Bloodlines

Ryan Aimée Axel

Rogue

07. 11. 2003 - 30. 11. 2021

That’s who she was. That’s what her legacy was. Ryan would go down in history as a rogue, not a beloved daughter. Certainly not as a sister, since her sister, Ridley, was the one to kill her. She couldn’t be buried among fellow hunters because of the decisions she made preceding her demise. In place of being buried in Hunter’s Hectare, Ryan was buried in the common cemetery. Not even a proper farewell was given to her, just like any rogue hunter. Man or woman, old or young. She was a traitor.

Ridley stood with her hair blowing in the frosty January breeze, taking in her twin’s headstone. The grey wolf sat just as rueful beside her. Ankh could feel everything Ridley did and could even project it. She started howling sadly while Ridley - going against hunter rules - laid a rose on her sister’s grave.

Ankh whimpered then followed Ridley out of the cemetery, crunching over the solid dew. Ankh, like all canine hunters, had on a black vest with her name in white on the side. The wolf sniffed their route before she barked eagerly at the horse tied to the nearby tree. The gorgeous equine was brown with a lush black mane and a matching jett black tail.

The horse, Mako, had blood around his snout and his breath was tainted with a matching odour. That wasn’t at all unusual for Mako. He was ajar. Ajar were just ampyra animals and like Ankh, Mako could feel everything Ridley could. He nestled into her cheek while she combed through his let down mane.

Ridley exhaled a puff of misty breath before mounting her trusty steed. Ankh followed on foot beside the horse as they returned home. The streets of Dunon Town were busy with activity and especially reckless driving. Cars cautiously cruised across the iced road. Some gracefully. There was one, a beat-up old BMW, that swerved into a streetlight before Ridley and Mako reached the scene.

An ambulance was there along with a growing audience of worry. Mako snorted nonchalantly then cruised on passed the scene. He crossed into the town square, passing the only tattoo place in town. The goldblood who owned, Morien Grey, was The Hunt-certified. Which meant he could issue gradus series.

Ridley was with Ryan when Ryan received her hunter gradus. The last of the Nonentity series. The Nonentity series had for rankings: Novice, the eye; Learner, the three horizontal lines; Guardian, the shield; and Hunter, the infinity symbol.

A wave of hurt flooded the huntress when she looked down at her completed Nonentity series. The first three she earned fair and square but her Hunter gradus... she didn’t earn it when she got it. Ridley hated how she earned it; watching her sister die by her own hand. The one person she couldn’t kill was the person she killed first.

Looking at the tattoo parlour, all Ridley could think of, was watching Ryan sit in Morien’s chair as he tattooed on her Hunter. The Hunter she earned. She could only imagine how conflicted Morien must have been when Ryan walked in and wanted her Rouge gradus.

Passed the square was Main Street, which only brought out more memories of Ryan. Like when they first moved to Dunon. How lost Clarke was while trying to find the road that led to the school. At ten years old, living in a high school seemed daunting. Then there was boarding school in Pardón! All of Dunon brought out details of Ryan Ridley tried for years to ignore.

Joined to Main Street was la Fortifiée Boulevard. The road inclined along the hill that led to Dunon Academy. Like the name la Fortifiée suggested, the school was a fort. ‘Dunon’ in English translated to ‘fortified hill’.

Before Dunon Academy was a school, it was a base for The Hunt. Throughout history Dunon Town was a military location that withstood sieges, famine, battles and the lethal sibling rivalry between Ryan and Ridley. Not to mention the family feud Ridley went through with her estranged, psychotic mother.

The school was still. It was still winter break but even if it wasn’t, things would be clear. The sun students moved on from their mourning; going about their day as if nothing was out of the ordinary. If they were on campus, they would walk the hallways unfazed. Laughing, playing petty pranks, hating school, hating their teachers. Basking in their mundanity. The moon students too.

Mako made his way through the buildings with Ridley seeing the empty school like it housed the most traumatic memories. It did. Ryan used to walk those very hallways. Laughing with her friends, becoming a huntress of the peace, making memories with likeminded people.

