She hadn't even noticed Levi had crept cautiously behind her until his hand went to cover Kit's mouth before she screamed. He looked at her to shut up, so they could listen. She nodded her head and craned her neck to be hidden more within the shadows.
There was a man who sat beside the man who sat in the chair and he was looking at all the 'prisoners' as though It were the best thing he'd ever seen.
"Master Claudius," the man beside the chair said to the man sitting in the chair. The man, Claudius, looked at the other man as though he was getting annoyed.
"What is it, Hedge?" He rolled his eyes and observed his prisoners.
"Well, I've just gotten word that there was a disturbance in our Sanctum. I'm afraid to say that the two Night Walkers," he hissed the words, "have found out about this place and are now here. I tried to get the guards to kill the boy, but he was too clever." The man, Hedge, quietly stepped out of the way of Claudius with a very frightened look. Claudius – who was a very tall man – stood up and hit Hedge over the head.
"You idiot!" he screamed, startling Kit. "You are my hunter and when I ask you to capture as many Night Walkers that have left the safety of their sanctuary, I mean it!" His voice charged into a rage as he settled himself back into his seat. He sighed. "Look at all my soon to be Hybrids, at the next full moon next month they will begin to transition into something so evil that they'll kill anything in sight."
"Y-yes master."
"You understand that my beastly blood can transform any Night Walker into one of these and I won't be reversing it." He stood up and looked around. "If these 'intruders' are here then let that be a warning. I am too powerful with all my new army here. I will win this war." He started laughing and looked at Hedge. "Search my sanctum, we will have to find a new place to stay now. If you find any Night Walkers, bring them to me and I will turn them."
Hedge nodded his head and began walking from the central area. It was such a big building that Kit wouldn't even know how to escape.
"We have to get out of here." She whispered to Levi who nodded in agreement. They retreated down the way they'd come as Kit was suddenly sure she was going to be sick after what she'd seen. "I can't believe that."
"I know, I can't either. When we tell Headmistress, she'll be so shocked. I don't know how we're going to tell her."
They were now down the ladder and were running through another narrow corridor lit with candles and every now and then there'd be rooms with even more doors. "This way." She pulled him through another large wooden door that led into a room. There was a chair in the centre of the room, the walls were made of stone. Kit noticed that there were leather ropes that looked all bloody, the ropes had been broken and, on the floor, there was black blood and red blood.
It made no sense.
"That must be the blood Claudius is using to change Night Walkers into 'Hybrid's.'" He shook his head. "He wants to get rid of every Night Walker, he wants to kill and change them. I can't believe this." Levi stared at the chair and then realized that they had to keep going. "Through this door."
They stepped through the door and ran down a flight of cold stone steps that lead through an archway and another darkened stone room. "I think this is the way out, we could go through this d-"
"Not so fast." Someone said from in front of them. Kit stepped backwards into Levi's hard chest, heart beating in her throat. She recognized the voice as the shadow revealed himself. "The name's Hedge Longford." He grinned wolfishly and began stepping slowly towards them. It took every inch of Kit's bravery to not make her step backwards too. "I understand you've been spying."
It was Levi who answered. "Spying is such a strong word. It was more 'overhearing'. Yeah, that sounds right." Kit watched Levi as his gaze remained cool. He glared at Hedge as though he was shooting ice-shards from his cold blue eyes.
Hedge circled them very slowly and Kit turned around as he did. "Tell me, why are you here?"
Kit breathed, realizing that she'd been almost completely silent. "That doesn't concern you, now move away or I'll remove your head from your shoulders. Or would you rather and cut off your legs so you'll have to crawl your entire life." She snickered. His gaze didn't falter it just curved into a little look of amusement that made Kit clench her fists at her side.
"You're a funny one, girl," he stopped over at the large door which was almost definitely the way out. "I wish I could keep you as you are. Unfortunately, you'll soon become more of a follower than anything else. As a Hybrid you will not only be able to take the form of a large wolfish beast, you will also possess a power so great and your only controller is Claudius." Hedge's eyes were dark, yet they weren't quite black. He looked evil, insane and unstable but not quite as though the darkness had taken over.
"You will never turn either of us, or any more Night Walkers." Levi held his gaze steadily at Claudius with a cold expressionless face.
"Hmm, wise one isn’t you boy; a real fighter I presume?" He raised his eyebrows. "I'll make you a deal then. If you come willingly with me, I will not use any force and I will make your transition as painless as I possibly can. If you choose to fight me I will call in the help of my hybrid fighters and you may find that we will hurt, you so badly that you wish you would just die. There is also the alternative that if you run away, we will never stop following, we will even get to whatever Academy you belong to and take whoever we can."
Kit and Levi exchanged quick looks – Kit felt as though she'd already made her choice – the two of them were going to get out of here and warn Headmistress.
Levi and Kit drew their swords in unison and before Kit knew it Levi had lunged forwards like lighting across the sky and brought his sword towards Hedge. Hedge leapt out of the way until he stood on the left of the wooden door. He was now clutching two golden daggers in both his hands.
