There was a buzz in the air. Anticipation delight fear lust... death. The crowd's cheer's echoing all around the deserted warehouse reaching our ear's in our small isolated room as we wait for our names to be called. Our own playlist playing softly in the background. None of us are ever able to sit still. How could we when any minute we called be called to fight.
Aiden and Ronnie are facing off against each throwing jabs at each other. Neither of them aiming to hurt each other more like having a warm up spar. Aiden towering form hangs over Ronnie. Aiden stands only slightly taller than Lewis making him the tallest member in our little group. He throws a well-placed punch to the stomach. Ronnie at the last second pulls back narrowly avoiding the attack.
Rachel Alex and Gemma are all performing different yoga stretches loosening themselves up for battle. The three chat quietly not wanting to disrupt the atmosphere around the room. We need this to help us put ourselves into the right mindset. We have to be calm focused and controlled when entering the arena if we want to survive.
Lewis paces back and forth near Rachel keeping one eye on her at all times doing some deep breathing exercises in efforts to calm his nerves. I'm pretty sure he has a tradition of saying something in his head to calm himself like lighting McQueen does in cars you know the speed. I am Speed.
Sam stands next to me an easy grin on his boyish face as we have a knife throwing competition. One after another we throw blades at a plank of wood seeing who can create the straightest line of knives. So far, I'm winning. As he lines up his next shot, I lean against the wall twirling my next throwing blade in my hand.
"Ohhh. So close." I celebrate my victory as Sam's aim is slightly off as the knife bounces off the wood instead of lodging itself in it.
"Dammit." He mutters under his breath moving to regain his own knives. "How are you so good at this game."
"I have no life other than knives. It helps to picture your target as a person I've learnt." I darkly joke back. He waves me off as I pick up my own blades. "Best out of three."
"Yeah, right I know a trap when I see one." He runs his hand through his short messy black hair.
A loud applause sounds from the area as we all stop and face in that direction. One by one we bow our heads in respect for whatever human had just been killed. Everyone loves a good fight but when the killing blow is struck the crowd becoming invigorated. It's sick.
"What do you think the games will be tonight." I hear Sam ask me over the crowd as the sound dies down as they wait for the next fight to begin.
"It's been a while since we've played trapped." Trapped is a group game where there are four teams of two to eight are put into the area. In the middle of the stadium is a set of pillars. At the top of the highest one is a gun. It's basically a race of which team can fight their way through the over teams and parkour up the pillars to reach the top for the gun. Whoever gets the gun first has seventeen bullets to use their opposition. Whichever team standing at the end is the winner. Their reward is their life.
"That was too fast to be trapped." Sam comments. True trapped usually takes much longer to reach its climax.
"From the sounds of it, I would guess it's plain one on one's." In our family, me and Aiden perform best in the one on ones because of our training in close combat. The other win just fine but according to our master, we are the best.
Sam response is cut off when a blur zooms past us stopping in the middle of the room.
"Everyone gather round." Our master demand's wearing his trade mark mask. Not wanting to anger him everyone follow's his orders. "Right tonight is a simple one on one. No problem for any of you to win. However, these people want a show and I expect you to give them just that. I would hate to see you disappoint them." The warning is clear in the fake concern. Either we give everyone a show or we will all be punished after. Everyone nods uneasily in understanding. "Good. The next match will be Aiden followed by Gemma. Alex you are in two matches after that quickly followed by Sam and Lewis. There is then a four match wait but then Ronnie you're in with Rachel following. Bella you're in for the last match which is three matches after Rachel." He leaves after that announcement so we can get ready.
"Well at least mine's out the way first." Aiden mutter's more to himself than us. No one replies as we all move around to gather our equipment. As it's one on one we are allowed any weapons to be used as long as it's a ranged weapon. Aiden of course as the blunt expert picks up his trusty blue metal baseball bat. The metal has dents in it from impacts on other people. Dried blood stains the leather wrapping on the handle.
Looking over my own assortment of blades I start to gear myself up. First, I pick up two Kukri blades. It's a type of machete knife with a recurve in the blade. I twirl one blade in each hand testing the feel and balance of them. Satisfised I slot them into their sheaths on my lower back. My sheaths are sideways to make my access to them easily in a fight. For my main weapon of choice, I decide on using the Dao Sword. A single edged sword first crafted in China. It's also knows as the Chinese saber. It's one of the four tradition weapons along with the gun A staff like weapon, Qiang a spear like weapon and the Jian a double-edged sword type weapon.
As part of my training, I was taught about many different blades. I mean seriously there are so many different blade weapons in the world. My training has covered a lot of them. We've learnt I'm better with smaller one-handed weapons instead two. When I fight, I have to use speed and precision. The larger weapons don't work with my fighting style.
