Blood Reign Book One: Jacob

Chapter 9
Unwelcome

         The voices were the first thing to reach my conscious thoughts. Thackery seemed to in the middle of a heated debate. I didn’t recognize the person he was arguing with, but I assumed it was with the girl with the glasses.
         I sat straight up when memory of the incident in the forest hit me. I looked franticly around and wondered if we were still in danger, but the familiar scenery of Chris’s apartment greeted my eyes. The smell of herbs and medicine wafted through the air. I listened carefully to the argument outside the door.
         “Please,” Thackery pleaded, “you’re one of the best fighters I’ve seen. He could learn so much from you. Mell and I don’t have time to teach him everything he needs to know.”
         “He seems to already be able to handle himself. You saw what he did to ten of them. Ten! Not many creatures, alive or dead, can take on that many Blood Vamps and come out on top. He not only won, but he straight slaughtered them! It looked so easy for him. What could I possibly teach him?” a female voice questioned.
         “That wasn’t him. Well it was but it wasn’t. He lost control of his body. He acted on pure instinct. He didn’t know what he was doing,” Thackery countered.
         There was a low sigh in response. “Very well. I will show him what I can, but only on one condition. No one is to question my methods or interrupt us,” she agreed, though she sounded irritated.
         Just then, Mell opened the door and stepped in. She wasn’t surprised to see me awake. “Hey there, how are you feeling?” she ask as she sat on the edge of the bed.
         “You probably know better than I do,” I said in a feeble attempt at sarcasm.
         She chuckled softly. “Yeah, you’re right.”
         Thackery came into the room then, followed by the vampire from the forest. “Jacob, this is La’raye. She helped us in the forest.”
         She smiled and nodded. Her tie-dyed shirt had a few rips in it with blood splattered across it and her jeans were frayed at the bottoms. She didn’t look like the fighter Thackery had said she was.
         Suddenly the scene replayed in my head, but from a different point of view. This was the fight as Thackery had seen it. I recognized the crumpled up heap as myself. I watched as La’raye fought off three of the Bloods. Her movements were precise and well executed, as if she had done it thousands of times. She was very skilled. Another sight caught my attention. A large beast with fur as black as the night itself fought alongside Tine. This had to be Darren.
         I watched as the me in the memory suddenly leapt to his feet. My face was contorted with anger and agony. I barely recognized myself. My fangs hadn’t even dropped. I watched as I snapped one Bloods neck then shoved one’s jaw through his brain and caved in another’s skull in the same flip. I heard Thackery use his ability to tell the others to wait as the remaining seven turned on the other me.
         I couldn’t believe what I saw. I had killed them so easily. Just a few moves, then only two remained. They had tried to run, but I had moved fast enough to put my hand trough the chest of the one in front, his still beating heart in my hand. As he turned to ash, the other launched a desperate attack. I had caught his fist easily. With a well placed spinning kick to his shoulder, his arm came off into my hand, which I then used like a baseball bat and sent his head flying into a tree. His head burst to ash on contact. His body lingered only for a moment before turning to ash. Only the arm in my hand remained.
         The memory ended and I looked at Thackery. He nodded. I was still in shock. Then I remembered the reason I had lost it.
         “Amber!” I nearly shouted. I started to get out of the bed, but Thackery pushed me back down.
         “What is it? What’s wrong?” Tiffany questioned as she ran through the door. “What happened to Amber?”
         “Both of you calm down. I have a few friends watching out for her. They would let me know if something had happened,” Thackery reasoned. A wave of calm washed over us. I knew Mell was using her powers.
         A random thought occurred to me. I had read a series of books about vampires. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer. The characters in the story have gifts almost identical to the ones here. Jasper Hale can control others emotions, just as Mell can. Edward Cullen can read minds, as can Thackery and Tine. If Stephenie had been right about the other two, could she also be right about Alice’s power? If so then….
         Thackery answered my thoughts. “You might be on to something. I hadn’t considered that.”
         The others looked from me to him, then back.
         “Do you think it’s possible?” I ask.
         “Maybe, but-” Thackery stopped and answered his phone. His eyes widened in disbelief. “When?” he ask. He turned and looked at me as he hung up the phone. “Three for three,” he muttered. My heart turned to ice.
         “What are you talking about?” La’raye questioned impatiently.
         “Amber was taken about five minutes ago by a really powerful demon,” Thackery looked at me. “The thing is, Jacob saw her get taken three hours ago. That’s what made him lose control.”
         “So you think he can see the future?” La’raye ask, a bit sarcastically. Thackery explained my thoughts on the book and the coincidence of the other abilities. “Well, I guess it could be possible,” she agreed.
         “Well, if this demon is who I think it is, then we have serious problems. We need a plan,” Thackery said as he paced back and forth.
         “Where’s Tine?” I wondered aloud.
         “She is with Darren, Chase, Chris, and Natalie searching the woods for any more unwanted guests,” Mell explained.
         “Oh. I see,” I replied.
         “Well, Jacob, you and I had better start training. It may take a few days for you to master what I have to teach you. I must warn you though, you will be injured. A lot. Don’t be surprised if you end up with several broken bones,” La’raye said as she stood.
         I got out of the bed and followed her out of the door. I knew this was going to be difficult. Thackery and Mell wished me luck as I passed.

