Twisted Blood

Nearly three centuries later, the new world order was still maintained. Renee came and went like a ghost in The Hunt. Her legacy lives on, in the daughters she shared with a veteran hunter named Clarke Axel. The two were were never married, making Renee's exit even more stealthy. Their daughters, Ridley and Ryan, followed in the footsteps of their father and his predecessors. They joined The Hunt. From a young age, the same as all hereditary hunters, the Axel twins started their training. Like any other blood hunter, they climbed through the rankings as they grew older and stronger.

The four rankings of The Hunt weren't awarded by age but by skill. A novice was a hunter in mental training, the fundamental stage. Before they could be physically trained or even educated on their adversary, novices had to be taught mental resilience. Spending the rest of your life as an executioner would take its toll so mental resilience was key.

Once a young hunter was deemed mentally disciplined, they started learning both educationally and physically. Learner was a tricky stage of development. They could learn and they could fail. There wasn't a formal school for hunting so learners were trial and error. The Hunt, after a few years of research, established that by age fifteen, the learnership was either over or the apprentice hunter needed more time on a particular aspect. Be it physical or educational.

Once a learner became a guardian, that's when they started gaining public interest. Guardians were the second last stage before becoming a recognised hunter. It was at this stage that they received their gradus, or ranking marks. The first four gradus are symbols tattooed onto a hunter's dominant forearm. Only at guardian level could they get their gradus for their past rankings.

Gradus were important in The Hunt for a number of reasons. Predominantly gradus were used to identify where someone fit into the hunter's hierarchy. After guardianship, was the final stage of learning: hunter. Guardianship ended when a guardian made hunt - made their first kill.

From huntership, there more rankings with their own set gradus that went on different parts of the body. The ones like Clarke Axel - who was a ranger, which was one of the highest ranks for a hunter. Clarke, in hand with his wife Esmeralda and the hunting faculty of his school, trained the next generation of hunters.

Their summer program was to prepare the Guardian Program for huntership. The academy was filled with the early morning songs of birds with crisp dew on the grass and a chilled breeze brushing through the hallowed halls, hollowed from no students.

The sky was still a greyish-blue with no sign of the sun rising any time soon. In the shadow of the pre-dawn morning, the next generation of hunters were jogging through their school. The school may not have had any students but that didn't mean it wasn't in use.

Over the summer, the dorm rooms are used as a hostel for tourists and other travellers. Dunon Academy also had a great training facility for hunters. It was no secret that there were ampyra in the world and schools like Dunon Academy made it easier for them to fit in and eradicate stigma.

Ridley was jogging passed the western garden when Clarke joined her side. A major difference between Ridley and Ryan was Ridley's eternal hairstyle. Her hair was always down. She uses her hair as a shield to block out the people around her. She does this to stay focused on her duties as a hunter while also not potentially hindering her ability to kill on sight, should her victim be someone she knows.

Despite being the oldest guardian, Ridley was the best. Physically, mentally and strategically. Her jett black hair ended just passed her ribs and bounced lightly as she wove through the school. Her black top's sleeves were rolled to her elbows and her trainers were damp from the pooled water in the quad from the storm the previous night.

Clarke matched his daughter's pace when he joined her side. He had all sorts of gradus apart from the basic four. The ranger arrow on the side of his neck and his warrior rankings up his spine: aeromancer, geomancer, hydromancer, pyromancer and the highest warrior level, elemancer. Only one out of every one hundred hunters ever began elemancer warriors.

Ergo, Clarke Axel was soulessly lethal, to say the least, but that was balanced by the love in his heart. His wife, Esmeralda, and his daughters kept him docile. Not to mention his responsibilities as a principal usually kept his slasher killing style inactive.

His hereditary black hair - speckled with grey - was tied into a man bun; a common look for more experienced hunters. Between his daughters, Ridley was the quiet one and he enjoyed annoying her with his little guessing game.

"Ready for today," Clarke began and Ridley said nothing. She didn't even budge. "Good. It's the last days of summer and you know what means." They rounded the garden and the two slowed down to walk the rest of the way to the training facility. "I'm glad one of my daughters remembered the meaning of 'last days of summer'," the principal stated then patted her shoulder. He pulled his hair free from the scrunchy he borrowed from Esmeralda and handed it Ridley. "Tie it up." She only scowled at him before leaving him outside. "Or not. Per the norm."

