Reversis

Isaac was sitting on the edge of the boat with his back to the dock as he watched the men ready it to leave. It was early – too early – and he was not a morning person. The sun was barely awake, so he felt he shouldn’t have to be. Chris insisted on leaving first thing in the morning to sail back to the airport and head home. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could sort out their little demon problem and then go back to their lives. Isaac wasn’t sure he wanted to go back. He kept thinking about Allison, walking around, hating the people she loved. He wondered if, instead of ‘taking care of it’ in the sense he knew the Chevalier family meant, if there wasn’t a way to save her.

A slam on the dock behind him made him jump and clumsily land on the floor of the boat, looking around to see the beautiful sisters he had met yesterday. He knew the younger one, the one he had met first, was named Noelle. Her chocolate eyes were drinking him in with a slight smirk while the older one he heard them call Roux was shielding her eyes with one hand, the other clutching a case of designer luggage that matched her sister's.

“Don’t worry, werewolf. I can taste the innocence coming off of you.” Noelle said, hopping into the boat gracefully, landing just beside him and holding out a hand for him to take. He hesitated, which made her roll her eyes. “I am rather certain you bite harder than I do.” She joked, raising an eyebrow. He took her hand and felt her effortlessly pull him to his feet. She was much stronger than she looked.

“Noelle.” Roux called, the younger girl barely even turning or taking her eyes off of Isaac to easily catch her bag that was thrown to her. She set it down and caught the other just the same. Roux hurriedly undid the ropes from the dock and spoke to the captain in rapid French. “I am going to go and speak with Chris. You two get along.”

“Don’t fear, sister. The wolf and I are already the best of friends.” She teased, taking her bags below deck while Roux went to the front to speak to Chris. Isaac was more than a little terrified of them but more so of the younger one. She seemed … impulsive. And impulsive usually meant dangerous. At least the older one was stoic and cold. He could handle that. It was the young, spontaneous and unpredictable one he felt he needed to worry about.

Noelle didn’t really care about the wolf. Once she was below deck, she collapsed onto one of the cots and dropped her head into her hands. All night she had been having dreams from when she was little and the Argents would visit in the summer. She and Allison were always inseparable for those couple of months. She remembered, several times, almost telling Allison what she was and what it meant. The Chevalier girls had known what they were from the earliest age imaginable and trained since they could walk. The Argents made it clear they would tell Allison at the right time and, under strict orders from her parents, she was forbidden to tell her. She wondered, though, had she told Allison when she was younger could she have been more prepared? Could it have saved her life to have those extra years of training? She would never know. It had been years since they had seen each other but it didn’t hurt her any less to know that her friend was gone.

And now returned as something dark.

“I’ve been around girls and I have to say your mood swings are by far the most surprising.” She looked up to see Isaac leaning against the door frame. “You’re thinking about Allison.”

“We used to play hide and seek. She was absolutely terrible at it. And I was always very good but I would pretend to be awful just to make it fair. Even though I prefer to win.”

“How did she not know, back then, that she was a hunter like you? Why didn’t someone tell her?”

“The hunting clans, even the classes themselves, all decide when to tell the next generation. We have always told our young at a very early age. We train our whole lives. We have to – demons are the hardest to study and kill.”

“Because there are so many.” She nodded and Isaac stepped further into the room. “What was it that Chris called your mother? Pray -”

“Praestus. It is the polite way to address my mother, as she is the head of all hunters. It’s Latin. It means ‘Protector’ or ‘Keeper’. She is the Keeper of Hunters.”

“Do you have a title?”

“No. I have a name.”



Noelle had never been to California. She had been to America only a handful of times – the hunters didn’t seem to have too many issues and did their jobs well enough. She had been to Florida once and, strangely, South Dakota. But there was a freshness to the air in California that she discovered she rather liked. It was light, sunshine, warmth. She could feel it the moment she stepped off the plane. The time difference would get her in the end but as of that moment she felt wide awake and ready to get down to what she did best – hunting.

They piled into a black Suburban, Chris at the helm and Roux in the front seat. Isaac had gone for it originally but one look from the older Chevalier and he backed off immediately. Noelle snickered, hopping in the back no questions asked. She knew that look well – Roux could be downright frightening without saying a single word or raising a single weapon. She was not to be taken lightly. She had a gaze that could chill you to the bone and send shivers down your spine. Noelle had been on the other end of that look frequently throughout their lives.

