I was a little nervous when I stood in front of the imposing low-rise building of the Venator Guild. This building, which still told stories from a long-forgotten time, would be the center of my life for the next three months from today. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration, but it was exciting.
I actually had to admit to myself that this building with its red brick facade wasn't really impressive, just old, maybe even a little dilapidated, but it still seemed imposing to me, simply because I knew what was hidden behind the wide wooden doors: The dream of my future.
Seth groaned behind me and let his annoyed gaze slide down the street under his brown hair. "Finally, here it comes."
The other four boys made noises in agreement.
For almost twenty minutes we stood here with our legs in the stomach and waited for our straggler Devin, who was now walking towards us with hasty steps.
We had agreed yesterday that we would all be here together. Ok
"So, there we are all." Jilin leaned back in her chair and looked over us. He got stuck on me. “And lo and behold, the feminine note under the rough masculinity. A rarity. Grace Shanks, if I'm not mistaken? "I nodded. "Yes I am."“I've heard a lot of good things from you, even got a letter of recommendation from your mentor Noelle Keiper. You should be his best apprentice. ""Yes, I'm pretty good at what I do."The corner of her mouth twitched. "You don't seem to be lacking in self-confidence." She let her hand wander over the folder until she pulled mine out of it. “With your grades, they would have kissed you over at the government offices. We mostly get the difficult cases that don't want to stick to the rules. So why did you end up here? You don't seem like a troublemaker. "Did she realize that the boys had nothing on their ears and could hear their every word? "I wanted to come here." When I faced her haunting gaze, I felt
“He may be a little difficult, but he respects me and follows my instructions even when he doesn't want to. Just don't let his manner scare you off, then he can teach you a lot. ”She tapped her finger on the desk. "It's up to you, I give you the choice."Which was probably more than other interns got. Was it because of something like women's solidarity? "What about you? Can't you train me? You certainly have a lot on your chest, otherwise you certainly wouldn't be sitting there. "That made her smile. “Thank you and yes, I have a lot on my mind, but you wouldn't be happy with me. After a spuma tore off my left leg, I no longer go outside. Even if I miss the hunt sometimes, with the prosthesis I am no longer fit enough for it. "When I was still thinking about her words, Max appeared in the doorway. "What is there?""Just a moment." She looked back at me. "So how do you decide?"Clearly, there was only one answer. "I'll try with hi
With that I must have found my target object. Let's go. I started moving directly towards him, but he just ran past me as if he hadn't seen me, he was so absorbed in his phone call. Great.I followed him, circled him and stood directly in front of him. "Hey, I'm ...""I'll make a phone call, in case you haven't noticed!" He snapped at me and just went on to his car. "Just such a stupid brat," I heard him say into the phone as he unlocked his car and swung behind the wheel.Oh no, no way. I wouldn't let myself get rid of that easily, he could forget that.I was at the car in three steps, threw open the door and swung myself into the passenger seat. It took me a moment to organize my feet as the whole footwell was full of trash. Old food packaging, cans, bottles, empty cigarette boxes, paper. It gave the impression that he wanted to open his own dump here - that was really disgusting. The overflowing ashtray in the dash didn't look much better either. And t
I'm talking, you shut up," Reese ordered as he rang the doorbell next to the Miehe family name tag.I crossed my arms over my chest and refrained from saying anything. Slowly the guy really got on my nerves. How incompetent did he think I was?While we had to wait, I looked around a little. We were standing in front of a single-family house, a new building in the best part of town. Clearly someone lived here who earned a good income and also placed great emphasis on order and maintenance. Each bush was precisely trimmed, each flower explicitly in its designated place. Even the lawn was so precisely straight that one might believe that the individual stalks would not dare to grow too long in order not to spoil the overall picture.Until the front door opened, Reese had to ring one more time and then wait patiently. He didn't get angry, as I would have expected from him and even put on a friendly smile when the door was opened by an older gentleman. My God, I woul
Now it was time to do something, because even in the age of the proles it was against the law to shoot a gun in town. Just what should i do?"These critters will still wish they were never born!""No, please, that is not necessary, I just wanted to ask ...""No ?!" He looked at me in disbelief. “Do you want to protect these beasts? Are you one of those fanatics who give monsters a right to life ?! I should shoot you too! You are …"Shit, that got completely out of hand. "No, I don't belong to those people.""... just as bad as these man-eating beasts who ..."He wasn't even listening to me."... women and children eat because a mad scientist somewhere ..."I looked around looking for help, but it was just Reese at the neighbor's. Of course he had already noticed us through the screaming, but I didn't expect any help from him."... has experimented with things that he has no idea about and who is allowed to p
I rose carefully and let my gaze wander carefully through the garden. Everything seemed normal, but the red spot at my feet spoke a completely different language. Something was wrong, it was like a vibration in the air that I could feel in my bones. And when I remembered that no one had opened the front door, I got a really bad feeling.By now it would have made the most sense to let Reese know, but there didn't seem to be any proles in this garden. And if I was wrong about the stain, then I should feel his condescension again and I didn't want that. I wanted to prove that I wasn't worthless baggage, that I was good for something and that he had to see that it wouldn't be a waste of time to accept me as a real intern.I hesitated for a moment, but then I gave myself a jerk and went deeper into the garden. I would just take a quick look around and maybe take a look through the window into the house. Then I would certainly have more knowledge to present to Reese.