Jakob Sorensen was already there with his nephew, Dane. Jakob wore his wavy brown hair down and covered his eye patch. His left eye was gouged out by his sister before he put her down. That was a story nobody knew entirely.

Dane, Ridley and Ryan were the only seniors in the Guardianship Program. Oliver was a third year and Jason was a first year. Jakob was sitting on Dane's back while he did pushups and Jakob was making small talk with Esmeralda while drinking his coffee.

Dane was shirtless and well built from his eighteen years of training. He was a blackblood ampyra, as opposed to Ridley and Ryan who were blackblood non-ampyra. He had sunkissed skin and his uncle's wavy brown hair. He also had a deep admiration for Ridley though never had the courage to say anything.

"How many is that," Dane asked when he saw her. He felt his cockiness get the better of him but he really did like her. "Like, six hundred?"

Esmeralda chuckled lightly before departing from Jakob. "What was that, boy," he asked with his faint Danish accent wafting through his voice. "Oh. I don't know. I lost track after four."

Oliver and Jason came running into the building, with Oliver in the lead. "You're slipping, newbie," Oliver declared. "Ryan almost had you by the fountain."

"No, she didn't!"

"Yes, she did."

Ryan came panting endlessly and hunched over feeling her lungs ablaze. The fountain was on the opposite end of the school and school was not small at all. She caved into the doorframe, groaning her exhaustion. Ridley mutely strolled over to the water dispenser to take a sip before they began with the most intense training day of the year!

Esmeralda clapped her hands as Jakob and Clarke joined her side. "Alright, listen up," she began. Her freshly dyed wine red hair was tied in a ponytail that pulled her eyes back at the ends. "Today's one of the last days of summer. After tomorrow it's back to patrolling, dorm inspections, late nights, the works. Anything can happen at any time. Be prepared," she concluded sternly. "Twins, armed sparring. Oliver and Dane, hand-to-hand combat. Jason, target practice. Move out."

Ridley dropped her paper cup into the recycling bin then led the way to the mattress in the corner. Ryan paused by the mattress to shake off her exhaustion from racing Oliver and Jason while Ridley was at the wall lined with knives and daggers and brass knuckles and other trinkets used in armed sparring. Mutely she handed Ryan two ring daggers before raising her own.

The knives were blunt so they could do no physical harm but they had all the other realness. Ryan's purple sports bra was lightly pooled with sweat while her matching yoga pants had mud on them from tripping over an out-sticking tree root. Her hair was the same length of Ridley's but hers was tied into a high ponytail.

Ryan was an offensive fighter and did most of the striking while Ridley either deflected her or blocked her. There was always a pent up rage in Ryan's fighting against Ridley and with reason; Ridley always won. Thus they had a silent rivalry between them.

Ridley always used her sister's momentum against her when the opportunity presented itself. Ryan came charging at her with dagger aiming for her heart. Ridley merely cupped her sister's wrist and flipped Ryan over her shoulder. The older twin then disarmed her pinned down counterpart with her hair grazing Ryan's cheek.

"Ridley," Clarke called for no reason other than to distract his daughter.

Ryan smirked to herself then flipped her sister onto the mattress. The younger twin grinned proudly to herself with Ridley pinned beneath her. She kicked the daggers out of Ridley's reach and couldn't contain upping her better half. "Rule two: don't take your eyes off your adversary," Ryan purred to her sister smugly.

Ridley said nothing but her breathing became heavy. She braced herself then bashed her head into Ryan's. With Ryan stunned, Ridley kneed her in her behind before shoving her off. Ridley then pulled out the knife from her garter under her tennis skirt and pressed it into Ryan's neck.

Clarke gasped in surprise but other than that he did nothing. "Rule one," Ridley countered softly, almost a whisper, "never expect a fair fight."

Clarke sniggered to himself softly while scribbling on his clipboard. "That's one-null to Ridley," he stated. Ridley stood up and nonchalantly turned away from Ryan, who was fuming. It went without saying that Ridley was superior to Ryan. "That's three-null to Ridley," Clarke concluded. "Again," he added under his breath.

The buzzer sounded behind them and Esmeralda turned away from Dane and Oliver, who were both bleeding profusely from exchanging blows. "Ryan and Oliver, self-defense mat. Dane and Jason, archery. Ridley, target practice," she stated. "Hey, don't take it so personally. Just..." the fuming Ryan stormed passed her stepmother coldly.

