“Okay,” I say, not having the energy to get into it with her. Besides, there’s no reasoning when she’s already pledged her loyalty to the Order. God, I can’t wait to get out of here and call Rene so I can tell her all about this creepy-ass fucking place. Knowing that telekinetically pulling a fire alarm is still an option brings me a small amount of comfort.
“Let’s get to work.” Stephanie actually seems excited, and I take in a deep breath—which just makes me cough—and follow her, Sam, and Julia out. We go back into room 4A, finding a hot breakfast ready and waiting for us. I get a waffle and a bunch of fruit, hoping the extra vitamin C will help me feel better.
It doesn’t, I still feel lousy. When I finish my food and Ethan still hasn’t joined us, I start to get worried. He spent the night with me when he wasn’t supposed to and at this point, I have no idea what the Order could do. David isn’t here either, and I try to tell myself that Ethan is just catching up with his dad and not getting in trouble. Fuck, I hate this place.
It’s still too early to feed the horses, but I text Nik anyway since my phone is down to five percent. I send him a pin of my location too, just in case he needs to send reinforcements to bust me out or something.
“Good morning,” a man says, stopping in the doorway just like Carl did yesterday. He has long blonde hair pulled back into a low ponytail and is wearing a navy blue pinstripe suit with a bright blue tie that doesn’t quite match. “I take it you all had a restful night’s sleep.” He eyes me and smiles. “Eat up, and then we shall resume our meeting. We received some key information about Mr. Altman that could change the course of our investigation.”
He stands in the doorway, surveying the hunters before turning and leaving. I get up to put my plate on a tray and fill up a mug of coffee, dumping in four individual cups of creamer. I cringe each time I open one, hating the plastic waste single-size servings like this cause.
Turning to go back to the couch, I startle when Patrick is right behind me. A bit of hot coffee sloshes out, stinging my skin.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t see you there,” I say and Patrick doesn’t move, doesn’t step back, and doesn’t say it’s okay.
“The Bailey boy,” he starts. “Didn’t return to his room last night.”
I hold my stance, not giving in to anything, because I know the game this asshole is trying to play.
“I take it he was with you,” he goes on when I don’t respond .
“What’s it to you if he was?” Ignoring the coffee dripping down my hand, I bring the mug to my mouth and take a sip.
“He was supposed to return to his room. And he didn’t.”
“Okay,” I say with practiced patience. As a vet tech, I’ve dealt with enough shitty pet-owners to know not to engage. Not yet at least.
“I don’t want to mark you as a bad influence.”
“Excuse me?” Fuck, so much for not engaging.
“The Bailey boy—”
“Ethan,” I interrupt. “His name is Ethan.”
“The Bailey boy,” Patrick goes on. “He’s good. One of the best hunters we’ve seen in a while. It won’t go over well if he’s being distracted by a pretty face and a loose—”
“You better fucking watch yourself,” I say through gritted teeth.
“Feisty, eh?”
I grip my coffee mug so tight my fingers hurt. “You don’t know the half of it.”
“You remind me of someone.” His eyes narrow slightly.
“The witch you killed? You said she was feisty too.”
Stephanie, who was watching the exchange, loudly clears her throat. It’s enough to cause Patrick to look away and I step back, forcing out a slow breath. Ethan, David, and Harold appear in the doorway, coming right over to fill their plates.
“Hey, babe.” Ethan flicks his eyes to Patrick before giving me a kiss. The asshole must have said something to him as well. “We’ll get out of here after breakfast. Did you eat?”
“I did,” I tell him and sniffle again.
“You’re leaving?” Patrick asks incredulously.
“Yes,” Ethan says definitely. “Anora isn’t feeling well and I’m taking her home.”
“Demons don’t care if we’re sick,” Patrick retorts.
“Exactly,” Ethan says right back. “And now many hunters have died because they went out on a hunt when they were sick and shouldn’t have? This is a demanding ass job and if you’re not one-hundred percent you’re at risk.”
Patrick’s brow eyes widen and he looks at David. “You’re allowing him to leave?”
David doesn’t turn but keeps his gaze focused on the little buffet of food. “I don’t allow or disallow him to do anything. Anora is sick. She has a fever.”