Chapter Ten

Chappy ten! Sorry for the wait.

Chapter Ten: Coven, Witch, and Fight.

I froze.  For a moment a thousand thoughts rushed through my head.  They’d found out about me and Ash!  I’d lost my job!  Someone important had been killed!  The Centre had been destroyed!  I thought of every possibility and probability that could have happened and that might have happened. 

“Ayre? Hello? Ayre?” Jackie’s voice asked, annoying at the fact that I was ignoring her. 

I snapped to my senses. I hated it when I did that, when someone would say something and my brain would go haywire, thinking of every possibility and play them all in my head, making my paranoid.  Damn my over active imagination.  You’d think that after everything I’d seen over the past years that my mind would be less paranoid and more controlling.  But, nope, it was still as crazy and over active as it was ten years ago.

“Sorry, what did you just say?” I asked, feeling like an idiot now. 

“I said that there is the Midnight Moon Witch coven near to the Centre,” Jackie told me. 

I could hear the scowl in her voice.  She hated it too when my mind went nuts, because it meant I focused on my thoughts instead of what was being said.  And she hated to repeat herself. 

“You’re kidding me?” I asked.  “I thought we made a deal with them to make sure they didn’t come near the Centre?”

We often made deals with covens and packs, asking them to stay away from the Centre if we agreed to stay away from wherever they were based.  It was an easy deal, and a very easy one to keep.  The Midnight Moon coven lived in an old abandoned mansion that stood five storeys all, covered in ivy and looked like something out of a horror story.  There was an old graveyard behind the mansion, but it hadn’t been used in years.  The Witches had chosen that house for that reason only.  They had resurrected some of the old body for slaves and used the trapped souls in rituals. 

“Well, the deal seems to be broken,” Jackie told me.  “We’re all trying to find out why they’ve moved back to the mansion, but we’ve drawn a blank.  The Blue Moon is a month away, the souls and bodies in the graves have been used and the Animal Beasts Coven moved away last year.”

The Animal Beasts Coven was another coven nearby.  They hadn’t bothered us really, and apparently were really good friends and allies with Midnight Moon Witch Coven.  Unlike the Midnight’s, the Animal Beasts Coven switched from the good side to the bad side.  I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. 

“Well, what are we gonna do?” I asked.

“Well, they’ve already broken the deal,” Jackie said.  “So we were going to send some Hunters round to see them.”

“Why did you call me then? I’m out of action.”

“Justin wants you to go on this one since you sorted it out last time.”

That was true, I had… and had ended up sticking myself in hospital.  Me and the leader of the Coven, Riah, weren’t exactly best mates.  Last time I’d met her, I’d punched her and then killed one of her witches before we came to our agreement.  She wasn’t exactly happy with me, and would really be pissed off when she saw me. 

I raced into my bedroom and jammed the phone between my cheek and my shoulder as I pulled down some black jeans and a dark blue t-shirt.

“What time are we going?” I asked, as I pulled on some clean underwear.

“In an hour,” Jackie told me, after letting me swear when I accidently kicked the wall.  “We were waiting for you really.”

“Well, I’ll be there soon,” I told her, putting the phone down quickly to pull my t-shirt over my head. 

I looked at myself in the mirror and then shook my head.  I swapped the dark blue t-shirt for a dark grey tank top.  I pulled on a pair of boots with two buckles run up the outside of each leg.  I let my boot leg jeans hang over them instead of tucking them in and grabbed the phone.

“Okay, I’m on my way,” I told her as I raced into my bedroom and grabbed my keys off my bed. 

“See you in ten,” Jackie said before cutting the phone off.

