“Ah, I know what you meant,” Braith said. He shrugged his eyebrows at me. “You moved me from Bee-ef to ef-fing, eh?”
I moaned. “God, Braith, you’re such a pig,” I said. “I’m just asking. It’s weird, alright. You were telling me something weird and I was just asking!”
“Oh, I know what you were asking,” he said and winked a few times at me.
“Go to hell,” I said. I turned away from him.
“I'm just teasing you, brat,” he laughed and nudged me. “They’re only celibate for 24 months. Then we’re released onto the world, ready to fight vampyres, find a gal, and procreate.”
“Why for only 24 months?” I asked.
“Believe me, sweetheart, 24 months is too long to go without sex,” he said. He humped the air once and I rolled my eyes again.
“Aren’t you too old to be acting like a teenager?”
Braith glared at me and then a tiny smile formed at the corners of the mouth. “I’m not old, Kitty Cat, I’m well-traveled,” he said. “And I’m just teasing you. If you can’t take a little bit of teasing from your Bee-eff, you’re gonna get chewed up when you start getting harassed by people who actually hate you,” he scolded. He examined my face as I glared at him, then he smiled. “Van Helsing wants us to put all of our energy into training. He believes it focuses the mind. That’s why there are no girlfriends allowed.” He sniffled and sighed. I think his breakfast high was wearing off. “And then, after training, that’s when the fun starts.” He turned to wink at me and I rolled my eyes. “I meant the Hunting begins, not sex. Although sex is an added benefit.” I sighed and looked out the window. God, I couldn’t stand it when he winked at me and I tried my best not to shudder.
“Why do you keep calling me Kitty?”
Braith shrugged. “You don’t like it?”
“No, I don’t,” I said. “It’s Kit.” He grinned a sly grin and I knew I had just solidified being called Kitty for the remainder of my life. I rolled my eyes. He was so juvenile. We were quiet for a few moments. “What is it like?” I asked.
“What?” He asked, still looking away. “Sex?” He flashed me a mischievous smile.
I tried to ignore him but I couldn’t help but sigh a little. “The fighting. What is it like?”
He let out a lengthy sigh and looked at his hands. “It’s not like a war that you go on a battlefield and fight. If that’s what you’re thinking it’s not like that. It’s more like exactly what it’s called. You’re hunting. You get a scent of one of ‘em, but it’s not really a scent it’s like a bright, color streak. And you follow that streak until you find ‘em.”
“Is it ...” I paused. I didn’t know why I was asking and what I was hoping to find out. “Is it difficult?”
Braith shrugged. He picked at a clear piece of tape stuck to his arm rest. “I don’t know. What’s difficult? Everything is difficult, right?” He paused to call the stewardess over. “Hello, lovely,” he said to the girl. She giggled and blushed. “Be a doll and get me a scotch, love.” I noticed he intentionally made his accent thicker when he spoke to her.
“Of course,” she said. She swept her long hair over her shoulders and walked to the front of the aisle, swaying her hips in a wide arch as she walked.
“It’s not too lonely, though, if that’s what you mean.” Braith continued. “We’re usually hunting in threes.” He holds out three fingers. “You got your Hunter, that’s like Heike. He’s the one that does most of the killing. They learn some tracking skills but what they know was learned, not born in them.” He paused again when the stewardess came over with his drink.
“Anything else?” She breathed.
“Not just right now,” Braith teased. “But I’ll let you know when something’s up.” He winked at her.
She grinned and was obviously flattered - she didn’t seem bothered by his winking. When she left us, Braith continued yet again. “So the Hunter, he’s the killer. They’ve got strength and speed and accuracy with weapons. Hunters are born with that, Trackers are not. Trackers are exactly what they sound like, born to track The Scent of a vampyre. Where the Hunter can lose the scent of a vampyre easily, especially if he’s traveling in a city, the Tracker zones into one scent and never lets it go until the vampyre is dead. That’s how it works, Hunter and Tracker work hand-and-hand together.” Braith sipped his drink. “It’s really quite marvellous when you get a good team together. They might take down one vamp a week, if they’re in a heavy area.”
