Eternal Death (The Death Series)

                                                                              ~Chapter One~

    It was the middle of the night and I was exhausted so I was too tired to sense death coming. The winter air nipped at my toes as I curled them under a blanket that had fallen off of me in the middle of the night. I shivered and buried my face into my frozen pillow, wanting to desperately escape. My fingers stroked the giant ball of fur that was pressed up against me, my German Shepard named Tracker. He was sound asleep and half way pushing me off the bed. I didn't mind though, he was giving off warmth. If it weren't for him, by morning, I would be frozen stiff.
    Suddenly, my eyes popped open at the loud, shattering noise. It sounded like glass breaking, and then screams. Before I knew it, I was sitting up straight, my eyes wide and staring into a never ending, frozen darkness. Next to me, I could feel Tracker sitting up straight as well. My skin seemed to tingle on my flesh, and a weird and uncomfortable feeling consumed my body. I looked down at Tracker to see his eyes watching me carefully, as if wondering what my decision was. "Show time." He gave a sneeze, and from the force it made him nod his head as if he were agreeing with me, and I think he actually was. I gave him a pat on the head and jumped out of bed, him following me.
    The wooden floor stung like ice, so I quickly pulled on some black socks, along with the necklace my mother had given me when I was young. It was even colder than the floor as I hooked it around my neck, but I ignored the stinging as I raced across the room.
    It was very tricky, but I tried to avoid all of the boxes on the floor that were here because we just moved in the day before. I somehow managed to trip over the one that I needed though. Unattaching my face from the floor, I reached inside of the box, pushing aside a mound of art supplies, a few CD's, and a few books. My fingers wrapped around a hard piece of wood. With a tug, an old wooden bat shot out.
    Tracker followed me out of my room and into the apartment's small hallway. A creaky door swung open and Uncle Frederick came out of his own room, wearing only boxers and a t-shirt. I admit, besides the fact that there was a gun placed in one of his hands, it looked like he belonged in an old cheap comedy. For a second I forgot about the screams and giggled. He gave me a serious look. "This is no time to be concerned about my appearance. Now get back in your room, I'll handle this."
    "Uncle Freddie, you and I both know that if we argue about this it will waste time and even if you end up winning, after you leave this apartment I'm still going to follow you." He grunted and patted my head as he passed by me to head towards the front door. "You really are your mother's kid." I grinned, knowing I had won as Tracker and I followed him out into the hall. People had their doors open and were peeking outside, acting almost afraid to go check what happened, yet concerned and completely curious. I don't think they noticed us heading for the stairs at all. In a situation like this, the elevator was just wrong. There wasn't a fire, but an elevator is electronic, which means something can be easily done to it so that it would send anyone to their death. Stairs were too tricky to do that because anything that would bring us to our death would be noticed right away.
    Tracker began to pick up a scent. A low growl formed in the back of his throat as he ran in front of us and spiraled down the stairs, towards the lobby. I ran past Uncle Frederick and out the door Tracker had opened (I trained him to do that myself). I didn't even have an instant to take in the scene. Something hit me hard in the side and I went flying, smacking into a wall and creating a giant crack. I was a little dizzy, but I managed to look up to see what had smacked into me.
    A wolf was running straight towards me, it's snout covered with blood and other not so nice things. He was snarling and his mouth was open, ready to chomp my face off. Tracker jumped onto the wolf though and bit into its neck. The two wild dogs fought each other, giving me time to leap to my feet and take in the scene. The windows in the front of the building were broken, a long with the door. Glass was everywhere, and the furniture was tossed and destroyed. There were only three bodies in the room, but they were ripped apart, as if they had been eaten alive. Blood and body parts were everywhere, and there were three other wolves in the room.
