Three days till the solstice
"Ashley... do it one more time!" Robert shouted.
"Yeah Ashley... please," Luke added.
Ashley sent a deadly stare to Samantha, who simply smiled. After Samantha discovered her secret eight days ago, Ashley had no choice but to finally let in all of her friends. Richard did not object to this idea, though he clearly still felt that her friends wouldn't be safe if they all got caught up in Ashley's new world... and life.
"Come on Ashy! Show us! Show us!" Leah shouted.
They were all at a secluded part of the beach where people rarely visited. Salty air blew gently and the sound of ocean waves echoed throughout the area. Leah was acting more her age now than she ever did. The usually serious child was jumping and running around in a beautiful bright yellow dress and she wore the perfect smile to match it.
"Ashley!" Claire shouted this time, imitating the voice of a mother scolding her child.
"Alright alright... geez," Ashley retorted.
She dragged her denim clothed body towards some rocks and faced the pure blue water. After some quick hand and coordinated body movements, Ashley was controlling a puddle of water which she directed at Luke.
"What the... Ashley!"
"That's what you get for being impatient Luke," Ashley said. "And you're only wearing a short so, you shouldn't be complaining."
"So how does it feel?" Claire asked.
This might have been the first time she heard such a question from someone she had told her secret. Claire had only found out about Ashley yesterday. When Samantha found out, and Ashley explained everything, she was the one who suggested that it would be best if Ashley revealed her secret to one friend at a time.
"Well... To put it simply, everything is heightened," Ashley answered. "My senses, physical abilities, and my emotions... I feel like all these have become sharper. Sometimes I don't feel like this has been good for me."
Ashley remembered how angry she was when she fought Jacob at Alex's funeral. She not only wanted to kill him but she wanted him to suffer for what he did. That was a side of her she hoped she would never have to see again.
"On the bright side," Robert said, placing a finger on his chin. "At least now we know The Storm-Riders will never have to worry about losing a single match... Ow!"
Ashley had controlled some water into small round ice spheres and projected them at Robert.
The whole gang couldn't help but simply laugh... well, not the whole gang. One of them wasn't here.
"Guys," Ashley said, in a low voice. "Tonight... I am telling Adrian."
Luke and Robert's faces were gleaming with joy. Even when she shouldn't have, Ashley had made them promise not to tell Adrian about her. It was hard for them these past few days. They easily accepted what Ashley was and the real world she... they lived in.
"No more lies," Samantha said. "No more secrets."
Standing a few meters away from the group was Sara. The girl looked great in her deep blue skirt and a short white T-shirt. Ashley's friends also knew about Sara and Adrian being Hunters but there was still the one mystery that even Ashley had not quite figured out.
Sara walked to them. They all just stared silently. This clearly made Sara uncomfortable cause her little body was trembling slightly.
Ashley wrapped her right hand around Sara's shoulder and said, "The great Hunter, shaking before a mermaid and four mere humans... your superiors would be disappointed."
A smile formed across Sara's face and tears filled in her eyes.
She made a few hand signs.
"What did she say?" Leah asked.
That's right. In their group, only Ashley could understand sign language.
"She said 'No more secrets'" Ashley said.
Sara sat on one of the rocks. Everyone else gathered around her. Ashley, wearing a blue denim jacket and jeans, sat next to Sara. Claire sat next to Samantha who sat next to Luke and Robert.
"I will translate what she says," Ashley said.
Sara took in a deep breath and started making hand signs which Ashley translated into words.
"It happened five years ago. My family and I went on a trip to visit my cousin in Mexico. It was nice to see my cousin Angel again but while I was there I discovered that my family had been keeping a secret. Like Adrian, I also come from a line of Hunters. I discovered this when I saw my cousin crack open the skull of a werewolf that attacked our home. But there is a reason why my family kept this secret from me and the answer was held within my soul... and I mean that literally."
"Turns out, centuries ago, my great-great-great-great-grandfather from my father's side was a coward. He sought dark magic in order to have enough power to defeat the dark creatures that were terrorizing his people. Though many people, including some members of my family, call him a hero, I wouldn't hesitate to stick my sword in the old geezer's heart if it meant preventing what I've become because of it. When he obtained the power he sought, it came at a high price... Blood lust... an intense urge to spill the blood of any supernatural being he came across."
Sara placed her hand on her nape and for the first time... for the first time since she'd known Sara, Ashley saw it. At the back of Sara's neck was what anyone could have mistaken for a birthmark. A triangle which was upside-down, touching its horizontal side was a small upright semi-circle and passing symmetrically through them both was a waving line that looked like a thin vine with thorny branches shooting out of it; that was how the mark looked.
