One: First Kiss

~Lucinda's p.o.v.~

*The Past, 4 years ago*

Fate. Destiny. Karma. Dreams. My parents have instilled those four words and their meanings in my mind since I was young. At the ripe age of thirteen months old I could already say those words clear as day. The older I got, the more life lessons I was given. My mom, Phoebe, taught me that we should treat people how we wish to be treated. My dad, Evander, taught me that respect is earned, not handed out freely. I learned both those lessons the hard way. My mother is a compassionate, intelligent, and honest woman. She is also one of the bravest people that I have ever met. My father is more of a sophisticated type. He doesn't really show his feelings on the outside, but is still very protective and caring.

We live in a large village near the southern climate states. Our village is called La Freccia d'Oro. It means the golden arrow. La Freccia d'Oro is the largest village of hunters in the United States, and the third largest in the world. Hunters are mortal beings with a few peak human physical abilities: strength, agility, speed, reflexes, accuracy, and endurance. Due to their gifts, hunters are sent to a private academy instead of a normal school. The private academy is called L'Accademia dei Cacciatori, or The Hunters Academy, and it is used for hunters to learn how to properly put their gifts to use, and use those gifts to help them expertly wield weapons. Hunters are also taught hand-to-hand combat, and one of the requirements to graduate is to win three fights in the ring. The ring is one of the largest gymnasiums in The Hunters Academy, and it is used for hand-to-hand combat training. There are rows of bleachers on two sides of the ring and, at the end of the school year, the seniors are required to fight multiple highly trained hunters. In order to graduate, the seniors have to defeat three highly trained hunters.

My parents actually met at L'Accademia dei Cacciatori when they were both teenagers. My mother was only fifteen at the time, while my father was eighteen and about to graduate. It was a random and unexpected meeting. A chance of fate, one might say. Every time they share the story of how they met, it always brings tears of happiness to mine and their eyes. To summarize it; my dad was down to one last challenger in the ring and it had been his last chance to graduate on time. My mother was top of her class and was already the most skilled bowman in the entire academy. She was given the chance of a lifetime to graduate three years earlier than anyone else because of her skills. All she had to do was fight one battle in the ring and win. My dad was the challenger that she fought.

Orpheus Arco, the current leader of the hunters, was and still is my father's best friend. They grew up together from birth, and had been raised like brothers. Orpheus and my dad trained together during their years of schooling and my dad was the only one to ever knock him on his back. It only happened once, but it was enough to earn Orpheus' respect. The man was a saint in school, and still is one to this day. Orpheus is our leader, and has been since the day he graduated from the academy. He is a rather charming man with light auburn hair that he always keeps shaved down to his skull, a pair of scrutinizing emerald green eyes that reflect the true envious color of his heart, and a light tan complexion. His stature is tall with lean muscles filling in his form, and his breath always reeks of the burning stench of alcohol.

His son, Draven Arco, is my best friend. Drae and I have grown up together since youth. His father and my parents pushed us together since we were both very young. Draven inherited his dad’s light tan complexion and light auburn hair, but he has his mother’s piercing ice blue eyes. Drae’s personality is similar to his father’s. Both men are stubborn-headed and punishing leaders. They were raised similarly, with both having lost their mothers at a premature age. Draven lost his mom on the day he was born. He never got to experience motherly love and, instead, was raised by a strict and controlling father. Don’t get me wrong; Orpheus loves Drae but he doesn’t truly understand how to express it.

I still remember the first day Draven came running over to my house after his father lost his temper in a drunken fit of rage. Drae had blood running down his back and there was a trail of it from his house to mine. My parents were out in the woods on a mission, leaving me home alone and it was extremely late at night. After years of being friends, he knew I had trouble sleeping when I was alone. Therefore, he did not hesitate to knock on my door. At the time, I was only eight years old and Drae was twelve. He made me promise not to tell anyone about it because it would have tarnished his father’s name. Then he showed me what ‘it’ was.

