Jake was walking home. He felt angry. He wasn't doing his job. He was supposed to be watching Jessica, keeping her as far away from Nigelus as he could. He had just come home from The Branze. After seeing Jessica with that creature that called himself Nigelus, he just couldn't stay. He decided there wasn't much he could do about it now, Nigelus had befriended her. All he could do was make sure he didn't do anything, besides it was too early for Nigelus to do anything. He would want to get to know her first, find out her weaknesses and use them against her. Like he did with his sister and now his sister is dead. He couldn't tell Jessica about Nigelus, she wouldn't understand. She was going to be facing a lot in the next couple of weeks. Jessica was the next Hunter. Every demon, monster, and creature of the night would be after her. Nigelus was one of these creatures that would stop at nothing to make her life horrible. Jessica was in danger every time she was around Nigelus. But Jake knew that Jessica was safe for the time being. Nigelus would wait until she found out about what she was before he revealed his true nature. Nugelus also likes a challenge, so he would let Jessica get some Hunter training before he did anything, but he would do it before she got too strong. Her Mentor, the person who was supposed to train her, would be coming soon. Jake just hoped that when Jessica found out what she was, that she would be all right.
Jake wasn't exactly normal himself. He was a wizard. He was part of a clan of witches and wizards called the Animanica clan. Jake was sent here to Riversdale to protect the new Hunter from Nigelus. Nigelus had killed his sister, who was the last potential Hunter. His sister tried to run away from her calling and it resulted in her death. Nigelus also killed his father, who was the leader of the Animanica clan. He was one of the greatest wizards of their time, but Nigelus had fond some way to kill him. The only way someone could actually weaken a wizard was taking away his or her powers. For a wizard, losing their powers even for a split second, could end up with them being dead. Since his father was dead Jake, once he was older, would become the new leader of the clan. Even now he had the final say in everything, but wasn't able to some things the clan leader would be able to do. This job was appointed to him because he had wanted it to be. Jake was determined to protect Jessica from Nigelus, even if she did trust Nick more than she trusted him.
A week went by after Nick had helped her unpack stuff. Jessica was happy. She had friends, she liked her new school, and everything was almost perfect. Too perfect, she thought. Something didn't feel right, she felt different. She didn't look that strong, but now she felt like she could bend a metal bar without trying. It was strange. And the strangest thing was that she swore she saw this guy everywhere, when she was walking home from school, when she was with her mom in the mall, or at The Braze. She was starting to get freaked out about seeing this guy everywhere, but then again she could be paranoid.
Today she had to go to the public library to look for book that could help her on a research paper she had to do. It was Saturday and it was a very nice day. The sun was shining in the cloudless sky and she felt like everything was going her way. Ay least until she got to the library.
She walked into the library and started to search up and down the isles. She couldn't find the book she was looking for so she went up to the front desk to ask if they had it. She was looking down at the piece of paper she had with the title of the book on it and didn't look at the person standing behind the desk.
"Excuse me," she said. "Do you have any books on the history of France?"
She looked up at the person. It was the guy.
""I'm sure we do, do you want the children's kind or an adult one...Miss?" he said and paused as Jessica backed away freaked out.
"Umm...never...never mind." she said and hurried out of the library as fast as she could.
When she was out of the library she ran into Jake. "Hey..."he said looking at her and noticing that she was freaked out about something. "Are you ok?" he asked looking concerned.
"Yeah I'm fine I'm just saw...a spider. I saw a spider on a book I was looking at. It just freaked me out a bit, I don't really like spiders." said Jessica.
"Oookay...well what book were you looking at? I could check it out for you, I'm not that afraid of spiders.” said Jake holding the door open for her.
"No that's ok, I have to get home, I'll just come back tomorrow, maybe." she said, trying not to look like she was avoiding him.
"Ok, well see you Monday." he said and walked inside.
"Ok," she said and she left in a hurry.
She couldn't go home now, nobody would be home and she didn't really want to be alone. She decided to go to The Braze. When she got there she saw Ashley and Matt sitting at a table, there was music playing for people who wanted to dance. In The Braze there was music always playing. Matt and Ashley saw her and waved at her. She walked over to them smiling.
"Hi," she said and sat down in a chair.
"Hey," they both said.
"What's wrong?” asked Ashley.