I chucked the phone on my bed and then raced into the living room.  I grabbed my dagger and then raced out my apartment.  I hadn’t been on an assignment in weeks and was eager  to get going again.  If this turned into a fight, I might have a little problem or two but I’d be fine.  I’d be slower than usual but again, I’d be fine.  I took care of my body �" apart from when I’m letting it get beaten up �" and pain wasn’t a common factor in my body.  I’d taken a lot of pain over the years, both physically and mentally.  I headed out my apartment, being as quick as I could.  It was cold when I got outside my building and ran towards my car parked in the car park for the owners of flats only.  I hadn’t even looked out the window this morning, Ash had distracted me. 

Ash.

I guessed he wouldn’t be pleased at the fact that I’m going on a mission whilst I was still injured, even though I was practically healed.  Some cuts and bruises still remained but the gash I’d had to have stitches for was basically healed.  Maybe if I proved that I was okay, Justin would let me back earlier.  I hated being off, it drove me nuts, but having Ash around made things better. 

It didn’t take me long to get to the Centre, as always.  I got there even quicker than usual because I was speeding most of the way.  I’d probably end up with a parking ticket tomorrow.  Not that I cared.  I had only ever got two points on my licence.  I’ve got at least ten more points to come before I get my licence taken off me.  Jackie and three other people were waiting for me, all of them carrying weapons from guns to a sword.  Most Demon Hunters could use a lot of weapons, but most people stuck with what they felt comfortable with.  With me, it was my dagger and my fighting skills.  Although a nine millimetre hand gun was a nice touch.  That was the very gun Jackie handed over to me, is a holster that I could strap to my left thigh, making it easy to draw the gun.  Jackie watched me as I strapped it to my leg, and then hung my dagger around my waist.  Jackie was wearing a pair of jeans and a black jumper.  Her sword was on her back again and she had a determined look in her eyes.  Jackie was as bad as me sometimes with how determined she could be.  I guess that’s what made us friends, our personalities.  Jackie had lost her dad to werewolves, well, when I say lost, I mean they bit him… and Jackie had killed him.  Funnily enough, I’d been the one sent to check out the werewolves and their biting problem.  I found Jackie, covered in blood from head to toe, holding a blade made out of pure silver.  It was weird, because even though she was older than me, I always felt like I was the older one.  She’d only lost one parent, and I’d lost both, but I didn’t have to kill them.  In ways I felt sorry for Jackie, and in ways, she felt sorry for me.  I’m glad to call her my friend.

“Are we ready to go?” I asked. 

They all nodded.  I recognised a few guys from the training room.  Me and Jackie were the only girls.  I nodded, mostly to myself and then jerked my left thumb at the road.  It was only a five minute walk down the road to the mansion, no need for cars.  Jackie walked off, the others following her.  I glanced around, getting the feeling I was being watched.  You know that feeling, where the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and that prickly feeling rushed across your skin.  I sighed, shaking my head at myself and ran to catch up with Jackie.  I needed to get my head in the game.  If this would turn into a fight, I needed to have a clear head, and that meant not thinking about that someone might be watching me, or Ash.  God if I started thinking about him, my legs would turn to jelly, never mind having an unclear head.  I’d get my butt kicked if I distracted myself by thinking about how hot Ash was.

I flushed a light pink colour at my thoughts and shook my head at myself.

Come on, Ayre, get your head in the game!  I told myself.

Jackie glanced at me weirdly and I grinned back in response.  I knew she was excited about this as well.  I could see it in her eyes, the sparkle of excitement that swam around her pupils.  She grinned, showing me her white teeth.  Jackie didn’t exactly like witches, her cousin was one and Jackie had never gotten on with her.  It was true, some Demon Hunters had relatives that were a Demon themselves.  I knew a guy at the Centre who was still in contact with his vampire brother.  His brother was a vampire known as an ‘CWP’, a Changed Without Permission.  Vampires had laws for some things, like us humans have laws.  And one of their laws was they could only change a human into a vampire with the human’s permission.  That was sort of one of our rules as well.  We couldn’t force anyone or a Lost Demon Hunter to become one.  It was their own decision and sometimes it can be the best one… or the worst.

