Deadly Secret

everyone.

PROLOGUE

Every one of us has had something to do with fantasy creatures at some point of our lives. Undoubtedly our parents have told us bedtime stories in which the good wins over the evil, the princess gets the prince, they ride together to the sunset and live happily ever after. At a bonfire, our friends might have told us stories with bodies possessing aliens, werewolves and demonic vampires.

Since we were little, we've been assured that no supernatural beings exist. We've been told that there's no boogie man under our beds and that the fear of the dark is pointless. Well, the truth was different. The fear of darkness was expected, because plenty of blood thirsty beasts were lurking in its shadows. Especially vampires, those blood-craving, statuesquely beautiful beasts have always captivated people, some of them even wanted to be like them and bemoaned, because they were just a figment of imagination of some creative genius.

These people were completely wrong. Vampires weren't beautiful or elegant, they were cold beasts that kill with demonic shine in their eyes, including everything they used to love. In hopes of eternal life people must've felt longing towards the bloodsuckers but eternal life was nothing to be jealous about. In the long run you'd end up watching how everyone close to you die one by one, until you end up all alone, and for what? Hundreds of innocent people would be dead, just so you can keep your demons happy. Of course you could convert someone to be like you and get a companion but would you really wish that kind mockery of a life to someone else? I think not, a vampire's life is cruel and lonely.

However, this wasn't what the people were irreversibly wrong about because vampires had existed just as long as people had. They had been wreaking havoc. There were times when their numbers were greater and times when their were fewer, but still a group of those descendants of the devil, have risen, precisely when the people have started to think the fear is gone and the creatures are becoming mythical again, even in the minds of the more sophisticated.

Why haven't the vampires never overpowered the people, and become the rulers of the world? The reason is simple. It's thanks to the fearless, strong willed and strong people, who were ready to sacrifice their own lives to save innocent people: The Vampire Slayers. They have existed just as long as their preys have and they had the endless respect from country leaders and the few layman that knew of the bloodsuckers existence.

Their profession is hereditary, mandatory and you couldn't retire. The training began very early and even very young children were taught to handle a dagger and knifes, as well as to master basic martial arts and self-defence. Each slayer appreciated their jobs and considered their job to be socially important. A job, without which the world as we know it, would fall apart. Which was true in a way.

There were three respected slayer families: the Zacs', the Waters' and the Rouseau’'s. The most respected, with the most eventful chronicle of them was the Zacs family. Each of the meaningful members had more and more darker secrets, that didn't bear daylight and in the worst case could turn out to be lethal. There is a strong hierarchy within the families, the one with the more killings than the other was more respected and had more power in the council, which decided on all the operations and on the sentences of all the rule breakers.

There's only one reported scandal in the respected circles of the vampire slayers, or at least that is the only one that the chronicle writers are aware of, if there have been others they have been able to keep them a secret. The scandal was especially juicy because it was committed by someone who was thought to became the new leader of the family, when the current patriarch, a greatly respected iron lady, Evelynne would pass away. Cecily Zacs was one of the most successful vampire slayers. Bloodsuckers whispered her name with fear, fellow slayers looked up to her and wanted to be like her. Nowadays, if you mention her name, you'll only get spiteful looks and weird shivers as a response. What happened? What made the most respected, If not pedestal raised slayer to become the most despicable person. The family's black sheep? This is the story of Cecily Zacs.

CHAPTER 1

Two pairs of delicate feet were running on a gravel road as quiet as possible, both covered in skillet leather boots. One pair was wearing dark brown boots and the other black with staples. The legs with the black boots stopped and swooped their owner around, while she took a dagger from her belt.

The one with the brown boots quickly reacted to her companion's draw and pulled her own dagger. The blades clashed together, their feet moved in sync and it seemed like they had began a beautiful dance. A dance, whose choreography was enriched by swerves, jabs and tackles. It was like they were able to perfectly foresee each other's movements, like they had been inside each other's heads. If this had been a sparring match, they would've used only daggers or at least set some ground rules. However, life isn't fair, so this didn't have to be either. Besides, they had been taught to take the rehearsals seriously, because then they are truly useful. The girl with the black boots kicked the other one to the stomach, while avoiding a dagger hit. The first kick was followed by another kick and soon she was laying in the ground. A black boot settled on top of the other girl's chest an her delicate hand reached to point the other girl in the chest.

