Kindred (Book 1 The Kindred Series)

by Erica Stevens

CHAPTER 1

  Cassie ducked low and spun as she threw a rapid roundhouse kick. Her foot connected solidly with the twisted creature, catching it beneath its chin and knocking it back a good five feet. The creature's startled grunt of surprise and pain was music to her ears. The man/monster got caught up on a headstone and flipped backward over top of it. The monster sprawled out on its back in the thick grass with its legs momentarily caught up over top of the headstone. Cassie sprang gracefully to her feet and slipped the stake easily from her belt loop. The creature's eyes turned crimson as his face twisted into an animalistic snarl of fury.

  The rage blasting from him pounded against her but didn't slow Cassie down. She had grown accustomed to the hatred over the past few years. However, she didn't know if she would ever become accustomed to the bloodlust that poured from the monsters in nearly suffocating waves. It was daunting to know something yearned to rip out her throat and drain the blood and life from her.

  Though the thought was a little overwhelming, it didn't make her hesitate. There was no room for hesitation here. The smallest distraction could get her, and her friends, killed. No, her entire focus had to be on destroying the creature. She couldn't allow human emotions to slip in here. Here, there could only be the fight, and the imminent death of someone or something, preferably not her.

  Though she had the creature down, she wasn’t fooled into thinking she had him beat. Bracing herself, she leaned back on her left foot as he threw his hands behind his head and thrust himself elegantly to his feet. Cassie eyed him with amusement; he was so predictable.

  With a ferocious growl, he raced across the ground with the grace inherent to his kind. Cassie didn't kick out at him again or throw another punch. She simply ducked low and spun around as he raced past her. Thrusting the stake out, his forward momentum was enough to drive it deep into his chest cavity and pierce his deadened heart. His face contorted as she twisted and pushed the stake deeper.

  He fell back, his body convulsing as he clawed at the stake. Though he tried to rip it free, it was more than obvious the damage had already been done. There was no reversing this death. Cassie waited until he stopped struggling, and his eyes clouded over, before she ripped the stake free. In life, he had only been a year or two older than her, barely a man yet. Though Cassie felt a twinge of regret about killing him, she quickly buried it.

  There could be no regret in her life. It would only eat her alive, and she hadn't been the one to originally end his life. She couldn't question the where's and why's of her life. It was simply her duty, her birthright. Though she didn't always enjoy it, and often resented it, she was good at killing, and she helped to keep people safe and protected by doing it. Even if people didn't know she was helping them.

  She turned her attention back to Chris and Melissa. Chris was struggling back to his feet after he had been knocked flat. The vampire they were fighting rushed past Chris, focusing on what he apparently (and wrongly) thought was the weaker female. Melissa grinned back at the creature in amusement, her stance widened as she braced herself for his attack. Her dark eyes twinkled merrily in the moonlight.

  In their lives it was just another night in paradise, Cassie thought.

  Shaking her head, Cassie moved toward them. Unlike herself, Chris and Melissa relished in the fight, the hunt, and the kill. They both loved what they were, and eagerly embraced their heritage. Then again, Melissa had been raised with the knowledge of what she was, and Chris was a teenage boy; anything he could beat up, punch, kick, and maim was fun for him. However, Cassie had been oblivious to what she was until Luther and Melissa had walked into her life at the age of thirteen. She had never learned to relish in the fighting or the killing.

  Well, that was not entirely true. There were times when she loved the thrill of the fight; times when she loved she was making the world safer one murderous vampire at a time. She did not like that this life had been forced upon her by birth, or that her life expectancy had been drastically lowered by a flip of the cosmic switch. She chafed against the bonds confining her to a life she'd never imagined could exist.

  However, she had no choice. She couldn't turn her back on what she was. Innocent people would die if she did. She may hate her role in life, but she couldn't live with herself if people were killed because she wasn't there to protect them. She couldn't live with it if Chris or Melissa were injured, or killed, because she was too selfish and scared to accept her birth right, her destiny. Destiny had left her vulnerable to the more brutal side of life, and it would likely destroy her before she ever saw her twenty-fifth birthday.

  A loud grunt shifted her attention back to the battle Melissa was still waging. Chris had regained his feet, but Melissa was wearing the trademark grin she displayed when she already knew the outcome of a fight. Cassie wiped her hands on her jeans as she joined Chris.

