"This is fucked up. Now my head hurts."
"I've got an energy drink. Might clear your head," Zoey said and reached into her pocket for one of the two remaining shots.
"I already took one. Didn't do shit this time."
Zoey pulled it free, pausing. "You know, I did, too. A few minutes before I blacked out. When did you take one?"
"Like an hour ago." Vikki took the tiny can. She flipped the lid open and smelled, nose wrinkling. "I always forget how horrible these things taste."
"Bitter, like an amaretto sour."
They met each other's gazes uneasily.
"So, we drink these and black out," Zoey said. "But you knew to bring me here. You don't know why?"
"No."
She closed the lid of the drink and held it in her hand. They were standard energy drinks. She'd been taking them as needed since joining the Hunters, yet she only recalled a few blackouts. The first one was three years ago, when she ended up on the Professor's porch and the latest yesterday, when she slaughtered fifty Cambions without even remembering the incident. She drank the energy drink during the last two blackouts; that much she recalled.
"Olivia wants me here for some reason," she murmured. "Vikki, I think you should leave."
"Not without you."
"If this is a setup, one of us needs to warn..." the Incubatti. She couldn't finish the sentence. "...um, someone who can help."
Vikki studied her then turned her gaze towards the compound.
"Take this to Declan. I don't have any idea what he can do with it, but maybe he can figure out why it makes us black out," Zoey added, handing her the drink.
"I don't want to leave you here. Nothing bad should happen, but fuck, Zoey. I have no idea where we stand in this mess."
"Me, neither," Zoey said, sighing. "Give me your knives and go. I'll text you in thirty minutes. If I don't, call Declan."
"Seriously? You want me to call your man?" Vikki teased. She pulled free three knives and handed them over.
"I guess." Zoey emplaced them around her body then cracked open the door. "Go back, okay?"
"Alright. I'll be waiting for your text."
Zoey nodded and exited the car. She didn't feel anywhere near as confident as she pretended to be. She felt like she was walking into a trap. Waving to Vikki, she waited until her friend pulled out of the parking area before she turned.
The underground compound's entrance was located down the street. Zoey sensed the guards that were posted along the way. No one challenged or tried to stop her. She was just as surprised when her code worked at the hidden entrance.
She entered the facility and made her way to the command center, fully expecting to be stopped at some point along the way. She wasn't and paused in the doorway to the darkened room, taking in the scene.
One of the Council members, identifiable by the maroon uniform she wore, was present with Olivia. They were hunched together and talking. Halflings and Succubae manned the computer stations around the hub, while a solitary male stood a short distance from Olivia. Zoey recognized Tommy's towering frame. The massive Enforcer Ginny's soul-mate and the brother of Declan raised a hand in greeting.
She waved back, unsettled by the sight of him here. Tommy's movement caught Olivia's attention, and the chief of the IAB looked hard at Zoey.
Zoey stepped back into the hallway, aware the command center wasn't where Hunters were supposed to be. Halflings trained in support operations worked in the hub, not the fighters themselves.
She lingered outside the door, nervous. Olivia appeared after a few minutes, trailed by Tommy, and motioned for her to follow. They went to a small office with a muted, flat-screen television on one wall displaying the news.
"The Incubatti are insisting I provide them with proof of our relationship," Olivia started, eyeing Zoey. "It seems someone tipped them off."
"I did," Zoey said. "You know about Declan. He can kinda sorta read my mind. Is that why he's here?" She motioned to Tommy.
"Yes and no. I'm here as a liaison from the Enforcers to show our support. One of Olivia's top advisors is at our command center as well," Tommy said.
"Kind of like a hostage exchange," Zoey said.
Tommy smiled only when Olivia turned to grab a file from her desk.
"Information exchanges are part of my liaison duties," he replied.
Olivia did not look pleased. She passed something to Tommy. "DNA results for her, Vikki, and the rest of Team R, as well as my own. If you want to draw her blood yourself, you're welcome to. Not that it's any of your business."
"Then why provide them?" Tommy asked.
"I've asked that our two security forces work together for years to combat the Cambion problem. We're finally working together, and I want to keep it that way."
"You want to use your daughters as leverage."
"I want to make a point that we are united against a cause in more than a philosophical sense," Olivia returned. "If I wanted to use them, I never would've assigned them Benefactors or ensured they ran into their intended mates. I could've done what my predecessors did and killed them off like the rest of the Hunters to prevent them from finding their soul-mates."
The confirmation of the Professor's assertion about the fate of twenty-two year old Hunters made Zoey's breath stick in her throat.
"There's a risk in allowing Zoey and Vikki to find their soul-mates," Tommy pointed out. "But the payoff is likely much higher for you, too."
"I want a Cambion-free world. There's no harm in wanting to do the right thing, is there?" Olivia asked with a smile.
"Do you all need me here?" Zoey asked at last. "I got shit to do."
Tommy smiled, and Olivia raised an eyebrow.
"The irreverence you must get from your sperm donor," Olivia said. She lifted a remote control off her desk and pointed it at the screen. "To piggyback on what Tommy has said, I'd like to show you something I find disturbing. Zoey, I know what you've likely been going through lately."
Zoey looked from Olivia to the television. The scene was paused: it was her with someone she didn't remember. The dress was the one she wore Saturday morning, when she awoke on the Professor's porch with no memory of the night before.
The photo Eric had. Zoey faced the television screen fully, confused and curious about what had happened Friday night. Olivia played the clip. Zoey watched herself kiss then go down on the man before she slashed his throat.
"This is you, Zoey, isn't it?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah," she answered. "I don't remember this, though."
Olivia ignored her. "Tommy, you want to tell me who the man is?"
