by Mazhar, S
“Shh,” the voice whispered. “Don’t wake the other two.”
Aaron recognised the voice and instantly calmed down. He pulled the hand away from his mouth and frowned. “Kyran?” he whispered. “What are you doing?”
“You’ll see,” Kyran whispered. “Come on, get up.”
“What?”
“Up, from your bed. Follow me downstairs,” Kyran said, sounding annoyed. “Hurry up.”
Kyran slipped out of the room. As quietly as he could, Aaron padded over to the door and followed Kyran downstairs, leaving Sam and Rose still asleep. He went downstairs and saw a light glowing in the living room. Kyran was waiting for him inside.
“What is it?” Aaron asked, hurrying over to him. “What happened?”
“Nothing,” Kyran replied. “Why?”
Aaron stared at him. “You woke me up at – what time is it?”
Kyran glanced at the window, studying the dark sky. “About two in the morning.”
Aaron gaped at him. “What’d you wake me up at two in the morning for?” he groaned.
“To teach you a little something called self-preservation,” Kyran replied.
Aaron moved to the door. “Two in the morning, Kyran. It’s two in the morning. I don’t want to learn anything right now.”
The door thudded closed and a loud click rang through the room, just as Aaron reached for it. Surprised, Aaron turned to stare at Kyran.
“You wanna keep getting your ass handed to you?” Kyran asked, his eyes a blazing green. “’Cause if you’ve got some sort of masochistic desire to get pounded by Skyler, then I’ll open that door and you can go back upstairs and sleep.” He paused, holding Aaron’s gaze. “But if you actually want to learn how to be a Hunter, then you can spend a few minutes learning the basics of defence.”
Aaron stared at him in disbelief. “You’re going to teach me?”
“No, the fairies are.” Kyran narrowed his eyes at him. “Do you see anyone else in here, genius?”
Aaron fought to keep his smile back. “What happened to ‘It’s not my job to help anyone’?”
Kyran’s frown melted and his lips twitched up into an almost smile. “Come on.” He gestured to him. “I’m only showing you how to block. Nothing else.”
Aaron smiled and walked over, taking his stand before Kyran.
***
“Ready for some world-class beating?” Skyler teased as Aaron followed him up the pathway to their usual spot – the clearing facing the garage and artillery huts.
Aaron didn’t reply but noticed a small group of Hunters sitting in front of the garage. “What’s with the audience?” he asked.
Skyler smirked. “I thought you’d like it,” he said. “Maybe the fear of humiliation will inspire you.”
Aaron didn’t say anything but turned to survey the group. Ella and Zhi-Jiya were here, so was Omar and Julian. Inside the garage, squatting next to his bike, was Kyran. Ryan was standing next to him. Kyran met Aaron’s gaze and a slow smirk spread across his face. Aaron returned it with his own before looking away.
Skyler led Aaron to the middle of the clearing and turned to face him, his condescending smile in place. “Alright. Ready then?” Skyler asked, cracking his knuckles.
Aaron took his stance. “Ready,” he confirmed.
Had Skyler been paying attention, he would have noted right away that Aaron’s stance was different. He was still standing with his feet apart but his shoulders were pulled down, back straight. He wasn’t getting ready to jump out of the way. He was standing his ground. It was the first thing Kyran had corrected last night.
Don’t jump out of his way. Stand with confidence. You have just as much power as Skyler. You’re not going to move. Plant your feet to the ground. You’re going to block him.
Skyler was smirking at him, flexing his fingers. Kyran’s words flashed through Aaron’s mind.
Use your senses. You can’t see Skyler’s attacks, but listen for them. Skyler can send a tornado at you without a twitch of his fingers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t hear it coming.
Aaron stared ahead but made a point of looking past Skyler, past his smirk and his cold eyes. He strained his hearing, on alert for the faintest of sounds.
Listen for it. There’s a slight whistle when the air comes rushing at you. It’s just like when you throw a ball across the field. You can hear it cut through the air. The powers are the same. Listen for it and you’ll hear it. Faint, difficult to make out, but it’s there all the same.
