Burns of Indigo

Chapter 1

    "Everyone out." Jeremy commands the other hunters currently lingering to exit the office. I take a seat in one of the dark red sofas closest to the door, careful to watch the other hunters as they leave. I catch the glare from one of the women before she walks out the door, letting it click closed behind her. I roll my eyes. I don't blame her. 

    Last year, I graduated at the top of my class with one of the highest ranks in the history of warriors, although I hear there were a few other hunters with ranks almost equivalent to mine from other compounds. 

    I'd be jealous too if I were her.

    Jeremy continues to pace the room, seemingly lost in his thoughts before he finally takes a seat at his desk. "Your early Lex, I didn't expect you to be here so soon." he says. He gives me the concerned look, the one that he gives every time I come to see him.

    "We had a deal. Where's the money?" I reply, legs crossed, patiently waiting. I already know what comes next, what he tells me all the time but in different words each time.

    "How long are you planning on doing this, running around on jobs, you know you can always come back and work with us." he says. 

    I give a long sigh, "You know why I can't come back Jer. Besides, I kinda like it on my own, you of all people know that I'm more then capable of taking care of myself." I pause, "Money, then I'll get out of your hair."

    He gives a sigh of defeat before reaching in his desk to pull out a small, black satchel. His hair is starting to gray in a few areas, showing his age, and he's grown a beard since the last time I saw him a couple months ago. "You can count it if you like but it's all there" he tosses the bag to me.

    "You always pay up Jer." I stand, turning towards the door.

    "Be careful out there Lex." I don't reply as I leave the office. 

    I've known Jeremy since I arrived at the compound, and he kind of became my mentor after what happened with my parents. He's the only one who really understands why I am the way I am. My parents disappeared after leaving me at the Hunter's Compound that first day. When visiting day came around the corner three months later they never showed and at first I thought something came up. Jeremy tried contacting them and by the third visiting day six months after, I had given up on the hope of seeing them. Any lingering hope that I might've had, had diminished when I received a letter from them:

"My Dear Lexa, 

One day you will understand." 

    No explanation and no 'I love you'.

    The years following that letter I learned to immerse myself into my training, anything that would serve as a good distraction. I emptied my growing hatred into focusing on becoming a warrior. So much so, I began placing at the highest rank in each of my classes.

    Hunter's linger in the hallway. I can feel them staring as I continue in the direction of the exit. I get a few jealous glares from a group of women, ignoring it while I walk by. Too lost in my own thoughts, I turn the corner at the end of the hall, and walk smack dab into a hard, tanned chest. The first thing I notice is the elegant, tribal tattoo laid horizontally across a very broad chest before it disappears behind the opposite shoulder. Looking up, I lose myself in a set of two beautiful eyes, one green, one gray, or maybe that one is blue. My gaze then travels to the sculpted jawline and full lips......which are moving. s**t, I snap out of it, mentally kicking myself when I realize he's speaking to me.

    "Uh...sorry what?" I dumbly ask, hoping the dim lighting in the hallway is enough to hide the blood rushing to my cheeks. He stares down at me, an amused twinkle in his eyes, and something else I can't quite place yet.

    "I asked if you're done staring." One corner of his mouth turns up slightly in a smirk. He finds this amusing I realize.

    "Whatever." I scowl and shove past him, knowing damn well my face is on fire and continuing on my way until I hear a low chuckle. Coming to a halt, I turn to glare at him only to find his back disappear around the corner. He's probably just one of those cocky shifters who hadn't graduated yet.

    Like me, some shifter children are brought to Hunter's Compound at the age of seven. Here, they're trained as hunters, mostly to keep the rest of the supernatural world in check and eliminating any major threats to the humans. When a hunter reaches the age of 19, they graduate and are given the choice of either leaving the compound or staying. But, there is also the shift. Warriors discover their form at the age of fifteen, and soon with it comes their ability, like an energy source, but limited. There really is no telling when you'll have your first shift after turning 15, but it could be a physical trigger, or in my case, an emotional one.

    I think back on the day after my fifteenth birthday, remembering the shock and aww on Jeremy's face as we just completed our daily training. I had just shifted for my first time, having been triggered by my memories of my parents. Looking down, my body glimmered with deep, purple-black scales, and in my heart, I felt a faint glow that I knew would one day be so strong. I stood a great distance taller than Jeremy, and my large, leathery wings spread wide, shimmering purple. From that day, Jeremy and I kept my form our secret, afraid that other's would begin hunting me if I were ever to be discovered. I continued through training, keeping my anger in check, never physically overdoing myself unless I was with Jeremy.

    I exit the compound, breathing in the crisp evening air before making my way to my bike, a glossy, black ninja given to me as a graduation gift from Jeremy. The sky is the shade of dark orange when I pull onto the highway and head back to town. 

    I grew up in Dale, my hometown on the outskirts of the big city, Phoria, until I was brought to Hunter's Compound a few miles outside of town. I've been on my own since I left compound a year ago, and 1 year earlier than what would have been my actual graduation, thanks to my rankings. I thought it best to leave to prevent the others from discovering what I am, it was just easier to keep it a secret, although Jeremy certainly disagrees with my decision. Dragon shifters are the most feared, and the most hunted. Dragon scales are said to contain immense power, but no one actually knows what kind of power that is or what it can do. 

