Blood Wars

Chapter 1: When Life Gives You Lemons

            Where did my life go wrong? Maybe around the time it went right… Yeah, yeah I know it doesn’t make sense but it’s the truth. When I met Derek Hawthorne I knew I was going to be in serious trouble, and boy was I right. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I need to take you back to the beginning of this year, the year where everything I knew was turned upside down and when everything I was taught to me was discovered to be a lie.

1 year ago… To the day.

            The first day of school… Yay. Well at least for everyone else, I don’t get to go to school, I’m stuck in this hellhole known as “Wolfsbane Academy”, for combat training and to exercise my magic and learn how to slay vampires. Yes, vampires do exist, but I’ll get into more of that later. While the normal 17-year-old senior is planning for prom and college, I am planning for late night patrols and the imminent thought that every night could be my last and all I would be known for was slaying vampires and never having any kind of life. What would my headstone say I wonder? “She knew how to throw a punch. And use a stake?” Wow what a legacy.

            “Alyssa Jefferson, please report to the headmaster’s office” I heard my name rang loud and clear through the intercom system. God that thing was inconvenient and horridly annoying. I got up from my desk and picked up my leather jacket off the footboard of my bed and walked down the corridor to my mother’s- I mean the headmaster’s office. I was never allowed to refer to her as “Mother” when anyone else was around, because supposedly it took away her authority and made her look weak to the other students. What a sentiment.

            Walking up two flight of stairs and five doors down on the left I finally reached the headmaster’s office. Knocking twice and then three times was our classic knock to let each other know it was us.

            “Come in Alyssa.” I heard my mother say. I walked in the room to find my mother standing looking out of her big bay window. Her long brown hair left undone against her back. She had a long black dress on and her classic four inch black heels. Very conventional my mother is.

            “You summoned me, Mother.” I grumbled.

            “Well you could try to be a little less grumpy about it. Come sit. I have a report for you.” Mother said gesturing toward the chair in front of her desk.

            “About last night’s patrol I’m assuming?”  

            “Yes, and Alyssa I am not thrilled about the report Keith gave me. What do you think you were doing using your powers in pubic?”

            “Oh my God Mother, nobody was around and it’s not like I used extreme magic or something, I teleported myself to get out of the vampire’s way and then teleported behind him so I could stake him. What’s the big deal? Or would you have rather me get bitten?” I exclaimed, I can’t believe she is reprimanding me for what I do best. I know what I am doing by now, that’s why she keeps sending me out every night.

            “It’s not about you protecting yourself, but you could have been seen. Just because no one was there at the time doesn’t mean no one would have seen you. I am concerned about you.” She said trying to sound motherly but was not succeeding in my mind.

            “Mother, if you are going to be so concerned about my safety then why send me out on patrol every night? Why have me practice my magic if you are going to reprimand me every time I use it? I need to experiment more with it if I’m ever going to get control of it and you know it.”  I shouted. While I continued to sit there and listen to her drone on and on about protecting the secret of what we do and that one mistake could cost this academy everything. As if “Wolfsbane Academy” hadn’t already dealt with enough people getting caught and having to erase memories of those individuals. How can she try and justify this to me?

            “Look, I understand your concern.” Lie. “But if you don’t stop worrying I’m never going to get to combat training in time and you know how Dante doesn’t like having to stay after to teach me what I missed.” I said not giving her any time to stop me.

            “But I haven’t told you the news from last night!”

            “Later!” I yelled as I ran down the hall to the basement where my combat training class was taking place, which I was already 10 minutes late. Yay, Dante was going to make me do 10 laps for this, one for every minute I’m late. But when I reached the basement, no one was there, when I walked to the large mirror I saw a note that said “Class has been canceled today due to excess patrol needs for the next few nights, classes will resume next week, work out on your own in the meantime.” The note was signed by Dante. What was the need for excess patrols? Only I and a couple other slayers were in charge of nightly patrols, and why wasn’t I informed of this? Time to go visit my brother.

            “Killian!” I yelled banging on his door. I could hear him stumble out of his bed before he reached the door.

            “Alyssa, why don’t you come- or already let yourself in.”

            “I don’t have time for pleasantries, I want to know why I wasn’t told about the excess patrols? I am the lead student slayer I should have been informed, you know given a heads up?!” I yelled as his eyes went from sleepy too wide as can be.

            “Alyssa, why are you so surprised? You think communication is that great here? The extra patrols are only a precaution; the higher ups are worried about a new vampire coven that just moved into town”

            “Again, I wasn’t informed on this why?” I asked not caring about the explanation, I want to know why I wasn’t told.

            “Why don’t you ask Mother? I don’t patrol so I don’t know what you want me to tell you. You’re the big bad slayer not me, I just wield magic, speaking of aren’t we both supposed to go to see Hawk for magic training later?” Killian asked slipping a shirt on and brushing his hair.

            “Who knows? Maybe that is canceled too.” I grumbled slamming myself down on his bed laying my head off the side.

            “What’s eating you?” Killian asked laying down next to me.

            “Mother reprimanded me this morning for using magic on a patrol last night. Why bother training me to control my magic and how to use it if when I do use it I get in trouble?” I asked lifting my hand producing a fireball in my hand bouncing it up and down, in the next instant Killian produced a water bubble and controlling it to consume my fireball extinguishing it. “Hey! That’s not fair!” I giggled slapping him hard in the stomach.

            “I don’t need to relive the last time you did that in my room. I don’t need to sleep on the floor for a week waiting for another bed to be delivered.” Ugh, one little fire and you’re scarred for life.

            “Fine. Just because we control two different elements doesn’t mean we should use them against each other.” I said. I controlled and could produce fire in the palms of my hands and Killian could produce and control water. We got out gifts from our father who died in a vampire attack when Killian and I were kids.

            “Come on dork, let’s see if Hawk is in his office and ready for training.” Killian said pulling me up and leading me out the door. I loved magic training but for some reason today I couldn’t get excited for it today, something felt off about this day.

            Walking upstairs to the magic room was like walking into my own room. I was so comfortable here, this was mine and Killian’s element. We were the only two here that could wield magic. I got double gifted because not only could I do magic I also am a superior fighter, Killian not so much. He tried training a couple of times but it was never his forte. Looking at Hawk’s desk and seeing it empty I knew that training was not happening today.

            “Want to practice on our own?” I asked winking at Killian.

            “Have you utterly lost your mind? If Hawk knew we were trying to train without him being present, we’d be in deep s**t Alyssa and you know it.” He said looking at me with disbelief written on his face. Jeez he had to lighten up.

            “Oh fine, ruin my fun. Look I’m going to the gym to burn off some steam for a while. I’ll catch up with you at dinner, alright?”

            “Only you would consider going to the gym as therapeutic. But yeah, I’ll meet you in the cafeteria at dinner.” Killian said as he walked out of the room back in the direction of his bedroom. I stuck around in Hawk's office for a little while looking at all his dusty old books on magic and vampires. Vampires have always fascinated me, their myths and legends over the years have made them seem like beautiful creatures of the night, and some are but in most cases vampires are a sickness that destroys communities and turns even the respectable person into a blood raging killer. I have confronted over 200 vampires in cities surrounding New York City. For some reason New York was like a vampire gathering scene, so many of them came here for refuge but others came to cause trouble and destruction.

            I will never forget the mass slaying in Times Square, every slayer was put on duty and we slayed over 150 vampires and it was all covered up by some big “bath salt epidemic”. Got to love having news reporters on our payroll. 

            Looking around the book shelves I noticed a book I’d never seen before and one that hadn’t had a chance to gather dust. My curiosity was instantly peaked. I picked up the big red leather bound book and opened it to find a note on the inside cover, “If you’re reading this, things are worse than I feared, our only hope is to align ourselves with the enemy and become one army. Please heed my warning and read this book. -Hawk McIntosh”

            “Holy s**t.” I whispered dropping the book and backing away. Is this the reason that trainings have been canceled? Is Hawk missing? Oh my God. What does me mean “align ourselves with the enemy.”? Align with the vampires? He’s crazy. I would never align myself with the race that killed my own father and so many of my friends. I can’t. I won’t.

            Picking up the book I started to leave the room when I heard a loud bang in the hall outside. I put the book inside my jacket and pulled out my knife out of my boot, whoever thinks they’re going to sneak up on me is in for a rude awakening.

            I opened the door and feeling someone’s presence behind me I waved my hand and teleported myself and with red smoke I teleported behind whoever was sneaking up on me. Grabbing the back of their shirt I threw their back into the wall and held my knife to their throat. I took the hood off of my unknown visitor.

            “Jesus Alyssa. What the hell?” Cole yelled as I drew my knife away from his throat. Cole is my ex-boyfriend and should know better than to sneak up on me.

            “What the hell to you too Cole! Why were you sneaking up on me? You should know better. I could have killed you.” I yelled putting my knife back into the holder in my boot.

            “First of all I wasn’t sneaking up on you. I was coming to talk to Hawk but obviously he’s not here or you’d be training with him. And second of all, why are you so jumpy?” Cole asked readjusting his hoodie around him.

            “I’m not jumpy, I just don’t appreciate being snuck up on, whether it was intentional or not. Now if you’ll excuse me I have some business to attend to.” I said clutching the book inside my jacket and with a wave of my hand and a poof of red smoke I was in my room.

            Taking the book out of my jacket and throwing my jacket onto the desk I sat on my bed and studied the book. I was old with the Latin inscription “Pulchra Mortuus Est” which from my Latin classes I knew it meant, “The Beautiful Dead. “The Beautiful Dead”? What the hell does that mean? The vampires? Whoever wrote this much be either a vampire or is a pro vampire advocate. But yet I still found myself enticed by this book.

            Cracking it open I found red roses the were dripping blood acting as borders for the pages. It was disturbing to my eyes but was oddly beautiful. The outside cover may have been inscribed in Latin but luckily the inside was in English.

            This book was beautiful and tragic all at the same time. The story of “the beautiful dead” was a thing of dreams. I wanted to delve deeper into the legends of the vampires. I never knew the things this book was telling me. How they turn, and more than anything their lust for life and their enhanced feelings. I never knew that their feelings were magnified tenfold our own.

            Before I knew it I had missed dinner and my alarm was blaring telling me it was time for patrol. The last page of the book fell out of my hand as I sat there unmoving. Was this book a work of fiction, meant to throw me off or was it true?

            How did everything I ever read before get turned on its head? No! Nope! It’s not true! This story is nothing more than a beautifully written story, I can find those anywhere.

            Pulling myself out of bed I started to change my clothes. I pulled on my black leather pants and my black tank top on. I tugged my black combat boots on my feet and went to my bathroom to throw my hair in a ponytail. Who is this girl? I don’t recognize her, my blue eyes were wider than usual and my skin was paler. This is what happens when I skip dinner. Damn book.

            I pulled my long brown hair into a ponytail and grabbed my wooden stake and slid it into my left boot and tugged my leather jacket on and ran down the stairs. None of my patrol team was there in the common room when I got there. Seriously? Guess I’m doing this one solo.

