“Just checking,” Archer said. “Making sure it works. Realists do things like that, you know.”
Aklia smiled. “It works, Archer. And now it’s time for you to get to work.”
Aklia disappeared as quickly as she came through a doorway of light, flashing the entire room before it returned to the low lighting of a fluorescent tube.
Archer examined the necklace and the intricate details of the amulet. The tiny crystal star was barely the size of a quarter, but it sparkled like a million flecks of gems dancing in the night sky. Aklia had given him the key to Council. He held the necklace a few seconds longer before tucking it away in his pocket. He looked at the clock: 6:15.
This is going to be an extremely long night, he thought.
Chapter Twelve
Battered, bruised, and tired beyond repair, Sanaya bid King good night over video chat, blowing him an air kiss that he pretended to catch before disconnecting the call. Regardless of whatever Archer decided to throw their way and everything that was coming after them, King was right there encouraging her, breathing life into her so she could go on. She never thought she would ever meet someone like him in this life or the next. With Maya chatting it up with Charlie and Lisa in the next room, Sanaya felt the down-in-your-bones warmth of a hot shower and a good meal coursing through her body as she nestled underneath her covers and drifted peacefully off into a deep sleep.
Sanaya awoke with a start and checked her alarm clock: 3:30 a.m.
Groaning, she checked to see if Maya was awake to see if they could squeeze in some much needed girl time like they always did when one of them woke up hours before sunrise. Unfortunately, Maya was out cold and snoring loudly, her leg swung over the other side of the bed.
Rubbing her eyes, Sanaya hopped out the bed and tiptoed into the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal Eve bought along with a list of other assorted snack and breakfast items for the group. Piling her braids on top of her head into a messy bun, Sanaya entered the kitchen to see Aklia and Natasha sitting at the small dining table. After they stood, bowing their heads with respect, Sanaya bowed to each of them individually.
“Young huntress,” Aklia breathed. “You must come with us. There is something we must show you.”
“Time is of essence,” Natasha added. “A small Guardian team is under siege in your homeland.”
“My homeland?” Sanaya asked, scratching her head. “What are you talking about?”
“The city of the Angels,” Aklia said.
“Los Angeles?” Sanaya cried. “They’re under siege in L.A.?”
“Yes,” Aklia said. “Our Council has been stretched too thin, and we cannot afford to lose another team of strong Guardians. We need you.”
In the past, Sanaya’s fight instinct would have taken over and sent her hell-bent for revenge, but this time cold, clear logic took control. Another Guardian team is going down? And in my hometown? Not happening. Archer will tell me to stay put and allow the senior Guardians to handle it, but no, not tonight. This is what I have to do. This is what I was born to do. “Let’s do this.”
“Summon the Millennium sword, Sanaya,” Aklia said to her in her mind. “Just think of it. Picture it in the palm of your hand ...”
The image of the beautifully crafted sword formed in her mind’s eye, and instantly she felt the cold grip of the handle and the light weight of the weapon take form in her palm.
“Let’s roll,” she said through clenched teeth.
The Council women placed their palms on Sanaya’s shoulders, and nothing could have prepared Sanaya being vacuumed through a ball of light and traveling at light speed through a centrifugal force that left her disoriented and giddy at the same time. They landed atop Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown L.A. High above the multistory building, Sanaya, Natasha, and Aklia surveyed the surrounding scene. Gunshots rang out as several Guardians ran for cover onto the sanctified grounds of the Church.
“Sanctuary!” one of them cried out as he banged on the door. “Give me sanctuary!”
A large coven of freshly turned vampires rounded the corner, blocking the three stranded young Guardians from any escape other than inside the church. Sanaya listened intently to the frightened Archbishop, who prayed for forgiveness as he bolted the doors.
“Ay, Holmes,” one of the younger Guardians said. The kid could not have been any older than Sanaya, and Sanaya could have sworn she had seen him somewhere before. He had dark, ruffled hair, gray eyes, and brown skin and stood no taller than five-ten with a lean build. Sanaya observed his handsome features in the dark and noticed that he was bleeding, his blood attracting the small army of hungry vamps.
