Here we have the first chapter of The Huntress' Name, sequel to The Huntress. If you haven't read The Huntress yet then you should go to my profile and read that one first... 

To the side I've attached a song for Electra and Jared... AKA Eliza and James. Hope you enjoy the song and the chapter!!

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I checked myself in the bathroom mirror before leaving the small space and going back out into the heavily crowded pub. The now familiar smell of alcohol and sweat assulted my nose. I pushed through the many bodies that were mingling about. 

Jare-James came into view as I pushed my way through and I stopped in my tracks. There was a blond sitting next to him, taking up the seat that I'd left when I went to the bathroom. Jame's head tipped back in laughter and the girl was giggling next to him. 

What in the world were they laughing at? What could possibly be so funny?

I felt an unfamiliar rage build up inside me. It wasn't related to the anger I felt for The Organization, it wasn't an anger spurred by a fight. This was something different entirely and I didn't like it. 

I found my hand twisting the ring on my right finger in anger. I looked down at it with an idea in mind. The corner of my mouth pulled up into a smirk as I pulled the ring from my right hand and moved it over to the left and then I made my way to Jame's side. 

"There you are, baby," I said in a voice that sounded all too happy. My arm went around his neck, my hand sliding down to rest on his chest clearly showing the ring I'd just put there. 

I could tell he'd seen it. 

I smiled cheerily at the blond that was beside us. 

"Well are you going to introduce me, darling?" I asked sweetly. 

"Uh, we were just talking, I don't really-"

"Well I'm Eliza Jacobson. I'm his fiancée, it's so good to meet you."

The woman looked at me with wide eyes and turned, walking away. I hopped onto the seat with a satisfactory grin. 

"You know she was just asking for directions," James said in a mildly amused tone. 

"I'm sure she was... while she was flipping her hair and batting her eyelashes. You don't even know how to get places here yourself." I started sipping on a beer that he'd ordered for me. 

He looked down at the ring on my hand and my eyes flashed down as well. 

"I like the way that looks on you," he said quietly. His eyes moved up to mine, burning deep inside me. I gulped slightly and took the ring off to move it back to my right hand. 

"What? You want to stake your claim but when that's done you want to back away?" One corner of his mouth pulled up. I couldn't tell if he was joking or completely serious right now. All I could do was shrug and fill the awkward silence with a big swig of the amber liquid. 

"It's nothing like that," I said. But was that really true? That's essentially what I'd done, I'd done what I'd needed to let her know that he was mine. In hindsight there was probably a better way to do that than to pretend we were engaged. 

"What was so funny?"

"What?" James asked, his head tilting to the side. 

"You were both laughing, what was so funny?"

"We were just talking about how long we'd been here and she'd said something funny."

"I thought she was asking for directions."

James sighed. "She was, and I'd said that I didn't really know the area well myself. El-Eliza, we were just talking." He paused for a moment. "You're so adorable when you get jealous." A ridiculous smile spread across his face. 

"Whoa, whoa. I was not jealous. So far from jealous in fact. I do not get jealous."

"If you say so." He finished the remainder of his beer. "Are you ready to go?" 

I took another long swig of mine and stood up. "As ready as I'll ever be." 

We walked down the sidewalk in the slightly chilly London air. This had been our home for the past month. We'd decided the best way to lay low would be to get away from The Organization's immediate reach. 

The Organization did have a branch in Europe, but I was fairly sure they wouldn't expect me to leave the country, and if they were watching, they probably had Electra Jaeger flagged, not Eliza Jacobson. We figured leaving the country for a while would be the best way to fly under their radar but we needed to get back eventually. 

We'd agreed to do a little looking around here as well. See how The Organization over here worked, if it was much the same way or different. Find out if there were others here that believed the same as I did. 

We walked into the back way of the hotel and up to our room. We were on the third floor. I'd made sure we got a room that was close enough to the ground that we would have multiple escape options in the off chance that we were ever found. 

We'd decided on a place that was a bit bigger, making sure there were plenty of escape options. If we were found out, I wanted to make sure the people after us would be spread thin having to cover all the exits. 

I took my jacket off and plopped down on the bed as soon as I walked in. I could feel a slight buzz in my head by this point. 

"It's so much nicer when you don't need a fake age to go into a bar," I sighed. "Just walk on in, it's perfectly fine. The United States should really reconsider the age restriction."

"I believe the last time it was really reconsidered, it was raised," James pointed out. He sat next to me. "I had a plan for a little later."

"Oh really? And what is this plan exactly?"

He looked out the window before looking down at me. "You'll see in about an hour."