            Well since I’m going solo I don’t need to follow specific protocol-or at least in my mind I don’t, since no one is here to play tattle tail. So instead of walking I decided to teleport myself to an alley across from central park. Central park at midnight was never that booming and buzzing. Unlike what the tourists might think, this city does actually know how to sleep.

            Coming out of the alley I walked to the park and walked soundlessly to a bench and sat down listening and waiting. After an hour of sitting here I realized that tonight was one of the slow nights. I haven’t heard or seen a single vampire. Seriously? After the events of the day I would have loved some serious kick a*s action, but of course the night I am looking to kick a*s I am sitting here twiddling my thumbs.

            Boredom triggers my fire power and I produced a fireball in my hand and I bounced it up and down and from hand to hand.

            “Didn’t your Mother ever teach you not to play with fire?” A velvety voice said from behind me causing me to jump and drop my fire ball onto the grass catching it on fire. I waved my hand over it and extinguished the flame. Turning around I was facing a tall dark and handsome vampire.

            “Didn’t your Mother ever teach you not to sneak up on a lady?” I asked coming around the bench coming closer to him.

            “Yes and If I saw one I would have announced myself. All I see is a slayer before me, and I have perfect eyesight.” He growled dropping his voice low, obviously trying to scare me.

            “A blood sucker with a sense of humor, well that’s a new one.” I sneered waiting for him to make the first move so I could open up that can of whoop a*s that I’ve been waiting to open all damn night.

            “You never give any of us a chance to show our sense of humor do you, Alyssa?” He chuckled moving to my right.

            “How do you know my name? Oh, wait let me guess. Telepathic. No that’s not it… Oh wow, are you a stalker vampire?” I said obviously entertaining him as he chuckled and kept attempting to circle me.

            “Believe me, if I was telepathic I would have told you all your darkest secrets just to watch you blush that scarlet red color you do when you’re mad.” Ok, that’s a check yes in the stalker column.

            “So you are a stalker. Definitely called that one. You have that look about you.” What am I doing?! I should have already killed him already! Not having a snarky chat with him!

            “How about I level the playing field. You’re Alyssa Jefferson. So let me introduce myself, I am Derek Hawthorne. I am pleased to make your acquaintance; I am not here to hurt you so if you could please take your hand off the stake in your boot I would appreciate it.” Derek said softly and for a reason unbeknownst to me I took my hand off the stake and straightened up looking him right in his eyes. His eyes were ice blue and could almost be white they were so bright. His black shoulder length hair swayed in the cool September breeze. He was very tall, he had to be at least 6’2 or 6’3, which made him tower me at my mere 5’3.

            “What do you want from me then, if you’re not here to try and feed on me?” I asked crossing my arms, waiting for that one chance he would try and strike me.

            “Actually, I was hoping you could tell me. A mutual friend Hawk referred me here. He said you preferred to patrol here. I’m not sure why he wanted me to meet you but I have been keeping a close eye on you Alyssa. And I don’t understand Hawk’s purpose for this. Seems as though you can take care of yourself.” Derek said walking back and forth starting to pace.

            “You bet your a*s I can take care of myself. Always have and always will.” I said watching him as he started to pace faster and faster.

            “Oh I believe you Alyssa. After seeing you have magic on your side I don’t understand why Hawk sent me your way.” He said stopping to look at me. He pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.

            “Well sorry to have your time wasted. But if you don’t mind I have work to do.” I said as I started to walk away, and then I walked right into what felt like a stone wall, but when I looked up it was Derek.

            “Hawk wouldn’t have sent me here without a good reason, my time is too valuable to be wasted and he knows that.” Derek said crossing his arms.

            “Well don’t ask me what the reason is because I have no idea.” I said moving past him but he was right next to me. It was unnerving. What I wouldn’t do for an angry vamp right now… And when I looked to my left I found one. “Finally some action.” I said teleporting away from Derek and behind the angry vampire. But in the blink of an eye Derek was next to me. Son of a b***h this guy is going to make my job very hard.

            “Here vampy, vampy, vampy. Fresh blood in these veins. Would you like to taste?” I taunted as the angry vampire with his blazing red eyes and disheveled blonde hair turned to me and licked his lips coming towards me. But before he could even think to put his hands on me I flew up and landed an uppercut kick to his jaw knocking him down. I reached for my stake but I couldn’t get it out of the holder. Damn I’ve got to get that thing fixed. Twisting my hand and turning my palm towards the vampire I shot a stream of fire out of my palm lighting him ablaze and turning him to dust in seconds.

            “Do you get your rocks off taunting thirsty vampires?” Derek asked yanking my stake from my boot. How the hell did he do that? Oh, wait inhuman strength, I forgot.

            “So what if I do? It gets the job done and I get to have some fun in the meantime.” I said taking my stake back from him putting it back in its holder. “And wait didn’t I just kill one of your buddies? Shouldn’t you have tried to stop me or something?” I ask walking away from him utterly annoyed at his attitude.

            “Not all vampires stick together Alyssa, which I’m sure contradicts everything you’ve ever been taught.” Derek said keeping up with my fast pace with no effort.

            “Look if you don’t give me some space I will teleport my a*s home or you straight to tin buck two and I won’t even break a sweat.” I said turning toward him lifting my hand, just a wave and one of us was going to disappear.

            “Oh I believe that, but- “Derek stops in mid-sentence when he grabs my hand. I can feel his eyes boring into my skull which unnerves me, but oddly I can feel a feeling in the pit of my stomach that I’ve never felt before.

            “You read it.” Was all he said, he leaned closer to me and bent his face down close to my ear and whispered, “Your life will never be the same now. Welcome to my world Alyssa.”

            And before I could say anything he was gone and I was in the middle of Central Park alone. I could still feel his ice cold fingers on my hand and on my hair as he whispered “Welcome to my world Alyssa.” What the hell does that mean?

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Don’t Make Lemonade…

The walk back to the academy was much needed. The brisk September air hit my face and made me shiver as I walked. What the hell did Derek mean "Welcome to my world?" arrogant b*****d. How did he know I read that damn book? So many questions were whirling through my head and not one answer was making a lick of sense.

I couldn't figure out why Derek's ice blue eyes sent a shiver down my spine and how him knowing so much about me didn't bother me as much as it should have. I just can't get my eyes to forget those eyes and those pale, full lips... Wait the hell a minute here. I did not just think of descriptive words for a vampire’s lips. No! No! No! There is nothing full or beautiful... Gahh there is nothing special about his lips or his eyes, nothing! What the hell is wrong with me tonight?

I know for damn sure though that I need to read that book more in depth. I need to know the point behind Hawk’s message. I need to know what he means by “align ourselves with the enemy.”. How can he expect us, and by us I mean me, to even think about forming an alliance with those monsters? After how many I’ve killed I don’t think it’s even possible for any of them not to know my name and where to find me. Hell, most nights I don’t even have to go far into the city to find a vampire looking for me, looking to make a name for himself for killing the expert student slayer.

I shouldn’t even technically still be considered a student slayer anymore. Although I’m not 18, woo hoo big deal right? I’ve killed more than most of the adults combined without help from them. I am their excuse for going out and having an easy night and calling it a “training exercise”. Training exercise my a*s. Basically you want an easy night, take Alyssa on patrol and you can sit your a*s on a bench and say you did something to make up a nightly report.

The cold air going down into my leather jacket sent another shiver down my spine. Okay, I’ve had enough of this walking. I look behind me and all around and settle on an alleyway and teleport myself back to my room. I look around and the room and find the room is pitch black. Odd, I always leave at least one light on. I flip on the desk light and when I turn around to my bed there is Killian.

“Holy s**t! You scared me! Why the hell are you sitting in the dark?” I yelled my hand flying up to my chest.

“Where the hell were you Alyssa?” Killian asked crossing his arms around his chest. No wonder I couldn’t see him, he was wearing his maroon sleep pants and a black t-shirt.

“I was out on patrol, where else would I be at midnight till 3 in the morning?” I asked taking my jacket off placing it on the desk chair.

“That’s not what I meant. I mean where were you before patrol? You know at dinner and any time before and after that? I waited for you but you didn’t show up.” He said with his eyes burning holes in my face where he was looking at me. Jeez if looks could kill…

“I was taking a nap. I had a headache.” I lied. I should’ve thought of something better; he’d see right through that.

“Oh please Alyssa.” Called that one. “I’ve never heard you ever complain of a headache and you don’t take naps. You go to the gym for therapy. Be real here; this is me you’re talking to.” He said giving me that signature look that said “I’m not buying your bullshit today.”.

“There’s a first time for everything you know!” I exclaimed as I walked away from him to the bathroom to take my hair out of the ponytail and brush it and then brush my teeth.

“So is that why when you answer me you can’t look at me. Funny how I know your ticks and when you’re not being honest with me. I may be younger than you by 3 minutes but I still know you better than you think I do.” Killian said. Jeez I hate when he plays the twin card. Yeah, guess I didn’t mention that. Killian and I are fraternal twins obviously. I’m 3 minutes older than him, but we got the same dark hair but my eyes were blue and his were dark green, and the same lame a*s attitude.

“Look Killian I told you where I was, can we just drop it? I’m really tired and I need to get to bed so I can get up and work out at a decent hour. If you’d like to check on me in the morning you can do that but right now I’m sorry but I’m not interested.” I said stretching my stiff limbs hoping he would get the hint and leave.

“Whatever. We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” He said getting up and walking out the door.

“Sure we will.” I mumbled under my breath.

“I heard that.” Killian said popping his head back into the door. Damn Hawk! He told me he wasn’t teaching Killian how to project his hearing too. I was the only one being taught that from what Hawk said, damn liar. Just wait till I get my hands on him.

I slipped out of my patrol clothes and into my long night shirt. Before I got into bed I checked under the mattress to make sure the book was still there, when I saw it was I climbed into bed with the book tucked under my arms. I don’t know what this book is going to tell me more than what I’ve already read but I’m hoping to gain more insight.

When I cracked open the book again I could feel something like an electric shock go through my body. I threw the book down on the bed and took several deep breaths before picking the book up again. What the hell was that? I am not experimenting with that again tonight. I slipped the book into one of my desk drawers and slipped under my covers my body still buzzing.

I’m not sure when sleep overtook me but when I woke up I saw bright light coming through the windows and my clock said 11:30. Damn, guess it’s time to get up. Suddenly when I sat up I felt a huge burning sensation on the back of my left wrist. Holy Jesus.

I started groaning in pain and it felt like my wrist was being branded and then sliced off with a heated knife. I’ve never felt anything like this. I looked at my wrist and found some kind of diagram being formed on my wrist. I could feel and see what looked like small flames on my wrist that was forming a more intricate design. I waved my hand over it multiple times trying to get the mini flames to stop.

I bounce fire balls in the palms of my hands but I’ve never felt something like this before. The small heat I normally feel around fire was taken over by the searing pain that was nearly blinding me. When I felt like I was going to pass out the pain finally ceased. It was a dull throb but the flames were done and the design was scaring over already to form what looked like a rose. A rose that was dripping blood. No s**t. It couldn’t be.