Skyler didn’t move, except for a very slight jerk of his finger. Aaron knew it was coming. Just like last night, when Kyran had demonstrated a hit by throwing him a jolt of power. Aaron heard the faint, barely audible whoosh as something came speeding at him. Time slowed and Aaron sucked in a breath.
Stand, lift your hands and block the power. Make it ricochet off yourself.
Aaron’s brow creased. His hands came up, palms out, the tips of his thumbs touching. Fingers slightly curved, just like Kyran had shown him. He felt the power hit his hands and the force was enough to have him stagger back a step. Aaron pulled both hands down and out, forcing the jolt of air to hit, gather itself into a ball under his fingers, and bounce straight back.
Skyler didn’t expect Aaron to block, let alone knock back his own jolt of power. His surprise cost him as the jolt hit him smack in the chest, throwing him to the ground. Gasps were heard from the gathered crowd. Every eye was on Aaron, who was gaping at Skyler with stunned surprise himself. His hands throbbed. The skin of his palms felt like it had been burnt and a few of his knuckles had cracked when he caught the jolt of power, but Aaron couldn’t hold back his grin. He had done it. He had blocked and thrown back Skyler’s hit.
Skyler was on his feet in moments, platinum blond hair messy and falling into his narrowed blue eyes. His mouth twisted into a snarl and he started towards Aaron. “Where the hell did you learn that?” he spat.
Aaron didn’t say anything, but smirked at the boy’s anger.
Skyler turned to look at his friends, all of whom had seen him take a hit from the amateur, joke of a mage, Aaron Adams. His furious gaze found Kyran, still in the garage, wearing an amused smile that spread from ear to ear. The rest of the Hunters looked shocked. Kyran looked downright gleeful.
“Son of a demon!” Skyler growled and darted towards him. “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing, Kyran?”
Kyran faked a perfect look of confusion. “I’m fixing my bike,” he replied.
“Sod off!” Skyler raged. “You know what I’m talking about.”
Kyran shrugged. “No idea what you’re on about, mate.”
“Come on,” Skyler scoffed. “Block and throw back? That’s practically your signature move!”
Kyran walked over and jumped down the few steps to be on the same level as Skyler. “That’s not my signature move,” he said. “Block and throw back is a basic move. One you should have taught Aaron from the word go.”
Skyler’s fury only grew. “You’re telling me how to train?” he asked. “You lost your mind?”
“You’re the one losing his mind,” Kyran said, the mirth gone as anger flooded his eyes. “You spent days smacking him around when you should have been teaching him.”
“I’ll do what I bloody want!” Skyler hissed. “Who are you to tell me otherwise?”
“That’s not on, Sky,” Ella interrupted, coming to his side. “You said you would train Aaron, not beat him up.”
“Yeah,” Ryan added. “You volunteered to train him.” He gestured to Aaron, who had walked over to stand behind Skyler. “No one forced you. Why are you taking your anger out on Aaron?”
Skyler looked around at the other Hunters. “Fine,” he spat. He turned to Aaron. “I’m finished with you! Go and find someone else to train you.”
Aaron didn’t say anything, but felt his heart drop.
“I’ll teach you, Aaron,” Kyran said, but his eyes were on Skyler.
Skyler gave him a fu
rious look. He turned to glower at Aaron before walking away.
Kyran shook his head, smirking at Skyler’s retreating form. When he turned around, he met Aaron’s eyes.
“You really mean it?” Aaron asked. “You’ll teach me?”
Kyran held his gaze a moment before smiling and looking away.
“To tell you the truth,” he started, “I just really wanted to piss Skyler off.” He gave Aaron a head-to-toe look. “But training an Elemental might be fun in itself.”
They made their way back to the cottage, working out a training schedule.
“I’m sorry, how many hours?” Aaron asked, flabbergasted.
“Sixteen hours a day is nothing,” Kyran assured. “You’re training to be a Hunter. It’s hard work.”
“Yeah, I know, but sixteen hours?”
“I’ve trained twenty hours a day. Trust me, you can do it,” Kyran said.
“Fine, whatever,” Aaron gave in. “As long as you don’t get me up at two in morning.”
“Get over it,” Kyran said. “It served you well, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.” Aaron fell quiet. “I’ll have to cut back my hours at the orchard, though.”
