Destined to Kill: A Destined Novel (Destined Novels Book 1) (5 page)

"That will never happen, Anala. I will keep coming back until I get that kiss."

He walks out into the complete darkness and I follow him. When I am convinced there is not a chance he can see me, I take his hand. I have to cover his mouth to keep him from yelling out with surprise.

"Damn! What kind of Hunter am I if I cannot hear you coming up behind me?" He asks, breathlessly.

I say nothing and keep my eyes lowered on the off chance he may be able to see. Without a word, I lean in and kiss him softly on the lips. His grip tightens in my hand, and I linger just a little too long with the kiss, then push him away.

"There is your kiss, Thomas. Now you have to stay away."

I'm gone before he has a chance to respond. I will remember that kiss for years to come.

"
Anala," papa calls from his lab.

I - with much effort - stifle a sigh and join him. "Yes, papa?"

"Try this one." He hands me a container with yet another elixir of some sort that I am sure tastes as awful as all of the others.

"Papa..." I want to protest so desperately, but I remember why he is doing this. I take the vial and drink it fast. Of course, I expect nothing, so when I feel something it takes me by surprise.

I double over in pain, feeling the now familiar ache in my teeth and burn in my eyes. Papa runs to my side, but I hold him away with my arm outstretched. The sensation inside me is so odd. All of a sudden, memories flood my mind and my heart feels - full. There is no other way to explain it.

"Anala, are you ill? What can I do?" I hear panic in papa's voice and hear mum rush in.

"What is it? What happened?"

"She turned after drinking the elixir. I am afraid I may have done the one thing we did not want to do," papa tells her sadly.

"Oh, Henry! What will we do?"

"Stop! Both of you. I am fine." I look up at both of them, knowing full well I still have the eyes and teeth of a Cursed One. I need them to know that even though I look like this, I have not been lost. "I am not sure what you did, papa, but I am still here."

Relief floods both of their faces. I think they are actually getting used to how I look when I 'change'. How strange my life has become.

"Can you explain what happened?" Papa asks.

"I - I am not sure. I think the pain is what made me change." I could feel myself returning to 'normal' as I speak. The bizarreness of it is reflected on mum's face.

"A defense mechanism," she says quietly.

"Hmm. After the initial shock," I continue, "the pain became tolerable. Then these memories inundated me."

"Memories?" Papa put his glasses on and searches for his tablet to take notes. "Memories of what?"

"Me," I answer. "From when I was a baby, until now. It was as if my entire life rapidly passed through my mind. But, I could vividly see each and every detail." I pause while papa wrote his notes, continuing only when he looks up at me. "Then my heart…" I place my hand over the beating in my chest. Is it odd that it still beats, I wonder.

"Did it hurt?" Mum asks.

"No, mum. It was - happy. Light and free." I look at papa. He needs to record this part for sure. "I think...I think I was feeling my humanity," I say softly.

Papa's hand pauses. He looks at me and his mouth holds the slightest of grins. "It is a start," he says and carries on with his writing.

Mum kneels in front of me, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "I do not feel your humanity will ever leave you, honey," she says as she places her hand on my cheek. "Your heart has always been strong."

I smile. I do not know if she is right, but I do know that as fantastic as the elixir was, it was not a cure.

"I am still Cursed, mum." I know they do not approve of that name for me, but let us be honest. It is what I am, humanity or not.

"We will keep working," papa says as he labels the elixir and stores it securely in a lock box.

"Papa, do you actually think there is a cure? We have been doing this for months now and we have found nothing."

"That is not true, Anala. We have discovered that your blood can cure wounds."

"I make a great ointment. Wonderful." My sarcasm is not received well by papa, but I do not care at this point.

"Anala, we are learning much more than that. Research and experiments take time, child. It does not just happen overnight. We wait for the frogs or rats to react with your blood, we keep preparing things for you to try. We do not give up. I only wish I had a Cursed One to experiment on…" Once again his voice trails off as it does when he is distracted.

I am Cursed, but I know what he means by wanting one to test on. With that, I saw my opportunity and I grab at it as quickly as I can.

"Let me hunt, papa, and I can bring you one."

"Absolutely not. It is out of the question."

"But, papa, you need a Cursed One and only I can get you one."

"I will find another way."

"How? You are constantly here in your laboratory. Mum has not hunted since I - changed. Other Hunters will not bring you a Cursed One alive, it is against the code. You certainly cannot tell anyone what you would need it for. I am the only choice."

"She has a point, Henry," mum says.

"She also said why it is impossible. Hunters cannot know what has happened to you. If you go out to hunt, you will be seen. I cannot allow it."

I begin to protest and mum leaves the room - thank you for the support. "Papa, I can stay out of sight. No one will know I am out there or what I am."

"Anala..."

