Token Huntress

by Carrington-Russell, Kia

  “Esmore, sweetie, if you don’t come out now I will kill him,” James called. He pushed the flamed stick into Chase’s face. Chase screamed as his skin began to melt. I picked up a bucket of water, diving into the center of the hunters and pouring it over Chase, who looked at me helplessly. His expression told me that he wished I had never come. I kicked the flaming stick out of James’ hand, jumping on him and slamming him to the ground.

  “There’s my beautiful Esmore,” James said, raising a hand to my cheek. I jumped off him, disgusted that he would try to touch me so affectionately after torturing my familiar. I tried my very best to restrain my vampire self. If they witnessed that I was now vampire then there was no chance of escape. I looked glumly at Chase, knowing already we were outnumbered. I had no idea how I could outwit all of the hunters that surrounded us. They looked at me with eyes which held disgust and hate.

  “Behold, our traitor Token Huntress,” Campture announced loudly. “Bedding a vampire. Such filth.”

  I ignored the many insults that were called out to me. All of it built such an anxiety within me that I struggled to contain my feelings. I felt trapped, and that was not something I had felt before. The smell of Chase’s blood lingered on me. But further past the wall I could smell an odour that could only be carried by sabers. As Cesar had said, they were now very close to the Guild. The dry blood on them gave me their location.

  “There are sabers out there!” I shouted at them, now brushing my hand through my hair. What was this anxiety I felt? Where was my usual calm and collected self? I had no heart so why did I suffer at the very thought of the situation?

  “We are a Guild of Hunters. Don’t doubt our skill, you filthy monster,” Campture hissed.

  “Esmore, my love,” James stretched his hand out to me.

  I tried my hardest to get away from James as I struggled to contain the acidic sensation that tore through me. I tried to keep myself calm and push down the darkness that wanted to claw its way out. Chase stared at me worriedly, now tugging at his chains as he tried to get to me. I was standing directly across from him, panicking.

  “Stay with me and let me aid you in getting better. We can destroy this monster right now who has taken your mind. You will find peace, my love,” James said. “Be mine, you always have been. You are mine.”

  “And if you don’t, you will die right now,” Campture snapped quickly.

  Chase began dragging one of the hunters close to him as he tugged on the silver chains attached to his wrists. Another hunter came from behind him, shoving a wooden sphere into his leg and dropping him to his knees.

  Suddenly, I snapped and my fangs came out. Large growls came from me as I hunched my back. I could feel something take over and I happily accepted it. My vampire self had already spread throughout me. There was something deeper that lingered and hungered. I would do whatever I could to protect my familiar. As I felt the change begin within me, I could not move. I was frozen there for a time then I hunched over like an animal.

  “Kill it!” Campture hissed.

  Shards felt as if they were passing through my back. I heard a cracking noise. My hunched figure echoed with pain. Two large white wings sprouted from my back as my pain slowly receded and was replaced with a lust for death and chaos.

  James pulled something from behind his back. At the end of it was a large explosive fixed to a stick. I had no time to move as I was still frozen in my position. He speared me through the chest, and as soon as it touched my skin, the explosive reacted and blew my chest open, traveling straight through me.

  My eyes widened in shock. I had been shot. Everything fell silent. Chase tore from his chains, beheading instantly the hunters around him who fought back. Hunters attacked him, overpowering him quickly. My knees dropped to the ground as I watched. The slow ringing of screams began to pierce my ears as I saw shadows streak over the wall. When my nose regained smell I noted it was the sabers. They now jumped over the wall and slaughtered the hunters. In front of me one saber leapt onto a hunter, ripping at his lips hungrily and then diving into his neck.

  James stormed toward me, slicing through two sabers in his path. His skin had turned to metal. Past him I could see Chase struggling against the eight hunters who kicked into his stomach. Still on my knees, I took another breath. I looked down to my chest where slowly my skin sealed over my wounded chest. As it did, my once beautiful white wings slowly folded into my back, not having the energy to offer me any power. I knew it was The Descendant that had come forth. A very dark black spread over its beautiful white coloring on one of my wings. My near death had tainted such purity.