That night when he came to me, Drae had fresh wounds that looked like someone had taken a jagged knife and was in the process of slicing off strips of his skin, layer by layer. The wounds were gushing blood and leaking plasma fluid down his back. He refused to tell me what exactly had happened, but said it was over a stupid argument that had ticked off his father. However, his father had been drunk and, because of that, his emotions were intensified. Orpheus has always had anger issues, but when he drinks those anger issues become fits of rage. Draven told me that his father had dragged him out to their back shed and cracked the horse whip against Drae’s back over a dozen times.

I spent hours carefully cleaning, nursing, and properly dressing Draven’s wounds. Even though I was only eight years old, I had enough training from my parents and from school to know what to do. I wiped him down with a warm clean cloth, applied antibacterial ointment to keep it from getting infected, and covered it in fresh gauze held down by bandage tape. For the next few weeks after that day, he would come over every night, either when my parents were out hunting or were asleep, and I would exchange the old gauze for new ones. It took two months for them to heal completely and, once they did, it didn’t take long for Drae and his father to get into another heated argument that would lead to yet another beating. It was a never-ending cycle that has continued on to this day. Which is what I happen to be dealing with right now.

Draven sits in front of me with a smug and triumphant smirk plastered on his face. He is twenty years old, while I am sixteen. His piercing ice blue eyes are staring straight ahead as he stares at me through my vanity mirror. He has grown to be over 6 ft tall over the years and has filled in quite nicely with a decent amount of muscle on his lean form. His back is scarred from years of beatings with a new fresh set of deep open gashes seeping blood through his white shirt. We hold our gazes in the mirror for a moment, and I c.ock an eyebrow in question at his arrogant facade.

Drae only shrugs his shoulders in return before letting out a breathy chuckle. “I got him back this time,” he says with a broad grin stretching across his face. I roll my eyes, watching his dimples appear on both his cheeks as he smiles back at me. “Lux, you should have seen his face. It was hysterical, the man looked like he was going to blow a fuse!”

“Yeah, yeah. Well, let’s see the damage. Come on, off with the shirt.” I reply with another roll of my eyes. I begin to chew on my bottom lip nervously, watching as he reaches down and tugs his shirt over his head. The familiar sound of dried blood peeling away from a t-shirt echoes through the silence in the room.

Over the last few years, Orpheus has been dishing out more severe beatings to Draven. The last time Drae came to me was about a month ago. His dad kicked him in the ribs, causing severe bruising and even broke a few of them as well. Orpheus had also punched him repetitively in the face, giving him a black eye, broken nose, and a bruised and busted lip. Not to mention the usual rendezvous in the shed where he is whipped like a wild animal. I can only pray that this time it is not nearly as bad.

He finally manages to successfully pull his shirt off, and I slowly look down to examine the damage. A small sigh escapes past my lips, taking notice of the lack of bruising on his ribs. There are a few more gashes than normal, but it is nothing I can’t handle. Drae chuckles at my relief, and reaches back with his hand to pat my thigh. The simple touch sends butterflies fluttering around in my stomach. I catch his smile in the mirror and return it.

“I’m okay, Lucinda. I’m a big boy now.” He smirks and I once again roll my eyes, this time adding a playful smack to the side of his head. His bottom lip pushes out to form a cute pout, and he pretends to cry, acting like I had just caused him pain. “Ouch. You hit me!”

I lean down to place a soft kiss on the side of his head where I had just smacked. “There, all better.” I tease him, smiling as I ran my fingers through his shoulder-length thick light auburn hair, messing up the little work he put in to style it.

He smacks my hand away, preventing further damage, and pats it back down in place. Which only makes me giggle more. Drae has always had an obsession with his hair, something that his father has always despised about him. Right now Drae's hair reaches down to his shoulders, but earlier this year it had been past that. His father made him get a haircut after a few of the elders had scolded him for letting Draven grow it out like that. It had almost reached his hips at that time.

He waits in the chair as I walk to my bathroom and grab a clean cloth and first-aid kit out of the cabinet. I also grab a small bowl and fill it with some warm water. Then I walk back to him and set the supplies on the vanity. Drae watches me get everything ready with a small smile gracing his lips. I dip the cloth in warm water and begin my routine. Starting with cleaning the wound thoroughly, and then moving on to smearing the ointment from the first-aid kit on the wounds, making sure to be careful. He hisses when I come to a tender spot and I cringe slightly, feeling terrible for causing him further pain.