“I’m sure things will continue to grow without you, like they always have since the beginning of time,” Kyran said.
Aaron turned to him. “You always have to be sarcastic?”
“It’s my default setting,” Kyran replied.
When they neared their cottage, they found Jason Burns waiting for them.
“Ah, there yeh are.” Jason gave his usual yellow-toothed smile. “I’ve been waitin’ for yeh.”
“Everything alright, Jason?” Aaron asked.
“Aye, aye.” Jason waved a hand. “I hav’ good news for yeh. I’ve got yeh yer own p’ace.”
Aaron had almost forgot his stay at Kyran’s cottage was only temporary. “Oh,” he said. “Right, cool.”
“Yeh can move in tonight.” He winked at Kyran. “Bet yer glad yeh get yer p’ace back, eh?”
Kyran didn’t say anything. He looked to Aaron who stared back at him.
“I’d better go and get my things,” Aaron said.
“Wait.” Kyran held out a hand. “Won’t it be...easier if you...stay here?”
Aaron blinked at him. “What?”
“I’m just saying,” Kyran replied. “We’ll need to train quite a lot and if we’re in the same cottage, we can work till late or get up early.” He shrugged. “It’s up to you. If you want your own place it’s cool. I just thought it’d be simpler than going up and down the street at all odd hours of the day.”
Aaron turned to Jason. “If Kyran’s okay with it, then I don’t mind staying at his place. I’ll check with Sam and Rose, but I reckon they’d want to stay here too.”
Kyran smiled and ducked his head, hiding his grin.
Jason stared at Aaron. “So, yeh dinnae wannit?”
“No.” Aaron smiled. “But thank you.”
“Nae bother,” Jason replied. “I jus’ wish I hadnae spen’ t’ree days sortin’ the dam’ p’ace for yeh.”
“I’m sorry,” Aaron called as Jason walked away, shaking his head. “Sorry, Jason.”
Aaron followed Kyran inside and hurried to his room to find Rose already there, sitting on the bed, head lowered over a book.
“Hey,” he greeted her. “Guess what? Jason just told me he had a house ready for us to move into, but Kyran insisted we stay here. How weird is that?” He chuckled, unbuttoning his shirt, swapping it for a clean one. “I told Jason we’d stay here – figured we’re settled, anyway – but if you and Sam want to move I can talk to Jason and we’ll move.” He looked over at Rose to see she hadn’t moved or reacted to him. She was staring at the book, completely engrossed. “Rose? You heard what I said?”
Rose didn’t reply.
“Rose?”
Aaron fastened his last button and walked over to sit next to her. Only when the bed dipped with his weight did Rose lift her head to look at him.
“Aaron?”
“Yeah?” Aaron replied. “What’s wrong, Rose? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”
Rose shook her head. “It’s worse than that,” she replied.
Aaron’s gaze darted to the book. “What is it?”
Rose licked her lips, looking uncertain as to how to start the conversation. “You...you said you saw that...that map thing in the Hub?”
Aaron narrowed his eyes. “Yeah.”
“What...what was the name of the zones? The ones without the Gates?” she asked.
“Hadrian’s zones,” Aaron replied.
Rose glanced down at her book before looking up at Aaron again. “I thought that’s what it was,” she said. “I was hoping I was wrong, but I remembered Ella mentioning the name Hadrian.” She looked at Aaron. “They told you Hadrian was a demon, right?”
“Yeah,” Aaron replied.
“You sure?” Rose asked. They used the actual words ‘Hadrian is a demon’?”
Aaron furrowed his brow, thinking back to that day’s conversation. “Scott said Hadrian was the enemy and Ella said the ones who lived in Hadrian’s zones were demons,” he said. “So that makes Hadrian a demon, right?”
Rose shook her head. “The ones living in his zones may be demons, Aaron, but Hadrian’s not a demon.”
Aaron frowned. “How do you know that?”
Rose faltered before lowering her book and reading it out loud. “The case gathered interest from all the cities across the realm. Everyone wanted to know the fate of Giovanni, for his crime was of such a nature it divided the mage community. Some wanted Giovanni to pay, others argued he had no choice but to commit the grave act to save his loved ones. But the fate of Perves Giovanni was to rest in the hands of the Elemental council.” She looked up at Aaron and licked her lips again. “James Avira, Christopher Adams, Neriah Afton...” She paused before forcing out the last name. “...and Hadrian Aedus.”
