Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  I didn’t have to repeat twice. The black BMW skittered in the middle of the road. The car spun half a circle before coming to a complete stop. In my rear-view window, the image of the BMW became smaller and smaller.

  I rolled my window back up.

  Rune frowned. “They stopped.”

  “They did,” I said.

  “Weird.” Brydon yawned. “Wake me up when we are there, okay?”

  I lay back and turned to Rune. He sat straight in the driver’s seat with both hands on the wheels. His short straw hair managed to look tousled and attractive at the same time.

  He cleared his throat. “I can drop you off at the closest bus station.”

  He still wanted to get rid of me. That was not going to happen until I had all of my questions answered. “I no longer have a home.” Not when it was occupied by Trevor and his people. “The vampires took it.”

  An awkward silence stretched in the car. I was expecting him to say something, like he was sorry, but he didn’t.

  “You must have some relatives you can go to.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Then friends—”

  “I want to go to Hunter Academy.”

  “The academy location is a secret. I’m not allowed to bring people back.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Brydon was sleeping before I turned to Rune. “Rune, take me to Hunter Academy.” I tried to catch his eyes.

  “I’ll drop you off at a hotel.”

  Irritation gnawed at my insides. Command wouldn’t work well unless he looked into my eyes. “I don’t have money!”

  “I can pay for your room,” he said.

  “Take me to Hunter Academy. I want to enroll.”

  “They don’t take applicants.”

  “Then where do they get their students?”

  “Through recommendations of respected hunters.”

  “They might make an exception for me.”

  “They don’t do exceptions.”

  “You never know.”

  He finally looked at me, and I seized the opportunity to stare into his eyes, chanting a silent command. The light in his eyes flickered before he blinked and looked away.

  I frowned. The moment had been too brief. I wasn’t sure if he would carry through with my command.

  “Tell me more about this school of yours,” I said.

  “It was established about two hundred years ago by Jayson Duncan, my great uncle,” he said.

  No wonder Rune and Brydon had Jayson’s eyes and hair. No wonder I’d mistaken them for him more than once.

  “The mission of the academy is to eradicate all vampires,” Rune said.

  “Eradicate all vampires? Such a bold goal.”

  How presumptuous of them! Hunters, no matter how powerful or strong they were, were humans. Their lifespan was a mere handful of decades compared to ours. One-on-one, no hunter could face an Original and live to tell the tale.

  “Yes, I would like to see the academy that gave you such confidence.” Let me see the army they’d built in disguise of a school. My sire might find the information useful.

  Seven

  Rune

  The mood in the car changed completely. Izella was still being her quiet self, but the temperature had inexplicably dropped several degrees. She stared out the window for the entire three-hour drive to Remington, California.

  I looked at the road ahead without noticing anything, my body on autopilot.

  I couldn’t believe I was driving a stranger to Hunter Academy. Although Hunter Academy was surrounded by protective magic, its location was kept a secret in case vampires got any ideas about attacking it. A few vampires had discovered the location over the years, but they were always promptly taken care of.

  In the rearview mirror, Brydon rubbed his chin. He must’ve woken up a moment ago.

  “I look like shit,” he said.

  I glanced at him in the mirror.

  “And we still didn’t complete our summer assignment. We should’ve gone back to the mansion and tracked Trevor down,” he said.

  “In your current condition?”

  “I might look bad, but I’m all better.”

  I turned my attention to the curvy road ahead. “We won’t make it to the academy on time.”

  “Are you sure it’s okay for Izella to come back with us?”

  Izella had her back turned to me, facing her side of the window.

  I thought about the question for a while. “Our primary threats are vampires, but they can’t get past the academy’s protection spell.” That was why the school still existed after two hundred years.

  “What protection spell?” Izella asked.

  “The spell that has protected the academy ever since it opened. It was set up by our ancestor,” Brydon said.

  “Jayson Duncan?”

  “Yes.”

  “How does it prevent a vampire from passing through?” She finally turned to us.

  “It just does.”

  “You don’t know how it works.”

  “Nobody does. Why do you want to go to the academy anyway?”

  “I want to enroll in the academy. Is there a problem with that?” Izella asked.

  “Is there a problem with that, Rune?” Brydon tossed the question back to me.

  Yes. There were so many problems with that. Hunter Academy didn’t welcome strangers. Even the students were chosen by recommendations of the academy staff or reputable vampire hunters. The more I thought about it, the more I realized my excuse for bringing her back was lame.

  “Izella, there is a bed and breakfast close by. If you have nowhere to go, I can get you settled there.”

  She didn’t say anything. Instead, she stared at me. Her eyes were like a magnet. One glance and I couldn’t look away. They were the color of the ocean, and no matter how deep one fell, he would never see the bottom.

  “Rune!”

  Brydon’s cry pulled me out of the trance. I swiveled the wheel just in time to avoid driving my Jeep off the road and down a cliff.

  “Jesus, Rune! If you’re tired, just say something. I can drive,” Brydon said.

