I must have taken too long to answer him because he clears his throat. "Look, this isn't a good time..."
"Sorry. I'm looking for Amanda."
"Like I said, it's not a good time."
I see Amanda round the corner then and roll her eyes. "Sam, stop being an ass and let Ana in."
Sam. I do a quick search in my head and remember Amanda would talk about her brother. I had never met him. He had already moved out by the time I entered Amanda's life. From what I recall, Amanda told me he was a cop. Isn't that just perfect.
"So...you're the infamous Ana."
"Excuse me?"
"Don't mind him," Amanda says, pushing past him and taking my arm. "He's just grumpy."
"Oh. Okay." I let her guide me to the kitchen where her parents are bustling around like they were in a hurry. A part of me is surprised to see them there. After all, Bernard had told me they wouldn't be in my way. I don't know what I thought they would be doing, but I just didn't expect them to be here.
"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Logan."
"Ana! It's been so long since we've seen you." Amanda's mother gives me a quick hug, then returns to writing things down on one of the many pieces of paper in front of her.
"Ma, we should talk about this, and it's a family discussion." This comes from the broody Sam. He looks at me when he says 'family'. Apparently, I'm not welcome by Amanda's big brother.
"Sam, you're being rude. Besides, there's nothing to talk about."
"Your mother's right, Sam," Mr. Logan says as he stuffs papers in his briefcase. "We have not been on vacation for ages, and it won't hurt you to stay with your sister until we get back."
They're leaving. I guess Bernard did find a way to distract the parents.
"I don't need a babysitter," Amanda pouts.
"We know, honey, but we'd feel better if you weren't alone while we're away." Mrs. Logan pats Amanda on the shoulder. I'm always a little envious of those who had a loving mother. It makes me miss my mother, even after all these years. Mrs. Logan glances at me and smiles. "Maybe you should stay here as well, Ana."
"Thank you, Mrs. Logan, but I'm used to being alone."
Her smile turns almost sad. She feels sorry for me. I'm not sure what Amanda told her parents about my situation, but they are always concerned about me. If they only knew the truth.
"Well, I wish you would change your mind. It's dangerous out there. Why just a few nights ago there was a multiple homicide!"
"Mom, they were gang members. I mean, I'm sure that happens all the time." Amanda looks at me and, again, rolls her eyes. "Sam is a homicide cop, so mom gets a little too into all this stuff."
I try paying attention, but my mind is reeling. Gang members, homicide. It has to be a coincidence. Right?
"It wasn't gang related, Mandy." I hear Sam say. "Unless gangs are putting down the guns and breaking necks instead."
Oh God. Could it be that my horrible dream wasn't a dream at all?
"Whatever. I don't know anything about gangs, and I'm smart enough not to go walking around in alleys after dark." She chooses a grape from the bowl on the counter and pops it in her mouth.
"Ana, dear, are you alright? You look pale."
Hearing my name brings me back to the Logan's kitchen and out of the alley from my nightmare. "Hmm? Yes, I'm fine." Desperate to change the subject, I ask Amanda's parents where they were off to.
"It's actually a work thing in England, but we're stretching it out to make it a vacation and invited a few friends. Andrew's company is picking up the check on accommodations, so why not? Oh! You're from there, right? It just seems so delightful," without even giving me a chance to answer, she continues on. "Speaking of, Andrew did you remember the passports?" With that, my conversation with them is over as the doorbell rings again and the chaos continues.
"Hey! You should come stay with me! It'll be fun!" Amanda is starting to get excited about the possibility of a long slumber party when Sam chimes in with his cheerful self.
"Look, I don't need to look after another kid. It's bad enough I have to stay here with you. I have a life you know." He raises his voice enough on the last part so that his parents could hear.
"Neither of us are kids, jerk." Amanda throws a grape at him. It doesn't really demonstrate her not being a kid, but it is quite funny when it hits him in the directly in the forehead. Good aim.
