The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(66)

The trees had already begun to turn; red, gold and burnt orange leaves fluttered over the road as we drove.

When we reached the gates of the community, I exhaled a large sigh of relief. I was home, and I was safe again. “Does this place have a name?” I asked. “I always just call it the community.”

Luke laughed. “Actually, yes, the community has a name. It’s called Arcadia Falls.”

“Arcadia Falls.” I tasted the name. “That’s pretty. I like it.”

While we drove through town, I stared out the window at all the places I’d missed while I was gone: The Java Bean, the library, even the school. There were people out on the sidewalks, and every single one of them waved when we drove by. I remembered why I’d left in the first place: to protect them.

I could smell smoke from the wood stoves as it curled out of the chimneys and mingled with the crisp fall air. For the first time, I realized it was a smell that reminded me of home. It reminded me of when I’d first come the year before. Where I’d lived in the city with my mom, there were no wood stoves curling smoke out of the chimneys.

Drew’s rickety old truck sat in the driveway. We pulled up next to it and parked. Quickly, before anyone could come help me, I opened the door and tried to stand. I wanted to walk by myself.

Drew eyed me, as did Luke, but neither said anything. I clung onto the car door for a moment before I took a few limping steps. Drew went around to help Alice out of car, because she didn’t attempt to get out, or even move.

I knew neither of them would have helped me out. Drew was my trainer, the one who said ‘If I help you, then it’s not helping you in the long run.’ I took a few more steps and was certain I could at least make it into the house.

“Do you want your crutches?” Luke asked. He opened the trunk and lifted out my bag.

I smiled big. “No, I can do it.”

“All right, then,” Luke answered, but he grabbed the crutches out of the trunk anyway.

I was exhausted by the time I reached the front door. Drew had already gone inside and helped Alice sit on the couch by the time I even made it halfway. I finally tumbled down onto the couch next to Alice, causing her to bounce.

“Hey, Alice.”

“Hmmm,” she mumbled.

“You’re going to like it here.” I took her hand. “I promise.”

Later that night, after I tried to bathe myself without getting my bandage wet, I explored my room. My bow sat in the same place I had left it. I lifted it and ran my fingertips over the smooth wood and beautiful carvings. Suddenly, I wondered what purpose Sostrate'd had when she gave it to me. Sostrate was a demi-goddess, and her intentions always came with deeper meaning. So far, I hadn’t used her gift for anything except to kill one random vampire.

The thought actually made me nervous that the fighting between the hunters and the vampires might not be over.



The next day, my leg felt worse than the previous day, for some reason. I had plenty of pills to cut through the pain. My plan to avoid the crutches wasn’t exactly working either. I had to use them to get around or deal with more pain.

Alice had shared my bed with me, and it looked like that was how it was going to be for a while since we had no spare bedrooms.

After using the bathroom and brushing my hair and teeth, I fell back on the bed and tried to wake Alice.

“Hey, you.” I touched her nose. “It’s time to wake up.”

She moaned and swatted at my hand.

“Time to get up now.” Still nothing, so I shook her a bit, and her eyes popped open.

“What?”

“It’s time to get up.”

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then glanced around my room.

“Why can’t I just sleep for a while? I’m so tired.”

I sighed. “Alice, I know you’re tired, but you need to get up and move around. If you stay in bed all day, it’s not good for you. It could make you depressed.”

She flopped back down, rolled over and covered her head. “I’m already depressed.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be. You’re free now. You can do whatever you want.”

I tried to roll her back over.

“That’s the thing... I have nothing. What am I supposed to do?”

I lay back on the pillow beside her. “I don’t know. You can stay here for as long as you want while you think about it. I’m sure there is something you have always dreamed of doing. Maybe now you can work on that. “

"Now, let’s get up. We need to see how Oscar is doing this morning.”

She sat up. “All right, fine.”

“The shower is in there.” I pointed at the bathroom door. “You can wear any of my clothes you want.”

“Thank you.” She reluctantly pulled the covers off, got out of bed, and headed for the bathroom. I lay there, enjoying the purple comforter and staring at my mother’s picture on my nightstand. Man, I missed her. If she could only see me now, all shot up and recovering from a fight with vampires.

“I did it, Mom,” I told the picture. “For the last year, all I could think about was killing the man who ordered your death. But now I know that you loved him, and I don’t understand how you could love him.” She stared back at me from the picture, smiling. “I know you loved me more. I just wish you were here to explain it all to me, because it’s more than I can handle right now.”