Whether H.A.S.P trained her or not, Ginger was determined to be a hunter all the same. That determination, and the lack of response from H.A.S.P, was her stepping stone to initiate her own field work. Unfortunately, there were more personal problems than she anticipated. When she first 'officially' started hunting, she realized fighting skills just didn't appear out of thin air, and her freakishly long limbs made her clumsy.

She'd almost died on her first try. She'd been in the park, a hunter's playground because vamps liked picking off joggers and witches were always after children. That was a night she'd remember for the rest of her life, it was also the one that haunted her the most. Of course, if her memory ever faltered, she'd have the scar to prove it.

--

This glitzy vampire, with gelled black hair, fancy shoes and even fancier moves was about to grub on her first watch. Ginger scowled as his alluring smile caused the female in front of him to swoon. Couldn't the girl see the monster hiding behind that innocently gorgeous face?

Come on lady! He's gonna eat you. Ginger wanted to scream at her. At him too for having the gall to be so open about what he was about to do. If he was going to do it, why not in private?

Ginger crouched behind a prickling green bush that smelled sickly sweet. It was directly next to the park bench where the action was about to start. When he started to lean down, Ginger darted up, cringing as the stickers from the bush scratched her skin, took two large steps, and leaped on the monsters back. The homemade stake in her hand was ready to strike, but the hard thrust to the vamps chest caused her grip on it to slip.

Pain sliced through the palm of her hand at the same time the vamp hollered in outrage. He moved quickly, his cold hand biting into her shoulder. He threw her away from him as if she were nothing more than an unruly animal in need of a scolding. The prickly bush from before was the only thing that saved her from the ground.

I think the ground would've been better, she thought to herself while trying to untangle her hair from its grasp. He was coming towards her. If he'd been using his vampire speed she'd have been done for. But of course, he wanted to play.

Ginger snarled as he got closer, frantically kicking her foot out to keep him away. The laugh that followed made her want to cry at her failure. "Don't you laugh at me!"

She jerked her head, not caring anymore that her hair was stuck in the bush. A bush wasn't going to be the cause of her death. The pain vibrated down her neck and the heat from the wound where her hair had ripped out made her eyes water. Her hands fell to the ground trying to get some leverage for a kick, but the cold metal that was now under her right hand made her pause. Wrapping her hands around the circular handle she pulled it forward.

"Whoa. Let's not be hasty now," the vampire said, his hands up.

Ginger glanced up in surprise as she watched him back away. The woman he'd been about to snack on was clutching him from behind. "Oh my God, Xavier, she's a hunter!" The woman spoke with fear as she wrapped her arms more tightly around him.

"Jaqs, she's too young to be a hunter," Xavier, the vampire, said out of the corner of his mouth. "What's your name sweetheart?"

"Don't talk to me, y-you monster!"

He flinched slightly at her words, but Ginger didn't care. She wasn't going for a popularity contest, what did it matter if she hurt his feelings. HE was the killer, not her.

"We need to get out of here," Jaqs said, her eyes never leaving the weapon in Ginger's hands. "You can't talk sense into them."

Ginger frowned, her eyebrows snapping together. Jaqs was human. She was positive of that, but why was the other woman sticking up for the vampire... Xavier. "Putting a human under a love spell is unforgivable," Ginger said, growling each word. "Don't worry Jaqs, I'll set you free."

Jaqs eyes widened as she shook her head. "Stop it! Don't touch that black button. Just stay where you are. Xavier we need to go. Now."

Ginger darted her gaze down to the weapon they were both obviously afraid of. It was a short sword with three colored jewel decorations. Emerald green, black, and red.

"Babe, she's a child and from the looks of it she needs some help. Look at how dirty she is. I can hear her stomach growling... her blood is thin, she hasn't eaten anything substantial in a while," he said, and paused before he cautiously knelt down in front of Ginger. "Are you hungry? How about we take you to get a good meal and we can talk about what I am."

"Your lies won't work on me," Ginger said the words, but she'd faltered at the kind look in his eyes. The hand he offered was tempting, but she'd seen these creatures rip apart humans when she'd been following Lucca. They were unforgiving and evil. They would do anything in their power to distract... maybe they aren't all like that.

