BAM - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

I walked into the courtroom, while still being escorted by the Guardians.

The room was packed with people; all the teachers were there, as were a whole lot of Guardian and most of my classmates. Up front, in the jury-box, were all the Princesses. And save me, the judge was the Queen.

In our society we have 9 royal families, Adurna, Vixór, Eròmen, Islana, Evarínya, Tharzami, Hymoná, Dèximar, Maurumi. Every family had his own Princess and one of those 9 Princesses was elected to be Queen. Our current Queen was Ruth Tharzami.

I was now at the place where I was to sit down. Before I did though, I turned in the direction of the Queen and curtsied, and towards the Princesses as well. If I was going to be judged, at least they wouldn’t judge my manners against the authorities.

Then I sat down, for the first time realizing that I was alone at the table. That couldn’t be right, right? Shouldn’t there be a lawyer to defend me? What was going on?

At the other table sat two guys in black suits with black ties and neat black hair. If I hadn’t know that most lawyers in our world dyed their hair black and always wore neat black clothes, I seriously would have thought they were the Men in Black, especially because on the table in front of them I saw two pairs of dark sunglasses.

Creepy.

Before I could notice anything else, the Queen called the room to order.

“I welcome the jury, the public, the plaintiff and the defendant to this courtroom. Today we discuss the case of kidnapping of Princess Islana and Miss Peterson by Miss Shields.”

I wanted to tell them that I didn’t kidnap my friends, but I caught myself just in time.  It wouldn’t help my case.

“Five years ago, on the 5^th of November, Miss Brianna Etain Shields left the Academy in company of Princess Ayra Gwynne Islana and Miss Moira Peterson. Miss Shields, would you care to explain to us your reason for taking these two girls away from the protection of the Academy?” the Queen asked me.

I rose from my seat and carefully thought of what to say.

“Yes, thank you, your Majesty. To begin, I have a question. Am I to assume that I will have to defend myself today? No matter what my supposed crimes should be, do I not have the right of having a lawyer?” I asked the Princesses and Queen.

“To answer that, Miss Shields, no lawyer was willing to accept your case, nor your limited means of payment, seeing as how your bank account has been blocked to avoid you being able to go back out into the world,” the Queen answered me.

“Very well, then I’ll defend my own case. I would like to say that I did not kidnap the Princess or Miss Peterson. It was not my decision to leave. I was given the choice to let the Princess leave by herself or join her. Miss Peterson chose to leave as well. I tried to convince them to stay. As for why the Princess wanted to leave, I will say only this: I do not know. I went with them to protect them. I know that nobody here will believe me, I’m only a Vartija, not Royal, not irreplaceable. You can banish me, or throw me into jail, I don’t care. But sooner or later you will realize that I spoke the truth,” I say to the jury and the judge. Then I address the entire room. “Are your consciences strong enough to carry the fact around that you punished an innocent, especially if you realized how wrong you were after I had died?” I looked back at the Queen. “I did not commit the crime you accuse me off. I know my mistake of not forcing them to stay, but I was not willing to risk my friend hating me for forcing her to do such a thing. I was not willing to risk facing a lawsuit for forcing a Princess to do something. Instead I joined her. I protected her and Miss Peterson against every danger we came across. Together we came across many Paha, and I always made sure they would be safe. I would always make them run and to leave the fighting to me. I told them that if I were to die in a fight, they had to go back, because I would not allow them to wander out in the human world without the proper protection. I did what I had to. Is that so wrong? Is that enough to accuse me of kidnapping my best friends? Is that enough to try to convict me?”

Everybody was silent as I finished talking.

Looking around, I locked gazes with Ayra and Moira. They just nodded at me. Then I sat back down, waiting for the trial to continue.

After a couple minutes, they continued. The two lawyers called up some of the Guardians that had come to take us back to the Academy. They confirmed the fact that I fought really good and they confirmed that I had killed the Paha that had attacked us that day. Next up they questioned Ayra and Moira. They told those present that everything I had done to keep them safe and to help them and to provide for them in any way I could.

When everybody had been questioned, the Queen and the jury rose and left to discuss what had been said.

Just as they left, the main door opened a little and someone slipped inside. The person closed the door again and walked over to the front of the room, to sit right behind me.

I didn’t really pay attention to the person at first. But then he or she tapped a finger on my shoulder.

I turned in my seat and looked up into a familiar face. A face I’d known since I was eleven years old.

“Marco!” I whispered.

“Hey kiddo, how are you holding up?” he asked me, also whispering.

“I’m okay. How are you? What have you been up to the past 5 years?”

“I’m good, and I’ve been keeping my eyes out looking for signs you, while also working a lot. When this all gets cleared up, we’ll catch up,” he answered just as the doors opened and the Queen and Princesses re-entered the room.

“Here goes nothing,” I murmured under my breath as they walked to the front of the room and sat back down.

“Miss Shields, please come to the front,” the Queen said to me.

I rose and walked up to the front, respectfully bowing my head before looking at her.

Her expression gave nothing away, but in her eyes, I saw disgust when she looked at me. Then she flashed her eyes to Ayra and back to me before she got up and stood facing the people present in the courtroom.