The girl with an upper hand had an amused grin on her face and her emerald green eyes were sparkling as a exact copy of her own face were staring back at her just as happy. Their eyes weren't the only combining factor of the girls, their features, body build and long red hair did as well. Their clothing was similar too: black jeans, t-shirt, leather jacket and boots. Only the colour of the jacket and boots separated these two girls from each other

- Do you give up? The black booted asked with joyful laughter.

- I do, the brown booted said with a twinkle in her eye.

A hand with blood-red nails grabbed the hand with turquoise coloured nails to help her up.

- A true slayer never does, she sneered.

The brown booted grabbed her sister by the waist and threw her to the ground with ease, after all they had trained their strength and speed to keep their lives since childhood.

- Who says I give up for real? She laughed.

- You're devious Gloria.

- I've learned from the best.

Cecily swiftly twisted herself from the ground and wiped the dirt from her clothes, with a smile on her face. Gloria had always been glib, but her reaction speed and ability to read people was significantly worse than her sister's. Cecily had tried to teach these skills to Gloria and highlight their importance, but it seemed to be in vain. Gloria wasn't as good at hiding her feelings as her big sister either, who was known as the ice queen, and Cecily was afraid that these factors would be the death of her dear sister.

-Has Joey informed you of any patrols coming?

-No, any new bloodsucker groups to kill haven't appeared, and the individual ones haven't drawn attention of any layman.

Cecily tied her red hair in a loose bun and started walking along the road, towards the pub nearby, which had became their local, sort of.

-Shall we go to Alex's pub?

The twins were only seventeen, but they had been drinking heavily for three years already, especially Cecily. No wonder, considering the line of work the Zacs were doing. The slayer training was intense, rehearsals at the family's headquarters in France started at the age of two along with the theory studies. The children were forced to join the older slayers at the age of five, to learn and to understand what the job was really like. Discipline, methodicalness, punctuality, respect and most of all heartlessness had been highlighted in the upbringing of the Zacs children. Cess hadn't minded the training herself or considered her job as too brutal, as she had always been a bit different. However, she had never liked the theory, apart from studying about healing herbs and first aid, because she understood that those were extremely vital in terms of survival. Even though she didn't consider her job as harsh, the losses and injuries on the field have got her to grab the bottle a bit too much and too often.

Her job wasn't the only why she occasionally wanted to get drunk, though. The redhead was also escaping her family life. Besides Gloria, Cess had five siblings. Her eldest brother had severe schizophrenia, the youngest Lena had serious depression and she had tried to kill herself a couple of times. These days her mother was completely withdrawn, lived in her own world and making contact with her was virtually impossible.

Mentioning her father was pointless if she was in the room. The redhead had always been a daddy's girl but when she was nine something terrible happened. Oliver Zacs was ambushed by vampires. Even though Oliver was a strong, professionally acknowledged man, he was powerless when confronted by a massive group of vampires. A pair of fangs plunged in to the neck of a great man. The heart in his chest stopped beating and became lifeless. The worst part was that according to the their knowledge, none of them had actually killed Oliver, he just vanished. The thought that her beloved father was now one of the filthy monsters, chilled her heart and made her hate vampires even more than before.

CHAPTER 2

The girls arrived at the pub, where the bartender already knew their orders: Cess usually wanted a double scotch, Gloria mostly preferred tequila. They sat to the stools in front of the bar, and it wasn't long before Cecily heard footsteps from behind her.

- Guess who? Asked a low male voice with an Italian accent, while his hands covered the slayer's eyes.

Cess smirked. She could recognise that voice in her sleep. Oscar, her scoundrel boyfriend, who didn’t understand the meaning of a relationship. Commitment seemed to be a completely unknown concept to him. Nobody understood why she was still with him, though everyone knew that the young Italian, chased everything with a skirt, Cess didn't either. Supposedly, it was because she wanted something normal into her life. Her life of hunting monsters, the constant moving and the trips that it brought couldn't be called normal even by a village idiot.

- Oscar, haven't you learned, that surprising me is impossible? She laughed and turned around on the stool.

He looked at her with his dark blue eyes, behind his slightly eyes covering hair and took her face to his hands. Their lips found their counterparts and strong hands circled her fine body as if to