A Student's Life

[Ryorinin-san]

"I can't wait to get home this morning. My shower is calling me."

"I know the feeling, but you might want to get that wound looked at first, Raina."

"Nah, I won't have a shadow of a mark come morning, Edward." I looked down at my left shoulder. "Zombies always make such a mess. At least vampire bites are clean."

Edward always worried about me. I'd been his apprentice for nearly two years. Now we'd been partners for one. Best Hunters in the business. Hunters of what? Well, you name it, zombies, ghouls, rouge lycanthropes, vampires... especially vampires. Got a stray wererat or wolf running amok outside pack rules, a rogue vamp whose master is turning a blind eye to its antics? We're the ones who get a phone call.

We got a call like that tonight. Some young Reanimator decided to make a llittle money on the side, on an off day from his agency. Which, might not be a bad thing, were he not still an apprentice. See, most reanimators don't take on more than two raisings a night. This idiot fizzled out trying for his third. He didn't have enough magic in him to finish the job. Strange thing about half-raised zombies, they like to look for enough energy to finish raising themselves, usually in the form of blood, and starting with whatever fool bit off more than he could chew in the first place. This particular POed specimen was about six corpses into its feeding frenzy when we arrived. Fortunately, zombies aren't too difficult to dispatch when you remember your handy-dandy flamethrower. Unfortunately, we didn't know that the same reanimator's second zombie of the night hadn't been laid back to rest. Zombies with no one to control them tend to go the way of half-raised ones.

So, between the burning and wailing of the departed moron's zombie number three, I missed smelling or hearing zombie number two sneaking up behind me until it latched onto my shoulder. Embarassing as heck for Hunters of our reputations, to tell the truth, but I suppose everyone has a bad day at the office. Of course a bad day at work for most folks involves things like paper cuts, bad cafeteria food, and a cranky boss. For me, it involves trivial things like hospital stays and dying. And, that's not even a really bad night.

"At least go in and get a tetanus booster. You know how nasty zombie mouths can be." Edward's grey eyes looked concerned. They rarely showed any emotion at all, so I always felt a little touched when he made such statements. It's so nice to be appreciated.

My mentor and partner had been in the business for 20yrs or so. That's a long career for a true human. No talents, no magic, no mixed blood at all, Edward was as human as he could possibly be. A few inches taller than me, the only things Edward had in his favor were being built like a tank, a tenacious attitude, and more knowledge about the undead than I cold hope to learn.

"Edward, you know me better than that. This is an easy heal for me, and when did I last get sick from anything? Besides, you talked me into a booster just two weeks ago."

He nodded, "True enough."

I finally made it back to my apartment about six in the morning. In minutes, the drapes were closed against dawn's early light, and I stood under a wondrous stream of beautiful, steaming water. Upon closer examination, my wound was worse than I originally thought. The zombie had taken a chunk out of the fleshy part of my shoulder, leaving it hanging by a swath of skin. Thankfully, my natural healing abilities had already kicked in and the bleeding had stopped quickly. I washed the wound and now stood before the bathroom mirror securing the loose flap of flesh with surgical tape, and surveying the damage.

Some of the angry red across my left shoulder had started to fade, but the bruises around my neck, where the same zombie had tried to strangle me, were looking still angrier as they healed. As bruises will, they had just begun changing to hideous greenish-yellow blotches, like a necklace. My wet hair, honey brown when dry, looked chocolate brown, and the blond highlights appearing more like golden tiger stripes against the darker background. My normally nocturnal lifestyle kept my skin on the pale side, though I do tan nicely when given the opportunity. The combination of darkened hair, ivory skin, and green and yellow bruises made my eyes stand out even more than usual. And, believe me, my eyes stand out enough on their own.

See, I don't have eyes like everone else. They are green, but a bright, dark emerald green that no human's ever are. Across this green, surrounding my pupils is gold, that traces over the green like lightning, or the veining in marble. They aren't human eyes at all, really. They are Faerie eyes. Back someplace in my ancestry was a Sidhe, a immortal royal of the faerie realm, and that's where my eyes, along with various other... talents came from.

My bed was happy to see me, and I fell in willingly. Sleep claimed me quickly after a very long night's work, and I didn't stir until my alarm went off about sundown. I had three stakings scheduled tonight, along with tracking down the vampire responible for the awakenings I was scheduled to prohibit. So, like any other evening, I drank my coffee, got dressed, grabbed all my Hunter gear, and walked out the door of my apartment into the hall.

Except today, it wasn't my hall.

A huge, marble corridor stretched out to either side. Definitely not my hall. I turned to go back inside. Maybe I could just go back and try it again? Right. There was no door behind me. I actually put my hands on the blank wall. You know, just to make sure. Nope, no more apartment door. Then, a voice behind me laughed.

A woman stood behind me, leaning casually against the opposite wall. Wearing silver robes, the smaller woman had a nice enough face, but that wasn't the first thing I noticed about her. It was her scent. This small, blond woman smelled of high magic the likes of which I'd never encountered. The very intensity of it made the hairs on my neck stand on end.

Her eyes sparkled merrily at me in a sort of electric blue that no ordinary human's are. If she hadn't been so short, I'd have wondered if she had Sidhe blood as well. She hadn't done anything threatening as of yet, so I didn't go for my shoulder holster, though I can't say I cared for the humor at my expense. She smiled genuinely at me, a disarming smile, complete in its honesty. I know, because I can smell lies.

"My name is Aurora," she said, extending a hand. I shook it as she continued with four words I'll never forget, "welcome to the Dome."