How could he move that fast? It was impossible, but nothing about this seemed right. I cast another burst of power back, shattering the stairs behind me. I leaped for the door, passing through the portal. I could swear that I still felt his fingertips on my ankle when I went through. I looked down, relieved to see they weren’t there. The portal had closed behind me. I was safe for now.
Standing back up was harder than I thought it would be. I made it three steps before I fell against the cave wall. A scream escaped my lips as my wounded shoulder slammed into the rocks. I managed to slide another three steps against the wall before I fell to my knees. The world around me started to fade in and out. I could hear footsteps running toward me, and someone was shouting. I looked up to see a golden-haired angel in front of me, and then everything went black.
10
Jackson
After my talk with Adam, I was finally able to fall asleep again. When the alarm went off in the morning, it was hard not to feel better about myself. One look to the other side of the bed confirmed that she was still there and it really had happened after all. Was I really waking up next to the woman I loved? A quick peek under the covers confirmed it, along with a grunt and some form of muffled communication about letting the cold air in.
In the morning I normally didn’t shower first thing. I saved it for after my workout. Today was no different. I walked around the bed and gave Britta a kiss on the forehead and headed to the gym. Ok, maybe today was a little different. I had woken up with Britta before, but I had never woken up with Britta still being naked before. It was a brand new day, and things were looking up.
Even better, on my way out the door there was a note saying our meeting with Adam had been postponed. I stuck the note on the inside of the door for Britta and headed to the gym. I got to the gym early, not surprised to see it still empty, minus the normal culprits. I headed over to my favorite elliptical and started out with a nice casual walk to stretch my still-sleepy muscles. About five minutes into my workout, April popped onto the elliptical next to me and we started to talk. “I didn’t expect to see you here this morning.”
“Well, nothing really happened to me, so I didn’t see a reason for taking the day off.”
“That’s true; I keep forgetting you just had a chat with a vampire while all of us were going frantic about how to save you.”
“I can’t say enough how much I have to thank you. You always hope your friends will have your back, but to see them in action really drives the point home.”
“I know you would have done it for me,” I said, looking over at her.
She looked at me and gave me a fierce nod. “In a heartbeat. That’s why I have something that I have to tell you about yesterday.” She looked around to make sure no one else was around us to hear what she was about to say. “This is going to be kind of awkward, so just let me get it out, ok?”
“Now you have my full attention,” I said, my mind perking up, trying to figure out exactly what this could be about.
“Ok, so don’t freak out, but when I was talking to Sarafina the other day, she told me that she orchestrated that little kidnapping to get rid of Britta.”
“What? Why?” Now I was totally confused.
“She didn’t say, only that Britta had powerful friends, friends they didn’t want to share this information with. It didn’t seem odd to me at the time because I thought maybe she still meant Adam, but this morning it sunk in that she was sending the message to Adam so she must have meant someone else, someone outside of the Ascendancy.”
“April, I trust Britta with my life. I trust her as much as you and Marcus. Maybe that vampire was just trying to drive a wedge between us.”
“I don’t think so. It was a lot of work to drug me and risk the wrath of Adam just to get Britta out of the room. I’m just saying be careful with her, Jackson. Keep an eye out for anything weird.”
My emotions were raging inside of me. I wanted to lash out, but I knew April wasn’t to blame for whatever this vampire put into her head. “Can you do me a favor and just give her the benefit of the doubt for now? I mean, we are together now. I have to trust her, and I do.”
April gave me a little look to let me know she thought I might be being unreasonable, or that she was pissed. I couldn’t quite tell the difference. “I just thought you should know,” she said before hoping off her elliptical and heading to the other side of the gym.
I watched her go, wondering if it was really so wrong for me to want to defend the person I cared for, who I could be falling in love with. I didn’t think it was, and why was she so mad at me? Maybe she was just giving me space to figure it out for myself. I knew without a doubt, April and Marcus were with me to the end. I didn’t know as much about Britta as I should, but between the kissing and stuff, I hadn’t exactly tried to ask her too much about herself. I made a mental note to try and find out more about her. Now it was time to forget all this nonsense and turn it up a notch. I picked a program and set it for forty-five minutes. Today was a boring classroom day, so I needed to crush it this morning and after class.
I met up with Marcus on the way to class. Britta fell back to talk with some of her other friends. I caught them looking at me and giggling a few times. I knew guys weren’t supposed to kiss and tell. Did that rule apply to girls as well? From some of the funny looks I kept getting, I was starting to wonder. We continued into class. Marcus grabbed a seat next to me in the front. Britta and the girls sat in the back, no doubt ready to gossip some more. April came in late and took a seat next to Marcus. That was odd; she always sat on the other side of me.