I thought this over for a minute. I didn’t like the idea of killing anyone or anything. “What’s the third?”
“Hm?” he said.
“You said you hunt in threes. Who was the third hunter?” I asked.
“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Last one isn’t necessary, Kitty Cat, but it sure as hell helps, especially if you’re hunting a pack of vampyres. You usually are because those buggers travel together, so the last member of the Hunting party is a wolf. Wolves are usually pretty useless till you get real close - they might catch you some food while you’re traveling, but that’s about it - but then, when they can’t keep their skin anymore, they round up the vampyres, bring ‘em in like a cattle. They’re faster than vampyres, you know, and somehow they manage to be on all sides at once, closing in the perimeter until we get them close enough to kill.”
“Holy shit,” I said. Braith beamed over impressing me. But, something he said was strange. The part about them keeping their skin - it’s just what Lysander wrote in his journal about Tafari. “I don’t understand? Wolves lose their skin? Where do you get them from? How do you train them?”
He looked at me funny and then grinned. “They ain’t your regular wolves, Kitty Cat, they’re Lycan." He downed half his glass of scotch. It was extremely frustrating getting through a conversation with him, especially as he became progressively more inebriated. I didn’t know what Lycan were and I didn’t think he was going to finish explaining, until finally he looked at me with a glassy look in his eyes. "You know, werewolves.”
Braith started to drink again and it made me uncomfortable. I could see him getting tipsier with each drink. I knew very little about beverages of the alcoholic sort - although, sometimes I was allowed to have a little Sangria during holidays - but I did know what he was drinking was strong. I could smell it all over him even though he’d only had a few.
I was a little hurt that he didn’t finish telling me about werewolves. He was more interested in the blond stewardess with the short skirt. She was on her break and leaned against his armrest in a very unladylike way, so her boobs shoved up into his face and heaved every time she giggled at one of his awful jokes. She put her hands all over him and even rubbed her hand through his hair. It made me nauseous to watch them flirt and fall over each other.
I tried to ignore them by putting on my iPod and, in a few minutes, they both left. I was friends with Alejandra, a girl with a voracious sexual appetite, so I knew what they were going to do. I couldn’t help but feel a little awkward. I mean, I wasn’t jealous or anything. Really, I wasn’t jealous. Braith annoyed me to no end and I was glad to have a break. It was just weird, a guy you were chatting with a second ago about life-changing stuff I had never before heard of just going off to have sex with some random chick with awful hair extensions. What did he see in her? That her I.Q. was double digits? Or that each of her boobs were the size of a volleyball?
I looked down at my own, minuscule chest for a moment. My tiny boobs had always made me feel inadequate, especially around my friends. Even my mom has nicer boobs than me.
Suddenly, Heike sat next to me. “What are you doing?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Just looking out the window.”
“Hm,” he said, as if he knew that really wasn’t what I was doing. “Is Braith helping you learn a little?”
I shrugged. “I guess, when he’s not drinking or eating or flirting.”
Heike patted my arm. “Don’t be too upset with Braith. It’s hard being a hunter. You ha
ve to let them have a little fun.”
“You’re okay with your Hunters having sex with random strangers? He could get a disease or something. He could get her knocked up,” I said.
Heike laughed. “Am I okay with it? No, not really. But, I’m not him, am I? The Hunters make their own choices. I can’t stop them.”
“Aren’t you the leader, though?” I said, although as soon as I said it I wished I hadn’t. Heike glared down and snarled a bit.
“Your bisabuela talks too much,” he grumbled.
“It’s true, though? You’re the leader of The Coven?”
“I am one of the leaders of our coven, yes,” he said.
