The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(34)

“Oh, man. Does it hurt?”

I set my stuff on the table. “Nah, not really.”

I took the bandage off so I could inspect the damage now that it wasn’t bleeding. “What the…”

There was no cut on my finger.

Gavin looked worried. “What? What is it?”

“It’s gone.” Shocked, I stared down at my finger. “I know I didn’t imagine it. Look at the bandage.”

I held it out and, sure enough, the bandage had a dark brown blood stain on the white pad.

“It healed already.”

I could still see a faint white line where the cut had been, like a new scar.

“This is freaking me out,” I told him.

“Sometimes hunters have quick healing. It just depends on the hunter.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense.” Unless that hunter is also half vampire. Then maybe it’s her vampire half coming through. Maybe that was what was going on with my eyes, too. “Well, in any case, it’s better now. Should we get started?”

He ran his fingers over his dark hair and grinned. “Let’s do it.”

We got to work and stood side by side to fire at the targets. I was a better shot than Gavin. I don’t think he really liked that much, even though he pretended to. I was better than him even with my cast on, which surprised me.

“Damn, Chloe. Your aim is impeccable.”

“Yeah, I’m gifted,” I told him.

He thought I was joking, but I was serious. Marksmanship was one of my gifts. After we shot for about half an hour, we both needed to rest our arms. We sat at the table and sipped on our cold coffee.

“Gavin, are both your parents hunters?” I asked him. I wanted to get to know him better because I suddenly realized that, aside from being the hot popular guy, I didn’t know anything about him.

“Yeah, they are both hunters. I was born right here in this community and have been here my whole life.”

“Do you have gifts? I heard that some of the hunters eventually develop, like, powers or special abilities around our age.”

His eyes narrowed and he stared at me through the slits. “Why do you ask?”

I shrugged. “I’m just wondering, I’m getting to the age where I would inherit gifts and was wondering what kind of gifts other hunters developed.”

“Well?” I raised my eyebrows in question.

“I am one of the few of us hunters who is elementally gifted.”

“Elements, like air, earth, water and fire?”

He nodded. “Exactly like that, except that I can only control water.”

Wow. Water.

“You said control. Can you create water?”

“No, I can only control what already exists.”

“Are there people who can create elements… like, um… fire?”

He shrugged. “I suppose there are. I don't think we have any hunters left who are fire elementals. Any who did have it probably passed away long ago. Some of the elders might know better, though.”

I was extremely curious. From what I'd read at the library and from being observant and watching the community, I'd learned that most of the hunters who had elemental powers could only control them, not create them. I was a fire starter who could create fire from nothing. I hadn't heard anything about other hunters being able to do something like that.

Then I thought about how odd it was that Gavin and I were basically opposites: fire and water.

“Will you show me something you can do with water?”

He grinned. “Maybe… when we leave.” He looked down at his cup, which was empty. “It must be hard, coming into our world and knowing nothing about it.”

“Yeah, but I’m learning. I do a lot of research at the library, and Drew helps me a lot.”

At the mention of Drew’s name, Gavin narrowed his eyes and set his jaw. I just ignored it, figuring it was because of the fight.

“Let’s go over to the other side and work with guns for a little bit,” I suggested.

“All right.” He stood from the table and gathered his things. I did the same and threw my cup in the garbage.

After we spent another half an hour at the shooting range, my arm was aching beneath the cast.

“I think I need to quit,” I told him.

“Getting sore?”

“Yeah, but I think it’s good that I practiced with the cast on. I was worried about how it would affect my shooting.”

“Seems it hasn’t,” he said.

I thought I detected a bit of jealousy in his tone.

He quickly changed the subject. “Hey, that’s a nice bow and quiver.”

“Thanks,” I told him, totally not wanting to go into where I’d gotten it and hoping he wouldn’t ask.

“Where did you get them?”

Crap. Figures.

“My, uh…Luke gave them to me. They were my grandmother’s.”

Well, they kind of were, so it was only a little lie.

He reached out and touched the carvings on the quiver, running his fingers over them. “They fit you.”

I blushed. I don’t know why. “Thank you.”

He lowered his hand. “Let’s go.”

We headed back toward Main Street, both of us saying nothing. We were almost there when Gavin veered off toward the trails.