“In light of recent event, we would like to trust upon you all the importance of this case. Never before has a Royal family stood upon the brick of extinction. Princess Islana is therefore incredibly important to the entire Brádu. The chance existed that we might have lost her forever, due to made choices. However, seeing as how she is still with us, we are willing to be a little lenient here today. We have come to understand that Miss Shields did not kidnap the Princess and Miss Peterson. That does not mean she’s completely empty of fault, for she did not stop them from leaving. But, as said before, she did protect them. Therefore we will not banish her, nor imprison her, nor strip her from her opportunity to become a promised Guardian. She will however be watched so she doesn’t make any more mistakes,” the Queen said. Then she turned to me. “Miss Shields, you will commit to community service every weekend for the remainder of your time here at Saint Jennifer’s Academy. You shall attend to every class you get and you shall never be late in class. You will not be involved in irresponsible activities: no fighting and no partying are just two of the things concluded in this rule. Every school rule will be obeyed. If you do not hold yourself to these rules, things won’t end so well for you. Do you understand me?”

“Perfectly, Your Majesty. Thank you,” I answered politely.

“Very well. This concludes our business here. Court dismissed,” she said before walking out the doors.

BAM - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Back in her office, Bianchi turned around and looked from face to face before settling on mine.

“Miss Shields, we’ve all seen you’re capable of protecting these girls, but still, I have no choice but to arrest you on treason. No matter what Princess Islana or Miss Peterson have said, it was up to you to keep them here, and go to the authorities about the unsafe feelings of the Princess. You had no right to take them away from the campus and their lessons, even if you made them study our ways when you were gone. The point is that you were being irresponsible and therefore you’re under arrest,” she told me.

“That’s unfair!” Ayra said outraged.

“Ayra! Don’t! Just don’t!” I scolded her.

“But they can’t blame you for my mistake!”

“Yes, they can. And really, they’re right. There were other options besides running.”

“That was my decision! You didn’t do anything wrong!”

“In their eyes I did. I let you leave. I should have sought out the best option whilst still keeping you here. It doesn’t matter that I was able to keep you safe out there. It doesn’t matter how many Paha I killed while protecting you.”

“But-”

“No, Ayra, don’t try to stop this. I refuse to let you ruin your future over me. There’s nothing you can do and you shouldn’t try it. This is their decision. You must take what you can get when your future is at stake. You’re too important for this society to blame this all on. I’m not. I’m disposable. Just let it go. Trust the Guardians that will be assigned to you, they’ll keep you safe. And that really is the most important thing here.”

“Well spoken, Miss Shields. Now, if you’d be so kind as to go with the Guardians, they’ll take you into custody,” Bianchi told me.

The Guardians tried to grab my arms to lead me away, but I dodged them. “I’m not going to try to escape, and I can walk on my own.”

So they let me walk myself. We went to the Guardian’s office. There, they led me to the basement, where there were a few cells. The cells were rarely used, so they put me in one of the biggest.

“The headmistress will come by later. Do not try to escape, it will make things worse,” one of the Guardians told me.

* * *

I was in prison for a couple of days now. Headmistress Bianchi apparently thought that I would try to escape, for she let many Guardians watch me. And none of them even spoke a word.

The entire prison area was seriously boring. All walls were flat and light grey. There was a small bathroom in my cell. And the amount of furniture was very small. There was only a bed and a bedside table.

The only distraction was slipping into the heads of my friends. There I could see what was going on in the lessons.

Today was different, though.

There were twenty Guardians assigned to watch me. And another entered the area. Only this one didn’t stop to stand and watch. He came to my cell and opened the door. Then he stepped inside.

“Hands out,” he ordered.

“What’s going on?” I demanded, suspicious.

“Hands out, now!” He was obviously annoyed with me. But he wasn’t the only annoyed one. I’d barely gotten any food the last days and all I could do was stare at some walls or see other people go to lessons. So, I was going to get my answers.

“No. You’ll tell what’s going on first!”

“Guards!” he yelled.

Some Guardians entered my cell and grabbed me, trying to pull my hands out. But this time, I wasn’t going to stay quiet. I shook all of them off. They tried to grab me again, but I dodged them.

Then someone else entered my cell. “Miss Shields,” he addressed me. “Give me your hands and I’ll answer your questions.”

It took me a few seconds to realize that it was Jason who was talking to me.

However, seeing as I was still being attacked from all sides, so I didn’t really give a crap.

“No. You’ll tell me what’s going on first. And then, I will decide whether or not I will come with you,” I told him.

He didn’t answer at first. He just studied me.

“Okay. We’ll do it your way,” he said at last. “You’re called to trial for kidnapping Princess Islana and Miss Peterson.”

“Oh, come on! I didn’t kidnap them! How many times do we have to tell you that? I kept them safe! Safer than any of you here!”

“Safer than on campus?”

“Yes!”

“Well, we all have a hard time believing that, since everybody at this school is safer than you were out in the human world.”

I opened my mouth to protect, but he kept talking.

“And you can stay here and discuss all of that, or you can go to trial. There you will hear if you’ll get a chance at freedom or if you’ll be convicted guilty of treason. And if you stay here, you will not get free. And missing your trial will make sure you won’t be freed.”

I looked into his eyes for a moment. He looked back.

In his eyes, I found reason. The trial was my only shot at freedom.

“Okay. I’ll come,” I told him.

“Good. Now give me your hands, please,” he answered.

So I held out my hands and Jason put extra thick metal handcuffs around them.

I couldn’t help but grin at the sight of them. They apparently thought I couldn’t break them, or at least fight without my hands.

Jason saw my grin and whispered: “It’s not very effective, indeed, but it will make everybody else feel more comfortable.”

Then he touched my shoulder and lead me out of my cell.

Two Guardians tried to grab my elbows and keep me between them.

“Hey! Hands off! I said I’d come, so I won’t try to escape. And in case you hadn’t noticed, I can walk myself. Therefore, no need for you to support me,” I scoffed them.