  "I don't see how it can be any fun when you already know what's going to happen," he complained.

  "Just think about how much fun it will be if she ever foresees a battle she loses," Cassie retorted dryly.

  Chris shrugged, shoved a strand of sandy blond hair off his forehead, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, that would suck."

  Melissa lunged suddenly and shoved the stake forward in a killing blow. With a satisfied grin she ripped her stake free, flipped it in the air, and caught it easily before shoving it into her belt. "I'm never going to lose!" she announced proudly.

  Cassie bit back her retort. There was no reason to remind them every Hunter had probably believed the same thing, until the Grim Reaper had called for them far too early.

  Cassie wrapped her arms around herself, not understanding the strange melancholy sticking to her like a second skin lately. She couldn't seem to shake the ominous feelings, and she knew her funk wasn't a good place to be; becoming worn down by her life would only get her killed sooner.

  "Of course not," Chris agreed.

  "Yeah," Cassie mumbled absently.

  Melissa's onyx eyes focused on Cassie, her pretty face scrunched as she studied her. Cassie prickled under the scrutiny, but she had grown accustomed to Melissa's fixed stares. It was a look Melissa often wore when she was trying to decipher the future paths a person might take. Cassie never asked about her future, she didn't want to know, but she was certain Melissa had already glimpsed some of it. Melissa never let onto whether it was good or bad, and that was the way Cassie liked it.

  Cassie became a little unnerved, as Melissa's gaze lasted longer than normal, and broke the stare first. "Let's dispose of these guys."

  Between the three of them it didn't take much time to drag the bodies into the woods and hide them within the shadowed interior. Cassie didn't worry about the bodies being discovered. Once dawn broke the bodies would burn away, all evidence of their existence would disappear into a pile of ash. The animals wouldn't come for these bodies either, there was nothing but evil for them here.

  "I'm hungry," Melissa announced as she wiped the dirt from her hands.

  "Yeah, me too," Chris agreed as he rubbed his flat stomach.

  "What else is new?" Cassie inquired.

  His handsome face lit up as he threw his arms casually around both their shoulders. "B's and S's," he suggested.

  "Ugh, you're going to become a giant puddle of grease if you keep eating there," Melissa groaned.

  Chris shrugged as they began to make their way through the darkened cemetery. "What can I say? I love my grease." He smiled as he pulled them against his side. "I'm a growing boy."

  "You're arteries are growing closed!" Melissa retorted.

  Chris rolled his eyes and leaned closer to Cassie. "Please rescue me from the vegetarian Nazi."

  Cassie chuckled and shook her head at him. "You're on your own with this one."

  Cassie tried to keep her gaze focused straight ahead, but despite her intention not to, she glanced back to the edge of the dark cemetery and thick woods. Though the forest was calm now, it was from there that the two vampires had emerged tonig
ht. She didn't know why, but for some reason vampires were attracted to the cemetery. She thought it might be because they had never had a proper burial of their own, but she had no way to know what the monsters thought, or why they acted like they did.

  She spent far too many of her nights with Chris and Melissa staking out the cemetery, and waiting to see what might pop out of the woods. She also spent far too many nights hanging out around restaurants, and busy places, trying to keep people safe from the monsters lurking in the night. By reading the papers, and keeping an eye on the news, they were usually able to discern when a vampire was hunting in the area.

  When reports of strange disappearances, or wild animal attacks started to surface, they all knew they were going to be in for long nights and weeks, until the things causing all the problems were caught and destroyed. "Wild animal" was often the term used to describe anything the authorities couldn't fully explain, or understand, in the area. To the three of them, it usually meant vampire, as there were few dangerous feral animals on Cape Cod. Cassie didn't know what the authorities told themselves in order to sleep at night after these attacks, nor did she particularly care.

  She sometimes envied them their blissful, deep rooted denial though. She would never experience it again.

  A momentary flash of guilt shot through her, shaking her with its ferocity. She was not the one who had killed these monsters first, she reminded herself forcefully. That had been some other monster, not her. The lives of the vampires they hunted had been forfeit long before she and her two partners ever put an actual end to them. If the monsters they had killed tonight hadn't been stopped, they would have caused more death and destruction. More innocent lives would have been lost; they had done the right thing here. Though she kept telling herself that, it didn't ease the knot of guilt.

