The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection(8)

Drew shrugged. “Fine, I can’t make you train. Take today off, but do not try and back out tomorrow because I’ll just keep thumping on you even when you want to quit.”

“Fine.” I grabbed my water bottle and towel and escaped the place I had begun to think of as a torture chamber. All I did was sweat and get beat up in there.

“See you at home,” Drew called after me.

I threw a hand up in a pathetic wave without turning around.

Home. When I had first arrived, I'd met my grandfather and was surprised to learn Drew lived in the house with him. I had thought maybe Drew and I were related somehow, but I had learned he only lived with my grandfather, Luke, to help him out, because Luke was getting up there in years.

Luke didn't fight anymore, but he still sat on the board with the hunters. He still made important decisions for the community. Turns out our family, the Kallistrates, were one of the most renowned bloodlines in the history of vampire hunters.

I never knew there was a history of vampire hunters.

Crazy.

Drew was eighteen. He was in his prime for vampire hunting and was constantly out on missions. I thought it might be uncomfortable staying in the same house as Drew because we weren’t related—and he was super cute—but it seemed to be going okay. Mostly, I think he treated me like a little sister. I wasn’t really sure just how I felt about that either.

I slammed into my room and fell face first onto my bed. The dark purple comforter puffed up around my face, and for one brief moment, I wished it would suffocate me. I didn’t hate this place, but I had no choice other than to be here.

I wanted my mother back.

For some reason, I thought becoming a vampire hunter would be easier. Heck, it was in my blood, so wasn’t it supposed to just like… come to me or something?

I rolled over on the bed and stared at the ceiling of the room that used to be my mother’s and had become mine. Funny how things like that worked: My mother had to die for me to know my family and heritage. I never would have met my grandfather—or any of these people here—if she hadn’t died. I never would have known who my father was either, not that I really wanted to know.

I decided I wanted to go to the library and look for books on vampires and vampire hunters… or anything that applied to my new life. I figured that being knowledgeable could be just as powerful as being strong.

But first, I needed a shower.



I took the trails to the library. It was quicker than the roads and more scenic. Fall had hit hard, so the air was cold and tons of leaves had fallen off the trees. They crunched loudly beneath my shoes while I hurried along the trails into town.

When I emerged from the forest, I could see the little town bustling with activity. Sometimes it was hard to believe the entire community of people who lived there were all vampire hunters. I saw an older woman struggling to open her car door and balance a gigantic turkey in her other arm. It dawned on me why the town was so busy. It was almost Thanksgiving. Everyone was out picking up stuff for their holiday gatherings.

Thanksgiving… without my mom.

I wasn’t sure that was something I could deal with. I had been so busy with training and school, I hadn’t had time to think about the holidays coming up. Halloween had come and gone, along with my birthday, which had been on the first of November. Yup, I had turned fifteen and had my first birthday without my mother.

I hadn’t told anyone it was my birthday, but they had known anyway. It had been celebrated quietly with a cake and a couple presents. Luke had given me a new iPod because mine had been left in my old room in the house where my mother had been murdered. Drew had given me a gun. Yeah, a gun. It was a nice little light-weight forty-five that I could easily handle. Along with my pretty gun, I also got a gun cleaning kit and a lesson in cleaning my weapon.

In any case, it was going to be hard going through the holidays without my mom around. All the emotions only made me more adamant in my desire to seek revenge against my father.

The bastard.

When I approached the steps to the library, I shook my head to clear the thoughts so I could focus on the task ahead: researching about vampires and vampire hunters. I entered the library and realized I really had no idea what I was looking for.

The librarian sat behind a long counter covered with neatly stacked papers and little piles of books. She turned away from the computer she was pecking at and smiled at me. “Can I help you find anything?”

I shuffled a bit and moved closer. “I don’t know, I’m… uh, looking for stuff about vampire hunters or vampires.”

“Oh, you came to the right place then.”

She took off her glasses and set them on the counter. She wasn’t an old woman, but she wasn’t really young either. I would have placed her at a good-looking fifty or so. Her hair was a light brown with a few grey strands scattered through it.

“Come with me.”

She led me down a maze of books that rose far above our heads. She stopped when we made it to a section where the books were huge, leather-bound monsters of books.

“Because of where you are, this library has a special section on the subjects you are interested in. You should be able to find anything you’re looking for right here.” She gestured at all the books around us.

“Thank you,” I told her, gazing in awe at all the books. I turned to her and held out my hand. “By the way, I’m Chloe.”