The Guardians looked at Jason, who shrugged and nodded. He, however, kept his hand on my shoulder.

Together with the twenty Guardians, we walked out of the prison area.

“So, Jason, shouldn’t the council of princesses and the Queen be here for the trial?” I asked him.

“They are here. Why do you think you’ve been in prison for all these days? They had to wait until the council was present,” he answered. Then he looked at me and a troubled look came across his face. Under his breath, he said: “They should have been friendlier and fed you more properly, girl.”

“They just did what they thought was right and tried to make me weaker,” I said without thinking.

I noticed my mistake when he looked at me in alarm.

“How could you have heard that?” he asked.

“Um, I’m walking right beside you. And if you look in any file there is about me, you’ll find that my senses are better than normal Vartija’s.”

“Yes, it’s being mentioned in your files, but I didn’t have any idea you could hear this.”

“Yeah, well, I can also hear those two in the back who think I should be executed for treason,” I said a bit more loudly, so that the two Guardians in question looked up, shocked.

“What did you mean when you said you kept them safe?”

“Exactly what I said.”

“How could you know that?”

“Because I just knew.”

“You do know that this may be the last time you get to tell about yourself, right?”

“It won’t be the last time.”

“You cannot be certain about that.”

“Whatever.”

By now we’d reached the courtroom and in front of me, the double doors creaked open, to reveal a deadly silence.

BAM - Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The leader wanted Ayra and Moira to leave so we couldn’t come up with an escape-plan. He’d already figured out that I was sort of the leader of our group.

In fact, I was only the one that kept us safe and together, that made sure things were done, that everybody was healthy and that nothing we did would raise suspicion. I was the soul of our group, as well as the backbone, the muscle and the conscious mind. Ayra was the heart, she always kept everyone good-hearted and friendly and she made everyplace feel like home. Moira was something completely different though. Moira could be described as the unconscious mind. She was practical and calm. She was also the ears and eyes of our group. She kept her ears and eyes out for suspicion, and in the mean time, she’d tune into her knowledge of Ayra and me and kept tabs on us and listened with a practised ear to us.

Right now, however, I had no idea how to escape. Right there on the plane, we could only jump out of the plane with parachutes, but neither Ayra or Moira or me had ever done that before, and I wasn’t willing to risk our lives.

So the only thing left was escaping when we landed, but I didn’t see much possibilities there either, because we’d be landing on the airport of the Academy. The only time I’d ever been to the airport, on a tour around the school-grounds, it had been packed with Guardians because later that day, a Royal Princess would arrive. It had been Ayra at the time, back before I’d ever talked to her.

I knew it would be packed with Guardians once again, to welcome the Princess home, and protect her.

So unless I could fight of all those Guardians, there would be no way Ayra, Moira and I were going to get away. We’d just have to wait a while until they were satisfied we wouldn’t run, and then take off again.

Just before Ayra left, she made eye-contact with me. Through the bond she told me: We’re scared, Bri. What if it happens all over again? Will we run again? They’re sure to watch us more closely now. Will you be able to take us away again, if that’s the right thing to do? Will you protect us? Always?

“It’s fine. It’ll be fine. I promise,” I told her.

She left feeling calmer.

Jason decided to stay by my side to keep me in my seat and to make sure I’d be okay. So he took the seat next to me.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked me.

“I’ll heal.”

“Do you need to be checked for concussions of anything? Or do you need more blood?”

“You have no idea how healing works, do you? Anyway, I’m fine. I’ll be okay in a few hours and after I’ve had some sleep, I’m sure I’ll be fit as ever.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. And actually, why do you give a crap?”

“Well, for one because you’re a Vartija. You’re one of us. We protect the Hurma and the Tiruca of course, but we take care of our own as often as we can. And for two, I’m actually the one who did this to you, so I’m here to make sure I didn’t do too much damage.”

“Yeah, yeah, all right, whatever.”

“I really am sorry I cracked your skull.”

“What did you use to hit me? A baseball bat?”

“A brick, actually. It was the only thing I could find that might take you out of the action. You’re skull is seriously strong. The brick split in two when I hit you.”

“I know. I heard it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Could have guessed it was you. You didn’t strike me as the obeying type. More like a undertaking on. Well, it doesn’t matter. Nothing can now be done to change what happened in the past.”

“Talking of the past, what did you exactly promise the Princess?”

“That I’d be fine.”

“You know as well as I do that that’s not the entire truth.”

“Whatever.”

The rest of the flight passed in silence. We really were nearly there.

When the plane landed, we got out and left for the campus.

As I’d expected, the entire airport was loaded with Guardians. As was the road.

The airport was just a couple of miles away, but there were jeeps and other cars everywhere to transport the visitors and the students back and forth.

We got in a big black jeep and left almost immediately. The entire time, the Guardians kept a close watch on us, to make sure we didn’t escape. But nobody watched us as close as Jason. He noticed every twitch.

The girls were terrified of what they’d have to face, so I did what I could to calm them, with my body language and by taking the fear away from them through the bond. I also sent strength back into them, because they were exhausted.

When we finally got to campus, we walked straight to the headmistress’ office.

Ayra and Moira were now swaying on their feet, so carefully I took most of their weariness away from them. However, I had no choice but to put it on myself, so now I was even more tired. Still, I was more adapted to challenge and I was able to handle it a lot better than the girls. And of course, I wouldn’t take too long before I could go to sleep.

The leader knocked on the door and a few seconds later the door was opened by Headmistress Bianchi.