  When I felt it sink into my skin again, a part of me felt even darker. Like all that had once been pure within me, and my hunter beliefs, were now only half as my vision of black and vampirism crept over. James grabbed my chin, looking at me with disgust. “How nice of your eyes to go purple now. I saw you first. I loved you first. It is me who owns you!” he spat with hatred. “All I want to do is look after you, Esmore; just me and you. I can make you better.”

  At my silence, his eyes glowed with rage and he backhanded me across the face. Still my chest was not fully healed and I was incapable of moving. Having no heart may have been the only reason I survived. But taking such a fatal wound left me weak. I coughed into the muddy ground, where rain poured. The small wooden parts of the Guild had descended into flames. Screams from hunters and high-pitched squeals from sabers eroded the purity of the grounds.

  “You always thought you could do better, didn’t you Esmore?” James went to kick my stomach. He hesitated when he looked behind me. A deep meaningful growl tore through the air. Within seconds, James was grabbed and flung meters through the air. I could not see where he landed.

  “Come here, daughter,” Cesar’s voice tore through the air. His fangs dripped with blood as he cradled me in his arms protectively. “Tythian, stop taking your bloody time!”

  Suddenly Tythian was by my side, taking me into his arms. He bowed to Cesar, gentleman-like, and looked down at me. “I think the little vampire is realizing she isn’t as mighty as she first thought,” he teased harshly.

  I didn’t even have the time to question why Tythian was here or how he knew Cesar. But I was certainly glad to see him. “Please Tythian,” I gasped dryly. “Chase.” Blackness swallowed me and I was in a pool of emptiness, before resurfacing beside Chase. So this was Tythian’s gift: teleportation. Tythian backhanded a hunter fatally who had tried to spear Chase.

  “Esmore,” Chase whispered, moving over to me. He looked as badly and as beaten as I did. I used all my strength to tear the silver of his chains. The silver burned and made my hands bleed. I tried but the blood only loosened my grip. He cupped my face.

  “Esmore!” Campture roared, walking toward me. My mother intervened. The look both of them shared was one of pure hatred. “Trinity, why am I not surprised? You think you kept this from me. I have for a long time known what your daughter truly is,” Campture announced with smugness. That explained why she wanted to lure me back to the Guild and take me hostage. “Our battle may not be today, vampire whore, but it will be soon. As soon as everyone knows what your daughter holds, they will search for her. You cannot keep her safe.”

  My mother threw a dagger at her chest but James pushed her aside. A large bang erupted, breaking everyone’s stance. Tythian was knocked toward a nearby burning horse carriage, just missing the open flames. My mother was flung toward the brick foundation of the tunnels. I realized the bang had erupted from the weapons room, and within no time at all the explosions would go off. I could now feel myself healing rapidly. I held Chase tightly in my arms, trying to stand, but my legs buckled.

  My mother ran to my side, snapping the silver off Chase. She was the only one of us who could tear through them without being affected. Flames poured out of the tunnel, reaching for us like snake heads. I felt the gentle touch of Tythian’s hand and suddenly darkness consumed us again.

  A breeze now swept
between us as we stood on a grassy ledge a few hundred meters away from the Guild. I witnessed the blast which could have claimed all of our lives, if it weren’t for Tythian, who had teleported us. The Guild was up in flames and from here my sensitive ears could hear the screams of many of my comrades falling.

  “Esmore,” Dillian’s voice interrupted me. He looked badly battered as he stood behind me holding Julia. I had no words, my mouth was parched. I was so drained and exhausted that I could not will anything. I felt limp. The further I was wounded, the hungrier I was. Yet right now I was incapable of moving. I was so hungry that I even preyed on my best friend. It was joy in the immobility I felt that lessened my temptation. I needed blood to replenish.

  “Oi, Tythian!” Cesar shouted from nearby as he ran up the hill toward us. “You couldn’t even give me a lift?”

