I had been warned.

I'd been warned how hard it was, how tricky it would be, how tricky they would act. How dangerous it was. How careful I'd have to be. I thought I'd been prepared.

But nothing could have prepared me for her.

Nothing could have prepared me for love, either. Or for any kind of misleading excuse. Any kind of mistake.

And falling in love with Sylfaen the was biggest mistake I'd ever made in my life. It was also the most dangerous one.


I was fresh out of the school, the day I met her. Nineteen, and proud at having completed the required ten years of Vampire Hunter Academy. Relieved, too. Those years were painful and tedious; but I still had learned a lot. I thought that I knew everything. I was under some kind of impression that I was invincible. Ha! How soon that impression would be proven wrong.

It was only a few days after I'd graduated. I had taken those few days to breathe for a little bit, to relax, to chill out in some motel- but I was too excited to wait any longer than that. That morning, at precisely 7:16 AM, I paid for a taxi to drive me to where the Headquarters were located- Albany, capitol of New York. It was not that far from Schenectady, New York, the place where the academy was located.

The whole drive, I could not sit still. I was way too psyched. The taxi driver kept giving me weird looks, from the way I kept shifting my weight and bouncing up and down in the backseat like a little kid, not to mention the buoyant expression on my face. What a clueless idiot. He could think of me however he wanted to; I was about to get my first mission, and what was he going to do? Sit on his butt and keep driving around people to random places, all the time. Wow, some career.

The taxi driver stopped his incredibly slow vehicle at the cross-section of Burnham and Courthouse, at exactly the right spot. He took one look outside the window, at the apparently empty, building-free sidewalk in front of us (unusual for New York), and then he raised his eyebrows at me. “Are you sure this is the right location you wanted me to drop you off?” He asked skeptically.

“Of course it is.” Idiot. Do you think I don't know where the Headquarters are? Just because you don't have awesome superpowers and can't see it, like me, doesn't mean I'm lame, like you.

“O-kay, if you're sure,” he shrugged, humoring me. He gestured towards my door, and I opened it and stepped outside onto the sidewalk, slamming it for good measure. The driver gave me one more superior, I-think-you're-crazy kind of look before pressing on the gas and zooming off. What an idiot.

I turned around and stared at the blank space in front of me, and then I whispered the password. “Aryone Garth.”

Immediately, an old, fancy, many-story-building appeared in front of me. Of course, it had always been standing there- my words had just unlocked the invisible field cast over it, just like the field cast around the school. No normal eyes could see either, even when the password was uttered. Just us special ones.

I walked up to the door of the dark red building, and hesitated for a moment, my hand on the door handle. I let out a sigh and gathered my nerves together, a thrill rushing through me. This was it.

Little did I know how much I was changing, by turning that door handle. If only I'd known how much I was ruining by opening that door. I should have walked away right there. I should have not touched that door knob, and stepped away from the Headquarters. Gone back to the taxi and asked to drive me somewhere, anywhere away.

But instead, I had to open that door and walk in, sealing my terrible fate.

The door closed behind me with a quiet click, and I stared around at my surroundings, my eyes wide.

They had always talked about the Headquarters at school, but of course I'd never been in it before myself. I was in a simple but elegant waiting room, currently unoccupied chairs lining the sides. A little farther down, at the end of the room, there was an elaborate desk, with a middle-aged woman sitting behind it, looking very sophisticated with stylish glasses and a neat blond bun. On the receptionist's desk, there was a name card reading SOPHIA on it. Behind the receptionist was a door that said STAIRS, and next to that, an elevator.

I approached the desk with fascination, and the receptionist looked up. “Hello,” she smiled at me. “Welcome to the Vampire Hunter Headquarters of the United States. May I help you?”

I simply gaped at her, at loss for words- which was quite unusual for me.

“Need of a mission?” Sofia said helpfully.

I snapped out of my amazed trance, and found my voice. “Yes,” I replied.

“Fresh out of the academy, correct?” She guessed.

I nodded, and allowed myself to sneak a dignified smile.

“Congratulations,” her smile widened, and she reached over the desk to pat my shoulder. “I remember when I was new...I was so excited when I passed, and even more excited to start my first mission.”

“Yeah, I'm much more than excited,” I laughed. The word hardly described how I felt.