She hadn’t changed in the slightest. Her hair was still dark grey, as were her eyes that looked severe behind her rectangular glasses that stood high on her strong and straight nose. She wore a grey suit, like she always did, and her pointy shoes were just as grey.

“Guardians, thank you for your efforts to get them here. You did the Brádu a great favour,” she thanked the Guardians with her Italian-accented voice.

Then she looked at Ayra and Moira.

“Princess Islana,” she addressed Ayra with a small courtesy. “I’m glad to have you back, safe and sound. And to have you back as well, Miss Peterson. You never should have let Miss Shields take you from our care. But the important thing is that you’re back now. Today, you should rest and then tomorrow we’ll talk about how the two of you are going to catch up with all you’ve missed so that you’ll still be able to graduate this year,” she said warmly and motherly.

“Rest would be wonderful, Miss Bianchi, but there’s no need to talk about catching up, because we’re not behind on our studies, for we’ve kept up with it over the years on Brianna’s orders, so that if we were to return, we would still be up to date,” Ayra said, always polite.

“Really? Well, that’s most certainly unexpected. Tomorrow we shall get you a schedule and you’ll be able to start your lessons.”

Then she turned to me.

She didn’t spoke a word, she just tried to stare me down.

It didn’t work.

“If you’re going to get mad, get mad, because this silence isn’t doing anyone any good,” I told her. “Excuse me for the bluntness, but most every Guardian in here and Ayra, Moira and I could surely use some rest, right now, instead of having to wait. So, please, can we get this over with?”

She still didn’t say a word.

“Fine, then. I’ll hold a monologue,” I said. “I kept them safe by taking them away. But it wasn’t even my idea to leave, you know. I didn’t tell them that they had to come. She came to Moira and me to tell us she was leaving and that nothing we said could keep her from it. She said it was because she didn’t feel safe. I didn’t want to leave in the first place, but I had an obligation to Ayra, because her parents would have wanted me to stay with her and guard her. So I went with her to keep her safe. I told Moira she couldn’t come with us and had to stay behind, but she refused and came with us. They made the decision themselves. I only went with them to protect them, as I have.”

“You could have gotten them killed. You could have run into Paha!” Bianchi finally spoke.

“We did.”

“Wait, what?!”

“I said that we did run into Paha. Several, actually.”

“Lying won’t improve your situation, Miss Shields.”

“She’s telling the truth, actually, Miss Bianchi. When we found them she looked like hell and said that they’d run into five Paha earlier, and that she had fought and killed them. So naturally, we sent someone to check it out. He followed the trail of blood she’d left behind and found signs of a battle and several heaps of ash which were big enough for five or six Paha. She did fight and kill them all, without having had all the proper training. On her we also found a stake, which had blood on it. She’d used it without being trained in using it.

“In the alley we found them in, she told us that she wouldn’t come with us and that neither would the Princess and Miss Peterson. We thought it would be easy to subdue her, but she fought us with techniques that we’ve never even seen before. On top of that, she also seemed to know where we’d be before we had actually moved there and what we were going to do against her.

“Miss Shields is very capable of fighting Paha and protecting her charges,” the leader said.

Hm. He was nicer than I’d originally thought. Still stiff and a bit narrow-minded, but kind.

“Show me,” Bianchi ordered.

“What?”

“The techniques.”

“What, right now?

“Yes, now,” Bianchi said impatiently.

“Oh. Come on! You cannot be serious! I killed six Paha and fought off ten Guardians before being knocked out because my skull had cracked when someone hit me with a brick. And on top of that, I haven’t slept in over two days! Let me sleep, please! I’ll show you whatever you want to see, afterwards, but for now, please let me sleep.”

“No, you’ll get your rest later. Right now, you’re going to show me your abilities. And that’s final.”

“Fine,” I said through my teeth.

We left her office and walked to the gymnasium.

There she turned around, faced me and told me what to do.

I was to fight the Guardians to show her how I was able to fight that many attackers at once and afterwards I was to show her how I staked a Paha.

So I fought the Guardians for a few minutes until Bianchi was satisfied and then I went to stake some dummies. After three dummies, she understood that I was as good as the leader of the Guardians had said.

Then we went back to her office.

BAM - Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Through her eyes, I saw my body go limp and a pool of blood formed underneath my face.

“Brianna!” Ayra shrieked.

She tried to hurry forwards, toward my body to help me, but the leader grabbed her and, though carefully, dragged her with him.

Jason walked over to my body. There, he lifted me from the ground and carried me in his arms, leaving a bloody trail because of the blood that dripped from my hair.

The other hurt ones were lifted and carried or held upright.

Moira was grabbed as well, but she didn’t let the Guardian drag her with him.

“I’m sorry, but could you please let go of my arm?” she asked him. “First of all because you’re hurting me and second, you’ve got both my friends, one of whom was protecting us. So, it’s just plain reckless to try to escape and I’m not so stupid as to try, because I know you’ll catch me. And on top of that, I won’t leave my friends. So, please, let go of me.”

He let go of her and she walked calmly beside him, not even glancing around for an escape.

We were taken to a private airport and there, we boarded one of the Academy’s private jets.

I knew that in this hurt state I shouldn’t leave my body without spirit because then the healing would take much longer. So I returned to my body, with difficulty though.

When I finally got into my body, I was overwhelmed by the excruciating pain. My eyes flew open and I screamed in agony.

Everybody around me jumped in surprise and looked my way, but I barely noticed it. For a second, I saw that outside the plane, everything was black. I must have been searching for my body for a couple of hours. But then I was hit by another wave of pain and I couldn’t focus on anything but the pain.