  “You are the oldest vampire I know. I knew it would not take you long to return to us,” Tythian said, bored of Cesar’s theatrics. We all continued to watch the flames as the sabers’ squeals pierced all of our ears. Tythian continued, “You know it was the Council who lead that large pack of sabers to the Guild. They have been living within the city for some time now. Fier wasn’t fooled by you at all, Esmore. You led them to the Guild. This was Fier’s first attack on the Hunters’ Guild.”

  Neither Chase nor I could say anything. It made sense, the blood which was spread all around the Guild. That was the Council. How had we not known we were followed? How did we not know we triggered this battle?

  “It looks like Fier is being clever and conserving his army. Is the world leadership Council soon to be held?” Cesar asked of Tythian.

  “In a few months now. It looks as if Fier is serious about trying to outmatch the other Councils and take further leadership of more land and countries. As you suspected,” Tythian praised.

  I let that information sink in. So Fier planned to overpower the Council?

  “I suspect they already know,” Cesar responded as we watched the crashing flames in the distance. “This next Council meeting will destroy many of our kind. They are no different to the human wars. There are always men who want more.”

  I tried to numb the mounting questions. For today I only wanted to rest, and then worry about it in the new dawn.

  “How do you two know one another?” my mother asked.

  “Well, Tythian is my first son of course,” Cesar said with a proud smile as he pulled Tythian in for an embrace which then turned into a headlock. “Well so to speak, he was the first I turned into a vampire.”

  I wanted to feel shocked or overwhelmed, but I was far too tired. Even as my body tried to rejuvenate, it struggled. So Tythian was the vampire Cesar spoke of placing in the Council. And I now understood why: because a secret war had been brewing. The Hunter’s Guild knew nothing. But that was no longer a battle for me to fight. Or was it? Right now all I was concerned with was that my team would stay safe.

  “Esmore,” Chase coughed. Slowly I watched the burn marks on him heal. He now had the energy to fully lift himself and hold me in a tight embrace. He almost pushed me over onto my back he held me so firmly. He kissed my lips hungrily. “Thank god, I thought I had lost you,” he whispered into my ear, holding my hair tightly to him. He kissed my ear again. I wanted to be sad for the hunters who would be killed tonight. But we were a diligent breed; I knew some, if not most, would survive. I could not be sad as they so quickly turned on me and left me for dead. I wasn’t sure who I was battling for any longer. I was where I was meant to be and that was by the side of my familiar, my mother, and my best friend.

  “So what do we do now?” Tythian asked. My mother looked at Cesar worriedly.

  “Perhaps her heart isn’t as safely hidden as we first thought,” my mother said. “Word of her ability will spread and her gift will be highly sought out. They will want to use her as a weapon against one another.”

  “First we get them out of here, we need to retreat,” Cesar said, placing his hand on Tythian’s shoulder. Cesar was directing him to teleport us all to a different place. Tythian held his hand out to Dillian and Julia, waiting for their permission before transporting them. After they accepted, they vanished into a black hole.

  “Esmore, you are literally the definition of an immortal,” Chase teased with a smile. I gave a faint and uncertain smile in response. Chase had not changed at all; it was me who had changed entirely. And with the knowledge I now held, I wondered how long it would be until the next smile would spread along my lips.

  “Others will come looking for me now. I don’t think I could survive a beheading,” I said, now understanding the war I was now in the middle of. I would be the token item vampires and hunters would search for. After all, we were all creatures who grew to survive. They would come for me, all of them.

  Chase kissed my lips, pinning back a piece of my golden hair behind my ear. “I will not let them touch you. We weren’t prepared this time. But the next, we will be.”

  Suddenly Tythian was standing behind us. “Little vampire,” he antagonized. “Do not forget your promise to me either.”

  Darkness consumed us as I waited patiently for the place of where he next transported us. A smile spread across my lips. I thought I would be hungry and vengeful after all that had happened. The hunter was now the hunted. But I was relieved to find that, because of Chase, I would fight for the right reasons. Instead of killing vampires and finding humans to protect, I would now selfishly fight for my own individuality and existence. Chase was my awakening to that, and I would not let him go. He was my only connection to emotion and love until I found my heart. And when I did, I would no doubt give it to him entirely. He gave me a reason to live.

