CHAPTER 6
"Is that supposed to mean something to me?" Ava Morales snorted. "My Catholic school education didn't really cover tarot cards."
"With good reason," he growled. "They are largely in the realm of charlatan psychics. I don't believe actual witches ever used them, but the symbolism of the card could be significant."
"I'm all ears."
"Traditional tarot decks depict the ten of swords as a lifeless man lying with ten swords sticking out of his back," he read. "It's a death card that signals death, destruction, and betrayal."
"Beautiful," Ava Morales said dryly, "but pretty fitting. Both shifters who used me as the Huntress were deceased."
Father Augustine remained quiet for a moment. Whenever he did, it made her go back to his office as headmaster in high school. She saw enough of him then and not just because he was training her as a hunter. If she didn't take something as seriously as he needed her to, he would stay quiet and wait.
“This is nothing to laugh about, young lady,” he fell into his practiced headmaster voice. “You could be in danger.”
“I hunt monsters for a living. I’m in danger a lot,” Ava Morales replied.
Her speech was inflammatory. Despite her bluster, she believed the same. If more shifters possessed the card, at least she'd have more runners like the bastards she'd just murdered. An enterprising monster might try to turn the tables, hunt the Huntress.
"Never mind, I believe it would be for the best," he breathed out and his voice faltered as he went on to say, "if we remove you from the field for a bit."
"Huh?" Ava Morales sat up in the tub and splashed water on her new bath mat. "Sir, I'm not scared. I've been in jail before, and I'll be in jail again. If the card scares you that badly, I'll just change my appearance. I need a haircut anyway."
"That would be a good idea…with the exception of a respite from active hunts." He let out another heavy sigh. "Once we learn more about the card and the potential danger it could represent, we can revisit your fieldwork."
"Come on," Ava Morales snapped and slapped the water with her other hand. "I'm your best hunter. You can't afford to sit me."
Father Augustine spoke out in praise of monster hunting as a godly vocation. As much as she had mixed feelings about the man upstairs, she didn't take it that far, but he was right at least in part. It wasn't a job for her. It was calling—not only that, it was her life.
"Don't mind that. I've already talked with my sub-Saharan counterpart. Things have been pretty quiet there. They will lend us a hunter or two until we've resolved this card issue."
"So, what am I to be doing meanwhile?" Her fingers on the phone tightened. "I can promise you that you won't want me doing my official duties at St. Michael's Shelter. I do not do paperwork."
She knew he was just being protective. Hell, part of her thought it was cute. He was more than her boss. Since the death of her parents, he was the closest thing she had to a father figure. Nevertheless, the prospect of giving up the chase even for a brief moment was driving her crazy like she never was before, not even when a shifter overpowered her.
"I know that. Sister Sophia nags me constantly about your After-Action Reports," he said dryly. "No, I have another job for you. Do you remember when you spoke to me about Ethan Blackwood?"
It appeared to drop the water temperature by a hundred degrees. Ethan Blackwood had such mastery over his inner beast that she barely felt anything from him—with her shifter detection sense of smell, that is. When she told Father Augustine about him, she hadn't had proof of him being a shifter. Hunters had to report any shifter they came across, but she didn't reveal Ethan Blackwood to Father Augustine when she finally got the whole truth.
What about him?" Ava Morales tried to mask the emotion in her tone, but it was as flat as it could be.
"His company is creating a facial recognition software that we would die for to get hold of." Papers crinkled once more. "I've organized a position as an observer at his company while they finish the project. I want you to do it as the observer. Observe Blackwood and the software."
"I know nothing about computers." Ava Morales would rather be marooned at St. Michael's Shelter, muddling through her cover job as an administrator, than be within ten feet of Ethan Blackwood. Catching a glimpse of him now, she didn't know whether she'd melt into his arms or plunge a silver dagger into his chest.
"The perfect mark you achieved in Sister Sophia's Introduction to Computer Programing class would appear to be a contradiction to that," he teased.
"It was an introductory survey class at the high school level that is hardly enough to merit having me placed in his company." Her stomach dropped as she realized he was not going to take no for an answer.
"Is there another reason you don't want to do this?" His taunting intensified as he spoke. "Does someone have a crush on the beautiful CEO?"
"No, sir, but I'm not starting today," Ava Morales huffed, resigning herself to the inevitable."I got home less than an hour ago.".
Ava, it's Sunday today. I don't think they would be in the office," he chuckled. "I'll tell them to get ready for my observer to visit tomorrow, and I'll give you the address. And please do come in today. I'm assuming that you are running out of your medicine.
After she hung up the phone, Ava Morales leaned back in the tub until her head submerged in water. She was not a delicate little girl with a crush. She was the Huntress, and Ethan Blackwood was a shifter. And in her limited exposure to the man, he had kept his beast on a leash.
Working with him gave her an opportunity to see if indeed he kept his inner beast in check. And if she nudged him a little—tried to coax the wolf out into the open—he'd be able to earn his spurs. Or give her a reason to end his life.
She pulled her head back above the water, gasped a huge lungful of air. What would Father Augustine's observer wear to the office? She'd need to go out and buy it, but she could do that later. Her hand caressed down across her belly. Might as well try to get it out of her system first.