“You didn’t want to tell me?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to make things worse. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling. I don’t want you to feel more pressure than you already do. And me being the Head High Master isn’t going to help, I’m sure.” I nodded. “And I don’t want you to have too high expectations of me.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re going to be rough on you, Katja,” he said. I sighed and rolled my eyes. Yes, I know. Everyone keeps telling me this. I get the point. “You sigh now but a few days with them and you’re going to be begging to go home. I can’t let you. Once training has begun you can’t leave until it is over. The boys there are going to treat you like dirt, less than dirt, Katja, and there is nothing I will be able to do about it. Do you understand? For two years we Hunters are expected to act like wild animals learning how to bring down a kill. And they do. For the most part they are wild boys that can only learn manners when they are on their first hunt.” I thought back to Lysander’s journal. My papá had said there were some things I shouldn’t read. Perhaps Lysander had his period of animalistic behaviour as well. “The boys, the’ll make it much worse on you, because you’re different. They hate anything different. ”
“I can handle a lot,” I whispered, although I wasn’t sure if I could handle everything that I would face. I could only hope I would have the strength to fight when the time came.
“I know you can.” Heike patted my hand a little. “I just hope you don’t have to find out how much you can handle.” An announcement came on saying we were preparing to land. Heike smiled a little and looked down at my lap, where Dracula lay. “Why are you reading that?”
I shrugged. “Braith said it was family history.”
“It’s a load of rubbish,” Heike grumbled. “Don’t take that as anything more than fiction.” I smiled - that was a relief. Dracula kind of freaked me out. Heike smiled back and patted my head before he returned to his seat.
I stretched my neck to see below. There was nothing but a sea of clouds. I straightened in my seat and buckled my belt. I really didn’t know much about what I was in store for – Braith and Heike seemed to deliberately not talk about most of it, except how bad “the boys” would treat me – and I was curious to find out what each day would be like. Even so, I was kind of feeling excited. If I was heading into the weirdest most trying time of my life, I was going to enjoy the little time I had without worrying about the boys or training or vampyres or being a Kindler. I just wanted to enjoy the next few hours before training began.
About ten minutes later Braith came back to his seat, slutty stewardess nowhere to be seen. We didn’t speak. I felt awkward around him, like I used to feel around Allie when she told me about her sexual exploits. I don’t know why, it was just weird. I guess I have to get used to this life, but joining the “mile high” club just minutes after you talk to a girl about vampyres and werewolves was kind of weird.
I ignored Braith by pressing my forehead as firmly against the window as I could and watched our descent to Lisbon. I’m glad I did. As we broke through the clouds, I saw the ocean. The sun made the water a multi-faceted diamond, reflecting a rainbow of deep colors. I was entranced by the hues of the ocean, until a jet ski far below broke my concentration. The coast came, next, and then the city, a beautiful checkerboard of burnt orange terracotta and green lined with grey. Even from above, I could feel the life and history of the city. I wanted to stay and explore, but I knew Heike would not allow it.
We landed and it felt really unbelievable to get off of the plane and stretch. Twenty hours in a plane was too long! My legs and butt ached terribly, even though I walked around the plane quite a bit.
Heike tapped me on the shoulder as we were waiting to get off the plane. “Don’t get used to walking. We’ve got a car ride and a boat ride to look forward to.”
I grimaced. More sitting on my butt!
Since we took our bags on the plane with us – I was only allowed one duffel bag with gym clothes and under garments – we walked quickly through customs and the lines of waiting passengers until we found our driver. He was a thin man with coal black hair and bright, brown eyes.
Braith smiled and said something quickly to him when we met him at the foot of the escalator, but I didn’t catch exactly what he said. Portuguese was similar to Spanish in some ways, but much different in others. I could probably read the language, but listening was completely different. It was so fast! The driver, for his part, said nothing, just raised his eyebrows at Heike and took my bag.
He lead us to the doors and, when we stepped outside, we were blasted with heat I previously believed only existed in the pits of Hades. Arizona was notoriously hot, but Portugal was hot and crazy humid. I broke in a sweat immediately and my clothes felt like they were glued to my skin. “Holy crap, you guys train in this mugginess?” I exclaimed.
Braith laughed. “You better get used to it soon, Kitty Cat, or you’re going to die come tomorrow when you’re running from six in the morning till six at night.”