The thought took her by surprise, but the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. Maybe they were just like humans, some were bad, but some were good, like Don. Ginger lowered her arm. The small smile playing on the vampire... no, on Xavier's face reminded her of the kindness she'd experienced with Don. She clenched her hands, her heart pounding with a hope she thought she'd long forgotten.

"No!"Jaqs scream seemed to echo.

Three different sword-like objects shot out from the hilt of the sword. First it was iron with a blast of red dust, then it was wood with white dust, and silver with gray dust. It was the second one that killed him.

The sharp wooden sword nicked his outstretched hand and an explosion of white dust sprinkled out from the tip and into the wound. He jerked away, horror and fear filling his eyes as he fell to the ground, clutching at his chest. It didn't take long for the life to leave his eyes. Maybe a minute. It was like instant death in a can.

She eyed the weapon, holding it out for closer examination. "I'm sorry," Ginger said, in a baffled whisper. "I didn't mean to."

It was very obvious that Jaqs had not been under some vampire glamour as the woman hunched over his body, her shoulders shaking hard from her sobs. If she had been under a glamour it would've disappeared after he died.

Her reddening eyes shot a hate filled glare at Ginger. "Get away from me!"

Xavier wasn't a monster. This was all just an accident. Ginger shook her head and finally rolled to her feet. "I didn't mean to," she whispered again. "He wasn't a monster... not like the others. It was an accident."

"You're the only monster I see!" Jaqs screamed and her hand shot out slapping Ginger in the face and the 'always and forever' engraved bracelet wrapped around Jaqs wrist sliced the corner of Gingers cheek.

-

Ginger sniffled and rubbed at the scar on her upper right cheek. It was always there. Reminding her of the accident every time she looked in the mirror. She sometimes wondered how her life would've been different if she hadn't accidentally pressed all the buttons on the weapon.

After that night, she'd decided she would only kill the ones that deserved it and aside from Xavier, most of them did deserve it. Later she found out that those buttons on the sword were designated and very deadly to three species of Sups: witches, vampires, and werewolves. It was a godsend because she couldn't fight, no matter how hard she tried to self-teach, it was the one thing she couldn't do.

With the use of this weapon, she managed to make a resume at fifteen, killing a total of two witches, two werewolves, and two vampires. She'd been sure H.A.S.P would accept her application after that and, just to be sure they had no choice but to accept, she'd included pictures of each kill along with the weapon she used. A week after no response, she decided to write to them, questioning the delay, praying it wasn't because of her intellectual gap that was writing. Research came easily to her, and reading was wonderful. She'd never been able to teach herself how to write well though. Regardless, she was sure this time she would get a response.

So she bid her time and continued her solo hunting. Another tiny hitch in her plans happened when she'd turned fifteen and Bob, the grocery store owner, had cornered her one night in her bedroom. She had taken Lucca's warning to heart and had lifted a bottle of mace from his store at twelve for that particular moment. She'd gotten away, but the only place she could go was the basement of the library. She knew it was possible she'd need something more than the killings under her belt, so she viewed it as an opportunity and she lured the creatures to the alley right next to the library basement. She'd be able to dissect them in peace, to see how they worked, to see how they could even be alive. Nobody went to a library in the middle of the night.

After a couple more weeks of waiting, a few more kills, and a thorough reading of two different anatomy books, H.A.S.P had finally sent something.

Ginger sneered as she pulled out the worn, crinkled pink letter that had arrived on her sixteenth birthday, of all days. She clutched it tightly in her hands, crumbling it into a ball, something she'd done many times, before shoving it back into her jean pocket.

The robotic denial letter had forced her hand.

She was sure an actual person hadn't even read her resume or seen the pictures she'd sent in. This letter was the reason she was about to throw herself into the deep end. This letter was the reason she was about to start at a prep school for supernatural royalty. Ginger licked her bottom lip and straightened her shoulders as she walked up the sidewalk to Eve's Academy: School for the Gifted.

These rich and privileged Sups were about to die.