Crimson (Book One)

The library holds over 2million books of all different languages, types, and sizes, it’s an old fashioned antique library which makes me feel when we go in there we’ve gone back to the dark ages. It still shocks me when I go in there as it is so different to all the other rooms in the building, all the other rooms are high tech and this is all very much old media. It’s what makes me love this place though, so much history, so much knowledge in one room, it’s mesmerising.
Tony clicks his fingers in my face earning him a slap in his.
“What was that for?!” he asks madly.
“Don’t ever snap in my face!” I shout back
“Charlotte” Aala says calmly and as I look at her I instantly calm down, she has a very good affect on me.
“Sorry Tony, you know what I’m like” I apologise.
“Don’t worry, next time I know not to snap” he says before we walk into the library.
The smell of books fill my senses, their musty smell always gets me in a calm relaxed mood.
“Here they are! I am so sorry to drag you away from being able to go home but we have some new additions to the group, please say hello to Dakota, Taylor and Jett” Master Henry Pike says grandly at us gesturing the three new-comers.
“Hi! I’m Jett!” the youngest looking of the lot shouts at us boldly, I groan, I do not like hyper little kids, he looks about 8.
“Charlotte, be nice” Alex whispers in my ear, knowing what I’m thinking.
“Fine... Hey I’m Charlotte and I don’t like you guys already” I say... in my head, what really came out was
“Hey, I’m Charlotte, this is Tony, Alex, Aala and Blake” pointing to each one in turn.
“I’m pretty sure they can talk for themselves” Taylor says snottily.
“And I’m pretty sure you should keep your trap shut and stay away from me” I reply with an aggressive tone.
“Now now, that’s enough from you both, you shall be working as a group, so buck up and get along, I have enough to attend to without you guys fighting” Master Henry Pike said as he walked out of the room leaving us with the ‘newbie’s’.
The other girl, Dakota slowly walks up to us and sides by me, whispering in my ear.
“Don’t worry, I don’t like her either, she’s a right bitch” to which I giggle to.
“What’s funny? I’m the joker not you guys” Blake asks
“I think I just found my long lost sister” I giggle.
“What did she say?” Jett asks
“Nothing your little ears should hear” Dakota smiles at me, this girl is seriously amazing, I have a feeling that things are only going to get better.

We all end up sitting in the library talking about each other and the head quarters of which we are in now, talking for hours.
By the time my father and mother walk in I have found that Dakota really could be my long lost sister, she is so like me, Jett isn’t all that bad and is actually quite talented and very funny, him and Blake make quite the pair. But, then there’s Taylor, she very much still hates me and vice versa, most of the time she sat there not talking glaring at me, whenever she was asked questions she would give the most simplest of answers and then go back to glaring, although she did keep giving my Tony a look like she was going to pounce on him. Hold on... Did I say my Tony? I think that musty book smell must have made me a bit deprived on vocabulary; I meant to say my best friend Tony... well I think I did.

“Come my hija, time to go home, your mother needs her sleep” my father calls.
“Coming papa, bye guys, see you tomorrow” I say and hug them all goodbye, all except Taylor.
“Bye Charlotte” they all say in unison.
I walk home with my mother and father, my mother, usually looking stunning looked tired and worn.
“Mum, why are you so tired? What happened today?” I ask gently.
“Oh don’t worry yourself my baby girl, I am just tired from the scout, we had a bit of trouble from a couple of vampires that packed quite a punch, but we dealt with it quietly and swiftly, I’m just tired from not sleeping this past week, I cannot wait to jump in that bed and sleep” she explains
“Muuummmm, do you have to call me that! And go straight to bed when we get home, you need it” I reply putting on my motherly tone when telling her to go to bed.
“Yes I do have to call you that, and my, you sound like me when you talk like that!” she laughs and I laugh with her.
When we arrive home my mother does exactly what I told her and went straight to bed, leaving me and father downstairs.
“Dad, why have the new guys come to us? Why not be with who they were with? Did there group get killed?” I asked him.
“Yes Charlotte, there hunting group were killed, there group were on a training outing with those young ones and a pack of werewolves caught their scent, surrounded them and attacked, they were only in a small portion of their group so we’re unable to save everyone, they protected the young ones until the rest of the group arrived, they escaped but, alas, the rest did not. Young Taylor managed to get a message out to us through the computer and a group was sent straight to them, they had barricaded themselves into the building, only those three had survived.”
“What about the filthy dogs? Did they all get killed or escape?” I ask
“I’m afraid we think most escaped back home, these attacks are getting worse, all because the Master killed their queen, and this shall not be the end of it” he replied.
“We’ll defeat them dad, we will prevail” I encourage him
“We shall see my hija, we shall see. Now off to bed with you” he says, shooing me off.
“Goodnight papa” I say and kiss his cheek heading to my bedroom.
If this war is to get worse, will we survive? Will we save the humans?