My jaw dropped smoothly. "What do you care about my bust size? I'm not asking about the length of your… "Okay, the fact that I was blushing now didn't speak for me. "You know," I muttered softly into my non-existent beard, hoping he hadn't understood."You are welcome to pretend, I have no reason to be ashamed of myself, on the contrary and hey, while we're on the subject," he half turned to me and completely ignored the traffic, which was in me caused some panic. "If you feel like a number, you can certainly talk about it. I don't have to look at you. "Well tell me what was going on in his head? "Do you still have them all? How did you get the idea that I would get into bed with something like you? I've never seen that before and if you think that I need it so much that I… ”I fell silent when suddenly something became clear to me. "You don't mean that at all, you just want to disgust me." Stubbornly, I crossed my arms over my chest. “But you
Mr. Miehe looked back and forth between us, somewhat confused, and finally got stuck with me. “Even if the young man didn't express himself very politely, he is right. Venator is not a job for a young lady. ""Quite my speech," Reese pushed afterwards.Great, I really needed that now. Were there still men anywhere who did not have a misogynous streak? I had had to do enough of all this nonsense to myself in the academy for the past two years. Didn't that have to end at some point? I actually thought I would live in an emancipated society. “The head of the Venator's Guild is a woman. She's even a master. ”I looked provocatively at Reese. "Does she know your misogynistic attitude?"His eyes narrowed a little. "Jilin knows many things about me." With these cryptic words, he turned back to Mr. Miehe. "Before I start looking for the Proles, I have one more question."Me ? Didn't he mean us ? If he thought he could just outrun me, he'd cut himself. I would stick to
It's not that bad," mumbled Nick and rolled over on his back, yawning. I ignored Reese when Nick held out his hand to me. With the smile on his face, he seemed just the same again - nothing reminded of Mr. Who and the meat fork. Smiling, I ran across the room and sat down on the mattress with him. "How are you?" "Now that you're sitting next to me, better." That was really cute. "And your arm?" "I'll get him his painkillers," Reese announced and then disappeared from the doorway with one last hostile look at me. Nick looked after him thoughtfully. "He is angry." “Can you blame him? He was right, I shouldn't have just left the door open. " He turned his head so he could look me in the face. "Did I understand that correctly? You took out the garbage? " "I've cleaned up." "Where? Here?" "Well, the apartment." I shrugged my shoulders indifferently. "Just cleaned up a little." "Why?" Hm, an honest answer might
I ignored him and reached into the basket again, but before I could even touch the laundry, he had roughly grabbed my arm and pushed me towards the kitchen door. I stumbled and didn't fall because I could catch myself on the sofa. I hit my leg in the process, but the pain in my arm was much worse. Reese had hit the exact same spot where Nick grabbed me yesterday morning. There was a bruise on my skin there and it fucking hurt when he pressed there."And now finally get out of here and don't be seen here anymore!"I didn't think I was as angry with another person as I was at this moment in my life. No matter what kind of problems he had, it didn't give him the right to talk to me like that and that's why there was only one thing I could say back. "No."Reese blinked once, as if he couldn't believe what I'd just said of myself. "What did you say?""I said no. Nick wants me here and I won't go until he demands it. ”I straightened up and glared at him.
