Among Demons : Rebellious Huntress

Chapter 13 : Recorded Plans

The next morning, after managing to slip away from my parents who clearly wanted to ambush me with a long and pointless lecture, I stayed cooped up in my room, simply waiting.

I needed to time my exit perfectly in order to go out throughout the estate and collect all of the memory cards from the devices I have hidden. I also needed a bit of extra time to slip in the replacement memory cards or newly charged batteries to others. So my timing had to be perfect. I couldn’t risk having one of my brothers, their wives or even the cleaning crew that my mother hired spotting me while I moved around.

It was annoying, since I’m not the most patient person in the world. But I paced around and waited. Then waited some more until I started hearing people leave. So, in order to confirm their absence, I snuck down to the foot of the stairs, hiding behind the door that I opened just a bit in order to peep out towards the front door.

I could see Emma, dramatically rubbing her growing belly in a fancy looking peach colored maternity dress, acting as if merely standing there in her riches was the most difficult thing in the world. Sophia was beside her, wiggling uncomfortably in a shiny silk blouse that clearly bothered her neck and wrists. They chatted happily about something I couldn’t hear, both smiling and laughing before my mother joined them. Rolling my eyes and guessing that they were going out to enjoy another day at their favorite spa, I watched until they vanished behind the heavy wooden doors.

My brothers then walked out of the estate a little while later, one after the other. I sat back on the bottom step and waited another long few hours before the sound of the cleaning crew moved closer to the main doors. Then, another long silent while later, my father made his way towards the doors. My ears perked up though, when I heard his loud and carefree voice as he spoke into the phone.

Peeking out once more, I narrowed my eyes and slowly shook my head.

He was smiling softly as he pulled on a nice suit jacket and fussed over his tie. His tone was gentle, loving and filled with longing. I instantly knew who he was talking to and I sighed as I kneeled on the ground, watching as he opened the doors, stepped out and closed them behind him.

My father Connor had kept a secret that only my mother and his father knew about. One that was tightly concealed and protected so the family name would never become tainted by such a scandal. I had learned about it after I started spying on my family and was so very curious about it that I dug deeper until I uncovered every last fragment of the truth.

It turned out that Connor never actually loved my mother. They were nothing more than a marriage of convenience and even after all these years and several children, neither one of them grew to love each other. There was respect, platonic affection and care, sure, but real love? Never. I even learned that my father never once touched my mother, baring the soft public kisses they shared when around business partners, employees or anyone else in the public eye. My brothers and I were all essentially created through science, with test tubes combining DNA from our parents that our mother later carried and gave birth to.

It’s not that my father doesn’t feel love or anything like that. He just doesn’t love the woman he married. But he does love someone else. A woman he deeply cherishes. His long kept secret, and his high school sweetheart who came from nothing. Her name is Poppy, an orphan who never managed to even graduate from high school since she had to work to feed and care for her younger siblings who she ended up gaining guardianship of once she became an adult. Still, even when she stopped attending classes, or when my father's engagement with my mother was announced, Connor never once left her.

His parents never approved of her and vehemently opposed having his lover as their daughter-in-law when they found out that she was born completely sterile. So, an agreement was made. My father would marry my mother, a woman handpicked by his mother, and give her the power and respect that came with being his wife. He was also expected to father multiple kids with her, though physical intimacy was never a requirement so each one of us was created thanks to science. All the while, Connor would be allowed to do whatever he pleased with the woman he loved. He paid for her living expenses, helped her with her siblings schooling and college, took her out on secret trips abroad, and spent every spare second he could with her.

Sadly, things weren’t going in his favor lately.

In the last few months, I have recorded the many phone calls he had made to different specialist doctors across the U.S., and at first, I was confused since everyone in our family was in perfect health. But when he mentioned the address of the patient he needed to care for, I figured it out.

It turned out that his beloved Poppy had been diagnosed with a form of uterine cancer that was spreading rather rapidly. And in his deep devotion to her, he was not only doing everything he could to find someone to help cure her, but he was throwing money at her every wish and whim. I had heard him swear that he would help her fill her every final day with beautiful, loving memories so she would be happy and strong through her treatments. And then I watched as the man that never hesitated to curse me, insult me and stare me down with ice in his gaze, crumpled to his knees in tears after each and every phone call, detailing her worsening condition.

And now, it looked like he was once again going to spend the day by her bedside.

I shook off the bitterness that was clawing at my insides and pushed the door open further. I made sure I made many loud noises as I wandered around the large living room before climbing the main staircase. I needed to make sure that no one else was present, and making such booming sounds would typically make my family members shout to make me stop. As I wandered and looked around, I guessed that my brother or sister-in-law made sure to drop off Henry at a friend's house or in daycare before they left. And with one final peek into all of their rooms, I concluded that I was alone and happily began my work.