I tried to give her a look past Marcus, but she seemed determined not to look at me. Marcus gave me a little smile. He probably knew what was up, but I’d never be able to get it out of him. Damn, girls were so complicated. The professor walked in. He was one of my favorite teachers, but it was odd that he was here today. This class was normally taught by Professor Dreslin. Professor Small stepped up to the board and wrote the word FALLEN in all capitals. He then underlined it with a flair before turning around.
“Today we are going to be addressing another of the pretending races, or Pretenders for short.”
Someone behind us must have had their hand up because the professor nodded and they started to speak. “Where is Professor Dreslin, sir?”
“He was called away on Ascendancy business. He should be back for your next class.”
I gave the professor a quick look. To me they had always been teachers, but I forgot they were members of the Ascendancy as well. It seemed to me that Professor Small had lost a little weight since the last time I saw him. Maybe he was preparing himself in case he was called out into the field again. He smiled at the class and nodded again.
A different voice spoke this time. “Pretenders, sir?”
“Ah, yes, I forget that is a term not all of you are familiar with. It fades in and out of fashion. Pretenders refers to all the races that can pass themselves off as human either through magical or other means. The main three would be Lycans, Fallen, and Fea. All of these races can appear to be human but are normally more associated with preying upon them. Our job, in short, is to protect the humans from them.”
I had heard the term Pretender before. It seemed to be something more in favor with the older members of the Ascendancy. It sure seemed to fit; it gave all of them the ability to blend into human life, thus making them the ultimate predators.
“So the Fallen, for those of you who only watch modern cinema, are vampires. No, they don’t sparkle, yes, they do drink blood, and no, a wooden stake through the heart won’t kill them. The younger ones are almost human in their abilities and strength, but as with most creatures, they grow stronger as they age.”
The professor scanned the class to make sure that everyone was following along. “As I said, the Fallen gain strength and power as they get older. We don’t know at exactly what years they tend to level up in power, but it happens throughout their lifetime, and yes
, unless killed, our best guess is that they are immortal.”
“No way!” someone shouted.
“Yes way, Mr. Anderson. Immortal and stronger as time goes on could be a dangerous combination. Fortunately for us, vampire society is completely different than ours. They are in a near constant power struggle against each other, often leading to deaths of some of their strongest members. We don’t have all the facts, but it’s important to know that some of them crave a certain amount of power. When you have lifetimes to set up wars and feuds, it becomes a whole different ballgame.”
“Let’s get back to how we can kill them, Professor,” Anderson shouted again.
“Well, that is what this class is for, after all. As I said, they get stronger with age. They also get faster, and some have been rumored to be magic resistant. To top off these wonderful traits, a few of the older ones have also been reported to be able to use a certain amount of mind control.”
I just had to jump in. “Like a Jedi mind trick or slit-your-own-throat-with-a-knife kind of control?”
“That would depend on if you are a human or one of the gifted. It seems we have a natural ability to ward off most of their mental abilities, but some of us will be more susceptible than others. Imagine that kind of power against a human with no defenses. It would be devastating. So for us, as you so aptly put it, the strongest of them against the weakest of us would probably be more like a mind trick. Again here, we don’t have all the answers.”
“How fast and how strong are they?” I asked.
“Fast, really fast,” Marcus said from next to me.
“Ah, I forget Marcus here has a lot of experience with the Fallen,” the professor said with a smile. “Care to share some of your experiences with the rest of us?”
“Not really, Professor. It’s one thing to sit here and talk about them, it’s another to have seen them in person killing people you love. I will say that for strength and speed, the fastest I have seen is about three times that of a normal person.”
“Three times? Wow, that is fascinating. Thank you for sharing, Marcus.”
He gave the professor a little look that said he didn’t feel like being thanked. The professor just smiled and turned toward the rest of the class. “Our best guess is that the oldest vampires on the planet could indeed be even faster than that. Mostly, though, you will encounter younger vampires, but they tend to travel in groups. The older vampires tend to be more isolated, or at least, are not often seen out of their nests.”
“Nests?” I asked.
“Vampires tend to be very social creatures with each other; it’s a byproduct of their long lives. When groups of them gather into one area, they become like a family, one unit. We call them nests. The nests are protected in a couple ways. Each nest will have a leader, and they in turn normally serve one of the elders. They also create a subspecies of vampire called berserkers, to patrol and eliminate threats.”
“So what is a berserker, Professor?” April asked.
“A berserker is a newly turned Fallen who is starved almost to the point of death. During this time, their body transforms into the ultimate killing machine. Their fingers grow and extend, ending in vicious claws. Their top incisors enlarge, making them true fangs. Often their lips are bloodied from moving against the overly large teeth. They move faster than traditional vampires, often running on all fours. Only the Fallen know if this process can be reversed.”
“That sounds horrible, Professor. Why would anyone want to become a berserker?” I asked.
“I doubt very much that anyone actually wants to become one. I suspect that it is a form of punishment, or just something they do for the protection of the nest.”