I stood tense in the kitchen and listened to the noises of the door closing."Nick?"Damn it, it really was Reese. Immediately our last meeting shot through my head.Hussy.Slut.Whore.I pinched my lips in a thin line and turned back to the laundry. I wouldn't let him drive me away again. Nick was my friend and I had every right to be here.I listened carefully to his steps. I could tell exactly when Reese stepped into the kitchen and saw me on the clothes horse. It wasn't just the fading of the noises, it was almost like a dark aura that entered the room with him and tried to push me against the nearest wall. Anger. I could practically feel it.But he didn't say anything, just stood silently in my back and that made me more nervous than if he had yelled at me straight away. Why didn't he say anything? I tried not to show my nervousness and just pulled the next item of laundry out of the basket. “I've already put the res
Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself off the wall and marched back into the kitchen. I was not finished yet. The dishes were still waiting and the floor also had to be mopped. The only room that escaped my cleaning madness was Reese's room, and only because he would probably cut me into four and then dump me with Mr. Who's remains if I even set foot in there. I had even cleaned the surface of Nick's room. Very quietly so as not to wake him up. He seemed to need sleep.The kitchen finally looked homely. I had even cleaned the upholstery of the couch with whatever was available to me. That alone had cost me an hour.Sighing, I stood at the sink and began to work on the soaked dishes. That was not that easy, because although I had put it in the water almost two hours ago to get the dried up food scraps away, there were some stubborn stains that resisted steadfastly and so I stood at the sink for a while before I did the last plate hoisted the white flag and was clean aga
I promised." I broke away from him, ran my hand over his stubbly cheek. The blond shadow of the beard was barely visible, but the dark circles under the eyes emerged very clearly. And also the pale skin color. He wasn't doing well, but I couldn't tell if it was because he had just stabbed his pet because I didn't like it, or the injury and the medication. But I knew one thing very well. "You belong in bed.""I've been in bed all morning." His hand also came to rest on my cheek, the hand with which he had just stabbed so coldly.I had to pull myself together hard not to shrink from it. “And with good reason. Come on, we'll put you under the covers again. "He chewed his lips briefly, looking in my eyes for an answer whose question I didn't know. "Will you stay with me?"That was probably the first real smile he got from me today. "Naturally. That's why I'm here, right? I lie down with you. ""OK."Since he didn't move, I took his hand a
Reese built this cage for me," he said quietly. His hand loosened the cramp on the grille and brushed toward the door. “He put a lock in, you see? Only he can open the cage. He doesn't give me the key. He always carries it with him. "Confusion showed on my face. Why did he tell me this?“Back then, Norbert told Reese that I should get a pet. It might help me to keep my balance, it makes me feel responsible, but I never got the key. ”He gave me a wry smile. His eyes looked slightly glazed, his gaze somehow distant. Was he still under the influence of the medication?“Nick, please get out of there. You belong in bed. "“He never gave me the key. I could only feed Mr. Who. ”His hand fell off the cage. There was something sad in his eyes as he turned and crossed the room to the kitchenette. "I've had it for a year now," he told me as he pulled out a drawer and rummaged in it. “In the beginning he tried to bite me a f
The door was ajar. I still didn't feel comfortable being here. I was happy and was able to assure myself that Nick was fine, but I was absent from the academy without excuse and that gave me a massive stomach rumble. I had never skipped before. Never!Taking a deep breath, I stepped into the apartment and quietly closed the door behind me. Immediately I had the smell of cold smoke and leftover food in my nose again. Did these guys never air? "Nick?""In the kitchen!" He called back.I took off my shoes and jacket and then took the now familiar path - although you couldn't really speak of familiar, after all, I had only been here twice. And once Reese chased me away. What would he say if he caught me here now? What did I care? It was absolutely none of his business! I just had to keep telling myself that, maybe at some point I wouldn't really care what he was thinking. I didn't even understand why I didn't care. Why did I care what Reese thought? And why the hell
Did I wake you up?"Nick! Immediately I sat upright in bed, "Are you all right? I mean, Reese said you ... ""Take it easy, Cherry, everything is okay with me.""Cherry?" Was he mistaking me now? Had something on his head after all?Nick laughed softly. "Naturally. Cherry, cherry. They are as red as your hair and just as cute as you. "My mouth opened a bit, but no word would come out. Was that supposed to be a mess? But why should he do that?"Are you there?""Um ... yes, I am." I sleepily pushed my hair back from my face. "I ..."An annoyed groan came from Wynn's bed. “Can't you go out if you have to call at this time? I still want to sleep!"I would have loved to roll my eyes. She never considered me either, but since I had to get up immediately anyway, I could just as easily turn off my alarm clock and start the day a little earlier."Grace?""Yes, wait a minute." I got out of bed and crept out of
My reputation was enough to get you back to the real issue. “Well, Nick was with them, but he's been released in the meantime. Since I couldn't prove that I really am his fiancée, the sister couldn't give me any exact information. But at least I know this much that the injury is not life-threatening. On the whole, he was just angry that this happened to him. ""So he's fine?" Where did my powerful voice go?Evangeline nodded. “Yes, he was given painkillers and sedatives. Reese probably drove him home then. ""Sedatives?" I frowned. "Why was he given tranquilizers?" Nick wasn't someone who was on the verge of collapse because of something like that. Or? No definitely not. The fact that he had been given tranquilizers didn't fit into the picture at all.She just shrugged. "No idea. I can only reproduce what I have heard. ""The best thing is to just call him yourself", thought Domenico and handed me my cell phone.It took me