Breath of Fire

Chapter Fourteen

My feet pounded against the ground as I did my best to control my breathing on my early morning run through the forest. I found it quite calming to run here since there was no one around and I could simply focus on emptying my brain of all the thoughts that constantly swirled around in my mind. My breath came out in swirls of white smoke as it was so early that frost still covered the leaves of the trees and drops of dew wetted the grass and moss covered logs. I had made it about halfway into the woods when I finally stopped for a quick breather, spotting a log that was protected by the trees and wasn't so damp. I sighed as I plopped my bum down and calmed the monkey chatter in my head. Despite how irritated I was with the Caspian, Blaise, Terrance, and Elios's treatment of me of late, I had still been trying to practice some of the yoga exercises they had taught me.
    I lifted up my feet and positioned myself so that I was sitting cross legged and placed my palms face out on either sides of my knees and sighed deeply. I was trying to bring my powers to the surface and I think I was finally getting somewhere. I imagined a ball of fire springing to life in the palm of my right hand and ever so slowly peeked a glance at my hand to see if it had worked. I grinned in satisfaction and relief when I saw the small flame that was dancing into creation, feeling a sense of pride wash over me. It seemed like my extra training was actually paying off! I continued to stare at the small flame, enjoying the way the light flickered and swayed back and forth.
    The sound of a twig snapping behind me brought me quickly back to reality and I stood up, glancing around me to see what had made the sound. I squinted as I tried to see through all the foliage that surrounded me but it was no use. I shivered as an icy cold feeling of dread washed over me. I stood up and started walking back towards the cottage as fast as I could. I had yet to spot anything but squirrels, birds, and bees so far in the forest, but that didn't mean that other larger and more terrifying creatures were not around either.
    "Where do you think you're going, Aria, darling," a voice called out. I blinked in surprise as a man dressed head to toe in black stepped in front of my path. I froze as I recognized the voice. It was one that had haunted my waking dreams since I was a child. How in the blazes had he found me? Not to mention how was he even here in the magical realm!
    "How on earth did you manage to track me all the way to this realm, Damien?" I exclaimed taking a slow step backwards.
    "We can smell your delicious blood from miles away, sugar," another voice said from behind me. I spun around to see that Damien had not come alone; his brother Cassius, now standing before me as well. I couldn't help the rising panic that was threatening to overwhelm me. These brothers were the worst of the hunters who had been after me my whole life, preferring to capture and torture me in every way possible whenever they managed to find and subdue me. My mind raced as I hurried to think of a way to escape, and then I paused as Cassius's words echoed through my mind on replay.
    "Y-you're vampires, aren't you!" I cried out as the realization finally struck me. I shuddered, as my terror intensified. As if things couldn't get any worse. What gods had I pissed off so much that the only two men who had ever managed to capture me turned out to be blood leeches! They had been frightening enough as plain old humans hunting me down my entire life! Seriously, who had I vexed so thoroughly that I was cursed with the worst luck ever!
    The two of them stepped in closer to me and I immediately stretched both arms out, glad that I was able to conjure two fireballs into existence.
    "Don't you dare come any closer!" I hissed in warning as I tossed the balls of fire up and down in my hand, swallowing the lump of fear in my throat as I did so. The two men just grinned at me and suddenly I could see fangs elongating out to greet me. I shivered. From what I had read in the library and from what Drake had told me, vampires were nothing like they were thought to be back on earth. Garlic and sunlight did not repel them and nor did wooden stakes kill them. Just like werewolves, they had a weakness to silver, and silver alone. And, just my luck, I was completely fresh out of silver, standing alone with them in the middle of the woods...just...fucking...great.
    "Oh, look, Cass, she's finally learning to control her powers! How cute. This is going to be so much better than I anticipated," Damien said as he grinned at his brother. I glanced back and forth between the two of them as they smirked at each other. I cursed. How the hell was I going to get away from them. I could try and run back towards the cottage or even to the school and hope that they'd become dragon food, but these men knew my real name and that was a secret I had sworn to take to the grave. I couldn't risk my name getting out. If these men had been able to find me by my scent alone, how many other hunters would start coming after me if my real name got out! After learning these two were vampires I had a sneaking suspicion that none of the men who had been after me had actually been human. Which raised even more questions about how my parents had really died and why, but now was so not the time to ponder such things.
