PROLOGUE

It’s strange when you reach that moment where your soul floats out of your body and you’re looking down at yourself, sickened by what you see. What kind of person am I, that I caused all this death and destruction? I had lost all control. I had made so many mistakes. But you reach a point where the only thing you can think about is revenge. Vengeance is an all-encompassing thing. Its like nothing else exists in the world but your vendetta.

My life was in a downward spiral since the moment I first received my abilities. I believe I’ve reached rock bottom. Some would say that the only way to go now is up. I would beg to differ. I think I’ll just stay down here until I die, which must be sometime soon. Because if anyone in the world deserves death, it’s me.

I believe that love, guilt and grief are probably the three strongest emotions a person can feel. I was fit to burst with all three in me. People were sayings words to me, but I didn’t bother to listen. The problem was that they didn’t understand. None of them had lost their family. None of them had caused it to happen. It felt like déjà vu. Just like the car crash. It was all my fault. But back then, there was nothing I could do. I had been helpless. I realized that now, of all times. All my life people had told me the accident wasn’t my fault and I hadn’t believed them. Now I did. Because now I knew the difference. Real fault came when you could have stopped it from happening, but you didn’t. When your chosen actions led directly to the death of others. Now, I was truly at fault. And it hurt that much more.

CHAPTER ONE

I wiped the blood off my rapier onto the grass and put it back in its proper place on my belt. I took the small dagger from my left boot and cut the crystal out of the chest of my victim so that I could take it with me.

I glanced at my watch; it was exactly five in the morning. The sun would be rising soon, so I decided to head back. Just as I started walking towards the main road, my phone rang.

“Yeah?” I said, after flipping open my cell and putting it to my ear.

“Randi, you need to start heading back,” said the voice on the other end of the line.

“Way ahead of you, Boss,” I replied. With a quick snap I closed the phone and put it back in my pocket. I gave a sigh as I realized how worn out I was. I was glad the night was over. I must have looked very disheveled. For appearances sake, I redid my hair up into a tighter ponytail and I brushed as much of the dust off me as I could.

My ears pricked up as I heard a slight rustle. I didn’t move a muscle, but instead acted like I hadn’t heard it. But my eyes glanced to the side for the source of the noise. There was something moving in the forest to my right. My keen eyes caught a glimpse of something big. I bent down as if to tie my shoe.

As I fiddled with my shoelaces, I chanced another glance. I made it seem natural, like I wasn’t actually looking for anything. I got a good glimpse of whatever was hiding. It was a dark blue in color, a massive, muscular being with strange, unfamiliar clothing. It walked on two legs, like a human. It must have been at least seven feet tall, maybe more. It had long gray hair trailing down its back. It might have had a horn, or it might have just been my imagination. Why was this thing watching me?

I had two choices, either ignore the being, or confront it. Although I was tired, curiosity got the better of me. I stood and looked at the thing dead on. It did have a horn, a long white one sticking diagonally up out of its forehead.

We stared at each other for a few moments, wondering if someone was going to make a move. I wondered if the blue being spoke English or even spoke at all. I didn’t get the chance to ask. It turned around and started running deeper into the woods. Now I was intrigued. I chased after it.

My heavy boots crushed leaves and twigs underneath me as I made my way through the trees, trying not to lose sight of Mr. Blue. He ran fast for being so big.

I chased him for a couple of minutes, until a growl pierced the night. It startled me so much that I stopped abruptly, and almost fell over. The growl came again, louder this time, it was coming closer. It could have been a wolf. If so, I was excited to see it. I headed towards the noise and reached an open field. I heard rustling to my right, the sound of a scream, and heavy pounds on the dirt. No, that was no wolf.

A girl broke through the trees and ran out into the open. She tripped on something and fell flat on her face. Right behind her came running a black bear, obviously the source of the noise. Something powerful was radiating from the bear. It was practically glowing. This was no ordinary bear.

“Cool,” I whispered to myself as I stepped back into the cover of the trees. I didn’t want to be seen by either the girl or the bear.

The girl turned onto her back and looked up at the massive brown beast. It had reached her now; there was no way to escape. They stared at each other for several silent moments. I knew from experience that her fear was now transforming to calm. She stood slowly and put a hand out to the bear’s head. She petted him gently. The bear’s radiance transferred into the girl. She glowed bright for a moment, like one lonely star in the dark night. The moment was gone in an instant. The bear turned and ran away. I heard people in the woods behind me, and knew that someone was coming to take care of the girl. I didn’t want to stay for small talk, so I started heading back, like I was supposed to do about fifteen minutes before that point.