I ran to where I put the book to find the big red rose with blood dripping off of it on the first page of the book was gone. When I looked at my hand I found the exact rose just a scared version of it. How the hell did the rose transfer from the book to my wrist? Is that even possible? Apparently it is. Just question remains… How? Okay maybe two questions, How? And how the hell do I get rid of it? I think only one person would know the answer to that. Well not exactly a person. Time to go hunting.

The events of the day went on much the same as they did every day. I worked out in the gym and had dinner with Killian whose mood had improved from last night. Then I went to my bedroom to get ready to prepare for patrol. I knew exactly where I was going tonight. I never thought I would be going to seek out a vampire to ask them questions but if anyone would know what this damn branding thing is maybe Derek would.

As I prepared for patrol I could only hope that Derek would be back in Central Park like he was last night. I never thought I would be seeking out a vampire to only strike up conversation.

I ran down the stairs to the common room to find it empty again. Thank goodness. I teleported quickly with red smoke gathering around me taking me to the same alley from last night across from Central Park. I ran across the street and slowed when I reached the bench I sat at last night.

I looked around and paced back and forth waiting. Waiting and hoping that his arrogant attitude would strike and that he wouldn’t make me look like a fool waiting here.

“Derek? I have a feeling you’re around and I never thought I’d be standing here looking for a vampire but please hear me out.” I whispered knowing that if he was around he could hear me.

“I never thought I’d see the day when a slayer was asking for my help. Help from a vampire. Who would have thought it?” I heard him whisper. Jeez his voice was eerie even when I expect it.

“Yeah. Yeah. I know the irony wasn’t lost on me either but listen let’s just cut to the chase shall we?” I asked trying to sound uninterested when actually his presence was oddly comforting in a creepy sort of way.

“Alright well you don’t make much time for pleasantries do you?” He asked. “What can I do for you then Alyssa? I’m sure I’ll be dying to hear this. No pun intended.” He smirked sitting down on the bench crossing his long legs.

“You really are a smug son of a b***h aren’t you?” I asked.

“Are you going to keep insulting me or are you going to get to the point as to why I’m here. I do have a life to live you know.” He snickered and I have to admit he had some good one liners for being a dead guy, well undead guy. Oy, this was confusing.

“So you obviously know I read that book right? You know that “Pulchra Mortuus Est” book. The one where you- “

“Yes I know the book. What about it?” He asked cutting me off mid-sentence.

“Well does reading that book come with some odd side effects?” I asked.

“Side effects? From reading a book? You’ve got to be kidding me right? You brought me here for a joke like this? Come on let’s try something better.”

“You think I would bring you here and make conversation if there wasn’t a legit reason for it?” I exclaimed getting irritated by his obnoxious attitude.

“Okay let’s say I indulge this ridiculous concept that reading a book can give you a side effect. What kind of side effects would we be talking about?”

“Something like this smart a*s.” I said pulling up my jacket sleeve showing him my newly scarred wrist.

“Mother of God. What did you do?” He asked as he grabbed my arm and his long cold fingers stroked over my wrist.

“What did I do? I read that damn book that’s what I did. What the hell else would I have done?” I exclaimed attempting to take my arm out of his grasp failing miserably.

“To have the rose transfer to you like this there has to be something you must have done. I’ve never heard of this happening. This isn’t something I can help you with. This is something within you. You must have a deeper connection to that book than you or I realize.” He said giving me my arm back.

“What kind of connection?” I asked.

“I wish I knew. This is something new to me, which is something I don’t get to say very often.” He chuckled at his own realization.

“So you have no help for me then?” I asked getting angry and frustrated.

“Now I didn’t say that. I might have a couple of contacts who could give us some help, but I’d need a night or two to gather all that information from them. I don’t even know where they are these days, I just know that they are in the city and give me a day or even a night or two to figure it out.” He said and I could hear the genuineness in his voice that he really might want to help me.

“Fine I can give you till tomorrow night. If you don’t have something useful let’s just say you should be worried for your personal health and wellbeing.” I grumbled starting to walk away knowing in the blink of an eye he’d be right next to me.

“Any excuse to see me again huh?” He asked of course being right next to me.

“Oh yeah it’s what keeps me going throughout the day. Meeting up with a vampire I should have killed last night, but hey better late than never I suppose.” I said. Out of nowhere he gripped me up and my face was brought very close to his.

“Do not mistake me right now Alyssa, if I thought you were a threat to me I would end you quicker than you could pull that stake out of your boot or throw a stream of fire at me. You wouldn’t even have time to blink or think and you’d be dead. I am being a cordial gentleman that is trying to help you and you keep giving me snippy attitude. While I appreciate the joking banter you need to find another joke than saying you’ll end my existence. I’ve lived way to long Alyssa and I know too much. Do not forget that.” Derek growled placing me back down on my feet which gave out on me and I fell to the ground. And this is why you don’t get even slightly friendly with vampires. You see and kill that’s it.

“All you vampires are the same. If you wanted to kill me I’d be dead already not sitting here with my a*s getting wet on the ground. Stop taunting me and trying to scare me. I’ve been through this way too many times. If you’re going to strike me go ahead.” I said knowing I might be signing my own death certificate.

“You are right about one thing. If I wanted you dead, you would be. But you are wrong about something. We vampires are not all the same. We may have the same curse but not the same personalities.” Derek said helping me off the ground.

“Fine whatever. So we meet back here and you’ll tell me what I need to know and how to get rid of this damn thing?” I asked flashing my wrist one more time.

“If I have it you’ll be the first to know.” He said grasping my hand and studying my wrist again.

“Well then we’ll be seeing each other tomorrow night and then our business together should end.” I said.

“Oh I doubt that. I still have to watch you, Hawk’s orders. But yes, I’ll be seeing you. Until tomorrow.” He said placing a feather light kiss on my hand and then he was gone. Holy s**t, what the hell just happened there. That’s new. Well you know what I say… “When life gives you lemons, you don’t make lemonade.”

 

 

Chapter 3: Curiosity

 

            After teleporting back to my room I looked around at the only thing in this world that seemed right and familiar anymore. I couldn’t even describe the feeling I had right now. This sickening twisting feeling that made me feel like I was going to be sick. I laid down in my bed and curled into a little ball. I haven’t cried in years but I felt a single tear drop down my cheek. I angrily wiped away. I am not this weak person, I refuse to become this person, who cries at the drop of a hat or the person who cries when things get too tough. I praised myself on being cold and distant and not letting things get to me like this but these dealings with Derek and this whole book thing was really overwhelming. That’s it, I’m done moping, time to go to the gym and burn this stress away.

            I changed into my gym clothes and walked down the stairs to the basement gym. When I walked in I saw Cole at the weights. Of course. He was always more brawn than brains. I ignored his presence and walked over to the punching bag. I stretched my arms, cracked my neck and adjusted my hand bands. The first punch I threw felt like I had punched a brick wall but as I landed more punches I stopped feeling the pain and I felt blissfully numb. I loved this feeling, I was untouchable.

            Ruining my buzz, I could feel someone behind me. I felt something flying at my back so before it could hit me I whipped around and caught it inches before it came in contact with my face. I looked behind the ball and saw a smirking Cole standing there with his arms crossed and tapping his foot.

            “You satisfied?” I asked throwing the ball back into the bin it belonged in across the room.

            “Not hardly. You seem distracted, you didn’t even notice I was here.” He smirked at me, I hated that cocky smile, it always made my skin crawl.

            “Well I apologize if “His Highness” feels slighted.” I said with a sarcastic tone and I threw in a curtsy for added effect, mainly for my benefit. I started to walk away towards the weights when Cole grabbed my arm and started squeezing.

            “You know how I hate that snippy tone of yours Alyssa. You know that it makes me angry and you know what happens when I get angry.” Cole said squeezing my arm tighter, I knew I was going to have a bruise.

            “And you remember what happened last time when you lost your temper on me? You still have the burn scar across your chest do you not? You hit me once and you will never ever get that chance again.” I yelled and when his fist rose up I teleported out of his grasp and came back right behind him with a fireball already in hand. I tapped him on the shoulder bouncing the fireball up and down.

            “You want to try and hit me now? I was weaker 2 years ago Cole. I’m not weak anymore. Good luck landing one hit on me. I will kill you this time, I won’t hold back.” I whispered into his ear bringing the fireball up to his cheek close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off of it. I could hear hit heart skip a beat or two as I brought the fireball closer to his face.

“If I were you I would get the hell out of here, unless you want to be one crispy critter.” I said as he backed away and ran out the door faster than a bat out of hell. I started to shake with fury as I watched him leave. I sunk down to the floor and hyperventilated. I held my own but inside I was screaming, why did he think this was okay? I don’t take kindly to threats. I kept flashing back to the first and last time Cole ever thought it was acceptable to hit me.

Cole was just coming back from combat training and was waiting for me to get done training with Hawk. That was back when I was learning how to control my teleportation power so when I got too excited I’d stop teleporting halfway across town and need to be picked up because I’d have to idea where I was or how to get the hell home. But anyway, I came out and was bursting with excitement because I finally got my fire power down and could fully control it. Cole was less than enthused about my magic. I always thought he was jealous about my abilities, come to find out he thought I was a freak and didn’t want to hear how his girlfriend was an alien from outer space or something.

When we walked up to my room to study for our upcoming combat test he kept going on and on about kicking this freshman’s a*s and how he wiped the floor with his face. I kept thinking how unnecessary the overkill of his attack on that kid was. But Cole said he needed to learn the hard way and if he couldn’t take it than this was not the place for him. Which in one aspect was true but Cole always took things to a whole other level.

Then Cole was complaining about one of our orderly’s Marcus because he told Cole to lay off the “new meat” and let them learn at their own pace. Which I agreed with and it irritated him to no end. As he went on and on I lost even more interest and was only pretending to listen as I sat in the desk chair and bounced a fireball up and down in my hands laughing as I made a tornado out of the flames and made a fiery slinky going back and forth from one hand to another. I heard him clear his throat and I quickly extinguished the flames.

“You know how that bothers me.” He said knowing full well I didn’t care.

“And? I finally gain control of this part of me and you can’t even say “Hey way to go Alyssa. Or I’m so proud of you honey!” Why can’t you accept that this is who I am?” I exclaimed. I could feel my skin tingling with the residual magic that was desperate to be released.

I will never forget how the look on his face suddenly changed. He was irritated but in an instant his face almost turned beastly. I didn’t get scared by much but the instantaneous change frightened me.

“I don’t like your magic Alyssa, so no I won’t be giving you a pat on the back or congratulations. Look at you, so proud for being a freak. I have asked you to not use magic in front of me and here you sit ignoring my wishes. I can’t stand when you defy me.” Cole said starting to get up off my bed and come toward me.

“I don’t seem to remember the time I said I would obey you. My magic is who I am like it or not and if you can’t accept that then why are you even here right now? Either get over yourself or get the f**k out of my room and don’t let the door slam you in the a*s on the way out!” I yelled standing almost nose to nose with him and that’s when he struck me. One hit and he knocked me clear off balance and on the way down I slammed my head on my dresser. Boy did that ever piss me off. I grabbed my right cheek in shock and my whole face felt like it was going to explode. He kneeled next to me offering me his hand.

