The demonstration was held in the training room, and the moment we walked through the doors, a shiver of fear traveled up my spine. I hadn’t been there since I’d killed Oz, but the blood was mopped up and my webs whisked away. There was no evidence of what I’d done, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Chairs, set up like an arena, lined the floor, and chatty supes had already found their seats. They looked around excitedly, like the presentation was more of a movie premier instead of a sinister presentation.
“We need to stand with the other hybrids,” Risk murmured in my ear while directing me toward the side wall.
“Why didn’t they want Crow and Tomb participating in the demonstration?” I whispered as the lights dimmed. “They’re strong.”
“They’re also unpredictable,” he countered.
“So am I.”
“Yes, but I’m trying to convince them that you’re my little pet, so you’re going to rein in the murderous tendencies and let me do my thing. Okay?”
Risk and I were definitely going to have a conversation about who wore the pants in this mate bond.
Risk led me to the other side of the training room, where all the hybrids were gathered together. “Stay here a moment while I look for Belvini.”
I nodded before he walked off, but as soon as he was gone, I found a dozen pair of hybrid eyes looking at me. About half of them were Thibault students, and the other half I only recognized from brief sightings in the cafeteria or training room. Uneasy under their stares, I turned away, choosing instead to face the supes watching us with open curiosity.
Potential investors for Spector’s scheme. I recognized some of them, and my eyes landed on the council members—particularly the pregnant female who was staring daggers at me.
Okay, so facing that direction wasn’t much better.
I was ready to just opt for a staring contest with the floor when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw one of the shifter students standing in front of me. “I wanted to introduce myself to you, Black Widow,” she said quietly. “We all heard about what you did with that guard.”
“Yeah,” another hybrid said, pushing forward. He was a necro with jet black hair and gangly limbs. “Finally someone fucking stands up to these sadistic pricks.”
“Shh, not so loud!” a girl to his left hissed at him. He just shrugged.
The shifter girl nodded. “We just wanted you to know, we want to fight back too.”
Shock made my eyes widen. These were people who had once taunted me in the halls of Thibault. The people who had looked at me with fear and revulsion after I’d killed Byron. Now they were...aligning with me?
“Listen, I don’t want anyone to get punished because of me,” I insisted quietly.
“We already get punished,” the necro said. “This whole place is one big fucking punishment. We want to get back at them.”
The conversation in the room was growing steadily louder as more people filtered in, but Risk and Belvini were still nowhere in sight. My surprise at their demeanor toward me was quickly turning to dismay. I knew we were powerful, but most of us were young, and we were also vastly outnumbered.
“Yeah, let’s fucking attack them all right now,” a male vampire said, pushing forward. I caught his eye. One of Byron’s friends.
“No,” I said quickly. “Did you not notice all the guards around? They’re everywhere. If we fight back, we have to be smart about it.”
The shifter girl nodded. “We will listen to the Black Widow,” she told the others, her stern expression brooking no argument.
I wasn’t so sure that I was up to the task. We had to get organized—and fast. But first, we needed to learn everything we could about Spector, which meant we needed to pay attention to this demonstration and hope like hell the council didn’t agree to buy their contract.
“Right now, we watch. We learn. When we’re ready to do something about Spector, I’ll let you know,” I finally said before fixing my face forward on the makeshift stage.
Everything was just about to get started, when I saw Cheryl and Stiles enter the room. She was waving her hand and pressing it against Stile’s chest, making sure everyone in the room saw the gigantic rock on her hand.
“Oh, Motley!” she screeched from across the room. “Did you see that Laverne Bromine is here?” She was trying to whisper-scream at me and was drawing the attention of all the spectators. I slunk backwards toward the wall with a shaky nod and a forced smile.
Stiles led her away with his hand clamped over her mouth and found them both seats in the front row. Risk appeared from the side and was heading toward me with a determined scowl.
It was time to see what Spector was made of.
Chapter 24
Belvini liked the sound of his own voice.
He’d been speaking at his glossy black podium for nearly an hour, while a projector showed video clips and statistics on the wall behind him. Everyone in the audience was held in rapt attention, hanging on his every word.
Meanwhile, the other hybrids and I were standing like cattle in a herd, waiting to be shown off. We couldn’t see very much, since there was a wall of Spector guards standing in front of us, but I caught enough of the information displayed to realize just how many rituals Belvini had to have implemented in order to get the numbers he boasted. Five years. This program had been going on for five years while Belvini tweaked and perfected the possession rituals. When he showed a graph boasting his higher success ratio, my stomach churned. So many deaths. So many lives altered forever.
No one in the audience asked anything about
