The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(43)

Alice had become the first girlfriend I’d had for a while, since before my mom’s death. The more we got to know each other, the more she trusted I wouldn’t talk about her with Mr. Trevor. Oh, how I hated it that she called him that. I really liked Alice, and I wished that she would understand life could be better for her outside of this place. She wouldn’t hear of it. For her it was as good as it was going to get. She didn’t care that Trevor used her for food and sex; she was taken care of and would never want for anything, so she let him.

So sad, I knew I couldn't help someone who didn't want to help herself.

Secretly, I vowed to get her out of this place. I loved Alice, but I had to restrain myself from talking with her about Gavin and Drew. I didn’t talk to her at all about any of the hunters. I knew she had grown to trust me more, but that didn’t mean I trusted her.

During the time I spent reading, I only read the books Trevor had given me about vampires. I learned about the different types of vampires, half vampires, gifts and abilities, how vampires can die, myths and legends, the list of topics went on forever. I guess when you’ve been around as long as vampires have there was a lot of information to document.

It was early April by the time I decided that if I was unable to leave, I needed to learn something besides vampire history. So one night at dinner I said to Trevor, “I’m a little worried about not being in school. I’m actually a little discouraged that you haven’t been more concerned about it. I’m still in high school, and I need to learn things. If I can’t leave to go to a regular school, could we at least hire someone to come in and teach me?”

Trevor nodded and shuffled his food around on his plate without actually eating it. Sometimes he did that. I think most of the time he didn’t eat real food when he was already full on human blood. “I don’t see a problem with having a tutor come in and homeschool you.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. It would be really nice to see someone else in this house other than Trevor, Alice, and the occasional guard. “Thank you.”

“I will look into it immediately and hire someone with excellent credentials.”

“Thank you, I’d appreciate that.”

And there ended another of our short conversations. He never asked me anything about myself, like what my favorite color was or what I enjoyed doing. Not that I really cared to tell him that stuff anyway…it just baffled me.

Two days later, a tutor arrived. His name was Oscar Williams, and he was not the kind of man you would think would be a school teacher or a tutor. He was hot! Oscar couldn’t have been more than twenty-five years old. His hair was a light blond color, and he styled it in kind of a punk spiked style. He always wore a casual jacket over a button up dress shirt and jean. He also rode a motorcycle. I couldn't help but wonder where Trevor had found the guy and what kind of qualifications he could possibly have that would convince Trevor he was good enough to tutor me?

We immediately began lessons. Having someone else to talk to and something purposeful to do was a huge relief. I studied with vigor, impressing Oscar right from the start. He seemed to like my spongy ability to retain everything I learned. I liked that he was impressed.

Alice had a crush on him, too. I saw her more when Oscar was around than I ever did before. If anything, Oscar’s presence gave us something juicy to gossip about, and a reason to primp a little more than we had been. I’d been getting so lazy that some days I’d just walk around in sweat pants. But there was no way that I was going to let Oscar see me in them. Alice normally wore her hair in a ponytail, but on the days Oscar came, she would style it. Trevor noticed Alice's changes, too. I could have sworn he acted peeved about it. For the first time, I wondered if he actually cared about her.

In any case, having Oscar around was really nice, and learning stuff was easy with him. Plus, he was full of surprises. Only a week or so after our first tutoring session together, Oscar showed up in my room carrying a big black guitar case.

“What’s that?” I asked him, not bothering to sit up. I had been lounging on the couch reading and munching on a big bag of potato chips. At least Trevor was okay with buying me chips. I couldn’t get those back home.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s a guitar, Chloe. A musical instrument with five strings—”

"I know what it is.” I cut him off. “Why do you have it?”

“I thought I might play you a song or two.” He set the case down on the table and opened it. Inside was a beautiful acoustic guitar. I noticed the body was an awesome teal blue that made me think of tropical water.

He pulled out one of the straight-backed chairs from my little breakfast table and sat with the guitar on his lap.

“Any requests?” he asked, and he strummed once.

I shrugged and shoved a chip into my mouth.

“Play whatever you want.” I shifted on the couch until I was sitting up and pulled my legs up onto the couch with me.

He played a slow ballad, a song I did not recognize, but it was beautiful and moving all the same. Even more amazing was when he sang. Oh, my god, I wanted to melt in to a puddle of goo. Wishing the song would never end, I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands. What I really wanted to do was close my eyes and lose myself in the music, but I just couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

When his fingers strummed the last chord of the song, I felt my heart sink. I wanted more. “Can you play another one?”