“Ayre?” Jackie’s voice disrupted my thoughts.

I snapped my head to her, a little shocked.

“What?” I asked.

“I asked if you were okay!” Jackie said, frowning.  “You seem a bit off today.”

“Nah, I’m good,” I told her, looking ahead again at the road ahead.  “Just a little tired.”

Jackie frowned at me still, that thoughtful look replacing the excitement in her eyes.  She suddenly grinned and laughed at me.  I stared at her, shocked a little.  What had her mental brain come up with now? 

“Oh my god!” she said, still laughing.  “You got yourself a man!”

I flushed a dark colour, I could tell by the way my cheeks went from a little warm to blazing hot.  Okay, she’d guessed that a man had stepped into my life, but she didn’t know it was a vampire.  She’d guess I’d never go out with a vampire, because of what happened to my parents, let along kiss one and allow them to drink my blood when they were dying.

“I have not!” I tried to deny it, but the evidence was bright red on my face.

Jackie clapped me on the back, which hurt a little.  Jackie was well known for being heavy handed.  She’d one broken a door because she’d had an argument and slammed it.  That was funny.  I’d been in fits of laughter and tears when she’d told me she had to have sixty pounds taken out of her pay cheque for the damage.  I still didn’t know how she did it, the door was made of solid oak, but it had been old.

“Yes you have! Look at you!” Jackie said, grinning wickedly at me.  “You’re bright red!”

I rubbed my cheek with my hand, as if I could rub away the blush.

“Okay, okay, okay,” I said, sighing a little but still grinning.  “I have, but he’s nothing serious.”

Liar! I thought.  This is very serious, and don’t know how or why you love him, but you do!

“Yeah, right!” Jackie said, chuckling at me and my blasé attitude. 

I giggled at her and she laughed again.  I couldn’t believe it, I actually had a boyfriend… of some sorts. We hadn’t actually said anything about boyfriend and girlfriend but the fact that we could hardly keep our hands off each other and that very heated make-out session this morning meant we were boyfriend and girlfriend… right?  I don’t exactly have a lot of boyfriend history, so I wouldn’t even know where to go with this.  Well, I knew where we’d end up one day, but you get what I mean.  I didn’t want to ask Jackie about it because I didn’t want to tell her I was going out with a vampire.  That would ruin our friendship, my job and potentially, everything I’ve worked for over the years.  But did I really want to keep doing something that meant I killed the one I loved family or friends?  My heart sunk, I could have killed any of Ash’s friends, any of his family.  My mind wandered back to that time in England, when I’d watched him tell the other vampires to leave.  They’d listened to him without question, it was a high ranking vampire, and I’d killed some of those with a little help.  I frowned as I walked next to Jackie, the mansion coming into view.  I glanced up at the place.  It was very old, and the inside always smelt of mould and dust.   But the outside had somehow survived the weather beatings over the years.  The brick and wood didn’t even look phased by what had happened over the years to it.  Maybe it was a witch thing, they were close to perfecting the spell to cure cancer apparently, so I wouldn’t expect them to have already made a spell which could make anything impervious to the weather. 

Jackie let me walk in front, she had a problem with a male witch here, Riah’s right hand man.  Q is what they called him, and if he wasn’t on the bad side of all this, I might think him cute, although after seeing Ash, I wouldn’t dare call anyone cute or hot anymore, he was cuter and hotter than all of them put together.  Wow, I was really letting my feelings out about Ash.  Maybe this is those “it’s meant to be” sort of things.  I breathed in at the thought of Ash and pushed him out my mind, I needed a clear mind now, and thinking about Ash wouldn’t make it clear.  There was a large oak door in front of me, covered in pentagons and there was a gold knocker in the shape of a crescent moon.  I lifted the heavy, gold moon and slammed it back down, not once, but three times.  It was polite to knock, also, if we just storm in, that might provoke a fight, which is what we were trying to avoid.  As much as we loved a fight, we wanted to get this sorted as quick as possible.  We had other problems to worry about, although this could potentially become a serious situation if we didn’t try to sort it out quickly. 