  The sun has just dropped below the horizon when I pull into the parking lot of the town's old diner, casting a pink glow across the evening sky. The bell above the door jingles when I enter and I smile at the familiar voice that greets me loudly, "Lexaniyah, girl where have you been, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages!" 

    Gematrix is Jeremy's daughter as well as my first, and only, best friend. She and I met when I first came to compound. I remember that shy, little girl that hid behind Jeremy's leg, that is, until I gave her one of my lollipops, now I can't get her to shut up. She ended up graduating at the same time as me but decided to leave compound as well, saying she wants to live a "normal" life. I assumed she was a shifter like her father and everyone else until I walked in on her one day to find everything floating. She had taken after her mother, a witch, those with the ability to manipulate magic. Every now and then I stop by to see her.

    "I know, I know, I've missed you too Gem. Jer had a job for me again, took about three weeks to actually finish the job" I explain sitting on one of the stools at the counter.

    "Was it a rogue shifter again, causing trouble?" she asks while placing a take out bag of my usual order on the counter-top.

    "Not this time, this one was different, someone reported suspicious activity with a group of coyotes who were abducting other shifters".

    "And were they?" she asks, rest her elbows on the counter and her chin in her hands, intrigued with my newest story.

    "Ya, I found them in an abandoned factory building, had to go through a few different sources to find this one. I ended up calling your dad for a team to come get them and bring them back to compound for questioning, but the weird things is, they were so young. they were only a few years younger then me and when I asked why they did it, they didn't answer, just said they were paid anonymously."

    Her face scrunches in confusion as she thinks about the issue. "That does seem a bit weird huh".

    After talking for a while I pay for my order and stand to leave. "Well I'm gonna head home for tonight Gem, I'll catch you later alright."

    "See ya Lex, be safe out there."

    I make my way up the old three-story building until I reach the top of the creaky stairs then continue walking to the brown door at the end of the long hallway. I stop at the first door, knocking a few times. When no one answers I call, "Miss Mabel!", the door creaks open, a short old women squinting up at me.

    "It's me Lex" I say, reaching in my bag to pull out a wad of cash. "Here you go Miss Mabel, this months rent." I place the cash in her hand.

"Oh, thank you darling." She says very slowly in her croaky voice, then closes the door.

    I chose to stay somewhere comfortable, not too fancy, preferring to spend my money on other things. Miss Mabel is too old to give me any trouble so I don't mind her. I don't own too much as I haven't found much things of sentimental value throughout my life, and besides, I'm out on jobs most of the time. Once inside my room, I throw my things on the beside table before throwing myself onto the queen sized bed. I think back on the events of today, and soon exhaustion begins to creep up on me, my last thoughts consisting of a particular set of colored eyes before I drift to sleep.

    The constant ringing from my cell wakes me the next morning. I sit up from the awkward position I was lying in, rubbing the drowsiness from my still-closed eyes. I let out a loud groan when I check the time, 5:00 AM. Ugh, who calls so early in the damn morning, everyone I know should obviously know I am NOT a morning person.

    I answer with a "What?", hoping that whoever is calling hears the level of annoyed they've caused, and whatever they have to say better be damn important.

    "Hey Lex, I'm really sorry, I know it's early but I have info for you." A meek voice answers.

    It's Nick, also a hound shifter I saved a few months ago while he was being held in captivity by humans who thought it funny to torment him. Well, I can't say that day ended well for a few of those men, but I also ended up shifting in order to get the hell out of their before the humans got a shot at Nick dangling from my talons. The only other person who knows my secret, and who I trust, mostly because I could kill him in a blink, and also due to his "I will forever be in your debt" speech, which came with his amazing computer genius skills.

    "What info could possibly be important enough that you have to call this early in the morning for?" I wrack my still-asleep brain of all the things he might be calling for.

     "It's your parents, Lex."

    "What?" Has he found them, does he know where they are and what they've been up to all these years while I'm left without parents. 

    The pit of hatred that I've felt for the past many years starts to open in my stomache. "It's nothing much but there's a few rumors going around on the internet of a society of hunters, they call themselves the Elite, but it's run by a shifter."

    "And how does this have anything to do with my parents Nick?" I question him, wanting him to get to the point already.

    "Well, the leader of this so called Elite group isn't just any shifter Lex."

    "Just spit it out Nick." I snap, now fully awake.

    "It's a dragon shifter. Lex.....the leader of the Elite could possibly be one of your parents"

    How could they? After all these years of coming up with reasons that could explain why they left me, constantly wondering where my parents were, or what my true form may be when I turned 15. Never had I thought it would come to this, all this time, to finally find out that they left me to create some underground warriors society. What was there to understand? 

    "Lex, you still there?"

    I snap out of my thoughts when I hear Nick, and release the death grip I didn't realize I had on my blanket. "Uh ya, thanks Nick, what else you got?"

    "Thats all I found so far."

    "K, well call me again if you find anything else..... and Nick, thank you...this means a lot." I hang up the call. I fall back into the comfort of my pillows, taking in a deep breath before letting it out in a long sigh. My parents are out there somewhere.

    And I hate them for it.