I Sacrifice Myself Read online

  In time, I learned how to control my element fire, and use it only when I had to, in defense. It was powerful, nearly uncontrollable, and had a mind of its own. All the elements are alive in their own way, but from the very moment fire is summoned, or awakened unto our existence, it not only breathes as living creatures do but it grows and adapts. It can suffocate and die, if left unattended wreak havoc, and gives us more than just heat or light. It gives us security, safety, and a sense of power when the wielder controls it.

  I had only just turned five when I came to them, still just an innocent, and on my birthday.

  My family had died tragically and brutally by the hands of a sadistic vampire. I was bitten and nearly died. My heart had actually stopped and my aunts were sure I was close to turning. The hospital and my aunts’ powers, along with the Goddess Selene’s, saved me at the very last moment. So now I’m a very unique case, with a very unique curse.

  I have all the abilities of a normal full-blooded vampire, but little of the blood lust, more of a manageable appetite. Unfortunately, I require daily doses of fresh blood, but only because I’m sort of anemic. We had tried to inject it through an IV, but that did little good, it just made me weak and sick. My aunts quickly realized my problem and gave me a mixture of their blood and deer blood. I choked at first but it was obvious it worked, when I started gulping it, and turning a nice healthy pink.

  My strength returned, as well as the unusual powers I now have. I’m super-fast, super strong, and can see as well as a vampire in the dark. I also age slowly. Well, that started when I hit puberty. I’m now twenty one but look sixteen or seventeen.

  I also have other abilities. Abilities I only have when the moon is out. These I obtained from my mothers’ and aunts’ line, which was ancient, powerful, and reverently feared by others who are aware of us.

  I can become a midnight black and ethereal shadow, undetectable even by vamps, and other supernatural creatures. My smell changes to that of a vampire, and is also nearly unnoticeable. My eyes change as well. They change shape much like a cat’s, and become black as night, with a thin red ring around them.

  My curse has damned me to be a pitiful and horrifying monster.

  When I say I am fast, no other human can match me, except one who was also a hybrid like myself. He had some of the same changes as me. I’ll explain more about him later, though.

  My ex sat next to me, glancing over at me every so often, giving me peculiar looks. It was obvious from my posture and blank gaze I was totally not listening anymore.

  Ash nudged me, getting my attention. I really didn’t need to listen to the same old crap they discussed every time we sat here.

  I noticed Santos glaring at me, as well as our leading Commander Ian. He was only in charge because I was young and too inexperienced in battle and war games. I think they feared me more than they cared to admit.

  One day either I or Dimitri would take over. That is if we survived, and if they would somehow see that although we are dangerous we are not to them.

  I smiled ruefully at him. He was no threat to me and he knew it. His fiancée was my best friend, Lane. We’d known each other since diapers. Ian was a little bossy but totally awesome when he was around. He was so quiet that even when he was, you wouldn’t notice him unless he wanted you to. He adored Lane and that was the only reason I allowed him to be with her. I refused to let her be hurt. No matter how she felt about me, she was my best friend, my sister, and as the stronger one

  I was her guardian. Deep down I knew my freakish and mental side worried her, quite possibly scared her, and would one day push her from me.

  She was absolutely normal, or rather so hippishly awesome that everyone had to love her. She was the opposite of me, even though it was like our minds seemed to travel the same road.

  Lane obviously adored Commander Ian right back. The only time he was gentle or sweet was with her and their husky Slayer.

  If she was threatened in any way, the two of us were an unstoppable force of nature, slaughtering everything in our paths. Slayer was her bodyguard of sorts.

  He and I had an understanding. I couldn’t talk with him, or any animal that I knew of, but he understood my commands nonetheless and his body language was clear. His job was to protect her with his life and love her like his mother. Both of which he did willingly and expertly.

  I was getting distracted again and totally off subject. I did that a lot it seemed.

  My current, kind of, boyfriend was Dimitri Stark. He was a hybrid like me, but with a few different talents and abilities.

  As hunters, we were not allowed to technically date one another. It was only because if the group was in danger, we would not hesitate to defend them first. The humans in our group were what mattered. The humans in the facility, that were not hunters, were top priority and much more important in the grand scheme of things. Humans would soon become extinct if we didn’t give our absolute best shot at defending them at all times.

  I think this is a good time to explain why and how I became a hunter.

  It’s the year twenty thirteen. In February of nineteen ninety-one our world, as we knew it ended and quite sadistically and suddenly. Somehow supernatural creatures invaded and took over earth, slaughtering over three quarters of the population. There were seven something billion people in the world and now only thousands.

  Only the strongest survived, a lesson we were only now coming to understand.

  Zombies, vamps, shifters, and other kinds of supernaturals flooded the cities and started either eating us or changing us. No one knows where they came from or if they had been here all along. We never found portals or gates from other dimensions. There was no proof these creatures had been human and all at once changed. If there were witches like me with cursed blood, then there was bound to be something else out there, something much worse and much more ominous.