Ridley tugged on the reins to halt her horse and Ankh whimpered, feeling Ridley make her decision. Tomorrow, when the dorms reopened and students returned to school life, she wouldn’t. Dunon Academy... moreover, Dunon Town... was no longer her home.

Ankh led the way to the stables, prancing across the polo and soccer fields. Ridley sadly dismounted Mako, who nestled into the back of her neck. Deep inside his dark eyes, Mako was pleading with her not to go. Ankh too. Her silvery predator eyes wanted her to stay.

Ridley wrapped her arms around the majestic horse’s face. Mako snorted ruefully while Ankh leaped to her hind legs to hug Ridley from behind, lightly licking Mako’s face. Ankh leaped down from her perch. Ridley stroked the equine’s nose tenderly before trudging out of the stables with Ankh in tow.

Under the murky orange hue of sunset, Ridley modelled into the hunter’s training facility. One benefit of winter was how earlier it grew darker. During school breaks were when the most intense training took place. Even if the three surviving Guardian Program members were already recognised hunters, they still had to be on their toes.

Mutely Ridley picked out a series of daggers she snuck into her various pockets. That’s if she wasn’t strapping the sheaths to her black jeans. Her knee-length lace up boots ended just before her dark grey trench coat that she stripped off to reveal the grey woollen blouse she wore underneath.

She sighed then shifted her karambit knife on her thigh. Ankh leaped onto the counter then caught a pen in her teeth and nudged her master lightly with a yip. Ridley took the pen and clicked it. The pen extended into the staff that still had Renee’s gold blood dried onto it.

Ankh tilted her head and panted eagerly and Ridley retracted the staff’s size and snuck it into her back pocket with a sigh. Ankh yipped excitedly then leaped off the counter and pranced into Sayeed’s chest, behind her. Excitedly she smothered her tongue over his face while he cradled her in his arms.

Her tail wagged eagerly while he roughed out her gruff. The wolf joined Sayeed’s side. Ankh chose to stay with Ridley while Sayeed returned to Charter House to collect his scholastics gradus. Scholastics gradus were just crests that showed where a hunter did their training.

Scholastics are tattooed to the base of the right hand. They could only be done by the school with the said crest. Since Sayeed did most of his schooling at Charter House, he was obligated to have both the Charter House crest along with the Dunon Academy crest tattooed.

Ridley was unfazed by Sayeed’s return, instead she continued to arm herself. She picked out two stunner grenades and tossed them to the Egyptian hunter wordlessly. He smirked at her then watched her model out of the facility. Ankh looked him in the eye, suddenly serious. Sayeed furrowed his eyebrows at the grey wolf and she flicked her tail at him before following Ridley.

It grew awfully dark awfully quickly for early January. Sayeed armed himself too before plugging in his earpiece and joining Ridley in the flood of shadows. She stood patiently leaning against the library wall with Ankh sitting protectively in front of her.

Sayeed gave her a brief nod before brushing passed her. It was still strange to see him without Scarab and Anubis, the dobermans, along with Amenta and Nemyss - the German Shepherds - in tow. They served him loyally and Sayeed clearly loved them as more than just canine hunters. Sayeed vanished onto the darkness and Ankh looked pleadingly up at Ridley. The huntress looked back down at her; convinced to a fault that leaving was best.

Even where she stood brought up a painful memory of Ryan. There, in that exact spot, Ridley was once caught her twin smoking with her friends during school hours. Ankh sighed defeatedly then rested her head into Ridley’s lap. Ridley combed through her fur mutely then massaged the grey furred ears.

“Location check,” Sayeed boomed into her ear.

“Check,” Dane replied.

“Check,” Ridley added apathic into her earpiece.

“Target acquired,” Dane went on. “Location: eastbound on the quad.”

“Everyone remember the plan,” Sayeed inquired.

“You mean the plan that’s got less than a 1% chance of working,” Dane asked.

“If you’ve a better one, Sorensen, now’s the time!”

Ridley rolled her eyes then beckoned Ankh to peak around the corner while the two boys were arguing. The wolf nodded mutely while Ridley started climbing up the side of the library. Through the first floor windows, she saw their target trying to break into the library. Under the cover of night, Ridley continued for the second floor.