  Cassie's gaze flitted over the darkened headstones. The night was undisturbed, but she couldn't stop the chill creeping down her spine. No matter how much time she spent in this cemetery, she never grew accustomed to the coldness enveloping it. Loss and anguish permeated the air as though they were lingering remnants from the living left behind to mourn their lost loved ones.

  Making their way out of the wrought iron gate, Cassie allowed them to lead her down the street toward B's and S's. The sidewalk was dark; streetlights hadn't been placed this far from the center of town. Cassie glanced toward the woods surrounding them, her eyes narrowed as she studied its darkened recesses. The leaves of the trees were a dazzling green against the dark night. Nothing stirred, not even a field mouse emerged. It seemed the animals sensed the gloom in the air.

  Arriving at the end of the road, they made a right toward the large rotary marking the center of town. From the giant rotary five roads branched off, leading toward backstreets and residential areas. The first fifty to a hundred feet of each road was packed with stores, restaurants, and bars.

  They finally reached the streetlights lighting the sidewalks and roads. A few cars were driving around the rotary, their headlights bounced across the pavement, and music filtered from their open windows. People strolled along the streets, enjoying the places still open at this time of night.

  Though it was almost nine, there was still a large crowd gathered around B's and S's. The front of the burger place was vivid against the dark night. An old wooden sign hung from the side of the building, the name Burger's and Shake's was spelled out in bright red lettering. Burger's and Shake's wasn't a very original name, but it was the two things the restaurant did best. It was also the two things most people stuck to, as the rest of the menu was a little iffy at times. That was the main reason why B's and S's had been designated the teen hang out for the past twenty years, as people over the age of twenty-one rarely ate there again.

  "What do you guys want?" Chris removed his arms from their shoulders as he eagerly eyed the open order window.

  "Strawberry shake and fries," Cassie answered.

  "Garden salad, but make sure it’s freshly washed, and no dressing," Melissa told him.

  Chris was shaking his head as he wound his way through the crowd gathered around the outdoor picnic tables. It wouldn't be long before the tables were taken in and the outdoor area was closed for the winter. Until then, everyone was enjoying the last bit of good weather September offered.

  Cassie and Melissa made their way to one of the few empty tables in the back. Eager greetings followed their every step as people turned toward them. They returned them politely, but neither of them stopped to talk. Cassie barely got her butt on the seat before Marcy Hodgins, the class president, was standing beside her.

  "Hey Cassie, I was wondering if you had started planning for the homecoming dance?"

  Cassie fought the urge to groan and roll her eyes. She had been on the dance committee since freshman year, but every year it became increasingly difficult to find the time to dedicate to planning the dances. This year she simply didn't feel like doing it at all. She hadn't planned on running for the dance committee again, but earlier this year she had been automatically voted in and appointed the head.

  "Homecoming isn't for another two months Marcy," she gently reminded the girl.

  Marcy's hands clasped and unclasped before her as Cassie's answer obviously irked her. "Yes, but it will require a theme, decorations, fliers."

  Cassie sighed heavily. "Maybe you should just find someone else this year…"

  "But you're the best!" Marcy interrupted loudly. "You did a great job last year, and now that we're seniors don't you think we deserve the best memories possible!"

  Cassie shot Melissa, 'a just shoot me now,' look. Melissa smiled sweetly in return. "Of course I do Marcy, but I'm really busy this year…"

  "I'll get you more help!"

  Cassie didn't know if she wanted to scream in frustration, rip her hair out, or throttle the obtuse girl. Instead, she shoved all of her irritation aside, and forced a smile. "I'll work on it Marcy."

  "Let me know if you need anything, anything at all."

  "I will."

  "Also, I do have a few ideas for themes I’d love to run by you. Maybe we can get together after school tomorrow to discuss them."

  Cassie's hands clenched as she tried to keep a hold on her patience. Marcy meant well, but sometimes her OCD was enough to drive a saint to murder, and she was far from a saint. She glanced at Melissa again, silently pleading for some sort of reprieve, but it came in the form of Chris as he dumped their food on the table.

  "Hey Marcy," he muttered absently, his mind on the food he was rapidly dolling out.

  Marcy's pretty face flooded with color as she ducked her head shyly. Cassie lifted an eyebrow as she turned to Melissa who winked back at her. "I uh… I have to go, but I'll talk to you tomorrow, ok Cass?" Marcy stammered out.