My hands automatically went to my head, but they were being blocked. The Guardians had chained me to a chair with handcuffs. I broke free of them, and while bringing my hands to the back of my head, I dropped of the chair and doubled over on the ground.

All the while I was screaming from the pain.

But I still had my connection to Ayra and Moira, and though that, although it was like I was inside a bubble, I heard Ayra argue with some Guardian. Well, she wasn’t really arguing. She was yelling in despair.

“Please! You’ve got to let me help her! I can help her! I have the ability to heal! Please, let me help her! She saved us over and over again! She killed every Paha we came across! She took care of us for five years! Let me help her!”

“No. We’re nearly at the Academy. The doctors there will take care of her.”

“How can you be so cruel? She never did anything to hurt us! She protected us! I owe her my life, several times already! I must repay her! Please! If she would be a member of your family, you’d want her to be helped as soon as possible, right? She’s almost the only person I have left in this world! Let me help her!”

It was then that another wave hit me. I couldn’t focus for a minute or two.

But then, when I could focus again, Ayra was sitting in front of me. Apparently, they’d come to an agreement.

Softly, she placed her hand on my shoulder. To keep myself from hurting her by shrieking even more, I quieted and gritted my teeth together to keep from starting to scream again.

“Bri, you’re going to have to take your hands away so that I can look at your head, please.”

I did what she asked and when I saw my hands, I saw that they were soaked in blood. I didn’t really understand where it came from at first, but after a few seconds something clicked in my mind. It was my own blood. I had reopened the wound on my head.

Meanwhile, Ayra placed her fingers on my head, as softly and carefully as possible.

But no matter how carefully she touched me, it still hurt. So, I flinched away from her hands.

“I’m so sorry!” Ayra said.

Then she touched my head again, and even though it hurt, I stayed put.

“It’s a very big wound. There are two large cracks crossing each other. Furthermore, your skin has split in several more places. Those small wounds look a bit dirty but otherwise they look fine. The cracks however don’t look so good. They’re not in the right place, so I’ll have to set them. It’ll hurt even more. I’m really sorry.”

I nodded to tell her that I understood what she said. I couldn’t really open my mouth to tell her, because I was sure that if I did, I’d start screaming and thrashing again.

“It’s going to take a lot of energy, and I don’t have enough to spare right now. So, I’m going to find someone who’ll help me. I’ll just be a moment.” She stood and left.

A minute or so later, she returned with Moira, Jason and some other Guardian. And with them came the leader.

To Moira, Jason and the other guy, she said: “Okay, you’re going to have to touch me to send me all the energy you can spare, because it’ll be too hard to do it without touching. You’ll feel drained and sending the energy may upset your stomach. If it comes to be too much, just let go of me, and the connection will be broken. While touching me, you’ll probably feel my heartbeat but also the pulse of the magic that flows through me. And if a light should appear, don’t turn away, it just means that she’s healing. Then, could you please place your hands on my back and keep out of my way?” Then she made eye-contact with me. In my eyes she saw the gratitude. “Oh, and she wants to thank you for doing this,” she told the others.

“It’s no big thing,” the Guardian said.

“Bri, this is going to hurt a lot at first. Just try to hold still. I’ll heal it as fast as I can. It’ll hurt longer if you move, okay?” Ayra said.

I nodded again.

Carefully, she placed her hands on my skull and then in one fast but firm push, she set the cracks.

It hurt like hell.

I lost the little control I’d had over my shrieking. I screamed so hard they had to cover their ears.

“Ayra! Please!” I screamed.

I knew I’d hurt her ears, but I seriously needed her help. I couldn’t heal myself when I was in such a bad shape.

With difficulty, I clenched my teeth together and dug my nails deep into my legs to relief some of the pain in my head. I’d be able to heal that later. First I needed my skull to start growing back together.

Ayra took her hands off her ears, motioned the others to send her energy and she put her hands back on my head.

After about ten seconds, I felt the pain grow. Healing wounds and bones was a complicated thing. To heal something, you needed time. During that time, it would keep hurting. Speeding up the healing process meant shortening the time it could hurt. But the amount of pain would stay the same, so instead of hurting a little for a longer time, it now hurt intensely for a short amount of time.

Then, in front of me, I saw a little light hovering in the air. It was a white light, but the core was pitch-black. It distracted me from the pain. I knew it came from Ayra and me, it said something about her healing me. But why was the core black? What did that mean?

A minute later, I noticed that the pain was now bearable. That meant it was almost healed. “Ayra, that’s enough,” I told her. My voice sounded steady again, but a bit tired. “It’ll heal. This is fine; it doesn’t hurt so much anymore. Thank you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s a bit weak still, but the bone is reattached. It’ll heal more quickly now that is has.” The Guardians would feel better if I was a little weak still.

“Okay.” She stood and as soon as she did, so did the others.

Slowly, I got up as well.

As soon as I was upright, the world started spinning. I quickly grabbed hold of the person closest to me to steady myself and I waited until everything stayed in the right place. Then I let go of the person.

The person actually turned out to be Jason.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay?” he asked as soon as I let him go. The other looked just as worried.

“Too much blood loss. Everything’s spinning,” I told them. Then I turned to the leader who’d stood by us all the time. “You wouldn’t happen to have sterilizing alcohol, a sterile needle and an AB-negative blood bag, now, would you?”

“No, but we do have a couple bottles of blood in the mini-fridge. Would that do?”

“Yeah, it would help a bit.”

He left to get them.

“Thank you,” I told him when he returned and handed me two bottles.

I emptied them and then I sat down.

My head still hurt, but the world was no longer spinning.

