Kindling (The Hunter Trilogy Book One)

by Abigail Colucci

  Braith put his hands beneath me and lifted me up. I screamed when he jolted me. It felt like my back was broken.

  “Sorry, sorry,” he kept saying, but no matter how careful he was it still hurt and I kept moaning in pain. We followed The Rabbi across the field and towards a tree-lined area. I had never been to the other side before, but it was unremarkable, just a parking lot past the trees. A van pulled next to us and Jean-Luc emerged, smiling.

  “Five weeks, Mon Chaton. You lasted five fucking weeks with The Rabbi!” Then he saw me and grimaced. “Are you sure she’s still alive?”

  “Probably,” The Rabbi said. “And I would appreciate you not using your vulgarities in front of the lady or myself. Its crude and unnecessary and it may cause my tongue to slip and let Katja know you only lasted until the afternoon of the second day of my training before you began to whimper like a little pup.”

  Jean-Luc smiled and helped put me in the car. I moaned again when my legs hit against the car door.

  We drove for awhile, outside of the school compound and around to the other side of the island. During the drive, The Rabbi prattled on about how I was the only one who has ever lasted longer than two weeks in his training, especially by the boys in the current class of trainees. He thought the boys were spoiled, arrogant, lazy, and a number of other things he couldn’t repeat. He sounded proud of me. It was nice to hear he was proud of me.

  As The Rabbi chattered on, I stared out the window. I was too exhausted and in too much pain to respond. I had never seen this part of the island and, by the looks of things, there was nothing out here except tropical plants and palm trees. I may have dozed a bit or in the crook of Jean-Luc’s arm, but suddenly The Rabbi turned onto a nearly-hidden dirt pathway that led us to a gigantic and very modern house, which was camouflaged behind palm fronds and greenery.

  Jean-Luc carried me out of the car and we followed The Rabbi into his home. “Sarah!” The Rabbi called. “Sarah! We have visitors!” The Rabbi led us into the main living area and then into the kitchen where a women stood, stirring pots and reading recipes.

  “Sarah!” The Rabbi said again. The women finally looked up and smiled. “Our guests are here.”

  “Oh!” she squealed. She took off her headphones, which were concealed by her hair, and came over to use. “I knew you were coming today. I just knew it. I felt you were sick, honey, so I made vegetable soup and I’ve got Cornish Game hens in the oven and mashed sweet potatoes. Is that alright?” I think I nodded but I may have just rolled my head a little bit. “Has Ami done this to you? Goodness, Ami, the poor girl is exhausted! And she’s got vomit all over her.” Sarah came over and felt my face. “She’s burning up, Ami!”

  “That’s why I brought her to you, my dear,” The Rabbi said. He gave the woman a kiss on her cheek.

  Now, I didn’t really know how bad I looked, but I know it must have been pretty awful, especially with scabs all over my limbs and dried blood around my forearms and bruises everywhere and vomit still stuck to my face. Sarah looked me over and stroked my face. “I’ll take her upstairs and get her cleaned up. Is that okay, Kit?” I think I nodded. “Boys, watch the stove for me.”

  Jean-Luc tried to put me down, but I collapsed once more, so he carried me up the stairs and into the bathroom. He sat me on a set of small stairs that led to the bathtub – it was a Japanese style soaking tub, Sarah explained, and good for healing – and then she drew me a bath. She put several different types of sweet and floral smelling things in it. I was too exhausted to ask or care what they were, but she seemed to know what she was doing. After she had finished with the dried herbs or whatever they were she placed her hands in the water and began to chant quietly. When she was done she helped me get undressed. She carefully led me up the stairs to the tub and then down the stairs in the water. The water was hot and seemed to soak into my muscles. It felt both really good and really horrible at the same time. I cried out and, at first, I wanted to get out, but Sarah hushed me and laid me back so my head rested on a crescent-shaped ledge.

  “Stay in until I tell you, okay?” Sarah ordered. The water was already feeling better, so I nodded. “I’ll be back in a few minutes. I’ll throw your clothes in the laundry.”

  I nodded again and sunk into the tub. The ledge kept my neck vertical, so I didn’t go under. I must have dozed, though, because Sarah was soon back and draining water. “Don’t want you to drown,” she smiled. I noticed I had dipped farther into the water, but I didn’t care. The bath, by then, felt amazing.

