This is the worst hangover ever. I'm never ever going to drink again. My head hurts so much, it's like I'm using my own power on myself. I hate everything. I hate that stupid rock that tripped me. I hate that stupid leaf that fell on my face. I hate that bird who was singing too loud that it woke me up. I hate the sun. I hate witches. I hate alcohol. I hate headaches.
"Holy fucking shit!" I stopped marching angrily at the sight of a blonde haired man drinking blood from a deer. As soon as I distracted the man with my screaming, the deer took the chance to run off. I stared at Ulysses' bloody mouth and cheeks. Seven in the morning and I'm looking at Ulysses' bloody face. It's too early for this.
"You could have drank from that same deer." Ulysses used the hem of his shirt to wipe the blood off his face. "Good morning, Nazari. Nice hair." My curly hair is all over the place. I am wearing sweatpants and the yellow shirt that Idris despises so much. I'm not exactly looking my best, but I've literally just woken up to the worst hangover of my life. I went out to the woods to walk and clear my headache, but it's not working out too well. "By the way, how are you adjusting to your new diet? From human to vampire meals?"
I leaned my back against a tree. "It's whatever."
"And what about your new life? As one of us?"
"It's whatever."
The blonde vampire stood across from me with a grin. "Been living with Idris, have you? Tell me, does he still do that little drool when he sleeps or has he finally outgrown that?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You watched him sleep?"
"Who wouldn't? It's Idris."
I blinked vigorously and stared at him with disbelief. Ulysses. Idris. No way. "Were you and him...."
Ulysses tilted his head. "What?"
"You know.... a thing?"
"A thing? Elaborate, half blood."
"Like, did you and him used to date?" My face heated with embarrassment as I avoided eye contact with the blonde man.
"Ah. I see."
I was forced to look at him again as I detected his teasing tone. Just as I predicted, Ulysses has a massive teasing grin. "Nothing! You see nothing. Wipe that grin off your face."
Ulysses laughed loudly and began to walk away. My feet immediately stalked after him as he spoke. "No, we did not." My shoulders suddenly felt lighter. "He and I were close friends, as you know." I vaguely remember last night, Idris was telling me about his royal family background. Prince Idris. Holy shit. "Our parents were close, so he and I were bound to be friends. We grew up together. Well, for a few good years, until he left." He glanced at me briefly. "You remember why, right?" I nodded.
I remember, Idris and Ulysses used to be friends but Idris left because they had different opinions about humans. Idris wanted no part in harming humans just to drink their blood, while Ulysses and many other vampires thought otherwise. Idris left and found a few other vampires who think the same as him, including Juliet, Bobby, Eleanor, and basically everyone in his clan. That is, until two months ago when Idris made a deal with vampires. In exchange for the cure, so vampires can walk during daylight, vampires will not harm humans and will only drink human blood unless they are already dead or if they have consent.
"Idris and I were like brothers, before he left." Ulysses continued. "That being said, I know all the people he fancied and you know what? I like you the best, human vampire." For the second time this morning, I tripped on a rock, then I hit my face on a tree branch. Ulysses paused on his tracks, still wearing that grin. "Anyway, I believe there's a meeting that will start in a couple of minutes."
Oh, fucking shit.
The meeting.
The fucking meeting with the hunters and vampires. The meeting to discuss the thing with witches and hybrids. It's this morning. At 7:30 a.m. Why did I have to say 7:30? I couldn't I have said 10? Or 1? Oh, sweet Einstein. This will not be fun.
"Wait, you're going?" Yesterday, it didn't look like he was on board.
"If my clan is in this, so am I." Ulysses grunted. "To the hunter's hell hole we go!"
Great.
***
The Hunters Hollow. Red Peak's secret hole. The hunters base that brings back old memories. And by old, I mean just months ago. It was only months ago when Idris and I busted in here to rescue Drew. When the hunters took Drew in here and Lysander in Area 51, I had to step in and save Drew. And I couldn't have done it without the vampire prince. Prince Idris. I still can't believe it. Idris is a prince.