“What? My mind is still in Mountain time,” I whined. “Portugal is like 10 hours ahead. I’m totally thrown off by the time change. Can’t I get a day to rest?”
“Shit, Katja, no.” Heike said. He opened the car door and sighed. “And you can come at five am, now, for the whining.” He got in the car and patted the seat next to him.
Hm. I discovered where my papá got his scare tactics from.
We drove for almost two hours. I was too busy enjoying the colors of Portugal to notice I was sitting down again, even though my legs ached to run and move about. It was a beautiful country and it reminded me a lot of Mexico. The highway cut through the cities, using the hilly landscape to its benefit. Often, there was part of a town on the high side of a hill and the other part of the town on the lower side. I didn’t get much of a look at Lisbon – we were driving on the highway the whole time - but I did get to see the country and it was lovely: white, stucco churches; ceramic-tiled roofs; red dirt paths; rocky roads leading to pastures. Bright palm trees swayed along the highway.
The whole time I stared out the window, I pointed out various things I found especially beautiful to Braith and Heike. A red mansion set inside a grove of palm, odd graffiti on a support wall, a field of brambles and tall grass. It was all very beautiful to me, but they didn’t seem to care - I understood they had been down this highway a thousand times, but they could at least have pretended to humor me! Eventually, I turned around when I felt Braith staring.
He didn’t even try to pretend he wasn’t staring, so I glared back at him. “What?” he asked
“You’re staring at me,” I grumbled. “That’s so rude.”
Braith smiled. “You’re very innocent, that’s all.”
I ruffled my eyebrow but, before I could argue, the driver called back to us in Portuguese, “O oceano, senhorita,” and pointed out of the passenger side.
“The ocean!” I yelled. I clamored over Braith to see it. “Can we stop? I’ve never been to the Atlantic Ocean.”
“You’ll be on the beach so much you’ll get sick of it,” Braith said. “You’ll hate the beach in a few weeks.”
“All the more reason to enjoy it while I do love it,” I said. I made my sweetest, puppy dog eyes and Heike laughed. Braith rolled his eyes
and sighed.
“Excellent point,” Heike said. “Our ferry doesn’t leave for almost two hours. Braith, take her to the beach. When you’re done come find me at the restaurant. We’ll get something to eat.”
“Me?” Braith grimaced. “You know how much I loathe the beach.” Heike gave him some look that I didn’t really understand but, whatever, Braith sighed and I knew Heike had won and someone was taking me to the beach.
We got out of the car and stretched our legs. It was cooler by the ocean and the smell of salt burned my nose and tired eyes. It was a lovely, clear feeling that helped me stretch my underused muscles.
Braith started walking towards the beach and I followed. When we got to the sand he held out his arms and said, “Here it is. A bunch of sand.” Then he began to point all around us. “There’s some shitty water. There are tourists trying to give themselves skin cancer. There are annoying children screaming at seagulls. That’s the beach. Now, let’s go eat.”
“Oh, come on,” I said. “You’re acting like a toddler.” Then I hit his arm. “Tag, you’re it.”
“You want to play tag and I’m the one who’s acting like a toddler?” he said. He stuffed his hands deep inside his pockets. I grinned and began backing away. “No, Catalina, I’m not doing it. I refuse.” I kept backing up, a little faster. “Don’t. Come on, just don’t,” he whined. “I’m tired.”
“Faster you tag me the faster we can leave the beach,” I said, but I’m not sure if he heard the whole sentence as I began to run. I heard Braith call after me but I didn’t care. I felt like this was my last day of freedom, my last day of being a normal girl, before my life undoubtedly changed forever. I could feel my old life ending as the sand kicked up beneath my feet. I know it’s a strange thing to admit, but three days ago I was a carefree girl whose biggest worry was having small boobs. Never would I have imagined being thousands of miles away from home going to a training school to fight vampyres. It was mind boggling.
Kindling (The Hunter Trilogy Book One) Page 11