"You know I'm not a surprise kind of girl," I said with a slight pout. 

"Well I guess you'll just have to suck it up." He ran his thumb along my protruding pouty bottom lip with a smile spread across his face. 

The simple touch sent those flames through my body. 

It had been three months since we'd left Trevor's place, going off on our own, and one month since we'd decided laying low would be easier in a different country. 

I'd never been to London and when James had heard that, he'd said London it is. 

"Electra-"

"Nope. We've been over this so many times." This had been my life for the past three months. Reminding him not to use our names. Jared and Electra were gone and we needed to accept that. Maybe one day they could come back but I wasn't holding out my hopes for that day. I'd even been mentally stumbling over our names. It was hard to think of him as James instead of Jared, but it was a change that I needed to make. 

"We're in the private of our room. I think saying your name, your name, is perfectly fine behind these closed doors."

I just shook my head. "You can never guarantee that we are in private. This is a public hotel, you can't promise that there is no way that no one is listening. Even if you could, it's just a bad idea to drop the habit. If we allow ourselves to do that then it's more likely for us to slip up later." I sat up on the bed turning toward him. 

"You're already having issues. I caught your stutter over my name. If you start calling me Electra behind closed doors then it will just be harder for you to remember to call me Eliza out there." I gestured toward the window. 

"But you are Electra. You are my Electra."

"No I'm not," I shook my head. "That's not who I am, not anymore. I don't want to be her. I am Eliza Jacobson a girl from San Francisco, California who came from a family of four. Taking a year off of school to travel around Europe with my wonderful boyfriend, James Ryce." I placed my hands on each side of his face and kissed him lightly. 

"Got it?" I smiled at him and he sighed in defeat. We'd been over this many, many times. My answer never changed, my resolve only solidifying each time we went over it. He had no solid argument to sway me his way. 

It wasn't just that it was practical to let our old lives die away, but I wanted my old life to die away. I'd clung to this new identity as my new life, my chance to discard who I was and become someone else entirely. Eliza Jacobson didn't have the baggage of The Organization. She was a perfectly ordinary girl from California. I wanted her, that was the life I wanted. 

"Are you ready to go?" He asked switching topics. 

"It hasn't been an hour yet."

"No, but I want to take you out now."

Take me out? We'd done a fair amount of staying in. If we went somewhere it wasn't too far from the hotel. We hadn't been brave enough to venture too far yet. I really wasn't a fan of surprises. 

I reluctantly got up and slipped my jacket back on. Luckily the buzz wasn't much more than that and it was starting to die off already, leaving behind just a slight tiredness. 

We used the stairs to go down to the lobby and when we left through the front door, a door we hadn't used since the day we got there, James walked up to the edge of the sidewalk. He called a cab and when it pulled up, he held open the door for me to get in first. He followed after me. 

He gave the cabby an address and he took off. My eyes went wide and one hand was clutching the edge of the seat, the other squeezing Jame's knee for dear life. 

He chuckled slightly as he took in my clearly flustered state. This was the not just the first time I'd been in a cab in London, it was the first time I'd taken a cab at all. I wasn't sure if this was normal for all cabs, but this driver was driving like a bat out of hell. 

I held on for dear life hoping the ride would be over shortly. Jame's hand went over my own, rubbing it slowly trying to ease my tension. It wasn't working. 

It felt like we were flying over speed bumps. You know, the things that were a sign to slow down back in the states. No, we were flying over those at nearly forty miles per hour. I was sure James was trying to get me killed. This had to be payback for the times I'd nearly killed him. 

At least I'd never taken it this far, I shouted in my head. 

Finally the cab pulled to a stop. James thanked the driver and payed him. He opened the door and got out smoothly. I on the other hand, nearly fell on my face on the ground with how fast I was trying to escape the metal death trap on wheels. 

I desperately hopped that I wouldn't have to go in one of those again, but I knew it was a foolish hope. We would have to get back somehow. 

James steadied me on my feet and tried to hide his smile. 

"Here we are," he said. 

I looked around. We were in the touristy area of London now. I could tell by the large masses of people. I looked behind me and gasped. The London Eye. 

"I was thinking we could take a ride," he said. 

I just looked up at the massive structure. It was a Ferris wheel. A freaking huge Ferris wheel. 

James pulled me after him by my hand. He pulled a set of tickets out of his back pocket and we walked up in line. There was already a pretty long line set up but it seemed to be going fairly quickly. They were able to load up the pods with plenty of people. 

It was two full rounds before James and I were able to get into a car with about fifteen other people. It was sunset and the sky was a beautiful array of oranges and pinks. The lights were just starting to come on around the area. The higher up we went, the more breathtaking the scene became. 

