I was running down the hall in a panic. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. The hollow screeches echoed behind me. I took a sharp left and continued my escape. If I didn’t get out of here, those things would eat me.

I burst through a door and found myself trapped. I searched the room for anything I could use as a weapon. I ran over to a table and flipped it over. Angling myself, I broke off a table leg. I then stood by the only entrance to the room and waited.

Footsteps echoed loudly in the empty halls of the warehouse. I could barely separate the footsteps from the sound of my heart pounding. But there were other strange sounds, sounds that could have been words.
The door flew open and I barely had time to swing my improvised club. It shattered over the thing’s head and a few splinters hit me. I dove over it while it was recovering and ran down the hall. It leaped at me with inhuman speed and tackled me to the ground. I screamed and thrashed in a futile attempt to throw it off of me.

Something else loomed up behind my foe. It picked up the monster on top of me and threw it across the hall like a doll. “Run,” this hulking figure said.

I rolled and came up to run. Before I could take a step, the wall to my right exploded and threw me against the opposite wall. I hit the wall hard and fell to my knees. I could hear hissing sounds that could have been a victory yell. I could feel claws rake my arms and torso.

Then my alarm clock woke up half the town.

After reacquainting my face with the floor, I pulled myself up, groaning. I walked over to the beeping clock and turned it off.

Looking around my room, I noticed some red on my bed. I glanced at myself and noticed scratches along my arms, a few of them bleeding.

I walked over to my bathroom and washed the small scratches. After getting dressed, I walked downstairs to get some breakfast, all the while wondering what my alarm was doing on during a weekend.

I put some water on the stove to boil for tea and put some bread in the toaster. I decided that I had simply forgotten to turn off my alarm. Next, I had to think of a story to tell my parents about my arms. They wouldn’t believe that it was just a very vivid dream.

Before I could think of anything, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I grabbed a jacket and went back to making my breakfast.

“Good morning, Victor,” my stepmother said.

“Morning,” I replied, plainly.

“I wanted to talk to you about something.”

“And just what would that be?” I asked sarcastically. “You always try the same thing.”

“I just think it would help you get past this,” she said. “It’s always hard when someone loses a parent.”

“Like I haven’t heard that one before,” I replied smarmily. “Just leave me alone.”

“You shouldn’t be left alone in your condition,” she said. “It’s bad for your health.”

“It’s even worse if I talk about it,” I said.

“Talking will help heal the wounds left by death,” she said. “It helps you forget.”

That triggered something inside of me, something primal and dangerous, fueled by rage. “Did you ever think that maybe I don’t want to forget?” I asked. “Did you ever think that I want these wounds to stay fresh? That is the only memory I have of her, and I’m not going to let you take that away!” By now, I was screaming. I didn’t hold anything back. “I barely know you! You are nobody to me! Just because you married my father doesn’t make you family!”

She stared at me with her jaw hanging open slightly. She turned around and spoke softly. “I’m sorry I brought it up. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“Apology not accepted,” I said, still angry. I snatched my toast and tea and stormed upstairs. I didn’t want to think about what she had brought up. It was a little too painful at the time.

I turned on the radio and brought up the internet to play a puzzle. I had to keep my mind busy. However, fate had a different way of doing that.

“This has been the sixth attack this month from the group called ‘The Allegiance’,” the reporter said over the radio. “The police have not found a connection between the victims and recommend that everyone sleep with a weapon nearby.”

I decided to look into this group some more. I did a general search and came up with a lot more than I had imagined.

The Allegiance was a group of so-called assassins that claimed to have mystical powers. They rarely left evidence, but even when they did, it wasn’t enough to follow.
None of the victims had anything in common other than being human. All of them were killed differently, some with fire, others with blades and others with bullets. I thought maybe they were just a group of crazy people, but something didn’t quite seem right.

I began to look into it a little more when I heard a quiet thud. I looked up and grabbed the knife I kept at my desk at all times. Freeing it from the sheath, I moved quietly over to the stairwell and peeked around the corner just as the door crashed in.

I could hear my stepmother scream. I saw two men come in and look around.

“Go look upstairs,” said the point man. “The boss said we’d know what we have to find.”

