The Huntress : The Alterealm Series Book 1

Chapter 23

The next week of my life was a blur, filled with so much new information that I was close to a system crash, and needed a break from it soon. In that time, we had managed to find two runners with illegal devices and bring them to justice. Victor was justice on their side.

I would have liked to ask what became of them once they were caught, but that man wanted nothing to do with me. The only time he stayed put and didn’t find a reason to be somewhere I wasn’t, was during a meeting, at meal time or practice. I still found it hard to believe he was five hundred years old. His mannerism was dated but he looked to be in his thirties and moved like he was in his twenties. I hadn’t found the chance to spar with him yet and didn’t know if I wanted to take on someone that had been fighting since the fifteen hundreds.

Yet.

During the numerous trips around their side I found myself with either Michael, Rafael or Quinton. I was happy to find out, by the way that they didn’t live entirely underground and that there was a top side that had life and buildings, not just an orange-hued wasteland. The buildings and towns actually resembled my side, only it was cleaner here and, for the most part, a more pleasant place to be. I hadn’t been to Chase’s domain yet, but if my intuition was right our hunt for wrong-doers was going to take me there at some point.

Michael, I had discovered, was one of those that never offered up information. The conversations when we were alone were minimal and never about anything I hadn’t asked. I didn’t see us bonding in a buddy sort of way, so I stopped trying and focused on learning the laws he explained and working on finding the offenders.

Rafael was just as he’d seemed that first time he’d grabbed me and tried to hug the breath right out of me. It wasn’t hard to see he was the youngest in the large family, even if in this case that meant being one hundred and ninety years old. We talked about anything and everything when we were out following leads in the search for Marcus. I really didn’t want to meet him after hearing some of the stories. I always thought mages were something from fantasy books and movies, he was a little all too powerful and scary for my taste.

When I was with Quinton I was the most comfortable, which considering the way the guy looked, was a little strange. I still didn’t know what had happened to him, but after seeing a picture of him posing with all of his brothers, I couldn’t help feeling sad that such a nice-looking guy had met with disfigurement, and no one spoke about it.

More than once I’d almost requested that he tell me what happened, but I sensed it was going to be hard for him and I didn’t want to do anything that messed up my time with him. I’d seen the looks cast our way, the odd expressions on enough faces to know he didn’t chum around with anyone, or he hadn’t until I came along; and I wanted to keep it that way.

In all of the things I’d seen since finding out there was an alternate reality to my world, the thing I found the strangest was they weren’t dependent on technology. Oh sure, they had phones and computers, but they lived without them as extra appendages. That was something I hadn’t seen on my side for most of my life.

If you took away the modern clothes and technology, there were times you would think you stepped into another era all together. Their weapons, for the most part were based on the medieval time period, just newer and improved. They preferred these because after that things became less useful. I still had questions and thoughts about that, but time would tell.

The one thing they did have, and I was very excited about, was a huge TV room and just about every movie I could possibly think of. It was odd to think that these people that could lived as long as they did liked to sit around and watch movies when they found the time, but it was also something that made me feel more connected.

Hurrying down the hall, proud that I hadn’t got lost for two whole days now, I turned the corner and almost barreled right over Mitz. Skidding to a stop, I grabbed her arms so she wouldn’t tip over with the box she was balancing in front of her. “Sorry, Mitz.”

She smiled at me around the box. “No harm done. Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“Another meeting.”

She smiled in that motherly way. “I’m sure they won’t start without you.”

I shrugged, “I dunno, a few of them are getting really moody lately.”

“Victor is always moody, Leone too it’s part of their charm.” She shifted the box so it balanced on her hip and she could see me.

I laughed. “I wasn’t talking about them.”

“Oh, is there a problem I don’t know about?”

I wanted to get there, but there just wasn’t a way to be rude or hurry Mitz, she had an aura that warned you’d be struck down if you tried. “Arius only growls lately and if Chase winds any tighter, he’s going to explode.”

“Hmm. Arius does that from time to time, I think it has to do with his telepathy skill sometimes he can’t turn it off and it overwhelms him.” She shifted the box again. “And I know Chase is having a few issues on his side that he thought were long settled, so he’s going to be strung tight for a while until it’s all resolved.”

I studied her for a moment. “You just know every aspect of their lives, don’t you? How have you managed to stay sane this long?”

Another maternal smile. “It’s my job, but more than that I suppose. Those boys are like the ones I never had. My mate and I always wanted children, but fate didn’t see it that way.”

“I’m sorry.”

Hugging the box, she patted my cheek softly. “Don’t be, love. I’m just happy I finally have a daughter after too many male filled millennia.”

I only smiled at her. I had no choice, my heart had jumped up into my chest and stayed there, blocking off my air so I couldn’t speak.

“You run along now. I’ll see you after dinner.”

“After dinner?” What had I forgotten now?

“Mmm hmm, tonight’s the night all of the ladies are getting together to pick our gowns for the party.”

I didn’t remember a party. “Party?”

She made that tsk sound older women love to make at you when you’ve done something silly. “The party to celebrate the arrival of our long-awaited Huntress.”

“Oh, right, that party.” I hadn’t forgotten, just blocked it from my mind.

“Chase said it would have to wait a bit, with so much going on, but we can still have the gowns ready when we get the go ahead.”

“Sure. Sounds great.” I tried to sound happy about it. I failed. I stood there with a fake happy smile on my face as Mitz moved in the other way. Just by the way she shook her head, I knew she was onto me, at least she didn’t say anything about it.