Taste Of Fire

Chapter Eight

  "Wait, what?" Hunter cuts in immediately and Angelina elbows his side. "Let her talk idiot." I dip my head to her. "Sorry." He mutters. "Like I said, the Ember family is cursed. And there is no way to break the curse. But we are not the only family that is. Every one who can trace their bloodline back to the fall of monsters can. However, we all have different curses. And our curse is quite peculiar." Rydel gently squeezes my waist when I pause.
  "Our ancestors was Ember of the Seven Tyrants." I look at Rydel, who kisses my forehead. "I'm sure everyone these days thinks them mere myth, unfortunately, but they were very much real. If you aren't familiar with them, let me explain. The Seven Tyrants were seven demigods and demigoddesses who attempted to take over both Earth and other planets outside of our solar system. They did this through violence, mind control, and abuse of power. And they very nearly succeed. Thankfully their sites banded together and stripped them of their powers. However, they found ways to obtain other people's powers. Instead of trying to take over the worlds themselves, they started having kids, abundantly so, and impressed upon them their views."
  "This is how the light cast out the dark, and monsters were created. And the gods marked the pure blooded children of the Seven, because only the pure ones remained loyal to their parents after the fall. The mark is what we now call the curse. Despite outer breeding and multiple generations having been born, the mark never dulls or fades. With our family, the mark has multiple faces for multiple reasons. Ember had three pure blooded children. Two sons and a daughter."
  "Each child bore different marks. The daughters mark was that of bloodlust. A strange mark to be sure, but it's said the gods hoped her desire for blood that never faded would drive her mad and make her kill herself. Wether that's true or not I really can't say, but it did drive her to insanity, though she didn't off her self. The eldest sons mark was that of desire. His eyes always red as fire, and he he desired all, but none wanted him. He too, went insane. The youngest sons mark was , and the gods were onto something with this one, a horn in the center of his head that's sole purpose was to lock up his power."
  "He got this curse because he was the strongest of the three, and immortal, because he was the only child Ember had from another of the Seven." I close my eyes. "He never went mad like his siblings. If he had, our line would have ended with them. Instead, he fed their cravings himself. And the sister eventually bore twins. Two boys. One son had all three marks, the other had none. And so an angel was born from a monster, our saving grace. But the other brother was this twisted being, and unimaginably powerful. And the youngest brother cast out the light child and trained the dark one to overcome his marks. Then he sent him out into the world."
  "After awhile, the light twin found his brother, who had become a tormented soul. And he welcomed him into his family, and the Clan he had started. They rehabilitated him, and he found peace. But the father was not happy, and he came after them. He killed the light twin, and the dark one was over come with grief and anger, and did the impossible. He killed him. Which, unfortunately, sparked his bloodlust. Instead of going on a rampage, he killed his other parents. Then he returned to the Ember Clan and raised his brothers kids. When they became of age, he disappeared."
  "And so the Ember Clan continued. Generally the curse is divided among children, unless there are pure blooded twins. Because one is always light, and the other always dark. Pure bloods don't really happen alot in our family because our relationships know no boundaries. We are taught to accept everyone, no matter where they come from, because our history has seen the darkest of the past. We are taught to love each other, no matter our shortcomings. We are taught to see past darkness to the light."
  "Unfortunately, we are pure bloods. But along time our marks adapted and changed because we as a family showed we deserved redemption. Our father was an only child, and he bore the single horn. But, let me tell you, that man did not know control." My friends chuckle and Rydel smiles. "He was notorious for his random shifts and lapses in sanity. Instead, he had exception controll over his senses and his mind. And for the first time in history, the Ember Twins both received the curses of our ancestors."
  "And they have been warped. Instead of having strong desire myself, I can cause others to become aroused when I release my own pheromones. On the other hand, Rydel is immune to others pheromones. Instead of having bloodlust, Rydel gets sick if he consumes it. On the other hand, my blood lust will send me into a rage. I can drink it without it being triggered, but if I drink so much consecutively, I no longer want to drink it. I want to, for lack of a better explanation, bathe in it. As for the third curse, I am able to contain both me and my twins powers, and both borrow his and lend him mine. On the other hand, he can controll other people's powers."
  "We are very much monsters. If we had been born in the time of the dark falling, I'm sure the world would have been ours." I give Rydel a dark smile, to which he gently squeezes my waist. "It's a good thing you weren't then." The headmaster says good naturedly. I look to him and nod. "Indeed." Amber raises her hand, and I raise an eyebrow at her. "What's stopping you from doing it now." Liza laughs. "That would be us. See, the Ember Clan originally was made up of all of the non pure blooded descendants of Ember that the light twin found. Since, others joined, and our blood got thinned out so our connection to Ember is next to non existent, but where the Embers are marked, we were gifted. We are the next guardians they are the heirs."