It was the middle of the night in the Cazador house and all was quiet, not a sound other than the shallow sleep filled breathing was to be heard.
Until, a loud rustling sound is heard outside, waking the Cazador family.

I woke up, hearing a rustling sound coming from outside my window, my father walks in, holds a finger to his lips signalling for me to stay quiet, I quickly grab my sleek black knife I keep hidden in my mattress and follow him to the window, we stand either side of the window looking down onto the ground, and see a small figure, Jett, standing beneath us looking up with a grim look on his face.
“For god sake, what is that boy doing here?” My father says annoyed.
“I don’t know, I’ll find out, go back to bed papa” I say as I briskly walk out of the room, downstairs and out the back of the house.

I walk up to the small boy, he looks upset, and it makes him seem so much younger. I kneel in front of him so I’m at the same height.
“Jett, what are you doing at my house?” I say kindly, usually I hate kids but he’s different, he can act beyond his age and yet still has that youth in him, he makes me laugh too and has yet to get on my bad side.
“I...I...I couldn’t sleep, I don’t like being around Taylor, she scares me, can I stay here? Please” he says softly looking at me with big soft eyes. I sigh.
“Okay, but you’re going to have to sleep on the couch” I tell him leading him into our lounge.
“Charlotte, what’s going on? Why is Jett here?” my mother says softly, walking towards us in the kitchen.
“I’m sorry Ma’am I do not wish to intrude but I am afraid of being around Taylor, she scares me sometimes and with your permission may I sleep here for a while, I will stay out of the way and it will be like I’m not here at all” he says, proving he acts beyond his age.
“Oh don’t be silly child, of course you may stay here it is no bother for us, actually it will be good for Charlotte to have someone else here when we are not, so how about I go ready our spare room for you and you may be here permanently if you wish” my mother says, I look at Jett as his face lights up and he starts to jump around wildly, excited.
“Thank you! Wait, what about Dakota? I’ve left her with Taylor in the apartment at headquarters” he asks.
“Well, if she wishes she may come and stay too, we shall ask her tomorrow, for now it is just you to be staying for the night, Charlotte get Jett something to drink and eat if he wishes while I prepare his room” she tells us walking swiftly out of the room.
“Do you want anything?” I ask Jett
“Do you have hot chocolate? I haven’t had it in a while” he asks timidly
“Oh yes we do indeed, I make the best hot chocolates in the world, if I do say so myself” I chuckle and begin making my special hot chocolates, full with whipped cream, marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles. As I set the mug of it in front of Jett his eyes widen.
“Wow that looks amazing and tastes it too” he says after he takes a sip.

The rest of the night goes smoothly, after an hour my mother had finished making his room, she made sure it had two beds, in case Dakota decided to join us tomorrow. Luckily we are close enough to headquarters that we use their technology in the house so modifications can be made almost instantly depending on the job.
Jett was quickly part of our family, all in a matter of a night, after a quick talk of rules by my father we slipped upstairs to bed, I give Jett a quick hug goodnight and head back to my bedroom for some much needed sleep.

