Fire and Fantasy: a Limited Edition Collection of Epic and Urban Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  As I turned to go, a freckle-faced hunter cried, “Yeah, get out of here while you can. When our reinforcements come, none of you will get to leave.”

  I spun around to face him, and the rest of his words got stuck in his throat. His expression froze. He looked absolutely terrified as I stared down at him. I pranced closer until we were at talking distance. “What did you say?”

  “N-nothing,” he stuttered.

  “What reinforcements?”

  “Nothing. I didn’t say anything.” He stumbled back a step and whipped around to disappear into the academy.

  My gaze passed over the remaining hunters one last time before I walked away.

  Reinforcements. I wondered who they’d called to deal with us.

  Wait!

  That meant they were expecting someone or a lot of someones. They would open the gate for them.

  I wondered how well they knew their reinforcements and how many there were. An idea sprang to my mind, and my lips stretched as wide as Blake’s.

  “How do you perform reversification?” I asked Symphony when we were back at my mansion. Blake and Oscar had already returned to their rooms.

  “Why do you need to know?” she asked.

  “No one ever told me about it before. Count me curious.”

  She stared at me with her young but ancient eyes that seemed to see right through me. For the first time, I wondered exactly how old she was. She wasn’t as famous as Blake and Celtric, but she couldn’t be younger than me. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have known something as obscure as reversification.

  She blinked, and the disinterested look was back on her face. “Reversification is like transitioning from our feral state to a rest state, except it goes further.”

  That didn’t tell me much, but she didn’t stay to explain. She hugged her bunny and headed down the hallway to her room.

  The moment she left, I took off for Hannah’s Bed and Breakfast.

  Eleven

  Rune

  I zipped down the cold stone hallway of the academy dorm, straight to Room 105. The quietness of the night and the silence of the ancient building failed to calm me. Anger must have been written all over my face, because even the blond girl I always bumped into didn’t try to make small talk like usual.

  I was about to pull open the heavy door to enter my room when someone patted my shoulder. My arm swung out on instinct. He seized it just before it connected with his face.

  “Whoa, Rune. It’s me.” Brydon circled around into my field of vision.

  “Sorry. I didn’t see you.” I didn’t even notice he was so close behind me. Our instructors always taught us to be aware of our surroundings, and normally, I was.

  I stuck my key in the lock, twisted the knob, and yanked open the door.

  The tiny cell-like room was just large enough to contain two twin beds and a few pieces of mismatched furniture. Clothes spilled over the drawers, no matter how many times I stuffed them back in the previous days. Lost socks were scattered here and there, and the smell emanating from them was entirely too strong.

  I walked straight to my bunk bed and sat on top of the white sheets. I pulled out my stake and shaved the edge with a knife.

  “You nailed Izella Pristin. You should have seen the look on everyone’s face,” Brydon said.

  The scent of lilies and roses filled my nostrils, as though I was still there, outside the gate, so close to her I could smell her.

  “You shouldn’t have released her. She was more useful as a captive.” He pulled a chair over and sat across from me. “Now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure she was the one who injured me and fucked with my mind.”

  I knew she was. An average vampire couldn’t have overpowered Brydon and sucked him dry. “She won’t get away the next time.”

  “Why did you let her go this time?”

  My hands paused for a moment. “She could escape with or without me trying to stop her.”

  “But you didn’t even try.”

  “I did.”

  “You didn’t try your best. I know you.”

  I looked at Brydon, into the depth of his eyes, and felt naked before my twin. A terrible feeling weighed down my chest. I knew Izella Pristin had injured my brother, I knew she was a vampire, the kind of monster who killed my father, and I knew she exposed the location of Hunter Academy. I shouldn’t have let her go, no matter how fragile and innocent she looked, because Izella Pristin was neither fragile nor innocent.

  “She tricked us,” Brydon said. “The council has yet to punish us for leading a descendant to the academy. Rune, remember what history said about her. She lured hunters and vampires alike to do things against their will. Most of her victims offered her everything without a fight. She—”

  “I know!” I jammed the knife into the stake and hacked a good piece of the wood off. I’d consulted the history book after discovering who she was. Some said she was the most dangerous of all descendants. We could overcome the other descendants with strength. With her, strength was not enough. She erased Brydon’s memory with ease and influenced me into bringing her to the academy. “She will pay for what she did to you,” I said, more to myself than to Brydon. It was a promise, and I always kept my promises, especially to Brydon.

  Twelve

  Izella

  I put on a pair of oversized sunglasses as I rapped on the white Victorian house. The sign Hannah’s Bed and Breakfast hung off two iron rings on a pole, swinging every now and then in the direction of the wind.

  The door creaked open after ten minutes and a midget of a woman stuck her head out.

  “Hannah?” I asked.

  “Yes, what can I do for you?” She gave me a once over. Her gaze lingered on the sunglasses, which I guess humans didn’t normally wear at night. I only wore them in case someone could recognize me.

  “Bed and breakfast.” Well, perhaps not the breakfast part. “I need a private room.”

  “Do you have your ID?” she asked, her small frame blocking the entrance. The door was opened just barely enough to show her face.