“He said that we’d know him when we see him,” said the man behind him. “We’re looking for a person. I say, we tranquilize everyone in this house and take all of them. Then we have no doubt we got the right one.”
I backed away from the stairwell and looked around desperately. These two had experience in categories I didn’t. Plus, they had guns. The only gun we had in the house was locked in a safe in my parent’s room.

I saw the room door open a little and my dad peek out. He looked at me and motioned at me to go back to my room. I moved back some but stayed in the hall. He rolled his eyes and crept out of the room. I saw the gun in his hand and realized why he wanted me back.

“Just go upstairs and check,” said the first man. “I’ll look around down here. And maybe we could do something to make the woman a little more comfortable. She’s asleep, not dead. And remember, no live ammo. Only use-” He cut off his sentence.

I froze, thinking they saw me or my dad. I readied my knife in a reverse grip and moved forward. When I felt something cold rest against my back, I froze again.

“You’ve got some guts, kid,” said the man behind me. “But you should really make sure you know where all of your enemies are first.”

I stood there, trying to piece together a plan. “Did your boss tell you specifically who you’re after?” I asked.

“He said there would be something about him that stands out,” replied the man behind me. “That there would be some sort of aura around him. Kind of like what’s around-” he stopped speaking and I felt the gun shift to press closer to my back.

I took this opportunity to spin, bringing the knife up, cutting his arms. I grabbed his gun arm and twisted so he would drop it. Catching the weapon, I buried the muzzle of it into the back of his head. “Talk,” I said.

“I can’t believe he sent us after a kid,” said the man. “Look. I didn’t want to hurt you. If you keep that gun trained on me, I’m going to have to.”

I shifted the gun down and shot him in the leg. Instead of the explosion that usually comes from a gun, it barely made a noise at all. I saw a dart sticking out of the man’s leg. Shocked, I backed away some.

That’s when I heard the real gunshot. It echoed through the house and popped my ears. I staggered backward, trying to regain my footing.

I looked around the corner again and saw one man down and bleeding. The other was standing there, probably in shock. I lined up the sights and shot a dart into his back and he almost instantaneously passed out. I then took out my cell phone and called the police.

The rest of that day was questions and stories. I didn’t get to find out why they came after me until just over a week later.

I was walking down the hall at school and tripped, not noticing the foot in front of me. I stumbled for a few seconds and fell down. After getting back up, I looked back to where I had tripped. The school bully was backing away mockingly, chuckling. I gave him my best death stare and walked away.

It was then that I noticed a piece of paper sticking out of my pocket.

If you want to know about last week, come to the abandoned warehouse tonight at 11:00.

-X

I stared in disbelief at this piece of paper. Someone had put it in my pocket without me noticing. Someone knew about last week. More importantly, they had information I needed.

Without thinking, I stuffed the note back in my pocket and walked out of school. I had to get home so I could get ready for tonight. I didn’t know what was going to happen or who was going to be there.

I ran home and bolted up to my room. I started piecing together my makeshift armor and pulling out some light weapons. I put on the armor and started to tighten the straps that would hold my weapons. I then slid my weapons into place and took the last piece of my outfit.

Moving downstairs in my cloak felt different with all of the weapons on my body. I stopped in the kitchen and ate a sandwich before leaving for the long walk to the warehouse. On my way out, I grabbed a soda for refreshment once I got there.

The trip took longer than I thought since I had to stick to side routes. I got to the warehouse a little before 11:00 and found a place to hide out.

Staying in the shadows, I watched and waited for anyone to come by. I saw one man walk in, pausing to type in a code on the wall. I watched his hand but couldn’t quite make out what the code was.

I focused my thoughts. If I could center them on that pad, then I could figure out the code without trying. I found the code and calmly walked up to the door. After punching in the code, the door hissed on hydraulic locks and cracked open a bit.

This abandoned warehouse wasn’t so abandoned after all. That kind of locking mechanism needed to be constantly checked and re-pressurized. I took a step in and closed the door behind me.

“I was hoping you would join us tonight, Victor,” said someone in the room. I looked around but couldn’t see him. “That name won’t do, however. I believe you will need a new one. That is, if you are willing to join us. Otherwise, this was a waste of time for both of us and the waste of a powerful young warlock.”

I saw a figure shift in the corner and a man walks out into the light. “Now why don’t you show us that you really are Victor and drop that veil of yours?”