  I was so physically and mentally exhausted I wasn’t even embarrassed that a women I had never met before was seeing me naked. I was in a half sleep daze, awake but not really present. I felt her wet my hair and brush out all the tangles. She moved me forward and supported me like I was an infant, then washed my back with some sort of sea salt scrub. The grittiness felt like it was peeling off my pain. When she was done, she moved me back, patted my head, and left.

  I don’t know how long I soaked, but when I woke Sarah wasn’t there, though she had left out some salts and oils, I noticed. When I stretched out my arm, my fingers were shriveled like prunes. I yawned and stretched with my whole body. And then I realized, holy crap, I was stretching out my arms and legs and I wasn’t in any pain! I didn’t feel feverish or crampy or nauseous and there wasn’t even a trace of a charley-horse.

  “You’re awake,” Sarah said from the doorway. “That’s wonderful.”

  I smiled. “I feel wonderful,” I said. I moved my arms and neck around and felt no pain. “What did you do?”

  She grinned and handed me a towel. She turned around as I got out of the bath. “I’m a healer. I’ve been telling Ami to give you some of my medicine since you got here, but he wouldn’t. Wasn’t in the plan, he said.”

  “You’re a healer?” I asked.

  Sarah nodded. “You know, a Lilith.” When I looked confused, she smiled. “I forgot. You don’t know. A Lilith is like a witch, maybe a bit more like a wiccan? I’m not really sure what regular people would call us, but we work with nature and some of us work with people and some of us work with animals. We bring healing into things, if that makes sense.”

  “Isn’t Lilith like a baby-stealer or something?” I asked. Then I thought she might take offense and immediately regretted saying that. Thankfully, Sarah just laughed.

  “You are new, aren’t you?” She grinned. “It’s just a name for us. To my knowledge no Lilith has ever stolen a baby. But, you are right. Lilith the demon did steal children. Oh, and Ami hates the term, but that’s what we’ve been called for forever, you know. I don’t mind it. And we do such good things. You’re better, right?”

  I nodded. “Immensely better.” Sarah laughed and handed me a robe. She turned around again so I could have privacy and motioned for me to follow her.

  She led me from the bathroom into the adjoining bedroom and opened the closet. “Everything you could possibly need is in here or in those drawers,” she said, nodding to a bureau across the room. “Ami picked most of the clothes out. God love him, but he’s no fashionista. He was just so excited to have a student and you, my goodness, he gushes about you. You must really be something.”

  “He gushes about me? I didn’t even think he liked me,” I said.

  “Oh, Kit, he adores you. He didn’t tell me everything, but I know he worked you until you collapsed. Pushing you until you break was part of what you have to go through. You’re different. You’re a Kindler.” She nodded towards the closet. “There is a dress in there that a whore wouldn’t wear. You’ll see it, I’m sure. Some sales lady in France convinced him that it was all the rage. Pick out anything else that suits you,” Sarah said. I looked through the clothes – I did see the whore dress, my god! – and I moved it aside to bring out a black and white polka dotted dress with capped sleeves and a collared neck. The skirt had a black, white, and red ruffle up the thigh to the hip, similar to a salsa dress. When I brought it out, Sarah smiled. “That’s Ami’s favorite. A
s soon as he saw it he had to have it for you.”

  “Why? I don’t understand. What’s going on?” I asked. She motioned me to sit down and began fixing my hair. She reminded me a bit of my abuela.

  “Something about Kindler training. I don’t really know. I’ve just been waiting for you for a month though! I work off the island but it does get lonesome here. And to have a girl here, that’s something special.”

  I blushed. “Thank you, for all you’re doing. It feels good to be in a home.” She grinned at me in the mirror. “But, you won’t be lonesome much longer, with babies coming.”

  Sarah stopped brushing my hair and her face fell. “Babies?” She said.

  “Oh, Sarah, I’m so sorry,” I said. I turned around and placed my hand on hers. “Did you not know?”

  “How?” she asked. “How do you know?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I just knew as soon as I saw you.” I thought about it a bit. “I guess, I can see the color of your babies. Does that make sense?”

  “That’s weird, Kit,” she said. She looked at herself in the mirror, turning from one side to another. “I didn’t know, not for sure. Do you think Ami can see it?”

