The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(2)

Fear grasped me like a cold hand around my throat. I would not just hide in my closet and let him try to kill my mother. I threw open the door and flew out of the closet to face her attackers.

“No!”

I think I may have actually scared them a little, because every person in the room jumped. After the initial shock, my mother’s eyes widened in disappointment and that man—Eli—his lips curled up into a smile.

I could put a face with the voice. He was about six feet tall with dark brown hair and cutting green eyes. The weird part was that he looked like he was about eighteen years old. The thought briefly passed through my head that I could take him. That thought was immediately crossed off the list when I got a good look behind him. There were about five other guys and one woman standing just outside my door.

I bit my lip and wished I had stayed in the closet.

“There she is!” Eli declared. “James!”

Suddenly, James was behind me and grasping both my arms hard enough to restrain me. Really, it didn’t take much, because his hands were like iron vices. My mother lunged forward with her arms extended out toward me.

“No!” she shouted. “You cannot have her!”

The dark-haired man thrust his arm forward and sent her flying across the room with one hit. I struggled against James’s grip.

“Let me go! Mom! Mom, are you okay?” I repeated over and over again.

I was scared to death, but I wasn’t going to let them hurt my mom. I watched my mom slowly get up and brush her long dark hair away from her eyes. When I saw her eyes, I felt a rush of power. My mother looked vicious. I had never before seen such determination in her. She took two slow steps forward while Eli appeared to wait for her, and then she rushed him.

“Mom, no!” I called out.

But she didn’t hear me, or she ignored me. She was on him, pounding away with tight clean punches. He simply grabbed her by the back of her pajamas and yanked her off. He threw her to the ground mercilessly, and that’s when I saw my mother do something amazing: She was on her back staring up at him, and then she hopped to her feet without using her arms. Lightning fast, her hand struck out and grabbed my desk chair. She smashed it over his head.

He threw his leg forward and sideways, knocking her feet out from under her so that she fell to the floor.

“Now this is more like the Felicia we used to know, the one with fight!”

In an instant she was up and snagged one of the busted chair legs off the floor on her way. With a quick spin for distraction and then a lunge, my mom did something I never would have imagined: She staked the man.

He laughed at her.

I was so freaked out by the whole situation I couldn’t say a word. Shock ate through my body, making my fingers and toes tingle like they were asleep. My head throbbed, and it looked like a fog was rolling into my room.

Yes, he had laughed at her, and then he pulled the stake out. “Felicia, you should know enough to know that you have to get under our ribs. This little piece of wood could never penetrate our bones.”

He grabbed her by the hair, and she screamed in pain. He twisted her around until her back was against his chest and the stake was poised above her heart.

“Chloe, look at me!” she demanded. “No matter what happens, you always remember that I did everything for you. I did what I had to do to give you a good life.” She paused and twisted her neck to look up at the scary, dark-haired man with the smooth voice, and she nodded. Then, with a final look back at me, she whispered her last words, “I love you, Chloe.”

He shoved the chair leg into her heart and snapped her neck at the same time. Instantly, her body fell lifeless in his arms. Blood seeped out of the wound and bloomed like a flower around the chair leg protruding from her heart, staining the pale blue silk almost black. In the distance, I heard myself scream. James kept his grip on my arms while my legs kicked at his. I even tried to bash the back of my head into his face, but he was too tall for it to be effective. I ended up thumping it into his hard chest.

Eli turned to me with my mother still in his arms.

“Shut up!” he snapped and carelessly threw my mother’s body onto the floor.

I did stop screaming, but only because I wanted to tell that bastard off. I felt so scared and helpless, but for some reason, I knew I was going to live through this. My voice cracked from all the screaming, so I’m sure I didn’t sound serious at all, but I told him anyway, “If it is the last thing I ever do, I will kill you for what you just did. I swear to god.”

He casually wiped my mother’s blood from his hands with one of the towels I had left on my desk from when I had showered before bed. “It’s not nice to swear, Chloe. Now let’s take you to your father.”

I swung my leg up and kicked out at him. “I’m not going anywhere with you! And I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. My father died before I was born.”

Eli sighed. “Of course he did. Let’s go, James.”

He waved his hand, and those who had stood by doing absolutely nothing while my mother was murdered in front of me made way for him to pass. James dragged me along behind him, and they followed.

Even though I was sure I was going to live—only because Eli said Trevor wanted me—I certainly wasn’t expecting a rescue. I was trying to figure out a way to escape when we reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs. The front door burst open, and people filed in.