  “A what?” I asked.

  “ID. Identification. Driver’s license. You know, the card with your name and picture on it.”

  “I don’t have one.” There’d been no such thing two hundred years ago when I was still human, and I’d never bothered to get one.

  She shrank a step back into the house. The crack in the door grew narrower. “I’m sorry. We can’t service you without an ID. Find another place to spend the night.”

  She swung the door shut. I planted my palm on it, preventing it from closing in my face. It was clear she thought she could overpower me. Her face turned red as she tried to close the door with everything she had.

  “There is no other place to stay for twenty miles,” I said. Not that twenty miles was anything to me. “You see, I don’t have a car.”

  “Then how did you get here?” Her round eyes narrowed at me.

  “I walked here.”

  Her gaze scanned me from head to toe. The suspicion in her eyes grew. Perhaps I didn’t look like I’d walked twenty miles. She tried to shut the door again, but of course, it didn’t budge. Fear grew in her eyes. She turned and cried over her shoulder, “Robert, can you come here for a moment?”

  I sighed and lifted the sunglasses off my face. She was about to abandon the door and run to Robert when I seized her arm.

  “Hannah, I am a guest in your home,” I said.

  “What are you doing? Let me go! I have strong friends who live close by. Don’t try something funny on me, missy.”

  I grabbed her head and looked her directly in the eye. My own eyes warmed. “You will take me to the darkest and quietest room in your house. I am to stay as long as I want.”

  Footsteps pounded ever closer. A male voice shouted in the background.

  “I showed you my ID. You will take me to the darkest and quietest room in your house,” I repeated.

  A hairy hand grabbed the edge of the door. Just w
hen that man ripped it open, the light in Hannah’s eyes dimmed.

  “Who are you? What do you want?” An oversized man stepped into my personal space. Beside him, Hannah looked like a child.

  “You must be Robert.” I put my sunglasses back on. “Hannah was just going to show me to my room. Weren’t you, Hannah?”

  “Yes, I was.” Hannah blinked. She had the look of someone who had just woken from sleep. “This way, Ms. …”

  “Julia. Call me Julia.” I gave her the name I’d used when I was still human, before my sire changed it. The name now sounded foreign in my ears, as if it belonged to another person, the girl from so long ago who could barely haul a bucket of water from the well.

  “Of course, Julia.” She shook her head and pounded her temple with her fist. “Sorry, Julia, I must be tired. My body is not what it used to be. Follow me.”

  She nudged Robert out of the way. I sidestepped him as she led me up the wooden stairs to a room in the corner of the house shaded by an overgrowth of trees. Dark and quiet, just the way I wanted.

  “If there is anything else you need, don’t hesitate to holler,” Hannah said.

  I glanced around the modest room with peeling yellow wallpaper and worn furniture before my gaze settled on Hannah. “Who else is currently renting a room here?”

  She frowned. “I’m afraid I can’t disclose my other customer’s information, Miss Julia.”

  I narrowed my eyes on her. “Hannah, you have to answer every question I ask. Who else currently rent a room here?”

  “No one else, Miss Julia.” Her hands flew to her mouth as soon as she spoke.

  My brows drew together. I thought since Hannah’s Bed and Breakfast was the only accommodation around Hunter Academy, the people who were coming to help the academy would stop here. Was I wrong or just too early?

  “There is a person I am expecting later tonight.” She bit her lip once she leaked the information.

  “Who?” I snap my head to face her.

  “Tessa Hampton.”

  The name didn’t sound familiar. I had no idea if she was one of the people I wanted. “Thank you, Hannah,” I said.

  She left, and I walked over to the only window in the room. The window looked out to the front wooden fence of the house, a prime location to wait for a certain someone.

  Thirteen

  Izella

  I was practicing reversification in my mind when headlight flashed outside the window. In the quietness of the night, I couldn’t have missed the roar of the car engine even if I wanted to.

  A black truck pulled into the driveway of Hannah’s Bed and Breakfast, and a woman hopped out as soon as the car stopped and the engine died. She swung a duffel bag over her shoulder and shut the car door. A moment later, she disappeared from my view to hit the doorbell.

  The downstairs lights flickered on. There were some voices and muted sounds. Judging from the noises, Hannah or Robert had situated her across the hall from my room. That was all the better for me, although there weren’t really that many rooms to choose from.

  I waited for two more hours after Hannah and Robert left. Now, in the deep of the night, the entire house was quiet and everyone else must have gone to sleep. I swung open my door and crept over to twist the doorknob of Tessa’s room.

  It was locked. I used a bit more force to yank the door open. Splinters and wood chips flew all over the place.

  Everything was dark, but it was not difficult for me to make out the drawer, the TV stand, and the queen-sized bed. Tessa was lying on the bed, her sheets bunched around her bare legs.

  She looked to be in her thirties with a strong chin and generous lips. Her nose was more prominent than usual but fitted with her features.

  I strolled to her side until I was looking down at her. My hand was an inch from her chin when she sprang open her eyes and seized my wrist. She leaped, twisted my arm backward, and pinned me onto the bed, all under three seconds flat.

  Interesting. I was impressed.