“Sure. Then we both die,” Sayeed replied sarcastically.

“It’s better than a full fatality,” Dane argued. “We’ll have the package and...”

“Be outnumbered, out gunned and outskilled! Dumbass!” Through her psionic link, Ridley signalled Ankh. The grey wolf started howling and snarling and just making a ruckus. “That’s Ridley’s location! Contact! Contact! Fall in!”

“We both go, they get away!”

“Ridley needs us,” Sayeed persisted. “I figured you’d want to save her!”

Ridley exhaled her fluster then pulled out her earpiece. She smashed in the vent cover then crawled through the second floor. Inside the library, she saw Johnathan and Clarke carefully creeping through the library. With them, was a small army of armed men. She exited the vent, behind a large bookshelf, narrowly avoiding being sighted.

She stealthily landed onto a table and exhaled lightly. The men did a sweep throughout the maze that was the library and Ridley ducked under a bookshelf and soundless crawled deeper into the second floor. With help from the flashlights, Ridley saw Johnathan and her father unlocking a glass display counter.

“Anything,” Clarke inquired.

“Sayeed and Dane’s bickering gave away their positions. They’re tied up in the school hall. Ridley’s still AWOL. We’re doing a perimeter sweep and Hayden’s following the wolf,” Johnathan replied. “Unless of course she’s invisible now too.”

Clarke huffed humourlessly then shook his head. “Are you still holding a grudge because of last week?”

“It’s more of a festering concern than a grudge,” Johnathan corrected.

“Johnathan...”

“She broke six arms, nine legs, fractured thirty ribs, punctured three lungs, severed a nose and an ear, bit off a finger and dislocated five knees. Do you want me go over the list of her not using witchcraft, and actually fighting? She needs to be contained.”

“‘Contained’? She’s a hunter! With or without the eldritch, she’s a good one.”

Johnathan shook his head. “Clarke. Before that she tore a man clean in half with her hands. Thank God it was a Class F or The Hunt would’ve served you her head on a plate! Her violence doesn’t have a filter anymore. What happens if she gets into a bar fight? Or just a disagreement with someone in her class?”

“She’ll be fine. I talk to her this morning and she got it off her chest,” Clarke replied. “We’re handling it. She won’t use it anymore.”

Jonathan shook his head in disagreement while Clarke pried open the glass case. “Dumbass,” he commented.

Ridley climbed out of her hiding place underneath the bookshelf then pulled out her throwing knives. She exhaled shakily then clenched her jaws. She threw a knife straight into Johnathan’s gun he and Clarke spun around and she threw another one into his shoulder.

She threw a third knife into the wall behind him, that barely missed his ear. She threw a knife at Clarke that went straight through his hand. Ridley disarmed her father before Johnathan then snatched the wooden box from Clarke. “Contact,” Clarke grunted then pulled the knife from his hand.

Ridley turned to see more experienced hunters charging for her with live ammunition. They bullets froze midair en route to the new goldblood. She raised an eyebrow and the bullets detoured into Johnathan and Clarke. The two fell to the ground from the rounds. The bullets were blunts - which just meant that they didn’t pierce into their targets. They only hit the surface before they popped. That didn’t mean they didn’t hurt.

The huntress scowled at her attackers and they spiralled backwards into the bookshelves behind them. Coolly she modelled to the stairs to leave. On the first floor, were more men. “Freeze! You’re outnumbered,” one bellowed.

She took a single step forward and smirked evilly, knowing full well that they were outnumbered. That was without her using her eldritch. They fired rapidly at her. She pulled out an elongated dagger and effortlessly sliced through the bullets that came at her while running for the exit.

Ridley threw the dagger into one man’s shoulder while wrestling two others. She kicked Javier in the face while Derick recovered from the dagger in his shoulder. Nathaniel grabbed her fist but Ridley was flawless! She pulled the dagger from Derick’s shoulder and repetitively stabbed Nathaniel in the leg.

