The Hunter Academy

~Çhapter Sįxty~

I grabbed a knife from my belt and lunged forward, pressing the blade against her neck, almost drawing blood as my grip was unnervingly steady.

"Who are you?" I asked and although I had a knife pressed to her pale neck she still turned to look at me - well, as much as she could - before raising an eyebrow.

She raised her shackled hands and they fell down slightly revealing red scars there that were an angry shade of red, like it burned.

"Iron," I muttered.

"Very much so and you've probably guessed by now that I am a prisoner here," she said calmly despite her situation.

"Why?"

She clicked her tongue. "Your headmistress is keeping me under her iron fist," she looked at her hands and the corners or her lips quirked up slightly. "Or more like her iron chains."

I didn't find that particularly funny. "What's your name?"

"Silvana," she answered as she flicked her hair over her shoulder after I moved my knife away slightly.

My eyes scanned over her face. She looked just a bit older than me but one of the qualities of a witch was eternal youth. "How old are you?" She opened her mouth to answer but I cut her off. "And how old you really are if you please, not how old you look."

She gave a slow smile. "I was alive during the Hunter War where the two sides battled on whether humans should be protected or enslaved - millennials ago. I fought on the right side, humans were not to be made slaves.

"I don't know how long I've been here," she admitted and her voice broke slightly. "There are no windows and witches don't need to eat as often as humans or Hunters, I can't count my meals to count the days." She looked up at me. "Sometimes I try to picture my life before all this, before I was trapped in here, my happy memories are all I have left."

She looked up at me, tears in her eyes. "My mother. I still imagine her in our house even though I know it's been so long. She sits there, waiting for my return home."

I froze. She was almost in the same position as me except she was me before I realised that I couldn't stay with my Lycan parents because I was a Hunter.

I felt my chest ache as a single tear spilled from the corner of her eye, one single tear trailing down her pale skin.

I knelt before her. "I will come back for you," I whispered so quietly that no human would've heard it. "But you need to tell me, why is Victoria keeping you here?"

She peered through her eye lashes at me. "Witch blood has certain... properties. The secrets of our immorality and eternal beauty lies in the blue blood flooding through our veins.

"But, it can be used to make a special serum. The Elixir of Life. The name gives away its uses. You need witch blood to make it and only witches know how to brew it."

My eyes widened in realisation. "How old is she?"

She looked disgusted with herself as she looked at the back of the room with a cauldron and supplies in the back of the room. "As old as I am, older even."

My mouth parted in shock and I quickly backed away, my back colliding with the wall. "What does it look like," I managed to breath out.

She sighed. "A golden liquid but has the consistency of syrup."

I swallowed and nodded. "How often does she have to take it?"

She hummed, deep in thought. "The affects are more potent the first few times you take it but the more frequently you take it the bigger the quantity you have to take and a lot more frequently."

I nodded silently. "Thank you."

I went to head back to Victoria's office when-

"Something's happening," it was so quiet I almost didn't hear it. "Something is happening inside the school. Victoria's doing something in the Sub-levels. I always knew, knew something was wrong, I just never knew what was actually happening.

"Victoria kept smiling, saying, 'this was the year. Everything was about to fall into place. It was perfect. I'm sorry I couldn't have been of more use. Now go, quickly, before she comes back."

I nodded before heading back into Victoria's office. I glanced at the Blood Magic book on her desk and was tempted to snatch it when I heard footsteps outside. They were light, almost silent, and I wouldn't have heard it if I hadn't been looking for noise.

I quickly stuck my hand in my pocket and fumbled around, trying to grab the vial of blood from my pocket but it was stuck.

The footsteps came closer and I quickly yanked it before it came free of my pocket.

The footsteps stopped. I froze and glanced at the opening in the wall where Silvana was staring at me.

"Mrs. Vixen!" A voice called and I was suddenly spurred back into action at Zac's voice.

"Not now Zachary."

"But Miss its important."

"I said not now!"

I quickly drew the Conceal Rune along the wall, it faded into it with a pulsing flash of blue light. The wall sunk back into place just as the door opened.

"Zachary for the last time-!"

Victoria froze as she saw me standing there. "What are you going in here?"

I quickly relaxed my body and tapped the package on the table, the book. "The Councillors gave this to me, telling me to give it to you. Sorry I haven't gotten around to it sooner but I've been rather busy getting back into the swing of school again."

She closed her eyes and gently exhaled, I glanced behind her and Zac winked at me, before she opened her eyes again and a gentle smile graced her lips. "Thank you Chase."

I nodded and smiled back, albeit the smile was a little forced. "Of course Victoria."

She walked past me and towards her desk where she promptly sat down but didn't open the package. "You are dismissed," she said finally with finality and a little undercurrent of impatience.

I quickly turned on my heels and walked out the room, grabbing Zac's hand and dragging him with me back to my room where Lucas had disappeared and we were the only two.

I flopped down on my sofa and hung my legs over the armrest. "Thank you," I said quietly. "For coming, I would've gotten caught otherwise."

He smiled and placed his hands on either side of my knees on the armrest. "No problem, I was just backup incase something went wrong. Now, care to tell me about why you were afraid you would get caught while you were giving her a package?"

So I told him, about the witch, the Elixir of Life and how old Victoria really is. He must have sensed how unnerved I felt, replaying what happened, reading the connotations of the sentences.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder and pulled me into his chest. "Hey, it's okay Chase. It doesn't matter what happens, we'll get through it - together."