Prologue: She's the Man
...Avalynn...
Ava rushes to her car, throwing her cap into the passenger seat when she gets it unlocked. Her black 1972 C/K Chevy truck grumbles to life. She pulls it into reverse and practically guns it out of the parking garage. As the truck rolls down the street, Ava's cell phone rings for the tenth time.
"Hello?" She rushes to get the words out.
"Avalynn! Please hurry! It's beginning to attract humans," a child's voice sounds through the phone.
"Shit, okay. Just stay safe honey."
Her eyes catch sight of two red hats in an alley. She slams on her brakes and parks haphazardly next to the sidewalk. Ava throws open her truck door and swings around to pull her blade from behind the seat, her gown billowing from the force. She stalks over to the two Redcaps and pulls on the back of their shirts. Both are soaked in blood. Her lip curls in disgust.
Redcaps are basically gnome-like creatures. Some range from two to three feet while others are well over six feet. Redcaps earned their name because of the caps on their head. The caps become red by being stained by all the blood spilt once a Redcap reaches puberty. From then on, the cap becomes permanently red because they always find something to kill. They come from Irish folklore, used to scare children into bed and keep them to a curfew.
It appeared that this Redcap clan was the former, as both Redcaps looked to be three feet tall. Ava pulled both apart and placed herself between them.
"And what the hell do you think you're doing, little girl?" His sharp teeth were bared.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Ava snaps. "You guys are attracting the humans! Is that what you want?" She says in a hiss, her lips curling at the sight of their bright red caps.
"You have no business being here girl. Just because you're Nephilim," he hisses this word, "doesn't mean you get to insert yourself wherever you want," Redcap Two states.
"I have a right to stop you two from exposing our world to the humans. Now, which one of you is going to tell me what the fuck both of you are doing?"
"We're deciding the new alpha of our clan. Now let us continue here," Redcap One snaps, coming dangerously close to her hand.
"Sorry, but you'll have to go somewhere else to finish this," Ava responds, knowing they won't accept her proposal.
"Fuck this," Two says. He moves quicker than a human eye could catch and bites into her arm.
Ava yelps and brings her other hand with her blessed blade up and slashes his face. Two grunts and pulls away, bringing some of her flesh with him. One reaches out to slash her leg. She moves quickly but not fast enough to escape one sharp claw down her calf.
She spins around and shoves Two at One. They weren't expecting it and she moves quickly to slash at Two's back. She doesn't want to kill him, just get him away from her. Her graduation gown billows out around her, almost distracting. Her blade comes back around to slash at Two again. He spins to her and bares his teeth. Expecting him to attack, she holds her knife in front of her, her stance widening. He decides to retreat instead, carefully pulling to the side.
As soon as Two leaves, One is in his place. He pulls her arm and she stumbles. He slashes at Ava's stomach. At such a close range, Ava knows that it'll scar. She grimaces and grabs his neck. She squeezes until he lets go. Ava pulls him up and shoves him into the back wall.
"Now, you two can go fight somewhere else and I'll stay out of your business," Ava says. A shimmer at the end of the alley indicates a newcomer.
"I'm afraid they can't do that."
Ava's head whips around to look at the newcomer. His ghost is barely visible.
"And why the hell not?"
"You've won the challenge. You're the new Redcap alpha of the Washington Clan." The ghost appears to be the old Redcap leader.
"That's not what I meant to do. I was just trying to keep them from exposing us."
"Well, it's what happened. So, they are yours to command now," he states with a bow. His ghost shimmers again and leaves. She knows he hasn't crossed yet but leaves it out of her mind.
Ava looks back at One and slowly releases him. He falls to his knees and bows. Two follows. Once she looks over the alley, she notices more Redcaps coming out from shadowed nooks and crannies. They all bow to her.
"Well, shit.”