“Come on honey. I’m sorry you just make me so crazy. I didn’t mean it.” He said sounding so condescending I knew there was no sincerity to his apology.

“Bullshit!” I yelled spitting my mouthful of blood into his face. I could see the monstrous appearance come back to his face but it didn’t scare me anymore. I picked my hand up and as his fist came up I already threw a low energy fireball at him knocking him into my bed. I could see the burn mark across his chest as he yelled in pain. I didn’t care. I carefully got up, using my dresser as support and walked to my door opening it. I grabbed his shirt collar and threw him into the wall across the hall. I ripped the silver diamond necklace he got me and threw it at him.

“Don’t you ever come near me again. Next time I won’t hold back on the fire power. I will kill you next time.” I growled slamming my door in his face.  I have never felt so degraded in my whole life. It was then that I could feel that icy shield go up around me and I could feel myself gaining the armor I needed to protect myself from anyone and anything. It was then that I became the badass tough as nails woman I am now, so in one aspect I can thank Cole for one thing. He ruined me but in another way he brought me to life. But he has no power over me now like he had then.

As the memory faded from my mind I looked around to find a slight hint of daylight coming through the windows. Did I fall asleep? Oh hell, I didn’t realize how tired I really was. I teleported myself to my room too tired to walk up the stairs. Not even changing my clothes I threw myself into my bed under the covers and was out in no time.

I could feel myself falling into unconsciousness and I started to bring images from my mind to the surface. I was in an unknown village and was looking at a pearl necklace at one of the vendors. The vendor was trying so hard to make the sale but I couldn’t bring myself to spend such money on a necklace so I left the trinket and walked to the next vendor. A flower salesman. He was showing a woman a beautiful orchid that I could see she was going to bring home, to the dismay of her husband.

“Beautiful aren’t they?” I heard a velvety voice say from behind me.

“They are quite lovely.” I replied not turning around, afraid at the man I might see.

“I prefer the simplicity of the red rose myself. Its beauty isn’t overstated.” He said coming into my vision and bringing a single red rose with him. Derek! He handed me the rose and kissed my hand.

“Forgive me my lady, but your beauty was too powerful to walk away from. I am Liam Townsend.” He said bowing to me. I wanted to scream that it wasn’t his name but it was like I had no control of this dream.

I could feel the blush on my cheeks as I curtsied to him. “I am Cassandra Michaelson my lord.” That’s not my name!

“I am pleased to make your acquaintance Miss. Michaelson. I trust we will be seeing each other again very soon. As your Father is having a gathering at your villa this evening.” He said not letting go of my hand. I could feel the heat radiating from his hand. He wasn’t ice cold like he is now.

“I look forward to it sir. But if you will excuse me, my nurse calls for me.” I gestured to my nurse maid who was waving me from behind Liam’s back.

“I look forward to seeing you again, Cassandra.” He said almost purring it was so velvety my name on his lips. I felt my insides turn to jelly and my heart beat too fast as I walked away from him. I turned back around as I walked and saw him still watching me smiling. I could tell he was going to be either the best thing to happen to me or quite possible the worst.

“Alyssa? Alyssa!” I heard my name being yelled bringing me out of the dream shooting me up in bed. “Woah, woah easy there. Relax. Are you alright?” Killian asked smoothing my hair down and trying to get my pulse to calm down.

“Holy s**t. I just had the most intense dream of my life.” I said going into the bathroom to put cold water on my face.

“You want to talk about it?” Killian asked.

“Not a chance nosey.” I chuckled as I felt my pulse and blood pressure go back too normal.

“You seemed really freaked and you were talking in your sleep.”

“Yeah, yeah I get it I’m a freak who talks in her sleep and has intense dreams. Anything else to add to the list?”

“One thing. Who is Derek?” He asked making me stop dead in my tracks. I felt my whole body go cold and rigid as I turned around.

“Why do you ask?” I asked turning around trying to hide the fact that I was shaking in my nonexistent boots.

“Because you were saying that name in your sleep. Sounded like an intimate dream.” Killian winked at me and I knew he was teasing which helped my body ease up.

“Oh bite me. And I don’t know anybody named Derek. Must be something my mind made up.” I said looking at the clock. Holy s**t it’s 5:30 already?

“Don’t worry if you have to meet with Mother today. I already covered for you. Told her you were patrolling late and needed to catch up on sleep.” He said looking quite proud of himself. But jeez he was a lifesaver because I did have a meeting with her today regarding magic training and what I’m supposed to do until Hawk returns. If he returns.

“Thanks, I owe you one.” I said flopping down on the bed. I felt and could hear my stomach growling. Man I was starving. So Killian and I went down to the cafeteria to eat and afterwards I went back up to my room to prepare for patrol. I grabbed the book from under my mattress and looked at it for what felt like forever.

“Come on book, start talking. Give me some answers or something.” I begged as I opened the book to the first page and the rose was still missing and was still in its new placeholder on my wrist. I wanted to know why. Why this rose was on my wrist but how it got there.

I asked but didn’t receive. The book naturally didn’t say a thing and it left it up to me to retrieve the answers. But luckily I had a little bit of help. Alright time to meet Derek at the park.

Teleporting to the alley across from Central Park seemed to be second nature to me by now. I ran across the street to the bench I always sat at and waited. I checked my phone and it read 1:10. Where the hell is he? I’ve been waiting for 2 hours! I have better things to do.

“Derek? Are you lurking around somewhere?” I asked feeling foolish that I was whispering to the dark.

I felt a presence behind me and when I stood up and turned around there he was.

“Well you took your sweet a*s time didn’t you?” I asked crossing my arms across my chest.

“My apologies your majesty. I wasn’t aware we had a set meeting time.” Derek said bowing before me just like he had in my dream but with more sass.

“Look I don’t have the patience for your sass mister. Did you get anything or not? Were your sources any help?” I asked.

“Unfortunately not as much help as I had hoped. The only consistent answer I received was that the answer lies within you.” He said looking as weary as I felt.

“What the hell does that mean?” I asked feeling frustrated. I don’t understand why nobody could give me a simple answer. Although this probably isn’t something common but still.

“Look I kept up my end of the deal. I’m sorry if you were not satisfied with my results but that’s all I can come up with in one night. You didn’t exactly give me a lot of time.” Derek said looking as equally frustrated as I was. But I guess he did make a good point. I didn’t give him a lot of time.

“Okay you’re right. I didn’t give you a lot of time, nor do either of us know what we’re looking for so I’m sorry for snapping.” I said, the words “I’m sorry” tasted like butane coming out of my mouth, but I can at least admit when I’m wrong.

“Wait what? I didn’t catch that. You’re sorry?” He asked.

“Yes I am. Now can you finish your internal happy dance some other time?”

“Happy dance?” Derek asked. Oops forgot he didn’t know those kind of terms. All well.

“Okay well how about this. We both want answers as to what happened to me right? And what this book has to do with me. Well how about when you meet with your sources, I go with you? You know, give them something to reference to.” I said actually proud that I thought all that through. But he looked at me like I had grown three heads.

“Not a chance. I think you’ve totally lost your mind. Do you really think that I would take you to meet these sources of mine? Your annoying reputation proceeds you, even with non vampires. They wouldn’t trust me anymore if you even came in the near vicinity of them. So the answer is a flat out no. And if you want your answers, you’ll do well to listen to me and stay away. Let me handle this.” He said his eyes boring into my skull letting me know he meant business, but unfortunately for him so did I.

“So what they’re scared of the little vampire slayer?” I asked sticking my bottom lip out to tease him and add to the sarcasm.

“No. They’re scared of your magic. They have nothing to fear from your slaying abilities. It’s your magic that frightens them. Can’t say I blame them. One wrong word and you can make anyone a briquette.” He darkly chuckled with no humor in that chuckle. The look in his icy blue eyes sent a shiver up my spine and my mind flipped back to the dream I had this morning, his eyes were the same but were aged by the wisdom of an unknown amount of years. They looked harder and more intimidating then they had in my dream. I knew by the look in his eyes I wasn’t going to win this battle and if I continued to want his help and the possible answers he could give me, I needed to back off. Strange concept for me that’s for sure.

“Fine you win. But I better hear something plausible soon. Do you think a picture of my wrist would help?” I asked willing to do anything to get the answers I wanted.

“Actually it might. Damn, I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t think of that myself.” He said. Before I could pull out my phone he already had one in his hand waiting for me to extend my wrist to him. I pulled up the sleeve of my leather jacket and let his icy cold fingers touch my skin. The feather light touches of his fingers as he stroked the scarred rose sent another set of shivers through me, but it wasn’t from the coldness of his touch.

While he was taking different pictures and studying the scar I got the courage to ask him a question I’d been wondering for a while. “Derek. How old are you?”

He flipped his gaze from my wrist to my face and looked surprised that I would ask that. “I’m 21.” He said simply obviously ignoring the question.

“Okay. That’s nice to know but I want to know, how long you’ve been 21?” I ask again hoping to hear the answer I wanted.

“If you must know, I was born in the year 1784. Are you satisfied now?” He said obviously displeased by my persistence.

“Yes. That makes you…”

“Very old.” He said the corner of his mouth twisting into a small smile.

“232.” I said smirking at him.

“Okay I’ve got enough pictures. I think this should give them a better idea of what I am asking them.” He said giving me my wrist back. I could still feel the coldness of his touch on my wrist when he let it go.

“Derek. I just want to thank you.” I said feeling for some weird sense of gratitude to this vampire who was taking his time to help me. I don’t even understand why I felt I owed him gratitude but I did.

“So wait a minute. First you’re sorry, and now you’re thanking me? She does have feelings!” Derek exclaimed throwing his hands up in the air like he was rejoicing. When he flashed a show stopping smile at me something in me lost it. Normally I would have had a sarcastic retort to that but instead I flashed him an even bigger smile. My smile seemed to knock him back and he had looked like he’d seen a ghost for a second.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked trying to sound unconcerned.

“Nothing. If you’re satisfied with my findings and are done with the questionnaire portion of the night, I do need to be going.”

“Wait a minute. You were fine and then when I smile you freeze and look like you’ve seen a ghost and now you try to leave without explaining why? I don’t get you man; you want to help me but I’m not allowed to ask anything about the man that is helping me. I want to understand why you want to help me and why Hawk would have sent you to “watch me” but you’re still a mystery to me that I’m trying to figure out. How can I do that when you don’t want to answer any questions I have?” I asked pulling his arm back as he tried to walk away from me. I was always good at spotting a challenge and I just found one.

“I am only here because I owed Hawk a favor and he collected, that’s all. Don’t get any ideas about me. I am not someone you need to get to know or need to try and figure out. I am someone you need to forget as soon as out dealings are done.” He growled ripping his arm out of my grasp. I didn’t understand this sudden change in attitude and to be quite honest I didn’t want to know.

