Huntress-Chapter 2

I got out of Jared’s van and looked around me. We were in front of Jared’s house, a simple two story house with a nice front yard which was filled with daisies. There was a porch swing on the porch and a few tan chairs. A black fence surrounded the house and the mail box was entangled in vines as were the sides of the house.

I kept my head low as I waited for Jared. He locked the car and then we walked past his house and over to a deserted playground. The playground was old and rusty. The swings were broken and the fort was falling apart. There was a slide with a hole at the middle and monkey bars that were missing every bar except the middle one. The tetherball pole didn’t have a ball and had been knocked over by a fallen tree.

We passed the playground to a little field where we used to play soccer when we were younger. We crossed the field to a wall. We headed east and then stopped in front of some shaggy bushes. We looked around warily before Jared started pushing his way through the branches. I followed him after taking one last look around to make sure nobody was following.

I was scratched a few times by branches, but before I knew it, Jared and I were standing over a trap door. Jared pulled it open after punching in a code and we stepped inside the dark stairwell. Our footsteps echoed in the hallway. I picked a torch from the bottom of the staircase and we walked through a narrow, black hallway. It was like a maze. We had to keep turning in corridors and passed thousands of doors before we finally reached the right one.

The door was about twenty feet tall and weighed over a hundred pounds. It was wooden and had metal framings. It was like one of those doors in a medieval castle. I wonder why mine doesn’t have this.

Jared opened the door and we stepped inside where a chorus of happy birthday erupted.

I looked around at every member in the club. They were all well built and had cold expressions. All of them were dressed in dark colors and had at least one color of the rainbow in their hair. They were all smiling at me and a few came to give me hugs.

These are all the members of Black Shadow, the vampire hunter association. In this world there are two societies. The human society, which hunters protect, and the Black Moon society, which hunters slay. Black Moon consists of vampires, witches, werewolves, and all other creatures that are believed to be mythological. We are the ones who are trying to make sure that Black Moon doesn’t exist anymore. So that that way, the humans can be safe.

I discovered this association through my mother, who had been a vampire hunter before she had children. She hadn't wanted for her children to become what she was, but it’s not her who decides on who joins and who doesn’t. Master, our leader, is the one who carefully selects us based on talents that are exposed when you are a toddler. And you can't refuse Master. If he says that you are a hunter, then d****t, you better go with him, because it’s not a choice. It’s destiny and eventually you will join them.

I received a hug from Reese, a tall boy with purple hair and dark brown eyes that were so dark they were almost black. He was a level six hunter who specialized in witch hunting. He would kill, capture, and torture his victim’s to get information for the club without giving it a second thought. He was one of the cruelest hunters I had ever met and that was what made him the best in his section.

Vampire hunters specialize in a prey when they become level twos. You specialize depending on how you track your prey and how you do it. It’s just takes observation to assign a group to a hunter. I was unclassified. I was capable of killing every specie without difficulty. They couldn’t decide on where to place me, so they honored me with vampires, the hardest creature to kill.

I also received a hug from April. April was obese and had curly brown hair with a pink strand. She had dark skin and green eyes. Even though she didn’t look like it, she was pretty kick a*s. She specialized in goblin hunting, one of the trickiest hunts. They were difficult because the goblins were quick and sneaky.

Lastly, I received a hug from Thomas. Thomas was tall and had messy chestnut hair and turquoise eyes. He had a bleached strand of hair hidden underneath all of his chestnut hair. He found that he looked more normal if it wasn’t seen that he had a strand of blonde hair. He was the only one of my friends who joined me in hunting vampires, since Jared was stuck with werewolves.

“How’s the birthday girl doing today?” April asked.

“Alright, I guess.” I shrugged. “I don’t wanna take the test, but I guess that I can't escape it.”

The test was a two hour physical exam that tested all the skills we learned since we joined Black Shadow. It would include the specie that we specialized in and trivia about other monsters. What I didn’t like about the test was that we used actual Black Moon people. So, I would be going face-to-face with a ravenous vampire who hasn’t been fed any blood since it was captured. And there was nothing worse than a pissed off, hungry, century year old vampire.

“It’s not that bad,” Thomas assured me. “Just remember to go for the heart after you hit them in the head.”

“Won’t that just get them mad?”

“Not if you hit them so hard that they need to regain themselves,” Thomas said, flashing his crooked smile. “You take that advantage.”

I nodded and turned around just as someone walked up. Master was walking towards us. His expression was still as cold as ever. He had the same pinched face that Jared did and the same curly brown hair and green eyes. He had strands of orange on the back of his head.

In the club you had to have a second color in your hair. It symbolized being part of this group. And it was evidence we could easily destroy if we needed to.

“Echo,” Master said. It was probably the warmest his voice had ever been. “Are you ready for your test?” I nodded. “Then follow me.”

“Wait, Dad,” Jared said. “What about her presents? You always make everyone get her a present on her birthday.”

“Echo is seventeen years old now. She does not need any presents from anyone and therefore will not receive any. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Master,” Jared said disappointed. Master continued walking.

“Hey,” I whispered to Jared before following. “It’s not bad news. I didn’t like getting presents anyway, so stop killing the mood.” Jared smiled at me before I left.

I followed Master into a dark corridor where we walked in silence for a while. As we walked, I saw cages filled with vampires and Black Moon creatures.