Kit rolled forwards, only just missing his sharp swipe to her arm and stood up next to Hedge. She slashed her sword out and watched as it ripped a bit of fabric on his grey robes. He let out a cry that sounded more like a laugh as a few drops of blood left patches of red on his sleeves.
"You fight well," he looked at them, "but is it good enough." He slashed out with both his daggers towards Kit who barely had any time to react. She tried ducking out of the way, but it sliced across her arm and through her leather armour. She let out a small cry of pain as Levi came around the other side of Hedge with such vast beauty that she was sure he must have been raised in heaven to look that graceful. His sword lashed out and sliced on one side of Hedge's neck.
The man let out a howl of pain as his hands went to the sliced part of his neck. If it had of been anymore to the right he would have died. Hedge fell to the ground, dropping one dagger as he did and very quickly Levi looked at Kit and ordered her to get through the door.
It took her a moment to realize what was happening as she unbolted the large door and pushed at it with as much effort as she could muster. Levi was behind her and barred it closed.
She gripped her bleeding hand that was now burning with pain as she followed him into the night towards the car that would be their only hope of getting themselves out of the mess they were dragged into.
* * * * * *
By the time they got into New York Levi realized that he hadn't once stopped to rest. He and Kit had driven from Philadelphia with the thought that they were being followed and he'd insisted to drive and let her sleep off the pain in her arm. The cut was deep, and he'd done as much as possible for her.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he questioned for the millionth time. She swung her head to the side and nodded.
"I'm fine, you've asked that so many times now." She smiled with a half-amused expression. She was pale and had a redness around her eyes that hinted that she was pretty stressed out. Levi had reassured himself that everything was okay, even though he wasn't 100% sold on the idea.
"I just worry. I can't believe everything we just saw, I don't think Headmistress expected anything like this." He shrugged his sho
ulders. The street lights waved past them in a blur of brightness and he watched as the rain hit the glass of the car. "Maybe they all new, maybe they've known for years about Hybrid's, or Claudius. They might not have wanted to believe it."
Kit nodded in agreement. "Whatever it is, it knows who we are and where we are going. We can't sit back and watch everything unfold before our eyes. We must act quickly. I mean, the moment we get back we're going to tell Headmistress and then we're going to do some digging around to try find as much about this thing as we can."
They drove on in silence. As they pulled up near the Academy, Levi couldn't shake the feeling of someone watching them. There was no backing out now, the tails of hell knew where they were.
And it was going to find them.
Hedge had warned them, and Levi knew he wasn't kidding when he did.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE INITIATIVE
Markus knew the moment Kit and Levi stepped into his office that something serious had happened. He watched as Kit stared down at her feet with a blanket of sheer-fright covering her face. He dropped the schedule he was holding and stood up from his seat.
"Hello Kit and Levi." He walked across towards the fire with his hands balled uncomfortably into a ball at his side. "What did you find out? We knew you'd be back and glad to see you’ve returned safely." He eyed Kit's arm where a patch of blood had soaked through the armour and a slash mark through her blouse revealed her pale skin.
She looked up and saw his gaze, so she hid her arm from view and cleared her throat. "When we reached this Warehouse in Philadelphia and figured out the code to get in, we found this door and Levi said something in Latin so it opened and everything started to become weird when we first stepped foot in it and we took out guards and all these people had black eyes-"Kit stopped herself, realizing that she was rushing her words.
Markus's heartbeat started pounding in his head, however, he kept his face completely flat and turned around to stare into the fire. "Black eyes, eh?" He shook his head and muttered 'it's just as we all thought' under his breath with a voice barely audible so they wouldn't hear.
"We killed almost every one of them we saw," he said as Kit fell silent beside him. "But there were probably so many more that we failed to find."
"Was there anything else you found strange?" Markus asked even though he feared he knew the answer. He would have gone into that warehouse himself, but he was afraid that if he found out that it was exactly as he feared, then he would have been dead the moment he set foot there.
"We found that massive room and managed to crawl onto a balcony and out of sight. When we looked down I realized exactly what it was." Levi's blue eyes flickered to a pale-faced Kit.
"What happened, Levi, spit it out." Markus couldn't contain his rage as he stared into the flames as though he controlled then with his eyes.
"There was a man who called himself Claudius-"
Markus felt his head suddenly spin at the name. He'd spoken to Headmistress so many times about Claudius and she'd told him so many times that he died many years ago.
So how was he still alive?
"What else happened?" Markus's eyes glistened like ice-off-a-glacier as he waited for more answers.
Levi clenched his teeth and looked away. "He had all these people in cages, he stared at them as though he were ready for a feast. He was talking to a man named Hedge at his side and called them all his 'Hybrid's.'"
Markus paled. "It's exactly as we feared." He said. "Did they see you? Please tell me they didn't see you-"
"Hedge found us and when Kit and I stopped somewhere to look around I saw someone following me. A shadow. So, I followed it, but this was on the way to the warehouse, before they knew we were looking for them."
