Embers & Spells

27 – Hunter

I felt like an electricity jolted me awake, my eyes popping open.

My vision came as blurry and I blinked to adjust my eyes to the lights coming across the opposite lane. A seatbelt was fastened to me, the long free way ahead of me, the surrounding still dark.

I was on a road. Turning sideway, I saw a guy I should run away from. But no. We were obviously on a car, driving somewhere. My hand reached the side of the seat, adjusting the back rest to ninety degrees and sat up straight. My head felt light, the memories came back to me as soon as I realized who I was with.

“Arawn Rhys,” I called out. “Where are we going? Where are you taking me?” I asked warily.

He glanced toward me. He looked resigned. “To a place where you ought to be.”

I swallowed, my emotion building up. “This is kidnapping,” I remarked, trying to familiarize myself to the road. But I had no idea where we were at the moment.

“Relax, Tana Axle,” he muttered, tone calm and steady. “I’ll get you back in one piece and breathing.”

“No, just stop. Stop the car and let me go!”

He slightly shook his head, eyes focused on the road. “I guessed right. Once you figured out who I am, you’d want to run.”

I touched my chest, remembering how the Hunter ripped it open to pull my soul out. Thinking of it now, there were clues laid out in front of me of who he really was. The charms set in my house didn’t work on him. My spells didn’t work on him. He knew me and my situation. He knew a lot about the underworld. I should have learned it before had I been paying attention.

“Where is Inigo?” I asked, knowing he passed out in the parking area just hours earlier.

“Oh, he’ll live. His pack would know where he is and patch him up, for sure.”

I looked away from him, my stomach getting a sinking feeling about the danger that came with a Hunter. Nobody knew who they were before they became the bringer of damned soul to hell. Nobody knew how long they lived or if ever they lived at all in their past life. They were a mystery, just exactly how Arawn Rhys appeared at school.

But if he was a Hunter, who he said didn’t meddle with the lives of beings, then why he kept popping beside me whenever my life was at risk? He shouldn’t care whether I live or not, as they all followed an order. An order from the High Table.

I slowly tilted my head, looking at this puzzle of a man.

“I can feel your questions, hybrid,” he murmured. “Ask away.”

“How did you know we were being attacked back there?” I asked, suddenly feeling mesmerized at seeing his black butterfly figure before him morphing to human form.

“Hunters could sense and trace the fallens and all evil things that walk the earth.”

“And is it your job to get rid of them?”

Arawn looked tired. “No.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Then you just want to help us.”

He just shrugged his shoulder, still not sparing me a look.

“Is it you who snatched my soul that day on my birthday?”

His jaw clenched, eyes blinking. “Yes.”

Tears filled my eyes, anger swirling inside me. “That must have been funny, huh? You ripping my chest open and deliver me to the devil. And at school, you just watch me live my misery.”

He let out a forced laugh. “f**k. You think it is fun ripping soul from beings? You think I find it cool to cast someone to hell just for the fun of it? Or you think I find it entertaining seeing different races in misery, knowing I could do something about it but is not allowed to help? Yeah. Watching you live in misery in a front row seat cheered me the f**k up. Makes me feel like a VIP.”

Damn. I had not expected his outburst. His rough tone and frustrated voice sent unknown sensation inside me.

He laughed like a maniac, giving me sharp glare. “You have no idea, Tana Axle.”

“Is that guilt then? You helping me redeem my soul is an act of guilt?”

He breathed out. “That’s me doing what I should do.”

I nodded, taking it all in. “I don’t know what to feel about you.”

He let out a smile, turning to the toll, and headed to narrow road. “You should feel hate and disgust, Tana Axle. It doesn’t really matter. What matter is you get your soul back.”

“If helping me is not allowed for Hunters, then why are you doing this?” I crossed my arms over my chest, as if securing myself.

“Because you’re you,” he answered softly, almost whispering to himself.

What I had learn was too much to digest. I would ask my other questions next time, when I finally grasped about the whole situation.

****

The sun started to rise when we trailed to the Ki’yun falls, one of the underdeveloped tourist spots in town. Arawn Rhys led the way, the large rock formation a bit hard to navigate but he seemed to know where to step, maintaining his balance. The wind still felt cold against the skin, or maybe it was just nervousness running down my body.