Jett is quickly taken into our family, I wake to find him and my parents joking around and eating breakfast already.
“Hey! Where’s mine!” I say jokingly offended, as I take a seat, Jett gets off the tall wooden stool from the counter and brings out a mass pile of pancakes topped with chocolate syrup and whipped cream, I lick my lips appreciatively.
“I made them, as a thank you to you all” Jett said sweetly, I smile at him and dig in, tasting the best pancakes I have ever had in my entire life.

Soon after breakfast we all head off towards the headquarters building, finding Aala and Blake outside of it looking rather annoyed.
“The screens not working” Aala said exasperated.
My father walks up to the screen and presses a few buttons, and then pressing his hand he looks up with a smirk towards Aala.
“You pressed the wrong button” he chuckles, Aala blushes at her obvious mistake and we all head into the building.
Felix is standing by the door waiting for us, foot tapping impatiently.
“Finally, Alejandro, Katrina you are both needed in the meeting hall. Kids you guys need to get to the training hall, I shall be along soon but Sandra shall get you guys started” he said departing along with my parents.
“Looking forward to your first session with us Jett?” Aala says at him softly.
“Oh yes, I can’t wait, the only thing I’m not looking forward too is seeing Taylor again” he ends up moaning at the last part of his sentence.
“Don’t worry, we’ll deal with her if she does anything” I say ruffling his long blonde locks.

The rest of the group are already situated in the training hall, we walk towards them wondering what the training session shall be today.
“Okay guys, today we’re going to be doing team training, I will be choosing the teams and you are to work together as a team, no fighting, and find out what each other are best at, use that to help you. Team one: Alex, Dakota, Aala and Jett. Team two: Blake, Charlotte, Tony and Taylor” she says signalling to each of us. Taylor groans in annoyance as I do too.
“Do I have to work with her, of all people” Taylor moans.
“Oh grow up Taylor” Dakota says to Taylor in an annoyed tone.
Taylor walks right up to Dakota’s face, her face filled with rage.
“That is enough!” a loud booming voice comes from the entrance of the hall; Master Henry Pike is standing at the door way, his face showing major disappointment. The master walks towards us with great authority within his steps.
“I will not have this, I come to see how you are all working together and I find a large brawl about to start, you are a family, not enemies, if this is how you are going to behave within the group, how do you think we shall succeed in a mission if you cannot get over your own quarrels?” he questions.
Taylor walks up to the master, tears forming in her eyes, I look at her wondering if they could just be crocodile tears and she will go right back to normal as soon as he has gone, but to my surprise her face is genuinely upset and disappointed.
“I’m sorry Sir, this is my fault, I have yet to say two nice words to this group and take full responsibility, I shall make better of myself and learn to control my temper better, I do not have anything against these kind people before me and yet I behaved in such a manner my parents would be upset to see me this way, I am truly sorry and I promise I will stop behaving in such a way” she says with true feeling.
I am completely shocked, so is everyone else and you can tell by our faces of a shocked and confused expression.
“I am glad you have owned up to this behaviour and I hope this makes this group a lot stronger, especially since the real reason I am here is to tell you all of a mission I will be sending this group on. You all are to train in your teams for at least two hours before coming to my office to be briefed. Good day and I will see you young ones in a few hours” He says walking out of the hall.
Taylor turns to us and starts to speak.

