The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(6)

“Huh?” Against my will, my eyes widened. “You were the one who was rude!”

“I did nothing rude.”

Ugh. He was right. All he had done was tell me I needed to get tough. I was just being a baby because I felt sorry for myself.

“I’m sorry,” I told him. “I’m just having a hard time right now.”

Again, he nodded. “Do you think you’re up for taking a walk?”

“I just got back in bed.” I paused. “I don’t have any clothes.”

“There should be clothes in the closet. Why don’t you find something that fits you? I’ll wait outside the door. I want to tell you about us, and it helps to be able to show you what I am talking about.”

I nodded and waited until he left the room. Why in the world did he let me get back in the bed in the first place if he was just going to make me get out again? With an enormous sigh and one last glance at my mother's picture, I lifted myself out of bed.

I managed find a top that looked like it was from this decade and a decent pair of jeans in the dresser. There were also plenty of shoes in the bottom of the closet. How weird that Mom had thrown her shoes on the floor of her closet too. I had never known that about her. Maybe she stopped doing it when she became a mom and had to be all responsible and tidy.

After I dressed, I cracked open the door and peeked out.

“You ready?”

Startled, I jerked backward, but then I realized it was Drew. Boy, I was jumpy.

“Yeah, I’m ready.”

I stepped out into the hall and looked around. The floors were a dark hardwood like in the bedroom, and the walls were a creamy pinkish color. There were pictures on the walls, everywhere, in those huge frames that hold, like, ten different photos. While we walked down the hallway, I also noticed that all the doors were shut on the top floor.

“Whose house is this?”

“It’s your grandfather’s, Luke’s,” he answered.

“Oh.” I had kind of figured it was, but thought it best to ask before assuming. Down the stairs we went and onto the main floor. From my spot, at the base of the stairs, I could see part of the kitchen and what looked like a living room.

Drew saw me straining to see the rest of the house. “Would you like to see the house first or take a look around when you get back?”

I shrugged like I didn’t care. “I’ll just explore after we get back. That’s fine.”

Drew opened the door and I followed him outside. It was super chilly and broad daylight. I hadn’t realized that when we were back in the bedroom. I wondered just how long I had been sleeping and how long I had been here.

“See that?”

We stood at the railing on the covered porch connected to the house. He pointed directly in front of us.

“I see that we aren’t in the city anymore.”

He nodded. “We aren’t in the city, but we aren’t out of it either. Our community is sort of like a suburb. It’s gated. No one comes in or out, except mostly just the people who live here.”

Wow. They were a whole community of just vampire hunters. That was wicked. “How many of you live here?”

“There are about one hundred homes in this community. We aren’t the only vampire hunter community. There are many, many more all over the world.”

“Wow!” That time I said it out loud. I could see the tops of many houses poking up through the trees. The view was spectacular. In the distance, the lush green mountains rose high into the clouds. I saw the tiniest bit of snow on the top of the mountains, and the trees cascaded down into the valley where they surrounded the houses.

I turned to look at Drew. “It’s beautiful here.”

He simply nodded. “Let’s move on.”

We took a path through the woods instead of the gravel driveway leading out to the road.

“This path is a shortcut into the main village,” he told me while we walked.

I followed without saying anything. The path was covered with leaves, so the only sound I heard was our footsteps crunching over them. When we left the forest, we were on a street. A few blocks more and we were on what I assumed was the main drag of a small town. We passed a diner, a quickie mart, a drug store, a video store. There was even a flower shop and a bakery.

Nice.

The street came to a split where we could only go left or right. Drew veered us to the left. We passed a cute little church with beautiful stained glass in the windows and continued walking until we came to a large building that looked like a giant shop. Drew held the door open for me, and I quickly passed through it. Once inside, I stood in awe, with my mouth hanging open.

It was a training area… a very big training area.

Drew appeared beside me. “Most everyone who lives in this community has training equipment and space in their own homes, but this one is open for everyone.”

There were people using weight machines, cardio equipment and sparring. On closer inspection, I realized there were also children using the training equipment. Drew followed my gaze to one particular little girl who had her hair in a ponytail and was hacking away at a punching bag.

“We start early here. I have been training for this since I could walk.” He paused. “And you probably would have too, if your mother hadn’t taken you away.”

I jerked my head to face him. “What would you know about that?”