"You're late." Speak of the devil, he greeted me and Ulysses in the entrance of the base. Inside the mountain called Red Peaks is the hunter's hole. Unlike last time, there was not any poison or horrible scent that keeps away vampires. The base is empty and clear, apart from some trash, old weapons and malfunctioning machines.
"Rami and I were just having a walk by the woods and lost track of time." Ulysses answered, winking at me before entering. Idris gave me a questioning look, but I really don't know what to say, at all. Staying quiet, I followed Ulysses to the main room. I could already hear the echoing voices from some people.
When we've arrived, I learned that everyone is already there. For the record, Ulysses and I were not late. We got to the entrance at exactly 7:30. Everyone else just came early. I didn't tell them to come early, so that's their fault that they had to wait for me, who arrived exactly on time. Everyone is seated: vampires consisting of Ulysses' clan and a few hunters, all teenagers.
"So," Ulysses stared at the group of young hunters. "We are teaming up with a bunch of human children to fight centuries old witches? Where are the other old hunters that we fought last time?"
The hunters that I met, Viola and Rigel, were not there, though the teenagers I'm currently seeing all look quite spunky. "Some are missing, some are dead." One hunter stood up to answer the blonde vampire. She looks around the age of 18, wearing a red leather jacket. She has pink, pixie styled hair and dark brown eyes. All eyes went to her as she spoke. "My name is Sakura. Rigel and Viola sent me and a few of my friends as representatives to speak in this meeting." There are about ten other hunters sitting in the room with fifteen vampires. I really hope no one will get hurt during this meeting. "Most hunters, the older ones, are being hunted by a vampire named Uriel."
"What, the hunter's pet?" A vampire snickered.
"Yes." Sakura squinted her eyes at the woman, slightly annoyed at the interruption. "The hunters mistreated him and now, he's getting his revenge. He's gathered a group of hybrids that are killing the hunters. As of recently, we were informed that Uriel and the hybrids may be working for witches, who are harming humans and vampires." The hunter looked at me. "And so, Rami Nazari and Viola Dawne had decided to be allies and fight the two groups together. For vampires and hunters to fight together."
Everyone is already informed of the deal. Ulysses told his clan about it, while Viola and Rigel spoke to their friends. Thankfully, no one complained and I didn't have to scream at anyone.
"I just have a question." A vampire asked, raising her hand. "How are you still here, alive and safe while the other hunters are missing? Why are you not being hunted by the hybrids, too?"
"Uriel mostly know of hunters who are older. The hunters that were active within the past years. The hunters that he had seen. Myself, and the rest of us," Sakura pointed to her group. "We are a new generation of hunters. He doesn't know of us."
"New generation of hunters? Are there new hunters every 20 years or what?" Devin questioned.
"Hunters go on training starting at the age of 12, ending at 18. Like a school. Right now, the ones who just graduated, us, are the only ones who can do something about Uriel because everyone else are dead or missing."
I couldn't help but smile and share my thoughts. "It's like Hogwarts but for hunters. I'm down to go in there. Do I get an acceptance letter? I never got my Hogwarts letter." Idris let out a quiet scoff beside me, and I stepped on his cool fancy shoes because of it.
Sakura giggled at the reference before replying, "We don't get selected magically. It's more like, either your family are hunters and you're automatically one, or hunters recruit you if they see you have the skills. If you want to be one, you have to prove yourself. If you're over 18, you go straight to hunting and if you are 18 or under, you have to train first."
I nodded. "You guys already recruited me. So like, do I get an acceptance letter?"
Ulysses cleared his throat. "So, witches and hybrids?"
"Right. Sorry." Not sorry. "These hunters know how to take down the witches. Right?" Sakura gave me a thumbs up. "Just as she said, they learned these things and trained specifically to kick supernatural asses. They know how to kick our asses, by the way, so all of you better respect these young hunters. Human teenagers can be pretty damn scary, I'm telling you. I was one. But anyway, they can help us a lot. And we can help them protect their parents, the other hunters, to fight Uriel and the hybrids. The more of us, the merrier. We're all strong, smart, and skilled, so I think we stand a great chance of winning if we all fight together." I received a lot of nods from my audience, so I took that as a sign that I did a good speech. I was afraid I'm going to stutter in front of these people. Speech was not exactly my best subject. "Sakura, can you please share us how exactly we will fight the witches?"
