Kindling (The Hunter Trilogy Book One)

by Abigail Colucci

  “Not interested,” I said and rolled my eyes. “You think it will look ok?” I asked Sadie.

  “Definitely,” she grinned. “Just don’t tell your papá.”

  We went downstairs, me wearing my gigantic ball gown, my friends wearing their garments of fabric sex. I could tell they were all looking forward to showing themselves off to Braith but he and Heike were gone, probably at the hall with my grandparents. Or maybe they weren’t coming at all, I didn’t really know. All that were left in the house were my parents and Gabriela. Gaby looked annoyed at having to wait for me, but smiled when she saw me. My parents were beautiful and stood glowing at the bottom of the stairs.

  My papá wore a tux and my mom wore a long, slinky gown. My mom was a beautiful woman and, I hate to tell you, I thought it might make Heike jealous and I was glad, even though I wasn’t positive he was even going to be there.

  “You look beautiful,” Gaby told me. I kissed her head.

  “So do you, Gaby.” And she did. Her dress wasn’t as big as mine, but it was still puffy. Hers was bright pink with purple, tulle flowers. “You look amazing in that color, Gaby,” I whispered and held her hand. She grinned. As long as she didn’t smother me, we got along pretty well and I did love her to pieces ... most of the time, at least.

  When we got to the party there was a ton of people mingling around. The room was packed with distant relatives that I didn’t know very well, friends of my parents and grandparents that I had maybe seen once in my life, and business associates that I had never met – my parents and grandparents were in charge of the guest list and often used birthday parties as a “get together” for some of their best clients. My mom and abuela planned all the details to our parties and adults seemed to really love them, although I didn’t really understand why. They were stuffy and too formal for my tastes, but I suppose most adults didn’t really have a reason to get dressed up on a regular basis and they maybe enjoyed the formalities of our parties. I would just enjoy not having to dress up so many times per year - for my sister, brothers, parents, and grandparent’s birthdays as well as anniversaries.

  My abuela grinned when she saw us at the doorway to the reception hall and waved. I just wanted to enter without being noticed, but that’s not how my mom and abuela worked. Abuela motioned to the band leader and he stopped the music.

  “Sorry to stop the festivities, but our birthday girl is here!” The band leader announced. Everyone clapped and grinned and turned towards me. “Please give a warm welcome to the birthday girl, Catalina Chavez, and her father, Mercutio, as they dance the first dance of the evening.”

  I sighed but managed to put on a smile. My papá led me onto the dance floor and, immediately, I spotted Heike in the back, smiling as I began to slow-dance with my papá. Heike was difficult to miss.

  “Papá,” I whisper. “What’s the deal with Heike?”

  He stood on his toes to kiss my cheek. I was taller than him even without my heels and, although I only wore kitten heels, I loomed above him. “He’s been trying to save you from his life, mi cielo. Don’t be too upset with him.”

  I groaned. “What does that even mean?” I asked. “That means nothing to me.”

  He laughed a little and shook his head. But, before he could answer, the song stopped and people began to applaud. I sighed. I would get no answers from my papá that night.

  I changed dance partners another eleven times before dinner. God, I hated dancing with people I hardly knew. It was awkward, but everyone wanted to dance with the birthday girl. Warm, sweaty hands gripping my waist, moustached and scruffy faces pinching me, greasy fingers holding my hands. Ugh, it was awful. Finally, I saw the servers come out and the music began to fade. I said as many niceties and thank-you’s as I could and excused myself to my table. I was finished slow dancing with old men!

  I looked around but didn’t see many of my friends from school – just Sadie and Allie and the other girls – but I knew more kids would show up later. This year I had finally got my parents and abuelos to agree to a separate party for my friends and I. After a few hours of appeasing the old folks with formal dancing and dinner, my abuela would excuse me to the room next door where a DJ and a dance floor were waiting. I was promised that no adults would bother us and Sadie thought it was going to be a huge, crazy party. My parents even agreed that the drunker kids could stay the night in our basement. That was pretty cool of them.