“Where are we really going?” I asked, calling out to him.

“To a cove,” he answered, looking briefly at me.

A cove? I did not expect that. “We’re not in some fieldtrip, are we?”

He kept his silence and we passed through the side of the falls that led to a small cave.

“Do we really have to go there?” I asked as I stood frozen at the opening, unable to see anything in the dark. “Fos,” I whispered, flicking my hand, and balls of light appeared, lining the way on the cave.

Arawn smiled. “Cool.”

We kept walking, the narrow way and stillness of the surrounding felt suffocating to me. Bones and skulls were scattered on the ground and I wouldn’t have noticed it until I stepped on one.

“Oh my God,” I blurted out, my heart thumping, goose bumps dotting my neck.

“Just keep walking.” Arawn looked over his shoulder, making sure I was still following his track.

Not long after, we reached another opening, the sunlight streaming. He was right, though. We were on a cove. But there was something about the place that made me uneasy at the same time, at home. Fresh air hit my nose, the serenity of the place felt surreal. There was a small portion on blue sea not far from where we stood, the bay had silver shimmering sands, the green mountain was enormous it seemed to take half the horizon. This was a picture I only see in magazines or something built for some fantasy movie. A whole different world.

“Where are we?” I asked in awe, drinking in the beautiful sight.

“Dragon cove,” Arawn Rhys answered, gesturing his arm around the place. “Where dragon lords and dragoness live.”

He told me back in the car that we were going to a place where I ought to be. Am I truly belong here?

“What are we doing here?” I asked in an undertone, getting anxious.

“I just want to show you where you belong.” He started to walk on the sands, the sun hitting his skin. “You’re part dragon, after all.”

“I’m not sure if I’m welcome here, Arawn Rhys.”

“Just because you don’t see marching bands and banners in your arrival does not mean you’re not welcome here.” His sarcasm showed again. “And, there is only one way to find out if the hoard will accept you or not.”

My eyes narrowed. “And what is that?”

He closed our distance, his back leaning against the huge rock, grey eyes on me. “At this point, Tana, there is only one dragon left. She’s called the White Queen and she’s whatever-hundred years old. You know how in werewolves, they believed in love by fate? That there is only one mate fated to them? That’s how it goes in dragons as well. There is only one dragon or dragoness that can ride them. And White Queen? She’s a virgin. Nobody rode her before.”

I tried my best to comprehend what he just told me. My knowledge when it came to dragons were very limited. It could actually amount to zero as I have no one taught me about them. All I knew was they were ancient and aggressive and the proudest among all other races.

“And you think I should try and bet my life to ride the White Queen?”

He nodded.

“Why would I do that?” I asked, getting confused. “I’m a dragon-witch, Arawn. As far as I know, my mother bewitched my father to fall for her and out I popped. A sin they made. And I don’t know how getting the White Queen on my side will help me redeem my soul.”

He took a deep breath, his expression shifted from soft to aggressive. “Hunters are soldiers of High Table, you know that, right?”

I nodded, glad and surprised he was letting me know more.

“They made your simple mistake big instead of letting it brush off their back and move on. After all, no harm done to the humans. But what you get is an injustice, just because you are a hybrid. Someone’s paying them off, plotting under the table to get rid of you.”

I blinked, realizing the seriousness of the situation.

“I don’t know who and I don’t know why. But as long as you’re standing and breathing in this world, those fallens will not stop attacking you.”

Problems seemed to pile up more than I imagined. “But how will I save my godmother’s soul trapped in the underworld? How will I go around the devil’s deal?”

Arawn Rhys wrapped his arm around my shoulder, tapping me gently. “Leave that part to me, will you?”

I swallowed, not finding my voice to agree or disagree with him.

“What you need to do, is be part of the hoard to be strong enough to go against the High Table. Because when I snatch your soul from Hell, the organization will retaliate, for sure. And when it happens, you need backup.”

I felt my stomach constricted, some part of me sending warnings of the dangers laid out ahead of me. The simple deal wasn’t simple at all and the organization viewed me as some sort of pest they should get rid off. But I couldn’t let them snap me out of the picture just because I was an abomination. If what Arawn said was true, then I should really stand my ground.