Part One: Chapter 1

“You have been given a free ride thus far,” said General Edwards. “It’s time to test your duty to this country. I need to know, are you up for it, Ms. Layton?”

The confusing question did little to settle my nerves. Edwards was an uptight, yes-man, who now expected others to yes-man him. Somewhere in his sixties, his shortly cropped hair and shaved face, all the way to his shiny black boots, proved he had no business commanding a fighting force. He didn’t get dirty, nor go without meals or a place to urinate or shit in privacy. This was his third appearance during the past year at an outpost he commanded. It was the first time I’d been ordered to his barely used office which was a tent larger than my sleeping quarters.

Who exactly was I to be called in front of a general?

Tara Layton, at your service. I was the only civilian at the outpost and I desperately needed to stay under the radar. My shoulder-length, thick brown hair, uninteresting features that no one would call beautiful, and five two height, allowed me to stay far below that radar. The general was not helping matters. Forty years ago, vampires and werewolves decided to make their presence known to humans. It went over like one would expect. If it was different than us, kill it.

All hell had broken loose because as it turned out, vampires and werewolves were hard to kill. It would have been easier if the powers that be had figured out early on that the two supernatural entities hated each other. Humans could have teamed up with one side or the other and possibly won. Nope, that’s not how the elite human race worked. Monsters were monsters and needed to be annihilated.

Long story short, we lost the war. Vampires and werewolves had been in control for ten years. Our human military had a limited force and its primary function was to keep rural areas safe. Rural areas were overpopulated due to the surge from the cities. Not all humans lived rurally, but human street gangs ran the city and the people who lived there were a breed of tough individuals who could handle the new rules. This was all happening while vampires and werewolves continued fighting each other. Vamps had the eastern states and weres the west. The military outpost I called home was in the center of the two.

There had to be a catastrophic reason I was standing in front of the general. I was so stunned at what he’d asked me that concentration was hard. He also had a mole on his chin that had two long black hairs growing from it and no matter how much I tried not to see it, I failed.

“Ms. Layton, you haven’t answered my question.”

Oh right, there was a question. Why didn’t he just pluck the hairs?

Edwards was the top commander in the area and he’d never liked me. He’d arrived at the outpost an hour before. The primary function of this unit was to give humans safe passage to towns that no longer wanted them. Sometimes military intervention was required to make the towns open their doors.

I needed to focus and take the general’s question seriously. I had to look him in the eyes, forget the mole, and say exactly what he wanted to hear. So why did I have such a bad feeling about this?

Doing as the general requested could gain me a military position. But, and that was a huge but, I had to keep a low profile. I’d managed to do so for years and a bonified rank wasn’t in my plans.

“How would you like me to answer your question?” I asked carefully, stalling for time so I could think this through.

The general sputtered. Edwards expected blind loyalty even from a lowly civilian. His incredulous gaze went to the other man standing in the tent, Captain Davies. Davies was medium height with a nice full head of military cut brown hair. His most stunning feature was his eyes that were hazel, with eyelashes most women would die for. I wasn’t most women. I didn’t want to catch his eye and draw attention to myself. I didn’t wear makeup or do more than toss my hair in a ponytail to get ready each morning. I wore clothing two sizes too large to hide my curves.

Nothing to see here; I’m a dweeb with a capital D. Davies tended to ignore me and I was good with it.

The general’s eyes said a lot as he stared at me. He didn’t need to open his mouth. His contempt was clear. I glanced at the captain. His uniform wasn’t anywhere near the pristine condition of the general’s and his boots were dusty to the point you couldn’t find the shine with a magnifying glass. He led tough men who killed if it was warranted, and he had their back when they needed him. You would never find him behind a desk.

A small electric current built at my fingertips and I pulled it back. Each day it seemed to get stronger and I wasn’t sure why. If anyone discovered what I was hiding, I was as good as dead. Yeah, I admit it, I was one of the monsters. I wasn’t a vampire or werewolf. I had no idea what I was other than nonhuman.

When I was a child, my father told me I was special, but he said no one could know how special. Objects moved around me and if I wanted something, it appeared in front of me. I was punished when it happened. No, not physically. My father would ignore me and isolate me from his love. It was a harsh lesson but as I grew older, I understood. To be supernatural when humans were still fighting the inevitable, was a death sentence.

My father instilled fear in me and I listened to that fear. After he died, I hid in plain sight. Even though the vampires and werewolves had won the war by then, my fear continued. My job for the military was that of a kitchen grunt. I helped the cook and had cleanup duty.

The job sucked but I felt safe.

Now, for some reason, me, a nobody, was needed to do something very unsafe.

Then it dawned on me. I was expendable.

As minutes ticked by, General Edward’s face went from red to purple. Neither was a good color for him. Had he expected me to jump up and down with joy?

“General, what Ms. Layton is saying is that she’s willing to do whatever it takes.”

The captain didn’t look at me when he said this, but it proved he was a good bullshitter. He oversaw a group of half-crazy rangers who patrolled the outskirts of the city and helped humans escape. Although the captain kept his distance, a few of his rangers befriended me for some odd reason.

The general looked at me, his contempt dripping with the beads of sweat hanging off his chin and mole.

“What do you need from me, General Edwards?” I finally asked.

“This is top secret,” he began and gave me his hardest stare.

I used my finger and made a crisscross over my heart, then laid my palm flat over it to symbolize secrecy. Maybe I should have made a shhh motion with one finger over my lips. He didn’t look impressed with the heart gesture.

“A group of rangers disappeared inside the city,” he said. “We need to know what happened to them.”

“Rangers can’t go into the city,” I said foolishly.

“Sometimes it’s necessary.” A hard stare accompanied his words.

“I’m a civilian. What can I possibly do?” I asked next.

He tried to shred me with his eyes, but it didn’t work. I stood my ground. As a kitchen grunt, I was accustomed to bullying by pretty much everyone. If it weren’t for the group of rangers who semi-adopted me, my life would be hell.

“Frankly, Ms. Layton,” the general said. “You are a nobody. The city is filled with people like you and no one will suspect you.”

Most people didn’t understand why humans stayed in the cities. They were almost considered traitors. I’d lived with my father in the city until I was eighteen and I knew differently. They were strong and they survived the new world without hiding. If it wasn’t for the gangs, I would have returned to the city years ago.

“Do I have a choice?” I asked, trying to keep my tone level.

His purple face darkened further. I might be blamed if his head exploded but the thought didn’t bother me much.