Fire And Ash by Nia Davenport Page A

Granddad. He is the first to find us. “Stand up,” he commands. When I do he instructs me to look down at my mom. He speaks to me as I do. “ A phoenix is the reason you look upon what you see . For every human life they take, they add an additional one to theirs. They aspire to have what they were never meant to. And they do it at the expense of us. They prey upon humans and we evolved to prey upon them. We are the balance. We are humanity’s shield against it’s only predator. We are born as hunters and we die as hunters. It is a vow you will one day take. You will live by it, you will die by it, and this is why.”
    I numbly get out of bed needing to move. I dress in black cargo pants and a long sleeve henley that is the same color. I lace up combat grade boots and grab the silver knives Aunt Farrah gave me off my dresser as I leave the room. I need to do something . Grandma will have a fit if she finds out, but everyone has been back in Highland Village for the past week since the amber alert about the young boy went out so they will never know. Derek may claim that he and his mom don’t, but there are phoenix out there that kill humans. They take our lives to add to theirs.  
    I leave my house and drive towards Red Creek. If I am lucky tonight, I will come across one of those phoenix that do and I will make sure one less human doesn’t end up like Mom.  
    I know the western side of Red Creek State Park as thoroughly as I know my own name. I’ve undergone countless training exercises in its wooded areas surrounding Laurel. Some with Becca, some with Dad and even more alone with Granddad. I’ve been in Red Creek too many times at night to be scared of the natural and non-natural things that roam it.
    I pick up a trail of two sets of prints about half a mile from where I parked. I follow it east for three miles, keeping my senses open for any peculiar sights or sounds. One set of prints diverges from the other. I choose to continue to follow the larger of the two. Better to scout out and eliminate the potentially larger threat first.  
    When I hear leaves crunching beneath booted feet in the distance I release the safety from the crossbow I took from the armory. It’s a more practical weapon than my knives for hitting moving targets at a distance. I step into the clearing the noise is coming from and level my bow at the person I see standing over the missing boy’s body as it is encased in flames.
    “I warned you,” I tell Derek. Without waiting for a response I pull the trigger and shoot.
    His left hand shoots out, catching the cross bolt mere centimeters before it would have embedded in his chest.  
    “Are you out of your fucking mind?” He growls as he snaps it in two. “You almost pierced my heart.”
    “That was the idea. You’re a killer like the rest of them.”  
    He watches me not my bow as he stands. His eyes lock with mine and refuse to release them.
      “I didn’t kill him,” he says strained. “I’m tracking the phoenix who did.”
    “Ha! And I’m supposed to believe that why? You’re one of them.”
      A muscle ticks in Derek’s jaw at my accusation.“I am nothing like the phoenix that killed him. I told you I don’t kill people for selfish gain.”
    I don’t miss the unspoken admission in what he says. “But you do kill people,” I accuse.
    “When the lives of the people I care about are threatened and I have to.”  
    Derek rushes towards me and I fire another cross bolt without thinking. It buries itself in his side but he keeps coming. He rushes past me and collides with someone just as they’re emerging from the clearing. His snaps their neck and they drop to the ground.
    “A phoenix,” he says as he pulls a long lethally sharp sword free from his back. The sword slices through the phoenix’ neck as if it is butter.
    He doesn’t have time to say anything else and I don’t have time to ask questions. One second it is just me and him and in the very next we are