The huntress shoved Nathaniel into a bookshelf then flung Derick into him while Javier pinned her to the ground. He pressed her face deeper into the unvacuumed carpet, restraining her arms. “I’ve got the package,” Javier yelled when he saw the wooden box next her face. “Let’s go! We-”

Ridley rolled over then elbowed Javier in the ribs. He shook it off then stood up to square off with her. He threw the first punch and she grabbed his arm and snapped his elbow out of its socket. He yelped his agony but she didn’t care. Her ferocity clouded her. She punched his face until his nose broke, face smothered in blood.

She grabbed his ears then slammed her face into his. Javier stammered backwards and Ridley huffed coldly before picking up the wooden box. She called to Ankh through their link and the grey wolf howled in the distanced, signalling her position. Ridley ran out the library in a full sprint. Through the quad and into the school hall, where Sayeed and Dane were tied up.

Instead of barging in, guns blazing, Ridley rammed up to the rooftop and snuck in through the backstage window. From the stage, she would have a strategic vantage point of the entire hall. It was poor strategy on the veterans' side not to have the entire hall covered. She pulled out her compound bow that was folded into her belt. The bow string she pulled out from her back pocket.

In place of firing arrows, Ridley knocked flying blades. Flying blades were long thin knives with a ‘U’ groove on the tip of the handle so that it would fit into the bow. Or to rest the index finger when used in close combat. Amazing how in training exercises, hunters didn’t use real bullets but they used real knives.

The smart thing would be to take out the guards but smart was predictable. Alternatively, the eldritch huntress aimed a single flying blade at Sayeed’s arm. Precision was a key element here. She had to shoot at his arm so that she could cut the rope but careful not to straight up shoot him in the arm. In terms of speed and multitasking combat, Sayeed towered over Dane.

“Shit. Little Axel’s got the package. She vanished into thin air.”

“You four. Secure the perimeter. Use tranquilisers; that kid is a raging bull.” Ridley growled lowly in reply then fired the blade at Sayeed. The blade speared into the back of the chair, slicing through two rounds of the rope. Sayeed gasped in surprise but immediately went to work to freeing himself. “Find her!”

Ridley reloaded her bow with three blades this time and fired straight into Henry, who bad mouthed her. Ankh came charging into the hall and joined the attack while Ridley used her last flying blade to cut Dane free. “Thanks,” he replied, drawing his gun.

He opened fired from behind his chair while Sayeed threw his at Malcolm. “We need an exit strategy,” Sayeed bellowed over the gunfire. “Ridley?”

“On it.”

She punched Henry so hard that he flew onto the stage. She took a deep breath a wave of white fire barricaded the veterans for them to escape. “Split run,” Sayeed ordered. “Rendezvous at the safe point. Go!”

Ridley exited the way she came - through a backstage window, heading north and Ankh sprinted south. Dane and Sayeed went through the main doors but Sayeed went east and Dane went west. When they were sure the veterans weren’t on their tails, they detoured to the back of the headmaster’s residence.

Ridley was the first one there, followed by Sayeed then Dane while Ankh took her time trotting to them. “Where’s the package,” Dane asked. Ridley pulled the wooden box out of her back pocket and handed it to him while catching her breath. “You didn’t have to go rogue, though,” he added coldly.

“I didn’t have to save you either,” Ridley replied. “What’s your point?”

Dane shook his head defiantly at her while he countered, “the point is that we’re a unit. We plan together. We win together, we fail together. We work together.”

“I was supposed to take point. Tonight is on me,” Sayeed cut in. “Lesson learned. Let’s move on.” Ankh sat down beside him then nodded to Ridley, still not letting go of Ridley’s plans to leave. “What’s in there?” Dane looked down at the small box in his hand. In the faint light from the lamps, the three hunters could see it was covered in ornament carvings. “Those are wolfen carvings,” he pointed out.

Ridley felt surprise flash in Ankh then turned to the grey wolf as she growled at Sayeed. The eldritch turned to the hunter then back to her ajar. In Ankh she could sense there was something the grey wolf was hiding but it was Dane to ask, “what are wolfen?”

“It’s nothing,” Sayeed replied. “Just an old story.” Before either Dane or Ridley could further interrogate him, he opened the box. “Whoa. Are these...?” He couldn't finish, too much in disbelief.

