Amelia Warren Aullidos

Chapter Sixteen: New identity

I hadn’t been in Las Vegas for more than a week when I ran into trouble. Everything up to that point had gone smoothly though. I had driven straight from Charleston towards Vegas for the sole reason it had felt right. I had set up a bank account to an Emma Harris, my new alias, and had gotten made a fake ID with the same name, which said I was 21. I was still seventeen for a couple of months but I could pass for a 21 year old.

I was running every day and training at least two hours a day, both physically and mentally. I found it relaxing to sit in a casino and train going into people’s mind and none of them noticed. For a second I considered using my power to cheat in gambling but my morals stopped me, and the fact that if I got caught I would be in serious trouble.

I had found a crappy room I could rent cheap and they preferred cash. Everything was falling into place. The only thing I was nervous about was the number of supernatural creatures in Vegas; it truly was the place for freaks to hide. I guess I was one of them now. Every day I ran into werewolves and vampires but I just kept my head down and none of them had seen me. I hadn’t seen any witches yet but I had never met one before so I might not recognize them or maybe they were almost extinct like Gina thought.

I was eating dinner at a little café when a werewolf was going in and ordering coffee. I didn’t take that much notice of him because I was already used to seeing those guys everywhere. It wasn’t until I felt something was different, it was like the air in the room was vibrating and I tensed immediately. Discreetly I lifted my head and looked at the werewolf. It wasn’t him, but someone behind him in the line. The girl was crouched, totally in black and had short red hair. It was Lea, a hunter I had meet months earlier and she had nearly killed me. Her family had been killed by vampires and ever since she had hunted them and werewolves. Last time when we parted ways I had felt it took extreme will power from her side not to kill me. It wasn’t going to be a friendly departure this time.

She saw me at the same time I recognized her and we both moved fast. I jumped over a table and ran out the back door. People screamed and I was irritated she had found when we were in such a crowded place. If we ran through the streets attacking each other we would cause a scene and someone would undoubtedly call the police. Even so I wasn’t going to try to talk to Lea right now. She was furious and the images in her head were disturbing.

She followed me and I ran into the park where I jogged and I knew a part of my route where there wouldn’t be so many people. Lea thought about the crowd too, otherwise she would have pulled out her bow and arrow in the café.

I was faster than her and she had a hard time keeping up. I might have been able to outrun her but I was afraid what she might do if I pushed her to her limit. I was much stronger and smarter than when I had met her and I could win this fairly.

I accelerated and as I could hear her panting behind me, trying to catch up, I put my feet in the ground and made a full stop, which surprised Lea and she was thrown off balance. I kicked her in the stomach and she fell paralyzed to the ground, mumbling curses. She got up fast and pulled a knife and a few months back she would have drawn blood but I had seen it coming. I had opened my mental wings around us, still keeping up the shield around my mind, and used it to predict her every move.

I wrestled the knife out of her hand and tossed it away. I didn’t need that kind of weapons. Lea rolled over and managed to get hold of my shirt but I tore free. She gave me a blow to my rips and I was startled for a second.

I had relied too much on my powers, I needed to get better in hand on hand combat and Lea was the perfect opponent; strong, smart and willing to use dirty tricks to get to me.  I centred my focus and went for the next opening while I reminded myself she had more knives I had to avoid. We danced around and I kicked another knife out of her hand and as she dropped it, I went for her torso and she fell on her back, as I had made her gasp for air.