Just then Amanda's parents come back in, flocked by other adults. They all seem to be talking at once with excitement, discussing what attractions they want to visit and occasionally asking for my opinion. I answer politely and study them carefully.
"I can't believe you invited us on this trip! Oh, it's been so long since we've been away from the children." I hear one whisper. She's a slight, blonde woman. I recognize her from different events as Mrs. Connor. Zac's mom.
"I know. I love my children, but I am so ready to get away." I hear another say. I don't recognize everyone, but I assume that these are the parents of some of the kids that were on the list I gave Bernard of whom I thought the Hunters were. Sadly, I doubt some of them will even notice their kids are not around when they return from vacation.
I sit on Amanda's bed and pretend to read a glamour magazine she had lying around. Her parents have already left, and I can hear her brother mumbling grumpily to himself downstairs.
"Is your brother always this charming?"
"Actually, he usually is nice. I don't know what his problem is. I mean, I know he doesn't want to stay here, but he was fine before."
Before I came over. He's a Hunter and I'm - well, more - but no Hunter has ever been able to 'sense' me.
"So? Are you going to stay over?" Amanda plops down beside me. "I think it would be nice. You've been distant lately and I think there's more to it than Mr. Galloway."
Amanda is another that I've always seen as sort of self-absorbed. She never really cares about others unless it directly affects her. Now, I see she's more observant than she appears.
"I've been going through some things," I admit. I will have to tell her as much as I can if this is going to work at all.
She looks concerned. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"I have to, because I'm going to need your help."
"You sound so serious." Amanda gets up from the bed to pace. She seems more nervous than I am. I wonder why.
"It is serious. I'm just not sure how you're going to react." I see her step falter.
"You are pregnant aren't you?"
"What? Amanda, no, I'm not pregnant." I stand with her and block her pacing path. "I don't even know how to begin."
"I've always heard it's easier to just blurt it out. I mean, it's like a band-aid right? The faster the better." She starts fidgeting.
"This isn't the sort of thing you just blurt out," I tell her. Yes, I'm stalling, but I honestly don't know what to say. "Okay, um, you know the books that Ber-Mr. Galloway gave us to read? All of that stuff he was trying to teach?"
"Yeah."
"What did you think of it?"
"Seriously? Ana, what does school have to do with any of this?" She grabs my arms and squeezes. "Please tell me you are not having an affair with Mr. Galloway!"
"Gross! Of course not!"
"Did he come on to you? Do something to you?"
"No. No, no, no. Amanda, please focus."
"I'm trying! It'd be much better if you would just tell me what's going on!"
Sigh. "Amanda, the killings in the alley that you were talking about earlier, I believe they were done by...a vampire."
Silence.
Her burst of laughter takes me by surprise. "Come on. What's really going on?"
"I'm serious, Amanda," I begin to explain to her - as best I can - how the plague of vampires roamed the country centuries ago.
I tell Amanda the revised version of the past, of course. I explain to her that Anala is my ancestor, daughter of the leaders of the Society of Hunters, leaving out the part that I/she was also a Cursed One. I tell he
r about her ancestors and how they were Hunters, which makes her a Hunter as well. Seriously, explaining how Cursed Ones - or vampires as we're known today - exist and it's up to us to stop them is beyond difficult.
Amanda just stares at me for a moment, then snorts. "I knew something was wrong with you! I mean, you've been weird the past few days, but this is too much!"
I am desperately going to need to find some way to prove this to her. At this point, I wish I could just show her what I am and be done with it. "I know it sounds a bit far-fetched..."
"Far-fetched!? Come on, Ana, this is just ridiculous!"
Okay, think Anala. I scan Amanda's room for anything that could help me.
"Do you have a letter opener?" Of course, my question only garners more odd looks from Amanda.
"A letter opener? Seriously?"
Ah, yes, this was the age of texting, Facebook and Twitter. What does this generation need with an ancient letter opener?