    I ducked and dodged as the two men suddenly launched themselves at me, doing my best to think on my feet and find the nearest source of silver. The boys kept several silver daggers at the house but with the two vampires almost on top of me, there was no way I was going to be able to get there with them chasing me. Their vampire speed was an even match for my own so there was no outrunning the situation. I staggered as Cassius managed to catch me off guard and cut my right arm open with the dagger in his hand. I hissed in pain as I stepped back and stared at my arm, ignoring the way the two vampire's eyes filled with lust and hunger as they smelled my blood. As painful as the cut was, it reminded me that I did have silver on me, my mother's arm cuff that I never took off was glinting up at me out of the darkness of the forest. Oh, yeah. A medieval battle of swords and daggers vs arm-cuff. There's no way I could lose now...I thought cynically to myself as I yanked it off my arm and clutched it in my hand; desperately wishing that I was holding an actual weapon.
    To my shock, I felt the metal in my hand suddenly heat up and looked on in surprise as the silver twisted and curled in on itself until it formed a perfectly sized dagger for my small hand to carry. Well, whatdya know, wishes really do come true.
    I gripped the silver dagger in my hand and just barely managed to dodge the silent bullet that Damien sent my way. Really? Guns? They were supernatural creatures of the most vile type and they seriously still were using guns on me? The jig was up, I knew for a fact that there was a hundred different ways they could be attacking me right now, but instead they wanted to toy with me further. I swallowed another lump in my throat as I spun the dagger in my hand and charged forward.
***
    I coughed up blood as I struggled to drag myself forward towards the cottage what felt like hours later. The sky had yet to lighten still so I knew that not much time had actually passed, but I was worn down to the bone, bloody and aching all over. The sadistic vampires hadn't even wanted to kidnap me this time, it seems they had just wanted me to know that even in the magical realm, they could still get to me and use me as their personal punching bag whenever it pleased them.
    I finally managed to make it to the steps of the cottage and let out a loud moan as I realized I wasn't going to be able to walk up the stairs. I had been shot twice in the left leg and once in the right not to mention a few times in the stomach and I had only the strength to crawl on all fours and drag my poor damaged body up the steps like a snake. I was about to bang on the door when I realized I still held my silver dagger in my hand, it had helped in my fight against the vampires, but not much, seeing as they had still managed to easily overpower me. My powers had gone meek as a mouse after I had conjured the two fireballs so I had only had one tiny dagger to help ward off my two attackers and I had definitely paid the price.
    I stared at the dagger, only now noticing the gleaming stones that were inlaid all over the hilt, dazzling me with the shimmering reflections they cast. Don't let anyone see it, said a strange voice in my mind. It was probably just the blood loss causing massive hallucinations but all the same, I decided to listen to the voice and somehow managed to make the dagger turn back into a bracelet and wrapped it back around my bloody arm before a wave of nausea and dizziness overcame me and I coughed up more blood. I managed to slither my body a few inches further and pounded on the door as hard as I could, but even in my weakened state, I could tell that I had barely made a sound. Well, this spot is as good as any to die on, I thought to myself as I grimaced and tried pounding on the door again, hoping that by some luck someone inside would be able to hear me.
    I tilted my head back as the door was suddenly yanked open but had to close my eyes as another dizzy spell washed over me.
    "Holy fuck, Sammy, what happened now?" I heard four voices say in surprise. I gathered what strength I had left and tried to grin at them but could tell from the copper taste in my mouth and the way they grimaced at me that my smile was tainted by streams of blood running down my mouth.
    Caspian raced down the stairs as I continued to cough up blood and Terrance opened the door widely so that Caspian could carry me inside. I wondered in the back of my mind if they made magical blood remover as Caspian laid me gently on the sofa because no amount of household cleaning products that I had ever heard of were going to get rid of the blood that poured out of me and onto the upholstery. I blinked, my vision spotty, but managed to catch a glimpse of Elios and Blaise dashing into the kitchen to grab as many towels as they could. Not that it would do them any good. I was positive that this was going to be the day I finally died.
    I both laughed and coughed up more blood as the four men bent down towards me; bodies tense with worry as they did their best to stop the blood from spilling out of me.
    "Why bother? I'm clearly about to die," I pointed out, coughing up the entire time as I tried to get the words out.
    "Don't talk like that, little dove, your not going to die, we won't let you!" Elios hissed angrily at me as they continued to do their best to stem the outpour of blood. I could feel the wetness of the couch underneath me and knew I had already completely soaked the mattress with my blood. Poor couch, I thought as I closed my eyes.
    "You guys are probably going to need a new couch," I murmured, keeping my eyes closed against the nausea.
    "Stay with us a little longer, baby, just hold on, don't close your eyes," Terrance said softly as he grabbed the bottle of purple goo that Blaise handed him. The stuff had worked wonders on me before, but I highly doubted that it would be enough this time...