hawthorne," I announced.

Her voice was just this side of too much sweetness, "Oh, I received the phone call from the front desk. You'll have you preliminary review with Mr. Clothier. He's already waiting for you down the hall," she pointed to her left, "office number twenty two. If you get the chance you can come back this way and the first entranceway on your left, past the stair exit, is the coffee room." She smiled at me.

"Thank you, ma'am ," I said with a cynical smile. "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been here?"

"Oh, two months." She was still smiling... genuinely.

"Well, I hope you enjoy working here." God, I hope no one eats her, literally.

"Oh, I just love it. People are rather quiet, but they like it when I bring in homemade cookies."

"I just bet they do," I said with a slow shake of my head. "I'll go meet Mr. Clothier now," and started to edge down the hall.

"Oh, ok." She actually gave me a little wave. I nodded my head and quickened my stride. When I reached the closed door that had only the numbers 22 on it, I knocked and let myself in. The man sitting behind the desk was shuffling files and had disarrayed, receding brown hair. He ran his fingers through it as I walked to the desk.

"Sit down," he said acidly as he pointed to the chair in front of him without even looking at me.

I grimaced and decided to be polite even if he wasn't and sat down. Then I waited, and waited. He kept switching files and reading papers. They probably didn't even have anything to do with my case. He finally looked up at me with a shrewdness in his eyes that I didn't expect.

"Miss Hawthorne," he said, drawing out the 's's into 'z's.

"Mr. Clothier," I said, drawing out the 'Mr' and 'er'. I would have laughed if I didn't think it would ruin the image.

He gave me a stern look, "I've been reviewing yours, Ezra's, and Taurin's files." At that pronouncement he slammed his hand down forcefully on the files.

Oops, I guess those were my files. I eyed the stack wearily. Surely, most of that paperwork pertained to my compatriots and not me.

"We here at the Office of Human and Supernatural Affairs' find your performance as a demon hunter lacking in quality."

"I'm alive, aren't I? They're not." I said dryly.

He eyed me sternly, "After reading your file I will strongly advise you to restrain yourself from interrupting me. This will take entirely too long if you speak when you are not asked to. Which brings me to the point of this review. No one can gainsay your success rate, as you say, you are alive and they are not."

I clenched my jaw and bit the inside of my cheeks to keep from speaking. I hated this place.

Mr. Clothier continued, "Our discussion lies firstly with the amount of time it takes for you to perform your duty. We expected your success rate to become quicker with your experience. Six years and 6 months and it's still taking you several days to report back to us. Although I hesitate to ask, would you like to say anything at this point?" He gave me a look that said clearly he didn't want me to.

You and the rest of 'us' can take your heads out of your ass and track down a demon that already knows your hunting for its life because of the lack of secrecy around here. Then you can look into its eyes and hope that it can't find out what your deepest fear is. You'd probably piss your pants, Mr. Clothier. What I really said was, "No, sir."

"Good, I see you've learned a moderate grain of reserve. I will note it in your report." He looked down and wrote something down on a piece of paper.

A moderate grain of reserve? You can take that pen and stick it in your eye. I remained silent.

He continued, "This touches on the second part that I will impart to you. Your respect for our administration borders on," his stare became harder on me, "ill will. I asked to be informed of your every move once you entered the building and I see that you are working on that aspect of your conduct. I commend you and will say no more about it."

I put a touch of gratitude in my eyes. I wish you were a demon so I could hunt you down and make you suffer. I'll commend you if you don't cry.

"You have been called here today to discuss the state of your affairs, the expectations for your warrants, and your personal conduct. A panel of six will be present, two from the human contingent. This is not part of your regular reviews so expect to be called when it's time. You are dismissed and may go directly to the fourth floor." He looked down and started to write. I sneered at his bowed head and left without a backwards glance.

CHAPTER 12

The elevator to the fourth floor was a different one than the others in the building. Both the second and third floors had their separate elevator to the fourth floor. The stairwell only opened from inside the fourth floor, so I waited for the elevator doors to open.

As soon as I stepped inside and the doors closed, I noticed the ceiling gape open. A slim women dressed in black dropped to the floor, a think garrote in her hands. She swooped in on me and I abruptly dropped to my knees bringing my right arm in a sweep to make her fall. How that worked I don't know. I'll attribute it to the fact that she was trying to kill me before we reached the fourth floor. She fell face first and I pounced on her back. I brought my left arm around her neck and my right hand gripped her hair. My legs crossed over hers to prevent her from moving. Her hands came up palm first over her shoulders. I caught a glint of silver as it came out from her wrist sheaths. My right arm was slashed open as I stretched backward out of her reach.

"Bitch!"

I squeezed down on her waist with my knees and switched my left hand to her hair. Then I forcefully smashed her head several times into the mirrored wall. The mirror shattered. Blood painted our little corner of the elevator.

I was applying pressure to my arm when the doors opened. Ezra and Taurin stared at me from the waiting room. I hurriedly jumped up off of her because I felt her die. She just stopped breathing. The two of them were already at the doors when I turned her over. I had missed it before, but now that I could look at her face and not the garrote, I just barely saw the mark. There was a demon servant etched under her ear. I cocked my head as we watched it burn itself and the skin surrounding it.