Ridley sheathed her knife back into her garter then made for the targets further inside the building. Target practice was always fun; it was designed to match the carnival game alternative. The targets were on a conveyor belt and constantly moving faster. With precision like Ridley's or Clarke's, their adversaries stood little chance.

Each of the throwing knives always struck the human silhouette targets in the head. The belt was set to its fastest setting and Ridley was still consistent. Clarke folded his arms while watching her. He had set the high score of sixty targets on the highest setting. It looked like Ridley was about to beat the twenty-four year old record. Then again, for the passed four years, that's also how it looked.

That didn't mean Clarke didn't get nervous about it every year! As always, when things were looking dire for his record, he grew angsty and started tapping his foot impatiently. His heartbeat picked up and he tucked his sweaty palms under his arms. A bead of sweat formed at his eyebrow when Ridley reached fifty-seven, a personal best for her. He may have felt it but Clarke Axel never gave anything away on his face. That was perhaps the only behavioural trait Ridley inherited from him.

Fifty-eight really had Clarke worried. Jakob even turned away from Ryan and Oliver to spectate on fifty-nine. Sixty had the entire floor frozen and nobody dared to breathe. Ridley showed no indication about what she was feeling; she was zoned out. She could only continue throwing the knives at her targets and block out the world around her.

She would have gone on raising the bar for target practice, had she not run out of throwing knives. There were only a hundred knives available but clearly that's not where Ridley would have stopped. A deafening cheer broke out around her but Ridley was a statue. Clarke, despite losing his most memorable accomplishment to his own daughter, was proud.

He patted her shoulder with his usually square face lit up by his eyes. The tracker on the simulator flashed '100' in orange LEDs and was matched by the beat of applause. They celebrants kept their distance from Ridley, knowing how she hated it, yet still showed their support. Ryan applauded too though the envy on her face was evident. Since school started the following day, everyone would be talking about Ridley!

As soon as the celebration started, it ended and everyone was back to what they were doing. Ridley started over and continued until the buzzer sounded again. From there, she went to archery and hand-to-mouth combat with Dane and self-defence with Jason. She had four years on him so he stood little chance.

After their training session was fitness. Intensive fitness to be exact. Doing it with an ampyra turned intense fitness to intensive fitness. Esmeralda and Dane naturally had better indurance and stamina than their non-ampyra counterparts. However, they were still human so they did run out of energy.

With intense fitness, the aim is to constantly be moving without exhausting oneself. Intensive fitness was different. One had to keep up with an ampyra because they're more durable than non-ampyra. 'Exhaustion was a state of mind' according to the quote on the wall.

Endlessly jumping rope for a minute didn't sound particularly draining but forty crunches as the speed of light was. Pushups, Superman pushups, squats, heavy bags, running up and down the stadium bleachers with a boxing bag over your shoulder? That's why the boys were so beefy and cocky.

The worst part was that a break was thirty to forty-five seconds. While Esmeralda showed no signs of fatigue, her guardians were down and out. Jason wasn't even halfway up the bleachers when he caved in and the boxing bag was keeping him pressed to the stairs.

Dane fell backwards onto the seats with Oliver in the row behind him. Ryan was still on the stairs with her boxing bag beside her. Even Ridley tapped out behind Oliver's row. They were panting while Esmeralda stepped out of the sun.

Ampyra had low tolerance for direct sunlight however it didn't cause them any harm. They didn't sparkle or burst into flames or even turn to stone. They just couldn't handle it the way non-ampyra could.

"I'm calling it," Esmeralda bellowed and relief escaped the guardians. "Don't forget you have a stealth operation tonight. Who's leading?" Oliver raised his hand and the ampyra secretary nodded in reply. "Good. Now take those boxing bags back to the hunter gym." Defeated groans escaped all of them. "Either you get up now, or you carry them to the school gym!" They sprung to life. "I thought so."

Dunon Academy, since it was summer, was empty. In the dark of the night, without the lanterns on, it was also creepy! The brick driveway from the main gate was especially unpleasant with the dead silence.

Ryan inhaled softly as she loaded a round into the chamber. To untrained ears, the late summer's night was still but Ryan was not untrained. She didn't like to think she was untrained, it made her sour. From her perch on the windowsill of the main school building, she had a clear shot of the vacant driveway and the parking area.

