I walk into my room, pausing to watch as my mom flits around my room with my duffle bag, filling it with clothes and some of my weapons that she and my uncle had bought or had made for me.

“Mom, what are you doing?” I ask after watching her mumble to herself while staring at my bag.

She turns to face me, the expression on her face automatically makes me tense. “You need to go. Leave here before he finds you again. I have a friend at one of the Supe colleges who’s in charge of the security there. They can protect you better than I can. I’ll bring you there.”

Supe college, or another name for supernatural college, is pretty much a place where freaks like me -I mean, supernaturals like me- can go to learn and pretend we’re normal while learning magic and fighting. Although, I already learned everything I really need to know about my powers and fighting from my uncle, my dads brother, since my dad is gone.

I give my mother a look. “Supe college? Wouldn’t it be better to just go to the Order and ask them to help?”

The Order is the supernatural world’s police and assassins. We don’t really answer to human laws, but there has to be something in place to keep people in line.

The Order’s board is comprised of six beings. I’ve never met them but I’ve heard what they are. One is a demon, another is a shifter, there’s a vampire, an angel, a witch and a fae. The Order is also where I want to go instead of college because I’m not good for anything but fighting. It’ll be good to use my skills that I have instead of having to learn all new ones that won’t really help keep me safe.

Mom tilts her head and looks at the ceiling as she thinks about it. “Let me call your uncle and see what he thinks.” She pulls her phone out and does just that. I wait patiently for my mom to finish talking to my uncle, she sounds disappointed by what he’s saying. I’m guessing that he’s agreeing with me and she doesn’t like that because she doesn’t have any contacts there like my uncle does.

She hangs up the phone, meets my eyes and nods once, her expression sullen. “Roderick agrees with you. He says that he’ll have his friends son keep an eye on you while you’re there.”

I raise a brow. “Great. I get to be babysat?”

My mom glares at me. “Don’t start, Mimi. We need to leave now.” She tosses my bag to me. I catch it in midair.

“Why? What’s going on? Do you even know where the Order is?”

“Yes, I do. And because I saw Jerome not far from here when I was out today. Now go, Mercy!”

Fuck. Jerome. He may only be a lackey but he’s a giant dick. Last time I saw him, I’m pretty sure he almost killed me. Of course, that was when I was twelve and not nearly as strong as I am now. A lot can change in six years.

I run down the stairs of our home and race to the car. Tossing my bag into the back seat I look up and meet my mom’s frantic stare as she climbs into the driver’s side of the car. We get in and mom quickly drives us away from the house. I refuse to look back at the home that we’ve been at for the last four years. We were actually able to make a home for us here. A life.

Fucking Jerome just had go on and ruin it all. Again.

Well, it’s not necessarily just his fault. He’s doing his job but I refuse to go back to the life of being beaten daily for nothing more than being alive. At least that’s what I have always assumed I was beaten for. I never knew the exact reason they took me and locked me up, torturing me frequently.

Jerome and his boss, Payne, took me from my parents when I was eight. My family never stopped looking for me and it was my father and uncle who found me and took me back when I was twelve. My father died while they were rescuing me.

After that, my uncle made sure to be there to train me in everything I’d need to defend myself. I wish I could say that I’ve never had to use those skills but I have. Any being who wants to cash in on my capture that’s been able to find me… Well, most of them haven’t lived to tell the tale. There were a couple who got away, which is probably how Jerome knew the general area to find me. Thank gods the ones that found me at home weren’t able to tell anyone that was where they found me.

We stop after four hours of driving to the nearest Order headquarters. I look at the scenery outside and see no other roads and no other cars. Just trees and wilderness.

“Where are we?” I ask my mom, speaking the first words since we got in the car.

“We’re just about to the Order.” She reaches over and unbuckles my seatbelt. Lifting her hand to point in front of us she instructs, “Go straight through these trees and within a minute you’ll pass through their wards and you’ll find the building. Your uncle said that his friends son, a man called Aiden, will meet you at the entrance.”

“You’re not coming with?”

She shakes her head. “I’m only human baby. I can’t make it through the wards. I’ll call you when I get home and you can tell me all about this place.”

I smile and nod trying to hide the pain at the knowledge that she can’t come with me. “Alright. I’ll talk to you later.” She holds her arms out to me and I give her a hug, squeezing her to me. “Love you Mom.”

“I love you too Mercy. Now go. I don’t want to be driving all night.”

I laugh and grab my bag from the backseat before getting out. I wave to my mom, watching as she pulls away, leaving me to be babysat by people I don’t know. The thought of my mom leaving me and not knowing when I’ll see her again, or even if I’ll see her again has a pang starting in my chest and tears rushing to my eyes, wanting out. I blink several times to stop the tears from surfacing. I refuse to cry.

Taking a deep breath to calm myself I head into the darkening woods in the direction mom told me to go. Within seconds I feel the air around me shiver slightly. My skin tingles as I pass the ward to keep out humans as well as hide the place. Now that I’m past the ward I can see that there’s a large almost school-like building ahead of me, enclosed in a gate. Whereas before, all I saw was miles and miles of forest and creepy ass trees.

As I step to the gate two men appear in front of me on the other side of the gate. They are too far away from me to tell what they are. I watch them carefully, not knowing if they will let me pass or even if they are good guys.