"Wait, please. I have skills that no other Hunter has, papa. I could be a benefit to the other Hunters without them even knowing."

Mum walks back into the room holding a stack of what looks to be black clothing.

"She can help, Henry. Without you and me out there, the Hunters are losing hope and patience. Cursed Ones are growing in numbers. I hear what is going on out there," mum answers papa's unasked question. "Our Hunters think we have abandoned them, Henry. They say they understand we must look after our daughter, but these men and women leave their children everyday to fight with a chance of never coming back. We could send Anala out there in our place. Henry, with her skills and strength, she would be better than both of us put together."

I let the small feeling of pride course through me as I wait for papa to consider mum's argument.

"There is too much risk, Eleanor. Do you know not what they will do if they find out about Anala?"

"I have thought of that, Henry, and I do know the risk. I believe Anala knows the risks as well. She will be careful."

"She allowed herself to be bitten. Do you think she is ready for battle?"

Ouch. Hurtful or not, he is right and it will serve me well to remember that.

"I am ready, papa. I made a mistake. It is something I will not allow to happen again. I have learned my lesson, I assure you."

"Henry, before you say more, I have been working on something," mum interjects. "I knew the day would come when Anala would need to get out. You knew it as well. She is a Hunter, in more ways than one now. We must not keep her locked up. I think it would not be good for any of us." She turns to me and holds the clothing out. "If your father approves, you must wear this at all times when you are out hunting. There are no exceptions, Anala. You are no longer a part of their group out there. You are on your own."

It stings, hearing I am no longer a member of the Hunters society in the basic sense. I understand what mum is telling me. I could help them, but if I am ever in danger, no one would be there to help me. I will take that chance.

I unfold the clothes and find fitted trousers and tunic. The belt that accompanied them was also black and wide, specially made to house daggers or other small weapons of my choice. Leather knife sheaths, again black, were fashioned to strap around my thighs.

"You will wear this cloak at all times, Anala." Mum hands me the garment that is surprisingly light despite its appearance. "I have made sure the hood covers most of your face, but you will still be able to fight with it on."

"You have thought this through, woman," papa says in wonderment.

"I have."

Papa rises from his chair and steps to mum, giving her a small kiss. Without a word, he retrieves a box from his workbench and brings it to me. "Open it," he orders.

Obeying, I open the box. Inside are what looks like two hilts from swords. Odd, there are no blades.

"I do not understand, papa."

He takes one 'hilt' and holds it out. With a push of a button a blade appears as if it were magic. I gasp in awe.

"How?"

"I have been working on this for a time now," he says in answer. "Hunter's swords have become cumbersome. I wanted to develop something that would give us more of an advantage. These would allow us to easily hide our weapons. We could perhaps catch Cursed Ones unaware." He hands me the sword. Expecting it to be as heavy as my sword, I overcompensate.

"Careful," papa says and steadies my hand. "If this is what you want, I will agree. However," he continues before I can celebrate, "you will need to train with these new swords, first. I do not anticipate you having trouble, but you will give me a week or two nonetheless."

"Yes, papa." I am no fool! I would agree to almost anything as long as I got to hunt!

"I will also need to take you out hunting…for food. You will need to be able to take care of yourself out there."

Well. That is something I was not anticipating. I suppose I do need to learn to hunt for my own food. Having papa teach me should be natural, but there is nothing natural about this. Set it aside, Anala, and do what needs to be done, I tell myself.

"Yes, sir. But, papa, what of your experiments? If you are busy training me, how will you be able to work in your lab?"

Papa considers for a moment. "I suppose I could get word to Bernard. He could come in and help until I am able to get back to it."

Bernard Luxford is papa's former apprentice. I do not know much about him other than he and my father had a falling out years ago. I wish I knew now what the feud was all about. Maybe then I would understand mum's disapproval of papa's suggestion.

"Like it or not, Eleanor, he is talented. We can keep an eye on him, but I need someone who knows my methods."

"You have me, Henry. I can help."

"You do help, my love, but this is turning out to be more than you and I can handle alone. I had this thought before agreeing to train Anala to go back out. Bernard is our only choice."

"I do not like it, Henry. But, we will do what we must to help our child." Mum puts her hand on my shoulder and squeezes. "Go try on your clothes so that I may do alterations if needed. Then, you and papa can train."

The week of training with papa has made me feel...normal, again. Of course, I am stronger and faster now, but papa seems to be able to keep up with me without much struggle. That should not surprise me being who he is. Everything feels right when I am training. I do not have to think about anything that is going on in my life, I only have to focus on what I am doing at this very moment. And, this very moment, I am about to finally defeat papa in our sparring contest. Unbelievable. Yes, it took me becoming Cursed to do it, but I will not think of that in the days to come. I will only think of finally besting the leader of the Hunters.