The First Kill

  The smartphone on Michael's desk vibrated softly, drawing his attention from where Vincent was explaining the intricacies of the human mind to the students sitting in the amphitheater-like classroom. Picking it up, he glanced at it and was greeted by an exasperated emoji courtesy of Lee. 

  Of course he's bored. The restrictions Michael had placed on him specifically did not really allow for much freedom of anything.

  'You really need to get a handle on that one. As powerful as his ability is, his personality is quite the loose cannon.'

  You're telling me, Michael sighed mentally. Lee's requirements are something that's been bothering me for a very long time now. But as dangerous as they are, I still can't afford to take him off the team. You know better than anyone how powerful his ability can be.

  The voice in his head scoffed. 'Of course I do. It was my power after all.'

  Michael glanced back over his shoulder to look at his teammate who was currently slumped forward on his desk. With the way his white hair covered his eyes, it was easy to feign being asleep while he typed away on his phone beneath the table. A small smile crossed Michael's lips. Lee had been the only person who had protested against having to attend classes with the other supernaturals. But that argument had been resolved fairly quickly thanks to a good application of the 'it's our duty to protect them' card. And say what you would about Lee, most of which would probably be accurate, but he never messed around with his duties. 

  Fortunately classes ended soon enough and from the way Lee all but phased through the doorway, it was safe to say that he couldn't be any gladder when it did. As students made their way out, Michael walked down the stairs to meet Vincent who was packing up his materials at the lower corner of the podium. The brown haired man raised an eyebrow at the other Hunter's speedy escape.

  "Your friend certainly seemed eager to leave. It's a good thing I'm not a real teacher or that might have actually stung."

  Michael waved it off. "Eh, don't worry about it. Lee was never the book type anyway."

  "Yeah I noticed that when he started texting halfway through the lecture," Vincent said with a grin then he schooled his features before addressing the Alpha Hunter again. "There's something we need to discuss."

  Sensing the change in the man's tone, Michael's disposition quickly sobered up as well. "What's going on?"

  "It's Rome. The higher ups have been getting really agitated lately," Vincent said. "Apparently, the skinwalker attack was a ploy by our enemies to probe our defenses and reactions. They think it was a sort of recon mission to gain information on our assets and liabilities."

  Michael frowned and crossed his arms. "And do they know who this enemy is?"

  "Not exactly. Meetings with the Arcane Circle has revealed that multiple high ranking members of their faction have suddenly disappeared though."

  "Dead?"

  "Defected, more likely," Vincent replied with a weary sigh. "In any situation, I have to go back to Italy to get more information. They don't want to risk sending anything over in case the enemy intercepts it."

  "How's that even possible?"

  "Rumors are that several high profile targets of the Vatican are going offline. We haven't been able to track or locate them for months now, some of them even years."

  "And why is that a problem?"

  "These targets were individuals with potentially extremely powerful Variant Magics."

  Oh... that was not good. Being one himself, Michael was well aware of how dangerous an unknown Variant was. Unlike normal magic, Variant abilities broke most conventional rules of reality. They were the dark side of the supernatural world, an unknown frontier that possessed the most potential of all. Some Variants might possess admittedly useless abilities, while some had powers so dangerous that even Michael himself had deemed them to risky to be left alone in the world. The Hunters were Variants themselves, using an excellent combination of their werewolf and Variant powers to achieve a symphony that had not been matched for centuries. 

  Five Variants terrorized the supernatural world so badly that it was forced to come together to propose a truce.

  An alliance of an unknown number of Variants was simply a disaster waiting to happen.

  "How many?"

  "Numbers are still unspecific but over fifteen of them have been confirmed missing."

  Michael had to resist the urge to facepalm in exasperation. This just keeps getting better and better. "So you're leaving? What about Diana?"

  Vincent continued packing up his notes and stationary into his coal black case as he replied. "She's aware of these developments. But I've asked her to stay back to watch the students just in case. The Arcane Circle has told the Church and the Vampire Council to prepare for the worst case scenario so it would be in our best interest if we did the same."

  The more Michael thought about it, the more sense it made. The participants of this program were the next generation of two out of the three main factions. Even putting aside this new enemy, there were several groups out there who would want to overthrow any of the big three. And what better way to cripple an organization besides destroying the next generation completely? With so many unfriendly eyes directed at them, there was probably no safer place to be than at the Academy, under the watch of the Hunters. 

