The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (13 page)

“You need to do
what?
” he hollered at
me.

“I need a dress, Drew.”

“People have died, Luke is in the hospital
and all you can think about is what you’re going to wear to a
party!”

I crossed my arms. “That isn’t all I think
about.”

Drew didn’t say anything after that; he just
turned away and grumbled under his breath.

“So are you going to take me, or what?”

“You know, I will,” he snapped. “I just don’t
have to like it. Let’s go. We can visit Luke and then go to the
mall afterward.”

Silently, I gathered my things. I sure was
getting tired of his mood swings. It was understandable that he was
emotional, but it felt like he was taking it out on me.

We stopped to see Luke, who didn’t wake up
the entire time we were there. We didn’t really try to wake him up
either. I figured it was probably easier for him to sleep as much
as he could.

Afterward at the mall, I searched the stores
while Drew went to the food court to get himself an Orange Julius.
I think I made him an addict for those things after the last
excursion to the mall.

Most of the shops didn’t have formal dresses.
It took me over two hours, but I finally found a very pretty gown
in royal blue. When I tried it on, I was as happy with it as I was
when I saw it on the rack. The whole thing fit snug against my
body. The top showed off some cleavage, but not enough to make me
feel inappropriate, and it had tiny little spaghetti straps. My
dark hair contrasted the shimmering blue perfectly. The only thing
I needed was a pair of shoes to go with the dress. The dress was
long, all the way to my ankles, and had a slit that went up to just
above my knee. I hoped people didn’t think the dress was too old
for me, because it was the only one I liked.

I took it off and put my clothes back on, and
then I paid for my dress. Man, it sucked having spent all that
money and leaving with one tiny little bag. I wandered over toward
the food court to see if Drew was still there.

I scanned the tables, looking for Drew’s
blond head and pretty green eyes. I didn’t see him anywhere.
Deciding that he probably just went to the bathroom or something, I
got myself an Orange Julius and found an empty table. Slurping the
orange liquid noisily through a straw, I continued to look around
the food court for Drew.

No Drew.

But I saw someone else.

He sat at a table across the room with his
black jean clad legs crossed and a drink in front of him. He had a
pale face, pale hands and dark brown eyes that any woman might have
fallen for.

It was Trevor… my father. I just knew it was.
Something inside me knew that person, just as I had known Sostrate
was a part of my blood.

I sat as still as I could, even though I felt
the flush of heat rush through my body. I was scared to death, but
decided that the best thing to do would be to play it cool. He
wouldn’t dare hurt me in a room full of people with camera
phones.

I sipped my Orange Julius slowly, without
taking my eyes off of him. In turn, he stared back at me while he
stirred his coffee or whatever it was he had in front of him. He
kept his legs crossed and our eyes locked.

I didn’t know how long I could stand sitting
there staring at him. It was obvious he was threatening me, but I
didn’t know exactly what kind of message he was trying to send. I
wanted to send him a message, too, but didn’t know how to even go
about that.

I was going to kill him… and he should know
it.

Finally, I set my empty Orange Julius on the
table and broke eye contact. I turned my head only for a second and
he was gone.

Shit!

I waited for Drew for another twenty minutes.
After rambling on like a crazy person about what had happened and
freaking out on him all over again, he rushed me out the doors with
one hand around my waist and another on his gun.

I had brought my gun, too, this time.

“I should have shot him,” I told Drew, once
we were in the truck and speeding down the dark icy streets.

“Yeah, right, you were going to shoot him, in
the mall, in front of all those people.”

I clenched my fists, getting angrier by the
second. I had let him get away. “I don’t care. He needs to
die.”

“There was nothing you could do, Chloe. He
was messing with you.”

I wanted to scream, I was so frustrated and
angry. “Where were
you
?” I demanded of him.

“I was in the knife shop.”

“Figures,” I mumbled under my breath.

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I snapped.