  Even so, I wasn’t really looking forward to it. I sounded like a spoiled brat, but all I wanted to do was get into my pajamas and watch a movie. I felt self-conscious and I was still a bit shaken from earlier.

  For an hour I made polite conversations and ate delicate, Mexican foods on fine china. I was taught proper dinner etiquette and abuela watched. Abuela always made sure I ate like a young lady. Afterwards, I made a brief speech and thanked everyone for coming. When the desert and dancing hour came, my abuela beckoned me over.

  “You can go, now,” she said. I bent down and kissed her. “You party the night away while the old people dance and chat.”

  I hugged her and kissed her again. “Thank you, abuela.”

  “Are you sure you don’t want to stay at this party?” She asked. I may not have been entirely looking forward to the other party, but it was probably better than my abuela’s version. I nodded and she smiled. “Oh, Catalina, Braith will go. To watch over, you know.” I was a little surprised as I hadn’t seen Braith all night and wondered if he was even there. I nodded anyway.

  I could hear the music pumping even before I left the dining room. I looked around for my friends and couldn't see them, but suddenly Mercedes jumped out.

  “AHHHCK!” I screamed, which put her into a fit of giggles. “What the shit, Sadie!”

  “I’m so sorry, potty mouth” she laughed. She already sounded a little drunk. “Don’t beat me with those guns of steal. It’s time to change, daaaaaaling,” she laughed some more and pulled me into the bathroom. Allie was waiting for us and began to unzip my gown as soon as the door shut.

  “What kind of underwear is that?” Allie asked. I looked down and shrugged. I always wore a little pair of shorts under my dresses. At least, underneath the glitz and tulle I felt more like me and less like a fraud. Allie shook her head and made a show of clicking her tongue at me for wearing the little shorts beneath the skirt.

  The dress fit well, although it was short - I’m glad I wore the shorts in case my butt decided to make an appearance. Allie re-did my hair into a messy up-do and fixed my makeup into what she deemed an appropriate sultry look.

  When I looked at myself in the mirror, I almost forgot everything that happened that day because I looked pretty awesome. Allie and Mercedes could do magic with make-up and hair spray, even while they were partially inebriated. They could probably even make a chimp look hot.

  “Holy avocado,” I said. Mercedes laughed and she and Allie hooked their arms into mine.

  “You look like a super model, Kit,” Sadie whispered. I blushed.

  I could hear the deep bass of the party even before we left the rest room. When we got in to the party room, the floor was packed. I couldn’t believe so many people showed up! I knew most of the kids from school, but there were a lot of faces I didn't know. I shrugged - they could crash my party if they wanted, I didn't care – it was time to dance. The music was loud, people were dancing, the party was hot.

  After awhile I noticed Roberto dancing with a group of his friends. I could tell he didn’t have a date and it felt good when his jaw dropped looking at me. That certainly made the short skirt well worth everything.

  After almost two hours of dancing, I lost Sadie in the crowd and was getting overheated and thirsty, so I headed to the back drink table. The punch, I knew, was spiked - it smelled like a mixture of 98% alcohol and 2% punch. I didn’t care much for booze and wrinkled my nose at the scent. Thankfully, there were water bottles chilling in an ice bucket and I chugged one until I couldn’t breathe.

  When I came
up for air, someone grabbed my arm and I jumped. It was only Braith. “What the hell are you doing?” I asked. I hadn’t seen him all night.

  “Don’t ask questions. Just come with me.” He grabbed my wrist. He wasn’t smiling and I could tell he was serious, so I followed him without a fight. We walked the perimeter of the room to the opposite corner and then I saw what he was running from. Vest Boy and Leather Boy stood at the entrance to the room and they had two other men accompanying them.

  “Are we going to fight?” I asked Braith. I was ready to fight, but Braith looked at me like I was insane.

  “No, god no. We can’t fight them, not here,” he said. He looked around the room. “I just don’t know,” he mumbled. “They shouldn’t be here. They’re not allowed to be here,” he said under his breath. He glanced at the door. “Think we can make it if we run?”

  Well, I doubted it. They were standing at the entrance. Perhaps if they moved we could have run, but luck was not with us. Vest Boy spotted me and I saw his lips move into a wicked grin. Like Heike, I’m pretty hard to miss in a crowd of short people, I guess. Vest Boy pointed me out to his three friends.

