She only shook her head a bit while tears slipped from the corners of her eyes and ran down her cheeks onto my hand. Fury washed over me and I could feel my hands getting hot. Alice winced in pain and squirmed against the wall.
“What is going on out here?”
Vanessa and Constance came out of the bathroom and saw me standing there holding Alice by her throat. I looked over my shoulder and watched them stop short, stare at me for a moment and then instinct kicked in. Before they could do anything to stop me, I ran.
I ran as fast as I could through the house and out the front door. I heard the women screaming at Trevor, “She knows! She’s running!”
They chased me out the door.
Even though I knew in the back of my mind there was no possibility I could outrun them, I kept going. When I hit the lawn, with my mind racing, I decided to take a chance and stopped. I turned around to face them, lifted my arms into the air, palms out toward them, mustered all the energy I could and forced it toward them. From each of my palms, huge bursts of fire flew forward, curling and licking as the air gave it more fuel.
Vanessa and Constance, not expecting me to have such a weapon, ran right into the flames. Their awful, screeching, banshee-like wails penetrated the air all around us. I saw more coming out the front door and bolted.
I picked up my speed as much as I could, running like I’d never run before. I knew the wall was coming soon, and I had no idea what I was going to do except try to jump. I heard more footfalls behind me.
Damned vampire speed.
When I was about three yards away from the walled fence, I willed my weight to be as light as I could. I sprang into the air and almost made it, but not quite high enough.
I caught the edge of the stone fence with my hands and held on. My legs dangled halfway down for anyone to grab and yank me down. My hands hurt like hell, but I managed to swing my legs up and over just when one of the vampires reached the fence and grabbed for me. I literally fell over the other side and down onto a ton of branches and bushes.
“Ouch!” I cried out, feeling a stick jab its way into my leg. I didn’t take any time to worry about it. I turned over on my hands and knees, getting ready to stand, when suddenly my head was yanked backward by my hair.
“Gotcha!” a male voice cried out triumphantly. “Got her,” he called even louder.
I tried to turn my head, but his grasp was too tight.
“Let me go!” I screamed, willing the energy again. I tried to pull it over my whole body. A sudden ripping noise echoed through the darkness and unlike the times before when I didn’t expect it, I willed the fire to engulf me, feeling it surround me like a force field.
The guard released my hair and I was free. I began to run again, pulling the fire out with my mind as I flew over twigs, fallen branches and rocks of the forest floor.
Then there was a gunshot.
My mind told me to stop, but my feet kept going. It never occurred to me they might try to shoot me.
“Stop this instant, Chloe!” It was Trevor’s voice carrying through the air, but I didn’t stop. “I will shoot you. I do not have to kill you to stop you. I can shoot you in the leg.”
I didn’t want to get shot, especially if he wasn’t going to kill me. Yeah, that’s right; he wanted me alive for some reason.
I stopped.
“Go ahead!” I cried out, turning around to face him. I spread my arms wide open and pulled some flames up for him to see. “Shoot me, and we both go down in flames.”
I watched him step forward across the forest floor, his white face so pale against the night. “Do you really think that power you possess could possibly reach farther than a bullet from this weapon?”
I hated him more than ever.
He shook his head. “Now, come with me back to the house and we will talk.”
“The last thing in the world I want to do is talk to you. Just let me go.”
“I’m sorry, but I need you far too much to let you go anywhere.”
Discreetly, I placed my feet and prepared to run again.
“I wouldn’t do that.” He waggled the gun in his hand. “Let’s go.”
I had no choice but to follow him. I wasn’t going to be able to get away. My superpower wasn’t so super after all if a modern weapon could outdo it.
“You would really shoot me, your own daughter?”
I swallowed the fear and stepped toward him.
“If I had to I would, as long as it kept you alive.”
I continued past him in the direction of the house. “You’re sick, Trevor, like…mental institution sick.”
He followed behind me a few steps. “Possibly,” he replied.
Once we were back at the fence, we followed it around until we reached a guard who punched a key code into a little pad on the fence. The gate of the fence swung open. With a nudge from Trevor, I stepped through the opening and onto the lawn.
I could see the vampire guests and Oscar standing on the porch, looking in our direction. Things were getting serious and it looked like my chances of killing Trevor had just gone straight down the tubes.
As we approached the porch I watched Vanessa eyeball me and Constance raised her eyebrows, turning her lips up in a smug grin. I grinned back and pointed at her. “Watch out for those two, Trevor, I heard them talking about taking me for themselves and how they do all your work so you don’t deserve to have the power.”
If anything about that night was satisfying, it would have to be getting them in trouble with Trevor. It was awesome. I watched both of their mouths drop open and their eyes widened with fear. Only then did it occur to me that maybe they didn’t know that I’d heard the whole conversation they had in the bathroom until I busted them out.
Oscar followed me with his eyes as I walked past him in my torn and dirty dress.
“You knew too?” I whispered, aware all the vampires were watching us.
Oscar didn’t lower his eyes in shame or turn away, but he said nothing.