“Gold cards,” Clarke replied as he made his ominous appearance from the shadows. He was binding bandage over his perforated palm. “Stainless steel gold cards. Matte face, polished sides, engraved with the authentic Judicious series. These give you access to privileges and premium services restricted to recognised hunters. Traditionally you’re supposed to get them at graduation but after everything that’s happened, you’ve earned them.”

Ankh winced her angst; Clarke just made Ridley’s leaving more accessible. Gold cards were like law enforcement badges. The difference was that in place of using them for interrogations or access to crimes scenes - which they could do too - gold cards gave hunters permission to carry out duties outside of certain perimeters.

Clear exmaple; Ridley, Sayeed and Dane could only do hunter things (make hunt, make arrests, interrogations and such) within Dunon Town. Gold cards gave them permission to do such things outside of the town. The cards also gave them access to places like hunter hostels. Which are residential areas strictly resevered for hunters.

Ridley ran her thumb over the engraved Judicious series that ran down the length of the steel card. The Judicious series consisted of: the gavel of law, the scale of justice, the Holy Book (dependent on the individual’s religion) and the sword of righteousness. Underneath the series was her full name. Ridley Dominique Axel.

“Thanks, Clarke,” Dane replied, faintly disheartened. It was clear he was thinking of his uncle, Jakob. He was an emotionally distant man but Dane was the only family he had and he died protecting him.

“Thank you, sir,” Sayeed added, shaking Clarke’s hand.

Clarke nodded wordless then turned to his only daughter, watching her take in the card. Ankh nestled into her thigh with a whimper. Ankh turned to Sayeed then buried her snout in his leg. She winced then forced Sayeed closer to Ridley. Dane furrowed his eyebrows at the acting up wolf. “Is she okay?”

Sayeed shrugged then knelt to face her. Ankh licked his cheek then nudged him towards Ridley. The Egyptian hunter cupped her jaw, massaging it tenderly. “She’s worried about...” he translated squarely “... Ridley?”

Dane looked up at the only female hunter in the whole of Dunon Town. “What’s wrong,” he asked.

The celebratory atmosphere suddenly shifted to a worrying air directed to the huntress. “There’s a wolf in my head,” Ridley stated coldly. “Considering my thoughts are in my head, they’re none of your business.”

“Ankh thinks you need to talk to someone,” Sayeed stated.

“Ankh also thinks that taking a piss on a tree makes the tree hers,” Ridley argued and a white light illuminated the three male hunters from behind Ridley. “I’m fine,” she hissed.

“Then why did you just set a tree on fire,” Clarke countered. Behind Ridley, the elm tree that rose to Ryan’s bedroom was caught in Ridley’s signature white flames. “You’re falling back into your old habit. The eldritch is making it worse.”

Ridley inhaled deeply then exhaled shakily, pointing an accusatory finger at the cold flames. “That’s what happens when you suppress it.”

“I didn’t say ‘suppress’ it. I said ‘stop using it’,” Clarke replied levelheaded but roughly grabbed his daughter’s wrist. “Clearly that’s not a wise decision but you can’t just not contain it. I’m open to solutions any of you have.”

“Professionally, I find it quite useful. Very versatile, very precise. Personally...” Sayeed merely tilted his head then gestured to the scorched tree. “Can’t you treat it like it’s a combat skill and only use it when you need it?”

“Tried it. Blew up a man.”

“Yoga? Meditation? Military mental training? That strange thing Sayeed does when he thinks nobody’s looking,” Dane offered.

Sayeed cleared his throat uncomfortably then added sheepishly, “that’s a trademark.”

Ridley shook her head then slowly turned away from the men with her. “I appreciate your concern, I guess, but I don’t need it. Pity is for the pathetic,” she concluded.

She started for the way to the front door when Clarke commented, “you sound like Renee.” Ridley froze and bile flooded into her throat. She exhaled shakily then clenched her fists before continuing on her.

Ankh winced then curled around the front of Sayeed. Sayeed ruffled through her gruff and she pointed her snout up at him. She winced again then furrowed her brows at him. “What? What is it,” Sayeed asked her. Ankh only looked him square in the eye with a low snort. “Oh,” was his only reply.