“Light ‘em up, D!” another Guardian shouted, motioning to the kid.
“All right, but back up!” the kid shouted, stepping away from the massive double doors of the entryway to the church and into the courtyard.
“Be careful, bro’!” the lone female Guardian shouted as she took cover.
With outstretched palms, the young Guardian sent out a blast of fire that torched the first wave of vampires on impact. The smell of burning flesh and the horrific screams became a beacon for the other vampires and supernatural predators in the area.
“Run, D!” the female Guardian shouted as she pulled out her Glock and aimed at several incoming vamps.
“Think it’s time we join the party?” Sanaya asked, unsheathing her blade.
“Definitely,” Natasha said with a smile.
Sanaya ran forward, ignoring Natasha and Aklia’s cries, and took a leap of faith from the building. She estimated that it had to be at least two hundred foot drop, but there was nothing she could have done to stop herself. Guardians were in danger. She landed on her feet like a feline in front of the female Guardian, who yelled in surprise.
“Relax,” Sanaya said. “We got this.”
With eyes glowing silver, Sanaya rushed forward, slaughtering everything in her wake. She felt more than saw Aklia and Natasha joining her, and the three fought side by side against at least twenty newborn vampires that surrounded the Cathedral.
Sanaya sliced and diced her way through the onslaught, decapitating heads, stabbing hearts, removing limbs. She threw multiple punches to the jaw of one brave vampire, who thought he had what it took to overpower her with his speed and strength, before thrusting the Millennium blade into the center of his chest and pulling out his heart.
Natasha flung her short blade into the chest cavity of another while blocking the heavy fist of yet another from connecting with her head. Aklia was busy fighting two vampires, and if Sanaya wasn’t busy with a roundhouse kick to the sternum of a brunette gunning for one of the vulnerable Guardians, she would have stopped to watch Aklia in action. The original Slayer was pure magic, with movements so quick it was impossible for the normal human eye to track.
Sanaya looked away in time to dodge another attack. She raised her blade for a hard swing, but one of Natasha’s short blades caught the vampire in the throat. The creature screamed as its throat melted away from the acidic burn of the silver tip of the knife, and Sanaya finished it by slicing the vampire’s head clean off.
The fight only lasted forty-five seconds.
Sanaya sheathed her blade and hunched over to catch her breath. “Man, that was a fight. You guys are awesome!”
“So are you, Sanaya,” Aklia chirped, wiping her own sword with a cloth.
Natasha turned to face the three startled Guardians who crept out of the shadows. All three were wounded but okay. From what Sanaya could see, none had any bite marks, but they would still need to be inspected to make sure.
“Guardians,” Natasha said. “What are your names?”
“My name is Daniel, but my friends call me D for Diablo,” the kid said. “And this is my sister, Maria, and this is Tony.”
The other two Guardians offered their hands for the Natasha to accept.
“You’ve got a talent on you, son,” Natasha said to Daniel. “There are not many like yo
u who can control elements.”
“Thanks, but I feel like it is more like a curse,” Daniel said. “Mi madre pensaba que yo era el hijo del diablo. Su castigo.”
“You are not the devil’s son, Danny,” Maria argued. “Mom was just being dramatic.”
Daniel shrugged, refusing to look at his sister, and focused his attention on Sanaya. “Yo, you are the new Slayer! You are all over the Guardian networks. Man, there was an APB out for you some time ago. They had us all out looking for you!”
“Yeah, well they found me,” Sanaya said shyly, offering her hand for him to accept. “Sanaya.”
“For real, you are the one!” Tony said as he approached her.
Sanaya sized him up, estimating his height to be somewhere around five-eight and weighing two hundred pounds. Instead of shaking her hand, Tony took her in for a big bear hug. Sanaya reluctantly hugged him back, offering a few pats on his back before he released her.
“Where is the rest of your team?” Aklia asked, surveying the trio with concern.