I looked at him in disbelief and reached for one of my weapons. When he didn’t react, I knew something was fishy. “Why do you want me here?” I asked.

“I see you haven’t moved from the door,” he said. “As to why I want you here, you are holding a solid veil without trying. You were able to stop two of three kidnappers without taking any damage. You have access to weapons and you don’t know why. You can convince people of anything you want to, including yourself. Victor, you are a natural-born warlock. You have so much untapped power.”

I stared at him with a look of shock. He was saying that I had magical powers. He was asking me to join a cause of some sort. He was willing to give me answers in return. “Who are you?” I asked.

“We are the Allegiance. We have been protecting this city for eons without recognition. We kill monsters that threaten human existence.”

I stood there like a statue. I was in the heart of the Allegiance headquarters. I could stop them. I could end the killing.

You have the power, I thought. Use it. Stop these people from killing any more.

“You do need some training, though,” the man said. “You appear to lose focus when debating over choices. So are you going to join us or attempt to kill us?”

I drew the largest blade I had with me, a six-inch knife. “I think I’ll give you a choice instead,” I said, laying down the blade. “If you attack me, I will fight. If you don’t, then I walk out of here.”

I turned to walk away but saw the exit guarded. “You won’t get out of here without choosing.”

The lights dimmed and a creeping feeling came over me. Something really bad was about to happen.

“How did you get in here?” asked the man.

“I used focus to figure out the code,” I replied. “Why?”

He drew a sword along with everyone else in the room. I hadn’t noticed how many people were in there until that moment. I saw blades begin to glow with power. Someone kicked my knife toward me and I caught it. Looking around, I realized what this reminded me of.

“Vampires!” he screamed. “Everyone get to your escape locations! Meet back at location Alpha-Gamma! Protect Victor!”

I stood there, waiting to hear footsteps pound on the floor, but silence continued to rule. I looked around; focusing on what little light there was left and saw that everyone had almost completely vanished. Almost everyone, anyways.
I could see a single large figure in the room. He stood there, watching the door.

I turned and ran, hoping I could find a way out. I had to find a way out. I ran down the hall in a panic. I heard something hit the door and metal tearing. I could hear hollow screeches ring out through the warehouse.

I remembered my dream and took a right instead of a left and found myself at another fork. I took another right and almost ran straight into the door. I tried to open it, but it wouldn’t budge. I gathered up power from around me, focusing it into something solid.

I twitched a few fingers at the door and the handle twitched. I heard metal being cut and opened the door easily.

I stared at the weapons in this room. I saw the swords and knives, bows and crossbows, side-arms and rifles. I saw some wooden staves as well and angled them to barricade the door.

Searching the room for an exit, I picked up a few weapons for later use. I took a crossbow for ranged assaults and a short sword for more personal fights. After taking two cases of bolts, I moved back to the door, preparing to fight.
Knocking the staves out, I waited for the door to burst open. I waited for a good three minutes before just running out of the door. I didn’t care about stealth and ran as fast as I could for the door. I felt a tingle in the base of my neck.

Without thinking, I swung the sword in a wide arc, decapitating the vampire. I didn’t even think about how I was able to that while running for my life. I just kept on running until I came out of the hole where the door used to be.
I paused, panting. I couldn’t wait for too long. Those things would be after me as soon as they noticed I was gone. I looked across the field and began to run again.

A voice behind me made me jump. I brought the blade of my sword up to this person’s throat. I looked at him, recognizing him for the leader of the Allegiance who had been talking to me earlier.

“Run,” he said. “Go home. Meet me behind the school during your lunch in a week if you accept this offer.” “Is that what I’m going up against?” I asked.

“Those things killed one of our own,” he said. “They’ve always been trying to kill all of us. Those things killed someone that you barely know.”

I looked at him, thinking over his words. They could mean a lot of people. There weren’t many that I really knew well, though.

“Think about that,” he said, running off.

I heard a noise and spun, feeling an odd weight in my pocket. Remembering the drink, I pulled it out and threw it in the direction of the movement.

I turned and ran back to my house. I had a lot to think about and not much time left to sleep. Not that I was going to get to sleep after almost being killed by creatures that belong only in books.

Author's Note

This chapter along with the next one don't go much into Equestria. That comes in later chapters. Please no spoilers in the comments.
-fanofawesomeness