The girl stood from her seat once again.
"To start off, the curses. The only ones who can remove the curses are the witches themselves. Curses can only be removed by magic. Killing witches does not remove curses and hexes."
That's a plus one to our list of bigger problems.
"We have a friend in West Grove, Doctor Maxine, who is a scientist. She is currently working on a solution that will remove the curses from people. If she succeeds, we don't have to worry about keeping the witches alive. We just have to get rid of them and put them back wherever the hell they came from." I hope science is just as good as magic. I hope Doctor Maxine can actually come up with something. Otherwise, we're all screwed.
Throughout the meeting, we all had discussed what we will be doing next. According to the hunters, they have a jail that's specifically for witches. It is an old jail made years ago, back when there were a lot of witches and hunters hunted them. It is located in the biggest hunters headquarter called Embermane, which is in Nevada. The plan is to find the witches and put them in Embermane. The jail is similar to the trap that Drew and I built for Samara at West Grove. It's made out of elements that the witches are weak against. It is meant to restrain their powers. Samara and Aris will be taken there as soon as this meeting is over.
"I have a question. Kind of obvious, really." Caleb huffs. "How do we get these witches before they kill us?"
Samara then went to her seat and picked up something under it. An iron spear with a metallic tip. "We have weapons that are specifically made for witches. These have not been used for a long time, as witches hadn't surfaced until now, but they still work. This is one of the weapons that will bring a lot of damage to them. Before, the most common ways witches were killed were either drowning them or burning them until death." Wow. Ouch. "However, more often than not, they are able to be freed and run away because duh, magic. Our weapons are much more effective. You have to be careful though. Witches are smart, sly, and sneaky. It is recommended that you all train to use these weapons. Yes, you're vampires and you're strong, but using these weapons will be slightly different than whatever it is you vampires do when you fight." Sakura's eyed scanned everyone in the room. "We will be helping anyone who wants to practice using weapons."
"I think I can handle a cute little spear." Devin jumps and snatches the spear from Sakura.
He toyed with the weapon and his fingers accidentally touched the sharp tip, cutting himself in the process. "Fuck."
Sakura smiled at him. "Are you sure you can handle it, vampire? Because it doesn't look like it."
Devin clenched his jaw and returned to his seat while some vampires and hunters laughed at him. I clasped my hands together and beamed at the girl. "Great! We're going to go training to be hunters! Do we get acceptance letters? To Hunters School of Hunters?" Idris shot me an amused look. "Just kidding. But maybe you could make one just for me? It would be so cool if - "
"Shut up." Ulysses stood up, looking around the base.
"Rude. You're not going to get an acceptance let - "
"No, Rami." Idris held a hand up, his red eyes widening. "Listen."
The whole place turned completely silent as we all listened to our surroundings. From the outside of the base, we could hear rocks falling and crashing and footsteps coming closer to us. Quite a few of them. Just then, the lights in the room flickered off. Because we are in cave inside a mountain, there are no lights other than the ones we had. We are nowhere near an opening, so no sunlight is helping us see. The hunters are all human and therefore completely blinded by the dark. However, the vampires have the advantage of seeing in pitch black darkness and as of right now, we see nothing but ourselves.
Until a few seconds later, one growl echoed from all over the cave, followed by barks and even more grows.
"Hybrids!"
Sakura screams and everyone suddenly ran from all over the place. No one ran away, but got in a position to fight. The hunters have weapons while us vampires got nothing but ourselves. Soon enough, a pack of white furred wolves came in my view. Seven of them. One hybrid immediately tackled me down to the ground. I hit my head hard, which only fired up my headache.