  What humans were left lived sheltered lives with precise jobs and schedules. Sadly, it was more of a caged and simple life, I thought.

  When I was of age, on the eve of my thirteenth birthday, I was instantly drafted by one of my uncles into one of the bases to prepare. He ran a camp up in the northern states where he trained young hunters. Our world was more or less divided into four regions; north, east, south, and west.

  Our military base was a fortunate miracle. We lived deep in the swamps of Georgia. When the world was changing and trying to survive, everyone had to bunker down. We call this change the apocalypse.

  I know this sounds like a refugee camp, and it sort of is, but it is also life. One we all have to adapt to and survive.

  No one leaves the compound unless they are a hunter. In order to get supplies we have to make monthly, or bi-monthly, trips to larger compounds or nearby cities.

  These compounds were more like whole cities, with twenty foot manned walls, like castles. Barricades and gates enclosed us and kept us safe. We depended on these and our hunters.

  My aunts and I, had lived in one since the day my parents had died and I had changed. They had their own little cottage in the woods, but within the sanctuary of the walls.

  Their city was over sixty square miles wide. Eight hundred people lived in this society. The city was deemed too large to be a compound and therefore it’s a city, one we call Phoenix now, and yes after not just the city but the mystical creature that rises from ash.

  There are four others nearly this large all around the United States. Oddly enough they make the shape of an inverted pentagram.

  I wondered if it had anything to do with the supernatural creatures that haunted us. These cities were almost like our state capitol. We looked to them for support.

  Since we all went on lockdown, twenty years ago, things have changed. We no longer have a president or cabinet of other stuck up and know it all government officials. Before any of the public had become aware, our officials had made changes that would soon destroy us and send us into a spiraling economic disaster. It was only recently that the damage do
ne had become what I call beneficial. Our current advisors had found genius ways to overcome our doom.

  We’re all under martial law. Hunters, soldiers, and these cities were the things that lead us now, hopefully out of this Dark Age. Our rules are merely to survive, which was actually much harder than one might think.

  The monsters we fight are slaughtering our kind. We’re only defending ourselves and trying to take back our world, at the least just exist. Of course, it will never be the same. That was a hopeless and lost dream I’d given up a very long time ago. The night I’d died and been reborn. I was never the same cuddly and cherubic angel that people adored. I was a quiet and lethal learning machine that was ripe with much needed vengeance.

  We’ve yet to find one good creature among any of them. The shifters are neutral though, for some odd reason. In this war, they refuse to choose a side, and we don’t understand their reasoning. They keep to their kind, and something that was even stranger, they stay within their species. Meaning they don’t interbreed with other types of shifters, that humans know of.

  Carnivores, like wolves and cats, tend to be feral and rogues. At least until they are several centuries old and then they start or join a small and close-knit pack. The more docile shifters formed much larger ones.

  Both of these types of packs made us nervous, with good reason. They grew within weeks from a population of one or two, to over fifty or a hundred. It was like they sensed one another and sought others out that were ready to settle down.

  Herbivores are not like them, and are even fearful of humans, so they avoid us. We dodge them if they are not causing trouble. But we will kill them if they come into our territories or seem aggressive.

  The hunters, besides me, were now coming to a decision. Finally, I thought. It was an enforced one by Ian, but still a mutual one nonetheless.

  We’d go out tomorrow. Even with it being a full moon, which seemed to agitate and pump up the shifters, along with some others.

  It would be a handpicked, elite, team of our very best. That team would separate into a two manned team once we were out there and on our own.

  Dimitri and I would not be together as we were the best hunters in the compound. I hated that but at least we would see each other. I totally understood the need for this, unlike some decisions that were made.

  The hunt would begin at twilight, and last until dawn. Being in the light of the blue moon would be odd and even difficult for the humans. For me, it increased everything, making me a better hunter.

  If you noticed, I don’t consider myself mortal. I’m not immortal, that I know of, but with my paranormal abilities I’m not exactly human either.

  The hunters all took flak jackets with special tools. Such as lock picks, heavy duty halogen lights, and a digital compass with built in computer system that tracks how many miles you’ve gone and can direct you back the exact same way you came and could send that info digitally to our computers. Good for many things including leading us to or away from a particularly nasty fight.

  Also, we’ll have cell phones with two way radios. All of this keeps us in touch and one step ahead of the animals we were hunting. Each species varied in their life styles. The vamps were not the televised and romantic version that every nubile and sex crazed female envisions or adores.

  As for weapons we now carry fully automatic machine guns built smaller and lighter to keep the humans from slowing down. The guns also have laser lights that only light up when there is movement. It tracks it as long as it’s within the radius of its vision.

  The fore grips and other attachments made handling the deadly machines much easier. Making new trainees waste less time in learning how to not kill off one another.

  The nearly micro sized camera on the gun also records everything in its path, transmits it via satellite back to the compound, that way we know who and why they went down or are in danger.

  Also it helps us learn from them. The supernaturals we were trying to take out.