“Whatever. I don’t need your goddamn help then. I was trying to be civil with you and see if we could work together on something but you’re just like every other bloodsucker I’ve ever met. You don’t do anything unless you can gain something. As for the book and my wrist, I don’t need your help. I’ll figure it out on my own.” I said angrily and started to walk away.

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. You just don’t need to try and get to know me. I’m not a person you need to get to know.” He said softly trying to tone his voice down from what it had been.

“I didn’t say I wanted to get to know me but you apparently know so much about me from what Hawk has obviously told you, I just wanted an even playing field. And to be fair, I only asked you two personal questions. Wait. Are you sensitive about your age?” I giggled. If he was sensitive about his age I would roll with laughter.

“Would it make you feel better if I said yes?” When I nodded he said, “Then yes, Alyssa I am horribly sensitive about being over 200 years old.” He chuckled.

“You’re such an old man.” I said looking at him with fake disgust.

“But incredibly well preserved.” He said stopping to stand like a statue which made me laugh.

“And incredibly modest.” I said continuing to walk back to the alley I came from.

“Always. So tomorrow night?” He asked.

 “Oh believe me, I can. But since you need so much help I suppose I can still be of help to you.”

“Well fine. Well then I’ll see you tomorrow. And you better have something good for me.” I laughed and raised my arm teleported in a poof of red smoke away from Derek.

I came back into my room and found the book sitting on top of my desk. Did I leave it there? I thought I put it back under my mattress. Hmm all well. I grabbed the book and slipped it back under its resting place under the mattress. I looked around the room and when I didn’t see anyone I felt satisfied enough to slip out of my patrol clothes and into my pajamas.

I slipped into bed and could feel sleep taking over me quicker than it has before. And before I knew it I was back into another dream and Derek was the star player again.

I stood in a huge ball gown with a heavy metal underskirt and what felt like 3 layers of heavy fabric. But it was very easy to move in and didn’t trip me unlike everything else. When I saw everyone else dancing to the beautiful music being played by the band in the corner and my Father and his associates were drinking mead and the finest wines. I looked over and saw my sister Margret dancing with her newest suitor Nicholas Fredrickson.  

“Care to dance My Lady?” I heard someone behind me. When I turned around I saw Liam standing there wearing a black and white suit looking breathtakingly handsome.

“It would be my pleasure, sir.” I replied taking his out stretched hand.

As he led me to the dance floor he placed his hand on my lower back. As he spun me towards him he gave me this smile that stopped my heart. He held my hand and I put my hand on his shoulder as his started to twirl us around. I couldn’t even focus on the rest of the room as Liam was talking to me about different things, I was just focused on every line and curve of his face. The shape of his lips as they formed the different words. When he stopped talking I just kept staring at his face. I felt foolish but I couldn’t stop, and he seemed to be just as entranced by me.

“Would you take a walk with me?” Liam asked and all I could do was nod because I didn’t trust my voice not to crack or shake.

As we left the party and walked outside my villa Liam was still holding my hand as we walked towards the stables. I told him all about my horse Seraphina and how many awards I have won riding her and how long I had been riding. It must have bored him but he smiled and kept up with every word like it was the most exciting thing he’d ever heard. I went and showed him the other horses and gave him their back stories as well. When I reached the end and stood against the back wall of the stable I couldn’t deny the look in his eyes as he looked at made me feel warm all over my body. He walked towards me really slow and put his arm by my head and leaned into me.

“I don’t want to be forward but I’ve been wanting to kiss you since I first saw you in the market. With your permission, I’d like to kiss you now.” He whispered and I can’t even believe he was saying this but my heart was beating out of my chest.

“Yes.” I replied and that was all the words he needed. His lips gently crashed into mine and it was like an electric shock was sent through our bodies and our lips were moving together and I twisted my fingers in his hair. We continued kissing until we were both out of breath. He released me and put his forehead against mine. I’m not sure what just happened but I have to admit, he was an amazing kisser.

Liam looked at me and smiled giving me one last chaste kiss on my lips before saying, “We should get back before they miss us too much.” He said grabbing my hand and leading me back to the party.

I shot up in bed sweating and breathing heavily. “Holy s**t.” I whispered. I looked around but nothing was around me. I got up and looked at my desk and there was the book again. Now I know I put that damn thing away. What the hell is it doing there? I picked it up and flipped open the book again and looked at the name of the person that wrote the book and I dropped the book in shock when I saw the name “Cassandra Michaelson”. 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4: Not So Different

What the hell is Cassandra’s name doing on that book? I run myself down to Hawks empty office and start rummaging loudly through his books. Book after book I found nothing anywhere about someone named Liam or a woman named Cassandra. They are all about facts and boring magical spells that I already learned. This is useless. But then something hit me. Hawks desk. He never let anyone in there and it always enticed me, but now I didn’t feel like I had much choice but to look inside and see what he had in there.

I walked over to the huge mahogany desk and saw that every drawer and cabinet had a lock on it. D****t. I tried opening every single one to find them locked. Damn, damn, double damn. I quickly saw on the top of the desk and found a cup of paperclips, perfect. I grabbed two paperclips and extended all four ends making them look like two long straight wires. I went to the bottom right cabinet and started to work my magic, thank you Killian for teaching me how to pick a lock with almost anything.

After almost a minute of fiddling with one lock I popped the cabinet open and found almost a dozen files inside. They were huge files. I picked one up and I found my name written in big letters on the top. It was Hawks handwriting. When I opened it up I found dozens of pictures of me all while I was using my magic. Some while I was out on nightly patrols. I found pictures of me staking vampires and fighting them, some even with me getting my a*s kicked. After the pictures I found a very lengthy file on my skills and all my reports from my patrols and even my birth certificate. What the hell?! How does Hawk even have this stuff and furthermore, what was he doing with it?

I looked deeper and found on the inside cover that this file was the original and that one copy was made. When I saw the name that the file was given to I almost threw up. “Derek Hawthorne”. That son of a b***h. He not only knew more about me than I knew about him, but he knew everything about me. When I was born, where I was born, when I got my powers, every mistake I made during patrols, just everything. I can’t even handle this right now. I had no secrets, no privacy, not a damn thing.

I looked at the other files and found Killian’s name and my mother’s name but they were the original files. Their files were significantly less thick than mine. Just basic information. And then I saw another file with Derek’s name written in the same lettering as mine, his file was bigger than mine. Holy cow. Time for some reading then Mr. Hawthorne.

I teleported me and the file up to my room and I flopped on my bed and opened the huge file. I found mountains of pictures of Derek, some with him alone and others are with him and other people. The second stack of pictures though I was not prepared for, it was him feeding. They weren’t as horrifying as my imagination would have had me believe but they were enough to make me turn my head, but me being a glutton for punishment I kept flipping through the photographs. The last one was the one I couldn’t stop staring at. Derek was in the side view of whoever took the picture. I could see his fangs and blood dripping off his chin, the look on his face was pained. I couldn’t find myself to have sympathy for the bloodied creature in this picture. As I looked deeper into the files I found notes on just how far his life went back, and that’s when I saw it, Liam Townsend. The first name on a long list of alias’s I assume. Okay, that’s weird I didn’t know about his previous alias’s before but yet I’m dreaming of this Liam for the last two nights. How does that even work?

After two hours and way too much information overload about Derek I came to the conclusion that he was a bigger jackass than I gave him credit for. How dare he not tell me about the file Hawk gave him about me? How can he expect me to try and trust him when I find out he kept this from me? Not that I trusted him anyway, but any trust I might have had disappeared the second I found out about this whole situation.

I looked over at the clock and saw it blinking 4:30 at me. S**t! I have a meeting with my mother! I quickly ran out my door and shot up the stairs to her office. I did my classic knock and heard “Come in Alyssa.”. I opened the door and quickly sat down in the chair across from her desk where she sat.

“Okay Alyssa, I’m going to give you one chance to come clean with me.” She said crossing her arms looking at me with that no nonsense look. This wasn’t good.

“About what?” I asked looking at her like I had no idea what she was talking about.

“Your patrol numbers have drastically gone down and there needs to be an explanation as to why.” Seriously, this is all about my damn numbers? Only my mother could make patrolling and killing vampires all about the numbers.

“Is it my fault that there has been little to no vampire activity in my patrol area? I don’t control the vampires hunting habits nor do I control when they come out. So maybe you should consider it a blessing instead of coming at me about the damn numbers and think maybe the vampires have gotten the hint and moved on.” I exclaimed getting angry at her for this waste of time b***h fest.

“From the other reports of the other patrols I know that is not true. So where have you been going?” She asked her long hair coming down her shoulders as she leaned on her desk reading every expression on my face.

“Central Park, the same place I go every night Mother. You know my patrol spot and it’s been the same for three years.” I said leaning back into my seat crossing my arms.

“Well maybe your patrol spot needs to change.”

“Not happening Mother. It’s where I’m comfortable and it’s where I know the vampires hang out. I don’t think you want any newbies going to that location. I mean unless you want to write a bunch of obituaries.” I said not backing down from her, Central Park is my turf and I’ll be damned if someone else is going to take it from me.

“Fine. But if your numbers do not improve I will have to start sending Keith with you again to monitor your patrols.” She said sounding as icy and hostile as possible.

“What good will that do? All he ever does is sit on his a*s and make me do all the work anyway.”

“Well at least you can be watched.”

“Okay. I get it now. This has nothing to do with my numbers from patrolling. You don’t trust me, do you Mother?” I asked knowing what the true answer was but hoping for my benefit she would try and lie about it. Even if my mother is a frigid b***h from hell it doesn’t mean that if she said she doesn’t trust me it wouldn’t sting a bit.

“No Alyssa, I can’t say that I do.” She said not even blinking an eye.

“Wow. Thank you for your frigid honesty Mother. I am so glad that we had this meeting today just for you to tell me that you don’t trust me. And for what reason huh?! I have done nothing but what you’ve asked. I’ve trained harder than every student here, I’ve killed more vampires than anyone in this damn place! I mean what is it going to take with you? Do I need to die for your cause?” I yelled standing up slamming my fists on her desk shaking the think mahogany wood and actually cracking it where I hit it. Oops.

“At least you would die for something! How dare you Alyssa?! Do not try and act that you did all that training and slaying for me or for the cause! Alyssa, you want everyone to see you as the hero that your Father saw you as. So you did not do all that for me or for this school. You did it for you, end of story.” She said knocking my hands off the desk and sitting back down.

“Well since I’m so high and mighty I have another thing I’d like to do for myself.” I said walking near her and leaning to her ear I whispered, “Screw you Mother. Go find yourself another hit woman. I’m done.”

“I’ll never know what your father saw in you Alyssa. All you’ve ever been is a problem. Your brother has always been an asset to me, you’ve always been a headache. If you were to die on a patrol at least you could die with some dignity.” She said looking at me with anger and contempt. I am not giving her the satisfaction of arguing with her further.

So before I said something else, I smoked myself into my room and fell to the floor. The adrenaline of our argument finally wearing off. Out of nowhere the sobs starting coming from a place of emptiness inside of me. A place where a mother’s love should be but mine was hollow. It was then in that moment that I realized that I am nothing more than a pawn in this war for my Mother. I’m the best slayer in this place and she knows it. But I’m freelance now. I don’t work for her. I got up so quickly that I had to grab my desk to stabilize myself and started packing all my belongings into the three suitcases I needed. Yes, all my belongings only fit in three suitcases. This is precisely the reason why. In the middle of my packing frenzy I heard a knock at my door.

