Prologue: Kira
Ichor stained my brand new, jet-black leather boots and covered the once-glamorous silver buckles with a purplish haze. My favorite hunting sword was now also covered in the thick dark liquid. I sighed and sheathed the blade before leaning by the blood-red front door of the grand gothic mansion I lived in. Unzipping the boots, knowing my mother would never allow me inside with the blood, whether she was here or not. Now standing in my socks on the front step of the large marble temple-like structure, I dug in my pocket for my keys. I groaned and realized I had forgotten them inside. Sweat dripping down my cheek in the hot California sun, I jiggled the lock. Nothing happened. I placed my hand which was now sticky with both demon blood and sweat on the boiling hot surface of the door. I concentrated on what I wanted to do, to go inside, change out of my clothes, find a way to remove the demon blood from my boots, and then take a shower. I felt the power of my magic flood through my body and into the inner-workings of the door lock. I heard the clicks of the door as it was unlocked. I smiled and opened the door, placing my fingers down on the two-hundred-year-old handle and pushed the door open.
I stepped onto the black marble floor which shone with fresh polish and shrugged off the black jean-jacket I had worn. Placing it on the antique coat-hanger which stood in front of me, I took in the scene. The lavish obsidian staircase which laid a few paces ahead and split off in two directions, the enormous shaggy white rugs which laid about, under and around either red or black couches, the inhumane amount of books which lined the entire wall a few steps behind and to the right of where I stood in the doorway. I allowed my eyes to study the ancient paintings of battles my family had participated in, each bloodier than the last. I snapped myself out of my daze and began to climb the monstrous steps which led to my room, sighing at the sheer
immensity of my home.
I had almost reached my room when I heard loud, booming footsteps behind me. I turned around and ran to the suited figure. The tall and burly man with hair dark as mine laughed and swung me off my feet. “Hey kid,” he chuckled, his voice almost shaking the walls as he spoke.
I smiled warmly at my father, studying him more closely as he set me down. His condition was getting worse. His eyes were sunken and his face was tight as if he had been frowning most of the time he was away. I pretended not to have noticed and asked, “What are you doing home?”
He laughed sadly as if he wished he had a better reason. “I’m sorry to do this to you,” he said. “I know you just got back from a mission but I have another assignment for you.”
I raised my eyebrow questioningly. “What’s the assignment?”
He winced as if he had hoped I wouldn’t ask that. “There’s a girl,” he said, handing me a picture of a platinum-blonde baby. “She’s half-fairy but was raised in the human world,” he told me.
“I don’t understand,” I said with the eerie feeling that something awful was going to happen creeping up my spine. “Has she broken a law or something? I didn’t think we were supposed to ‘dispose of’ her kind.”
He shook his head. “It’s not that kind of job.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “I’m an assassin. What other kind of job would it be?”
He sighed and rubbed his temples. “You’re going undercover. You’re supposed to make contact, bring her here,” he swallowed hard, knowing I was going to hate whatever was going to come out of his mouth next. “And show her how to use her powers.”
I stared at him, hoping he was joking. Seeing as he wasn’t, I fought the urge to gag. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “You want me, the world’s top assassin to go find some little humdrum girl, hold her hand as I tell her that her life is a lie and that werewolves and vampires are everywhere, and then you want me to quickly find a way to get her to use the magic that is stuck inside her to do something that fairies are supposed to do?” I asked my father, who looked at me for a moment before nodding. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?” he asked, seeming slightly shocked.
“As a Demon Hunter I am legally allowed to say no if I have a moral obligation which takes precedence over a mission a superior officer is giving me,” I recited.
“So?” he asked. “What’s you moral obligation?”
I thought for a moment. “I hate children, I hate fairies, I hate humdrums, and I hate emotions.”
“Those are only opinions,” he said. “And it’s not even a child you’re dealing with.”
I glanced down at the picture I held in my hand. “This sure looks like a child,” I said, holding it up.
“It’s the most up-to-date picture we could get,” he said defensively. “She’s about your age.”
“You guys should really update your system then,” I said, a slight bit of entertainment coming from the argument. “From the looks of this picture, it’s about fourteen years off.”
“So you’ll do it?” he asked hopefully.
“Still no.”
He sighed. “I didn’t think it would come to this, but…” he paused for dramatic effect. “What do you want?”
I thought for a moment, scanning all the things I wanted at the moment. “New boots,” I said, knowing that after this conversation, the demon blood would be completely soaked into the material, also, I wanted to see if he knew I still had his enchanted wallet. “A cool new car, a bow, a T.V-” he stopped me.
“I’ll get you boots,” he said.
“Guess not,” I thought and began searching through the list of things I had just mentioned for a second reward.
“And a bow,” I demanded, holding my hand out for him to shake. He looked at me sideways before finally shaking my hand, muttering something about me being my mother’s daughter.
