by Kasi Blake
An earsplitting battle cry snapped her to the present. The wild animals the hunter had mentioned turned out to be students. Part of the crowd dropped their flashlights and rushed her small group. There were at least fifteen people running straight at them, ready for a fight. She automatically put her fists up and spread her legs for balance. This was going to be easy. They weren’t sending real hunters to test them. The overly excited young people were merely students. They would be able to take down an untrained person, but not her. Van had taught her a great deal over the years.
Using a Van Helsing signature move, she spun into one of the boys. He lost his balance and tumbled into another person, knocking them down. It was the same move Tyler Beck had used on the unsuspecting policeman. She continued on with a flying kick. Jumping into the air, she performed the splits. Each foot kicked a different person in the chest. They stumbled backwards and took some of their classmates down.
Bay-Lee didn’t have a chance to look around to see how the other newbies were doing. Her gaze and her mind were on the attacking students. A punch here, a kick there, in record time she put them on the ground. Euphoric, she glanced around to see if her fellow newbies needed help.
The dark-haired boy was on his stomach, two big guys on top of him, holding him down.
The other boy was running away while students chased him.
Barbie was on the ground, sitting on her bottom, looking dazed.
The beautiful girl with the flawless skin and golden eyes was still on her feet, smiling at Bay-Lee. Stunned to see the girl standing and no longer crying, Bay-Lee let down her guard, breaking Van’s number one rule. Before Bay-Lee could guess the girl’s intention, a long leg flew up and kicked her in the face. Bam! Bay-Lee went down.
It took a moment to gather her thoughts. If this was a cartoon, she’d be seeing stars. The coppery taste of blood in her mouth nearly made her gag. She glanced up to see if the girl was going to attack her again.
Alec Gallos laughed as he put an arm around the girl’s bony shoulders. “I see you’ve met Keisha. She’s one of ours and holds the rank of Hunter.”
A trap. They had planted the girl with them so she could attack when they weren’t expecting it. Bay-Lee made a mental note not to trust anyone in this school or let down her guard again.
While she sat there, one hand on her injured cheek, two of the students helped the new boy up. Joking around with him, they brushed dirt from his clothes. One of them ruffled his hair. He smiled, but it didn’t breach the wariness in his eyes. Alec limped away with Keisha trailing behind. The new boy offered his hand to Bay-Lee. She took it and he pulled her to her feet.
“Some welcome, huh?” he said. Grinning, he shook her hand since he was still gripping it hard and added, “I’m Jonah, by the way. You were doing pretty good until the ringer sucker-kicked you. Where did you learn to fight like that?”
Alec answered for her in a booming voice so everyone would hear. “She can fight because she’s a Van Helsing.” Several gasps rent the cool night air. “Bay-Lee Van Helsing, our new Legend-in-training. Welcome.”
The words were said in a brittle mocking tone. Alec’s dark eyes settled on her face, piercing. She got the distinct feeling he hated her. Maybe he thought she’d get special treatment or maybe it simply ran in the family. Maybe everyone named Gallos hated her. Whatever his problem, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t here to make friends.
Alec returned to his speech. “In order for you to join the school someone has to agree to be responsible for you. If you do something stupid, they get into trouble. Mentoring is a serious position and we don’t take it lightly. A mentor could lose their rank, even get booted from the program for something you’ve done. Students do not mentor unless they’ve been with us for a long while. You have to hold the rank of Hunter or better to take the task on.”
Alec pointed to each of them in turn. It seemed simple enough. He asked for volunteers and someone stepped forward. The Barbie’s name was Serena and someone volunteered to mentor her almost immediately. Then Alec moved to stand in front of Jonah. Pointing at the boy’s chest, Alec asked, “Who wants to take responsibility for this one?”
For a moment no one moved. They didn’t appear to be breathing. Bay-Lee held her breath as well. She liked Jonah and wanted him to stay. Seconds ticked by like minutes. Jonah shifted from foot to foot. His brows drew together in concern.
The crowd parted and a young man stepped forward. “I’ll mentor him.”
A huge smile broke out on Jonah’s face.
The mentor grimaced. “Follow me, worm.”
Jonah’s smile flickered like a dying light bulb. After casting a helpless look in Bay-Lee’s direction, he ran to catch up with his mentor. The two of them headed for the school.