“Let me go,” one vampire pleaded. “I won’t hunt anymore, I promise.” “Just kill me now. It’s easier than the blood lust.” “They’re coming,” one cackled. “You’ll all die for doing this to us.”

I tried my best to ignore them all. We reached a door which I wasn’t familiar with. This door wasn’t seen by any hunter under the age of seventeen. It was the door that led to the arena. It was where the rest of the hunters were seated, waiting for me to come out and kill a vampire.

“Wait here until you are called,” Master ordered. He walked through another corridor and disappeared into the shadows.

I breathed in evenly and slowly. If I nail this, then I can gain another few levels. Levels were gained by the amount of kills you’ve made. There were many different levels to gain in this business. Kills, skills, defense, and a whole lot more. For killing skills I was a level twenty. I had killed over a thousand vampires in only seventeen years. As for skills, that was where I was a level sixteen vampire. Skills were something that you were born with in Black Shadow. And they highest ranking hunter was Shadow Knight. It was said that she had been a level sixteen, but it had also been said that she was killed by a vampire.

“Hey, you,” someone said. I turned around and looked at a vampire. I narrowed my eyes and switched to defensive mode. “Yeah, little huntress,” he continued. This vampire was paper thin and had red hair and golden eyes. “Why don’t you let me out? I could turn you into one of us. You’d be powerful.”

I walked over towards him. He grinned triumphantly. I smiled and pulled out a wooden knife from my pocket. I swung it and in that swift movement, the vampire’s cheek began bleeding. He fell backwards, screaming in pain.

When vampires don’t feed, they are weaker when they are struck with wood. It hurts them more and the pain becomes so unbearable that they can't hold back their screams.

“Ask me that again and see what happens,” I spat. I left him screaming and rushed back as the doors began opening.

I stepped into the arena and looked around. It was just like every other room. Dark and damp. I made my way over to the center. The seats were filled all around me. It was a small room and the seats and the arena were separated by a bulletproof glass. They were all quiet as I waited for the doors to close behind me and the hunters at the corner to release the vampire they were controlling.

The vampire was a girl with extremely long brown hair. Her skin was chalky white and her eyes were silver. They had put a steel mask over her face to hide her fangs and her arms were tied by wooden chains. She was struggling and I could see that her wrists were bleeding.

I took off my hoodie, revealing the black tank top and my belt. I took out a silver stake and threw it across the room.

“Echo, what are you doing?” Master asked from behind one of the bulletproof glasses.

“I want her to have a weapon,” I said simply. Everyone gasped.

Only once in history had a hunter ever asked for her victim to have a weapon during the test. Shadow, the founder of Black Shadow, was the only one who had ever asked for this. It was such a risk and there was a 99.8 percent chance that you wouldn’t survive if the vampire had a weapon.

“You have to remember that if you die during this event, it will be your entire fault for not being capable of handling this insect. Nobody will help you and you will be reported missing to your family. Are you sure that you still want the insect to have a weapon?” Master asked.

I smiled. “I want her to have a weapon,” I repeated.

Master’s eyes narrowed. “Let the vampire go,” he commanded.

The two hunters who were holding back the vampire let go of the wooden chains and backed up. The girl pulled the chains off and then ripped her mask off, throwing it across the room. She looked at me hungrily, her fangs exposed and long. The vampire disappeared from sight. She made her way to the knife and then tried and air attack.

I moved to the side, just barely escaping the swing of her weapon and pulled out a gun from my belt. I shot her stomach. The wooden bullet hit the bulletproof glass. I looked around for the girl.

Jump, a little voice said. My mind had a way of warning me about danger by commanding me what to do. I had learned that it was best to pay attention to it. I jumped just before the vampire threw the knife at me. Kick and duck. I did.

The girl tackled me to the floor as I came down. The voice hadn’t managed to warn me in time. I struggled to kick the vampire off of me. Her long hair fell around us, creating a barrier. Her eyes were completely silver and her teeth were inches away from my face. She was choking me and I was grabbing her neck to push her face away from my neck, and a hand on her hand to stop her from choking me. I was starting to see stars and was growing paler by the second.

The rose. I remembered the wooden rose in my pocket. I slid my hand down from my throat and pulled out the rose. I threw it at the vampire’s mouth. It didn’t affect her. She spat it out and it landed a few feet away. Then it exploded.

Little pieces of wood flew in every direction. The girl jumped off of my and disappeared from view again. I quickly caught my breath and stood up, pulling out a wooden bamboo sword. I ignored the pain that came from the little pieces of wood that had hit my arm and were now joining my bloodstream.

Behind you. I turned around and pain struck my stomach. I ignored it and swung my sword for the vampire’s head. She ducked and I quickly hit her in the head. She staggered down and hissed at me as I clutched my bleeding stomach.

Damn. Maybe it was a bad idea to give her a weapon. Not that she’s used it much.

Go for the heart after you hit them in the head, Thomas’s voice echoed in my head. I had gotten her head, but I might not have enough time to get her heart. Should I?

I swung my sword and killed her. The wooden sword easily cut off the vampire girl’s head. It rolled on the floor and blood began pouring out of the neck. I kicked the body and turned it over. From a hidden pocket in my boot, I pulled out a pocket knife. It had different knives made out of different resources. I looked for the wooden one and then plunged it into the body’s heart.

Reviews

[TearsDontCompute]

bloody, gorey, way too descriptive, stomache-churning, mind boggling. Excellent job :)