I stopped walking for a moment so that I could concentrate. I closed my eyes and willed my sharp canine teeth to retract back to the average size for a human. I felt my eyes itch as they lost the yellowish tint and returned to their normal green. I released my muscles, and felt my body retake its wiry frame. When I opened my eyes, my excellent night vision was gone, as was my acute sense of smell. With a sigh of regret, I began running, using the only part of my wolf ability I had left untouched, my ability to run at thirty miles per hour.

“Heavy night?” Leo asked as I sat down with him on the couches in the library. In the center of the room were several couches and chairs surrounding a table. It was usually where everyone met up after the night’s rounds, since it was the first room one entered when they went into the house.

“Yeah, you too?”

Leo nodded. He pointed to the table where four crystals were sitting. I added my six to them. Ten was already a pretty good collection for just one night of rounds.

“I saw a coronation tonight,” I told him.

“Oh yeah?” He smiled at me. He had dazzling white teeth, and they were straight too. It was the kind of smile that would melt a girl’s heart. It helped that it was paired with sharp brown eyes, a strong chin, and a muscular build. His brown hair, usually gelled up, was now ruffled and messy from the fighting.

I was going to tell him all about the coronation, but Lani came in and joined us.

“How’d you do?” Leo asked her.

“Lots of action, but I only got two.” She rolled the crystals she had collected onto the table. Lani was smaller than me in build, being only five two and very wiry where my muscles were more obviously defined. But we were equal in strength and skill. I was surprised she had only gotten two.

“What happened?” I asked.

Lani looked up at me with her bright green eyes. I was jealous of those eyes sometimes. She was one of the prettiest girls I knew. Her red hair fell around her shoulders in curly locks. She had naturally tan skin and a beautiful complexion. Her face looked almost sculpted, lacking imperfections. When she smiled, you could see the slight crook in her bottom left canine tooth, and that one flaw made her even more beautiful.

“I got jumped by a clan of vampires,” Lani answered my question.

“Ouch. I saw a coronation.” My encounter was much more pleasant.

“Nice.”

“I got nothing,” Han said, walking in. “I hate Diamond Duty. I suck.”

“You don’t suck,” I said, laughing.

“Easy for you to say.”

Han had been my best friend since grade school. Han’s attractiveness was much subtler than Leo’s. He had a quietness about him, with his soft brown hair, kind brown eyes and cute smile. He was just as tall as Leo, both of them being about six feet, and they had the same build. Where Leo’s face was chiseled and defined, Han’s was soft and approachable.

It was an amazing coincidence when we both ended up working for the Animagia Company, having gone through our own coronations. It almost never happened that two people who knew each other before would both be chosen for Animagia.

“How many did you get?” Han asked me.

“Six.”

“See? You always get the most!”

“No, I don’t.” I had probably just gotten lucky. Certain areas were crawling with Hitachi demons, while others had very few. Each Hitachi demon had a crystal glowing inside of them, instead of a heart. Its what kept them alive. Cutting out the crystal was the only way to kill them.

These crystal hearts were extremely important to Animagia because they contained a venom that, if used correctly, could take away the eternal life of a vampire. There was a special liquid that Animagia scientists ran through the crystals. Then sharp, wooden stakes would be soaked in this liquid poison. When we used the stakes against the vampires, the venom would take away their eternal life and along with it, their amazing ability to heal. The damage the stake had done would then, hopefully, kill the vampire. Sometimes it took several stakes to take a vampire down.

Without the venom, stakes still did some damage. The thickness of the weapon and its ability to so deeply penetrate the body made it an ideal weapon against the vampires. It was an extremely hard wound to heal from, and could buy you several precious seconds when you were in a bind.

“I saw a coronation today,” I told Han. “It was a bear, and some girl. I didn’t really get a good look at her.”

“She must have been terrified,” said Han. “A bear. Man, that’s tough.”

“Try a lion,” said Leo with a laugh.

Orion was the last of the group to walk into the room. He was the leader of our little group. He was only an inch or two shorter than Han and Leo. He had dark brown hair and the eyes to match. He wore black-framed glasses at night when he was working in his office, and he had them on now. When I thought about it, Orion was a very good-looking guy, by my standards, but I didn’t really pay attention much, since he was my boss.

“How did everyone do tonight?” Orion asked as he came into the room.

“We did all right, Boss,” I said with a nod at the crystals.

Orion walked over and counted them. “Not bad.” He gave us all an approving nod.

We had been under Orion’s command for about a year now. We all got along well enough. He wasn’t as strict as some of the other squad leaders we had had, but he knew what he was doing. You couldn’t ask for a better leader in battle. He was young for being in such a commanding position. He was only twenty-six. He was also not an Animage. He just worked for the company. None of us yet new how exactly he had gotten involved. He also did have some inexplicable abilities that no normal human could possess. But Orion was a secretive person. He didn’t like to talk about himself, so we never asked him anything.