Despite the attack a couple nights before, I
felt safer once we had driven through the gates and they were
securely locked on the other side of us. We pulled into the
driveway and I jumped out of the truck, slamming the rusty old door
behind me. I had no idea why I was treating Drew so badly, but I
had to take it out on someone. I guess it was how he had felt
earlier when he had yelled at me.

“’Night,” I called out rudely. I let myself
inside the house. I didn’t even look back to make sure he came
inside. I went straight up to my room.

Once I had stripped off all my clothes and
put on my comfy pajamas, I crawled under the covers and hugged my
extra pillow to my chest. I wasn’t tired at all. I tossed and
turned, I tried counting backwards, I tried turning on my iPod, but
nothing was going to bring the sleep I needed so much.

My mind kept going back to those piercing
eyes, those dangerous eyes…

While his dark eyes haunted me, a realization
hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. It was a realization so
simple I should have thought of it before. He wanted me.

People were dying because of me.

So, maybe… maybe I should simply go to him
willingly. I could protect my other family, by going to the one I
hated and making him believe I wanted to be with him.

And then I could kill him.

Well, I could try…

THE VAMPIRE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER

PART IV

DIVIDED

The cast on my right arm was more than
annoying. It was bulky and sweaty and stinky and itchy underneath.
I could not wait to get it removed.

I stared at myself in the mirror and wondered
why the heck I had agreed to go to the New Year’s bash. My
grandfather Luke was still in the hospital. It felt wrong to go to
the event without him. Also, Drew was not happy about it at
all.

It wasn’t all bad, though. Going with
Gavin—one of the hottest guys at school— to the dance wasn’t
exactly a terrible thing. It just felt like the timing was wrong.
Besides, I had other plans to get on with. Aside from all that, it
really wasn’t so bad.

I thought about these things while dressing
and doing my hair.

And my dress!

It was certainly nice to wear something
pretty instead of jeans or workout clothes. The silky royal blue
fabric hung loosely against my skin and went perfectly with my dark
hair. My cast stood out stark white in contrast with the blue.

Groaning, I gave my hair one last bobby pin,
placing it in with my good hand with the other hundred bobby pins
that held up the top half of my hair. I had it piled in a bun type
thing with loops and curls, which hadn't been easy to do with the
freakin' cast on my arm. The bottom half of my hair lay in ringlets
against my back. Finally, after putting on a pair of silver hoop
earrings, I turned away from the mirror and grabbed my coat.

I had a wrap, but that certainly wasn’t going
to keep me warm. I planned on wearing my coat, no matter how out of
fashion it might be.

Knowing Gavin would arrive soon, I tried to
hurry.

Drew was down there, and I didn’t want Gavin
to have to deal with him. Drew had been super cranky the last few
days. I figured it was because of the attack, losing his uncle and
Luke being in the hospital. That was certainly enough to make
anyone cranky.

When I finally managed to make it down the
stairs in the dangerous too-high heels I had bought to go with my
dress, I found Drew in the kitchen, tying his bowtie and eating an
apple. Boy, he looked good in his tux. Weird how some guys looked
uncomfortable dressed up and others could pull off a suit with no
problem. Drew was the no-problem kind.

“Hey,” I said.

His eyes flicked up my way and then back to
his tie. I didn’t know why he had been practically giving me the
silent treatment lately, at least since the town had been attacked.
There I was, all dressed up, and he couldn’t even tell me I looked
nice, not even an approving glance.

Well, see if I compliment him on his tux,
then.

“You never told me who you’re taking
tonight,” I tried. I leaned against the counter next to him.

“I’m taking Christina,” he said around his
apple.

Ugh, what is wrong with him?

I should have known he’d take her. I didn’t
care how bad her childhood had been, she was still a mean slut as
far as I was concerned. After she had started that fight with me at
school and got us both suspended, I would have thought Drew would
have been on my side. At the very least, he shouldn't have been
taking her to a fancy dance.

“Why do you like her?” I couldn’t help
myself; I had to ask.

“Chloe, we had this discussion already. I
dated her. We're still friends. I like her, okay?”