The door opened and I heard Jackie scoff before I actually recognised who it was.  It was Q, looking as cute as ever.  I think he was a skater boy, he certainly had that look.  He was about eighteen, with sunny blonde hair with was longish and fell over his eyes.  His eyes were startling blue.  Today, he was wearing jeans that dropped a little lower than say my jeans, his black boots and a t-shirt that said, “2 Cool for Skool” on the front.  I nearly laughed at the sight of him.  He looked more like a kid you’d find at a mall breaking windows or on a skate park than in a mansion practicing magic.  Q scowled when he saw us and I scowled back. if he really wanted a scowling competition, I was going to win.  I noticed two earphone wires tucked into the collar of his shirt, the wire trailing down his t-shirt and into his pocket.  I could hear some faint music coming from the buds tucked under his t-shirt.

“What do you want, Ayre?” he asked.

Yeah, they knew our names, but then again, we knew theirs.  By knowing our names they were locked off from any magic they could place on us with a bit of our hair or something with our DNA.  I’d checked it up after they’d told us the last time we were here, I don’t chance things usually when it comes down to stuff like this.  I cocked my head to the side, smirking now.

“We’ve come to see why you’ve moved back here, breaking the deal we made,” I told him.

He rolled his eyes and stormed off towards a large oak door opposite the front door, muttering, “Bloody Demon Hunters” as he walked.  I chuckled at him and shrugged to the rest of them behind me.  They were there for back-up really, in case it really did turn into a fight.  Also, Jackie’s main Demon to hunt was witches, although I expected her to go after werewolves more because of what happened to her father, but I guess she isn’t that obvious.  I didn’t really have a main Demon to go after, I just went after all of them.  I guess I could say I dealt with more vampires than anything else, but that was only by a small percentage.  I saw Q shout something to someone in the room beyond the door and I sighed as Riah appeared.  Riah was a chubby girl for someone of only sixteen, but I guessed it was because she got everyone else in her little coven to do everything. Her long, wavy red hair was tied back into a pony tail and there was a brush of some red powder on the left side of her nose that stood out against her creamy skin.  Above the smudge was a couple freckles, just on the bridge of her nose.  Other than that, her skin was flawless.  She was wearing a pair of red jeans and a white tank top.  Both were covered in the same red powder that was on her nose.  She scowled when she saw me and I rolled my eyes.  Q glanced at us and then slipped into the room at the same time Riah stepped out and started walking towards us.  He slammed the door shut and I felt Jackie wince next to me.  once in front of us, Riah placed her hands on her hips and I noticed that the manicured nails were painted red to match her jeans.

“Yes, Demon Hunter?” she asked, referring to me only.

“We wanna know why you’ve moved back here and broken the deal we made,” I said, folding my arms over my chest. 

“We wanted to,” she told me, shrugging.

“You’ve broken a deal, we’ll have to take action.”

“Then take it, Demon Hunter!”

Riah held out her arms for me to strike.  I scowled, infolding my arms so my hands were down by my thighs.  My hand rested near my gun, ready to whip it out if I needed to.  the door behind her opened again and Q stepped out, followed by the other members of Riah’s coven.  Q stood in front of them all, his arms crossed, waiting to strike.  I looked behind me at the guys and sighed a little turning back to Riah. 