“Trevor planted you here, didn’t he?” Without taking his eyes off me, he nodded. Aside from Alice being a traitor too, Oscar being a spy was something I didn’t see coming and was far more disappointing than I would have expected. If I got the chance, I'd kick his ass too.
“Go on. Move. Get in the house.” I felt the nudge of Trevor’s gun in my back. “I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid the evening must come to an end now. I have an issue with my daughter I need to address.”
“It was so nice to meet you all,” I called out sarcastically and even took a chance of getting shot by waving to them as I stepped into the house. Trevor kept the gun pressed into my back, following right on my heels. “Can you put that thing down? I’m not going to try anything.”
“Once we have you safe in your room.”
I couldn’t help but laugh a little, “Really? Now you want me safe?”
He grabbed me by the arm with one of his strong hands and pulled me up the stairs. When we reached my room, he kicked open the doors and shoved me inside.
I whirled to face him. “What the hell is going on here? What exactly is it that you want me for?”
I crossed my arms over my chest and locked gazes with him.
“Sit down.” He waved the gun at the couch.
“I don’t want to sit. I want you to tell me what the hell is going on here!” My gaze moved to his hands and zeroed in on his gun. “Is that my gun? Seriously, don’t you have your own?”
He didn’t answer me. He stepped just outside the door, leaving the gun trained on me and moved aside one of the photographs on the wall, exposing some kind of switch. He flipped it and a loud clank echoed through the walls.
“What is that?”
Again, he didn’t answer. He let the picture fall back into place, came back into the room just as some kind of metal sheeting emerged from the ceiling, covering the walls and everything on them.
Appalled, I looked up and down, back and forth, watching the metal slowly impri
son me.
“You truly thought I didn’t know about your little gift? He pulled out a straight-backed chair from the table and sat in it, crossing his legs.
I continued to stand.
How in the hell will I ever get out of this room now?
My mind raced ahead of actual time. I knew I was going to be left alone at some point, and I needed an escape route.
As though he had read my thoughts, he said, “I’ve fireproofed the entire room, even the furniture and carpet are resistant. Not completely fireproof, but resistant. If you light it up, sprinklers will extract from the ceiling, so using your fire won’t do you any good in here.”
“How did you even know about it?”
“I’ve known since my vampires tried to bring you back once before, the day you broke your arm. Shelia managed to escape you and the other Hunters. She immediately came back here to report why they hadn't returned with you.”
I finally went to the couch and plopped down onto it. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I do not have cause to voice my reasons to anyone. You are no exception."
“At least tell me why I’m here. You owe me that much.”
I leaned back on the couch, put my feet up on the coffee table and waited for him to talk.
He uncrossed his legs and then crossed them the other way. “All right. I suppose I should explain it to you now."
He paused, turned his head away for a moment and stared at a far point on the wall. I refused to break the silence and speak first, so I sat and waited for him. Eventually, he sighed and then turned back to face me.
“Do you remember the conversation we had about what a vampire most desires?” he asked.
I nodded, but stayed silent.
“Above all else, a vampire desires the sunlight. To be able to walk about under the deadly rays of daylight would make any creature of the night extremely powerful, simply because of what he can do. Not only powerful, but I could experience something I have not experienced—and have missed—for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.”
“About a year before I met your mother, I came across a book that contained a recipe for a vampire to become a day walker.” He paused and let that sink in. “This recipe called for the vampire in question to drink the entire blood supply of a dhampir, who is also half Hunter, on the day the dhampir turns sixteen. As you know, both dhampir and Hunter are rare to come by. So, instead of searching the world with minimal chance of finding someone with those traits, I found a woman with whom I could make my own.”
I felt my stomach turn over and lurch. I even gagged. “You… you… bred me. You used my mother to make me for your sick desires?”
It took every ounce of control I had not to jump over and strangle him. Like that would do any good anyway, being that he was dead already.
“I did love your mother. I didn’t think I would, but sometimes things don’t always turn out the way you want them to. I never intended to tell her my plans for you. I would have staged an accident to explain your death in order to keep her with me.”
My jaw hung open. I was speechless.
“Don’t look so shocked, Chloe. I never treated your mother badly. I loved her, and if we could have one child, then we could have others. Everyone would have been happy.”
He sighed. I closed my mouth.
“When Felicia found my books and research papers containing all the information about my plan, she ran, escaped with you in her womb.”
I watched his facial expression fade until he appeared to be far away and lost in thought.
“She loved you so much without even knowing you… she ran from me to protect you.”
I planted my hands on my hips and stomped my foot. “I’m tired of hearing all this crap about how much you loved my mother. You are a lying bastard, and I hate you. I should blow us both to bits right now.”
He shrugged, calling my bluff and then stood, challenging me, seeming almost hopeful. “Yes, I figured as much,” he said, actually sounding disappointed when I did nothing but stand there. “You are going to stay in here. If you try any funny business, like trying to burn the place down, you will be removed from this room and taken elsewhere. And believe me, this room is far better than the alternative.”