"Julius," Tommy's voice was hushed. "An Incubus."
Zoey froze.
"What is the penalty for a half-breed killing an Incubus?" Olivia asked.
"Death."
"Executable by the Chief Enforcer, right?"
"Correct."
"Who as of today is Declan," Olivia mused.
It was clearly her on the screen, only she didn't remember killing an Incubus! Zoey's ears buzzed. She sucked in deep breaths, nearing an all out meltdown.
"Easy, Zoey," Tommy said.
She faced him, searching his gaze. "Did I fuck this all up?"
"Declan can be reasoned with."
"It's not your fault you fell for him," Olivia said. "He's disciplined and dutiful. He'll have to face the Council, if he doesn't do his job."
You may flaunt the rules of others, but I can't. He told her as much during the Enforcers' inquiry of Vikki. He also told her he would do whatever it took to protect her.
"What'll happen to him, Tommy?" she asked urgently.
"You're caught between the Sucubatti and the Incubatti," Olivia spoke before Tommy could. "Zoey, I offered you the position of operations officer for us. If Declan rejects you over this, then you've got a home here. I'm proud of my daughters and their dedication to doing what's right."
"Zoey, this is a mind game. Olivia is trying to manipulate you and Declan to keep you a part. No matter what the consequences, Declan won't hurt you," Tommy said.
Consequences. Declan had asked her more than once to be more aware of the consequences of her actions. The memory made her feel worse.
Zoey bit her tongue, willing Tommy to reassure her everything was going to be okay. She wanted a reason to trust the Sucubatti the only environment she knew and yet, she wanted a reason to walk away, too, and stay with Declan. What if he couldn't be with her, now that she'd killed one of his kind? His job came first. He made that clear.
What of the alternative? Staying with the Sucubatti, knowing what they did to Halflings that turned twenty two?
"Declan would never betray his soul-mate," Tommy added firmly.
She was almost relieved, but unable to fathom how difficult of a position Declan was going to be in over an event that she didn't remember. Her eyes fell to the tray of energy drinks on the corner of Olivia's desk.
"Hmm," Olivia said. "Maybe you should watch this first, Zoey, before you decide who to trust."
Zoey couldn't imagine Olivia showing her anything else to shake her confidence.
"Show me what?" she asked.
"Even if Declan finds a way to smooth things over, which I doubt, you need to see and understand for yourself what an Incubus is. A creature that feeds off the torture of girls."
Zoey looked again at the screen.
"This is footage taken this morning." Olivia said. "You'll see you leave Declan's apartment."
Zoey watched. She recognized herself, dressed for the mission she completed with Vikki. Uncertain what she was supposed to be looking for, she waited. About two minutes later, another form crossed the feed. She looked and moved like a Succubus, and Zoey faced the screen fully.
The woman knocked on Declan's door. He opened it and not only smiled, but took her into his arms. They kissed with passion that left Zoey with no doubt what happened when they finally stumbled back inside the apartment.
She wanted to deny what she saw, but couldn't, not when he'd been wearing exactly what he did this morning when she left.
"As I said, if he takes you back after you killed an Incubus, can you do the same, knowing he doesn't wait for you to be gone ten minutes, before he's fucking someone else?" Olivia asked.
Zoey crossed her arms. Of all the things she expected, this wasn't one of them. That Declan had already and quite eagerly betrayed her trust robbed Zoey of breath. She let herself become vulnerable to him; she trusted him in a way she never had with anyone else.
Didn't he say the rules applied to both of them? That he, too, would not have anyone else in his bed except her?
"Declan wouldn't," Tommy said firmly.
"Declan did," Olivia snapped. "Unless you have another explanation?"
Unable to watch her soul-mate with another woman, Zoey studied Tommy again. He was frowning, his eyes pinned to the screen. The quiet stretched on.
"I can't explain this," he replied at last. "But I know my brother."
"Zoey is strong, but she's not a full-blooded Succubus. It would take one or apparently, several, to satisfy the strongest Incubus ever born," Olivia pointed out.
Her words made too much sense. Zoey silently begged Tommy to explain this away. Shock held her silent, but she was starting to hurt in a way far deeper than she had over Eric. Or ever.
Olivia was right. The energy drinks Zoey downed after the unauthorized mission Friday wiped her memory of the Incubus she killed later that night. It was unforgivable in either society for a half-breed to kill a full-breed. There was no way Declan could walk away from this. There was no way she could deal with him lying to her about sleeping around. It was supposed to be a two-way street.
"My daughter deserves better," Olivia continued then turned to Zoey. "It's absolutely up to you what you decide to do. If you want to go back to him and become my ops officer, I support you. If you want to dump him and become my ops officer, I support you, too."
Panic was setting in. Zoey didn't want either of those things. She'd known Declan for three days and couldn't imagine a life without him. She'd known no mother prior to two days ago and couldn't imagine a life with one, especially not one like Olivia.
"I don't remember Friday night," she said at last, unable to deal with Declan's betrayal. "I don't remember flipping out yesterday, either. I know you fucked with my head, Olivia."
"I have no need to do that," the IAB chief replied.
"You're right, Zoey," Tommy agreed.
"Then why is everything fucked up, Tommy?" Zoey cried. She drew a deep breath, tears stinging her eyes.
"Zoey, we'll figure it out," Tommy said softly. "You just have to trust Declan."
Olivia or Declan. Sucubatti or Incubatti? Was there any alternative?
She wasn't going to survive this kind of pain, if she didn't find a way to push it back.
"I can't deal with this. Fuck you both."
Zoey took a step back, then two. She looked between Tommy and Olivia. She had one real ally in this world Vikki who had never betrayed her or kept secrets from her.