  “Who are you? What are you doing here?” Her voice was like her appearance. Hard, icy, and no nonsense.

  I turned my head to look at her. “Tessa Hampton?”

  Her gray eyes narrowed. “Who told you my name?”

  “Are you heading toward Hunter Academy, Tessa?”

  “Why does it matter to you?”

  I gave her my most disarming smile. “Then we are going to the same place. Mind if I tag along?”

  “What business do you have in Hunter Academy?”

  The position she had me in was hurting my shoulder, so I stood up. Her lush brows locked together as she tried to keep me where I was. She was strong, but I was stronger. I stretched and shrugged her hand off.

  “You are a vampire.” She planted her feet in a solid stance, ready for a fight. “What is a vampire doing here?”

  “Waiting for you.” Even as the satisfaction of overpowering her glowed inside me, disappointment settled in the pit of my stomach. Being practically invincible was a lonely feeling. “Tessa, I need you to bring me to Hunter Academy as your apprentice.” I stared into her eyes.

  “You’re not my apprentice. I will bring you to Hunter Academy, but only as a captive.” She swung a blow at my head.

  I leaned back to dodge the blow. Her fist barely missed my nose. Before I could straighten, she karate kicked me, each time faster than the last. I humored her for a while, playing along with her game and giving her the impression that if she tried hard enough, she could win. Then she knocked over a lamp. The small thing hit the floor in a thump. If we continued, we would sure to wake up Hannah and Robert, and I would have to silence all of them.

  “Tessa.” I grabbed her fist an instant before it slammed into my face. “Listen to me. You are to bring me to Hunter Academy and introduce me as your apprentice.”

  “I will do no such thing.” Her words came out between hard breaths.

  “Tessa.” I leaned so close to her our lashes touched. “I am your apprentice, Julia. You are teaching me to become a vampire hunter. You are going to bring me to Hunter Academy to help defend the academy.”

  “You’re crazy if you think—”

  “You will bring me to Hunter Academy. Julia is your apprentice. I will accompany you to Hunter Academy,” I repeated the words over and over again.

  Her gray eyes dimmed and brightened in succession. She tried to yank her fist back, but I didn’t allow her.

  “You are Izella Pristin,” she said during one of her lucid moments.

  “I am your apprentice, Julia. You taught me how to fight for the last five years.”

  “They warned me about you. They said—”

  “Tessa, how were my combat skills? Did I pass your test?”

  “Stop playing games! You are Izella Pristin, a descendant of an Original.”

  “I am Julia, the girl you rescued from vampires five years ago.”

  “Izella.”

  “Julia. You supported me after my parents died in a car accident.”

  “The vampire who …”

  “Julia. You left me in a condo you rented and came back every now and then to train me.”

  “Julia.”

  I leaned back in relief as her eyes dimmed. It’d taken more time and effort than expected to brainwash her. To be safe, I told her more about us. How we met and how we got to know each other. Then I extracted information from her.

  She was a graduate from Hunter Academy who’d made it her life’s mission to eradicate vampires. Over the past ten years, she’d traveled across the world, tracking down vampires and turning them into dust along the way. Others killed vampires to save humanity. She killed vampires to avenge her fiancée who had died at a vampire’s hand.

  When her eyes refocused, she pulled her fist back and frowned. “Julia, what are you doing here this late at night? Sleep. We have a lot to do tomorrow.”

  I smiled at her and nodded in satisfaction.

  As always, I felt drained after a command, yet I couldn’t re
st. When I returned to my bed, I worked on reversification. Symphony said reversification was turning from feral state to rest state, except it went further.

  Feral state.

  I concentrated on things that pissed me off: Oscar telling me what to do and the time two hundred years ago when he forced human blood down my throat. I hated him then.

  I thought about the time I was turned. A plague had spread throughout our town. Everyone had gotten sick. Among them were my father and mother. If not for my sire, I would have been one body among many burned in the pit. I had asked him why he didn’t save my parents, the entire village. His response had been that it was too late and he was not a savior.

  Emotions stirred within. The sadness, despair, and loneliness I’d suppressed for so many years threatening to break down my composure. A growl escaped my throat. I touched my face, and the skin wasn’t as soft as it usually was.

  Just after I was turned, I met Jayson. He was hunting down some vampires who’d escaped from England into the new world. He found me instead, a pathetic newbie vampire who gagged at the sight of blood.

  Perhaps I should have been glad I met him at the time I did. If I were any less weak, he would have stuck his stake into my chest without a second thought. As it was, I had been so inadequate that even a vampire hunter took pity on me. He let me go with a warning that if I killed for blood, he would chase me down and end me, no matter where I was.

  I had grown strong to survive. In my mind, there was always this vampire hunter. I could never forget how the coldness of his words contrasted with the warmth of his hand as he pulled me up from the ground.

  It was true what they said about how opposites attracted. How else could I explain away my obsession with vampires’ greatest enemy?

  I’d grown strong for him. Only a strong vampire could find him or force him to track me down. I hadn’t heeded his warnings. I just wanted to see him one more time and meet him as an equal. Perhaps then I could cure myself of the obsession that had plagued me for years.