"Nothing," said Jessica. "It's just that, there is this guy that I've seen a lot in different places, he just freaking me out a little bit. Today I saw him in the library."
"How long have you been seeing this guy?" asked Matt.
"About a week ago, I don't know but let's talk about something else ok?" said Jessica.
"Sure,” they said.
So they talked about school, Ashley started talking about the dance that was coming up next week.
"So has Nick asked you yet?” asked Ashley.
"What?” said Jessica.
"Has Nick asked you yet?” Ashley repeated.
"Why would he ask me?" asked Jessica.
"Well you guys have been spending a lot of time together, I mean it's kind of hard to imagine that you two are just friends.” said Ashley.
"Wait a minute. I think it's my turn to suggest that we talk about something else.” said Matt.
"Oh come on Matt, you're just jealous.” said Ashley.
Matt didn't say anything.
"Well I mean we are just friends. I don't think he's going to ask me to go to a dance. There are tons of other girls that he would probably want to go with instead of me." said Jessica.
"Jessica?” said a voice from behind her. She turned around. It was Nick. He had a tendency to do that. He would usually just come out of nowhere.
"Nick," she said, Matt rolled his eyes and Ashley elbowed him.
"I was just wondering…this is one of my favorite songs…would you like to dance?” asked Nick holding out his hand.
"Sure.” she said as she got up and took his hand.
He smiled and led her onto the dance floor.
Jake walked into The Braze. He had just got done talking to Jessica's Mentor, Merrek, who now had a job at the public library. Merrek was going to talk to Jessica soon and tell her what she was. Jake's job now was to keep an eye on Jessica. He found Matt and Ashley sitting at a table, he started to walk over to them. They had hung out before a couple of times with Jessica. He stopped when he noticed that they were watching something. He followed their eyesight and had to blink a couple of times to make sure he was seeing right. It was Jessica slow dancing to a song with Nigelus. Jake stood there motionless, staring at them. Nigelus looked up and noticed Jake watching. He smirked and pulled Jessica closer to him and leaned in closer to her neck. He knew Nigelus was playing with him. It was too early for him to do anything to her. He snapped out of his motionless state and walked over to Ashley and Matt and he sat down with them, watching Nigelus and Jessica. He tried to act cool, but Ashley looked at him, she knew that something was bothering him. She turned away to watch Nick and Jessica dance, smiling to herself, thinking she now knew something about how Jake felt about Jessica.
Jessica and Nick walked back to the table where Ashley, Matt and Jake sat.
"Hi Jake.” said Jessica looking happy.
"Hey," growled Jake.
Jessica hesitated. She knew that Jake didn't like Nick. She decided that she should leave, just incase something started.
"Um, I've got to be going it's getting late,” said Jessica.
"Yeah, me too.” said Nick. "Why don't I walk you home?"
"Could I come too? It's getting late and I need to get home,” said Jake.
"Sure,” said Jessica even though Nick looked like he would rather go alone. If Jake didn't like Nick, why did want to walk with them? she wondered as they left The Braze.
On their way home Jessica tried to start a conversation, but it would always end with an awkward silence. Jake kept watching Nick like he was going to do something crazy and Nick kept glaring at Jake. Nick finally reached his stop and he said goodbye to Jessica. Soon Jake also left and Jessica finally was relaxed as she reached her home. That was extremely awkward. When she came up to her house she saw that there was a light on in the kitchen. She looked at her watch, it was ten o'clock. Her mom would be asleep by now, unless they had company. She unlocked the door with her keys and walked inside.
"Mom I'm home." she said.
Jessica walked into the kitchen and almost dropped her keys, that strange guy she saw in the library was here. She was frozen in her spot. She gave a questioning look at her mom, but her mom wouldn't look at her.
"Mom, what is he..."she began but she was cut off. Her mom started to speak.
"Jessica...this is Merrek Thompson, he works at the library...he has to talk to you...he's already explained everything to me...he even proved it," she said pointing to a pile of dust on the floor. She looked pale and she looked like she was about to faint. "I'll be in the other room."
When her mom left the room, Mr. Thompson spoke.
"Jessica please sit down,” he said gesturing to a chair.
"I'll stand, thanks,” said Jessica looking at him, not trusting him one bit. Who was this guy and what was he doing in her house? She knew what his name was but who was he really, besides the name. And why was he here?
"Jessica, I know right now you don't trust me or know why I am here,” he said calmly.