  "Alright then," Michael acquiesced. "I'll tell the others to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity. I assume my priorities remain unchanged?"

  "Correct. In fact they're insisting on them now more than ever," Vincent answered. He closed the suitcase and engaged the lock on the lid with a click, before bidding Michael goodbye. 

  After the exorcist had left, Michael made his way towards the exit of the classroom as well although at a much slower pace. An increased insistence on protection usually meant an increase in value of the item being protected. That item in this case was multiple: Veronica and Mia. The former he understood, as she was vampire royalty, hence there would be no lack of political sabotage in play against her and her father amongst her kind. But Mia's case was a bit more confusing. Not to disrespect her but there was nothing he had noticed about her that could warrant that sort of attention. So far, the only thing he had perceived as unusual about the girl was her unusually strong spellcasting. But even that could be explained away with her Variant nature. 

  'Are you really sure about that?'

  What do you mean?

  'What you proposed to be her Variant ability, Dual Elemental Affinity, was based solely on what you've seen her do around you,' the voice continued. 'According to the Exorcist, she's been a witch for over a year and half with the Circle.'

  Are you saying that she's not really a Variant? Michael asked mentally in disbelief. But that can't be right. Jade told me that her fire magic was nearly as strong as Whitney's, and she has a pure Fire Affinity.

  'I'm not saying she isn't a Variant,' the voice corrected in a low tone. 'But it would be more accurate to assume that Dual Elemental Affinity is not her Variant ability.'

  What could it be then?

  'That's for you to find out. You're the royal babysitter after all.'

  Michael's internal groan was practically audible to how ears. Ugh, I'm definitely gonna get Jade back for that one. 

  'Good luck with that,' the voice teased. 'By the way, heads up.'

  "Think fast!"

  Michael's hand was already moving the second his predecessor's voice sounded out the warning. The brown football slammed into his open palm as he caught it almost a foot away from his face. His eyes refocused past the ball on the approaching figures of Lee and Bryan Harrison.

  After the whole debacle of the past month, the matter of what to do about Bryan and Melanie Winston had propped up. Veronica's first opinion was unsurprisingly, total enthralldom. That option had been instantly vetoed on counts of moral dubiousness. Memory wiping had been suggested but Diana had decided to designate them as undercover agents. With their reputations as the two biggest social butterflies in the school, they were in an excellent position to take note of any subtle and unusual happenings among the student body. There had not been much resistance from the two, as Bryan had been desperately seeking for redemption for what he had done at his party while Melanie had been beyond mortified at her near murder of Whitney.

  "So, any specific reason why you wanted to brain me with a football?"

 Lee scoffed and smirked. "Oh please, we would need something far harder than a football made of concrete to crack that head of yours."

  "I just wanted to know if any of you guys wanted to try out for the team," Bryan asked before leaning in close to Michael in a funny conspirational manner. "You know, with those abilities of yours, we could steamroll all other teams this season."

  Michael raised an eyebrow at the blond athlete's request. "We use our gifts to protect people, not run them over in a field so you can rack up your touchdowns."

  Bryan chuckled lightly and stepped back with a slight nod. "Alright, but you've gotta come watch our opening game."

  "That, I can try to do."

  "Cool then," he said and turned to Lee. "Come on dude, we've got a lot to do."

  "What're you guys doing?"

  Lee mock glared at Michael in reply. "Since you banned me from having any fun, I decided to seek my entertainment elsewhere—"

  Michael raised a hand to stop him. "Okay first of all, I didn't ban you from anything. And besides, your idea of fun is very different from most people's."

  "Whatever," Lee dismissed and continued. "The point is, I found a new activity where I get to see the hurt without risk of permanent damage. So I volunteered to assist the football coach with team management. Unfortunately that means I have to help with a bunch of other matters that I have no idea how to they work."

  Bryan threw an arm around the Asian's shoulders in a friendly gesture. "And that's why we are going to spend the next few days watching every game the Starlight Comets have played in the past three years so we can come up with a winning strategy for this season."

  "Well good luck to you two on your marathon," Michael said and focused on Lee for a moment. "Gather the others in the common room by eleven tonight."

  With an almost imperceptible nod, Lee stepped past him to follow Bryan who had heard nothing of the later exchange down into the lower section of the hallway. Michael watched them until they disappeared behind a corner before continuing his own walk to his next class that conveniently turned out to be held in the next two buildings.