A Guide to Surviving Against Monsters

My hands moved like a blur, my own knife flying through the air to intercept the one thrown at my face. A second weapon was gripped in my hand, ready for whoever had done the stupid thing of trying to get the jump on me. I surveyed the class, most of them pale after seeing me move quicker than any monster, my knife and the attacker's clattering to the floor.

"Who decided to try me?" I demanded, my voice echoing.

A boy, unsurprisingly, stood up in the back of the class. He was clothed in leather, his hair a bright blond. "I did," he called, "I'm Malekai Correa, top of the class."

I narrowed my eyes. "You're an idiot is what you are."

"Emmalyn," Wendy hissed, but it was too late. I was pissed, my hair falling back in front of my face. When I moved this time, I was slow and deliberate. My footsteps echoed as I went to grab the two knives, sheathing my own before flipping Malekai's over and over in my hand.

"What's the first rule of being a hunter?"

Silence met my words. A haunted one, one that was filled with anticipation.

I zeroed in on the armrest next to Malekai's hand. "You either trust your team," I grumbled, "or you all die. Pranks are a sure way to make people uneasy. And if you're uneasy, you're distracted."

I loosened my grip on the hilt, spinning it to the perfect throwing angle.

"And if you're distracted," I continued, raising my hand, keeping my wrist still, "you're dead."

I let the knife fly, the blade burying itself next to Malekai's fingers. He screeched, nearly falling onto his ass. Professor Michaelson glared at me as I walked back to the group, throwing my own piercing gaze over my shoulder at the class of graduates.

I settled back into the group before crossing my arms.

"Emmalyn Foxit," I told them, "graduate of seven years."

The bell rang and the class was dismissed, freeing us as well. Before Wendy could scold me, I skipped my way over to Malekai's seat and retrieved my second knife. He was still loitering around as I approached, the boy recovered from the scare I gave him.

"You have good aim," he told me, shouldering his bag. Malekai was probably around eighteen, since most people joined the Academy instead of going to high school. The Foxit family were already a hunter family, so I had joined as a young girl and graduated at thirteen. Wendy was the same, but she had gone to healer's school and started working later than I. After seven years of successful hunting, I was already twenty.

"Of course I do," I sighed. "Listen, that wasn't cool, kid."

"I had to make sure you were the real deal," he told me. "Emmalyn Foxit is a name that carries a lot of weight."

My expression hardened into a glare. "Whatever rumors you heard, don't believe them," I snapped. "Leave it alone."

The student raised both eyebrows. "I respect you, Foxit. You can trust me. After all, I have to trust you to keep me alive."

I shrugged, turning away. "Maybe I'm the wrong person to trust."

Maybe more people will die.

I stayed silent, walking away from the student.

"Emmalyn!"

I rolled my eyes. Malekai kept talking.

"Thanks for not slicing off my fingers."

"How do you know I wasn't aiming for them?" I smirked, finally walking away from the damned classroom.

Other school officials nodded at me as I walked past. My eye twitched, which meant I had to blow off some steam, and fast. Otherwise I'd be uncontrollable.

"Emmalyn, what happened to you?"

"Is this what your brother asked you to do?"

"Talk to us!"

I winced, pushing away the thought. My eye throbbed and I clapped a hand over top, willing the purple symbols to vanish. I cursed the experiment I'd gone through, fleeing the school.

"Emmalyn?"

I swore, looking behind me. The cousins, Mateo and Theo, smiled. Mateo's expression faltered as he glanced at my face.

"Something wrong?"

I lifted a brow, using my hand to brush my hair to the side. The boys gaped at the markings etched into my iris, the purple contrasting the green.

The locks of hair fell back over my eye. "I'm a bit busy, guys."

"Where are you going?" Mateo asked, ever the friendly guy. Theo just listened.

"Hunting."

"Alone?"

I grabbed a gun, holding it up next to my face. "I can take care of myself."