“What is your business here?” The taller of the two asks. He’s gorgeous with his dark hair almost carefully messy, his eyes are a blood red that brings a chill down my spine, despite the fact that my father had the same eye color. The vibe I’m getting from him makes me want to run the other way. Which would make sense because now that I’m close enough I can sense and see from his eyes, that he’s a demon. A very strong one.

So, quite possibly not a good guy. Fuck.

“I’m-“ I start but am interrupted by another voice calling my name.

“Mercy!” The two men in front of me turn to face the newcomer.

“Aiden? What are you doing here?” The demon speaks again.

Aiden gestures to me and the guys turn to face me again. Aiden’s eyes are almost creepily curious as he stares at me. “I’ve come to get Mercy. You look just like your grandmother. You’ve even got her white blonde hair. Although your eyes are very different. How in the hell did you get purple eyes? I’ve never known a half-demon or demon, for that matter, to have that color before.”

I raise an eyebrow and hike my duffle higher on my shoulder. “My mother has a very light shade of blue for her eyes. For some reason, my fathers red eyes and her blue eyes kind of mixed. I don’t know why. No one was willing to explain it to me. Or, maybe they just couldn’t explain it to me.”

“Ah.” He’s quiet as he studies me for a minute. “Hunter, Talon, do me a favor and open the gates so we can let Mercy in. The quicker the better.”

“Why?” The one who hadn’t spoken yet asks, eyeing me suspiciously. His black hair falls in front of mesmerizing ocean blue eyes as he watches me. I can feel the hostility and distrust pushing off of him from here.

“Because she’s in trouble, Talon. She needs protection, and I’m actually having her assigned to your team,” Aiden says, matter-of-factly, completely ignoring Talon’s scowl.

“I actually don’t need the protection so much as somewhere to go,” I correct, holding a finger up, interrupting their conversation.

Aiden looks at me and smiles softly. “Ah, yes, your uncle said that you were adequately trained.”

“I should hope so, considering I’ve had to fight for my life and kill more times than should be normal for a young girl. Half-demon or not.”

Hunter raises his brows in what I think is shock. I can’t really blame him for being shocked. Nowadays there’s not usually much need for demons or half-demons - hell, any supernatural being really - that aren’t in the Order to fight. The fact that I’m just a half-demon and have had to fight and kill isn’t really normal in our world. Especially just turning eighteen yesterday. Even when you consider that most half-demons lose their damn minds and go on killing sprees once they hit Rogue status, it’s still not all that normal.

“So we’re going to be protecting this girl?” Talon asks, disgust plain on his face. That’s not really all that shocking either. Half-demons aren’t rare by any means, but there’s this belief that we’re below everyone else in the supernatural community. We’re just one step up from humans. We’re even under other half-human beings. Which makes absolutely no fucking sense in my opinion.

It’s stupid but that’s what happens when society is all types of fucked up. We’re weak according to most people in our world.

I stare at him long enough to make him shift uncomfortably. “I don’t need protection. I may need help but I will never ask for others to protect me when I’m perfectly capable of protecting myself.”

Hunter and Aiden look like they’re trying not to smile at Talon’s outrage and his reaction to my scrutiny.

“Is someone going to let me in or am I taking my chances out in the real world?” I ask impatiently, completely done with this shit.

Aiden nods to Hunter. He goes off to the side disappearing for a moment to do something to open the gate.

“So who’s your uncle?” Hunter asks when he gets back to the group of us after I walk through.

“Roderick.”

Hunter’s eyes narrow on me for a minute, doing a whole body sweep before meeting my eyes again. Those red eyes focus on me and lose a little of the intensity. “That makes sense.”

I raise a brow as they lead me into the building. “What does?”

“Nothing, Doll. Just talking to myself.”

I snort. “Like I’ll believe that. But go ahead and keep your secrets. God knows I’ve got plenty of them myself.”

Aiden sets my duffle bag down on a moving belt that goes through a machine that’ll detect any weapons or magical elements meant to harm. I have to bite my cheek to stop my smile as the alarm beeps, telling the men that there are weapons in the bag. They all look surprised that I’d have them with me.

“Got enough weapons there half-demon?” Talon sneers after Aiden and Hunter are finished going through my bag and pulling out all of my weapons.

I smirk. “If you think that’s all the weapons I have on my person, you’re not that bright.”

“You’re armed?” Hunter asks while putting my little arsenal back in the bag.

I nod. “Yeah. Always.”

Hunter lifts his chin at Talon who looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here. Talon comes to stand in front of me. He’s tall. At least half a foot taller than I am anyway, not that it’s that hard to be taller than me. I’m less than five and a half feet, though just barely.

With him so close I can finally sense that he’s a shifter. I think he’s a feline but I don’t know exactly what kind. It makes sense. He moves with the grace that I only know cat shifters to have. Other shifters have the animal-like grace too but none move as smoothly as a cat shifter.

He grabs my coat and takes it off, raising his eyebrows at me when he feels how heavy it is. “Is this a coat or armor?”

I smirk. “Both.” He feels around inside my coat taking note of the weapons I have concealed and chuckling when he’s finished.

“I’m assuming that’s not all.” He hasn’t even turned to look at me since taking my coat.

“Nope.” I look over and see Hunter and Aiden watching with amused smirks on their face while they trail their eyes over my exposed upper half.

Now that my coat isn’t hiding them, they can clearly see the throwing knives I have attached to my wrists. I also have a short sword attached to my lower back that I can easily reach if I have my coat on.

“Preparing for war?” Hunter asks while he eyes the daggers attached to my hips.

I smile sadly. “Sure. Something like that.”