"On my signal," Oliver's voice hummed into Ryan's earpiece. Ryan rose her handgun to aim. "Shit! Contact dinning hall side. Repeat, contact dinning hall side! Jason?" There was no reply.

"Dane, I need eyes on target."

Ryan exhaled shakily then lowered her gun and waited in the heavily silence. "Target is westbound by the library. Jason is okay," Dane stated. "We've got it." There was silence around her.

"Perimeter! Perimeter around the north square. Dane, Jason. Cover the parking area. Ryan, the east classrooms. Ridley and I will cover the library. Go!"

The guardian hunter nodded mutely then leaped for the rooftop. She sprinted across the office building before leaping onto the eastern classrooms. She pulled out a second gun and aimed it into the desolate grass patch that separated the sun dormitory and moon dormitory from the main buildings.

In the grass area below, was nothing but shadow but none of the guardians were buying it. "You're surrounded," Oliver declared.

"Am I," a woman's voice replied. "Or are you?"

Instinctively Dane spun around to kick the man behind him and Jason. "Ryan," Jason roared from the rooftop of the auditorium, next to the parking area.

An arrow flew straight passed Ryan and struck into the man behind her. The arrow was nonlethal and tased the man. Ryan gasped then turned to the library where her older twin had a bow in her hands. Ridley nodded mutely at her counterpart, who scowled to herself. Oliver was at her side with a sword at Clarke's neck.

Ridley reloaded her bow and aimed it into the grass patch. She began rapid fire at the three men with the woman below them. "Class dismissed," the woman replied. "Not bad, everyone. With all your summer training, I have every confidence that this year will be smooth sailing."

Oliver lowered the sword from his principal's neck while Ridley lowered her bow. "Thank you, Esmeralda," Clarke bellowed into the grass. "Jakob, lights." All the school's streetlights turned on, along with the lights along the outside hallways too. "Well done, Oliver," the principal went on, "you led your team well."

Ridley exhaled as she pulled out her earpiece with her bow slung across her torso. Unlike Ryan - who had an appetite for guns and more guns - Ridley preferred classical weaponry. A bow and a quaver of arrows, knives, war hammers, even axes and spears. Her versatility with each of them only grew her appreciation of them. It was one of the distinguishable markers between the twins.

Mutely Ridley slid down the side of the library with Oliver and Clarke trailing behind her. She along with the rest of the guardians and their mentors trailed over to the main building, where the moon dorm students were arriving. Before they were allowed to go to their dorm rooms, all students - ampyra and non-ampyra, alike - had to sign in.

Most ampyra worked during night hours however their calendar worked on daylight hours too. Since nighttime was when they were most active, moon dorm students - ampyra - attended school and went about their day at night. Dunon Academy was one of the most conventional and renowned ampyra schools in both Europe and the world.

The moon students weren't any different from the sun students: they gossiped, they celebrated reunions, they had teachers they didn't like and they had sexual plans for the oncoming school year. Clarke Axel turned off his hunter instincts to embrace his role as a principal.

Some of the teaching staff lived on campus too and were there to help sign in the moon dorm. The guardians too had to be in sight for assistance. Dane was being particularly helpful with his classmates. He and his friends were eager to get their last year of high school over with and also to make it the craziest year of their lives.

While parents waved off their children, Ridley stood mutely in the corner buried in a book. She, along with all the guardians were wearing baggy black shirts with the word 'assistance' in bold white letters on them. Jason and Oliver were amongst the melee of first years, trying to organise them while Ryan was helping Esmeralda man the main desk.

A young woman who clutched her handbag tightly to herself squirmed through the buzzing students and made for Ridley. "Excuse me," she began timidly and Ridley lowered her book.

The woman looked go be in her twenties but for ampyra, looks were deceiving. They may not have been immortals but they could live for centuries, at best. The woman was sweating profusely and her blonde hair was thick as thatch. The veins in her eyes were black, along with the veins around her eyes.

She was either Class E or Class F but E seemed more likely, since she wasn't in a feeding frenzy. There were three classes of ampyra: Docile, or D; Edging, or E; and Feral, which was F. The classes spoke for themselves and nobody really knew what caused Edging or Feral only that a lack of sustenance made it develop faster.

Ridley closed her book and set it on the table behind her. She slowly let her hand slid under her to her side, itching to reach for her garter knife. "I-I," the woman stuttered and Ridley relaxed her hand but stayed on guard. "I was... is there...? Um," she paused then saw Clarke venture towards them cautiously.