"Fine. Do you have anything sharp? Scissors?"
"I have a pocketknife. Will that do?" I can tell she's confused by my request, but at least she was obliging me.
It's my turn to give her an odd look. Amanda Logan is so 'girly' that knowing she has a pocketknife just doesn't fit.
"Um, yeah, that will do fine." She starts to hand it to me, but I push it back to her. "Open it," I tell her. I walk over to the opposite wall as she did what I asked. Grabbing a pen from her desk, I draw a circle smaller than a dime on the wall.
"Hey! Why are you writing on my wall?"
"Relax, it's a tiny circle." I walk back to her. It's not as far as I want it to be, but it will do. "Can you see it?"
She squints toward the wall. "Barely."
"Throw the knife at it."
"What? Seriously, Ana, this is getting really..."
"Amanda, please. Do me a favor, don't argue with me, stop thinking I'm weird, just do what I ask." I'm putting a bit of persuasion into the request, but I don't overdo it. I need Amanda to make the decision to believe me on her own.
"Okay," Amanda agrees with a huff. She squints, again, trying to focus on the small circle.
"No. Don't think about it. Don't try, just do."
"But..."
"Amanda, just throw it!"
I think I scare her enough that she doesn't think of anything else except getting rid of the pocketknife in her hand. To her utter amazement, the knife stuck into the wall. She all but runs up to the wall to see if she even came close to the circle I drew.
"Shut up! I hit it! I mean, I really hit it! Dead center!" She does a little dance while singing 'I hit it, I hit it'.
"Do it again."
"Huh?"
"Take the knife and do it again. Hit the same spot."
"Come on! That was just luck!"
"Amanda."
"Dang! You are being mean!" But, she grabs the knife and walks back towards me.
"Remember, don't think..."
"Just do," she finishes and once again throws the knife. Once again, it sticks in the wall, in the same place as before.
"Holy...how did I do that?" Amanda looks at me like I'm an Encyclopedia full of information.
"I told you. You are a Hunter."
"This is real? I mean, really real?"
"Yes."
"I can't believe this. Vampires? Hunters? This is all so...Twilight."
"Well, not exactly. Vampires aren't as nice as that." With exception of myself, I think.
"How are we supposed to fight them? I mean, we're only two people. Two girls! Throwing a pocketknife at a wall is one thing, but fighting a real vampire?" She whispers the word as if they could hear her.
"It's not just us," I tell her. "We are going to have to recruit the others, and it's not going to be easy. Then, we'll have to train. You and the other Hunters will have to know how to kill the vamps." I see Amanda shudder when I mention 'kill'. Not sure what she thought we were going to do. Tame them?
"Who is going to train us? I mean, you said that Hunters were no longer needed, so who would know how to train us?"
"Let's get the others on board, first. Then we'll discuss that." Because that is a whole other can to open up when they find out I will be training them.
I end up staying the night, talking about Cursed Ones and Hunters. Luckily for me, she really was into this stuff. I can only pray that the others will be this easy to convince.
As it turns out it wasn't as easy convincing the others that I wasn't crazy. If I could've just made them believe me, that would've been less time consuming and fantastic. But, as with Amanda, I needed them to agree to this on their own. I thought, perhaps, having Amanda with me when I talked to the others would help. At times it did - she seemed to rather enjoy doing the 'throw-the-knife-to-the-tiny-circle-on-the-wall' experiment - other times, not so much. Going down the list was weird, to say the least. Most of the names I came up with from my memory of Hunters I worked with in the past didn't come as a shock. They all excelled at their talents. Whether it be the fastest swimmer, the great quarterback or–bonus for me–the best fencers. They would come in very handy when it came time to teach the new Hunters how to wield a sword.