"Well, why should I trust you? You did practically stalk me for a couple of weeks." she still not letting her guard down.
Merrek notice how tense she was and said, "I can already see it in you."
Jessica was about to lose it. "See what? You don't even know me!"
"I know two things about you. You are a Hunter and I, am your Mentor,” he said looking at her seriously.
She laughed hysterically. “Are you serious?” she said, thinking this was all some joke that someone was playing on her. But he didn’t even laugh, he didn’t even give the slightest hint that this was a joke. He looked absolutely serious.
“You’re not joking are you?” she asked him.
“No I’m not. We will start training everyday after school next week.” John said, all business like.
“Training for what? You don’t actually think that I believe you, do you?” said Jessica.
“Training, training against the dark forces, the most common being vampires. Your job is to protect innocents from being killed by these forces. If you don’t believe me I can prove it to you, just like I had to prove it to your mom.” said Merrek.
“Prove it to me? How?” she asked.
“If you come with me I can show you.” he said.
“I am NOT going anywhere with you.” she said.
“Well I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sorry that you are trying to run away from this. Vampires and other things already know who you are, without your training will you be in danger, and so will your family and friends too,” he said. Merrek looked at her and she saw understanding in his eyes.
“Look,” he said, the understanding still showing. “I know this is hard for you to except. It must be a little freaky having some guy you barely know tell you that you have an unreal job to do. It’s that way with Mentors, too, if you are destined to become a Guider you are notified when the time is right. They just drop the bomb and leave you to deal with it.”
“Who are they?” she asked.
“The Council, they direct the whole Hunter-Mentor system.” he said. “Look, I’m just asking that you come with me, just so I can show you. So you will understand.”
She thought for a minute and finally came up with an answer.
“I’ll go,” she said, she didn’t know exactly why she said she would go. All she knew was that she wanted to get this straight.
Merrek nodded and they left her house.
Merrek brought Jessica to the Riversdale Cemetery. He led her far into the cemetery looking for freshly made graves.
“The best time to kill a vampire is when they are newly born or if they haven’t fed for a while, that is when they are most vunerable. The older they are, the stronger they are.” said Merrek.
He finally came to a grave and it was freshly dug. It looked like a person was buried there earlier during the day.
“Take this,” Merrek said handing her a stake. “A stake through the heart or decapitation will kill them.”
“What about sunlight?” she asked.
“Sunlight, unfortunately doesn’t affect them. It just gives them a nice little tan,” he said.
“Why am I doing this? Why can’t you?” Jessica asked.
“Consider this your first lesson, maybe your only one,” said Merrek.
“What do you mean my only one? Are you saying that I could die?” she said getting a little nervous. She wasn’t sure if she should believe any of this. It seemed so unreal, but at the same time it felt right.
“There is always a possibility that you might die. If you were to learn more and how to protect yourself, the chance of that happening would be small. I was just saying that this could be your last lesson because you said that you didn’t trust me and that you weren’t interested,” said Merrek.
Jessica thought about this. Her decision about the whole “Hunter” thing and whether or not she was going to be trained would be answered in a couple of minutes.
They waited. Nothing was happening. It was getting late and she was starting to worry about what condition her mom was in. Why did she believe him anyway? He was probably some crazy person running around telling people lies.
Merrek was starting to get edgy.
“Maybe I came to a regular grave,” he said. “Maybe we should look somewhere else.”
Jessica had had enough. “Look,” she said frustrated. “You dragged me out here, we have been standing here for about an hour, and said you would prove this “Hunter” thing to me!”
After she had finished saying this, a hand came up from the grave and grabbed her leg. She screamed and tried to pull her leg away from it. She tugged her leg successfully from the hand’s grip, but now another hand appeared, then a head. The vampire crawled out of its grave and stood up. It growled at Jessica when it noticed she had a stake. Jessica didn’t know what to do. It charged at her and avoided it quickly. The vampire was getting mad, obviously this wasn’t a smart vampire because it charged at Jessica, but this time she was ready. She stepped aside and let the vampire charge right into the stake. The vampire exploded into dust.
After this she was stunned. What did she just do? That was a vampire. Vampires are supposed to be monsters in scary stories, not real. She didn't move. Merrek looked at her. He came over and put a hand on her shoulder. Jessica shook it off and ran. She didn't know where she was running, but right now, anywhere was better than here.
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