Orion gathered up the crystals. “I’ll take these and get to work. You guys should catch a little shuteye before school starts. I’ll let you skip first period.”

“Thank you, Orion,” Lani said through a yawn. “You’re a lifesaver.”

Orion smiled. “As are all of you.”

“Before you all nod off, I should tell you something.” I had everyone’s attention. “I ran into something today. Could have been a demon, I’m not sure. I think it may have been following me, but that’s just a hunch, there’s really no reason to think that. But it was watching me. I don’t know for how long.”

“What’d it look like?” asked Orion.

I described Mr. Blue to all of them. None of them had ever seen or heard of anything like it.

“We’ll hit the books tomorrow,” said Orion. “See if we can find anything useful. And everyone keep an eye out for this thing, all right?”

We all nodded. Orion left to do his experiments, and we all cuddled up on the couches to catch some sleep.

“No way!” Leo exclaimed. “You’re crazy.” He and I were sitting on the couches in the library, having just gotten back from school.

“Let’s ask Han.” I leaned over the couch to yell into the kitchen, where Han was making himself a sandwich. “Yo, Han! Who would win in a fight, a lion or a wolf?”

“Not this again!” Han yelled back to them. “Can’t you two just call it a tie? The lion and wolf would kill each other, end of story.”

“No, there has to be a winner,” said Leo. “And the winner is the lion.”

Lani entered the library, coming back from the bathroom. “This again?” she asked. “Listen. What would happen is that the red-tailed hawk would swoop down and rake out the eyes of the lion and the wolf, and win the battle.”

“Oh, please,” said Leo. “The lion would knock that little birdie out before she got anywhere near his eyes.”

“That little birdie! How dare you insult me like that! I’ll have you know that the red-tailed hawk is the biggest hawk there is.”

Orion came into the room, talking on the phone, and we all quieted immediately. “Yessir, we’ll be there,” Orion was saying. “Thank you, Sir. Good day.” He hung up the phone.

“Who was that?” Han asked, taking a seat on one of the couches.

“That was General Caymond.”

The others were surprised. The General very rarely called them directly. “What did he want?” I asked.

“Actually, he wanted you. He said he has something to tell you, or give you, or something like that.”

“Okay…” I said, confused. “So do I have to meet with him or something?”

“Yeah, tonight.”

“Tonight? I can’t go tonight. Tonight was supposed to be my night off, I made plans.”

Orion gave a laugh. “Randi, this is General Caymond, second in command only to the chief of staff. And he wants to see you, tonight. So cancel your plans.”

I gave a huff of annoyance. “This sucks.”

“Don’t mind her,” said Leo. “She’s just sour because she was supposed to have a date with Brad Reynolds tonight. She’s had her eye on him for months.”

“Brad Reynolds?” Lani asked. “The playboy of St. Ignatius? Way to go Randi.”

“Can’t someone else go in my place?” Randi asked Orion. “Please? How about Han?”

“You can’t just offer me up like that,” Han objected. “Did it ever occur to you that I might have plans tonight?”

I shook my head. “You never have plans.”

“Okay, all of you, listen up,” said Orion, taking on his leader tone. The others quieted instantly. “First of all, Randi, the General said that he specifically wants to see you, so you have to be there. Second of all, he’s invited the rest of us along as well, so we’re all going. I know, I know, it sucks. I had plans tonight too. We all have to make sacrifices. But I don’t want to hear any more griping or complaining out of the four of you, got that? I am calling Third Company to duty, and you may not refuse.”

“I’m not trying to gripe or complain,” said Han. “But you don’t understand. I had a job tonight, a big one. I mean, they were going to pay me more money than I have ever seen in my life. We’re talking thousands of dollars in cash.”

Whenever anyone in Animagia had the extra time, they would often take on private jobs to earn some cash. Animagia didn’t pay their soldiers any money. No one in Third Company really needed the money, since they all still lived with their parents, but every now and then they would take a job on the side for some spare cash, or, as Han was doing, for lots of cash to put into savings.

“Reschedule,” said Orion without sympathy. “Tell your clients that you’ll do the job tomorrow night.”

“Yeah, you try to tell the head of a vampire clan that you have to rearrange their plans, see how well that goes, and let me know.”

Orion shrugged. “Like I said, it’s the general. We have to go. You guys need to do what you have to do to make sure that you are ready to go by seven o’ clock, on the dot. We’ll meet back here. Until then, we’re hitting the books to see if we can find anything on this Mr. Blue. I’m going to start with the ones in my office.” Orion left the room.

“I guess I’m going to have to call Brad,” I said, filled with disappointment as we all picked several books from the shelves, brought them to the couches, and began delving into them. I had been looking forward to the date for a while.

“He’s not right for you anyway,” said Han. “He’s a player. He’s not the girlfriend/boyfriend type.”