  I raked a hand through my hair. I wasn’t tired, but I wasn’t about to tell my twin that I’d been too busy drowning in Izella’s eyes to notice where my car was heading.

  I suspected he knew anyway. From the rearview mirror, he was looking at Izella. That was the bad thing about twins. It was hard to keep secrets between us. I swore we could sense each other’s emotion.

  Sparse trees became a thick forest. The sky was half-covered with stretching branches. It was now completely dark. The time above the radio showed 2:15 am. Then the two lanes merged into one, which became bumpier by the minute. The last few miles to Hunter Academy were the worst. I navigated my car down the unpaved dirt road, taking care to avoid the pits I knew by heart.

  The academy hid within the dense forest. There was actually not much to see in the dark. The few lanterns above iron poles were not enough to illuminate our surrounding. I parked my car in the lot beside the academy and turned off the engine.

  “We’re here,” I said to Izella.

  Eight

  Izella

  It was completely dark, but I had no problem making out the stone building looming like a castle before me. Surrounding the academy on all sides was an iron fence with bars shooting up the sky.

  I opened the car door and stepped down to examine the fence and the academy closer. As far as I could see, there were no visible spells that could prevent a vampire from entering.

  “Brydon, ring the bells and go to the academy medical center. I’ll take Izella to Hannah’s Bed and Breakfast.” Rune grabbed my wrist.

  I pulled my hand free and walked straight to the gate.

  “It’s too late to request an audience with the headmaster today,” Rune said.

  I couldn’t take my eyes off the arched gate three times my height. “I merely want a closer look. You said Jayson made this?”

&nbs
p; “He designed it and reinforced it with magic.”

  I stared at the gate and the fence with renewed fervor. “Is there anything else he made?”

  “There is a cottage within the fence that he used to live in.”

  I scanned the academy for the cottage. “Where is it?”

  “Inside.”

  “Then I must go inside.”

  A lump stuck in the back of my throat. The vampire hunter from two hundred years ago … Maybe if I could just go there, see for myself the evidence of his existence one last time, I could finally let go.

  I walked the several steps toward the academy. An iron chain locked the gate. I reached out to yank it away.

  My hands were within an inch of the chain when a sudden burst of light scorched me, forcing me to stumble back. It was hot and bright, like the sun. Then the patch of burning iron spread its heat to the adjacent iron until the entire gate burned red.

  Brydon hurried forward. “What the—”

  An alarm screeched in the dead of the night, so loud it bothered my ears. One by one, the windows in the academy lit up.

  So this was Jayson’s protection spell.

  I let my hand fall to my side. The ugly burn on my palm crusted over and healed in a matter of minutes.

  “Who are you?” Rune asked from behind. I didn’t need to turn around to feel the threat from the stake he’d unsheathed.

  “Izella,” I said.

  “Izella as in Izella Pristin?” A lean girl leaped over the gate and landed in front of me.

  “The one and only,” I replied.

  “What are you doing here with Rune?” She might look pretty with her dove eyes and heart face if she didn’t have a scowl on her face.

  “You’re Izella Pristin?” Brydon’s eyes grew wide. “Like the one in Vampire History 101?”

  It was a sad day when one learned one was so old that she’d left a mark in a history book. I wondered what they’d written about me.

  I shouldn’t have hesitated, because in a blink of an eye, a dozen more hunters were at the gate, surrounding me on all sides.

  “Wait. How did you discover the location of Hunter Academy?” the dove-eyed girl demanded.

  I glanced at Rune and Brydon. Brydon cleared his throat. Before he could say anything, I replied, “It was not exactly a well-kept secret, sweetheart.”

  “Bullshit.” She drew out her stake and charged at me.

  I caught her wrist just in time. She tried to knock me over with a sweep of her legs. I stamped down on her foot and heard something crack, then I threw her against the two hunters now running toward me.

  More than a dozen hunters had surrounded me, but they were like babes facing a gorilla. I was not afraid of them. They should be afraid of me. But this was Hunter Academy after all, and there might be some powerful instructors lurking around, waiting for the right moment for their grand entrance. I couldn’t afford to linger.

  “Until next time.” I turned to go.

  “Wait.” Rune blocked my path with open arms. “You are Izella Pristin, a descendant of the Original, Dracune Carmen?”

  “Yes.”

  He pointed his stake at my chest. His eyes were devoid of the warmth from a moment ago. “Then you can’t leave.”

  I stared at the threads of magic flowing around his stake. Two hundred years ago, Jayson had also pointed his stake at me. He hadn’t killed me when he’d had the chance, and I’d fallen in love with him. How I wish time could turn back and he would just plunge the stake into my body. That way, I would only leave with an injury, not a couple centuries of heartache and regret.

  They said vampires didn’t have beating hearts. We were not capable of finer feelings and love. They were wrong.

  “I don’t feel like slaughter tonight. Get out of my face before I change my mind.” I strolled past Rune. I might look like I was walking in leisure, but a single step took me a mile away from Hunter Academy. Another step, and they were way behind me.