BAM - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I dug into Ayra’s head. She was worried sick about me and was completely oblivious to her surroundings. So, I withdrew myself from her mind and instead dug into Moira’s. I got lucky, Moira was paying attention to where they were, the dark wood of the table in front of her, the woman behind the counter, the street-sign she could see when she looked outside.

It wasn’t far from where I was, so I started to jog towards them.

They were in a coffee-shop filled with early workers.

When they saw me, I could almost see the relief rolling off of them. It was clearly visible on their faces and it already radiated through the bond.

But, at the same time that their relief came through to me, so did their worry.

Wondering why they were actually so worried, I let myself slip into Ayra’s head and through her eyes I saw myself properly.

I was a huge mess. There was a deep cut on my left cheek, my lip was split, there were scratches on my nose, forehead, chin and around my eyes. My hair was tangled and stood in every direction. My clothes were red with blood and there were tears everywhere. Under the tears, there were cuts and scratches. On one hand, a nail was half ripped off and on the other there was a deep gash in my thumb. And all over me, bruises were starting to appear.

I left her head, and felt the tension in the coffee-shop. The customers were afraid of me.

“Thank God! We were–” Ayra started to say.

But I cut her off. “We need to leave. Now. I attract too much attention. The owner is probably already doubling whether or not he should have me kicked out of his shop. We should find a hotel. There we can rest and talk. We all need some sleep. Come on, let’s go.”

They trusted me and my instincts, so they left with me without asking any questions.

We left in search for a cheap hotel.

Wandering through alleys and streets, I told them what had happened.

“There were six of them. One of them I killed just before you left. Luckily, they weren’t prepared for my speed, my senses and my strength. I managed to kill them all and after they’d died, I dragged their bodies into the light of the rising sun. They burned up almost immediately, thank God. They hadn’t even noticed what time it was, they were too busy trying to kill me.”

“And how are you?” Ayra asked, worried because I limped a little. Hm. I must have broken my ankle in the fight.

“I’m tired and my body aches, but I’ll be fine. It looks worse than it is,” I assured them. Meanwhile I focused on my ankle and healed it.[1]

“So, where are we going?” Moira asked. She was always more of a practical one than Ayra.

“To a hopefully small, but crowded hotel. We’ll have less chance to–” My voice broke as soon as I heard the footsteps. A lot of fast and swift footsteps.

“What’s wrong?” Ayra asked. “Bri?”

“No! This cannot be happening! Not now!”

“What’s going on? What do you hear?” Moira asked.

“Stay behind me! They’re close!” I drove them to a wall.

“Who are?!” Ayra shrieked, panicking.

Before I had time to explain, they had already appeared. Guardians. A lot of Guardian.

They tried to surround us, but I had already moved my friends and myself with our backs against one of the walls in the alley we found ourselves in.

The fact that now they couldn’t attack from all sides made me a little more comfortable with turning my back on my friends to act as a shield.

We faced the Guardians who’d now formed half a circle around us, making sure we couldn’t escape.

One of them stepped forward. He was stern-looking with a strong build. His hair was short-cut and dark blond. His moves were sharp and sudden, there was barely any elegance to him.

“Princess Islana,” he addressed Ayra with a bow. “We’re here to escort you back to Saint Jennifer’s Academy.”

“No way we’ll go with you,” I growled at him and the rest of the Guardians.

He looked down at me with first irritation and then shock. I channelled some of my powers into the ability to read minds.

In his head, I saw my face, my eyes burning with iron-hot fury, my lips drawn back, fangs extended. [2]

I got back into my own head before half a second had even passed.

“And what makes you think you won’t? You’re not going to be able to take us on, seeing you’ve missed five years of training. And seeing the cuts that are all over you, you’re not even able to take on a human.” Despite the shock he felt seeing my face, he was completely sure that he’d be able to defeat me.

The fool.

“Well, come closer and see how ‘weak’ I am,” I challenged him.

And starting to become an even greater idiot, he actually did.

Before he could come within a five meter range from us, I’d grabbed him and thrown him against the opposite wall. He hadn’t even seen me coming.

He slid down from the wall and with a slight limp, he stood and rejoined the Guardians.

“Hm. I guess I’m capable of fighting a human. And you. But even better, I’m capable of fighting Paha, because that’s what I did last night. We came across them on our way from the airport. Five of them caused these injuries. If you’d paid but a little more attention to us, you’d have known this and you might even have been able to help us.” I should have stopped there, but I was too worn out to watch my mouth. “But seeing as how you can’t even fight me, I suppose you couldn’t have helped that much.”

They didn’t like that. At all.

My words started the fight, which was what I’d been hoping for. I wanted it over with. I wanted my friends and me to get as far away from here as possible.

There were ten Guardians and they were strong, but they were nothing compared with the five Paha.

After a couple minutes of fighting, they backed up again.

Looks of exhaustion, surprise and wounded egos now surrounded us.

“Is that all you’ve got?” I asked them.

“How is this possible?” “This can’t be for real!” “How did she just do that?” I heard being whispered all around us.

“What are you, Brianna Shields?” the leader asked.

“Obviously, I’m a girl. And I’m a Vartija.”

“There’s no way you can be a Vartija.”

“Now, why would that be?”

“You’re as strong and fast as a Paha. And you look exactly the same as you did when you left the Academy. And you have fangs.”

“So? I’m no Paha. I wouldn’t have been able to be outside right now, had I been one. And who cares if I’m not a normal Vartija. It’s not like I’m actually normal at all, as I’m sure you’re aware of if you’ve read my file, which you must have to know that I look the same.”