“I don’t care. I just wanted to have some fun for once. It seems like our whole lives have been encompassed with work lately.”

“Ain’t it the truth,” Lani murmured.

“Hey, did any of you guys realize that Orion said he had had plans tonight?” Han asked. “What do you think they were?”

“Probably had plans to stay up late working alone, locked up in his study,” said Leo. “The guy doesn’t have much of a life.”

“Yeah, that’s what we’ve always assumed,” said Han. “But what if he does have a life outside of work? Have we ever thought to ask? I’m just saying, we should be more friendly.”

“You mean more curious?” Leo asked.

“Exactly,” said Han. “I like knowing what to expect from people. Anyways, it’s just a thought. I better go and try to convince that vampire that I’m not trying to screw him over.” Han passed off his books to me. “If I don’t show up here at seven, you’ll know why. See ya.”

As Orion had asked, at seven Third Company was lounging about the library, ready to go. In fact, we were a little early.

“We’re going to get stared at in the subway again,” said Lani, looking over herself with a sigh.

All four of us were dressed in full uniform, as the general would expect. Unfortunately, it made us appear a little less than normal. The uniform was entirely black. It consisted of black slacks, practically noiseless when you moved, and loose, so that you could maintain a wide range of motion. There was a black belt around the pants, without a buckle. It held the holsters for all of the guns and knives Third Company was supposed to carry. The boots were black and heavy duty. You could run, walk, hike, and climb with those boots, and they protected from the cold. Underneath the pants, where no one could see, there were shin and calf protectors, made of strong, thick leather.

On the upper half we wore a black, cotton, long-sleeved tunic. Slipped on top of the tunic was protection for the chest, stomach, and back. This protection was a leather armor suit, covered in cloth. Beneath the leather was also bulletproof material. Protectors like the ones used for our shins and calves were also on our arms, strapped loosely enough to move easily, but tight enough to stay in place. Every one was also wearing black leather gloves. On top of all of this was thrown on a long, leather coat, that went down to the wearer’s knees. It hid the weapons and the armor pretty well, but it didn’t really help us to look more normal.

Our heads and necks were the only parts of our bodies uncovered. I had my hair done up tightly in a high ponytail. I looked into the mirror to make sure that there were no stray hairs. Sometimes my hair was hard to control. It was very curly and had the tendency to get unruly. However, it was black and that proved useful for espionage purposes.

“We would look more normal if we all weren’t wearing the same thing,” Han pointed out. “And if we all weren’t in black. They should really let us pick out our own colors. I would choose blue.”

I looked over everyone to make sure that they were all up to par on the dress code. Both Han and Leo had their dark brown hair slicked back in a way that made them look a lot younger than their seventeen years, like young boys dressed for Sunday church, but it was the only way they could achieve such a clean cut look. They had every piece of armor and accessory in the right place. It gave both of them a bulky look, since they were muscular to begin with.

I looked over at Lani. Her gear also made her look bulky, but just because she was such a small person. She was strong, but her muscles were well hidden and she was only a little over five feet tall. My muscles were much more defined, and I was five and a half feet tall, so the gear looked a lot more natural on me. Lani’s red locks were pulled into a tight ponytail, just like mine. Not one strand fell to her face. It made her look more masculine. With her hair down, Lani was one of the prettiest, most feminine-looking girls I knew. But with her hair up and slicked back like that she was more handsome than pretty.

Orion entered the library. He looked more normal than the rest of us. He was dressed in a uniform that would be fitting for a member of the United States Army. However, the uniform was also entirely black, and the honors displayed on his chest were like nothing the United States Army had ever heard of.

“Ready to go?” Orion asked. “Let’s all get into the car.”

“The car?” I asked. “I thought we were taking the subway?”

“Nope, we can’t afford to get backed up. We need to make it on time. Sorry, Randi, but we don’t have a choice.”

“We could get backed up with traffic in a car just as easily as we could get backed up in the subway. Never mind, you guys do what you want. I’m running.”

“Do you even remember the way to headquarters?” Leo asked.

“Of course I do,” I said. “Its about an hour’s run. I could do it easy. Come on, Orion, please. I’ll make it there in time, I promise.”

“Fine,” Orion said. “The rest of you, let’s get in the car.”

“Hey, if Randi’s running, then I’m flying,” said Lani.

“No way,” Orion said. “You don’t mind car rides, and you’re not supposed to fly unless absolutely necessary. We can’t risk exposure. Now let’s get a move on, people.”

“At this rate we’re going to be hours early,” Han muttered as Orion ushered them to the door of the garage.

“See you guys there.” I headed towards the front door.

“Don’t be seen,” Orion instructed.

“You got it.” I closed the door shut behind me and started running.