    Now, all four of them were attacking Tracker, who was trying to fend them all off by himself. I was about to race in there when I heard the gun. Uncle Frederick was shooting at them in the doorway leading to the staircase. One took it's attention off of Tracker and lunged at Uncle.  Of course, while he was in the air he took a number of bullets, injuring himself enough that it landed at Uncle's feet instead of actually on him. It was alive still though, and it snapped at Uncle while it tried to stand up. Uncle kept shooting at it until it finally died. Then a second on flew at him.
    I realized that I was just standing there like an idiot, and I charged towards the two wolves that were attacking Tracker. I nailed one in the back with my bat. It whimpered as it collapsed to the ground, but then snarled and tried to stand back up. It's spine was broken though, giving me the opportunity to bash its skull so that I could kill it. I heard another whimper and prayed that Tracker had taken down one of the wolves, but Tracker was the one who was whimpering.
    The wolf had a hold of his neck. I charged towards it and whacked it in the side. It let go of Tracker, who slumped on the floor, and snapped at me. Teeth drilled into my flesh as I gave it another pound in the face, breaking it's jaw. It fell back, but then stood up and lunged at me again. Another bite was managed into my flesh, but soon I hit it with the bat in the side. One simply snap told me that its leg was broken.
Tracker regained a little strength and jumped on the wolf's back, finishing the job. I looked over to see Uncle Frederick being eaten alive by the wolf standing over him. For an instant, he looked dead. But he seemed to be twitching in pain, there was still hope. I flung the bat at the wolf, nailing it in the back of the skull. It ignored me though. Of course it had been shot, pain didn't matter now, because the wolf had already been filled with it. So I tackled the wolf instead. That it seemed to notice.
    Ever watch those shows where people ride bulls for fun and stupid reasons? Well, it felt like that, the wolf being the bull and trying to buck me off. I hug on tightly though, my arms laced around its neck, choking it to death. It seemed to be getting weaker and weaker, and soon, it totally dropped to the ground.
I heard a scream, and looked up. Standing on the stairs was a little boy. "You killed the puppy." I shook my head. "These puppies were mean."
    "You mean you killed more than one?" Before I could answer, the kid went crying/screaming upstairs. I decided to ignore that and ran towards Uncle Frederick. His eyes were slightly open, as if he didn't have the strength to completely open them. He tried his best to smile at me, but blood had been leaking out of his mouth and his teeth were all red, making my stomach completely twist. "I knew you would be able to finish a job that I couldn't."
Of course I knew what that meant, he was going to die. I shook my head and pulled my sweatshirt off that I had on when I went to bed since our apartment was so cold. I pressed it down to where the wolf had started to eat him alive and applied pressure. It was hard though, because my hands were shaking rapidly. I didn't want Uncle Frederick to die, not after everything that has ever happened. No, he couldn't leave me alone. People have left me alone before, and it had been awful.
    I hadn't noticed that I was crying until Uncle Frederick lifted his hand that wasn't smeared in blood and wiped a tear away. "Hey, you're a tough girl. I know you'll be able to handle yourself if-" He couldn't finish though, because he started to cough. The cough had a slight gurgle noise to it as more blood leaked from his lips. Quickly I rolled him to his side so that he could spit all of the blood out. "Uncle Freddie, please. I can't be alone."
    "You won't." Just then I felt Tracker lean on me for support. I had forgotten he had been injured too, but he wasn't about to die. I looked up at his sad face, and a low whimper came out of him. I reached out and touched his bloody snout with my bloody hand. He made another soft cry and rested his snout on my shoulder. I turned back to Uncle Frederick, who seemed now even paler and weaker than before, if possible. His one hand was still holding onto my cheek as I felt him go stiff.
    Before I knew it I was sobbing rapidly while I banged on his chest. "No, wake up. Uncle Freddie, wake up. I'll never forgive me if you leave me." I was so angry and upset that I had noticed the flashing lights or sirens outside. I hadn't even noticed the people who had come in until they were grabbing me, trying to pull me away from my uncle. Tracker was growling at them, but more like a protective growl as he stayed by my side. I struggled to get away from them, but they had me and were taking me away from Uncle Frederick. That was the last time I ever saw him in the flesh.

