Chapter 1: Welcome to Demon Hunter Prep Academy

6 Weeks Later

Nancy's POV

Nancy picked up her suitcase the cab driver handed her, asking her again if she needed help with carrying her things. She told him no, and he was on his way rather quickly. Looking up at the school above her, Nancy began to grow angry yet again at her circumstances for being here. After her run in with the black eyed man, Nancy spent two weeks in the hospital recovering, and was left with a nasty scar on her neck in the shape of two jagged crescent moons. They were still a pinkish red, not fully healed yet, but still there. Nancy took to wearing a scarves to hide the scar, currently opting for a green turtle neck sweater due to the cold winds.

Blood still boiling in anger from the thought of having to go to school again at the age of 25, fueled Nancy's nerves to walk up the pathway towards the school, which wasn't as steep as she thought it would be. Nancy thought back to the events two weeks ago, that still left a nasty taste in her mouth. Her mother who raised her by herself from the young age of 4, was not her biological mother. At the age of 25, Nancy's most pertinent worry was saving enough money to enroll at a university and study theater. She had graduated from the local community college with an associate's degree, and was a secretary at a middle school across the street from a high school where her mother taught Biology.

To add more kindling to the fire, Nancy learns that her father Taro Hatoko, was not a teacher of sciences at a remote town in Arizona, but was actually a demon hunter who hunted demons all over the South West of America. Demon. Hunter. As in someone who hunts demons. Demons are real. That's what attacked her in the alley 6 weeks ago, and that's why she came to this school. Her father was a demon hunter who also had the magical gift of teleportation. Apparently all demon hunters and even their children had magical gifts-except for a few. The Norms, as other demon hunters called them. Which was what Nancy was, a Norm.

Her mother pleaded to have Nancy go to this academy where young adults learn to harness their gifts-or lack thereof-and hunt demons. Nancy's mother also dropped the news that her biological mother was the headmistress of the academy. Her mother was also a demon hunter, one of the bests, and now she taught young adults to become just as good as her. Nancy had yet to meet her mother, but she was going to today. Nancy wasn't sure what to say to her, or how to act-since it didn't feel real yet. Her mother was Lucy Garnett, and that was the end of it. Willie Andrews gave her up a few weeks after she was born. And her father too gave her up when he realized he had a Norm on his hands. Lucy is the one the fed her, cared for her and loved her. Lucy would always remain Nancy's mother.

I thought I had to worry about saving money to go back to college at this age, not learning how to kill demons. But Nancy thought about how the demon almost killed her-if it weren't for the demon hunter that saved her, Nancy wouldn't be walking up this path today. She had to admit she felt some kind of security now that she was going to train to hunt demons. But her hands still shivered from fright when she laid in bed at night wondering if a demon would burst through her door and finish her life for good.

A large black metal gate that was currently open, showed Nancy where to walk in. To her left stood a three story building that looked a bit too modern for the area. The closest town was about fifteen miles away and had a population of 2,000 people. At Nancy's right was a large grass courtyard, and straight ahead was a rather large water fountain, with three large copper mermaids at its center. Nancy headed to her left, to the large three story building that had a name placard noting it was the Offices and Training Center.

Nancy walked into the doorway, swinging the heavy glass doors open, and walking into a tiled entryway. Two students walked by Nancy and looked at her, one waived and the other walked over.

"Hello, are you a new student?" the young lady asked Nancy.

"Yes, I'm looking for the headmistress' office, can you show me where it is?" Nancy asked, putting on a friendly smile.

"Sure, come follow me," the lady said, waving her classmate away, who continued on her way. "I'm Grace, nice to meet you." Nancy took Grace's outstretched hand and shook it.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Nancy." Grace smiled in return, and they both walked to a staircase, and up to the third level of the building. Nancy had to hold her suitcase tight to her body to avoid having it bump against the stairs. She wondered why they didn't have an elevator, to save her the trouble of lugging her heavy luggage of six flights of stairs. They then walked down a tiled hallway and stopped at one of the doors to the right, that had a sign sticking out adjacent to the top of the door, noting it was Ms. Andrews office.

"Well here you go, I got to go since I'm late to practice. See you around campus," Grace says before leaving Nancy at the doorway. Nancy then knocks on the door, and enters the office, noting a secretary's office first and then yet another door that leads to Ms. Andrew's office.

"You must be Nancy G. is that right?"

"Yes, Nancy Garnett," Nancy tells the secretary whose name sign reads 'Joy'.

"I'm Joy, nice to meet you," Joy says, her curly blonde hair bouncing with every move she makes. "I'll let the headmistress know you here."

"Thanks," Nancy tells Joy and then rolls her things over to one of the seats in the waiting area, debating in her mind whether to sit down when she meets her mother or stand up.