  “Shit,” Braith said. “Shit, shit, shit, shit.” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

  “Do we fight?” I asked. He shrugged and shook his head. “I can fight. I’m not a weakling.” He didn’t answer. “I know how to fight,” I said again and he shushed me. He shushed me! I was getting more upset. “Can we call my papá or Heike, then?” I hissed. But we didn’t have time, because Vest Boy and company walked towards us.

  “You weren’t invited,” Braith said when Vest Boy was close enough.

  “Braith,” Vest Boy says. “You’re still Heike’s puppet?” Vest Boy grinned.

  Braith glared at him. “You need to leave, Micah,” he whispered.

  “Braithy, Braithy, Braithy,” Micah said. “You need to join my side. I’ve never felt so ...” he paused and grinned. His eyes widened and he licked his lips. “Alive,” he hissed.

  “Fuck off,” Braith said.

  Micah ignored him and looked at me. “We weren’t properly introduced. I’m Micah, my dearest. And you are ... ?” He extended his hand to me but he was supremely creepy and freaking me out. No way was I shaking his hand.

  Braith stepped in front of me. “Don’t tell him your name,” Braith ordered. He glared at Micah. “What are you doing here?”

  “It’s a party, isn’t it?” Micah grinned. “I wanna dance.” He shook his shoulders and swayed side to side. The guys behind him chuckled a bit. “There’s some lovely girls here I’d like to have a go with.” He looked at me and his eyes narrowed.

  “You know who is next door, right?” Braith asks. “Because when he finds out you’re in here he won’t care how many strikes you have. You’re head will roll before you can even run.”

  Micah hesitated just for a moment. For a brief flash I saw fear on his face and his grin soured. He pursed his lips for a moment and licked his teeth, but I guess he must have realized that there was no way to get to Heike. We were alone, at least for the immediate few moments.

  “Listen,” I said, trying to break the tension. “I don’t know who you are or what’s going on, but you should leave. I won’t tell Heike, Braith won’t tell Heike. Really, I swear. Just leave and everything will be cool.”

  Micah and pals all laughed and I felt like I was making the whole situation way worse. Before I could think of anything else to do or say, Micah grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him. “Not before a dance with the birthday girl,” he said. He gritted his teeth and licked his lips. I could feel his breath on my neck and cheek and then he leaned in and it looked like he was going to tongue me.

  Now, at this point, you’re probably wondering why I have not broken out my martial arts that I have previously bragged about. I could have just beaten the crap out of these guys, right? Well, not really. First of all, that morning my papá and I could have taken Micah and Leather Boy on the mountain, but my papá didn’t do a thing despite him being oh-so-obviously afraid. That told me these guys were potentially dangerous. Secondly, these guys didn’t do anything up until this moment that physically threatened me. I didn’t really know what was happening on the mountain that morning and it could have all been blown way out of proportion. I trusted my intuition, but I couldn’t just beat up any person that made me uncomfortable. I respected my training too much to just start beating people up whenever I felt like it. I was trained to use martial arts as a defence tool, not as a tool to beat up random guys that make me uneasy.

  But, when Micah grabbed my arm and basically tried to sexually assault me, sirens went off in my head. I was being threatened and it was time to kick his ass. Plus, he had this wild look in his eyes. I can’t describe it, exactly. It was this fierce, feral hunger and anger that made me think maybe my life and the life of my friends could be in danger.

  So, I did what anyone would do in my situation. I elbowed him in the throat. He pushed away from me for a moment, surprised at my strength. I knew I didn’t look as strong as I was and I used that to my advantage.

  “Now, gentlemen,” Micah said. He nodded to his cohorts.

  They circled Braith and I and, after a few moments, attacked. “Holy crap!” I heard people yell. The music stopped playing as we threw punches and kicks at each other. I felt like I was in a really bad martial arts film where the hero keeps beating people up but more and more people just come to fight. Except the guys fighting me were all the same, over and over they came at me.