“I’m so sorry, Drae.” I whisper in a sullen tone of voice. A lone tear escapes past my left eye and rolls down my cheek.

Draven’s eyes widen and before I can finish treating his wounds, he swivels the chair around and pulls me on top of his lap. He holds me tightly to his body, cradling my head against his chest, and rubs soft circles on my back as silent sobs escape my throat. Tears stream down my face from the heart-wrenching pain in my chest. Sympathy pain for my best friend who does not have a mother to hold him and tell him everything is going to be okay. He makes soft cooing noises beside my ear, and peppers my head with kisses. When I finally manage to settle down, Drae sits me up and lightly grasps my face in his palms.

We stare into each other’s eyes for what seems like hours but is only a minute at most. For the first time in my life, I feel my heart tug in a weird way. Something inside of me is screaming at me, but I can’t make out any of the words. It just feels like a jumbled mess. Draven’s eyes flicker down to my lips. It almost makes me wonder if he might kiss me, but instead he purses his lips, closing his eyes as he releases a sharp breath. When he opens his eyes again after a second of internal thinking, he carefully moves me off his lap and swivels back around to face the mirror.

“Come on, Lux. Let’s get this done before your parents come home.” He advises and I nod my head, obeying the small command in his tone.

I resume rubbing the ointment onto his wounds with feather-light touches, trying to be gentle. Draven doesn’t make any other noises this time. He just continues to stare straight ahead at the mirror. When I catch his gaze in the mirror, he looks so deep in his thoughts that it feels as if he is seeing right through me. I finish applying the anti-bacterial cream and move on to applying the fresh gauze. Once the gauze is in place, I hold it down with one hand and use the other to apply the bandage tape to keep it in place. When I finally finish dressing his wounds, I tap his shoulder, signaling that I am done.

“Hey, Drae, I’m all done.” I announce, tapping him once again. He seems to snap out of his thoughts as his eyes look towards me in the mirror.

He smiles up at me before reaching down to grab his bloody shirt from the ground. “Thanks, Lux. You’re the best.”

Before he has a chance to toss the blood-stained t-shirt, I grab it out of his grasp and return his smile with one of mine. “Always. You can borrow one of my dad’s shirts. I’ll get this washed for you.”

I quickly walk out of the room so he couldn’t protest, heading towards my parents’ bedroom. The whole house is pitch black, with the only light coming from my room. It is a little past midnight, and my parents won’t be home till around five in the morning. They were sent on a mission to hunt down a group of rogue vampires that left their coven to live without rules. Something that might sound dangerous to others, but it is just another day for them.

I hear Draven following close behind me. I can feel his icy gaze watching my every movement. Drae is an expert swordsman, just like my father, but stronger and faster than my dad ever was. Drae has hunted many supernatural creatures over the years and defeated them with nothing but a scratch on his body. He moves like a ninja; every breath he takes and every movement he makes is utterly silent. And he wields a sword with the precision and accuracy of a strike of lightning. If Draven wanted to, he could kill me in less than a second and there would be nothing I could do about it. Luckily for me, I am not a dangerous criminal that has killed any innocent lives.

We make it to my parents’ room in a few seconds and I grab him a fresh t-shirt from my dad’s dresser. He slips it on over his head with his back muscles flexing in a delicious way. I help him slide the fabric past the gauze so it doesn’t catch against the fabric. When the shirt is completely on, he turns around slowly to face me. His icy orbs hold my nervous gaze. My heart begins beating a wild rhythm in my chest as he takes a small step towards me. Then another step, and another. With every forward movement he makes, I reciprocate it with a backward step of my own.

His ice-blue eyes sparkle mischievously as they watch me with the excitement of a lion stalking its prey. That is what he is doing too, a little game called cat and mouse. The house is silent, with the only sound being the echo of my heart beating loudly around the room. After years of hunting, Draven has grown to love the chase. Over the years, I have seen him play the game with girls around his age. Never has he played this game with me, until now.