“Not now!” I yelled vigorously stuffing my clothes into a bag. I didn’t hear my door open but I felt a hand on my shoulder. I spun around and saw Killian standing before me.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He asked his green eyes looking frantically at my bags.

“I know you’re not dumb Killian, what does it look like I am doing?” I said going into the bathroom grabbing all my toiletries and stuffing them into a separate bag.

“I can see what you’re doing. I want to know why? What do you think leaving is going to solve?” He asked trying to get me to face him.

“You obviously don’t get it. You’ve always been Mother’s favorite and you always will be. Why do you think you’ve never been allowed to go on patrols? Because you could get killed! Why do you think Mother sends me out every night? So I can get killed!” I yelled hoping Killian would grasp my point.

“That isn’t true Alyssa. If you’d talk to- “

“Oh talk to Mother? That’s what I just did and she sends her problem child out every night so she’ll get killed and then “Mommy Dearest” can have the little boy she always wanted and get rid of the b***h of a daughter that she wanted to drown at birth.” I said continuing my packing around Killian.

“She wouldn’t do that.” He said his face looking saddened and confused.

“You’re so in denial it’s pathetic. I’m tired of being her hit woman. Do you even know why we are battling the vampires anymore? Because I sure don’t!” I yelled hoping he could give me a clear answer that I wasn’t achieving myself.

“They killed Father, don’t you remember that?” He asked looking at me in disbelief.

“And the vampire that killed him has already paid with his life! Why must the rest of them? This isn’t revenge anymore, it’s a war, and soon Mother is going to find out just how ugly a war can really get.” I said closing up all my bags looking around at my now empty bedroom.

“I don’t understand why you feel you need to leave. You have nowhere to go.” He said pleading with me with his eyes. We aren’t five anymore Killian that isn’t going to work.

“I don’t care. Anywhere or nowhere is better than here.” I said grabbing him in a hug and kissing his cheek. “I love you Killian. Do me a favor and don’t get yourself killed or anything.” I laughed raising my hand and teleporting to god knows where.

When I teleported I was in front of this huge building with no lit sign so I couldn’t tell the name of the place, but it almost looked like a hotel, and the lights were on so I went in and saw that the outside did not do it justice. The inside was absolutely stunning. Crown molding, beautiful priceless pieces of art covered the walls and the furniture was right out of a southern old movie. It was amazing, very “Gone with the Wind”.

“Welcome to the Sanderson Hotel and Suites madam. May I fetch I bellhop for your bags?” A gentleman at the desk asked. He wasn’t very tall but had a nice slender build and dirty blonde hair, but he must have been in his late forties at least. But I noticed his name tag said Tom.

“Actually I’d like to check in first Tom.” I said coming over giving him my black credit card, knowing that this thing had no limit and that it would be paid for me, again got to love having creditors in our back pocket.

“Would you like a suite?” He asked regarding my credit card.

“Yes please.” I said politely just wanting to get my a*s into a bed that wasn’t mine for a change.

“And last question, how long will you be staying with us?” He asked smiling, his brown eyes crinkling at the sides.

“I’m really not sure.” I said shrugging at him.

“Alright no problem. And you Miss. Jefferson are all set to go. You will be on the 23^rd floor, room 8. Would you like me to fetch that bellhop for you now?” He asked. I nodded at him and he waved over this bellhop named Gary who was old enough to be my grandfather. Good lord man, isn’t it time to retire? But as we walked into the elevator he was sweet as can be. He told me all about his ten grandkids and how he only works here as a way to pass the time. His wife passed last year and he needed something to take his mind off of being alone.

When we reached the 23^rd floor I was starting to feel fatigue hit me. This day has kicked my a*s already. When we reached room 8 I was suddenly revived looking at this room. It was huge and gorgeous.

“Holy cow.” I said looking around feeling like a such a girl right now. But this room was incredible. It looked like an apartment, a living room and a big kitchen with top of the line stainless steel appliances and granite countertops that gleamed in the lights. Gary chuckled as he placed my bags down and said that he’d leave me to it.

When I heard the door click closed I bolted to the back of the room and found a bedroom twice the size of my room at Wolfsbane. The king size bed was covered in fluffy white blankets and pillows that looked like fluffy white clouds. I walked into the bathroom and found my next stop, the huge soaking tub was big enough for 4 people. It was lined with different soaps and essential oils and even some candles. It all was incredible. God I wonder how much this room would cost if someone was actually going to pay for it.

I walked back to the living room and heard my phone ringing. I looked at the screen and saw a number I didn’t recognize and like a glutton for punishment I answered it.

“Hello?” I asked sitting down in the oversized chair.

“Alyssa?”

“Hawk?” I asked recognizing the voice on the other end.

“Where are you? Why did you leave the academy?” Hawk asked talking fast and low like he was in a panic.

“What’s it to you why I left? Where the hell have you been?” I asked not bothering to hide the irritation in my voice.

“Alyssa for once can you stop being such a brat and answer a question?! You can’t be out of the safety of the academy right now. You’re not safe!” He quickly whispered.

“And what does my safety mean to you? And who are you to ask for an answer from me? It’s not like you’ve been very forthcoming with those yourself.” I scoffed. Already he was on my nerves.

“I do not have time to try and pretend to understand what you mean by that Alyssa. You need go back to the Academy. I mean it.” He said and then he hung up on me. That b*****d. Who was he to try and tell me what to do? He can’t do what he did to me and act like he cares. If he cared he wouldn’t have basically handed my whole life in a folder over to a vampire. He was basically handing my life over on a silver platter. Ugh I can’t even deal with this right now.

I hopped out of the chair and skipped over to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Damn, of course it’s empty along with all the cupboards. Guess I’ll need to go shopping at some point today. Girls got to eat.

I ran back into the bedroom and collected my jacket and purse and started to head out the door collecting the key card off the end table on my way out. Don’t want to forget that. As I opened the door I found Derek standing like a statue in front of it nearly giving me a heart attack.

“Holy s**t!” I yelped throwing my heart to my chest.

“What are you doing here Alyssa?” He grumbled giving me a no nonsense look that triggered a shiver out of me.

“What concern of that is yours?” I ask trying to push my way past him. I’d have more luck pushing through a brick wall. “Excuse me.” I said looking up at him.

He answered by folding his arms across his chest and pushing his way into the room with me along with him.

“Hey!” I exclaimed trying to shove him away, which by the way did not work again.

“Knock it off before you hurt yourself.” He said lifting me up and tossing me into the recliner across the room.

“Holy f**k!” I yelled trying to shift myself right into the chair.

“You are not supposed to be away from the academy Alyssa. It is not safe for you and Hawk informed me you were here and told me to bring you back to the academy immediately. You can kick and scream if you see fit, but I am returning you and your belongings back to academy whether you like it or not.” Derek said sitting on the couch staring at me. He looked pissed, his ice blue eyes were almost unrecognizable.

“Okay first off you and Hawk have no right to tell me what I can and cannot do, and in case you haven’t noticed I can take care of myself. I don’t need you.” I said getting up walking towards the door. I could sense him starting to blur himself in front of me and I swiftly threw a punch at his chest knocking him into the nearby chair. “I told you. I. Don’t. Need. You.” I said enunciating each word for emphasis. I looked at his shocked expression and could tell I have just unleashed a beast and knew I was kind of screwed.

He blurred himself over to me quicker than I could react and pushed me hard into the door. I could feel my head slam into the hard wood and giving me a little bit of whiplash in its wake. He put his arm across my chest keeping me against the door.

“Alright since I was being too nice before let me reiterate my position and why I’m here. I am taking you back to the academy and I do not care what I have to do, but I am getting you there and that’s all.” He snarled baring his fangs at me and that was my clue in that he wasn’t messing around with me. Who the f**k does this guy think he is?

“You done?” I asked shoving Derek away from me. “I already told Hawk so let me tell you, I am not leaving this place. You do not even know what I’m here for and you don’t care. So how about you do us both a favor and get the f**k out. You don’t care about me or what made me come here!” I yelled causing a sympathetic look to cross Derek’s face. He backed away from me and went back to the couch and sat down.

“Fine, Alyssa. I’ll play it your way. Tell me what is going on. What happened?” Derek asked gesturing with his hand towards the oversized recliner obviously wanting me to sit down. Which I decided to do.

“Do you really care or are you just asking because you think that it’s going to get me to leave?” I asked flopping myself into the chair.

“Well if I am going to call Hawk and tell him that I couldn’t convince you to go back I at least want the explanation to be good.” He said running his fingers through his hair, pushing it back. I could feel my mouth going dry in response. D****t Alyssa, get a hold of yourself.

“Okay, Derek. I appreciate you wanting to come here and protect me or convince me to go back but you don’t have to sit here and pretend to care why I left. I can explain to Hawk that you tried but that I bested you in a battle of wills. You don’t need to be here.” I said trying to get him to get up and leave so I could be alone.

“I am not one to pretend to care Alyssa. Either I care or I don’t. I don’t mince words. I want to hear what happened and what is causing you the pain that lingers behind your eyes that you try to hide so well.” He said leaning his elbows onto his legs, supporting his head with his hands so he could look at me. He gave me a look that read enough genuine concern that I started to believe that he did want to know.

Suddenly I let it all out. My whole life story came out of my mouth before I could stop myself. I talked about my father, my brother, and lastly my mother. I explained what happened today and what made me leave. It was bound to happen anyway, but the events of the day made it happen much sooner than anticipated.

As I kept going on and on about every little problem in my life, Derek sat listening as still as a statue. Only shifting his position to sit back on the couch and cross his legs. He looked at me with such intent that I couldn’t help but keep talking to him. When I had finished talking I felt oddly good. I felt really good about letting all that pent up anger and frustration out and getting out of my own head for a while. But the emotion of everything eventually hit me and I started to cry. I don’t cry, let alone in front of anyone else.

Derek offered me a tissue from the box on the end table next to him. I took it and wiped my eyes and apologized.

“What are you apologizing for? Being human?” Derek asked giving me a small smile.

“No, for unloading all of that on you. I didn’t expect all that to come out.” I said giving him a small smile. I felt purged but also embarrassed because I unloaded all the demons from my past to a man that I barely knew and didn’t trust completely. He had every reason to hate me for what I have done to his kind and yet here he is listening to my every problem and acting like everything between us was forgotten, even though to me it wasn’t.

“It’s what you needed, and I asked for an explanation as to what was wrong and what brought you here, and I got my answer. And can I just say how fucked up your life is?” Derek said giving a dark chuckle.

“In case you forgot this doesn’t get you off the hook Derek. You still have a lot of explaining to do.” I said. He gave me a confused look and then the lightbulb in his head went off and he gave me a very stern look.