"Fucking shit!" I used all my strength to push the big wolf off me. I kicked its body and it only hurt my own foot. The hybrid growled and bared its teeth at me. I backed away as the hybrid steps forward, and ended up crashing with someone else. We both fell to the ground, with the person landing on top of me. Before either of us could move, the white wolf ran towards us and bit whoever was crashing me down. A hunter who had lost his weapon fell to the ground, screaming in pain. I tried to help the boy, but the wolf once again tackled me, this time sending me against the rocky wall. My waist suddenly hit the corner of something and it hurt like hell.
The hybrid then disappeared and I was left alone crouched down on the ground. I could hear the hybrids from different areas, hunters and vampires groaning in pain and bodies hitting the ground and each other. Everything was going crazy, and still I took the time to search for one person to make sure he's okay. He's on the other side of the room, cornered by two white wolves. Not wasting a second, I stood up and darted towards the group. My foot found a hard, heavy boulder from the ground, and so I used that to hit one of the hybrids while Idris took care of the other one. One hybrid stayed on the ground while the other was thrown away and stabbed by Sakura's spear.
I was about to move again and fight the remaining hybrids, but then my ears caught a beeping noise that is being muffled over everyone's screams. I followed the beeping noise and it led me to one of the old machines pushed in a corner. One of the malfunctioning machines. I checked its wires and saw that it was broken. Something must have crashed into it and broke the wires. The machine beeped faster and electric sparks ignited from the end of the wires. The machine was going to explode.
"Everyone! Get out! Now! Go!"
It seemed we only had seconds, but everyone rushed out very fast. The vampires quickly ran back to the entrance and the hunters instantly followed, causing a traffic as they exited. I was about to follow the group, but the machine suddenly caught on fire, right in front of me. And then, I was being dragged away from the entrance of the base by none other than Idris.
"What are you doing?! We have to get out of here!"
He continued to run, taking me with him until we reached a bright opening of the cave. A hole. The sunlight shines on us as we stepped closer to the opening. The more I step closer to it, the louder I could hear the collision of strong, heavy water. A waterfall. My mind brought me back to when Drew and I jumped from this same exact hole in order to escape the hunters. Idris took me here to escape the explosion.
To Jump.
"No way in hell I'm going to jump. Who's going to catch us?!" I freaked out, jumping away from the mad prince. "We can still make it to the entrance! Come on!" But I was wrong. Right at the end of my sentence, I heard a loud boom and the entire base flashed white. And the exact moment that happened, my body was falling. I was falling! Idris and I were falling.
My stomach was flipping upside down and I couldn't even find my voice to scream. I was falling and falling with my eyes shut. The next thing I know, my body hit the water that felt solid as a rock. Every bone and muscle in my body ached from the impact. My lungs tightened as I struggled to breathe, but I regained little strength to open my eyes.
I was under water and I was sinking farther down. I was alive. Holy fuck. I'm alive.
I swam upwards, despite my lungs burning without oxygen and my body stinging with pain. The bright light of the sun guided me as I went up and then I was there, in the surface, coughing violently. My eyes searched my surroundings and found myself floating in the river, staring at the waterfall in front of me. Weakly spinning around, my breath hitched. A few feet away from me is the cause of my death. I may not have died today, but I swear to everything in the world, this crazy vampire is going to be the death of me.
My body suddenly felt light. So light that the water seemed to have brought me closer to him, carrying me like a simple floating leaf from a fallen tree. I continued to move until we were face to face. Idris and I. We jumped, we fell and we're still here. Together. My eyes briefly glanced at the spot where we jumped, then they lingered on the pair of red ones in front of me. The two of us breathed heavily as we gazed at each other. We jumped, we fell, and we're still here together. Without any words uttered, his lips curled up and his eyes shined brightly, and my heart was jumping. Was it from the fear that I thought we were going to die? Was it from joy that we're alive? Or is it because of this man in front of me? Whatever it was, my jumping heart suddenly took control of every part of my body. Idris and I gazed at each other until our bodies were touching. Slowly, the distance between us pulled our faces as close as possible until there was no space left. And then, my eyes shut and my lips found his. Cold hands softly held my face while my own hands clung to his shoulders. My heart got what it wanted and it held onto every touch and every moment of it all.