He takes another step in my direction, and my back hits the wall behind me as I take a step back. The game just changed. The prey is now trapped with no escape, and the predator knows this as the sparkle in his eyes grows. My eyes search my surroundings for a way to escape, but come up empty. I clench my eyes shut after to calm down my nerves. When I snap my gaze in front of me again, my heart stops in my chest, noticing that Draven is no longer there. I swallow anxiously and step away from the wall. Using the few skills I learned in school so far, I keep my steps small and light. I close my eyes for just a second to try to pick up on any small sounds around me, but once again I come up empty.

The exit door is just a few feet ahead of me. Draven is still nowhere in sight, but I know that he is near. He is just waiting for the right time to strike. Well, I won’t give him one. I refuse to give him the satisfaction of defeating me. His dad may be the leader of the hunters, but my mom is one of the most talented and skilled among us all. She graduated earlier than any other hunter in history. Including Orpheus, and mom has been training me to be just like her. I make it to the door and peek my head out into the hall. Other than the small glow coming from my bedroom, there is no light in the house. No sounds can be heard except for the whispers of my breath.

I take a step out into the hallway and, without a second thought, dash towards my bedroom. My hand reaches out to grab my door handle so that I can push the door open, but right before I can reach it, I feel a pair of large hands grab me by the shoulders and shove the front side of my body up against the wall beside the door. A scream gets trapped in my throat from the rough force of my body colliding into the wall. Draven’s deep chuckle reverberates against my back as he has me pinned, while I am busy working on slowing down my erratic heartbeat.

“You demon!” I scream at him, which only makes him laugh harder.

My breathing comes out in heavy pants, still on the verge of having a minor heart attack. His chest presses against my back as he leans over me, pressing me harder against the wall with his hands on either side of me. He buries his face in my neck and a small gasp escapes past my lips when his cool, minty breath blows across my throat. The sensation sends a shiver running down my spine. I feel his cool lips brush against my throat before they pull into a sly smirk at my body’s reaction to his touch. He chuckles lightly against my skin before taking a tiny step back and spinning me around to face him.

His eyes search mine as if he is trying to uncover all my secrets. The intensity of his gaze makes my heart flutter in my chest and causes a deep red blush to form on my face. Over the years, as we have matured, I have developed a small crush on my best friend. He has stuck by my side through thick and thin, and has protected me from bullies. Drae has also kept other males away from trying to hit on me, and because of that, I have never dated a boy in my life. Even though I am only sixteen years old, I am still slightly disappointed that I have not even kissed a boy. Right on cue, almost like he read my thoughts, Drae reaches down to cup my chin in the palm of his hands.

He glances down at my lips and then back at my eyes, and I see the question reflecting in his gaze as clear as day. His eyes are requesting to fulfill my heart’s secret desire, pleading for permission. Draven wants to lean down and connect our lips, but he respects me enough to give me a choice. My heart pounds in my chest, and I can hear its answer ringing in my ears. I want this. I want to experience my first kiss, and most of all I want it to be him. Draven notices the change in my body. The way my eyes blink up at him, and the slow calm beating of my heart. The way my skin heats up in anticipation as my lips part in waiting. A beautiful and charming smile stretches across his lips, and his eyes sparkle with joy as he leans down, closing the last bit of distance between us.

A warm heat explodes in my belly the moment his soft lips touch mine, and that heat spreads through my body like lava. Draven kisses me slowly with his lips pressed gently on mine. He moves them around over my lips in a slow rhythm, and I follow his lead, reciprocating the movements. His hands gently cup my face as our kiss remains soft and sweet. After a few seconds of our lips moving against each other, he playfully nips at my bottom lip before stepping back away from me. Drae reaches down and grasps one of my hands in his, pulling me into my room. He walks us over to my bed before peeling back the covers for me. I climb into bed while he tucks the blankets around me, and he leans down one last time before planting a soft kiss on my forehead.

He stands back up, looking down at me with a small smile gracing his slightly swollen lips. “I will see you tomorrow, Lucinda. Get some rest.”

Then, without waiting for a response, Drae turns back on his heels and leaves me alone in my room. I hear his footsteps move through the hallway and down the staircase until he reaches the living room. I faintly hear the sound of the front door opening up before he pulls it shut behind him, leaving me by myself in the dark and empty house. A few minutes later, I feel exhaustion wash over me, and eventually, I drift off into a deep and peaceful sleep.