“True, you’re not normal. You grew up with–”

“Why chat now?” I cut him off. I didn’t want to talk about my past. And I didn’t want Ayra and Moira to know anything about it. It would be too difficult for them to understand it. “I thought you were here to take us back to the Academy. Well, we’re not coming with you, so why don’t you just drop it and leave? And fighting wouldn’t be the smartest thing to do right now, because I’m sure you don’t exactly look too safe to the humans standing at the south end of the alley.”

The Guardians looked to the south, startled. They hadn’t noticed the humans. I’d heard them arrive. They hadn’t seen the previous fight, but still, the tension was nearly visible in the air around us.

“We’ll talk somewhere else,” the leader commanded.

“No, we won’t. I told you, we’re not coming with you. You can leave in peace if you like.  You know I’d be able to fight you all and win. So really, leave.”

“Jason! Get those humans to leave. We can’t afford any witnesses.”

“So you actually want to fight to the last man. Okay, fine.” I extended my mind to the humans and very gently put the thought in their minds that nothing was wrong here and that they were running late and therefore needed to leave immediately.

Then I drew back and saw that the humans had left before this Jason had even set as much as two steps towards them.

“You wanted the humans gone, right? Well, they’re gone. Bring it.” I was tired of this charade and I seriously needed some sleep.

We fought again. They tried to hit me and kick me, trying to get me to stop fighting. But they barely landed any blows on me, whereas I knocked one unconscious and another I threw against the wall so hard, that he broke his leg and could no longer fight. Another sat on the ground, no longer able to fight because of exhaustion.

The rest didn’t stand much more of a chance. They would have all ended up unconscious on the ground while we ran. They would have lost, if not for one of the blows they did manage to land on me.

The blow was so hard, I felt and heard both my skull and the weapon break. The impact made me fall over. The blow hurt so badly that I screamed out. The pain was excruciating.

And then, not able to bear the pain, my mind left my head and escaped into Moira’s.

---

[1] Oh, yes, I should have told you. I have control over the element of Spirit. It gives me many abilities. Healing is one of them.

[2] My fangs are not always visible. I can extend them at will, as I can hide them at will.

BAM - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dizziness flooded through me, sudden and unexpected.

I was in my senior French class, copying the notes my teacher had written on the blackboard.

The feeling of dizziness wasn’t mine, of course, but nevertheless, it was strong and overwhelming.

In less than a second, I knew what was going on and I was already planning a way to fix it. So I closed my books, put them in my bag and walked up to my teacher.

“Excusez-moi, madame. Je me sens un peu malade. Est-ce que c’est possible pour moi de rentrer à la maison?”

“Mais bien-sûr, Brianna. Je vous souhaite un prompt rétablissement!”

After I left the classroom, I hurried towards the bathroom where I could feel Ayra and Moira waiting for me.

They were my best friends and we shared a connection. Our souls were linked with a bond. This way, I was able to experience their every feeling and thought.

Right now, they were both feeling very sick and weak.

When I reached them, I looked at them. I had already made a tight plan.

“You should have told me,” I accused them off. “But, it’s too late to do something about that. So what we’ve got to do now, is get out of here. I can’t feed you and then go back to class. Fortunately, you both look sick enough for the janitor to believe you are ill. I’m going to tell him it was food poisoning. Don’t say anything. You’re voices will betray that you’re not ill. Now, let’s go.”

I led them out of the bathroom and to the janitor. We were lucky. He believed the story immediately. We hurried out of the school at once and went to the car.

My friends and I had fled from our world 5 years ago. We were part of the Brádu, also known as the Vampire Society. We’d all felt more comfortable while we had lived there, but it soon became obvious that Ayra was being threatened. Once we’d figured that out, we left as soon as possible.

We’d been living in the human world ever since, living in an apartment we could rent, driving a rented car. Right now we were staying in Amsterdam. We all had part-time jobs too, to be able to pay the rent. We went to human schools and learned the human ways. However, I’d made sure that we all kept studying the ways of our own world as well, so that if we were to return, we could still fit in with the society.

Ayra was a Hurma, and a royal princess. One day she would be able to take her rightful place in society.

Moira was a Tiruca, a human who was turned into a vampire.

I was a Vartija. That meant I was half human and half vampire. Therefore I was the perfect one to protect my friends from the dangers that existed in our world. And I was glad to protect them. I wouldn’t be able to live without them. This made that I’d gladly die for them if it would keep them safe, like I’d done once before.

It had happened during a shoplift. Moira, Ayra, Ayra’s parents, brother and aunt and uncle, a couple of Guardians and I had been in a jeweller in a big city. Then a group of shoplifters had entered, carrying guns.

They’d been a threat and the Guardians and I had been trained to take away any threat. So, we’d attacked the criminals.

It had turned out into a huge fight, for they had the upper hand.

In the end everybody in the shop was dead. Except for Ayra, Moira, one Guardian and I, we were still alive.

However, I’d been shot in my stomach.

During the race home to the Academy, I’d died, telling Ayra to tell my parents I was sorry not to have met them and Moira to take care of Ayra.

Then Ayra had called upon her healing skills to bring me back. Moira had supported Ayra by giving her some of her own strength. They managed to bring me back to life. And this had created the bond which made me able to experience everything they felt, saw, heard, tasted, thought, etc.

It was the bond that made me the perfect choice of a Guardian for both the girls. Even though, technically, I wasn’t a Guardian yet.

When we got to our car, I noticed something was off.

We were being watched.

It was fortunate that we always kept our stuff in the car we would rent, in case we had to run at a moment’s notice.