Glancing over my siblings I see that Gemma has selected to use a Flyssa a northern African short sword Alex wields two Karambits. It's a claw like blade from Indonesia similar to my Kukri. Sam picked up a trident Lewis has a board axe. Strange choice for him really. Rachel is using a light spear. Long reach good from keeping your opponent's away. Ronnie followed Aidens lead with the blunt weapons choosing a crowbar. Very painful when he smashes it into to your knees.
It's really sad that I can name and know the origins of different weapons yet I can't do algebra to save my life.
A thunderous roar erupts from the area. Another fighter has fallen. "I guess that's my cue." Aiden says grimly picking up his mask. As he passes each other we share a quick hug and wish him good luck. Once he's hugged everyone, we all put our hand together in a circle before counting to three and shouting Hunters.
Time passes by slowly after Aiden leaves for his fight. One by one my siblings leave our little camp to fight their own battles. Each time I pull them into a hug and wish them luck. Finally, it's just me left in our room. Releasing a deep breath, I know my siblings are safe as our master has come running into to tell me that anyone was hurt or killed. He wouldn't tell me so I can mourn my fallen brother or sister but to make me aware that if were to slip up in any way my family would face the consequences.
The one good thing about being the last one is I get to pick the music instead of the playlist which has all our music on and randomly flicks from one to another. After a quick search I find the song I'm looking for and let the music wash over me calming my nerves. Halsey Hold Me Down fills the space around me drowning out the sounds from just down the hall. I can't but relate slightly to the lyrics.
As the song to the end the shouts from the area rise once again indicating the death of another fighter and telling me it's my time to fight. Picking up my mask I start walking down the long hallway. Sliding the mask over my face I jump into the area. The battle area is slightly smaller than a school gym with the otherwise grey floor covered blood. A metal chain fencing surrounding us with other competitors leaning into the links so they can watch the fights after they survive their own. Stands are built above their little conclave area with the stands filled with many different species. Some human some vampire some shifter some were and so on. Searching the lower area's my eyes rest on my siblings. All covered in blood with a few cuts and bruises but not serious. Thank god for that at least.
Across from is a young male who can't be older than seventeen at the most. He has long shaggy blonde hair with deep brown eyes show casing his terror at being here. The same look my eyes held during my first match. It was just pure luck I survived that. This lad won't be given the same chance. He stands at around six foot with a lean form. He grasps a simple broad sword with two clenched hands. This is the first time holding the sword as his grip is all wrong.
The commentary for the match begins his usual talking introducing the two of us. "On one side we have the final child of Azreal Bella Hunter. On the other we have Bennett of the Wolf Clan." He goes on to talk about betting odds but I tune him up as I seize up my target. From the awful grip I'm guessing it's his first time with this weapon so I would expect him to rely on strength and power swinging aimlessly at me hoping to make contact. Fighting like that will tire him out. But I've learnt that people will look for an advantage in the ring including making themselves look weak or untrained for their enemy to let their guard down before they strike. I've seen many fighters fall into this trap and I refuse to follow their lead.
Scanning the crowd for my master my eyes are drawn to a female leaning against the commentaries box. She was beautiful. Far more beautiful than every other vampire I've come across. Their natural beauty unnerved me as on one should look that beautiful naturally. But this woman doesn't have the same uneasy effect on me.
She had silky looking light blonde hair pulled back into a messy ponytail with a few threads of hanging loosely on each side of her face following the curves of her cheekbones. As with every vampire her features were perfect as if created by Aphrodite herself. Her striking dark red eye's contrasting with the paleness of the rest of her.
She's wearing an off the shoulder white dress that stops about halfway down her thighs. A simple black belt is tied around her stomach. Her white open footed heels have a single string wrapped around her ankle. If I wasn't so sure that she was a vampire I would swear she's the embodiment of an angle.
Almost as if sensing me she moves her gaze from the crowd to me. Her previous bored expression turns to intrigue as our eyes met. A feeling I can't really describe takes over as I feel drawn into her. A light shiver descends down my back as I try to shake off what I'm feeling. I force myself to look away from her and back toward Bennett but it's as if an invisible hand forces me to look back at her. Amusement now fills her eyes and the small delicate smile on her face make her look even more awe inspiring.
She raises her eyebrow as her eyes flicker to her left. Following her eyes, I meet at Bennett charging at me. He swings wildly at me aiming from the right side of my neck. Ducking his swing I force myself forwards spinning around so I'm facing his back before slashing at his back ripping open the back of his shirts as blood starts to seep from his wound. He shrieks out in agony. I jump back a few steps to organise myself. I was distracted by the vampire I missed the starting of the match. If she didn't turn her attention toward Bennett, I wouldn't have had the few seconds I needed to doge.
