Rebirth

9. Revealing

Two days after Angel started her training, not much had changed. Aside from the news from Tulsa that one of the Dark Daughters' leader's council members had died. Odd, since this Fledgling had been given an affinity for an element as had the rest of the council members. There have been other mysterious deaths at that school… not to mention disappearances associated with it. Coincidence? I think not.

I'd be willing to bet money that Neferet is behind it all. I can sense it, but I can't prove it.

Back here in Chicago, Angel is improving at the speed of a glacier. Her lack of confidence is still holding her back, but we're hoping to change that.

Or, we were hoping to. You know, before all the howling and growling started.

Our little affinities club had been practicing in the gym, where we usually have Fencing or Kickboxing classes. We couldn't use the Archery field, since they had a competition coming up and the team needed to practice. So, yeah, we were all trying to coax Angel into lifting a chair off the ground when this awful ruckus started outside. Howling, growling, and yeowling rang all through the air, causing Diego to jump up from where he had been laying down and start growling. I felt the urge to do the same.

"Guys, I think we need to cut our practice short." I said.

"But we can't leave." Angel protested. "I can sense at least 20 animals out there. We'll be mauled!"

"Not if we fight." I said. I glanced over to Shannon, Amiko, and Angel's two younger siblings. They'd come to watch our practice match from the bleachers. "Shannon, you and Angel will stay here with the kids in case someone gets hurt. Isis, Miko, you two are going with me to fight a way out."

"Why Miko?" Jephthah asked. "I understand that she turns into a lynx, but one small cat won't stand a chance out there."

"I can if I use my affinity." Miko smirked. "I create distractions."

"Seriously, she thinks about one, and it happens." Shannon said. "For all the good it did us in our last fight."

"But this time we have help from the Adults, who are now out there risking their lives to drive those beasts away from the school." I said. "Now let's go."

And so Isis, Miko, Jephthah and I ran out into the werewolf-filled night in hopes of aiding the others. Turns out, they needed it.

By the time we got out there, Miko and I had already shifted into our animal forms. We did this partly to do more damage to our attackers and partly to test out a theory we'd had about our thought-speak. If we could communicate with each other that way, could we also hear the thoughts of those other beasts? At the very least, it was worth a try.

And it worked… sort of. Those things were more animal than person, so we didn't get a lot of useful info from them. We did learn that someone else was controlling the massive pack, but none of them seemed to have a clear image of who that someone was. Just that it was a female.

Learning that that theory worked, but was utterly useless, we continued to fight us using our affinities, while also keeping an eye on those who came out with us.

That's when we finally got to see Jephthah's affinity in action.

I was trying to bit and drag one of the creatures down when a beam of energy sailed past me. I glanced up to see Jephthah aiming his sword in the same direction. Then, the sword began to glow, and an energy beam shot straight from it and went in my direction. I ducked down, and the beam took out not only the thing I'd been fighting, but also one that had tried to charge me while I was distracted.

I guess that's what he meant by a weapon's affinity. Sort of. At any rate, we kept fighting alongside our professors and other staff members until the animals were backed against the outer walls. By this point, only about 10 were left. The rest lay lifeless all over the campus. Once we knew we had the advantage, it was over for all but one, the biggest wolf-man. I shifted back into a semi-human state to get a better look at him (sufficiently creeping out a few of the adults in the process).

As I said, he was massive, easily reaching about seven feet tall, and encroaching on eight. He looked to be about 300 pounds of pure muscle and brown-black fur. I realized immediately why he was the one spared: he was the lead wolf. Their alpha male. Not the one controlling the pack, but the one telling the others to carry out orders. Since I could still hear his thoughts, I could also tell that he was the most intelligent of the group.

Bad move. I "said" to him. You came onto our turf and started a fight.

I didn't know a Vampyre could be turned. He replied. But you already know what you need to.

No. You haven't told me who your alpha is. I heard Miko ask. Who is she?

How many of you are there? I asked. How did she create so many of you under everyone's noses?

You'll never know. He taunted. And he was right. Just as I was about to question him, an arrow pierced his chest, and he slumped down against the wall.

Shifting into my Vampyre form again, I began to interrogate the teachers. "What was that about? You did exactly what he wanted you to do! Now we'll never know who he's working for!"

"Child, his future was a blank." Eliante said. "If we hadn't killed him, he would have killed himself to keep us from prying. Trust me. I have seen all the paths his demise would have taken."

"I only needed two seconds!" I shouted. "You couldn't even give me two seconds to get an image. A face. A name to go along with this mystery female that's causing all our problems!"

"Amy, please be reasonable." Cornelius said.

But I was far past that. "No. You should have asked me if I was done first."

"She's right." Jephthah said. "Amy and Amiko are the only ones here who could speak to those beasts. You should have consulted them before charging ahead."

"You already know, don't you?" I asked my priestess. "You at least have an idea of who's sending these creatures after us."

"Amy…" she started.

"No! No more excuses! I want answers!" And suddenly, I had them. A whole mental flood of them. Eliante was trying to hide something. Not in the way that the bad guys in comic books keep evil plots hidden, but in the way a parent tries to shield a deep dark family secret from her child. She was trying to keep us from running off and starting a war. She was protecting us. Protecting us from a rogue Vampyre.

Oh. My. Goddess.

She turned away from my shocked gaze, her eyes filled with sadness. I'd caught her and she knew it. "My only purpose is to protect my students." She said softly. "All of my students."

"From what?" Miko asked. "What's going on here?"

"We will discuss this first thing in the evening." Our priestess looked to the lightening sky. "Dawn is fast approaching, and you girls need to rest. All will be explained before class starts. I promise."

I wanted to scream some more, but couldn't. I was too emotional to speak. Then I felt a wave of warming calm wash over me. Looks like Isis had had enough of my outbursts and decided to do something about it. But I didn't have the heart to be mad at her. Heck, I couldn't really be mad at Eliante right now because all she wanted to do was keep us safe. Sure, she lied to do it, but I guess she felt she had to.

And poor Isis… She was as confused as Miko and most of the others standing around. They had absolutely no idea what I'd just realized and were all scared about what was going on around them. Would there be another attack? Why would a Vampyre want to do something like this? Will we all have to leave the school?

They needed a leader. All of these fledglings need someone to depend on right now. Someone they can trust. Someone who can and will protect them.

They need me. Someone actually needs me. A whole bunch of someones.

That's when I felt my entire body start burning.