comments and criticisims welcome

-Chapter one-

The death of two houses

...Mai...

The cold of metal across my back was calming; the weight of the shot gun on the shoulder strap was a comfort. Although it couldn’t do much damage to most dark creatures it was still my weapon of choice. I fidgeted with the silver dagger strapped to my thigh- most dark creatures were allergic to silver and silver to the heart was the best way to kill a bloodmage.

I was always nervous before a hunt but this time was worse. It was the first time that I’d gone on a hunt this big; it was pretty much the frontlines of the war. It was also the first time I’d been involved in a hunt where I knew that there would be bloodmages that had advanced and become creatures that weren’t human anymore.

I tightened the strap on my glove and took a deep breath. We were in position around the double story house.

“Scared, little sis?”  Jiro asked as he pressed his back to the wall we were crouched behind.

“A little,” I nodded my head.

“Don’t worry, Ru and I are watching over you.” He squeezed my shoulder in a comforting gesture. “Cade is your back up, as usual, and that kid has never let you down; just concentrate on the kill as it comes. We’ve got you covered.”

There was a small flicker of light from the west perimeter of the house.

“Its go time,” Jiro breathed before he jumped into action.    

There was no more time for me to worry; it was time to fight.

I heard the sound of gunshots, glass shattering and the sudden shouts of surprise that quickly turned into sounds of outrage. I watched Jiro jump through the broken window but still I didn’t move. All around me people were in motion. I felt someone grab my arm and turned to defend myself.

“What are you waiting for!” it was Cade. “Go!”

He let go of my arm and swiftly made his way through the window.

It wasn’t like me to hesitate or freeze but I couldn’t shake the sick feeling that was twisting in my gut. What was this?

“Mai! Let’s go!” Cade yelled. He was inside the house but he remained standing at the window.

I took a deep breath and pushed that feeling aside; now wasn’t the time for it. I pushed away from the wall and followed after Cade.

“Took you long enough,” he said once I was through the window.

I’d only hesitated for a few minutes but already it was a complete bloodbath inside the house. This was the part that I never got used to when killing bloodmages- the fact that they looked human after they were dead.

I felt something graze my cheek and snapped out of my thoughts just in time to see Cade pull his knife out of the bloodmage that was in front of me.  He kicked the body to the floor.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed!” he all but snarled at me. “Where’s your head at!”

According to the recon there were between fifteen and twenty members in this coven. But now that I was in the thick of it, it seemed like there were more. I pulled the shotgun from my shoulder and looked for a target. It was no good the fight was too close together I couldn’t guarantee that a shot wouldn’t hit one of my own people.  I put the shotgun back over my shoulder and pulled the dagger from my thigh.

“Mai!” Cade was yelling at me again- I couldn’t deny that I deserved it; I wasn’t focused and that was dangerous.

I turned to look at him but before I could I felt something slam into me I fell to the floor, hard. The wind was knocked out of me and I lay on my back gasping for air. It took me a moment to register what was happening.

Cade was on his knees in front of me; he’d obviously been the one who’d pushed me to the floor. There was a thin woman with blood on her face hunched over in front of him. She grabbed his hair and pulled his head back. She opened her mouth; her teeth were all pointed and bloody. She was going to bite him. The next thing I knew the woman let out a shriek and a second later her body went slack and she fell to the floor. Ru had stabbed her in the back.

“You two, get it together,” he snapped as he turned his back on us and went to seek a new opponent.

I fought to catch my breath and before I managed to recover Cade was standing over me, panting. He had three angry looking cuts on the side of his neck, like something had clawed him. He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to my feet.

“Are you ok?” he huffed.

I nodded my head still too out of breath to answer.

“Let’s go.” He gestured with his head for me to follow him.

As he led the way I noticed that the side of his shirt was drenched in blood. There was a chance that the blood could be from a bloodmage that he’d killed but there was something in the way he walked that made me think otherwise.

“Cade, you’re hurt.” I pulled on his arm and stopped him.

“It’s just a scratch,” he said lifting his hand to the wound on the side of his neck.

“Not that.” I reached forward intending to lift his blood-soaked shirt. “This.”

He backed away from me before my fingers could make contact with his shirt.

He snickered and turned away.

“Like I said; it’s just a scratch.” He said as he walked away.

He led the way up the stairs and the slaying continued.

***

The most important part of being a hunter was making sure you cleaned up your mess; lately there was a lot of mess to clean up. It wasn’t just a matter of getting rid of one or two bodies anymore- exterminating an entire coven; there was no such thing as finishing a job like that discreetly. The best way to cover up something like this was to burn it down. Jay, Maggie and Jiro had already soaked the inside of the house with gasoline and were working on the perimeter. Lana and I were getting more gasoline out of the van.

I could see Ru and Cade standing near Ru’s car.  They looked like they were having an intense conversation.