The two of us circle each other for about twenty seconds. That's how long it takes for his patience to wear out and he again swings wildly at me. The first swing I doge by taking a step back. The next I duck under narrowly avoid the blade. Seeing my opening I deliver a swift kick to Bennet's stomach with all my power which causes him to fall backwards on to his ass. I allow him the time to stand back up. I could have killed him then and there but my master wants a show and it's a show I will give him.
Once he regains his footing he attacks again this time plunging his sword forward aiming to impale my chest instead of swinging wildly. I parry this attack easily before swiftly bringing my blade down across his right wrist. We follow a pattern like this him attacking with me dodging parrying catching him of guards with small cuts. I never go on the offensive. After a few minutes in the ring Bennett is out of breath with a varies degree of cuts scarring his body.
Well... I've been playing with this poor kid long enough. After his next much weaker swing I slide to his out of his weapon range leaving him wide open. In one swift motion my blade flashes forward opening his throat wide open as blood seeps from the slice.
Bennett's eye's bulged as he drops his sword pressing his hands desperately to his throat as he chokes on his own blood. The awful choking sound sounds so loud to me in comparison to the raging crowd as he drops to his knee's eye's begging me for help. I'm sorry you had to get involved in this and I'm sorry that your life has ended so soon. But I'm not sorry about the actions I've taken here today. It kill or wait to be killed and I'm the only one who benefits in this. It's not like I'm dead inside but you've got to kill your morals if you want to survive as the guilt from living in this life would heavy.
Soon enough Bennett takes on the look I've become so attuned to in this life. The look of acceptance. That look people get in their eyes the moment when they accept death and give up as there's no point in fighting anymore. This look doesn't last any longer than a second because as soon as people reach this point the only left to do is die. Bennett's eyes glaze over as his body lies still on the floor never to move again as a pool of his own blood surrounds him.
I hope you find in peace in whatever god's you follow.
Taking my eyes off his body the overbearing cheering of the crowd overtakes my sense as they celebrate yet another life being violently ripped away against his will. Pushing them aside I quickly walk over to the exit as a mountain of a man opens the gate letting me leave.
As soon as I'm out of the area heading towards the washroom for after each fight, I'm tearing my mask off my face. Wiping the blood off my blade his blood covers my hands. The first time my hands were bloodied I was surprised at how warm blood actually is. Like I knew blood was warm but to actually feel the heat from the liquid that swirls around our body for the first time was such as surreal feeling.
Checking over my exposed skin I don't see any cuts or scratches. It was an unfair fight which broods well for me. If I came home bruised and cut up all the time even my mom would see that something was wrong.
I guess I was so deep in thought that I didn't notice the person behind me at first. The second I sense their presence I automatically reach for my Kukri's pulling them out of their sheath's as I spin around standing in a defensive position with the side of my body standing further out then my left slightly crouched.
"You have good instincts." A captivating voice smoothly states. Stepping into the light in this otherwise dimly lit washroom stands the woman from before. She's even more beautiful up close. Her relaxed stance forces me to mimic her. Even if I wanted to fight her, she would kill me with a snap of her fingers. I mean how is a human supposed to fight a vampire. They're too fast and too strong for us. "I've seen many different breeds of pit fighters in my life. However, I've never come across a group quite like yours. You're all skilled in combat. Your calm and collective. When you fight with these amateurs it's like a game to you all. You know you're going to win and let them tire themselves out before moving in for the killing blow. It's like you dance around them. The perfect killers. The perfect soldiers." Her beautiful vibrant red eyes seem to shine with glee as she speaks thinking back to mine and I'm guessing my sibling's fights.
"Thanks, I guess." Not really sure how I'm supposed to answer that. "Our master has us on a strict training routine."
"Yes." She says nodding and taking a sudden thoughtful look. "Your Master has done well with your training." She pauses as she gives me a look over which under normal circumstances would have made me feel uncomfortable but given how my life is a strangely common concept. "The eight of you would be perfect to be trained under me and a few of my co-workers."
"I'm sorry but all matters like this have to be discussed with my Master. His word is law." I can't lie but I feel intrigued to know what training she is offering. But I know better than to ask questions. If my Master were to find out then I would be punished for disloyalty.
A very attractive smirk overcomes her face. It both lure me into her and sets off so many warning bells in my head. Stupid vampires and their inhuman beauty designed to lure humans to their death. "I already have and he's agreed. Every Tuesday and Thursday of each month you'll train with us. Four till ten." Not the worst times all things considered. And I'm never going to say no to see a different method of fighting. Anything I can use to survive in this world is a gift and I won't refuse the chance to learn more.