“I have nothing to explain to you Alyssa. I had no part in the file that was given to me from Hawk. If you want an explanation, you will have to go to Hawk for that. He is the only one that will have the answers you want. I only read what I needed to in that file and that was it. I don’t delve into a lot of the files that Hawk gives me. He tends to give me too much information than what I need.” He said.

“Okay well what did you read exactly?” I asked hoping he didn’t read all the personal information about me.

“Just the things I needed to know about your fighting skills, and your slaying style. I didn’t want to read about your personality, I really didn’t care too much about that. I only cared about the essential things I needed to know about you to get the job done that I was assigned to do.” Derek said getting up off of the couch.

“Okay so you didn’t give a damn about the personal me, you only cared about the vampire killing me?” I asked knowing the answer.

“Essentially. I deal in skills not personalities. That’s too messy… Come on there’s somewhere I want to take you.” Derek said coming over and extending his hand out to me.

“Where?” I asked getting up without taking his hand.

“You need to blow off some steam and I know the perfect place to do it. But you are going to need to change your clothes. No one is going to find you intimidating in jeans and a tank top.” Derek said popping the strap of my tank top on my shoulder.

“Um okay.” I said walking past him and going into the bedroom to change. I quickly reached into my suitcase and grabbed my normal slaying clothes. Black pants, a black t-shirt, my leather jacket, and my knee high leather boots. I pulled my hair into a pony tail and walked out of the bedroom to find Derek standing by the front door. He looked up at me and smiled.

“Take your hair down.”

“Um why? I always put my hair up for slaying.” I said grabbing my wallet and keys off of the counter.

“Because where I am taking you, you won’t fit in with your hair up. Just do as your told for once.” He said blurring himself over to me and gently pulling my hair out of the pony tail. “I know it is hard for you to do, but I am going to ask you to trust me. I think you will like where I am going to take you, and I think it will really help you with blowing off some of your steam that you are holding inside.”

“Fine. I may not fully trust you, but I trust you enough to not let me get killed. Lead the way.” I said grabbing my pony tail holder from Derek’s hand and putting it around my wrist and following Derek out the door.

Derek grabbed us a cab and told the cab driver to go to North Main Street. North Main Street was only 10 minutes away. I’m not sure what was going on but normally there are a lot of parties on North Main Street. But not many vampires that I was aware of.

When we reached our destination, we were outside this big dark brick building. It looked abandoned and really run down.

“You sure this is where you want to get out sir?” The cab driver asked Derek but was looking at me through the rearview mirror when he said it.

“Yes sir. You have a good night.” Derek said handing the cab driver a fifty. Which was way more than what our ride should have cost. The driver looked at the money and gave a big smile of appreciation.

“Thank you. Enjoy your evening.” The cab driver said as we got out of the car. As he drove away I couldn’t help but look around at the way this street seemed to be falling apart, but the locals made it seem so alive. 3 houses were having loud parties that seemed like they were having a blast.

“Care to tell me what we are doing here Derek?” I asked getting even more confused by the second.

“Oh calm down will you. Jeez you are so impatient.” Derek said. “Some things never change.” He muttered.

“What did you say?” I asked knowing full well what he said but I wanted him to say it.

“Shush will you? I cannot even pretend to listen when you keep chatting in my ear.” Derek said closing his eyes and slamming them shut obviously concentrating on something.

Suddenly he grabbed my hand and started to lead me down the street away from the people and the farther we went the darker it got. I can’t lie, I am a little worried about what is going on right now.

“Don’t say a word, let me do the talking.” Derek said as we came to another big brick building, again looking abandoned. That seemed to be a trend on this street. Derek banged on the door three times and suddenly a big burly man opened the door and stared at Derek for a split second before wrapping him up into a hug laughing.

“Derek. Derek. Derek. Where the hell have you been man? I haven’t seen you in what 10 years?!” The man said not paying me a bit of mind. This man was obviously a vampire. He said he hadn’t seen Derek in 10 years but he didn’t look like he could be over 24.

“You brought a party gift for the host? Wow what a gorgeous blood bag you have brought us.” The man said as soon as he caught a glimpse of me. He started to move toward me when Derek stepped in front of me and pushed the him back.

“The girl is with me. Back off Kraven.” Derek growled. Kraven looked at him with a respectful understanding and backed away. He gestured us inside and said,

“Well any friend of Derek’s is a friend of mine. But you will have to explain that to the rest of my guests.” Kraven purred looking directly at me. I am so glad I put my retractable stake in the side of my pants against my hip. Nope, I never leave the house empty handed, I’m not stupid.

Derek led me into a huge living room that had 3 other vampires in it. I could feel their energy as they eyed me. I was the first thing they noticed, they hadn’t paid Derek no attention which didn’t seem to sit well with him because he started to get a low growl going in the base of his throat. All the vampires in the room started to look at him and all of a sudden they got down onto their knees and were almost bowing to him. Weird much?

“Get up will you? You all look pathetic.” Derek said sitting in one of the oversized recliners that was sitting in the corner. He pulled me next to him and pulled me down so I sat on the arm of the chair. All the vampires got up and sat down back into their respective spots.

“Mr. Hawthorne. To what do we owe the pleasure of your company?” One of the vampire women said. She was absolutely gorgeous, which was no surprise there. Her bright red eyes stuck out like a sore thumb against her alabaster skin and her straight platinum blonde hair.

“Natasha. I have some business I need to discuss with all of you. As reigning Sheriff of this towns vampires I need to investigate a claim that I had gotten from an anonymous source. A claim that is highly disturbing… And by the look on your face Jennifer you do not look surprised.” Derek said addressing another vampire woman that was standing in the corner. She was petite with dark ringlet curls that stopped right at her shoulders. She looked like she couldn’t be older than 16 but by the fact that Derek did not seem to intimidate her she had to be quite an old vampire. And Derek is a Sheriff? A Sheriff of vampires? I didn’t even know that vampires had law making officials or even law enforcement officials. Wow, shows how much I really have to learn.

“Surprised? With you Derek? Never.” Jennifer said. She had a distinctive southern accent that rang through me like a bell in my ears.

“Well I sure as hell am! What claim could have been made about us? We are always on our best behavior Derek, you of all people know that.” One of the vampire men finally spoke up. He also had a very distinctive southern accent. The Jennifer and he could almost pass for brother and sister. They both had dark hair and the accents to boot. But their biggest similarities didn’t come from family ties. They came from being a vampire. The bright red eyes and the alabaster white skin, that could have almost been translucent.

“Easy Marshall. I said I was only here to investigate. The claim made against all of you is one I am sure you have heard of before. There have been reports of your lot not following proper hunting protocol, the feed and erase moto that has worked very well for hundreds of years. Oh, that just was not good enough anymore was it? You wanted to have your own personal blood bank right here in the comforts of home didn’t you? I cannot understand why you would consider this even remotely a home. A rat lives in better conditions than this.” Derek said looking around the room at the mold lining the walls and the beams on the ceiling that were falling apart. I am not even sure how this chair is still on the ground between both of our weights I am surprised that it hasn’t fallen straight down to the basement.

“Listen Derek, you know we wouldn’t do that. We have always respected the law.” Jennifer said looking at Marshall.

“Now Jennifer you and I both know that that is not true. You and your brother over there have always had trouble with authority. That is what got you kicked out of Florida and brought here. The Sheriff from there did not want to deal with the two of you so he sent you both here to become my problem.” Derek said pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger.

“Well you have your complaint. Why don’t you get to investigating?” Kraven asked from behind us. He was leaned up against the wall looking very smug.

“Oh Kraven you should already know by now that I don’t have to get out of my seat to investigate. I can smell the humans you have captive downstairs. Good job trying to sound proof the basement but next time work on smell proofing it too, and while you are at it do yourself a favor and take a goddamn shower.” Derek said looking back at Kraven as equally smug as him if not more so.

“So you caught us. What are you going to do to us?” Natasha asked, her eyes dancing as she looked at Derek, almost challenging him to make a move.

“You know the punishment is death Natasha. I did not make these laws, nor did I break them. I am just the one that gets the headache of carrying them out and disposing the lot that decide to break the laws. And unfortunately you all thought because we have history that I wouldn’t investigate and come take care of the problem. Sorry for your luck ladies and gentlemen but I would much rather not have my head cut off and put on a spike for the other Sheriffs to see at the next meeting. So unfortunately it looks like this is the last we will ever see of one another.” Derek said sounding very cynical as he got up to address them. Derek grabbed my hand and pulled me up to stand next to him.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me! A slayer? You brought a slayer here? Are you crazy?” Kraven yelled. His red eyes looked like they were going to come out of his head.

“Actually I am very sane. I brought her because I know I cannot take care of all of you by myself, and I want to make sure in your final moments that you all get the same attention as the rest.” Derek said pulling up his sleeves. His blue eyes looked very menacing and almost frightening. I cannot believe he brought me here for this.

“Derek you have got to be kidding me right? How could you bring me here?” I asked looking at him stunned about what was about to go down.

“Do not even try to look at me like that. I know you have a stake on your hip. Nice try, trying to sneak it past me.” Derek said giving me a very dark grin.

Out of nowhere I watched at Derek was thrown into a wall by a laughing Kraven and then I knew the fight was on. Marshall and Kraven went after Derek while Jennifer and Natasha got up and started to come for me.

I pulled out my stake and back flipped myself into the air and stood myself on the top of the recliner to give myself some height over these girls.

Natasha was the first to make a move against me. Naturally a swing and a miss. I leaped over her and when I thought I was in the clear Jennifer grabbed my hair from behind and threw me down to the ground.

“Figures you would be a hair puller.” I grunted at I tugged Jennifer’s head down and slammed her face into the ground. I watched as she lifted her head up and there was blood coming from her nose. Ew gross. Natasha started to try and climb onto me, but before she could get onto me I plated a swift kick with both my legs straight into her chest. She fell backward and I was able to flip myself back up, but not before Jennifer got a hold of my arm. She started to twist it painfully and it felt like she was almost going to break it. I yelped in pain as I threw my other arm and slammed my fist into her throat.

I felt my arm pop and knew my shoulder has dislocated. Son of a b***h that hurts. I didn’t want to waste any more time playing with these girls. I am too pissed now. I gripped my stake as hard as I could in my hand and took a running start to Jennifer. I jumped up and did a double kick to her chest and watched her fly back into the wall. I quickly ran and slammed all my weight into her body and swiftly jammed my stake into her chest. I watched as she yelled and disintegrated into dust in my hands.

I heard an angry snarl come from Natasha and she jumped at me and she fell on top me knocking me to the ground which caused the stake to leave me hand. She started to growl as she eyed my neck, she grabbed my arms and put them up above my head. I screamed from the pain shooting out of my arm. I looked at Natasha as I tried to wiggle and toss her off of me, but I saw her long fangs extended and I knew what she was about to do.

I struggled through the pain and used all of my strength to push her off of me. When that didn’t work, I decided to use my head, in the literal sense. I slammed my head into hers causing her to become distracted enough for me to force her off of me. I ran to the stake and grabbed it tightly in my hand. I looked around for Natasha and before I could respond I felt a punch straight to my jaw. The punch was hard enough that it almost knocked me out, I could feel blood fill my mouth. I spit out the blood and wiped my nose which was now also bleeding. I could already feel the bruise forming on my jaw.

