The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(35)

“Where are we going?”

“Come on. You said you wanted a demonstration of the water element.”

“Oh, cool.” I followed him through the trails until we reached a clearing where a tiny stream ran into a rather quaint little pond. Oddly enough, the pond wasn’t frozen. Perhaps it wasn’t cold enough.

“This is pretty,” I told him.

He just nodded and said nothing while he set down his bow and backpack on a large old tree stump. I watched while he turned toward the pond and narrowed his eyes.

“Look at the water, Chloe, not at me.”

“Oh.” I changed direction quickly.

The stream poured out of the woods and into the pond with gently running ripples of water. I almost didn’t notice when the water in the center of the pond began to swirl. The swirling gradually picked up speed and grew larger until it looked like a whirlpool. But whirlpools go downward into the water. This whirlpool began to rise up out of the water. It rose up maybe six feet and then the water spilled over from the top like a fountain. I glanced at Gavin. He stood stock still, silent, his eyes focused on the water.

Slowly, the swirling fountain of water receded back into the pond. I stood there, enthralled by the magic Gavin could do with his power.

“You’re amazing,” I whispered to him.

“No,” he shook his head, “I’m not amazing. I can just do amazing things.”

“Well… I think you’re amazing.”

He turned his head and caught my eyes. “I think you’re amazing, and you haven’t done anything like that.”

Oh, little did he know. For some reason, his comment made me want to show him what I could do, but I didn’t even know if I could do it on command. So far it had only happened when I was angry.

He stared at me so deeply I felt naked.

“Gavin, what I just saw was magical. You make magic.”

He took my hand. “Chloe, I don’t know what it is, but I feel drawn to you. Not in the way you might think, but I feel like you’re my best friend. Almost…it’s almost like I’ve known you my whole life.”

I sucked in my breath. “How could you feel like that? You just told me last night you barely know me, and you want to get to know me.”

“No, no, it’s a different feeling than that. I can’t explain it.”

Suddenly, I made a decision and took a chance that was extremely out of character for me. I reached out and took his other hand. “Well, you can be my best friend if you want. I don’t have any friends, so it wouldn’t be that hard to score that coveted spot.”

He burst out laughing and squeezed my hands. I laughed too. We both laughed so hard tears eventually sprouted in the corners of our eyes. I didn’t know about him, but I really needed a good laugh like that.



Back at home, I skipped dinner and went straight to my room. For hours, I lay on my bed, staring at the faint white scar on my finger. It had to be part of the vampire change; I just knew it. These changes only made me wonder what else was going to happen. There were bound to be more changes ahead.

I rolled over on my bed and looked at my cell phone. I clicked open the contact picture of Gavin and stared at it, wondering how fire and water could survive each other. He didn’t seem cool and icy. That was more Drew’s thing. Up until that point, Drew had been my only friend, but he took care of me so he was also like a big brother.

My phone rang in my hand and I jumped, because the dang thing hardly ever rang. Caller ID said restricted. That was weird.

“Hello?”

“Chloe,” a clear and soft male voice came through the earpiece.

“Yeah, who is this?”

“This is your father.”

I let that sink in for minute. I wanted to scream and yell and tell him he could stick it. I think I knew, as soon as I heard his voice that it was time for me to go on with my plan.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

“I’m here with your grandfather, Chloe.”

Luke. He was at the hospital. “Don’t hurt him.”

"Why should I spare him, Chloe? Would he have spared me if the tables were turned? Even if it had meant he could have gotten your mother back all those years ago?”

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm. “If you even touch him, I will not go with you. If he remains unharmed, I will come to you.”

“Ah, that is just what I was hoping to hear. Where shall we meet?”

“I’m coming to the hospital. I want to see Luke and make sure he is alive when we leave. I need to make sure you keep your end of the bargain.”

“You have my word. Your grandfather will live through this night if you show up.”

I clenched my teeth and then forced myself to relax.

“You had my mother killed. What on earth makes you think that I would ever trust you? I’ll be there in two hours.”

I clicked my phone shut and threw it across the room.

After exactly one minute of steaming, I jumped up and grabbed my big duffel bag out of the closet and ran around the room grabbing clothes, my iPod, my toiletries, anything I didn’t want to leave behind. I collected my phone from where it had landed by the bathroom door and dialed the cab company. I had some cash stowed in a shoebox on the top shelf of my closet. There was no way I was going to ask Drew to drive me. I don’t think he would have taken me. He would have just tried to go and kill Trevor all on his own. I knew better than to tell anyone.