Once inside the car, I said: “Girls, we’re being watched. There’s one Guardian on the roof, and two more behind the garbage cans on the other end of the lot. We need to leave. Now.” I was already pulling out of the parking lot, gaining speed.

“Are you sure?” Moira asked. She was always more practical. Ayra had more trouble with breaking the rules and running away and all of that.

“Yes. They move too swift to be human, and they can’t be Paha since it’s light outside.”

Paha were the evil creatures of the night. They were the ones humans think about when they think of vampires. Paha killed while feeding and they burned in sunlight. They were the ones humans noticed every once in a while.

“We’ve stayed too long,” I concluded.

“Where will we go next?” Ayra asked, anxious yet troubled.

“I don’t know exactly. I’m going to drive to the airport as fast as I can. Then we’ll board a plane to America or something. I’ve worked enough that we can afford it. I’ll keep you safe.”

“We know that, Bri. We trust you,” Moira told me.

We were at the airport in a blink.

We were lucky. A plane to New York would leave in fifteen minutes, and there were still tickets available.

So, we bought them, and boarded the plane.

About eight hours later, we landed in New York. As soon as we left the airplane, I led the girls to an empty bathroom.

“You need to feed,” I told them.

“What? Here?” Ayra asked, incredulously.

“Yes, here. We have to go outside and the sun is still up. You need your strength, ‘cause we’re going to have to walk. We don’t have enough money for a cab, when we might need to buy a small house, in case there’s nothing to rent.”

“You need your strength as well.”

“She has a point, you know,” Moira told me.

“It’s better if you can walk yourselves. It’ll take less time then. And it doesn’t matter. I’m strong enough. Just don’t take too much.”

“But-” Ayra started.

“It won’t have any effect on my protecting skills if you don’t take too much, and you know it. So stop questioning me, and just feed,” I interrupted her.

Then I pulled my hair away to clear my neck. I let them feed.

As soon as I their fangs broke my skin, their saliva created the usual high. It made it pleasant for both the drinker as the feeder. It was wonderful.

But, as always, over too soon.

For over the last five years, we’d done this every two or three days. This way, they would be healthy enough, even though, in our society, they would feed every day, sometimes even more than once. And I was still as strong as I had to be to keep them safe in any kind of situation.

“Are you okay?” Ayra asked, concerned, when I swayed a bit on my feet.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just not used to standing while you guys feed. But, I know something that most definitely would help; coffee.”

“And you need something sweet to eat. The sugar will make up for your blood loss,” Moira added.

“Sure, the coffee shop around the corner had doughnuts.”

They kept close to me when we walked out of the bathroom, both pretty worried about me.

But when we’d all eaten some doughnuts and had some caffeine in our systems, they felt better.

Then we left the airport to look for a cheap hotel where we might be able to stay until we found an apartment. The stop at the coffee shop had taken more time than I had anticipated. The sun had already left the sky and night surrounded us.

A couple of streets away, I suddenly sensed we weren’t alone.

“Damn!” I cursed.

The girls hadn’t expected that, and they looked up at me, an unspoken question on both their faces.

“We should have stayed at the airport,” I told them, through my teeth. My brains were already trying to make an escape-plan.

“What? Why?” Ayra asked, confused.

“They’re here as well. Give me a minute.” I closed my eyes, still walking on, and focussed on my surroundings, trying to find out how many there were. “No! Damn! These aren’t Guardians!” I grunted.

“What?! How are we ever going to outrun Paha?!” Ayra’s thoughts screamed in my head. On her face, the fear showed, as well as on Moira’s face.

“Okay. Here’s the plan. I’m going to fight them, stall as long as I can. I have no idea how many there are. All I know is that there are at least five of them. You must run. As soon as you see an opening in the fight, you run. Run as fast and as far as you can. Then, mingle with humans. I’ll find you. But, if I haven’t shown up an hour after sunrise, you leave. You’ll get on the first plane and get your asses back to the Academy. It’s safer there, then it is out here.  Just promise me, you will look after each other and trust the Guardians that will be assigned to you. They’ll keep you safe. Take care of yourselves if I don’t come back.”

“But–”

“No, just do it. I’ll keep you safe. I swore I would. So, just keep yourselves safe.”

“We–”

Just then, a shadow appeared next to me.

I spun around and had the stake I’d stolen when we’d left the Academy out so fast that the Paha had no time to react. He was dead in a second, the corpse dropped on the ground.

“Do what I told you to do!” I told my friends before turning my back on them to face the approaching danger. They needed to run and leave me behind. They needed to take care of themselves for a change. They needed to forget about me for a while.

And breaking their hearts with the idea they might never see me again, they did what I told them to do.

In the mean time, I was fighting off the Paha. They were 5 strong, not counting the one that lay dead at my feet.

From all sides, they attacked me. And man, they were strong! I was almost a fair match to one Paha, but five Paha at the same time was a whole other story.

I was able to stake one and dodge an attack from another. But I couldn’t dodge the blow that came from yet another one and was directed at my stomach. I could only turn so that it would hit my side instead of my stomach.

The impact threw my body in the air until it collapsed into a wall. It hurt. It hurt a lot. But I wasn’t going to give in, I couldn’t. I had to keep Ayra and Moira safe. So I jumped up from where my body had dropped to the ground and attacked the four remaining Paha.

I was hit a lot of times, I had a few bite-marks on my neck and shoulders, some on my arms, and I had many scrapes and there were tears in my clothes. But I’d managed to kill them all. And the sun was coming up, so I dragged the corpses into the sunlight, where they immediately began to dissolve. In a few minutes nothing was left of them.