Some surprised the hell out of me. The cheerleader captain? Really? Sure, she was a fine cheerleader, but, unless she was faking it, she was as dumb as a whip! She was conceited beyond belief and extremely difficult to talk to, especially about something as important as this. Why she decided to accept what I was saying, I don't know, but my biggest concern was how I was going to train her. Hell, I had no idea how I was going to train any of these kids! All in all, I had an extremely eclectic group of extremely different personalities. I don't even know why they trusted in me, and blindly follow me to what could essentially be their death.
During school, we all pretty much remain in our separate groups. Why would we want to hang out together just because we're part of some elite group?
After school, Amanda needs to stop by her house, and then we're all going to meet up to talk about training. I'm glad that Sam's working today. He unnerves me in ways I couldn’t explain. I thought it was because he reminds me of Thomas, but just the way he looks at me makes me feel like I'm either being interrogated or ravished by him. Only one sounds intriguing to me, though I would never tell Amanda that.
"I just need to get a couple of things and then I’ll be ready." We stop in our tracks when we see Sam standing there, beer in hand. Damn it! He's not supposed to be home yet. "Oh! Hey, Sam, you’re home early!"
She looks at me and I read the fear and guilt in her eyes. We both know Sam would never willingly let her fight against vampires. If he finds out what she's up to, I have no doubt he’d try to handcuff her to her bed or something; all in the name of safety, of course. Sam's a cop, it’s in his nature to try and fight the bad guys. Unfortunately, being a cop doesn’t qualify him for this fight. There's also that little detail of how he would never believe me about the vampires. If, by some chance he did, he would never take orders from me.
"I’m home on time, Mandy. Where have you been?"
"Over at Ana’s. I’m going to stay over there tonight."
"I don’t think so."
"Um, mom and dad let me stay over there all the time."
"Well, mom and dad aren’t here and they left me in charge, so you’re not going. If you want to spend time together, she can stay here."
It’s times like these that made me both glad to be an only child, and also a little sad. Honestly, though, Sam is really annoying me with the whole ‘she’ thing. The name’s Ana, buddy.
"She is standing right here," I say testily. It's petty, I know, but whatever. Sam’s attitude towards me is getting old. "And, she would like to spend some time at her own home tonight."
"Sorry, but Amanda’s staying home tonight."
I really don’t have time for this. I'm running out of the time I need to get these Hunters–and I use that term loosely–trained. I don’t know why Sam has to be such a hard ass.
"
Ugh, you are such an ass, Sam! I mean, me going over to Ana’s is so not a big deal!"
"Then it won’t be a big deal for you to stay here, either." He says it with such finality. Apparently, he thinks the discussion was over. He obviously doesn’t know me very well.
"Sam," I walk closer to him, keeping my eyes on his. I hear his heart beat faster and louder. He finds me attractive. I'm used to that from other men, but I never expected Sam to feel that way. "You’ve clearly had a couple of sleepless nights." I lower my voice, putting just a touch of power and persuasion behind it. "Wouldn’t you like to just have a night where you didn’t have to worry about two teen girls all night? We’ll be perfectly safe at my place."
I see Sam’s eyes glaze over, just a bit. He's stronger than I give him credit for, but those sleepless nights I know he's having are working in my favor.
"Fine. Just be careful." And, with that, he leaves us alone.
"How in the hell did you do that? I mean, he never backs down!"
"I guess he’s just overly tired and agreed with me," I shrug. "Go get your stuff and let’s get out of here before he changes his mind." I glance in the direction Sam went. I'm not sure how long my persuasion is going to last.
Amanda and I meet up with the others at Jake’s. Everyone wants to eat, and though I really want to just get started, I agree. No one speaks of what we're all together for. I imagine they were all still having a hard time believing it, even Amanda. So, I let them eat in peace. Reality was going to be a bitch for them when they realize this is actually happening. So, after an hour of awkward conversation and stuffing our faces with food, I tell everyone to follow me. It's time to get busy.
I pull up to the gate, punch in my code, and wait for the others to enter the gate before making my way up the long driveway.
Destined to Kill: A Destined Novel (Destined Novels Book 1) Page 8