“Great.” Sofia lowered her glasses further down her nose and got back to business, her smile disappearing, her expression business-like, in that stern way. She turned to the computer in front of her and got it ready, clicking a bit with the mouse, and then got her fingers in the position to type. “Name?”

“Vampire Hunter James,” I said in a bit of a flaunting manner. I'd always wanted to say that. The title sounded so cool.

Her fingers flew across the keyboard. “Number?”

“2197.”

Click, clack, click. “Age?”

“Nineteen.” Obviously. If I just got out of school, what other age could I be? Everyone graduated at nineteen.

Sofia's mouth twitched, as if she knew what I was thinking. “Have to stick to the procedure, no matter what,” she explained, then returned to her crisp manner. “Gender...male,” she answered her own question absentmindedly, then continued. “Proof that you've completed all the required years at the academy, please.”

I rolled my eyes and pulled out my diploma from inside my long black coat. They had told us we'd need to show them the diploma, just for them to make sure we weren't going into this without going to school.

Sofia unrolled my diploma, took a quick glance at it, rolled it and handed it back to me with a satisfied nod. I put it back into my inside coat pocket.

“You've got a sword, correct?” She had to make sure.

Duh. How would I go through ten years of Vampire Hunter Academy without receiving my own sword? For an answer, I reached down to touch the tan leather belt I wore around my waist, where the recently new weight of a sword rested at my side. I felt around for the invisible sheath, and then pulled out the sword, which turned visible as it made contact with air.

Definitely not for the first time, I admired its beauty as I held it in front of Sofia. It was long and elegant. The hilt was gold and in the shape of a cross, with the Vampire Hunter symbol etched in green donning the front (a wide V with an H coming out from the middle). The silver blade was long and straight. On the flat side, a bunch of ancient symbols were engraved into the metal, and close to the hilt, the letters VHJ were indented in, also in a bright green- my initials.

“Wow,” Sofia whistled softly. “Beautiful.”

I grinned. “I know,” I said, also in awe. “I can't believe it's mine.”

She laughed. “You'll have to get used to it. Pretty soon you'll be using it to kill, too.”

I swallowed, but I didn't feel any fear or apprehension, just slight nausea. Of course they'd taught us how to kill a vampire at school- and I knew all the rules perfectly- but still, the idea of piercing a living creature's skin with this beautiful thing, the idea of thrusting a sword through someone's chest, vampire or not, made me feel slightly sick.

Of course, I would get over it.

“You'll be okay,” Sofia reassured me, again seemingly reading my mind, probably just from my expression. “I remember when I got mine...I couldn't bear to think of killing anything. But once I faced my first vampire, all those type of feelings faded away and it was no problem to do my job. You'll have no problem.”

I truly believed her words, then. What a clueless idiot.

“This is the first time you've worn your sword around, right?” Sofia asked.

“Yeah. They wouldn't let us keep our swords with us since we got them at fifteen, for obvious reasons. They only gave us our swords when it was time for fencing practice. So this is the first time I'm wearing it.”

Sofia understood. “It feels strange to have it on you, doesn't it?”

I thought about how weird it was to have an extra weight on my side all the time, especially one that was invisible when inside the sheath. “Totally.”

“Okay, you can put it back now,” Sofia said briskly. With some disappointment, I slipped the sword into its sheath, and watched with amazement as it disappeared.

“That's all good now,” Sofia stated promptly. “I've got all the information required...and don't worry, when you come for a second mission I'll have all your info on file, so you won't have to go through all this again. Now all that's left is for me to find you someone.” She clicked some more with the mouse and then typed something in. She stared at the screen for a bit and read whatever was on there, clicking every few seconds.

This went on for a minute, and then she looked up from the screen with a satisfied smile. “I've found one available,” she announced, and beckoned me over.

I walked around the desk and then peeked over her shoulder at the picture on the screen.

It was a female vampire, a vampress. The first thing to say was that it- she- was beautiful. That was an understatement. Her beauty was not all that pleasant; it was a wild kind of beauty, a disturbing, untamed one. She looked abnormally creepy and frightening; her gaze sent shivers up and down my spine. But she was still entrancing to stare at. I couldn't take my eyes off of her creepy red eyes, for some reason. They held me there fast, even though it was only a picture.