“Fine.” I waved my hand and turned to get a
glass out of the drainer.

I must have mumbled something under my
breath, because Drew practically shouted, “What did you just
say?”

“Nothing… I don’t know.”

“You said something.” His green eyes were
glowing and he took a defensive stance with his body.

“Jeez, Drew, I don’t know. It’s not a big
deal.”

“Well, you don’t see me all up in your
business about you going with Gavin. He’s not exactly an angel
himself.”

I narrowed my eyes and put down my glass.
“What do you mean by that?”

He shrugged and walked out of the room.

I followed him. “Drew, you can’t just say
that kind of stuff and then walk away.”

Still, he said nothing. Sometimes his iciness
bugged the crap out of me. I followed him into the living room. He
must have felt cornered because he turned around and went back into
the kitchen.

“Drew, stop! What the hell do you have
against Gavin?”

“Forget it!”

Inside, I wanted to stomp my foot and throw a
fit like a two year old. It was infuriating, his acting like he
knew something and not telling me. I could feel my body starting to
heat up and knew what was happening. Since the attack, I had become
more in tune with my fire power; I could sense it coming, unlike
before, when I didn’t have a freakin’ clue. I was, however, still
having trouble controlling when it would come and wasn't certain
how to make it stop.

I closed my eyes and blocked everything out,
trying to think of anything that would calm me down. My mother’s
face materialized behind my eyelids. She used to sing all the time,
no matter where we were: at home, in the car, shopping for
groceries. Her voice was a constant in my life, ever since I could
remember. Sometimes, even after I was older, she would come into my
room and sing to me like she had when I was little.

Now, her voice was my constant… a way for me
to put out the fire—both literally and figuratively—that burned
inside of me. The one thing I had discovered about this stupid fire
power was, once it was burning, I had to put it out with my
thoughts. It wouldn’t just eventually go out on its own.

“Chloe, are you all right?”

I could barely hear him. He sounded far away.
I ignored him and just kept my breathing regular and my mother’s
voice prominent in my head until I felt the heat pass and my body
temperature return to normal.

“Chloe?”

I opened my eyes and glared at him. His eyes
had lost their ice and were filled with concern.

“You were fighting the fire again, weren’t
you?”

“None, of your business,” I snapped.

They said
women
had mood swings.
Well, I guess whoever ‘they’ were had never met Drew. The doorbell
rang and I spun to answer the door before Drew could get there. I
fully expected to see Gavin, in his supreme hotness, when I opened
the door. Instead, I flung open the door and found Christina on the
other side.

“Oh.” Surprised that it wasn’t Gavin, I
stepped back a few steps. “It’s you.”

She wore the most hideous
dress I’d ever seen. Well, maybe not the
most
hideous dress I’d ever seen,
but probably a close second. It was dark green, skin tight and
strapless. Her dark hair was in a beehive-looking up-do. She
completed her look with hooker boots.

“Chloe.” She nodded at me and stepped into
the house.

“Christina.” I nodded back at her and yelled,
“Drew, Christina is here!”

When Drew came into the room, Christina let
out a girly squeal and jumped into his arms. She planted a kiss
right on his lips. I felt like barfing a little.

“I missed you,” she whispered to him, but it
was loud enough for me to hear. That was intentional, I was
sure.

Ugh…
Gavin could not arrive fast enough for me. I wanted out of
there. I don’t know why Drew didn’t pick her up at her house. Why
did she have to come to our house?

Drew must have wanted out of there as badly
as I did, because he rushed Christina out the door, asking her if
she had a coat.

“See you there!” She giggled over her
shoulder to me while Drew herded her out. I simply stood there and
watched them go. Drew gave me one last look that pretty much told
me to behave myself, and then he was gone. Why did he have to act
so strange all the time? One minute, he would act like my brother;
the next minute, he would act like my father. Sometimes, in those
rare moments, he acted like my friend. That was the Drew I
preferred. I had no idea what I had done or what was going on that
he would have so much animosity toward me lately. It had to be a
repercussion of the attack.