The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(17)

I woke the next morning certain our visit from Sostrate had been a dream. My gaze drifted over to the chair where I had propped the bow and quiver. Sure enough, they were still there, looking as normal as if I had bought them at a sporting goods store instead of from our demi-goddess ancestor.

I sighed and rolled over. It was still Christmas vacation. I didn’t have to go to school, but I still had to train every day. I lay there for so long I knew Drew was downstairs pacing the living room, waiting for me. I threw back the covers and let the cold air touch my bare legs for a minute before I forced myself to get up and throw on a pair of black yoga pants with a tank top and hoodie. I pulled my hair into a crude ponytail, put on a windbreaker over the hoodie and headed downstairs.

As I had suspected, Drew was pacing the living room while the news blared in the background. “Turn that down or you’re going to wake up Luke. It’s still early.”

Drew rolled his eyes at me and clicked off the TV. “There were six robberies within a four-block radius last night. All the people in the homes died, their throats slit,” he announced and then continued his pacing.

“Does that mean you’re going on mission?” I called from the kitchen where I had gone for a bottle of water.

“Yeah, but probably not until tonight.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe how bad this is getting, so close together.”

I wandered back into the living room “How do you know it's vampires doing it?”

Drew grabbed his own water bottle and shoved it into his back pack. “Lots of vampires cut the throats of their victims to make it look like a murder. A murder by a human. You ready?”

I nodded, and we took off.

Running through the snow sucks big time. On my list of things I hate most about training, running in the snow was probably in the top three. Apparently it was of the utmost importance to learn to run in the elements, because I might have to chase a vampire through the snow or something.

While we ran, Drew veered off into the trails. The snow was actually not as deep in the forest, so we crunched over the icy layer on top of the soil. We were deep in the forest when I began to really detest the slippery ground.

It had become my habit to push through it when I felt this way. I dug in and ran faster. I breathed in deep with my nose and exhaled long with my mouth, forcing the fatigue out of my body. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest, pounding rapidly as the blood pulsed throughout my body.

I dipped my head down and sped up again, passing Drew who jumped a little bit when I did. I smiled with triumph when I passed him, because the whole time I had been running and training with Drew, I had never, ever passed him.

I kept thinking about the ice melting beneath my feet and the soles of my shoes touching the earth beneath it. My feet felt like they were on fire.

“Chloe…”

I heard my name, but I didn’t stop because I didn’t want to give him the chance to pass me again. I had the lead.

“Chloe!” He called again. “Stop!”

I skidded to a halt when his shout carried that tone I had come to know as warning. I turned to face him. “What? What is it?”

He only pointed. I looked down at my feet and there were small flames flickering around my shoes.

“What the—” I jumped back and shook one of my feet. “Ah, what is this?” I turned quickly and stuck my foot into one of the snow banks on the side of the trail. Nothing happened; the flames only melted a gigantic hole where I had plunged it into the bank.

“Stop it!” I screamed, shaking my foot again. The flames immediately went out on both shoes.

“Oh, my god. What was that?” I panted and looked up at Drew, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was staring down the trail that we had just run.

I followed his gaze and saw why he was staring down the trail like an idiot. The path was clear. Where I had run, the snow was gone and the earth beneath had been exposed.

“Drew, how…wha…?”

“You melted the snow, Chloe.”

“No! My shoes were on fire!” I hollered at him. “My. Shoes. Were. On. Fire!” I punctuated every word to make sure he heard me.

He turned to look at me and awe was clearly written across his face. “I think you have the gift of fire.”

“Whatever. I’m not even sixteen yet.”

“It doesn’t matter. How else can you explain what just happened? What were you thinking about?”

I was still panting, not because I was tired, but because I was scared. My freaking feet had caught fire. “That the ice would melt. That I hated running in the snow.”

He nodded knowingly. “See, it’s your gift.”

“I don’t know. I think it’s some kind of freak accident.”

“Can you do it again?”

“I don’t think so.” More like I didn’t want to try again.

“Come on, try again.” He glanced all around us, looking for something. Finally, his eyes settled on a tree. “If you don’t want to set your shoes on fire again, do that tree.”

“Drew, I am not setting fire to a tree.”

“Come on.” He was practically begging. I couldn’t stand seeing him look like that. He was usually so confident and had this whole ‘whatever, I’m just gonna stand here and look awesome’ attitude going on.