Everyone seated rose up and gathered around Sara. She began to sign again and Ashley continued talking.
"This is not a birthmark... well it is and everyone in my family has one."
Sara then made signs that Ashley didn't quite understand.
Picking up a small stick, Sara began to write on the ground.
"E-El bus-ca-dor de sangre... El buscador de sangre," Luke said. "Looks like Spanish... What does it mean?"
Sara started making hand signs.
"The blood seeker..." Ashley translated. "That's what I am. I tried to deny it even after I saw the pleasure that my cousin had on her face as she tore apart that werewolf and I promised myself that I would never become like that. My parents didn't want that life for me either but I soon discovered that it is both futile and stupid to try and run away from fate."
"But I met someone back in Mexico. The day I was told to accept my fate as a Blood Seeker, I ran away. It was dark and I didn't realize how far I had run until I found myself in an empty street... well at least I thought it was empty. Three large men came out of nowhere and I was so focused on them that I didn't notice the other who sneaked behind me and he was the one who grabbed and gagged my mouth. I guess he didn't know that I couldn't talk."
"I was helpless as they carried me into an empty dark alley. All I did was close my eyes and I just prayed in my heart for anyone to save me."
Sara smiled and continued her hand signs.
"That's when I first met Spencer. I saw three of the men's heads get shaved clean off their necks after just one swing of Spencer's hand. The one who had held me let me go and pulled out a gun. But it didn't do him any good because... Spencer was a vampire. Before the man could even fire the gun, Spencer had already sunk his teeth in his neck and had sucked every ounce of blood in his body."
"A beautiful dangerous face and a perfect build... Spencer was someone I couldn't help but adore. 'Hey kid...' he said to me. 'Aren't you too young to be wandering these streets alone'."
"I wanted to thank him but something else happened. The mark on the back of my neck began to burn and I blacked out. When I woke up two days later I found myself on a soft bed in an old mansion; Spencer had brought me there. He came and told me that I had attacked him and would have killed him if I had stabbed him in the heart with a wooden stake instead of a broken bottle. I explained everything about my curse and Spencer was intrigued. He then wrote down a number; five hundred sixty-one thousand four hundred and five. That was his number in the Book of Condemned Souls."
"The book of what now?" Robert interrupted and was shushed by everyone else.
Ashley continued translating.
"Having such a number meant that Spencer was an easy target for new Hunters since most preferred to select low ranked supernatural beings for the Grand Hunt. However, Spencer said that he had been a vampire for over two hundred years and had managed to evade every Hunter sent his way. He knew he couldn't run forever and said that he was thinking of just giving up."
"I didn't have anything to say to him. He must have been turned into a vampire when he was in his early twenties and had already lived for two hundred years. What was I to say to encourage him? His life was just as messed up as mine. Then he told me something that took me by surprise. He said that he was once a Hunter named Luis and that during his first mission he was captured by a female vampire that killed his comrades and turned him into a vampire as a punishment. Spencer said that until he found that vampire and destroyed her, he wouldn't let any Hunter get the better of him."
"If it wasn't for me maybe his wish would have someday come true..."
"My family had tracked me using a locator spell and all of them had activated their Blood Seeker marks. The once small mark at the back of their necks had now spread to their faces, hands, and feet. They attacked Spencer without a shred of mercy. I tried to stop them but they were too strong and too fast. Spencer was doing his best to avoid their attacks but at the same time, he was trying not to hurt them. I tried reasoning with them but once your soul is overcome by the blood lust there is no coming back until you kill your target.
"So, I had no choice but to do the one thing I could think of... I consciously activated my Blood Seeker and once again lost all awareness of what happened next. When I opened my eyes my parents hugged me and told me that I had protected Spencer even in my state but because a fire had broken out and when the roof gave in, Spencer pushed me out of the way and ended up getting trapped... no one could have saved him. They then gave me something... something that Spencer had given them before they escaped; an address that would soon lead me to the Hunters headquarters in London."
"I joined the Hunters and registered myself as Spencer. Since my family had no ties with them I had to destroy over fifty dark creatures just so they could accept a total stranger as one of them. I work alone and my blood lust has gotten the better of me in some battles. The Hunters, however, just think of me as a bloodthirsty b..."
Ashley paused, coughed and said, "Ahem... Sara, language, please... Leah's here."
Sara gave Ashley a stare that said 'Well, you could always censor my words.'
Ashley couldn't help but laugh. She continued translating the story.