Aaron’s eyebrows shot up, disappearing behind the stands of hair that fell across his forehead. “Hadrian Aedus?” he repeated. “Hadrian is a mage? He’s...he’s an Elemental?”
19
The Mage Who Fell
Aaron stormed out of the cottage, the book Rose had been reading clutched in his hand. He found Ella seated at the table, chatting with Ryan and Zhi-Jiya. Aaron raced to Ella’s side and slammed the book onto the table.
“Hadrian Aedus?” Aaron spat. “He’s a mage?”
Ella stilled. “What?” she asked, as if she didn’t understand the question.
“Hadrian,” Aaron repeated. “The enemy you lot are fighting, whose name is on the zones that have demons. He’s one of us?” he asked. “Hadrian’s an Elemental?”
Ella didn’t say anything, but her face rapidly paled.
“This fight,” Aaron went on, “between Neriah and Hadrian, over the zones. It’s a civil war?” He shook his head, green eyes bright with anger as well as disgust. “You lot are ripping apart your world and wreaking havoc on the human realm for what? A fight to put up Gates or a competition to see which mage is better?”
“It’s not like that,” Ella said. “It’s not a civil war, Aaron. Hadrian isn’t a mage, not any more.”
“What is he then?” Aaron demanded.
Ella paused. The two mages next to her shifted in their seats, looking away from one another. Ella seemed to gather herself and lifted her gaze to meet Aaron’s. “He’s a vamage.”
“A what?” Aaron asked.
Ella grimaced. “A vamage. A disgusting hybrid,” she said, “between a mage…” She faltered before pushing on. “…and a vampire.”
Aaron stilled, his narrowed eyes widened a little.
Zhi-Jiya silently got up, followed by Ryan. They left the table. Wordlessly Aaron sat down in the chair next to Ella. For long moments Ella didn’t speak. She seemed to be collecting herself.
“Hadrian Aedus,” she said quietly, “is known as the Mage Who Fell.” She paused before looking up, soft grey
eyes squinting in the sunlight. “The mages are supposed to be an example of unity. So what do you do when one of your own turns on you?”
“What happened?” Aaron asked. “How did Hadrian go from being a mage to a...a vamage?”
Ella laughed a bitter, cold laugh. “If we could have the answer to that, we’d halve our problems.” She shook her head. “No one knows what happened. No one saw it coming. Hadrian was perfectly content one day, and the next he became worse than the things we hunt.” Ella turned to look at Aaron, her face taut with emotion, her eyes glistening. “Stories about Hadrian say he was brilliant – smart, powerful, driven. He was passionate about mages, about Elementals. Then one day he walked away. When he came back, he was no longer a mage.”
Aaron felt a prickle of fear race down his spine. “How did it happen?” he asked. “Was he attacked by a vampire?”
Ella scoffed. “Some say it was accidental, but they ignore the fact that a mage can’t be accidentally turned into a demon. They have to willingly give up their purity. Mages weren’t created to be demonic, Aaron. They don’t turn like a human would. The mage has to consent. They have to want to become something other than a mage, otherwise they would simply die.” She went quiet for a moment, collecting her thoughts. “Hadrian disappeared for a while. No one knew what had happened to him. When he came back, he was different. Quieter. He kept himself secluded. No one realised what had happened. No one picked up on it.” She took in a shuddering breath and closed her eyes. “Until Hadrian’s self resolve broke and he attacked. He killed James Avira.” She looked over at Aaron and added, “Skyler’s uncle.”
Aaron’s heart clenched in sympathy. No one deserved to have their family murdered, not even a git like Skyler. “That’s horrible,” he said.
“Horrible?” Ella stared at him. “Aaron, part of our bond as a mage is that we’re all linked to each other. That’s why we can’t kill each other. We can do what we like: stab, cut, shoot, hurt each other all we want, but we can never kill one of our own, except of course by the ritual but–”
“Wait, ritual?” Aaron frowned. “What’s the ritual?”