“Mai,” Lana snapped her fingers in front of my face. “Stop dreaming and help me carry these.”

I sighed. It was the umpteenth time that someone had to call me to attention today. It wasn’t like me but I couldn’t help it. That anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach wouldn’t disappear even now that the fight was over. We hauled the gas back to the house. Immediately Lana joined the others in pouring it around the perimeter of the house. I stood there for a moment trying to understand what was going on with me.

“Mai, you’re slacking today.” Jay   scolded. He thrust a canteen of gasoline into my arms. The weight took me by surprise and I stumbled a little. Jay clicked his tongue. “Wake up girly; don’t be dreaming while you’re doing a job. Now you take care of the back perimeter and make it snappy.”

I did as I was told but as I was pouring the gas along the back wall I noticed a small dark figure at the far end. It looked like something was crouching in the darkness. I pulled the dagger from my thigh and approached it. I could feel that it was watching me and yet it didn’t attack or flee.

As I got closer I began to see more clearly. It was a little girl. She was quite pale and even in the darkness I could tell that she had fair hair. Was she a victim of the Bloodmages? I began to lower my blade but as I did the girl tilted her head to the side and looked up at me. Her eyes had an animal glow; she wasn’t human.

I lifted my blade, poised to stab her...but I couldn’t do it. Her face was too child like, too innocent. I couldn’t find it in me to kill her.

“Go,” I said to her. “Run. If they find you they will kill you.”

The girl didn’t move. I was torn. What was the right thing to do here? She wasn’t human and therefore should be eliminated. But she was just a child.

“If you don’t leave now I will kill you myself.” I knew in my heart it was an empty threat.

The girl got to her feet and then without warning she reached out and touched my cheek. The ground suddenly felt unstable beneath my feet; a black cloud seemed to press in on me. A moment later the darkness had swallowed me whole.

“Wait, give her some room; she’s coming to.” It was Maggie’s voice. “Mai, can you hear me, sweetheart.”

“Mmm,” was the only response I was able to give.

My head felt like someone had used it for batting practice and I was parched. Slowly I forced my eyes open. My eyelids felt heavy and it was difficult to keep them up. Faces swam in and out of view.

“Water,” I choked.

I could feel someone’s hand beneath my neck, lifting my head. I felt the smooth wet edge of a cup pressed to my lips and I drank. My vision was beginning to clear and bit by bit my surroundings came into focus.

Ru and Jiro were sitting on either side of me at the head of the bed. Ru was the one cradling my head. Maggie was at my bed side too, concern furrowing her brow.

“What happened?” my voice was still dry and wispy.   

“We were hoping that you could tell us, actually,” Maggie said gently.

I shut my eyes and tried to recall.

“The girl,” I said as the memory came back to me. “The little girl; she touched my face.”

...Blake...

I paced the roof of the high-rise as I waited for Kenta to show up. My irritation and impatience grew with every step I took. I cursed under my breath.

“Something the matter, Blake?”

I turned to see Kenta standing by the door that led onto the roof.

“What took you so long?” I seethed.

“Funny how the younger brother ended up the short-tempered one,” he snickered.

“Funny how the older brother ended up the weaker one,” I spat.

He laughed without restraint, a deep bubbling laugh. He wasn’t just amused; he was mocking me.

“Don’t patronise me Kent,” I warned.

“No,” he snapped, “you’re the one who needs to stop patronizing, little brother. Don’t make the mistake of thinking you’re the only one who’s lost something important.”

I gritted my teeth and bit back my anger.

“Don’t worry, Blake, revenge is but moments away.” Kenta was smiling again.

It was one of the things that I hated most about him, the fact that he was always smiling, always laughing and yet he had no emotions. He'd given that part of himself up as tribute in a spell: the spell that turned us from bloodmage to something greater. Of course I’d had to give tribute too, one that was as great as his. Every expression he made was a forgery. Every smile, every laugh, was like a thought-out lie. 

“The girl’s still alive you know,” Kenta grinned.

His words pulled me from my thoughts like a slap in the face and the meaning behind Kenta’s smile became obvious. He intended to kill her with the rest of those slayers. When the celestial sprite had touched her, bestowed on her the favour that Kenta and I had summoned her to give us, I thought that the power had been too much for her and she’d died. But she was alive and she had the favour.

“I don’t think she realises that she has it,” Kenta said, misreading the concern that I knew was showing on my face. “Even if the favour were to take some kind of form, I doubt that she would even know what it is. Besides she’ll be dead before dawn.”

He was easy to read; he was afraid that she would use the favour to destroy all those creatures that weren’t human, including us.

“Kent, why are we doing this?” I knew he would understand my reason for asking.

He tilted his head to the side, the grin on his face broadening.

“Ah, Blake,” he chuckled, “why are you so doubtful of me.”

I didn’t answer and he raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes.