*******

4 days later

         With a final twist of my body, La’raye’s sword shot across the room and dug into a crate. I wrapped the chain around my hand until I caught the blade like a dagger, which I placed against her neck. She had lost. It was the first time I had won. After countless beatings, I finally won. I now knew several different styles of hand to hand combat, and had mastered the use of the kusarigama, a weapon with a blade on one end of a chain and a weight on the other.
         The audience started to cheer. Chase and Darren had decided to stick around because Darren and Tine had a thing for each other. We were all down in Chris’s basement; Darren, Tine, Chase, Chris, Natalie, Thackery, Mell, Tiffany, La’raye, and myself. The others had started to come down and watch as La’raye and my battles started to be less one sided.
         We had also made some progress with my gift. I could catch glimpses of random things; mostly what the weather was going to do.  A few times I managed to see what La’raye was going to do just before she did it. That was very helpful in battle.
          La’raye smiled brightly. “Well done. You have mastered everything I can teach you.”
         I smiled back and lowered the blade. I threw the weighted end of the chain and it wrapped around her sword. With a yank, the sword dislodged from the crate and sailed towards me. I snagged the handle, turned to La’raye, bowed, and offered her the blade. She bowed in return and sheathed the blade.
         “Very good,” an unknown voice said from the stairs. We all whirled at the sound, a few hisses issued from throats. The man from my nightmares stood less than ten feet away. His long black hair came to the top of his scarlet and black cloak. This was the demon that had taken Amber. Now he was here. Rage spiked through my body as I tensed for battle. Cold, black, soulless eyes stared at me. “You’ve grown up since I last saw you. The angels have kept you well hidden. Then you suddenly slipped off their radar. Now I see why. You have turned. Not fully though,” he said in a sensual way, almost persuasive.
         “What are you talking about? Who are you? What have you done with Amber?” I shouted as I took a step towards him.
         His pale lips twisted into a half smile as he cocked one eyebrow. “How could you, a vampire, possibly care about her? She is the exact opposite of you. She, an angel, could never be with the spawn of a dark seed,” he taunted.
         “An angel? An actual angel? How? I’ve known her for years. We grew up together!” I shouted. I couldn’t believe what he was saying.
         “Wait, spawn of a dark seed?” Thackery ask. “What do you mean by that?”
         The entity laughed a wicked laugh. “That’s right. She is an angel. My sister actually. You see, I am not a demon. I am a fallen angel. Razul is the name. I fell with Lucifer. My brother and his wife found you in an orphanage in Eilat twenty years ago. You are the offspring of a vampire and a human. I honestly have no idea how the vampire managed to not kill the human.”
         “You’re lying!” I yelled in disbelief. “My parents were honest people. My father was a cop!”
         Razul laughed again. “They were not your real parents. They were just the people who agreed to take you in.”
         “Enough,” another voice echoed around the room. A figure appeared beside me dressed all in white. His white hair flowed to his chin. He had bright blue eyes, which were locked on Razul.
         “Alex, so nice of you to join us. Tell me, how is you wife?” Razul ask casually.
         “Where is my sister? What have you done with her!?” Alex shouted in fury. Razul just laughed again.
         Suddenly the shadows started moving. Legion Hunters stepped out and surrounded us. Razul materialized a crimson sword into his hand. “Our sister is in Eilat. Go and get her, if you can,” Razul taunted.
         “You are not part of our family,” Alex replied as he summoned a pearly white sword into his hand.
         “Wait, let me get this straight,” I pointed at Alex, “You’re an angel,” I pointed at Razul, “and you’re a fallen angel. You are brothers. Amber is your sister, also an angel. I am supposedly the spawn of a vampire and a human. What the hell is going on here?”
         Alex looked at me. “Go to Eilat. Save Amber. She will explain everything,” Alex ordered. He snapped his fingers. The weapons Chris and Thackery had been working on appeared in everyone’s hands. He looked around and locked eyes with each of us. “You all have a destiny. You will be separated for a short while, but your paths will cross again. Have faith. All will be reveled in time. Now go!” His last word echoed around the room as a white light suddenly enveloped us.
         For the second time I felt the ground vanish from under me. “Good luck,” a voice whispered in my head.
         The next think I knew, bright sunshine beat down on me. It took me a second to realize that I wasn’t burning. I had forgotten that I didn’t have the same weakness to sunlight that other vampires had. If what Razul had said was right, then it was because I was half human. I wasn’t sure what to believe anymore, but Alex had said to have faith and find Amber. I noticed a sign on a building nearby. I couldn’t understand the writing, but one word stood out. Eilat. I needed to find Amber and she was somewhere in this city, but I had no idea where to start.
         I suddenly caught a glimpse of what was about to happen to Alex. I saw Razul’s sword pierce his chest. He fell motionless to the floor before being engulfed in light. The light scattered in seven directions.
         Alex had saved us, but at the cost of his own life. Razul would pay for this. I headed into the city in hopes that I would somehow find what to do.