  "And you really let all of them into the school?" Sam asks. The headmaster chuckles. I don't have such a favorable reaction. Before anyone can stop me I'm in front of him, looking down to where's he's sitting on the floor. I crouch down so we're eye level. "I don't like you. Given, that's nothing new, because I don't like many peTople, but I really don't like you. And there are a few things I could do with this. My favorite option is always having my twin give you new life aspirations so you're suddenly very far from my presence."
  "Unfortunately, not only do I doubt Liza will allow me to do that, I'm almost certain there's something in the schools rules against brainwashing. My next favorite option is putting a price on your head. Luck for you, you're not worth the loss of money. So that leaves me with another option." I smile sweetly. "No Princess." Tank says, warning in his voice. I straighten. "My Prince?" I ask without looking. "The worst they can do is try to kill us again." He says casually. "Because that went so well the first time." I scoff.
  "I thought Hunters attacked your Clan?" Eve asks. I ignore her, holding my hand out to Sam and coving him in my energy. "Take my hand." I command. "No." I smile then, a genuine smile. Dropping my hand I make my energy sink into him. Then release it from me. Immediately his eyes dilate, becoming bloodshot quickly. I hear his heart start to race, and he starts panting. "What- are you- doing?" He gasps out, doubling over, but not before I see blood trickle from his nose. My own heart trips at the sight.
  Instead of watching though, I turn away and close my eyes, taking a deep breath. When I've calmed myself I open my eyes, looking at Rydel, who is already watching me. I heard Sam behind me, coughing. Hear his blood hit the floor. Hear him try to speak, but unable to, before he lets out a scream, slightly muted by the blood filling his throat. When I hear a soft sob I turn to see Amber try to hide her face in Devi's shoulder. He brushes her off, standing up and moving to stand by Rydel. His face is blank as he watches Sam.
  I feel a hand touch my tail and look back. Sam is on all fours, all visible skin covered in blisters, some spots peeling.  His eyes have taken a yellow tint, and he's crying blood, with the liquid also dripping from his nose. He coughs, and a tooth comes out when he spits. "St-stop th-this." He begs. I make sure not to show my glee on my face, simply raise an eyebrow. "But I'm not doing anything."
  "Then could you explain to us what's happening?" I turn and give my best "seriously" look. "Keep making this into show and tell, and I'm going to think you allowed us here on such short notice because you want to show us off like circus freaks." He says nothing and I cover my face with both hands. "You're loosing cool points unc." I sigh. "I inserted some of my energy into him and released it. Because I'm cursed, when my energy is is another host, it corrupts it. I assume it's to keep my line from spreading our power to others. But unless I suddenly get an audience with the gods, I can't tell you exactly why it happens."
  "And how did you discover this?" He crosses his arms, leaning back in his chair. "Hunters track us everywhere we go. The first few times we tortured them to try and figure out why and how they were finding us." Rydel answers when I roll my eyes and move to sit on Cors lap. "She was trying to get into ones head while I was working on the other. But..." He trails off, unsure. "Go ahead. We all make mistakes." I shrug one shoulders, and Cor wraps an arm around me.
  "He escaped from the binds she put him in and attacked her. Before I could react he had a knife to her throat. Without thinking I severed the bridge of her energy connecting them. He cut her before he start having a seizure. Honestly, I tried it myself, but I'd doesn't have the same effect." The headmaster nods. "Would you care to tell us what it does do?"
  Rydel shrugs. "His energy paralyzes the victim, sending their body into shock. I took the kill from him." I supply. He flips me off and I blow him a kiss. "The angel can't kill naturally. It's a good thing he has a darker half otherwise he would have been taken out." I tease. He narrows his eyes. "If I didn't have a darker half I wouldn't be hunted. Angels  are the good guys after all." He shoots back. I hiss, clutching my chest. "You wound me brother."
  He raises an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Oh? I thought you didn't have a heart." I smirk back, dropping my hands. "Call bullshit why not?" He winks. "That's what I'm here for Princess." There's a small thump and I look to the floor. Sam has finally died, his blood pooling around him in a steady stream. "We'll send a care package and flowers to his family and make a donation to the school." I say casually as I pull out my phone, starting a text message. "I'd also appreciate it if you gave permission for our clean up crew to enter the grounds. We also have a guy that will take care of the paperwork for you.
  "And I assume my only job is to not give you a penalty and keep this under raps?" Rydel chuckles. "As if." The headmaster leans back forward. "Not at all. I just believe you clean up your own mess. Feel free to inform the public, but you can be sure it won't spread far before the story disappears. And you can give any punishment you desire. Please believe I do not intend on being a problem student. I'm sure you've seen my brother and I have nearly perfect grades. We just don't play very well with other people our age."
  Finishing my text I put my phone away and look up. Rydel shakes his head at me slightly, and Devi is covering his mouth, but his eyes are bright. I look around. "What?" Liza shakes her head. "Sometimes, it amazes me how innocent you are." I frown. But my phone chimes and I unlock it to read the message. "So Dumbledore, is that a go for our cleanup crew?" I ask. "If I say no will you still tell them to come?" I sigh, lowering my phone to look at him. "Seriously, I'm not as bad as I make myself out to be. I generally have a reason for why I break rules." He nods. "I expect you to not have many casualties like this."
  "Of course." I respond, lifting my phone to give the okay. For now. Because what is a war without casualties? For now though, I'll play the role of the peaceful little girl.  But my form itself is the warning that I'm anything but.

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