Chapter 5: Awakening Of Fire

Aria.

Three days. That's how long I last on my own before everything goes to hell.

I'm staying in a cheap motel outside the city, paying cash and using a fake name. The room smells like cigarettes and broken dreams, but it's better than going home and pretending my life is normal.

I spend my time researching. The motel has terrible Wi-Fi, but I manage to find scattered information about supernatural bloodlines and ancient magic. Most of it sounds like fantasy-novel garbage, but some things make my skin crawl with recognition.

The First Blood. The Ancients. Children of the moon and stars who walked the earth before humans learned to make fire.

According to one website that looks like it was made in 1995, they were the original supernatural beings. Gods, almost. They created other species as servants: werewolves to hunt, vampires to feed, witches to work magic.

But something went wrong. The servants rebelled. The Ancients disappeared, leaving only their mixed-blood descendants scattered across the world.

Descendants like me. I'm reading about ancient rituals when someone knocks on my door.

My blood freezes. Nobody knows I'm here. Nobody should be able to find me.

"Room service," a woman's voice calls.

I didn't order room service.

I creep to the window and peek through the curtains. Three people stand outside my door. Two men and a woman, all dressed in black. They look normal, but something about them makes my skin crawl.

The woman knocks again. "We know you're in there, little Ancient. Open the door."

Ancient. They know what I am.

I grab my bag and head for the bathroom window. It's small, but I'm skinny enough to fit through. I hope so.

The window sticks. I push harder, and it finally opens with a loud screech.

"She's running!" one of the men shouts.

I hear the door explode inward as I squeeze through the window. I drop onto the ground behind the motel, scraping my knees on the concrete.

"Find her!" the woman screams. "The Council wants her alive, but if she fights, kill her!"

The Council? What Council?

I run into the woods behind the motel, branches tearing at my clothes. Behind me, I hear them crashing through the trees. They're fast. Too fast for normal humans.

I need help. I need Jace. I pull out my phone and dial his number, still running.

"Aria?" he answers on the first ring. "Where are you? I've been going crazy..."

"Someone's hunting me," I gasp. "Three people. They mentioned something called the Council."

The line goes quiet for a second. When Jace speaks again, his voice is deadly serious.

"Where are you right now?"

"Woods behind the Sunset Motel on Highway 9. Jace, I'm scared."

"I'm on my way. Stay on the phone with me. And whatever you do, don't let them catch you."

A howl echoes through the trees behind me. But it's not a wolf howl. It's something else. Something is wrong.

"They're not human," I whisper.

"I know. They're hunters. Supernatural bounty hunters who work for the Council of Elders."

"What do they want with me?"

"Your bloodline threatens their power structure. If word gets out that an Ancient bloodline still exists, it could change everything."

I trip over a fallen log and go down hard, skinning my palms. My phone flies into the darkness.

"Jace?" I call out, but I can't find it.

Footsteps crash through the underbrush nearby. They're getting closer.

The runes on my arms start glowing brighter, responding to my fear. The silver light cuts through the darkness like a beacon.

Great. Now I'm a walking target.

"There!" the woman's voice is closer now. "I see her light!"

I stumble to my feet and keep running, but I'm getting tired. My lungs burn, and my legs feel like jelly.

I break through the tree line and find myself on a narrow country road. In the distance, I see headlights racing toward me.

Please be Jace. Please be Jace.

The car screeches to a stop, and Jace jumps out — Tyler and two other guys from the hockey team are with him.

"Get in!" Jace shouts.

I run toward the car, but something slams into me from the side — one of the hunters, a man with dead eyes and too-sharp teeth.

"Got you, little Ancient," he snarls.

His hand closes around my throat, and pain explodes through my body. But it's not the electric pain from before. This is something else. Like he's trying to drain something out of me.

"Let her go!" Jace's voice is different now. Deeper. More animal than human.

I look over and see him changing. His body grows larger, muscles bulging. His fingernails turn into claws, and his teeth become fangs.

He's shifting into his wolf form.

"Stay back, wolf," the hunter says. "This doesn't concern your pack."

"She's my mate," Jace growls. "Everything about her concerns me."

The hunter laughs. "Your mate? Do you have any idea what she is? What she could become?"

"I know exactly what she is."

"Then you know she's too dangerous to live."

The hunter's grip tightens around my throat. Black spots dance in my vision. But then something inside me snaps.

The runes on my skin explode with silver light. Power races through my veins like liquid fire. The hunter screams and lets go of me, his hands smoking where he touched my skin.

I stand up, and I feel different. Stronger. More than human.

"Impossible," the woman hunter whispers, stepping out of the trees. "The bloodline was supposed to be dormant."

"Looks like you were wrong," I say, and my voice sounds strange. Ancient. Powerful.

The silver light spreads from my skin to the air around me. The hunters take a step back, fear replacing confidence in their eyes.

"Kill her!" the woman shouts. "Kill her now before she awakens fully!"

All three hunters rush at me at once.

I raise my hands, and silver fire erupts from my palms.

The hunters scream as the fire hits them. But instead of burning them, it does something worse. It makes them fade, like they're being erased from existence.

In seconds, they're gone. Completely gone.

I stare at my hands in shock. What did I just do?

"Aria," Jace says, his voice gentle now, approaching me slowly like I'm a wild animal. "It's okay. You're safe."

"I killed them."

"No, you sent them back where they came from. That's what Ancient fire does to shadow creatures."

"Shadow creatures?"

"The Council's hunters aren't fully human anymore. They've been twisted by dark magic."

I look at my hands again. The silver fire is gone, but I can still feel the power humming under my skin.

"What's happening to me?"

"You're awakening. Becoming what you were always meant to be."

"And what's that?"

Jace steps closer, his green eyes full of something that looks like worship.

"The most powerful being on earth," he says.

Before I can respond, my phone buzzes in the grass where I dropped it. A text message from an unknown number:

"Impressive display, young Ancient. But three hunters are nothing compared to what's coming. The Council has decided you're too dangerous to live. Run all you want. Hide all you want. We will find you. And when we do, not even your wolf mate will be able to save you. — M"

I show the message to Jace. His face goes pale.

"Who's M?" I ask.

"Magnus," he whispers. "The most powerful member of the Council. If he's coming for you personally."

"What?"

Jace meets my eyes, and I see fear there. Real, bone-deep terror.

"We need to run. Now. Because Magnus doesn't send hunters to do his dirty work."

"Then what does he do?"

"He comes by himself. And when Magnus comes for you, people don't just disappear."

He pauses, swallowing hard.

"They're erased from history itself. Like they never existed at all."