  "Of course," Cassie replied happily, glad to be free of the girl and amused by her obvious crush on Chris.

  Marcy made a hasty retreat back to the table of girls she had been sitting with. Cassie eagerly turned back to Chris who looked as if he was trying to solve the problems of the world as his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. His attention was focused on the shakes as he lifted the lid on one before plopping it down in front of her.

  "I think someone has a crush on you," she teased.

  "Huh, what?" He glanced up, a handful of fries, her fries, already halfway to his mouth. Before he could eat them all, Cassie surreptitiously slid her plate away while he scanned the dwindling crowd. "Who?"

  "Marcy." Chris's frown deepened as he looked toward the girl who was determinedly not looking their way again. "Short, brunette, just speaking to me," Cassie reminded him.

  Chris broke out of his food trance as he grinned down at her. "No way, Marcy's too prim and proper, likes the more refined guys."

  "You are definitely not refined, but she does have a crush on you," Melissa insisted.

  "Why, did you see something in my future?" he asked eagerly.

  Melissa rolled her eyes as she shook her head. "I'm not your
crystal ball Chris."

  Striking a pose, he propped his leg on the bench and rested his arm on his knee as he gazed at Marcy. "Very sexy with the mouthful of fries," Cassie teased.

  "You know it." He flashed a striking grin as he popped more fries in his mouth and sucked noisily on his shake.

  "Don't you think she's a little much?"

  His blue eyes twinkled merrily as he shook back his disheveled hair. "I'm a teenage boy Cassandra, there is no such thing as a little much to me. All girls are acceptable."

  "Ugh!" Melissa groaned and Cassie threw a fry at him.

  He dodged it easily, catching it before it hit the ground and popping it into his mouth. "You're gross," she told him with a laugh.

  "But you love me."

  She couldn't argue with that. Turning away from him, she focused her attention on her greasy fries, and delicious shake. Cassie glanced across the table; Melissa had a distant look on her face as she poked absently at a cucumber. To any passersby it simply appeared as if Melissa wasn't hungry, but Cassie knew Melissa's concentration was actually fixed upon something that no one else could see.

  This was not one of her fleeting glimpses of the future either, but one of the premonitions that took Melissa over, and held her hostage until it was done. A chill ran down Cassie's spine, she hated these moments. They always left Melissa drained, and with an old, knowing look in her eyes far beyond her seventeen years.

  Chris's handful of french-fries was forgotten as he worriedly studied Melissa. Melissa shook her head as she broke free of the claws the premonition hooked into her. Her onyx eyes snapped into focus again. She didn't seem as beat down by this vision as she was by many of the others, but a secretive look remained in her dark eyes.

  "Did you see my death?" Chris always asked this when one of these premonitions seized hold of Melissa in his presence.

  She smiled at him, and shook back her black hair as she popped a cucumber in her mouth. "Not this time."

  Chris shrugged as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. "Just remember, if you ever do see it, you had better tell me."

  "You wouldn't want to know," Cassie and Melissa replied simultaneously.

  They grinned at each other across the table. "You owe me a soda," Melissa quipped.

  "You don't drink soda."

  "You owe me something then."

  Melissa chewed on her cucumber before grabbing a tomato. Cassie studied her questioningly, wondering what it was Melissa had seen. The thought of knowing scared her though. Besides, Melissa wouldn't tell them, not unless their lives were on the line. Even then, Cassie wouldn't like to know what Melissa saw, not unless there was a way to stop it.

  And most of the time, there wasn't.

  It was very rare Melissa ever saw anything she wanted to, but she had no choice as her "gift" overtook her whenever it wanted.

  Although, to be fair, Cassie had to admit she was a little disappointed she hadn't inherited a "gift" like Chris and Melissa had. Apparently, most all members of The Hunter line were gifted in one way or another, but for some reason Cassie had come up short. She definitely wouldn't like the ability to see the future, like Melissa, she wasn't sure she could handle bearing that cross. She wouldn't have minded Chris's talent of being able to read people though, to know what they were feeling, and to know who and what they were, good or bad, upon meeting them. And unlike Melissa, Chris was able to control his ability and keep people blocked out.