“Gone,” Maria said. “There has been an increase in vampires and vampire attacks within the last few days.” She pushed away a strand of curly hair from her tanned skin. “There were only ten of us to begin with, but we lost five two days ago during a surprise attack in an alley. The other two are still in the hospital, and it looks like they aren’t going to make it.” Crystal tears formed in her hazel green eyes.
Sanaya realized that Maria and her brother Daniel looked almost exactly alike from their large doe-like eyes to their dimpled chins and high cheekbones. Twins. Guardian twins. She wondered who their parents were.
“Los Angeles is becoming overrun with vampires, man,” Tony said. “It’s just a matter of time before the shit hits the fan and there is an epidemic.”
Natasha and Aklia shared worried glances.
“I think you guys should come back to The Academy with us,” Natasha said. “You will be safe there.”
“The Academy?” Tony asked. “As in Guardian training grounds?”
“Most of us have to learn to hone our skills on our own,” Maria said. “Only the select few are ever been recruited into The Academy.”
“Yeah, well that is not exactly true,” Sanaya said to the trio. “A lot of the students there were either rescued or chased in by fate. Some were recruited, and there are the few whose parents are senior Guardians and were signed up.”
“But they get to be trained in the true art of Guardianship, and if proven to be strong enough they will become a member of the Slayer team,” Maria said meeting her brother’s stare.
“Let’s talk about all that when we get there.” Sanaya sighed. “Hey, Aklia, can you, uh, give us a lift home? Archer is going to kill me if he doesn’t find me in my room.”
“Everyone join hands and hold on tight!” Natasha warned as she took hold of Sanaya’s and Daniel’s hands.
“Don’t worry about Archer,” Aklia said soothingly to Sanaya. “I will handle him.”
The ancient huntress opened the portal, and the group was sucked into the ball of light and disappeared.
Chapter Thirteen
Archer sat on the edge of Sanaya’s bed trying to calm the panic that threatened to consume his thoughts. Maya, Lisa, and Charlie didn’t know where Sanaya could have gone, and no one saw her leave. He checked all of the security cameras from angle to angle and still ... nothing.
His team of senior Guardians filled the living and dining room areas while Lisa, Charlie, Bullet, King, and Maya waited nervously in the room with him. He would have thought her BFF Maya would have known something since the two girls were nearly inseparable, and he would have never guessed that she would have left King in the dark since those two could barely keep their eyes off each other.
Where could she have gone?
He was about to call her cell again when commotion broke out in the dining area. He jumped to his feet, nearly knocking King and Bullet out of the way when he made it to the doorway. In the center of the small room stood Aklia, Natasha, and Sanaya, all three of them looking every bit as battered and dirty as if they had gone to war, accompanied by three younger and what he assumed to be Guardians. The quiet that followed when his eyes landed on Sanaya’s was enough to make his own brain explode,
And Sanaya’s expression told him she knew she was in trouble. “I can explain,” she said.
“I don’t want to hear it, Sanaya,” he growled, approaching her. “You broke several key rules here, and I—”
“She is not responsible for what I requested of her Head Guardian,” Aklia interrupted, lifting her chin to meet his hard stare.
“She is not supposed to leave this campus without my permission!” Archer yelled, pointing a finger at Sanaya.
“We needed our living Slayer to accompany us on a mission,” Aklia said. “Our forces have been stretched thin, and had we not given our assistance, those three young, very talented Guardians would have not survived.”
All eyes went to the three new recruits that remained huddled behind Sanaya.
“This is Daniel, his sister Maria, and Tony,” Sanaya said. “They are the last of one L. A. team, and they have nowhere to go.”
“And so you thought it would be a great idea to bring them here?” Archer asked.
“Ay, Holmes,” Daniel spoke up, stepping away from his sister. “We were the ones out in the field, busting our asses day in and day out while you guys get to remain behind the safety of The Vatican. Half of the time you people are hardly responsive to our calls except when it came to finding her. So don’t act like we are nothing but bags of trash waiting to be thrown out because we didn’t receive our training from your precious ‘Academy.’ We learned ours through the school of hard knocks.”
