A Guide to Surviving Against Monsters
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In the morning, I woke up with the lingering memory of an endless white floor. I got into the shower, shutting off my alarm as music played from my phone. Once I was freshly cleaned, I got dressed into my usual and combed back my cropped hair, dabbing makeup over the fading bags under my eyes. After strapping myself into my rig with several knives, I left my guns and bigger weapons at home. Instead of taking my rental car, I left earlier than normal and walked toward the Academy, feeling the chilly morning air relax my tense shoulders.

"Woah, is that you?"

I glanced over my shoulder. Malekai, the bratty top student, stood a little ways down the sidewalk.

"Can I help you?"

"You walk to work usually?"

I glared at his smug smile. "On occasion," I answered gruffly.

"Mind if I join you?"

I rolled my eyes. "I can't control a sidewalk," I relented, continuing down the street without waiting for him.

A quick beat of footsteps came from behind me, and Malekai caught up. He was grinning from ear to ear, constantly glancing my way as we walked. I was much shorter than him, glaring straight ahead of me instead of entertaining the ridiculous hunter student. He was on my right, meaning I could barely see him because of the hair covering my green, freakish eye.

Hence why I barely had enough time to react when Malekai stumbled into me.

I still had just enough time, though. My lightning quick reflexes kicked in and I grabbed his arm, steadying him before he knocked me over. The student was sweaty, his face contorted in discomfort.

"Kid?" I snapped. "What the hell is up with you?"

His hand was pressed against his collarbone. I brushed it aside, staring at the skin that had turned a dark shade of purple. The mark was arranged in a series of circles, almost like a target. Groaning, I helped Malekai sit and scanned our surroundings.

Bruises in the form of targets. It was a signature move for vengeful spirits that planned on sucking out souls for a nice little snack. My bet was that one saw that Malekai was distracted and decided to pick him to munch on.

Usually, you needed to perform a ritual with a bunch of blessed bullshit to get rid of curses like the mark of a vengeful spirit.

Thankfully, I already had something blessed in my repertoire.

"Malekai?"

The boy groaned, hand pressed against the bruise once again. "What?"

"Do you want me to get rid of that right now?"

He nodded with hesitation. "This hurts like a bitch."

Since I was immune, I never knew how much a mark hurt. However, I had a pretty good idea of it while staring at Malekai's distressed expression.

"Not a word of this to any of your classmates, okay?"

The words confused him enough that he stopped grimacing and looked at me. "What?"

I sighed, brushing my hair away from my eye. The symbols spun, creating their ring of purple neon glow. His eyes widened, the cocky student speechless.

"What the hell--"

"Relax," I commanded. My hand pushed his away from the mark, purple flames dancing along my fingers. When they came in contact with the mark, I sensed a tug. It was my extra ability pulling the curse away from Malekai's soul and devouring it for energy. He gasped, and I grimaced. The cleansing process was painful before it became a feeling of warmth and safety. Eventually, the worst of it was over, and the younger hunter leaned into me to avoid falling over.

"Malekai?" I prodded as the mark faded, my purple flames dying. "How do you feel?"

"Better," he mumbled, "but what's happening now?"

I eyed the streets, carefully scanning them. "The vengeful being that wanted your life for its own gain," I paused, frowning, "it will sense the broken target. It will be back."

"What do we do? Spirits can't be killed," he panicked.

"I will deal with it," I said reassuringly. "I can banish it without a ritual."

Malekai sighed. "Purple freaking fire. I don't even want to know."

A genuine smile appeared on my face. Cracking my back, I straightened and offered him my hand. It was easy to pull Malekai up, yet he was still off-balance. Scowling, I kept my hold on his arm, steering the student toward the Academy.

"Shouldn't we be banishing a spirit with magical purple stuff?" Malekai blurted. "Why are we still heading to school?"

"Something weak like a spirit waits for us to be off guard," I hissed under my breath, the two of us crossing the street. "If we're alert, it'll just wait until you're alone."

He cursed, which reflected how I felt as well. My eye had gone dormant once again, but I felt the energy at the edge of my subconscious, ready to act in a moment's notice. Once we were in front of the schoolyard, I could see the other supervising hunters waiting for me. It was in the moment that I was distracted, realizing it was my new colleagues waiting in the chilly air, that I felt Malekai tense.

No! My thoughts burst. I spun, pulling Malekai with me, so that when the spirit lunged, its distorted, long fingers dug into my abdomen instead of Malekai's. I winced, feeling the claws dig into my stomach. The boy nearly retched, his hands latching onto my shoulders.

"Emmalyn!"

His scream brought Wendy and the others to attention. I heard gasps and pounding footsteps, and someone pulled Malekai away from me.

"She's bleeding you idiots!"

"I'm fine, Malekai..."

"W-What?"

I snorted. "Wendy, you can stop looking at me like I'm a ghost now."

"Emmalyn..," Wendy said uncertainly, "that looks fatal, don't bullshit me."

I groaned, staring at the shadowy figure in front of me. The hunters around me stared as purple light shone from my eye, my regular flames crawling all over my body. They grew on my hands, and the spirit screamed as I grabbed its arm, pulling its hand out of my gut. Blood went with it, and I cringed as my body throbbed.

"Bastard," I snapped. The spirit thrashed, my purple fire climbing onto its hazy form.

Incoherent words tumbled from my lips. Where the spirit should've had eyes, purple flames came to life. There was a distorted, shrill scream that was worse than a banshee's, and the spirit's form shattered into nothing.

"Emmalyn!"

Theo caught my arm as I stumbled, hand over my stomach. The magic crawling over my skin allowed his hands to pass through, knowing based off my instincts to trust the Grimm hunter. I panted, planting both hands over my stomach.

"Shit, is she dying?" Malekai shrieked. Wendy held him back, arm pressed against his chest.

Luca was the one who eyed me dryly. "A human would die, maybe. But the question is, are you even human, Emmalyn?"

Can I get a rain check on the truth?

"Of course I'm human," I muttered as the flames dousing my body zipped toward the hole on my stomach. The others' had wide eyes as the purple flames shone, and I gritted my teeth together as my skin knit itself back together. It was painful, but I'd done it so many times I could keep my tears back. Theo let go of my arm as I forced myseld upright, coughing. My eyes twitched, going green.

"Holy. Shit."

I looked at Malekai.

"What?"

"Don't what me! What was that?!"

I floundered, trying to hide the hole in my shirt. It exposed my stomach, the skin smooth despite having a gaping wound not too long ago.

"I've got a better question."

We all looked at Luca. "What makes your question better than mine?" Malekai said defensively.

"Well, we already know she's not going to tell us," Luca responded dryly, "but we can still trust her since she's the famous monster hunter Emmalyn Foxit. So, my question is..."

He trailed off, taking two steps toward me until we were nearly chest to chest. Theo, who was still close by in case I lost balance, frowned as Luca leaned down to my level.

I glared.

"Can you do that little trick on us too?"

I stopped glaring.

"Huh?"

Luca tilted his head. "If I was bleeding out, could you save my life like you did just then?"

"I've never tried."

"Well... Hopefully you can, because we've got a lot of missions ahead of us."

With that, Luca simultaneously diffused the situation and had my thoughts a jumbled mess.

And he even walked away without another word.

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