    Slush seemed to be falling from the dark sky. It was snow, but yet it was more like rain. Even though all I was wearing was a black tanktop, gray sweats, and black socks, I didn't seem to mind the cold. I was sitting in an ambulance outside and there were cars everywhere. The police had interrogated me already. As far as they knew wolves randomly got into the building and started to eat everyone. My dog heard the noise and raised downstairs. My Uncle and I ran after him, trying to stop him. We ended up killing the wolves with my Uncle's gun (which was for protection only) and my bat. They just didn't know that those wolves ended up being shape shifters.
    I wrapped my arms around me. Not because of the cold, but because of depression. I had no clue where I would go. After my family was murdered by creatures like that, my clueless relatives had been watching me. Each one had been killed. Finally I came to my mother's brother, a hunter. He trained me to fight things like them off, which is why he had been able to stay alive for so long. But he was the last of my relatives. Now I would be shipped of to some foster home or something.
    What would happen to Tracker though? He would probably be shipped off to some pound where they would treat him horribly. He had been a birthday gift from Uncle Frederick, who had personally trained him for situations like the one was had dealt with about a half hour ago.
    My eyes flashed to the building, which was covered with police tape and reporters. Then my gaze flashed to whimpering Tracker who sat by my side. Then to a woman dressed like some short of nurse. She was supposed to be watching me while checking how I was, but now she had her eyes turned down to some papers. Of course she was recording how I was. When she had first seen me, I think she almost puked. After the check up though, she finally realized that most of the blood I was covered in wasn't mine.
    I had asked her where we would go after this. All she said was that I shouldn't worry and that soon I would be in a safe place.
    The one thing that I figured out was that my whole life would be destroyed if I did what these people said though. I would be shipped off to some random family, and I would be completely alone. Especially when they started calling me insane and started to dissect me or something weird like that. You see, ever since my real family died (killed by vampires) I've had these strange spiritual abilities. I know its confusing, I don't really understand it completely myself. Uncle Frederick had been trying to completely activate these abilities to help me out.
    I had figured out how to sense paranormal stuff like death, which I should have seen coming if I wasn't so tired and distracted.But not only that, I could tell if a vampire was a couple blocks away if I concentrated hard enough. Also, sometimes I hear voices. It reminds me of when on TV, the characters of an angel on one of their shoulders and a devil on their other while they speak to you and try to influence you to do different things. Except there aren't just two voices, and I can never tell which is a devil voice and which is an angel voice. I have developed more and more abilities just like those over the years.
    After people figure out that I have these strange abilities, they would ship me off to some other strange and defected place. What really sucked is that people always noticed, always. Each relative I stayed with before noticed.
Tracker gave another whimper, and I looked down at him, then back to the nurse woman, who was still not paying attention to me. Like I said, my whole life would be destroyed, so I needed to get out of here. Tracker seemed to understand what I was thinking, and gave another sneeze where it looked like he was nodding.
    Silently, I got out of the ambulance and onto the ground. Instantly the slush on the ground soaked into my socks. Tracker stood up at my side, and followed me as I snuck away. From that instant, I would have to completely change my name and become a ghost twenty four seven. I would literally become a phantom.

[Author's Note]
I listen to my IPod while I'm writing, and ironically enough, while I was writing the scene where Phantom's Uncle dies, "By Myself" by Linkin Park came on, so that added a little inspiration to it.
Also I feel that during the part where Uncle Frederick dies, it's not too tragic for readers since you don't get to know the character enough. Later though, I promise, the death's will be more depressing.

                                                                            ~Chapter Two~

    A bright light shined in my eyes. I knew that I looked horrible and not really the best for this situation. After last night's hunting, my clothes were torn and I had blood splattered over me. Of course this made the police question me even more.
    When I was only twelve, I ran away because I knew I would be placed in some sort of special care. Everyone else probably thought it was depression, but they've been looking for me ever since. Now, I was turning sixteen soon and everyone thought that I was plain crazy.