"But you have a job here," Theo pointed out, "if you die out there, you're screwing these guys over."

"Right!" Mateo chirped. "We should have each other's backs. Plus, your eye..."

I scowled. "Everyone's heard one rumor or another."

"Why don't you tell us the truth?"

I scoffed. "I don't need anyone judging me based off of something that happened a long time ago," I told them. "But if you want to see me in action, then get your asses moving. Come on."

Mateo cheered, his cousin following obediently as I walked off. We all rode in the same taxi to the outskirts of town. Wards encircled the town to keep it safer, not that monsters were completely prevented from entry. Our driver dropped us off at the edge of the protective line, eyeing all three of us before driving away. Our appearance screamed hunters, especially considering we were all armed.

"Whatever you do," I told them before stepping over the protective line, "don't try to touch me if something weird happens. Got it?"

"Sure," Mateo said enthusiastically.

This is serious, dimwit.

"Promise," I demanded. The goofy hunter traced an x over his heart.

"Cross my heart and hope to die."

My eyes flicked to Theo. The hunter nodded, and I took that as his own promise. With that in mind, I led them down the lonely, quiet road. I held a gun in either hand, watching the trees that lined the street. Mateo and Theo followed in a triangle formation, leaving me at the head position. Theo had a katana in hand, not that I knew where he got it from, and Mateo reached inside his jacket before pulling out a handgun similar to mine.

He wasn't like me, however, and I silently prayed that he had more firepower. These areas were swarming with banshees as of late, and I always loved hunting the little twerps.

A flash of white caught my eye. I held up a hand, signaling for the other two to stop. They did, not missing a single beat as I levered my gun, pointing it at the trees.

A second passed of pure stillness.

Another second later, and four forms were flying from the woods toward us. One was the ghostly figure of a banshee, the other three were larger than normal animals. Shapeshifters. In our world, they weren't humans that could transform into something stronger like in the stories. Instead, they were animals that could take on a partially human form and speak like us, but they weren't as smart. I shot at one shapeshifter, watching the other two nearly flatten the Grimm cousins. I swore, aiming at the both of them and squeezing the trigger. A split second after the bullets went flying, I leapt away from where I'd been standing. A second later and I would've been squashed by an oversized lion. The banshee screamed, and I rolled my eyes. My green eye, the one holding the symbols, twitched before a layer of purple light coated me. It held back the banshee's scream, and my bullets blew her head right off. Mateo and Theo recovered from the effects of the ghostly scream, taking on a shapeshifter for themselves.

I eyed the lion, holstering one of my guns. I kept the other one aimed at its forehead, my freehead outstretched to my side. Purple fire gathered in my palm, and I knew that if I looked in the mirror, the symbols in my iris would be circling the pupil. Almost like a spinning disc, glowing neon violet and creating a perfect ring.

When the lion growled, so did I. It lunged, skittering to the side to avoid the bullet I fired. My glowing hand swung to the opposite side, the flames fanning outward and creating a line on the pavement between us. They grew upward, the lion skidding to a stop.

Someone cried out and I whipped my head to the side. Mateo's cheek was sliced, as was his forehead. Blood dripped into his eye, and I grumbled under my breath. I focused on his opponent, a bear. Lifting my hand, I aimed for the animal's eye and fired a beam of my purple flames. They struck home, searing through the skull of the shapeshifter. It fell to the ground, lifeless, and Mateo glanced my way. His eyes widened instantly.

"Emmalyn..."

I flipped him off. "Stop staring."

He gulped, watching as the flames in the area returned to my hand. My eye lost its glow, the lion across from me hissing and spitting.

Screw off, I thought, firing off three shots quicker than the lion could dodge. Theo was finished with his own monster just after mine was dead, the other two hunters panting. I dropped my arm to my side, dark hair falling back over my right eye.

The cousins stared at me.

"Can I help you?"

It was Theo who spoke, surprisingly.

"You're so... Cool."