Humming to myself, I darted from room to room, replacing the memory cards and batteries as fast as my little fingers could move. Thankfully, it didn’t take me very long to put everything back in its secret little spot. So, once I was done with that task, I fished around my brothers rooms, my parents room and the offices’ that they occasionally used. I searched high and low for any incriminating document I could find, any thumb drive they left behind, any picture of things they didn’t want others to see.

I grumbled when I didn’t find anything useful, turning to return to my room so I could sit back and review the recordings and memory cards I gathered.

Of course, I made sure that I took the time to gather some snacks and a drink, even managing to find some sweets too before climbing back up to my room. I grabbed my dark pink headphones and settled myself onto my bed to begin listening to everything that was recorded.

The hours that passed were grueling and frustrating at first, but that was only thanks to the lovely things that my family members were saying about me when I’m not around. I did feel incredibly grossed out and uncomfortable a few times too, when my devices caught the words and sounds that came from my brothers getting down and dirty with their wives in places outside of their rooms. I had to take breaks after listening to just a few seconds of that filth before I could make myself sit back down and skip forward to avoid being audibly scarred for life.

Still, I kept going.

I had to ensure that I wasn’t missing anything useful, critical or important. I had to make sure that I could stop any plans my family made to help the Hunters or any schemes to harm innocent Demons. It was draining work, just sitting there listening intently to my family members as they talked and joked and went about their daily lives. Sometimes the tantrums that my little nephew would throw forced me to pull my headphones off of my ears thanks to the sheer volume and unbelievable pitch he reached. Other times my mood would sour ten times more while listening to Emma's self satisfied phone conversations, her demanding whining when talking to her husband or the greedy glee she would mutter to herself while online shopping.

Finally, after spending the entire day, and most of the night munching, listening and pacing around my room, I found something.

I could hear my father and second brother talking to someone on speakerphone while relaxing in our fathers tightly locked home office. The mystery person was a man whose voice I didn’t recognize, but my father called him Adam and sounded quite happy to speak to him. He seemed to be good friends with my brother Mason as well, spending most of their time on the phone joking around and talking about other people they both knew when their call first connected. But once they got all of the friendly chit chat out of the way, my father asked him about some big ‘delivery’ that this man was sending their way.

The way he talked about it and the expression on my brother's face, like he was filled with both eagerness and disgust…. It clenched something in my stomach. But their final words to this mystery man had me replaying the video several times in order to jot down every piece of vital information.

“Don’t worry, Adam. We’ll make sure that the conex box is stored properly.” My father had said while staring at the phone. “I have a large warehouse ready to receive it and guards prepared to look after it so no one comes close.”

The man on the phone hummed for a moment before speaking, his tone no longer warm and friendly like it had been a moment ago.

“Good. We need to ensure that they are kept under lock and key before my other friend arrives for inspection.” I watched as both my father and brother nodded, their eyes glued to the phone sitting on the coffee table. “We also need to make sure that my little prizes are kept in good health. So feeding them is a must.”

“Won’t they just become strong enough to escape?” My brother asked, making the clenching feeling in my gut spread throughout my body.

“No. Not if you feed them just enough to keep them alive.” The man continued, sounding slightly annoyed. Like it bothered him to have to explain things further.

They continued to go over the things that needed to be planned for this delivery that they claimed was set to arrive in two days. I made sure to jot down the location and time of it all, as well as listing the top few aliases that my father and brothers use whenever they took on a secret little project for a Hunter Organization. I then pulled up my contact information and sent everything I learned as well as the full video of my father and brother talking about this delivery.

It didn’t take long for my phone to ring and Dolph’s voice growled when I picked up.

“You heard the same thing I did, right?” I asked him, leaning back on my mounded pillows.

It was clear to both Dolph and I that the ‘prizes’ that that prick ‘Adam’ was talking about were most definitely Demons. And from the sound of it, it was going to be a decent number of prisoners, all of whom were likely young, mostly female and probably hurt or starved to some degree. These are the more common targets that Hunters go for when it comes to taking and keeping hostages.

“Yes.” His growl deepened and rumbled through the phone for a long second before he calmed himself. “I’m forwarding everything to my Nephews right now and reaching out to Ambroz and Tancy so you can team up and plan this out.”

“Thanks Dolph.” I said, nodding while I rubbed my forehead, feeling the start of a headache. “We’re going to need a form of transportation too. Something big enough to keep however many captives are found inside that damn conex box.” I paused, thinking over everything necessary for this rescue. “A first aid kit and some healing potions too, just in case.”

“I’ll make sure everything’s prepped and ready for everyone.” I smiled and relaxed further into my soft fluffy nest, thinking over any other possible things we would need for a large rescue plan.