    I looked up at the police officer who had caught me talking with another. My clear sense of hearing could understand each and every word they've been saying. "We should send her someplace safe. I doubt foster care is the correct choice."
    "Then what should we do?"
    "Bonevard Academy. It's a boarding school for children, well, like her. Past issues I should say. Not only does it keep the student safe, but the rest of the students safe from that student too. I mean, have you seen the blood on that girl? It had to come from somewhere."
    "I'm not going anywhere without my dog." The two officers were startled from my voice and shocked that I could hear them. "That dog is legally mine. My uncle who is now dead gave him to me as a present. I'm not leaving anywhere without my dog."
    "I apologize, but we're taking you somewhere safe. Bonevard Academy is a safe school, but it does not allow animals due to allergies." I could tell that wasn't the only reason why large dogs with sharp teeth and claws weren't allowed. "Then I don't go."
    "That isn't you choice. You need special care young lady." I gave him a hard look that I gave everyone when they were starting to piss me off. "I'm sure with some convincing we can come to an agreement."

    Tracker sat up straight at my side as I eyed the room. It was entirely made out of concrete. Of course, a white carpet had been placed on the ground and dream catchers hung from the ceiling. There were also two barred windows on the back wall, along with an old dresser that was covered with strange objects.
    Pressed against the left wall, there was a bed that was made. It had large and fluffy pillows with soft blankets. The colors where white, silver, blue, and purple. An old book was open on the bed too, seeming to be ancient. In the corner near the bed there was an old chest with a strong lock on it.
Opposite from that bed on the right wall though was another bed, this one unmade and I was guessing it was mine. Since it wasn't covered with blankets and pillows, you could see the old, dusty mattress and the rusty springs that held it up.
    Finally, on the front wall there were two desks, one completely empty, the other filled with strange objects.
I looked back at the Headmaster. He had gray, scratchy hair on his face and on the top of his head. His skin tone was an ugly off white, as if he needed some sun and a good atmosphere. Whenever he opened his mouth to speak you could see crooked teeth, and there was always this look in his eyes that said I hate my job.
    "Well, this is it. You have your schedule and classes start tomorrow morning. Don't be late. Oh, and I almost forgot. You clean up after that dog. He is your responsibility, got it?" I nodded. He headmaster patted me on the head and then headed for the door. A girl coming in got in his way though.
    She looked very young and petite. Her blond hair was in thick curls and was so light that it almost seemed white. It spiraled just below her shoulders. Her skin was a perfect shade, just normal coloring. Not just plan white, and not with a tan that looked more like sun burn.
    Her face looked like one that belonged to a five year old girl. She had light, cloudy blue eyes that seemed gray at first glance, even maybe a second and third glance too. She had thin, pale lips and her cheeks were the color of a rosy pink.
    She seemed very surprised to see the headmaster standing in her doorway. "Sir, what's wrong?" Her voice even seemed young and had a strange charm to it as if she were almost singing.
    "Nothing, I was just showing your new roommate in." Her thin eyebrows (that were such a light color you could barley see them) lifted high. "What, a roommate?" She stood on her toes and peered around his shoulder to look at me.
    "A dog? Why is there a dog? I thought animals weren't allowed."
    "I'm sorry Miss. Chambers, but this is a special case. Don't worry though, the dog is highly trained. Now if you two young ladies will excuse me, I have some work to do." He easily stepped around the small girl. The girl stood there and stared at me for a while, then finally stepped into the room and shut the door behind her.
    "What's your name newb?"
    "Just call me Phantom and I should warn you about calling me a newb." She just waved a hand. "Yeah, yeah. Pish posh, that's what they all say." She lifted one eyebrow as she stared longer at me. "However, I should say you aren't like the rest. Maybe I can do something here." She grinned.
    "Call me Dite, Dite Chambers. Please don't call me Aphrodite though. Some crazy people think I got the name Dite from Aphrodite, which I did, but it's not my name. My name is Dite. Let's be friends."