  Sneak Peek of Token Vampire

  What hit me first was the damp air. I sat in the dark and the stone flooring beneath us cooled my fingers when I brushed my fingers along it. Goosebumps pricked at my skin. I was used to being underground in the Hunter Guild but this was far deeper into the network of tunnels than I had ever been. Tythian had teleported us, and his hands still rested on our shoulders now as we all struggled to regain our composure. Only seconds before we were watching the hellish scene of the Guild burning to the ground. My fellow hunters who had turned on me were screaming in the distance. I didn’t know how many survived. I couldn’t even feel guilty for not caring. My emotions remained stagnant, like they always did.

  Chase and I clung to one another for support as we tried to get our bearings. We were both absolutely exhausted. My mouth was parched and dry as I inhaled the scent of blood, imagining the warmth of it filling my mouth. I knew it would restore the energy that was stolen from us during the ordeal with James and Campture. A burst of relief rushed through me as Chase’s fingers trailed over my cheek, grabbing my attention. It was only at his touch, or my mother’s, that I could truly feel. And it was overwhelming. One thing screamed out at me and that was the fact that everyone I loved was now safe. I looked to Chase with simple relief; my Chase, my familiar, whom I would die for. He brushed my cheek with a smile, a wicked glow in his eyes. I need to drink some blood, I confessed to him in my mind.

  His smile widened. I know Esmore, I will find us something, he replied.

  The vampire lifestyle was not one I could get used to anytime soon. My body screamed for blood, but the other thing that was heightened, despite my exhaustion, was the torture of not being able to ravish Chase then and there. We had both almost died today. I had my chest blown out and yet I had survived. I had watched the man I love be tortured. All I wanted was to shred the clothes from his body and devour him. Another smile spread across Chase’s lips. He knew it, he could sense it from me.

  “Are you both going to just sit there all day?” Tythian interrupted with his hands behind his back as he looked at us impatiently.

  We were interrupted by a sound. I heard Dillian’s voice in the distance and then a scream. It was enough to startle me out of my stupor and I immediately ran into a narrow dark hall. When I turned the corner,
I came to a rocky circular room, which was lit by candlelight. Wooden chairs and tables were spread about. Above was a small chandelier with candles. I quickly scanned the room, accessing the occupants.

  My mother and biological father, Cesar, watched me from the corner, alongside two foreign male vampires. One had black hair and blue eyes. He eyed me coolly as he leaned back in his chair so far that the front chair legs balanced mid-air. The male beside him watched on with a childish smile on his face. He beamed as if toys were being presented in front of him. His hair was long and blonde. He wore no shirt, but there was a large wooden cross around his chest. His eyes were the same color as the wood, which contrasted nicely against the light tan of his skin. His body was covered in various black tattoos.

  To my right, huddled in the corner, was a larger male vampire who stood over Dillian baring his fangs. Dillian stood in front of Julia protectively. The hood had fallen from her head, revealing her sheer terror. She huddled behind Dillian.

  “Just one taste, eh boy?” the vampire mocked. He was Dillian’s height, if not taller. His black hair was cut short and his green eyes shone like a snake’s.

  Neither Dillian nor Julia had weapons to protect themselves. Dillian could hardly stand after being so badly beaten. I took only four steps forward at my most heightened speed, but the vampire seemed to have vanished. Already he was behind me, his rough hands brushing over my plaited golden hair.

  “Mm, you smell yummy,” he said from behind me. Before I realized it I had already turned and grabbed the vampire around the throat, lifting him from the ground. Growls swept past us, but the loudest was my own. I could sense Chase behind me. I kept my eyes on the vampire savagely.

  “They are mine!” I said, remembering how Chase had to objectify me in such a way within the Council. “And if you ever touch me again, I will break your spine into small shards and feed it to you.”