"She's ready to see you," Joy says after opening the door to Ms. Andrews office. Joy stands aside and then motions for her to enter and Nancy does. Walking through the door, Nancy's eyes immediately go to Ms. Andrews who surprisingly looks very similar to her own mother. Dad sure had a type didn't he, Nancy thought to herself.

Willie glanced up at Nancy from her paperwork and motioned for her to sit down, her eyes returning to her paperwork. Nancy sat down and stared at Willie, taking in her features, noticing how smooth her dark brown skin looked, how she wore her thick coarse hair in a professional twist. This woman was about 17 years older than Nancy, and she was her biological mother.

"Welcome to the academy," Willie said, her voice deep and cool. "I'm Ms. Andrews the headmistress of DHPA."

"I'm Nancy Garnett," Nancy replied, her voice going cold in response to Willie's very own coldness.

"So I understand you were attacked by a demon six weeks ago, and now you plan to enroll here to learn how to hunt demons is that right?" Willie asks Nancy while pulling out slips of paper from a folder, her eyes focused on her hands.

"Yes," Nancy bit out, holding back anger.

"But you have no powers whatsoever?" Willie asks, her bright brown eyes piercing Nancy's.

"No, I thought you knew all of this?" Nancy asks, angst starting to paint her voice a nasty color.

Willie's eyes lift up from her papers to land on Nancy's. "I do. I'm just hoping you'll change your mind once you realize that your circumstances aren't... favorable towards you." Willie says her attention going back to the papers in front of her.

"What do you suppose I do, put a stamp on my head that reads demon jerky?" Nancy asks, rage clearly present in the atmosphere now.

"Nothing so drastic as such," Willie replies calmly.

"Well I'm here. I'm here to stay," Nancy shoots back.

"We'll see how long that lasts," Willie responds her eyes going back to Nancy. Willie then goes to her cell phone to dial a number, and places it up to her ear. "Mr. Giles, I need you to report to my office as soon as possible thank you." Willie hangs up and then goes back to the papers on her desk. "Wait here, Mr. Giles your trainer will arrive in five minutes to speak with us."

Nancy studies her, while trying to hold in the nasty words she wants to say. She decides to remain silent instead of saying anything at all. Not wanting to just sit there though, she pulls out her own cell phone and starts to play a trivia game, hoping to pass the time by quickly. True to her word, Mr. Giles knocked on the door five minutes later.

"Come in Mr. Giles," Willie says in response.

Nancy looked up at the man that entered the room, putting her phone back in her pants pocket. He seemed tall, definitely Asian, and had dark black hair that was slightly wavy.

"Ms. Andrews," Mr. Giles said to Willie.

"Mr. Giles, this is Nancy Garnett, she'll be under your tutelage as she has absolutely no powers to speak of, and no experience with demons of the sort."

"Well I was attacked six weeks ago-"

"I'm requesting that I not add this unnecessary task to my workload," Mr. Giles interrupts Nancy. Nancy then glares at Mr. Giles. Willie only shakes her head once in response.

"No. While this task is ... troublesome. It needs to be done. It's temporary for now until we find a more permanent solution. She's rooming with Farrah Lawson." Willie then leans back in her desk and stares down at Mr. Giles from her seat, even though she's sitting and he's standing. Mr. Giles then nods his head once and then looks to Nancy. He motions for her to follow him and she gets up giving Willie one last glance, even though her eyes have once again returned to her paperwork.

Nancy follows Mr. Giles out of the headmistress' office and retrieves her luggage, waving goodbye to Joy who smiles at her brightly. Mr. Giles walks briskly, which leaves Nancy with a quick gait that looks like she's almost jogging to keep up.

"Can you slow down please?" Nancy asks. "It's hard for me to keep up." Mr. Giles stops walking and looks down at Nancy from the side of his eyes and then proceeds to walk slower. "Thanks." Nancy then fixes her backpack on her shoulders and gets a better grip on her suitcase handle and starts to roll it down the hallway, following Mr. Giles closely. This time they go to the elevator which Grace seemed to completely ignore earlier.

"Where are we going right now?" Nancy asks Mr. Giles.

"The dorms, so you can drop off your things," Mr. Giles says glancing at me through the sides of his eyes and then looking straight forward at the glossy metal doors. The doors opened and Giles started walking out of the building, Nancy following closely. After they passed the water fountain, and a second one with an angel spitting out water through a horn-a young woman stopped Giles.

"Hello Mr. Giles, I was wondering if you'd be leading a group of students on a demon run next week?" She asks him, holding her hands in front of her nervously. She completely ignored Nancy's presence, which made Nancy feel like Mr. Giles was one of the more impressionable male figures on campus.

"No Rachel. Your teacher Mr. Archer will be doing the run with you. I only did the one last month because he was busy with family affairs," Mr. Giles made the move to continue walking but stopped when Rachel placed a hand on his shoulder. He raised an eyebrow at her when he turned back to her.