  Now, I can’t say I wasn’t frightened, because I was. I had never been in an actual fight before, so I didn’t know if I was fully prepared for what happened. But, it’s weird to say, fighting felt amazing. It was like my muscles were living for this day, when I would fight for real instead of just against a sparring partner. And I was pretty awesome. I focused on delivering the most direct and ruthless blows I could think of because, honestly, I was scared not to. Micah and his companions were fierce and didn’t seem to weaken. They didn’t care that it was an unfair match of two-to-four.

  And, then I realized, they were trying to kill me. I didn’t know why they wanted to kill me, but they fought with such ferocity that it was the only thing I could assume.

  Their anger spurred my movements. I had to beat them or I would die. And, I was pretty damn impressive. When one guy threw a punch, I deflected it with ease and back kicked a guy behind me. When they came back at me, I ducked and flew around them and rolled over top of them and then seamlessly went into a spin to kick against one of their knee caps and then flipped over another one to kick him in the groin. I used Micah’s thigh as a step to wrap my legs around his neck to bring him down. When they tried to pull me, I flung myself towards them and twisted them onto the ground. When another jumped at me, I crouched and swept my foot to make them fall. It was a beautiful and horrible fight at the same time.

  If I’m going to be perfectly honest, I felt awesome. I felt like Neo from the Matrix where’s he’s fighting off all of those Agent Smiths in the playground and nothing he did phased the Agent Smiths but he could handle it because he was so well prepared. And, I was well prepared, so the fight felt like a dance I had practiced time and again and memorized until it was second nature to me. It was easy. They kept coming at me and I kept giving them everything I could.

  We were all bloody and sweaty and probably would be in a lot of pain after the adrenaline left but we all kept at it, four against two, and Braith and I were doing pretty damn well. I didn’t even worry about my skirt flying up - I had remembered to wear those little shorts (who was laughing then, Allie!) under the skirt so I was free to move with the fluidity I had been taught. But, all the time I kept thinking that it wasn’t right. That fight couldn’t have been real. I had to be a dream or something. I felt bones break beneath my punches and kicks and I know I snapped a few arms and cracked some knee caps and blood sprayed over my dress when I broke someone’s jaw, but they never seeming phased. The
y kept coming and never slowed.

  Now, I can’t tell you what exactly was happening around us at the party. I was way too focused on my opponents to really care about my guests but, the music had stopped and people screamed and yelled. No one tried to stop the fight, I suppose because it looked really bad. I didn’t blame them: it was bad. People were running for the doors and the lights flicked on.

  Suddenly, Heike came out of nowhere and delivered a blow to one of the guys who was about to attack me and, just like that, the fight was over. “Stop,” his voice boomed and reverberated across the hall. It was all he needed to say, because I got the feeling that no one disobeyed Heike when his voice sounded like that, roaring and reverberating throughout every point of a person's body. His eyes, clear blue-grey like crystal, burned into Micah. If I didn’t know who his anger was directed towards, I would be terrified.

  There were still a few stragglers from the party and they immediately ran. Like, zoomed out of the hall. Heike didn’t even glance their way. When they had gone, my papá came in and hugged me.

  “Are you okay?” he whispered. I nodded. I was too overwhelmed and to speak. My body was shaking from the adrenaline and my heart was pounding.

  I’m proud of being this well-trained a fighter and I’m proud of the muscles I have worked on for my entire life. I’m proud that I have learned intricate defensive moves as well as some pretty fatal offensive ones. Even during a friendly sparring match I had accidentally broken my partner’s ribs.

  But, Micah and his friends looked no different than they had before the fight - even their styled hair wasn’t messed up. They look like they had been strolling through a park or something.

  I was stunned. I felt their bones break. I still had their blood on my knuckles and, I looked down to make sure, but it was also sprayed on the front of my dress. I knew I split at least one of their lips and knocked a tooth out – I felt it fly at my leg – but there was nothing to show for that. They literally had not one wound, not one broken bone or bruise. Only Leather Boy had a red welt and long laceration on his jaw. It was the only evidence of a fight and, I thought I was going crazy, but even as I stared at it, it faded and disappeared.