“I truly am sorry, especially to you three” she said pointing to Dakota, Jett and I. I walk up to her and hold out my hand with a small smile, she takes it with a gentle grip.
“Let’s start again shall we? I’m Charlotte, pleased to meet you” I say with a small chuckle.
“ I’m Taylor, lets beat the other team shall we?” she replies with a small smirk
Sandra then chooses to turn to us, smiling her friendly smile.
“Now that’s settled let’s get this started shall we, I wish you all to stand to the side of the room as the room sets itself into your training set.” She says as we move swiftly to the side of the room as it changes, it holds many obstacles and great hiding spots. At each end of the room are large simple dummies. Felix chooses this point to walk in and straight away starts explaining what we are to do.
“Group one are on the far side of the hall, group two are on this side beside me. Use the equiptment to protect your dummies and yourselves. The dummies are to symbolise your main leader. Work together to protect your dummies but also destroy the others dummy. You shall all have ear pieces so you may talk to each other without the other team hearing, very much like you would in a mission. Get into position and when the claxon sounds you start” he says handing each of us a small ear piece that fits perfectly to each of us.

We get ready into position as the claxon sounds, it begins. Small stakes are on the floor as we all reach for one to ‘kill’ the others dummy. Talking through the ear piece to set each other into position, Taylor and I take hiding behind two small walls, while Tony and Blake try to cause a path in which we can get to the dummy. Footsteps sound next to the wall I am behind and a voice calls Alex’s voice. I hear him step past my wall and I trip him and send him flying back to his side of the room with a small smirk, he looks up surprised.
“Nice one Charlotte” Taylors voice sounds in my ear.
“You protect the dummy, I’m going in for an attempt” I reply to her. I use the walls and obstacles to my advantage, jumping around the others, I even surprised Jett by leaping over his head, pushing him out of my way as I did so. I was half way to the dummy when I was roughly pushed by someone, causing me to fall to the ground.
A light laugh fills my ears as Dakota stands there laughing at what she did, only for me to get the last laugh as Tony bumps her back.
I have a clear path to team one’s dummy and make my way to it with great pace but as I arrive to it the claxon goes off and Felix’s voice sound.
“Team one wins” his voice booms. Aala hand managed to get past all of us without detection!

Felix and Sandra come down from the booth as the equipment lowers back into the walls and flooring.
“Well done team one you did great, it was very close I must say, well done all of you. It has been just over an hour so I believe you guys can go off for a bit before going to see the Master” Sandra tells us and she and Felix walk out of the room.
The rest of the next hour we spend talking about everything and anything. Aala gloats about how she managed to get past us all, earning her to be shoved by Tony and me playfully.
Taylor, Dakota and Jett now fully get on with our group, Taylor and I have actually been able to bond to the point we’ve become great friends. I did ask Dakota whether she wanted to stay with us along with Taylor instead of living within the headquarters apartments, to which they agreed with much delight. I just hope my mother agrees to Taylor staying.

We arrive at the Master’s office on time with a large heavy knocker, Tony with his rippling muscles knocked the door knocker.
“Come in, ah here you are, come take a seat” he gestured the seats in front of his desk, when we had all settled he passed us all a copy of a mission folder. It had pictures of a small office-like building with ferocious looking vampires surrounding it. The information in the folder told us what we needed to know:
Number of humans: 5
Number of creatures: 3 werewolves, 7 Vampires, 2 shifters.
The building plan including where it is said the humans were being held.
“I know this is quite a big mission for you guys but personally I think you guys are ready for this, you’ve all grown so much in the last few years and now your group is bigger and even stronger than ever, do you accept the mission?” he says looking at us all.
All the others in the group seem to look straight at me looking for me to answer as if I’m the natural leader.
“We accept” I reply.
For the next few hours we are briefed by the Master and are sent to the weaponry to gather our weapons. We all chose the weapons we are best with, although all of us carry extra knifes with us at all times hidden within our clothes.
Me: Knives
Tony: Gun and stake
Alex: Bow and arrow
Aala: Crossbow
Blake: Knives
Taylor: Sword
Jett: Nun-chucks covered in silver. The silver cuts straight through the creatures easily.
Dakota: Sword

We swiftly get our weapons and ammunition; our clothes are specially made to carry weapons easily without being an irritation.
As we are ready we start to head out of the building, my parents and our trainers watching us as we leave, my father on-looking with much pride. We soon head into a run, heading to our destination as a group, team; a family of hunters.