"Well there goes that evidence. Whose was it?" I asked no one in particular.

"Marks are sacred to us," Taurin replied.

"Huh. Which means you wouldn't tell me even if you knew. Feel free to deal with the body. I'll sit down and watch." I gave them a little wave as I sat with a grimace. They looked at me and then each other. Taurin went into the elevator and Ezra came to me.

Without a sound he placed his hands around the edges of the cut and applied heat to it. I gritted my teeth as he moved his fire directly onto the wound.

Meanwhile, Taurin dragged the body into the waiting room and tossed a black bag on top of it. "I found this in the hatch. It has a suit of clothes. There is another hatch higher up the elevator shaft."

"She probably would have gone down the outside fire escape then or maybe just set off the fire alarm. I don't know, who cares. We should find out if anyone knows her."

Taurin gave me a look of disbelief, "No one will admit to that."

At that moment the door opened and a business attired man entered, "You're wanted..." He paused and stared at the dead body. I watched his adams apple bob as he gingerly walked around the body. "Ma'am, are you able to continue?" Trust the employees of the Affair's Office to deal with any situation with complete tact and manners.

"I am. Hopefully it will not be too long though."

"As to that, I cannot predict the whim of the council members."

"But you can inform them of this new development."

"Yes, my lady, I will tell them promptly. Then I will see to the disposal and investigation of the body. If I may ask?"

I knew what he was asking. "She came down through the elevator hatch immediately after the doors closed. I don't know her and I don't know why." Well, I didn't know the specifics, but I was sure it had to do with Taurin.

He cleared his throat, "I see. If you will follow me." He looked at all three of us in turn then proceeded to the door of the meeting room.

It wasn't a meeting room really. There were no windows on the fourth floor and all it contained was two waiting rooms, one for us, the peons, and one on the opposite side for the council members, the judge and jury. Then there was the room in between, the meeting room. The members got to sit in chairs behind a very long, slightly curved table. We got to stand until they said we could go. There were three pitchers of water and glasses in front of the members. I hoped it didn't take that long.

Our escort went to the closest member on the end and, I assumed, relayed the information to him. His shoes made a clipped sound on the shiny tiled floor as he walked himself out without looking at us. The shutting of the door echoed in the cavernous room.

"My esteemed colleges, I have just been advised that Dove Hawthorne," that council member gestured to me with his hand, "has been attacked in the elevator and her assailant is dead."

I watched the council members, looking for the tell tale signs in their eyes and faces of who was smelling my blood. Only those of the highest power and control were allowed in the positions these six also held. They would all present themselves as gentlemen. They most certainly were all men, not a female in sight, or a demon come to think about it. Ezra remained at my side with his hand at my back. I didn't begrudge it.

"I would like to be kept informed as to any information that may be garnered from your investigation, as well as, the police's." That got their attention.

"We will do all that is in our power," came the announcer's curt reply.

"I'm sure you will," came my own.

Another council member cleared his throat, "As you don't seem to have any fatal injuries, may we continue?"

He wasn't really asking, but I nodded anyway.

An elderly looking man started, "You have been called in due to the recent, as well as, unprecedented bonding of an additional demon to your person. It has been argued that the bonding of two demons puts to question the status of present and future morality and ethics. Your previous demeanor has been one of," he looked directly at me with a empty facial expression, "a quick wit and inquiring mind. Your ability to succeed with your warrants is noted, as is, your time management with said warrants. You were advised at your last review," here he gave Ezra a nod, "when you recently bonded with Ezra, that you needed to organize and prioritize your skills. These requests have, of late, still not been adhered to. We were given the assurance that they would be, especially since you now had an associate. We request again that you make your warrants and their subsequent reports in a timely fashion. As this is not an official review for you you still have time to make progress with your professional skills."

I couldn't help it, I laughed. It just burst out. Professional skills, like I choose to be a demon hunter. I looked down at the floor while I regained my composure. When I looked back up many of the faces were not amused. I gave them a bland smile and said in my most dour voice, "Sorry." Taurin quietly snickered from my right. Unfortunately, due to the acoustics of the room, I think everyone else heard too.

But, proceed they did. A middle-aged man with a condescending smile took up the mantra of burn her at the stake. Well, not really, but he might has well have. "As we said, the question of the influence of two demons may well wear on a person's... behaviors. We will be closely monitoring your professional behaviors and requesting that other demon hunters contact us with... suspicions... of maliciousness. Any volunteer efforts on your part for the good of the Office of Supernatural and Human Affairs' will be noted."

They wanted me to do my job for free. If the Affairs' Office didn't exist I probably would be anyway, but dammit they were and I wasn't. Behind me I felt Ezra's hand get warmer on my back. Peering at him out of the side of my eye however, gave no outward indication that he was getting angry.

The man continued directing his gaze towards the demons, "Ezra and Taurin, you are also advised that any volunteer efforts on your part will be noted. You are to have contact with personnel of the Affair's Council to ascertain your... good will and... positive efforts... to Dove Hawthorne and society in general. You should have already been appraised of the name of your contact." I think the man was waiting for a nod or some kind of acknowledgment from the demons. They never moved and I'm positive their stares were unnerving.