Before she could get another hit on me I teleported myself across the room and shot a stream of fire out of my hand at her. She let out a piercing scream and as she was burning I threw the stake as hard as I could making sure it hit her right in the chest, when it made contact she disintegrated into a pile of ashes.

I looked over at Derek and saw he was long done with his fight with Marshall and Kraven. They were already in a pile of ashes. He was standing against the wall looking at me with a smug look.

“What?” I asked wiping some blood off of my chin.

“Nothing. Just taking note of your fighting style. You play dirty.” Derek chuckled.

“Oh and they didn’t? That one crazy b***h yanked my hair back so far I think I left a clump of my hair behind!” I said checking the back of my head to make sure all of my hair was still there. Lucky for me it still was, but damn it I have a headache!

“I think you handled yourself very well. Natasha and Jennifer were two of the toughest vampires I know. They have killed 2 slayers already.” Derek said looking at me like it was no big deal.

“And you just let them have at me?!” I yelled becoming furious. I could have died from those two and he just let them at me like a lamb to the slaughter.

“It looked like you didn’t want or need my help. You were having fun Alyssa. You can’t tell me you weren’t. It was all over your face. This is what you thrive on. The fight and the rush of adrenaline it gives you. It’s addictive. Believe me I know. You and I Alyssa, we aren’t so different.” Derek said moving towards me. I backed away and wiped more blood off of my mouth.

Derek grabbed a handkerchief out of his back pocket and handed it to me.  I took it and wiped off my mouth and my forehead which was also bleeding a little.

“You know I could heal you if you wanted. It might be a little hard to explain all of those bumps and bruises and the blood to the hotel staff.” Derek offered. But no way was I taking that offer. I’d rather lose my left arm than do that. I know what happened to some people when they drink vampire blood to heal. It has some side effects on some people, and I am not taking that chance.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I’ll deal with the bumps and bruises. I heal quick anyway, a perk of being not only a slayer but having some extra powers.” I said trying to give my best “I’m fine” look. But with the swollenness of my mouth and the pain in my nose I couldn’t muster much of a smile. I just continued to wipe my mouth and forehead getting the handkerchief covered in blood.

When I looked at Derek I watched as his inner nature took over him. He was staring right at the handkerchief every time I brought it away from my face. Uh oh. I watched his brow furrow and the ice blue eyes I became familiar with were replaced by evil red counterparts. He turned away from me and I could hear his sharp intake of breath. He groaned and bent over looking as if he was in a lot of pain. I went to reach out for him and he turned back to me and growled. The growl was menacing enough to make my heart start feeling like it was going to pound out of my chest. I could see the internal battle he was having inside himself, between the man and monster. I quickly walked myself outside and stood against the cold bricks and felt the cold breeze against my face. It stung, but it was a welcoming sting.

I heard the door open and saw Derek looking at me. His eyes had gone back to normal and his face seemed less pained. He looked guilty.

“I’m sorry.” He said after a few passing moments of silence. I couldn’t find the words so I just nodded.

I could feel the cuts on my face and in my mouth starting to heal themselves little by little, which provided much needed relief from the constant throb in my head. Those b*****s probably gave me a concussion.

“What about that human downstairs in the basement?” I asked just realizing that we had forgotten about the person who was being held downstairs.

“Oh s**t.” Derek said and in a split second was gone.

“Hey! Wait for me!” I yelled running after him knowing he would already be down there probably untying whoever was down there. When I got there Derek was sitting next to a young girl, she couldn’t be more than 14. She wasn’t tied up but she was lying there limp and lifeless. Her dark hair covered most of her face, but what her hair didn’t cover I saw bluish bruises on her cheeks. She also had bruises covering her arms too. When I looked at Derek he had a blank look on his face.

“She’s dead.’ He said. There was no emotion in his voice. He just looked at her. I could see emotion in his eyes, and that this girls’ senseless death by his own kind truly bothered him. Truth be told, seeing this young girl lying dead on the floor shook me to my core. I have seen a lot of death in my life, but something about this really unsettled me. I walked towards her and could see that she hadn’t been dead long. Rigor mortis hadn’t set in yet. This poor girl. Where were her parents? They must be going out of their minds.

“What do we do with her?” I asked my voice shaking with every word.

“We aren’t going to do anything. I will take care of this. I have some connections with the police, I’ll call them and see if they can come discreetly take care of this.” Derek said slowly getting up grabbing his phone out of his pocket.

“But what about her family? She has to have family somewhere!” I said following him back up the stairs.

“They will be contacted after they ID her. She’s probably a teen runaway. New York is crawling with them.” Derek said finding a contact in his phone and quickly dialing it. It made me feel a little better that she wouldn’t just be forgotten, her family would at least know and be able to have some closure that I’m sure they were seeking.

“So she isn’t just going to be left here to rot?” I asked surprised that he would take the time to call the police and not just leave her there.

“Of course not. I am not that inhumane. She needs to be identified and then properly buried and her family deserves the chance to mourn.” Derek said looking at me with an insulted look. He almost looked like I had slapped him. But before I could say anything he was already on the phone speaking to someone whom he called Kaiden. He told him the girls features and her basic build and he didn’t look too surprised when it was confirmed that she was in fact a teenage runaway, but the shocking part was that she wasn’t from New York she was a runaway from Philadelphia. How does a 14-year-old have the means to get from Philadelphia to New York? Apparently she has been missing for almost a year. Her parents have been plastering signs of her all throughout Pennsylvania and social media.

When Derek got off the phone he told me we had to go, that Kaiden and his team would be here soon and that he didn’t want anyone to see us around the area so that we couldn’t be connected to this girl and what happened to her. So we quickly booked it out of there and hailed a taxi back to the hotel. Before I could say anything Derek had already issued himself an invitation and was already escorting himself inside. He hadn’t said much on the way back to the hotel so I knew this girls’ death must have been eating at him as much as it was eating at me.

When we got to my room I slid the plastic key card in and waited for the beep, but as soon as it beeped Derek already had my door opened and waiting. When I got inside I quickly sat down on the couch, while Derek sat in the oversize recliner.

“Did Kaiden tell you what that girls’ name was?” I asked. Derek must not have been paying much attention because it almost looked like I startled him.

“No. He just said that she went missing when she was 13. He only gave me the need to knows. The media will report who she is when they get a hold of it.” He said leaning back into the chair pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger.

“And what does this guy just say he got an anonymous tip in? Aren’t those calls like recorded or something?”

“Not on his private line they aren’t. I am not stupid enough to call on their dispatch line. First of all, it’s not guaranteed I would get to talk to him, and second those calls and tips are always recorded. Don’t let them try to convince you otherwise.”

“Oh.” That one little word was all I could say at that moment. I was too stunned to say much of anything else. The events of the night had shook me to my very core and brought back some really unpleasant memories for me. I happened to look up at the clock and saw 5:45 a.m. “Oh s**t Derek, don’t you have to get going? It’s going to be dawn soon!”

“So it appears it is. I honestly lost complete track of time.” Derek said not even looking like he cared.

“Will you even make it to your home by dawn?” I asked noticing through the curtains that the sky was lightening up very slowly already.

“Probably not.” He chuckled. There was not amusement in his chuckle. He was very melancholy right now and it was very unnerving to me.

“Well I am asking you this against all my better judgement but do you want to stay here for the day? I personally don’t feel like explaining to the hotel staff why the man that left my room just burst into flames in their lobby.” I said knowing this was a very big mistake and horribly stupid of me, but I just can’t seem to stop making stupid decisions when it comes to Derek. Although him bursting into flames would be very tough to explain; so this is kind of self serving. Sure I am going to go with that. I am doing this for my own selfish reasons and it has nothing whatsoever to do with his health and wellbeing. Yupp that sounds about right.

“I would be much obliged if I could seek refuge here for the daylight hours. But I do not want to put you out. I don’t want to be a nuisance.” Derek said. Jeez sometimes he spoke like such as old man. Oh wait. He is an old man. Nevermind.

“Oh shut up. You can take the bedroom. I’ll just need to clear my suitcases off of the bed. The bedroom has black out blinds and curtains so it is probably your safest bet. I’ll sleep on the couch. It’s pretty comfy.” I said slowly getting up and walking to the bedroom. But when I got there I saw Derek already beat me there and had my suitcases already lined up neatly against the wall. Well that takes care of that now doesn’t it?

“Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer the bed? I could always take the floor.” Derek asked.

“No that’s okay. I just need to get some clothes and then I’m going to get a shower. I won’t be long.” I said needing to get these dirty clothes off and wash all the dried blood out of my hair and off of my face.

“If you’re sure then. I am in your debt Alyssa.” He said his tone very serious and I knew that his gratitude was genuine but man was he overdoing it with the formalities.

“Damn skippy you are. I must be out of my blooming mind to be doing this. But I guess crazier things have happened.” I said quickly grabbing some sweats from my suitcase and walking towards the bathroom.

“Damn skippy? That’s one I haven’t heard. But in any case I must retire now. So enjoy your shower.”

“Enjoy your siesta. Wait! You aren’t going to be hanging off my ceiling like a bat when I come out are you?” I tentatively asked, not knowing how that little joke was going to be received. But luckily I was met with a chuckle.

“Oh you’re very funny. As if I’ve never heard that before.” Derek said slowly climbing himself into the bed. I hadn’t noticed that he had already removed his black boots and sat them next to the bed.

I giggled and shut the bathroom door. I started the shower and was in awe of not only how big the shower was but the shower head was almost the size of my head! You could fit 4 or 5 people easily in this damn shower. Who needs a shower this big? Oh well, I guess I do. A girl could get used to these luxuries. I quickly undressed and looked at myself in the mirror to assess the damage that those two crazy bitched did to my body. When I looked I saw dozens of bruises which were already turning that ugly greenish color from the healing process and I had a bunch of cuts and scrapes. I had already popped my shoulder back into place so all in all the damage wasn’t as bad as it felt.

When I stepped into the hot water however it took everything I had not to yelp in pain. The hot water brought every ache and scratch to the surface and all I felt was pain stabbing me all over my body. The throbbing in my head proceeded but compared to everything else that pain subsided and the pain in my body took over.

I made quick work of washing my hair and body and quickly stepped out of the shower. When I dressed I threw my hair into a ponytail and walked back out into the bedroom. When I looked over at Derek he was already peacefully sleeping on his side. I noticed that while I was in the shower he had taken his shirt off and laid it on top of his boots. I could see the muscled plains of his back as it was facing me. Oh my. I have got to walk my happy a*s out of this room.

I quickly walked out and shut the door and laid myself down on the couch. Damn this couch is mighty comfy. I laid my head down and started to drift off to sleep almost instantly. But the sleep I had wasn’t peaceful. It was full of my own demons reaching into my mind through my dreams turning them to nightmares. These nightmares forced me to remember things I never wanted to remember and things I begged to stay hidden but I have a feeling that all my past failures are soon going to bring themselves into the light whether I am ready to face them or not…