Tony offered Daniel a pound for his bravery, and Sanaya could feel King fighting back a smirk that threatened to give way on his handsome face.
“That one,” Sanaya said evenly, hoping to ease Archer’s tension. “His is name is Daniel, or D for Diablo, and man, Archer, you should have seen him. He is super dope! He can manipulate fire.”
“Yeah, show ‘em D!” Tony said.
“Hell no, Pyro,” Congo drawled. “Show us later. Ain’t nobody trying to be burned to a crisp.”
“We came just in time,” Sanaya said, smiling. “They were fighting back a small army of vampires that had them hemmed in just outside of a cathedral.”
“A cathedral?” Eve gasped. “Talk to us.”
“There had to be at least a good twenty freshly turned vampires out there Eve,” Sanaya said. “This small team managed to hold the line, but there were too many of them. Aklia, Natasha, and I fought the rest of them off.”
“These young people will make excellent additions to The Academy if I do say so myself,” Natasha said with a grin.
“Listen, all of that will be determined in due time,” Archer scowled. “We still operate by procedure around here.”
“We are in no way, shape, or form trying to step on your toes, Archer,” Aklia said. “But alas, duty calls.” She turned to face Sanaya, embracing her quickly before facing the newest additions to The Academy. “Rest well and train hard, young Guardians, for you will be greatly needed when the time comes. And to the rest of you, you still have twelve hours of reprieve. If I were you I would take advantage of it. There is still much work to be done.” Aklia opened another portal of light and stepped through with Natasha behind her.
When the two Slayers were gone, all hell broke loose with Guardians surrounding Sanaya and the new students asking question after question, with relieved hugs and kisses being passed around. When Sanaya stepped into King’s arms for a quick hug, fatigue took over.
King barely caught her before her head hit the ground.
****
Sanaya was not sure where she was, but she knew she was no longer within the safe confines of The Academy.
She was miles away from it, looking down from a skyscraper at the modern buildings of a large inner city
situated miles upon miles into the sky above the clouds. She forced herself outside of the body she felt connected to. She felt every powerful urge, every desire, the feel of the cold, sharp wind whipping her skin with each hard gust ...
Blood ... she could taste it, smell it, feel the pulse of life beating its rhythm just beneath her. She could feel the fangs in her mouth lengthen from the thought.
Fangs?
She tore away from the body for a second to see just how could she possibly have fangs, and a pair of the darkest eyes stared back at her. Abysmal blackness bore into her soul, freezing her for just a moment. He recognized her. He could see her just as well as she could see him.
The two stared at each other, the huntress to hunter on the night just before the dawn and his end, her end beginning.
He reached for face and adoringly brushed her cheek, his expression changing from menacing to pained. For a single heart-stopping moment, she felt centuries of pain, heartache, disappointment, self-loathing, a desire for redemption, and regret. She felt the intimate contact of her soul meeting his, until finally he said, “Help me.”
Sanaya’s eyes popped open, gasping as if she were coming up for air holding her breath underwater for several minutes. Multiple pairs of hands reached for her amid concerned shouts. She could feel King’s soft touch gripping her hand firmly into his own before Archer and Eve moved him away from her.
“Sanaya?” Eve demanded. “Sanaya!”
“I think she is still out of it,” someone said. “Get her some water.”
Sanaya struggled to sit up on her own, and once again multiple hands helped lift her up, propping her head up against an assortment of pillows. “No water. Pain ... he is in so much pain,”
“Who is in pain?” Archer demanded, holding a glass of water that Lois handed to him.
“Cain,” Sanaya whispered. “I was in his body, in his mind.” She was unsure if she should reveal to her Head Guardian the ancient vampire’s request.
“That bastard is going to be in pain all right,” Archer mumbled to himself. “When we put his ass down.”
The Vampire Hunters Academy: The Shadows Page 8