    She flashed a smile, showing perfect, little teeth. "Trust me, you'll be good as long as you follow me around. Follow your elders, that's what I always say."
    "Elders?"
    "Hey, I may not look it, but I'm sixteen. What are you, fifteen? Anyway, what's your puppy's name?" Tracker looked at her with a low growl in his throat. "He is a highly trained German Shepard that could pull your face off in seconds, don't call him a puppy. His name is Tracker.”
    Before I could stop her, she wrapped her arms around Tracker. “Good puppy. Tracker, good puppy.” She was quickly shaken off though. “Well, he’s a mean dog. He has to get used to Black Magic.”
    “Black magic?” She nodded. “My kitty. She normally hides when people come in because she’s not allowed. It’s unfair, how did you get Tracker in?”
    “It’s a long story and a special case. Anyway, where is Black Magic?” Dite whistled, and a black cat came running out from under her bed. “Feel free to call her Mage though.”
    She picked Mage up and sat on her bed, stroking the cat. “Now, rule number one. You can’t pick me out, and I won’t pick you out.” I scared at her with an obvious question mark on my face. Dite just sighed. “It means don’t tattle on me, or I can make your life a living hell. Trust me, I don’t need the trouble, and neither do you. Now I don’t want to sound mean, but sometimes you have to because the kids in this school are crazy.”
    I nodded. “Rule two, you may want to be careful what you do around the people with the bracelets. They’re definitely crazy. Trust me, you’ll be meeting a lot of kids who have them by my hand though, so you may want to be careful around me too though.”
    “Rule three, anyone who has a gryphon has the potential to be your friend.” She reached for the belt of her dress and tapped on the belt, which looked like a gryphon. “Don’t just look for belts though. They can be anything. It’s a way of telling who we can trust without the staff finding out. We’re a secret club, and our leader’s name is, of course, Gryphon.”
    “I think you may be something we’re looking for though. You may be able to join if everyone likes you.” She leaned back in the bed and jumped as the corner of an open book jabbed her. “Did I leave this out on my bed? I’m so careless.”
    She snapped shut the book and brought it over to the chest in the corner. She placed the combination in lock, and I swear I heard her mumble something before she popped the lock off and opened the chest. She quickly tossed the book in and slammed the chest shut before I could see what else was in there.
    After she locked it, she turned back to me. “Rule three, don’t even try to open this chest.”
    “That was actually rule four, not three.” She just shrugged and tossed Mage back onto the bed. “Who cares, I don’t. Numbers are just numbers, as long as you know the rules everything’s perfectly fine.”
    She moved over to my luggage and unzipped one bag. “We can move some of my stuff so that you can unpack. Do you have any sheets or blankets or pillows?” After I shook my head, she sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine, I can get you some. I know some people. Do you have any cute clothes that I may want to borrow?”
    “You may not fit.”
    “True, very true. Do you have anything interesting?” She answered her question before I could. “No, if you belong here, they don’t let you bring in anything. But I have a few interesting things. Come on, I’ll show you.”

    Dite and I stood in a large field. Faded lines on the grass and one tipped over goal suggested that this used to be a soccer field. Two bleachers sat on either side of the field, one of them had collapsed though and was now covered in vines. The second one (where Dite and I were sitting) had a few vines too, but it wasn't being consumed like the first one.
    There was an old building near the field, and faded words that had once been painted on in a clean white stated that it was the boys' dorm rooms. Dite pointed her thin finger at the building and let out a purring sound. "Nothing better than bad boys. Good boys always come in last."
    "So that's really the only thing interesting here?"
    "Things will get more interesting. But for now, sadly, yes. It's not like they even come outside. Whenever they have the chance, most of them are sleeping in there." She turned to me and scanned me up and down. "Why do you keep doing that?"
    "Doing what? Looking at you?" I gave her a firm nod and she just grinned at me. "Wouldn't Phantom whatever your last name is like to know?"