Chris was talking about where they were going and who they were seeing but Noelle was not paying any mind to it. She was watching the scenery pass by her window and thinking about Revenants. She had heard about them growing up but they were a very rare kind of demon. The right elements had to align in order for one to arise and it simply did not happen often. As far as she knew, one had never risen in her lifetime or in her parents’. She knew they must be dangerous and troublesome from the way her father had preached to her the moment after Chris and Isaac had left the day before. She was always getting the lecture because Roux was ten times more cautious and logical. Revenants were not to be taken lightly. Not that she had ever taken any demon lightly. Just because she shot first and asked later didn’t mean she wasn’t being logical.

They pulled into the parking lot of a veterinary clinic, much to her surprise. “What are we doing here?” She asked, Chris and Roux already jumping out of the car. It was Isaac’s turn to smirk.

“Someone wasn’t paying attention in class.” He teased. “The others are here – the ones that saw the Rev … whatever they are.” He got out of the car and Noelle followed suit, walking in behind him

Inside the clinic, there were five other people she had yet to meet, four of which were probably around her age and one she assumed to be the actual doctor. One of them was a wolf, she sensed it immediately. Another was something she had only encountered in Asia on one or two occasions but they deeply fascinated her – kitsune. And the other, a pretty redhead, had the taste of death on her. And that could only mean one thing – a banshee. She had never met one before but they sounded absolutely thrilling. Someone that could sense death upon another was something indeed. A part of her actually felt sorry for the girl, though. It was not an easy gift to have. The doctor was so obviously a druid that it was overwhelming her. The final one … he was something she wasn’t quite sure of just yet. Mostly human with a touch of something else. Something new. Something he probably wasn't even aware of himself.

And he was staring right at her.

He was cute, she thought. He had pretty eyes and kissable lips. His hair was tousled and perfect like he had just rolled out of bed and he had an air about him. Bravery. Sacrifice. But also troubles, fear, and guilt. She was an expert at reading faces and that was written all over his. He was guilty. She didn’t know of what but it was there. As easy to see for her and her sister as it was to note the sky was bright and blue. They locked eyes for one more moment before she turned her gaze to the doctor who was speaking.

“ … unclear, but we believe so. It seemed to be a circle. The pallor of their skin made it easier to see the blackness surrounding it.”

“The mark of the Revenant.” Noelle cut in, gaining everyone’s attention. “It changes by night, following the phases of the moon. One full phase, one full month, and if they exact their right revenge they can return to the living.”

Everyone looked stunned aside from Roux. She shrugged and met the curious brown eyes of the humanstic boy whose name she had yet to learn. Her sister stepped forward with her hands on her hips. Her sister was shorter than her, more petite, but quite possibly stronger. In sparring they were nearly tied between all the matches they had set but that didn’t make her feel any less afraid of her. Her sister was much too calculating to ever feel superior than and Noelle vaguely wondered if these strangers could sense that on her. Her strength, her intelligence, her unwavering ability to be in the right at all times; it was rather annoying.

“She is correct. Well, if the texts we have read are all correct. We have yet to come across any with which to test our theories but that is as the legend says.” Roux continued, and Noelle got her answer that the others were uncertain of her words and she was not inspiring confidence. Watch her fight and you shall sing a different tune, she thought.

“What will they return as? Will they be human again?” The sisters simultaneously looked to the boy that spoke – the tall, tanned, werewolf. He nearly withered under their dual stare. Noelle had always thought they were a bit of a surprise, a bit of something spectacular to behold. But that was her own arrogance, so rarely did she see it so plainly.

“Not exactly. They will be their demonic selves as you perceive them. Less ghastly, less translucent, but still wholly demonic.” Seeing their disheartened faces, Roux’s softened if only slightly. Noelle studied them, instead. Her gaze analytical and not at all empathetic. The strange human boy was watching her again, but instead of a pretty brown in his eye, she saw a spark of something blue. Something … technical almost. “They will never be as they once were.”

“And what is their ‘right revenge’ and why does it sound so terrible?” The somewhat-human spoke, but his words seemed to only mirror what the others were dying to ask.

“They were killed, were they not?” Nods in response, Noelle straightened. “They must kill who they hold responsible. Homicidas occidere – murder the murderers.”