  I shrugged again. “If he hasn’t said anything, he probably can’t.”

  She nodded. “I’ve never known someone who can see The Coloring of someone not born, yet.” She placed her hand on her belly and then her eyes widened as she seemed to remember something. “You said babies! How many babies?”

  “Two. I can see two colors,” I said, then chuckled. “My coloring is great. I can protect myself from the evil wrath of unborn fetuses. That’s great, just great,” I laughed.

  Sarah started laughing and went back to brushing my hair. “Twins, eh? You can see the sexes?” I nodded. “Don’t tell me, okay? And, please, don’t breathe a word of this to Ami. He doesn’t want any more children. He’s too old for babies, he says. But he’s been married twice before and had his families. I haven’t.”

  Sarah finished my hair and handed me a razor. “I don’t want to pressure you, but your legs are almost as bad as the werewolf,” she teased.

  I agreed - my legs were awfully hairy - I shaved and dressed and there was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I said. I thought it would be Sarah, but it was Braith. He didn’t say anything when he came in, just stared. I felt embarrassed and my whole face reddened, I could see it in the mirror. “Sarah made me better,” I said. I smiled but he still didn’t say anything. “What? Do I look okay?”

  “You look okay,” Braith said. Boy, I thought, did he know how to compliment a gal. He shook his head and looked away. “I’m here to take you down to dinner.”

  “Do you know what this was about?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Come and see.”

  Braith led me downstairs and the others were waiting for us at the dining room table. The Rabbi beamed when he saw me. “Katja, you look marvellous. And you’re feeling better?” I nodded. “My Sarah, she’s amazing, isn’t she?”

  I nodded. “She healed me.” The table was set with fine china and a very nice meal had been laid out. “What is all this?”

  “First, we eat as friends, then we’ll talk,” The Rabbi said.

  Jean-Luc came in carrying several bottles of wine. “You clean up nicely.” He raised his eyebrows and grinned. “You are a work of art, Mon Chaton.” Jean-Luc kissed me on both cheeks. “Hungry?” I nodded and relented to the fact that my questions might be answered later. Right then, I was ravenous.

  So, we ate and drank and had a really lovely time. It was nice and normal, which was weird in itself because we were five totally abnormal people.

  Ami, Jean-Luc, and Braith joked and talked the most. I could tell Sarah was preoccupied - I had just told her she was expecting twins - so she didn’t talk much. The men didn’t notice, as they told elaborate stories and jokes and made fun of each other. The Rabbi teased Braith and Jean-Luc about their short stints in training with him - Jean-Luc made it through a day and a half, Braith made it through three days - and then they began to badmouth the current trainees. Those boys were the worst group The Rabbi ever had: unruly, undisciplined, and out of control. Some of them even refused to obey The Rabbi on the first day, he said. Well, that didn’t go over well with him, so he made the group spend 28 hours on the field, running laps and doing different conditioning exercises. He finally broke them until even the toughest wept for his mother.

  “Of course, Master Walters and Master Sayer had a fit,” The Rabbi grumbled. “They called a meeting of The High Coven. They can’t order me to do anything, but they politely suggested that I stop training for the remainder of the year. So I did.” The Rabbi smiled a little. “Gladly, I may add, because I had enough of The High Masters and their spoiled little turds they called trainees.”

  Jean-Luc thought this was hilarious. “Training with you is like working with an oncoming truck,” Jean-Luc told The Rabbi. “Although, if Sarah was around back in my day I’d come back just to see her.” Jean-Luc laughed and Sarah giggled.

  “I don’t think you’d last a day even if you had me around,” Sarah teased.

  Jean-Luc feigned offense. “I will have you know that I am the toughest werewolf working with The Coven.”

  “Yes, I agree,” The Rabbi laughed. “As one of three werewolves working with us, you are one of the toughest.”