  Vampires are shadow creatures of the night. Unless moving they are undetectable to normal humans. They make no sounds and do not leave a trail to the naked eye. They’re very skilled and super strong. They could take me one on one, quite easily. And I’m the best the hunters have. Our numbers, in hunter ranks, dwindles daily, but as a whole our numbers grow.

  It’s for this reason we sacrifice ourselves. Without us it would only be a matter of time before the human race went extinct. We sacrifice our very lives for the continuation of our species. I mean that literally.

  As I stood up, I noticed the hesitation in the others. Dimitri was ready as always to defend and protect. He was a warrior, a hunter, like me at heart. If we were allowed to do our own missions we’d be a much better asset than we were now. As it was, we could barely protect our partners.

  We’re always partnered based on our strengths and weaknesses. I had only one weakness and that was other females. I was too dominating for most men. Women were so weak or slow, that I constantly had to slow down, and make sure they kept up. I was more focused on keeping them alive rather than us as a team.

  A woman though, as a hunter, was a rare thing. We’re the breeders, and as such, were left at home to do other jobs that were just as necessary. For example, we needed them for things such as the child rearing and teaching, whether the woman had kids of their own or not. Also we needed them for housekeeping, cooking, clothes, and other odd jobs. They’re the receptionists and nurses. They tended the battle wounds and kept us alive.

  I followed Dimitri to our rooms. Hunters had their own rooms and all of them were on one hall.

  We’d set up schedules, where always one third of our base was awake, and we rotated. It was set up so that every shift there was a fresh set of hunters halfway through. We would not be caught unaware, like other camps, bases, and cities.

  Half the shifts were guards, manning the four walls and towers. The other half patrolled the alleys, halls, bathrooms, feeding area, and the women’s and children’s dorms.

  Some families had a whole building. There’re five in our compound. Those families were protected with single interchanging guards every six hours. Their buildings were located at the very center of the base, and each one had built in escape doors through their basements. They led to a hidden garage two miles away.

  Once there they’d each get in a reinforced Hummer and drive to the next closest base without stopping. There was a small box of extra supplies in the very back of each vehicle, such as water and non-perishables, and a can of gas.

  The hunters also had vehicles within the base. I had a two thousand and ten mustang. I never got to drive it though. It was considered an extra and unnecessary desire.

  That vehicle was not the one I meant though. We all had our own trucks. They’re fully armored, and the outside of the trucks were charged and electrified. So if we’re under attack we could flip a switch and haul ass. The tires were also impenetrable.

  Aside from all of that, and our normal weapons, we had flak jackets that we only carried while hunting. We each also had a sword, especially made, using certain metals so that they stayed sharp. They were unbreakable and toxic to the vamps and demons.

  We used some kind of mixture of silver, and radioactive and nuclear based elements. These swords and knives were toxic to humans as well, so the handles were coated in several layers of titanium, and then covered on the grip with a material that absorbs liquids such as sweat. It made it easier to grip and keep our knives.

  We’re all about some business. We didn’t play when it came to keeping our people safe.

  We also carried a set of ten smaller throwing knives, which were made with the same metals and elements, but only the blades were toxic. The handles were all metal and flat so they could be easily thrown. I was a pro at this. I had taken down over forty or fifty creatures with the throwing knives alone.

  I could hit a fly from thirty yards or more. A vamp in the heart was nothing. Usually though, I depended on my gun. The sp
ecial bullets were made like the blades. They could instantly take down a normal vamp, shifter, demon, zombie, or any other supernatural creature, especially if they were hit in vital areas.

  There were very few creatures of the night that could take an entire clip and not fall.

  I’d battled one of these. It had given me a gift as well. A six inch long and half an inch wide scar, that ran across my ribs. Had I been totally human, I’d have died. Something inside me, something not normal, had saved me.

  I’d also learned that my blood was toxic to vamps and demons. I was a genetic mutation, even before I was attacked, and made into a hybrid.

  I should explain here that zombies are flesh eating demons of a sort. Vampires are a type of demon, but the zombies are a rather unusual side effect of being bitten by a vampire that has not been purposely turned. It seemed that certain humans that were fatally bitten became mindless, hungry, and decomposing versions of the vampire minus the extra abilities. So it was what I think of as a lose, lose situation. Should you be attacked and not immediately treated you could over-time become infected as well.

  These zombies could also infect others by biting or scratching them. The good thing about zombies were they eventually decayed to the point of dead undead and finished the rotting phase. Zombies rot at a slower rate than most corpses and if they feed enough they rot even more slowly, which means that one zombie could possibly exist in its undead state from as little as forty-eight hours to several weeks.

  I’d killed one that I’d hunted for over six weeks once. That bastard was hideous as it was but each time I encountered the tricky beast, it was missing more chunks of flesh or smelled worse than before. If you have a weak stomach or heart I advise you to avoid them at all costs.

  Rotting corpses are one thing, but undead rotting corpses, are a whole new ball game. Pray you don’t find yourself helpless and in their path. At first they are still in pretty decent shape, the same as before death, which means if the human had been able to run fairly fast then so could the zombie.