"I hope you do one again, your skills are amazing out in the field," Rachel says with a bright smile. Nancy tries to refrain from rolling her eyes at the amount of flirt Rachel is putting out. Rachel then looks at Nancy briefly before saying, "See you around campus." She then saunters away, her tight jeans, tight enough to show off that she was most likely wearing bikini briefs underneath them. Mr. Giles however seemed uninterested and was already walking past the building labeled cafeteria, which held large windows from floor to ceiling. Nancy looked inside to see several long tables inside where some students sat and ate breakfast meals.

"Here we are, these are the dorms. The side you see right now is the boys side." They walked for a few more moments, and came to a second building. "And this is the girls dorms. You're located in Room 33." Mr. Giles then turned and looked Nancy over, pausing on suitcase. "It seems you packed light-are you expecting to stay here long?"

"As long as it takes, so that I can protect myself," Nancy replies trying to keep her nerves calm.

Mr. Giles shakes his head and grins, "Go put your things up and meet me in the training center in 20 minutes. I'll be in room 5B." Mr. Giles then turns around and walks away, sparing no glance back at Nancy.

Nancy then enters the girls dorms and goes to her room which is on the second level. She finds her door number and knocks before entering. Farrah Lawson, the girl that is Nancy's roommate is inside, but with another student too, making out. Nancy has to cough in order for them to stop and look up at her. Farrah then clears her throat before getting up and waving at Nancy. The boy only nods his head in her direction before getting up and leaving the room.

"Hi, I'm Farrah," she says to Nancy, holding out a hand to shake hers. Nancy plops her suitcase on the empty bed that doesn't contain shirts and bras all over it.

"I'm Nancy, nice to meet you." Nancy then shakes Farrah's hand. Farrah looks Nancy up and down and smiles at her.

"I'm a Level 1 student, also ... your cousin," Farrah says the second part more quietly.

"Really?" Nancy asks wondering exactly how they're related.

"Yes. Ms. Andrews is my Aunt. Her brother is my father," Farrah says. "Although I hope you don't go around telling everyone we're related to the headmistress. It's not exactly a public thing you know."

"Yeah, sure. That's totally fine." Nancy says in return as she sits on the bed she put her suitcase on. She starts to look around the room and notices that Farrah's side of the room is chaos. Posters everywhere the eye can see litter the walls, as well as fuchsia colors. Pink lamp, pink bedding, pink rug, pink notebooks, and... a pink set of nun-chucks.

"That was Tomas by the way, my boyfriend. He's one of the seven level 4 students at the school," Farrah says as she goes to her closet and goes through it, taking out a jacket to put on. "I've got to head over to the library for an assignment, but I'll see you again soon OK?" Nancy smiles and nods at her, and Farrah leaves the room, closing the door shut behind herself.

Nancy then unlocks her suitcase and opens up her backpack to take out her laptop to put on her desk, which is mostly empty minus a pink pencil. She picks the pencil up and places it on Farrah's desk and then takes out several of her clothes. After putting up her things, she then places her suitcase at the top of her closet shelf and then puts her backpack in her empty chair before changing into her black sweat pants that are school issued. She then puts on the school issued white tee shirt and black sweat jacket zipping it up to her neck. When she glanced in the mirror over her desk she realized her scar was visible on her neck, so she then got out one of her five scarf's, this one red and tied it around her neck to hide the scar. Glancing at her clock, Nancy then rushes out of her room, closing it shut behind her and then goes into the hallway, noticing it's empty. She then goes back the way she came, spotting cameras on the ceilings.

Nancy enters the training center less than five minutes later and walks over to the elevator to press floor 2. When she makes it to the training room, Nancy knocks once and enters. Inside the room is no one, but a note on the wall next to a bucket of all purpose cleaning spray and a towel. The note says to clean down the mats and equipment against the wall. That's it. Nancy crumbles the note up and throws it on the floor before grabbing the spray and towel.

The training room is sparse, it has a polished cement floor, the walls are bare except for padding, and several weight machines in one corner, as well as mats, piled five feet tall. Nancy noticed the cameras in this room and starts to wonder who is watching the students so closely like this. The headmistress? Nancy sighs and starts to spray down the mat on the top of the pile and wipe it down.

It takes about thirty minutes for Nancy to finish the mats before she moves on to the equipment, which only takes ten minutes to wipe down. After doing her task, she then drops the note in the bucket as well as the towel and spray. She then heads out of the training room and heads back to her dorm. Instead of going the same way, Nancy goes a different route, and winds up finding a basket ball court behind the dorms.

Seeing a basket with basketballs Nancy jogs over to the basket and gets a basketball, excited to practice. She'd been a basket ball player in middle and high school. She wasn't MVP material, but she sure did support her team with her glorious three point shots. After making her third successful shot from the half court line. A girl appeared out of thin air right in front of Nancy. The girl flips some hair over her shoulder as she stares down at Nancy. Nancy was rather short, another reason she wasn't MVP material.

"I'm Aliah. Want to play a game?"