"What does this mean, Markus?" Asked Kit who had been silent up until this moment. "There's something you aren't telling us about all this and I don't like it." She looked into his eyes with a fierceness he though only existed in Kit. Markus hadn't seen many Night Walkers like Kit and it brought the question to mind why, and how, that was.
"You must return to your dorms, please. Just forget what you saw but remain alert because whatever is looking for you now has your scent and it won't stop until it kills you. I fear to say that he may be back again..." Markus clenched his jaw, knowing the words must burn them like fire through the air, but that never stopped him from telling them something true.
Levi looked as though he wanted to say something else, but Kit touched his shoulder gently with a knowing look in her eyes and pushed him towards the door. She looked back at Markus with the door slightly ajar and said, "if you have any more news for us then please let us know." And with that she shut the door leaving Markus back into the quiet room of his office with a million questions lingering in his mind.
* * *
Levi impatiently stared at Kit as they walked back from Markus's office. He'd watched her reaction from the moment they left but had felt completely useless as he asked her how she was. It was like talking to your own shadow.
"Kit," he said as he descended the stone stairs. He touched her shoulder with the tips of his fingers and turned her around to face him. "Please tell me what's wrong." He looked at her with a face that resembled someone who'd been through so much and wanted the only other person who understood him to talk.
She shrugged her shoulders, not quite meeting his gaze.
"Kit," he crossed his arms over his chest. "Don't shut me out, you're the only other person who's going to believe me when I say that there's a new race and they are potentially more dangerous than ours." He frowned, "did you see something I didn't?"
Her eyes flickered to his as she nodded. "Y-yes." She stammered and gripped the railing of the staircase. "I was eight when it started," she said. He gave her a questioning look.
"What are you talking about?"
"The nightmares, that's what I'm talking about!" she stopped and sat down on a step as though her legs were no longer able to hold her small frame any more. She looked upset and all Levi wanted to do then and there was put his arms around her shoulders. But he kept his arms at his sides as he sat down beside her. She pulled out a knife and began flinging it around in a circular motion.
He looked at her funny. "Nightmares? What nightmares?"
"The nightmares I use to have about this man with green eyes. I used to get so freaked out about them, yet they kept happening more and more constantly. Then one day, it was like they all went away, dissolving into smoke or fog and I can vaguely remember his voice. The other night when I first heard Claudius's voice I had this weird feeling, but I shook it off. Back in the office when Markus said that he was back was when I suddenly thought that maybe the man from my nightmares was Claudius."
Levi just stared at her. "Maybe they aren't nightmares, maybe you experienced something years ago, and your mind keeps thinking of it," he suggested.
"That's what I was thinking, yet every time I think back to when I was a child all I see it fog. It's weird – it's like my memory started when I was seven or maybe eight and before that all I can remember is training."
"Do you get these nightmares anymore?"
She sighed, "once or twice in the past two years. The last time I had them often was when I was twelve. I used to have these weird ones of a man hovering in the shadows and I'd be in the body of my young self-staring blindly at the figure and all I could see was his greenish-gold eyes speckled with fragments of black as though his eyes were broken."
He nodded along, not knowing what to think about all this. "We'll have to look into this more closely. Maybe there's something about this at the library?" he suggested, though not quite knowing whether anything like this could have been recorded in the Academy journals.
Kit cocked her head to the side and stared at him. He was suddenly reminded of how small and innocent she looked in that moment. Usually she was strong and willing to fight for anything and anyone. But now he was seeing a different, more frightened side that he wasn't
used to.
She blinked and shrugged her shoulders. "I doubt they'd leave records of stuff lying around in the library. If a student were to come across that the Academy would have some serious explaining to do," she said.
He nodded his head in agreement and thought about her words carefully. "Then wouldn't the teachers and instructors have kept records hidden somewhere?"
Kit's eyes suddenly snapped up to look at his. "You're right!" she stood up quickly. "They would have all the records hidden somewhere. We must find out where they are. Follow me." She began down the stairs towards the East Wing as he tenaciously followed close behind her.
* * * * *
Kit was walking so fast – she did this when she was anxious – and she started feeling bad as she glanced back at Levi who was looking at her with worried eyes as they rounded the corner to the library.
She couldn't shake off the weird feeling she got as she thought back to that distant memory. It was strange how much of a blur everything was, yet the dream had been so vivid and realistic that she couldn't stop the endless thoughts that were hassling her mind as they entered the room.
It would have to be quite late during the night as she stared out of the large stain glass window as the darkness gently touched the corners of the city in the distance. She sighed and sat down, watching as Levi took a seat opposite her.
He looked tired, as though he hadn't gotten much sleep. He was still flawless in the most perfect way possible, but the only way she could describe how he looked was saying that he looked traumatised. She completely understood this, she felt and looked the same.
"Are you okay?" Levi asked, the care in his voice made her cheeks turn pink, so she turned her face to the right and gave him a small smile.
"I'm fine," she whispered, even though she didn't believe it herself.
The Night Walkers Page 7