She punched me, and because I hadn’t been expecting it, I feel to the ground, tasting blood as I felt that my tooth had split open my lip.  Jackie lunged forwards, punching Riah in the face.  The guys behind us leapt into action as the rest of Riah’s coven and Q lunged forwards at Jackie.  I quickly got to my feet and wiped blood from my mouth, probably smearing it all up onto my cheek.  I smirked at Riah as she bypassed Jackie’s attack.  I nodded to Jackie as she spun around to lung at Riah and Jackie got the message.  Riah was mine.  It didn’t really matter anyway, Q took the advantage to lung past one of my men and straight at Jackie herself.  Jackie responded in a right hook straight into the face, causing him to step back.  He swung with his fist but I never saw if it connected because I ducked to avoid a punch thrown at me by Riah.  I leaned forwards onto the floor on my hand and swung my leg into Riah’s, tripping her up.  I stood up at the moment she landed with a heavy thud and dodged her hand that lunged at my ankle.  She scowled up at me and I smirked down to her.  She rolled away from me to avoid a kick I’d aimed at her side and I raced after her.   I ducked to avoid a punch of another member of her coven and grabbed their wrist before twisting it, causing him to fall to his name and howl in pain.  I twisted harder and I both felt and heard his wrist snap.  He screamed in agony and punched him in the face before planting a hard kick into his chest.  I had no idea what I did to him, but he slumped to his side, either dead or unconscious. 

Riah yelled as she came towards me again, swinging her fists constantly, aiming for anything.  I noticed I was an inch taller than her and smirked a little more.  I leaned back and ducked each time she swung, letting her tire for a little before striking out with my fist.  I could feel blood dripping down my chin but I really didn’t care.  I slammed the palm of my hand into her nose and felt the bone break underneath my skin.  I spun on the spot and collided by elbow with the side of her head, right on the temple.  She groaned and fell to the floor, that meant she wasn’t dead.  A blow like that could kill a person if you were strong enough.  On the floor, Riah pulled out a small, silver blade from her jean pocket and I pulled out my dagger.  Her blade looked like the kind you would cut things up with and I was sure she did cut up herbs or whatever she used as a witch.  She slowly got to her feet and thrust the blade out at me, but I danced back just in time, the blade didn’t even get near me.  I spun around on the spot this time and wiped my dagger around with me.  Riah screamed and clamped her hand and the handle of the blade over the gash on her left shoulder.  I held out my blade, which was glistening with drops of her blood near the tip.  I looked at her as she dropped her hand, blood pouring down, soaking and staining her top red.  She lunged at me, but I was ready.  I thrust forwards with my dagger with one hand and grabbed her wrist with the hand that held the blade.  My left hand turned the blade away from me, making it stab thin air and my right hand sunk the dagger into Riah’s stomach right up to the hilt. She gasped and dropped the blade.  It clanged as it hit the floor and I felt her relax under my grip.  I let go on her wrist and both her hands flew to her stomach, where blood had exploded around the hilt. 

I pulled the dagger out as I heard the last body drop.  Somehow we had ended up outside the mansion rather than inside.  I glanced over Riah’s shoulder to see all of my men still standing, along with Jackie who was staring down at Q who was on the floor.  I looked back at Riah in time to see her drop to the ground.  She rolled onto her back, tears streaming down her face.  I bent down to help but she screamed and shoved me away.  I stood back up and looked away from her.  No-one of her age should die.  I looked up at Jackie and then heard something.  It was a mutter of words and then I was thrown back as a flash of purple erupted at my feet.  I yelled out as my back hit the solid wall that ran around the whole mansion and its garden.  I heard Jackie scream my name as I slid down the wall and landed on the rough ground.  I lifted my head to see a scorch mark on the ground where Riah had been, but no Riah.  D****t!  I groaned as Jackie ran over and helped me get up.

“Ayre?!” she practically yelled in my ear.

I hadn’t smacked my head off the wall when I’d collided with it, that I made sure of, but my back ached.  I was sure I hadn’t broken anything, I wasn’t in enough pain for that.  I waved a hand at Jackie and looked up at her face.

“I’m good,” I told her, shaking out my shoulders and wincing a little at the pain.

“You sure?” Jackie asked as the rest of my men came over.

They all looked a little battered and bruised, but everyone was still here.  I nodded to Jackie and looked at them.

“How many dead?” I asked.