“We’re doing it for revenge,” he answered with a sigh, “and for self-preservation, now that we’ve discovered that she’s still alive.”

I nodded my head, satisfied that he didn’t see things the same way I did.

“Can we go now, before she gets the chance to wish us into nonexistence?” he was already walking away.

Kenta and I circled the outside of the hunters’ base casting spells every few paces. Not just some half-cooked urban incantation- the real stuff: fourteenth century summoning spells. We were calling reaping daemons. It was Kenta’s idea- he wasn’t one to do things halfway and for a being with no feelings he sometimes came across as a sadist. We’d cast the spells so that the first bloodshed would call them forth.

But the summoning spell wasn’t the only spell that I’d cast. Kenta planned on killing that girl and I couldn’t let him do that. I cast a spell that would hide the girl, completely, from anything paranormal, including me. In order to complete the spell I would have to mark her with my blood and all I needed was a lock of her hair or a drop of blood and I would be able to find her again.

I had with me a small knife, tipped with a poison that would render the victim unconscious for a while. I planned to use it on the girl; it would knock her out and at the same time I could collect some of her blood. Dawn wasn’t more than an hour or two away and both Kenta and I wouldn’t dare risk being caught in first light- it would drain us of too much of our power and the pain would be agonizing. We’d have to leave to take cover until morning light had passed and the girl would be lost to him. I, on the other hand, would have a way to find her. Kenta might not be one to do things half-way but neither was I.

“Let’s go.” Kenta’s voice came from behind me.

I nodded and we began to walk towards the door.

The hunters were just as careless as our coven had been; they left the entrance unguarded. There were, of course protective symbols scratched into the door and other protective methods, van-van oil smeared across the door or doorframe- I could smell it. There was brick powder laid across the threshold too and no doubt there’d be angelica root, ribbon grass and other plants of a similar sort tucked above the door lintel. It was too bad that kind of hoodoo didn’t work on us, though it might pose as a barrier for the reaping daemons. Kenta and I would have get rid of as much of it as possible, make as many openings as we could and what better way to start than kicking in the front door.

Alarmed voices filled the air and I could hear them running around, probably arming themselves.

“You never were any good at being subtle,” Kenta grinned as he pushed what was left of the door out the way.

“I don’t see the need,” I answered, entering the house.

“You wouldn’t,” he snickered and for the first time since I could remember I thought there was an undertone in his voice.

I ignored it- it was probably my own paranoia because of what I was about to do- and felt on top of the door lintel. Sure enough my fingers brushed against what felt like dry grass. I pulled the herbs down and threw them to the floor, away from the door.

I turned around in time to see Kenta throwing aside the body of his first fatality; first blood had been spilled.  The air was rent with yammering and howling and the guttural sounds of the beasts we’d summoned. Some of them took the form of huge black wolves; some looked liked hyenas and others like mutated dogs.

“Not a bad job, even if I do say so myself,” Kenta laughed, “We’re just short of summoning Kerberos.”

The creatures where filtering into the house like a swift black fog rolling off the sea. Kenta watched them with a wide grin on his face.

“If you’ll excuse me,” he inclined his head in a small bow, a mock gesture. “I can’t let them have all the fun.”

As he turned I saw the smile fade from his face and the intent brighten in his eyes; he was going to find and kill the girl. He was gone from my sight in a second. It was now a race between the two of us and the reaping daemons to see who could find her first.

I ran up the stairs and burst into the first room that came into sight, when I found that she wasn’t in there I hurried to the next, continuing the pattern as I made my way down the hall. Then Kenta came into view and he was heading straight for the door at the end of the hall. Somehow I felt that he knew where she was and so I followed him.

We burst through the door a split second apart and there she was, with shotgun in hand. I was glad at once that Kenta had entered first because she shot at him and because of reflex he dodged- a shot gun wouldn't cause him much harm. It gave me the advantage and I got to her first. As I ran towards her I bit the tip of my thumb, drawing blood. I knocked the gun out of her hand and in the same motion I got behind her.

“Blake, don’t.” Kenta almost looked angry.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you kill her.” As I spoke I dew the knife.

With one hand I pierce her shoulder, deep enough for the poison to get into her blood quickly; with the other hand I wiped my bleeding thumb across her cheek, smearing my blood on her. I then released her, pushing her away from me and into the room somewhere.

Kenta’s gaze danced across the room but he couldn’t see her; she was hidden from him; she was hidden from both of us.

“Don’t think that I don’t see through you, little brother.” For once his face was completely expressionless, inscrutable, the way an emotionless fiend aught to look. “She’s safe for today but I will find her.”

He turned and walked away because he knew that no matter what he did, even if he set the house on fire, no action, no plan or deed, carried out or even devised  by him would harm her. There was nothing he could do to reach her now.

we were no longer brothers... we were rivals.