I bow my head in acknowledgement and a tad bit of respect. Question's whiz around my head. Why does she want to train us. What will she be teaching us. Who are the others involved. Who is she. Why is this my life. But I know better than to ask questions. Gemma once tried to ask our master a question and he crushed her collarbone before she could even finish asking the question.
The blonde vampire watches me as if waiting for something. She tilts her head to the side slightly like a dog does. It's kind of cute "I'm surprised you not questioning me right now."
"It's not my place to question my betters." I lower my head in submission.
"He's trained you very well." Cold gentle fingers reach under my chin and very slowly push my head up so we're eye level. "Ask the question on your mind."
Out of all the question in my mind I start off with the easiest. "Who are you."
That devilish smirk reappears on her face as she drops my chin. For a second I'm afraid I over stepped or failed some kind of test. However, she takes a small step back before offering me her hand. "I'm Amber. It's a pleasure to meet you Bella Hunter. Child of Azreal."
"We need more weapons and supplies if we're going to survive out here." Lewis's voice snaps me out of my past memories. Since we're about to be involved in a war I thought it would be best if we moved all of my security from Charlie's house out to this abandoned fishing cabin. The last thing I want is for him to be caught up in all of this. I would never forgive myself he got hurt or killed because of me. So, for now We've moved as far away from the people of Forks as we could have.
"No shit." Rachel replies after starting the fire. "Hopefully our siblings come better prepared than we are." The system I set up before has been transferred here but for the warning system we don't have enough markers to really help us. If we were about to be attacked the best, we could do is get a three second warning. That's nowhere near enough time.
"How long do you think we have." I ask looking through a crack in the boarded-up window. This hut is going to need a lot of work if we're going to live here. For one it's very small for eight of us to be living here. There's one generator that's generating all the electronics we have set up but it doesn't have enough power to fully work with us. So, we need another one of them maybe even two. We need a space to store food and medical supplies. A place for our weapons. A place for us all to sleep. There's no running water so if we want it, we have to head down to the stream about half a mile to the north east. Not a great distance when you're hiding out. Especially when it's far out of reach of my warning system. When we eventually go to get water, we will be walking blind.
That's not even considering how we've supposed to fortify this dainty cabin against a full-on assault. There so much to do and so little time to do it in. Fuck me and fuck my life.
"A day maybe two." Lewis respond's without having to think. Like I said.
"So, we're fucked then." Rachel says what I'm thinking.
"Basically. Yeah." I chime in.
"Let's just focus on the tasks we can do now." Lewis orders. Rachel takes her leave and starts rigging their truck and my bike to explode if we need a distraction of, we see the chance to take a group of assailant's outs. Lewis works inside the cabin moving debris out and cleaning the inside up. If we die due to illness or infection because of this cabin then that's just embarrassing.
For me I start drawing out he land around us. By doing this we can decide the best place to place traps, set up escape routes hide stash's and figure out the best way to defend this place. Both me and Rachel are outside enjoying the cool evening before night descends. I texted my dad earlier about staying over at a friend's house as we had a project to work. Tomorrow I'm going to head into school while Rachel and Lewis stand on watch. I really wish I didn't have to attend school but if I skip then people will start asking questions why and the last thing, we need right now is the town trying to figure out what's going on down here. It's dangerous but I don't see another option at the moment.
I also messaged Hoet telling her I'm going dark. She's no doubt wondering what's going on but knows that I would only go dark if I needed too. For now, she's going to stay low and hope whatever is coming passes quickly. I wonder what it is that she wanted to talk to be about. Oh well, that's an issue for later. Much much later.
As I'm mapping out the area a drop of black ink appears on my paper. Strange. Looking over my pen for any signs of damage another drop appears on the paper. Only it isn't black ink. Brushing a finger under my nose a trail of black wetness attaches itself to my finger.
"You have it too." Rachel appears out of nowhere holding out a piece of cloth.
Taking the cloth, I rub away the blood on my face before lifting my head back holding the cloth tightly to the bridge of my nose. "I also had a weird seizure type thing."
"Me and Lewis have suffered it as well. The black blood took us by surprise when you were in school."
"What did he do to us." This can only be because of our dead master. I can't think of anything else that would cause this other than whatever he used to inject us with. But that was ages ago why are we only showing signs now.
"Who knows but we'll get through whatever this together as a family." We always seem to do. I just wonder how much longer that will last.
I can't remember if I've mentioned this before or not and I can't be bothered to go back and check. Anyways this stories idea was inspired by this song by Former Vandal called If the Money's Good. I highly recommend that you check it out.
watch?v=AueswFkP5SE
Anyways I hope everyone is safe during these strange times. Until next time.