There was a tap at the door, and a woman I hadn’t seen before walked in. She moved directly to the professor’s desk and whispered into his ear. After a moment, she left, closing the door behind her. The professor’s eyes focused on me, and I knew something was going on.
“Jackson, Marcus, it seems that your presence is required in Adam’s office.”
There were a few ohhhs that made it out of people’s mouths, but for the most part, everyone was silent. Marcus and I packed up our gear and walked out the door. As soon as it closed, I could hear a flurry of conversations starting and questions being hurled at the professor. Just great, I was already kind of a freak for being the only student to kill another one. Now I had to wonder what people would be saying about me tomorrow. I gave Marcus a quick look to see if he knew what this was about, and he just shook his head.
“I don’t know, bro, but I’m not hating that everyone is talking about me.”
“I bet you aren’t, but I sure am.”
He gave me a quick punch to the shoulder, and we started heading toward Adam’s office. There was some commotion going on when we got there. No one seemed inclined to share what it was about, so we just took two seats in the hallway. Several people filed out of his office over the next few minutes. Eventually he poked his head out of the door.
“Come on in, guys. As you can tell, I’m kind of in a hurry, but I have something I need for you to do.”
We walked in and took a seat in front of Adam’s desk. “What was all that about?” I asked.
“Oh, that? That was nothing.”
“Sure didn’t look like nothing,” Marcus chimed.
“Well, it wasn’t anything you will have to worry about, at least not yet. Let me get right down to why I have called you in here today. I need both of you out in the field, full gear.”
“Full gear? What does that mean?”
“It means it’s time for you to break out those swords and that staff of yours. If things get dicey, I want you to be able to defend yourselves.”
“We aren’t full members of the Ascendancy yet. I thought we had to go through an initiation before we were allowed to handle these kinds of missions,” Marcus said.
“Normally that would be the case, but necessity often overrides procedure. I need you two out there now. Are you up for it?”
I gave Marcus a look. I was going to let him make the call. A huge smile was on his face, and for a second I had forgotten he had waited his whole life for an opportunity like this. It was hard to ignore his grin, so I unleashed one of my own. We both looked at Adam and chorused, “We’re ready.”
“Good, then here is your briefing: I have someone standing by to open a portal for you. They will open it every hour to check on your return. If you get into an emergency situation, call this number.” He handed me a separate piece of paper. “Now go get your gear and get out there.”
We barely made it to the hallway when Marcus hit me in the arm again. “Bro, this is it, man. We finally made it.”
“I went out yesterday and it didn’t exactly go well. Try and focus when we get out there.”
“It’s you and me, bro. No one will be able to touch us. We got this.”
“Meet you at the portal in five.”
“You know it!”
Marcus met me in the tunnel in just under five minutes. He carried a large katana across his back and had several pouches slung across his chest and attached to his belt. I felt better seeing him all decked out in his gear, because until he had arrived, I was feeling kind of silly wearing my own. I had my father’s swords crisscrossed on my back and his staff in my hands. I felt out of place going back into the real world dressed like something from a Tolkien series.
Adam assured me that the harness for the swords made their hilts invisible to anyone without magical abilities. And that the staff would appear as a walking stick. Still, I knew they were there, and I just wondered what someone would think if they saw me. Hopefully they would think I was another random cosplayer. Thank God for the rise of the nerds into the mainstream. That way a man and his swords never had to feel too awkward walking around in public. I felt a slight twist in my gut as I remembered heading to the Phoenix comic-con with Alby. Now we weren’t even friends and never would be since my new calling kept us separated.
One of Adam’s staff stepped forward. I was pretty sure her name was Sally. She opened the portal. “Remember, I’ll be opening this for you every hour on the hour for five minutes. If you run into an emergency or need assistance, use the number Adam gave you.”
I nodded to her before looking at Marcus. “You ready for this?”
“Born ready,” he said with a smirk before leaping through the portal.
I turned to follow him, and Sally grabbed my arm. “Be careful and remember we are dropping you about two miles away from your destination. You will have to make your way there unseen and on foot.”
I gave her a look to let her know I had read the paper Adam had given me, and I really didn’t need her instructions. Her gaze only hardened under my glare. I decided against pushing it further and gave her a curt nod and jumped through the portal to follow Marcus. As soon as my feet hit the ground, the portal winked closed behind us. We were now on our own for better or worse. This was our time to shine.
Marcus turned around, and his grin flashed in the night. “I say we go rooftop for this. Remember how I showed you to use your air magic to jump further and lighten yourself for the landing?”
“Oh, I remember.” Yep, I remembered that it hadn’t gone extremely well. Ok, that might be an understatement—it had gone terribly. When I hadn’t been overshooting my landing zones by a good fifteen feet, I had forgotten to lighten and nearly broke my legs. Marcus must have remembered the experience much more fondly than I did. Mostly because he kept laughing at the mouthful of sand I kept coming up with.
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