  However, she supposed any ability would have been better than the nothing she had been given. Well, unless she counted her ability to fight as a gift. She excelled at fighting, was better than Chris and Melissa, but to her that wasn't a true gift. She didn't care if the people she killed weren't human. It bothered her to kill at all, and it bothered her more she was so good at it.

  It wore at her every day and gradually ate at her spirit. She sometimes thought that was where the growing hole inside of her had come from, and it was the reason she’d been feeling less and less like herself lately. Maybe all of the death and murder had started to take away bits of her soul. Whatever was missing, or off in her, she desperately needed to find it, and fix it.

  She couldn't keep living like this. She couldn't keep going on without knowing why she was so lost, and why she couldn't shake her gloom. She'd been living with the emptiness for the last few months, but over the past two weeks it had gotten worse. The hole had become a chasm within her soul, ripping her open, leaving her raw and exposed.

  She was greatly afraid if she didn't mend it soon, it would swallow her whole.

  Cassie shoved aside her morose thoughts, sick of them. Sick of herself even. Wallowing in her misery and loneliness wasn't going to ease it.

  "Are you going to tell us what you saw?" Chris inquired.

  Melissa shook her head as she sat back in her seat and shoved the remains of her salad aside. "Nope, it doesn't involve you so there's no reason for you to know about it."

  Chris groaned in disappointment, but his frustration didn't affect his appetite as he took a big bite of his bacon cheeseburger. Grease dropped onto his paper plate but he paid it little mind as his attention focused on Marcy again. "She is cute."

  Cassie glanced over at Marcy and tilted her head as she studied the petite brunette. Despite her over exuberance, she was a pretty girl. "Does it matter?"

  Chris grinned down at her as he shook back his mop of blond hair. "Not at all."

  Cassie couldn't help but laugh at him. She loved the sparkle in his sapphire eyes, and the cocky grin that flashed across his handsome face. She leaned against his leg, relishing in the easy comfort, strength, and reassurance he gave her. He'd been her best friend, her rock, since she was born. Though many people thought they were a couple, or soon would be, there had never been anything other than sibling-like feelings between them.

  Chris touched her shoulder briefly before turning his attention back to his cheeseburger, and Marcy. The hair on the back of Cassie's neck suddenly stood up, and a tingle swept down her spine that was neither pleasant nor unpleasant. With sudden certainty she knew someone was staring at her, watching her. Straightening away from Chris, she frowned as she rapidly scanned the forest, but she saw nothing, and no one, within its dark recesses.

  Turning slowly, Cassie was surprised to realize her throat had gone dry, and her heart was trip hammering with excitement. She didn't know what was causing the strange reaction inside her body, but she couldn't stop it either. She was certain there was something out there, and it was waiting for her.

  She froze as her gaze latched onto a man standing at the edge of the building closest to the road. He was illuminated by the splash of light pouring out of B's and S's, his features were indiscernible in the shadows playing over him. He stood completely still, his hands shoved into the pockets of his leather jacket. Even though the shadows kept him half hidden, she could see the startling, brilliant, emerald green of his eyes. They seemed to glow in the dark surrounding him.

  To Cassie's utter amazement, the world around her suddenly ground to an abrupt halt. Everything around her fell away, the crowd disappeared; Chris and Melissa no longer existed as he became the central point of her world. He was inside of her, flowing through her veins, burning into her extremities, filling her. Though it made no sense to her, and she certainly couldn't explain it, he somehow helped to heal everything that had been hurting, and broken, and wrong within her.

  Unknowingly, tears sprang to her eyes. She would be ok; everything would be ok now that he was here. The thought blazed into her mind, seared through her heart, and though it seemed crazy she knew it was completely right. She didn't understand how he made everything right, but he did. She needed him, the realization slammed into her with the force of a sledge hammer. It was a terrifying thought, confusing and unsettling. However, she knew it was completely true.

  "It's about time," Melissa muttered.

  With those three words the world lurched back into frightening focus. The force of it left Cassie stun
ned and breathless. Her hand trembled as she wiped away the single tear that had unknowingly slid down her cheek. She was completely shaken by the bizarre encounter, unnerved, and yet exhilarated. She tried, but she couldn't break eye contact with the stranger.

  Though she had no special gifts, no abilities like Chris and Melissa, she knew her life would never be the same again. She knew the presence of this strange man marked a significant change in her life.

  Acute panic tore through her.