I stared at her pale-white figure for a full minute before Sofia started talking again. “Her name's Sylfaen,” she said matter-of-factly. “Our satellite disk tells me that she's currently located somewhere in California. Hang on.” Sofia frowned and her eyes scanned the words under the picture. “Precisely in Los Angeles, California.”

I raised my eyebrows. “L.A.? Isn't that a bit obvious?”

Sofia shrugged. “Who knows? I'm not in that vampire's head. I don't know what she thinks. If you want, you can ask her.” Sarcasm dripped from Sofia's tone. She closed the window on her computer and then leaned back against her chair. “That's all. Now all we have to do is some paperwork, and you're off. It should be easy to find her once you get to Los Angeles.”

“Oh.” It seemed to simple, so quick. I could hardly believe I was already almost on my first mission.

Sofia placed a few forms on the counter and handed me a pen. Once I filled out the forms and handed them back to her, she put them away in a file cabinet and then handed me the picture of the vampress with the writing underneath that she'd just printed up. “Keep this,” She ordered, and I shoved it into my pocket without looking at it again. I didn't want to see those horrible eyes.

“One more thing,” Sofia remembered. “There's a house we own in L.A., for any Vampire Hunter to stay in for a while, when they're on missions, since L.A.'s such a big city, and lots of vampires stay around that area. You can stay in there for as long as it takes you to complete your mission.” Sofia rummaged through a drawer in her desk and pulled out a ring of keys, with only one key on it. Then she pulled out a slip of paper and scribbled something down on it. “Here,” she handed me both the paper and the key. I glanced at the paper; it had an address on it. Then I put both inside my coat pocket.

“Well,” Sofia said slowly, with an air of someone finishing a grand act. “You're done.” She saluted to me and grinned. “Goodbye and good luck!”

Thanks for the thought...but even the best of luck wouldn't have helped me.

I almost turned away, but then I remembered. “Wait. Um...did anyone by the name of Jade come through here recently?”

Sofia frowned and turned to her computer. “What's their number?”

“2401.”

Sofia typed something and consulted the computer screen for a minute. “Yes, she did, at 9:43 yesterday evening. She left on her first mission, too. You just missed her.”

My spirit fell, and my shoulders slumped. Why'd I wait so long to come? I thought sadly. I had been hoping to see her before I went on my mission, since who knows when I'll see her next. But she'd already gone.

“Someone you know?” Sofia asked curiously. “A friend of yours?”

“Yeah...sort of.” Jade was much more than a friend.

Sofia seemed to get it. “Oh, that's too bad,” she sympathized with a knowing smile. “Sorry about that.”

I shrugged. “It's okay.”

I already missed my friends from Vampire Hunter Academy. Those were the people I had grown up with, the ones I had been through everything with. They were all closer to me than many friends are. But of course, we had to all separate once we graduated, off to all our different missions.

It sucked having to say goodbye to my best friend, Andrew. We had been side by side through all those ten years, ever since I'd been kidnapped and taken there at eight. We had been really tight, but now life was going to be so busy I didn't know if I'd ever see him again.

But the person I was going to miss most, the one that was hardest to leave, was my girlfriend, Jade. We had been dating since we were fifteen. I didn't know what to do, now that we were going separate ways. Now that it was possible that I was never going to see her again.

I could still taste the bittersweetness of her goodbye kiss on my lips. I didn't want to part with her. But I didn't have a choice.

I realized that Sofia was staring at me funny. I shrugged everything off and smiled at her politely. “Thank you.”

“No problem.”

I should've said no right then, right there. I should have backed down. I should have said I didn't feel up to going on a mission, that I needed more time. Or maybe that I didn't want to go on any missions at all. Heck, I could have even asked for some stand-still job at the Headquarters that didn't involve going on missions.

I should have at least asked for someone else, any other vampire than her. Anyone else would have been better. Anything else I'd down would have helped. Anything else would have saved me. A simple no would be all that I'd need to stop everything.

But of course, I didn't do any of that. I had to be an idiot and just turn around and walk away. Walk away from my only chance to save everything, to stop everything. Walk away from the last thing I could have done.

All I could feel was a mounting furor, a rising frenzy of elation as I stepped out of the Vampire Hunter Headquarters, the sun blinding me with bright light and warming my face. All I felt was a throbbing energy reverberating through me, sending green sparks through the air, making me on edge and ready to do something, to fight. I could only feel my own thrill.

It never occurred to me to be nervous.