    "Trust me, you don't. The inside of her mind is just plain creepy. It will give you nightmares." Dite didn't even turn around towards the voice. She just rolled her eyes instead. "Is little Kenethy curious himself though? Or are you just frightened of me."
    "Frightened of your mind, but not a little five year old." A boy walked up behind her. He had very short blond hair that had a few dark streaks in it. Also, his eyes were a dark blue, and they reminded me of the ocean at night. A few faint freckles scattered over his face, but they weren't thick and only added a tint of something to his features.
Dite spun around in her seat and held a fist in front of his face. "Let's not forget the frightening things I'm capable of. There's a reason why I'm here you know."
    "Because your just plain crazy, not a threat."
    "Neither are you. I don't see your bracelet anywhere, but I have a load of dangerous friends." A simple bracelet couldn't tell you how dangerous someone was though. No one knew of my abilities and how I could slay a vampire easily if I wanted to, and they would probably never find out because I wasn't wearing a bracelet. How ever, I couldn't tell them that because they were bickering.
    I had to clear my throat to get their attention. "Oh yes Kenethy, where are my manners? This is Phantom. Phantom, this is Kenethy."
    "Pleasure to meet you, and actually my name is Kenneth, only my friends get to call me that though, and that does not include you Afro." He punched her lightly in the knee, but it obviously stung because she quickly pulled back. Kenneth turned back to me. "But please feel free to call me Kenneth like the rest of my friends." Dite hissed at him through her teeth.
    "What should I call you then? Little Kenny, Ken the barbie doll?" Kenneth just ignored her though and kept his eyes locked on me. "I apologize from Aphrodite here. She's very . . . energetic. Just like a little kid, wouldn't you say?" Before I could nod in agreement, Dite stuck her flip flop in his chest and kicked him back. "No, stay away. I called this one. She's my roommate."
    She quickly turned back to me and whispered in my ear. "He doesn't have a gryphon, notice these things." Then she turned back to Kenneth and pointed at him. "Leave, now. You can get all crushy crushy later on some other girl who's a cheap knock off. Got it, but stay away from my girl."
    She grabbed my wrist and went to pull me away, but Kenneth just laughed. "Like you short stuff?"
    "Drop dead." Dite pulled me away. As soon as we were out of hear shot, Dite turned to me and kept her voice down low. "Stay away from boys like him. Kenethy is a reporter, and he' figuring out that we have a club."
    "Well what's so bad about that as long as he doesn't tell anyone."
    "You'll see later. It's bad if anyone figures out ours secrets. He'll try to get close to you, so be careful. He'll just use you to get to us." I stared at her, wondering what was so important to keep secret. But then I figured I would know eventually, so I nodded. "Okay, good. Let's give you a tour of the school."
    She spun towards the main school building. I went to follow her, but something flashed by the sun fast and a shadow fell over me. I looked back up in the sky but saw nothing, but a signal shot off in my head. I had that feeling that something was there, and it gave me horrible chills. Something powerful, and paranormal. It was also heading right towards where Kenneth was headed.
    I turned back to Dite, who was farther away and thought I was following her. "Dite, I forgot something in my room." She spun around and glared at me. "No, just get it later, okay? It's a long walk back. What could possibly be that important?" I shrugged. "I just thought you would agree with me. I should get Tracker a bone out so that he doesn't start chewing on Mage."
    Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. "Good point, go hurry, okay? You're a faster runner than me, but I'll catch up." I nodded and ran back towards Kenneth, ready for a battle even though I had no weapons at all.

[Author's Note]
I have to say that Bonevard Academy is actually an idea I've always had and have done many things to inspire what kind of school it is, and it was a great inspiration to me.
If you're a little clueless about the gryphon club and if you're seeking for a little more action, trust me, there's going to be more of those both in the next chapter.
Also, I think I deserve a thank you for editing the tab and making the paragraphs easier to read so that its not blurred, even though it took about an hour (okay, not really) to space in every tab on every pararaph