He backed away from me, toward the door. I was fuming, my hands were hot… they were just begging for me to bring on the fire.
“Go to hell,” I told him as he slipped outside the door and shut it.
I heard a lock click inside the door and voices outside.
Great. He probably had one of his goons standing outside the door, just in case I decided to try any “funny business.”
As soon as I heard the lock click, I rushed to the door and put my hands on the cold metal. I tried the door, even though I knew it wouldn’t open and then felt along the walls for gaps or seams. The only gap was the one where the doorframe was. I ran my fingers over it and then tried to get my fingers inside it but couldn’t because they were just a tad too big. Damn it.
Panicking, I racked my brain, trying to remember if I had anything in the room that would fit in that crevice. I spun around, rushed to the desk and rummaged through things on top of it, trashing the place in the process. My hands finally fell onto a wooden ruler. It would have to do.
I gripped it and ran back to the door. It barely fit in the tiny gap. I wanted to pry the metal away from the door and to see how pliable it was. Sadly, the ruler snapped on the first try.
“Piece of crap!” I screamed to the empty room and chucked the broken ruler half at the door.
How could he call me his daughter? Better yet, how could he call himself a father? Sick, daylight-obsessed, murdering vampire!
“Arrgggh!” I yelled and kicked the door several times.
Suddenly, the anger diminished. I’d never felt a change so sudden. One second I was kicking the wall, the next I was on the floor crying, really crying, not just tearing up, but tears drenching my face, snot dripping out of my nose and all the mascara I’d put on for the party smearing around my eyes.
Sitting wasn’t good enough. I fell to the side, laying on the floor and curled up as much as I could into the fetal position. I tried meditational breathing to stop the panic. Slow breath in the nose, exhale through the mouth. In…out. My little black dress was dirty and torn, but I had no desire to take it off. And my leg was stinging from where the stick had punctured my skin when I went over the wall.
I have no idea how long I lay there, bawling my eyes out, but eventually I heard the locks release again. I didn’t even move. I just stayed where I was, wishing Drew and Gavin and the rest of the Hunter’s would hear my mental plea and come for me.
I was in serious trouble.
When the door opened, someone slipped quietly inside.
Whoever was there must have just stood there watching me, because I didn’t hear anything after the door sealed again. After a few minutes of complete silence, I heard, “Chloe, are you all right?”
It was Oscar, the traitor.
“Go away, you phony. Just get away from me.”
“I just came to get my guitar,” he told me. Instead of getting his guitar, he crouched down right in front of my face. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block him out.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
There was no way I was going to let him get to me. He betrayed me.
“I didn’t know what Trevor had planned for you, Chloe, but I did know he needed you to become a day walker. I had no idea he meant to kill you.”
I opened my eyes. “How could you?”
He grabbed my hands and tried to pull me into a sitting position. I burned him for his efforts.
“Ow! Damn it, Chloe!” He yanked his hands away from me and stood. “Why did you do that?”
“Why do you think? You don’t get to touch me.” I rolled over and faced the other way.
“Damn it. You have to listen to me.”
I could hear the frustration in his voice, but
I didn’t care. I was going to die here, and he had helped.
“I didn’t know the whole story. The reason I was called on to tutor you was to keep you occupied. To keep you from wanting to leave here.”
“Whatever, Oscar. You’re not that hot.”
I heard him pace the floor beside me a couple times. “I can make you do whatever I want, Chloe. Just as you are descended from angels and gods, I am descended from the ancient sirens.”
Seriously? Would the mythology and supernatural crap never end? I rolled back over and sat up. “You’re a what?”
“A siren. Mythological women who could lure men with the sound of their beautiful voices.” Sarcasm was thick on his voice.
“I know what a siren is, but you’re a… a guy.”
I am descended from the sirens, so I have traits. Just as you are a Hunter and have certain traits of the gods.”
“Ugh! This is completely insane. Why did you agree to this?”
“I don’t know if you noticed, but you’re father pretty much runs the vampire community. I’m not about to deny him when he asks me to do something.”
“You suck.” I moaned, planting my face into my hands. “How am I ever going to get out of here?”
“Look at me, Chloe.”
“No!”
“Look at me!” His voice didn’t become angrier, it softened.
“What?” I barely whispered.
“Give me a hug.” He held his arms open.
Even as I went to him, I was thinking, Why in hell am I hugging this jerk?
Then, his arms were around me and it felt good. I needed the human contact. There truly was some comfort in his touch.
He pulled my head close to his and whispered into my hair. “There are cameras in here. I will do everything I can to help you. I’ll make this up to you, but I will die if I’m caught.”
Finally alert, I whispered back, “If you get me out, I promise you protection.”
He released me and nodded. He backed away and turned to grab his guitar case. “It’s been nice knowing you, Chloe. I’m truly sorry.”
With some hope finally rushing through my body, I played up the show a bit. “See you in hell, asshole.”
Lifting his fist to the metal on the door he rapped on it a couple times. The locks released and he slipped out. Only seconds later, I heard the locks click back into place.
The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Complete Collection Page 15