  Jean-Luc laughed and went on and told us about his humorous adventures chasing vampyres down to South America. He had a way of telling stories that was both incredibly funny, self-deprecating, and vain. During training at The Coven, he and Braith were ostracized because of what they were - The Coven seemed to hate werewolves just as much as they hated dhampirs. As soon as Braith’s training was finished, the two of them left on the scent trail of a group of vampyres to South America. It was both of their first solo Hunts - which they both regretted immensely since they ended up losing the vampyres and getting themselves lost in the Amazon. Jean-Luc had us all laughing as he continued his story, “Braith was bitten by a snake and his whole leg swelled until he could barely walk. I got so worried because he wasn’t healing and he started to get delirious. I had to turn into a werewolf to drag him and my clothes tore off me while I was struggling to move him. I was completely naked and going back and forth between human and wolf was awful. As soon as I became human the mosquitoes attacked and as soon as I became a wolf the fleas and ticks attacked. Both of us were miserable and Braith? He was mostly unconscious. But me? Look at me, I am beautiful and this was extremely degrading for me. You know I love my clothes and being clean and looking good,” he joked. Sarah and I giggled. “In the end, we were so ashamed and embarrassed. We hadn’t caught our vampyres and we were miserable, between Braith’s bite, the mosquitoes, and the bugs. Oh, the bugs! I can’t tell you how irritated our skin was from the bites. I think that’s what kept Braith so ill. He couldn’t heal because the bugs kept him sick. It was awful. We felt like failures, because, of course, it was our first Hunt after training, you know. Of course we had hunted before, but not on our own, only when we lived in the Wolf Den.

  “Finally, after about three months we were starving, covered in dirt, smelled like manure, we thought we were going to die, and Braith’s leg was the circumference of a watermelon. We were so young, eh Braith?” Braith nodded. I could tell he was in a serious mood. “One day, we woke up, and do you know who was standing above us? Ami and Heike. I look up and see they’ve got these giant grins on their faces. And, of course Braith and I just stared up at them like we were hallucinating. It couldn’t be them, I thought. And then Ami says to us “We could smell you from Portugal. Didn’t even need to see your colors.’” Sarah, The Rabbi, and I laughed hysterically at this. Braith smiled a little. “Heike just looked at us like we were insane. And we must have been a site, two scrawny, underweight boys, almost completely naked and filthy, covered in red, bug bites, and smelling like we had rolled around in dung. God, it was awful.”

  “And I’ve never let
you live it down,” The Rabbi laughed.

  “Will you ever?” Braith smiled.

  “Not until I’m senile,” The Rabbi laughed, then grew serious as he looked around the table. “It seems we’re finished here. Now to the fun?” He looked at me, expecting an answer. I shrugged then nodded. “Excellent.” He rose and gestured for us to follow.

  The Rabbi led us into the living room. “Here, you sit here, Katja.” He pointed to a large easy chair. It was very comfortable and I sank into the pillows.

  When everyone was seated – the others sipped on wine, but I declined – The Rabbi smiled. “Now, I have had ulterior motives up until now. I was asked to train you as a Kindler and I wanted to do it just as my Master trained me. I just didn’t think you would last five weeks with the intensity of training I put you through.” He laughed a little. “Now, I’m doing the same for you as my Master did for me. He pushed me until I was at my weakest point, as you were this morning, and then he took me in, cleaned me, clothed me, fed me, and then we worked to find my fire.” He looked around for a minute. “Of course, my recovery took weeks. But, you have my Sarah,” he grinned at his wife and then looked to Jean-Luc. “Jean-Luc, where was the ...”

  “Ah, let me get it,” Jean-Luc went into another room and came back with, of all things, a box of microwave popcorn.

  The Rabbi smiled when he saw how how confused I was. He dug into the box and unwrapped a package. “My Master made me use dead fish, but I thought popcorn would work just as well,” he said. He took one of my hands, palm up, and placed the bag of popcorn on it. Then, he placed my other hand on top and moved my hands vertically, so the bag was between both palms. “Now, relax. Close your eyes, lean back. If you think hard enough, you’ll feel the whiteness inside of you. When you find it, move it to your hands. Do not get alarmed. Do you understand?”

  “Not really,” I confessed.

  “The whiteness is the fire inside of you. You have probably always felt it, but ou just thought it was normal. You’ve ignored it for so long, but you’ll know it when you find it again. You’ll understand when you feel it,” The Rabbi explained. “When you find it and begin to move it from your inside to your hands, the popcorn should begin to warm and pop.” I was sure I looked puzzled, so he smiled. “Just try. Close your eyes and search.”