Alec pointed at her. “And what about this one? Are any of you willing to mentor Van Helsing’s daughter?”
Van cast a worried look at the crowd. His expression sent a dark cloud over her heart. Up until now it hadn’t occurred to her that someone might not want the responsibility of mentoring the founder’s sole child. They might be worried he would watch their every move, criticize how they were handling things, or even remove them from the school for poor mentoring.
She scanned the crowd, searching each and every face for a willing person.
Gazes lowered, refusing to meet hers. This was it. If no one stepped forward, she would be sent packing. Fingernails dug into the tender flesh of her palms. Shallow breaths refused to give her much needed oxygen, and she felt slightly dizzy. Passing out would not give them confidence in her ability to finish their training program.
Alec smirked, seemingly satisfied that she was on her way home.
Van opened his mouth, preparing to verbally intervene. Maybe he would offer to mentor her. After all, they had a deal, and she’d kept her end of the bargain. Now it was his turn. No matter what, she was not leaving this school until she could kill a pack of werewolves on her own.
Nick moved forward with a smooth walk bordering on a swagger. “I’ll stand for her.”
Uneasy chatter floated on the night air.
The blood drained from Alec’s face.
Van’s jaw tightened.
Nick Gallos, the dead rock star, the one who was supposed to stay away from her was offering to be her mentor. His mouth twisted as his wary gaze touched upon her face briefly. Palpable anger radiated off him in hot waves. The guy didn’t even like her, so why was he willing to help her?
Alec shook his head and threw down his cane. “You can’t mentor her! Impossible.”
Nick walked past her to stand next to the hunter who shared his last name. “I hold the rank of Warrior and can mentor whoever I want. That’s the rule. Only Van Helsing can remove me from the post and give it to someone else, if there’s someone else willing to do it.”
Alec turned desperate eyes in Van’s direction. In seconds the entire group was staring at the leader of their beloved school. Everyone quietly waited for him to weigh in on the situation. Part of her hoped Van would allow Nick to mentor her. Another part wanted him to put his foot down and mentor her himself.
Van locked gazes with Nick. “Are you certain you want to take the risk-sponsibility?”
Nick shrugged. “I don’t have anything better to do these days. It’s been a while since I’ve mentored anyone, but I think I remember how... unless you don’t want me to do it for some reason.”
The last sentence sounded like a challenge.
A palpable silence fell on the crowd. No one spoke. They didn’t dare breathe. Without another word on the subject Van walked away. He didn’t like it, but he wasn’t going to forbid it. Roughly fifty pairs of eyes watched him go, and no one spoke for several minutes. Before Alec could object again, Nick took her arm and steered her away from the rest of them. Neither of them said a word until they were out of earshot.
“Thank you,” she said. Although
her legs were long, she had to walk fast to keep pace with him. “For a moment I thought they were going to send me home.”
“I didn’t do it for you.” His hand dropped away.
He had done it for Van in other words, which didn’t make sense because it had upset Van. The adulation was clear whenever he looked at the legendary hunter. Changing the subject, she said, “I got home okay yesterday, no thanks to you. Did you tell Van about my trip to the other side?”
“I didn’t say I was going to tell him.” Nick’s voice held an ounce of annoyance. “I said he would eventually find out. Van always does. You should know that.”
They cut across the great expanse of lawn until they reached the pebbled path that led to the towering building. His long-legged stride put him a few feet in front of her. He didn’t even glance over his shoulder to see if she was keeping up with him. Unable to stand the awkward tension between them a second longer, she asked, “Are you always this rude or is it just me?” When he didn’t respond, she added, “It’s obvious you don’t like me, and I would just like to know why. What did I ever do to you?”
“You ruined my life.”
“How?” The urge to slam a fist into his mouth had her hands clenching. “How did I ruin your stupid life?”
They stopped at the school’s entrance. It was obvious he wasn’t going to follow her inside. He folded arms over his chest and stared her down. Distant voices grew louder as the rest of the students approached. When she started to think he wasn’t going to say another word, he did. “You were born.”
He stalked off, leaving her in stunned silence. How did her birth ruin his life? She watched him go, heart heavy. There was something about him that pulled her in and made her want to get closer. For the first time in her life she felt the tug of sexual attraction, but the guy didn’t want anything to do with her.
Maybe she should take a hint and leave him alone.
Chapter Six
NEW GIRL