"Big Ben," I said pointing to the clock tower. 

"Yes and no. The bell inside the clock is Big Ben. The tower is actually called the Elizabeth tower. It's the palace of Westminster," he explained. 

I'd always assumed the entire clock tower was Big Ben. I shrugged. 

We kept going higher, even when I'd thought it was impossible. I looked out over the land stretching out below. 

"Beautiful," I whispered. 

"So beautiful," James's voice was low and in those two words I could tell he wasn't looking out at the view around us like I was. I turned around looking into his dark eyes. 

Without even thinking, my arms went around his neck pulling him to me so I could press my lips to his. His rested on my hips pulling me to him. My fingers tangled in his hair as our tounges tangled together. 

It was moments like this made me happy to have left behind our lives in the states. While we were still cautious, we were no longer looking over our shoulders at every moment. We were able to relax with each other and it had only done us good for our relationship. A relationship that I didn't think had actually started until we were on that plane here. 

The people around us melted away and the only person here was the guy standing right in front of me, the guy with his hands on my hips and his lips on mine. My body was burning up with his touch, with the promises his lips made. 

When he pulled away, I was breathless. I could feel the people around us now, trying to pretend they were ignoring us, but unable to. I looked out the window and we were nearly at the bottom again. 

"I love you, Eliza." 

My breath caught for a moment. It wasn't the first time either of us had said those words, however it was the second time. 

They'd been uttered only once before, right after I'd had my breakdown at Trevor's off-the-grid house. 

Jared had been unsure if I'd meant it then. Heck, I'd even been confused. I hadn't expected those words to come out and when they had, my heart had stopped. Only when he'd questioned me had I realized that I did in fact mean them. At least I'd been pretty certain I'd meant them. 

Since then, neither of us had strayed back into that territory. It wasn't that we wanted to take them back, at least that wasn't the case for me. I'd just been uncertain of walking in there. The first admission had been hard, but for some reason having those words out there, always at the ready to be said made it feel like I was walking on glass. 

I'd avoided any sort of emotional attachment with people, and the relationship I'd formed with Jared had snuck up on me in a way. Not in a way that I hadn't seen him coming, it was more like I hadn't seen my walls coming down to let him in. 

Now that I'd let him in, admitted that I cared about him it meant that he had the power to hurt me. 

I'd told him that I trusted him, that he was the only person that I fully trusted and that was true. I trusted him not to hurt me. 

I hung onto that faith as I whispered the words back to him for the second time. 

"I love you too, James."

He smiled a broad happy smile, but I could see the slight sadness in his eyes and I knew just what that was from. To him it felt fake. I'd wondered if that was why he hadn't said it again. That not being able to use my given name made it feel less real to him. 

"James Ryce, I love you so much."

With that, the sadness disappeared and was replaced by pure joy. It made my heart flutter that just a few words were able to do that. I was happy that I was able to cause that reaction in someone. 

Everyone moved toward the door and we followed. We all quickly exited the pod and went down the ramp to the ground. 

We spent another hour and a half wandering around, grabbing a bite of food from one of the stands that was around. 

It had felt good to use those words again, but I still couldn't shake the feeling that they put us on a glass ledge. One wrong move and it could shatter beneath us and we'd fall with nothing to catch us. I shivered at the thought and James wrapped an arm around me, pulling me tightly into his side as we walked around. 

We found our way to the same street we'd arrived and when James hailed a cab again, I braced myself for the drive back. 

Just as nerve wracking as it had been the first time, I was once again glad when we came to a stop in front of the hotel. When James closed the cab door behind me I turned to him with wide eyes. 

"Please don't make me do that ever again."

"What's wrong? Afraid of a human driver?" James smirked at me and I frowned smacking his arm. 

"Frightened of stupid drivers. And don't say that so loud," I hissed. 

"What human?"

"Yes. Do people typically refer to other people as human? I don't think they believe they have to specify what they are, considering there are only humans in their worlds."

James just rolled his eyes at me and wrapped an arm around my waist again leading me back into the hotel and up to our room. 

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The image to the side is a picture from the top (or nearly the top) of the London Eye from a trip I took there. 

And so we've come back to our beloved characters Electra (Eliza) and Jared (James) 

Yes, the characters will be referred by their new identities throughout the story. At least as far as I can see they will be. Just to clarify that. 

Remember to leave your comments below and if you liked the chapter please give it your vote. Thank you!

Also, I've made a book for a novella for Durin. If you want to read about him then go over to my page and add the book. When I start posting, you'll know and can read! :)