“None,” Jackie said, causing me to look at her.  “We managed to just knock them out.  Apart from Riah, who took off.”

“What did she do?” I asked, Jackie had been watching us so she’d know at least something.

“I don’t know,” Jackie told me.  “She pulled someone out from her pocket, said something and disappeared.”

“Must have been some sort of transport device,” I said.  “We’ve heard of stones that are connected to a second stone somewhere in the world.  You just say something and next thing you know you’re standing next to the second stone.”

“How do you know?” Jackie asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Mystic Gester,” I said, “she’s a witch that I met a year ago.  She told me a thing or two about witches and I wrote it down.  You’ve read it, all of you.”

Jackie smirked to me.  I smirked back and rubbed my shoulder.

“Okay, Jackie, call Justin,” I said, taking control again.  “You lot go back in and check on the rest of the coven.  I’ll come in with you and check them all out.”

The guys nodded and started walking back to mansion.  I glanced at Jackie and watched her pull out her cell to call Justin.  I sighed, still rubbing my shoulder and followed the guys back into the mansion, picking up my dagger off the floor on the way in.  I leaned down to a small boy who looked about seventeen with shaggy blonde hair and wiped Riah’s blood on his t-shirt.  they’d all be locked away in the small jail we have under the gym at the Centre.  Then they’d either be let free or kept there. I knew that we had a warlock down there that had been there for three years now.  I often went down there to check on a few people I’d put down there.  Any Demon that died was burnt in the infirmary and then the ashes thrown away.  The bad Demons didn’t deserve a burial or a funeral.  Sometimes if we found a Demon that helped us and gave us information we still burnt them, but we poured their ashes into a river or something to allow their bodies to become food for plants or whatever human ash does in the wild.  I glanced around at the unconscious bodies of the witches and sighed a little.  Sometimes Demon’s killed themselves somehow in the jail cells.  With the knifes we give them to help them eat or they just starve to death.  Not that I cared, if they got themselves in their for being bad, they were as good as dead to me. 

As I got thinking, I thought about Ash, he was bad, right?  He’d sucked my blood the first time we’d met, but he had also saved my life, and I had saved his.  What did that make him? Slightly good but slightly bad? I didn’t really know a lot about him, he was quite secretive about his past and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get him to spill anything to me.  I sighed and rubbed my eyes, thinking.  I needed a way to get him to open up to me, but how?!  I sighed a little and ran a hand through my hair.  I spotted blood on my hand and suddenly remembered my bust lip.  Now I remembered, a throbbing pain started in my lip around where the cut was.  I must look a mess, with blood everywhere.  I could feel the drying blood on my cheek and on my chin.  I needed to clean up.

I didn’t get chance to clean up until twenty minutes later, when Justin arrived in a van that would take the remaining people from the coven back to the Centre.  When I told him that Riah had gotten away, he wasn’t pleased with me.  I told him that she would probably be dead anyway since I had stabbed her in the stomach and she was bleeding pretty heavily before she left.  There was a blood stain where the scorch mark was on the floor.  Justin sorted out the coven whilst I walked back to base.  I was going to have a shower and then go home.  Just had told me that once I’d had my shower that I had to go home.  Damn him!  I sighed as I walked along the track, alone now as Jackie and the rest of them had stayed to help Justin and some other people get the rest of the coven in the back of the van. 

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end and I froze in mid step.  There it was again, that feeling of being watched.  I glanced around.  I was out of sight of the mansion, and nowhere near the Centre.  There was nothing apart from trees around me.  I frowned a little and looked back the way I’d come, waiting for someone come round the corner of something.  But no-one came.  I sighed and shook my head, maybe I needed more sleep.  I walked on, making sure to ignore the fact that I could feel two eyes on my back, watching me go. 

Author's Note

Please comment and stuff guys. I'd love feedback.

Reviews

[Lunar Star]

Its amazing i can’t wait for more