  I intended to seek a place to sleep until tomorrow night when I would challenge the academy gate again, but a voice in my head changed my mind.

  “Izella, your location?”

  No matter how many years had passed, I would never forget the voice of Oscar Rickson, my brother. Well, not my real brother—I was an only child—but brother through a common sire. He’d practically raised me after I’d become a vampire, forcing blood down my throat and overseeing my first kill.

  “Izella?” Irritation seeped into his voice. He was not a vampire known for his patience.

  “Remington, California.” Now was a time I wished descendants of Originals didn’t have the ability to communicate through mind with the vampires who shared their blood.

  “Come back to your mansion right now.”

  I pressed my lips into a thin line. He might be my senior, but he was not the boss of me.

  “I came with a message from our sire,” he said.

  That stopped my protest. I looked back in the direction of Hunter Academy one last time before heading straight for my mansion.

  Nine

  Izella

  I returned just as the first rays of sun lit up the day. My face and hands burned from the heat. The sensation only lasted a minute. By the time I walked across the hallway, my skin had assumed its previously unblemished form.

  All the blinds had been drawn down, and the mansion was so quiet I could hear my every step.

  Without bothering to ask where Oscar was, I went straight for the basement. The shards of my glass coffin were still scattered all over the place, along with smudges of blood here and there. It was exactly as I’d left it, except for the blond vampire helping himself to a glass of my wine in the corner of the basement.

  “So?” I asked him. “What is the message?”

  He took a long draw from his glass before tossing it behind him, shattering it into pieces to add to the collection on the floor. I didn’t value the glass, but the careless way he handled my belongings ticked me off.

  “So glad you finally came out of your shell.” Oscar stretched his overly long limbs. “How long did you sleep? Let’s see. It must have been a year. A lot has changed in one year.”

  “Why don’t you get to the point?” I still had to return to Hunter Academy to break the gate.

  “Our sire came to the knowledge that Hunter Academy has been hiding a secret weapon, an ensorced stake rumored to have the power to kill even Originals.”

  This got my attention.

  The Originals were the oldest vampires. Since vampires’ strength and power increased with age, they were practically undefeatable.

  I folded my arms across my chest. “And how is that my business?”

  “You see, Izella.” He leaned so close to me that our foreheads touched. “Dracune wants us to work with a few descendants of other Originals to retrieve the ensorced stake.”

  Instead of drawing back, I stood firm where I was. “Proof.” I held out my hand. There were times in the past when Oscar had used our sire’s name to trick me. I was past that naïve stage.

  He took out a letter from his pocket and dropped it in my hand. I quickly scanned the letter. As he said, Dracune wanted us to work with other vampires to retrieve the ensorced stake. Those were not any old vampires. They were descendants of Originals, like me.

  I crushed the letter and tossed it into the fireplace. “How many are joining the mission?”

  “A few.”

  “Where are we meeting?”

  “They’re coming here.”

  “At my place?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  It actually was. A gathering of descendants of Originals had never been a peaceful affair, and I wanted to still have my mansion in one piece after everything was over.

  “Who is going to join us?” I asked.

  “Does it matter?”

  I thought about it for a moment. “No.” It didn’t matter, because I didn’t need any of them. Vampires were not team players, and this was
especially true for me.

  Oscar had taken over a room in my mansion, and since my usual sleeping place in the basement was now a mess, I occupied the master’s suite on the second floor.

  The opaque curtains were not nearly as good at blocking out the sun as my windowless basement. I tossed and turned on the bed without really falling asleep.

  The day turned into night. I knew the exact moment when a visitor came to press the doorbell on my metal gate. The sound was not loud but audible to my vampire hearing.

  Ding dong.

  I frowned. It must be one of the descendants of Originals Oscar was talking about. Since when had they become so polite?

  Ding dong.

  If I could hear it, Oscar could too. I waited for him to go answer the gate. He was the one who’d pulled me into the mission, after all.

  Ding dong.

  I yanked my blanket off in a furious motion. Thrusting aside the curtains, I leaped onto the windowsill and jumped down. The master bedroom was only on the second floor, so I landed on the mushy dirt ground with little effort, the bending of my knees absorbing the impact.

  I marched to the gate, seriously considering disabling the doorbell.

  Two figures stood outside: one tall and one extremely short. The tall and overly skinny vampire had a handsome but expressionless face. He held a crimson umbrella over the petite girl, shielding her from the few drizzles falling from the sky. The girl clutched a stuffed bunny to her chest. Her dress was a short gothic affair of silk and frills. She might have been the prettiest girl I’d ever seen, but the age in her green eyes contrasted with her young appearance and gave me the creeps.

  “You are?” I stopped in front of the gate and stared at them.

  “Greetings, Lady Izella,” the male vampire said. His voice was cool and devoid of emotion. “I am Gaven. My lady is Symphony Spear.”

  Symphony. I might’ve heard that name before. She was a direct descendant of an Original.

  “Welcome. We’ve been expecting you.” I yanked open the gate, which I discovered wasn’t even locked, and led the two of them into my mansion.