"Can we help you," he asked while subtly ushering Ridley aside. "Are you a student?"

"No," the woman replied fearfully. "It's just that... the gates were open... and I thought... that..." Ridley still kept her hand close to her garter while her father was too cooled to be concerned about the woman before them. "Please. I-I need-"

"I'm sorry," Clarke cut in. He exhaled heavily but his face was still unchanging. "I know exactly what you need but for the safety of my students I can't allow it. I'm going to have to ask you to leave immediately."

The woman swallowed hard then nodded as she turned to leave. Clarke turned to Jakob, who felt the familiar calling star on the back of his neck. The principal pointed to his eyes and made subtle nod towards the woman ruefully weaving through students.

Jakob nodded then pulled out his tablet while still talking to the first year's parents in front of him. Ridley watched the woman leave then picked up her book behind her. She continued reading nonchalantly.

Just before the sun rose, when the sky was a mix of purple and peachy-orange, the last of the moon dorm students were checked in and their parents drove off. Narrowly missing the morning traffic. Hunting was a round-the-clock occupation and since school was starting soon, sleep would become a luxury.

Dane was already checked into his dorm and so he was free to return to the moon dorm while Oliver and Jason were checked into the sun dorm. The twins and principal Axel and Mrs Axel retired to their home near the teachers' quarters. Jakob was with them since he had patrol duty along the northern treeline.

The bricked path towards the headmaster residence, just passed the teachers' quarters, was shadowed from the trees. The lantern posts along the path illuminated the way while conversation between Clarke, Esmeralda and Jakob drowned out the crickets' song.

Ryan was strolling in line with them while Ridley was trailing behind them. She forced herself to be in deep thought to block out her family's cheerfulness. A weak breeze grazed through her and she stopped stiffly. The crickets were silent. Goosebumps ran down her spine when a stray cat ran passed her and towards her family. When Ridley looked ahead, they were gone and only their laughter showed they weren't far.

Slowly Ridley reached under her skirt for her knife. Before she could get a stable hold of it, the feral pranced. The knife went clanking over the bricks out of the guardian's reach. The woman had her pinned to the floor. "Contact! Contact," Ridley roared to her family.

The woman snarled before biting deep into Ridley's neck. The guardian grunted then rolled onto her back with the woman pinned beneath her. She scrambled backwards while covering the bite on her neck. The woman leaped again and Ridley planted the sole of her boot into her face.

Her blackblood strength sent the woman flying backwards. Unfortunately, ferals have much better stamina than other classes of ampyra. Ironic since they're fueled by their hunger. Ridley crawled for her knife then stood up angrily. She stood defensively.

Her shot was clear. She could have thrown the knight straight into the woman's forehead and be done with it. Ridley didn't. She hesitated. The woman charged a third time but Ryan fired her gun. The shot only made the woman fall to her knees from piercing her leg. Ryan roared her fluster then rapid fired at the woman until she laid limp on the bricks.

Ryan was furious! Not only did she scrutinise herself for her poor aim but she compared shooting to her sister's new record. She continued firing into the corpse until she ran out of bullets and only then did it dawn on her that she was no longer a guardian. She was a recognised hunter.

"I made hunt," she stated breathlessly. Her eyes lit up while behind her, Ridley fell to the ground. "I made hunt!" She spun around excitedly to see her parents hurry to huddle around the motionless Ridley.

"That's a very deep bite," Esmeralda stated. "This feral was ravenous."

Clarke ruefully turned away from the corpse and his youngest daughter with his eldest limply in his arms. "It's a wonder she managed to suppress it the way she did," he stated. "She must have been desperate not to turn."

Ryan saw how pale her sister was from her blood loss and how black their father's white shirt was. She still could swallow her burst of rage. Blackbloods were more resilient to bites, that's why Ridly wasn't in pain. "I made hunt," Ryan stated again.

Clarke turned to her and all he did was nod before carrying Ridley off to be tended to. Esmeralda sighed, seeing what Ryan was getting at. She paused in front of her stepdaughter with a warm smile. "Congratulations, Rye," she began. "That's... that's an incredible milestone. Now you're old enough to-"

"Spare me," Ryan hissed. She saw Clarke vanish with Ridley in his arms. She stalked off in the opposite direction, tramping over the corpse. She didn't stop until she reached one of the fountain of the west garden. "I made hunt. I one upped her and still I'm not good enough!"