The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection

by Jennifer Malone Wright

  Luke was shocked. I can honestly say it was the first time I had seen him surprised by anything since we’d met.

  “It’s no big deal. I mean, this happens to people, right?”

  “Not that I know of,” Luke told me. “You are the first I have ever known to have an encounter with any apparition.”

  “Oh, no.” I waved my fork. “She made it perfectly clear that she was not an apparition. She said that she is a demi-goddess and that she gained immortality from her mother.”

  “Good lord.” Luke leaned against the back of his chair. “You have to tell me everything. Can I see the bow?”

  I started to tell him he could but before I could speak, loud wailing sirens filled our ears. My hands flew to my ears.

  “What is that?” I yelled.

  Drew had already jumped to his feet and Luke was on his feet and running. Yeah, he was running.

  “We’re being attacked!” Drew hollered at me over the sirens.

  “What? Attacked?”

  “Go get your bow and your gun!” Drew pointed at the stairs. When I didn’t move, he pushed me. “Run!”

  I took off up the stairs. I saw Luke yanking open a set of double doors, a closet. Inside the closet, there was an arsenal of weapons. Drew and Luke began loading themselves up while I ran up the stairs.

  I ran as fast as I could, grabbed my bow and the quiver. I took my gun out of its case and dropped the empty clip and slammed a full one into it. After grabbing the extra clips, I bolted down the stairs.

  “Drew! Give me some of those UV bullets for my gun!” I yelled at him.

  Without even looking hard, he plucked three full clips off the shelf and handed them to me. He must have had them ready for me, because I was the only one in the house who had a forty-five, and they fit my gun.

  The three of us went out to the porch. The sirens were still wailing and the smell of smoke was wafting through the air. I couldn’t see any flames, but that tingly feeling started to come back. My gun was stowed in the back of my jeans, and I had an arrow nocked and ready to fire. These bastards were not going to take away the only safe place I knew.

  “I wonder how they got past the wall?” I thought out loud. The community was gated, surrounded by a gigantic stone wall, and had security checkpoints around the perimeter. It looked like a jail from the outside. Inside, it just looked like any other town.

  “Shhh.” Drew put his finger to his mouth.

  Luke stood at the ready. I don’t think I ever admired him as much as I did at that moment. He stood on the stairs, a gun in each hand and a full bandolier tossed over his shoulders. The moonlight reflected off of his grey hair, causing a beautiful silver glow around him.

  Suddenly, the sirens stopped. Drew turned one direction and listened, then the other direction. “They got to the alarm.”

  I was freaking out. But, thank god I still had my senses. Thinking, Sostrate, I need you to help me with this. I chose the bow and arrow above the gun because of what Drew had told me about guns not working as well on the older vampires, and also because the bow and arrows were given to me by a demi-goddess; maybe they had their own superpower.

  If vampires had made it to the alarms, that meant they had gotten to the hunters manning the security building. That was definitely not a good sign for us.

  A prickle on the back of my neck made my spine straighten. I glanced at Drew and Luke. They felt it, too; I could tell. Both of them stood back to back on the stairs so they could fully cover the circumference around them.

  I took a moment during this scary and traumatic time to feel stupid. I didn’t know what to do, so I remained by the front door, with my bow and arrow at the ready.

  We sat there waiting, in silence, for what seemed an eternity. It was unbearable, knowing we were going to be attacked but not knowing how or when. Plus, I was scared crapless.

  In the distance, we heard the smallest crackle, probably a fallen twig in the woods being stepped on. I spun toward the noise. Suddenly, there was a flash and a vampire appeared. He grabbed Luke. Luke didn’t utter a word but did drop his gun when his hand flexed open in surprise. The vampire towered over Luke, his burnt auburn hair and pale skin completely visible in the dark. He held Luke in a headlock, like he was going to snap his neck.

  “Stop!” I shouted, surprising everyone, including myself. I aimed my arrow at the vampire. Luke’s head was covering the vampire's heart, but I knew I could hit his shoulder. I never missed.

  “Let him go, or you die,” I said, my voice as cold as I could make it.

  I felt my blood rush through my veins, the power, flowing through me.

  The vampire laughed, and my anger boiled. No more of my family were going to die. Sostrate had told me to think of how much I loved my mother when I fired, but all I felt was a hot hatred when I released my arrow.

  “Burn in hell!” I screamed as the arrow flew.

  With the same ripping noise as the tree, the tip of the arrow caught fire and plunged into the vampire’s shoulder. He released Luke and screamed a high-pitched noise that could only be associated with death. I nocked another arrow and thought of how much safer the world would be with one less vampire. The arrow sailed into his heart, and he fell to his knees. When he crumpled, he began to burn away until all that was left was a mess of blackness on the snow.

  I had killed my first vampire and I felt triumphant. But, there were more, I was sure.

  Luke looked at me like I had just farted in church.

  “Chloe?” he whispered. I shrugged and put my finger to my lips. More were coming.

  We heard them approaching. They weren’t even trying to be quiet now. I shook off the nerves that threatened to come back.

  You are a vampire hunter, Chloe. Don't let them win.

  I turned in the direction of the noise. Drew and Luke fired before the vampires emerged from the woods. They missed a lot, but between all of us, we managed to take them all down. Still more came.

  I’d bent down to catch my breath when three really ugly chick vampires and one really hot-looking guy jumped smoothly down off the roof, barely making a sound when they landed right in front of us. Quickly, I moved in closer to Drew and Luke.

  “Don’t turn your back on them,” Drew whispered to me.

  The vampires circled around us in the darkness, stalking us, even though we knew they were there. The three of us moved to where our backs were touching. I still had my bow raised and trained on one of the ugly girl vampires.

  It all happened so fast. I don’t remember much, but they rushed us with their vampire speed. None of us had time to react. With flashes and blurs they were upon us.

  Once again, I was locked in the embrace of a vampire. Flashes of my mother’s murder and James’s iron grip on my arms came back to me full force. I heard myself scream. I heard Drew call my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I felt frozen in time, watching my mother die again.

  “Chloe!” Drew’s voice called me. “Chloe!”

  Where is he?

  Everything was mashed together. Time had merged the past and the present together.

  “Snap out of it!” Someone hissed into my ear. It wasn’t Drew, and it wasn’t Luke. Whoever it was, it did snap me out of it. My eyes focused, and I saw that Drew and Luke were being held in the arms of the vampire guy and one of the girls.

  “Easy with her!” the guy called out to the one holding me. “Trevor wants her alive.”

  She cackled in my ear. “He said alive, but he didn’t say unharmed. This little hunter has caused us a lot of grief.” She gave me a hard shake.

  “I didn’t do anything to you!” I screamed at her.

  “Yeah, except that your Daddy is constantly sending us on suicide missions to find you.”

  I didn’t dignify that with a response. My bow had dropped when I’d been grabbed, but I still had my gun. Doing anything with that would have been a little hard, considering my backside was pressed up against her. Drew and Luke couldn’t move. One thing I
had learned from training was not to get close enough to let a vampire get a hold, because they could snap a human neck in less than a second. I was scared for Drew and Luke.

  I struggled in the grip of the ugly vampire chick. “Let me go, please. Let me go!”

  “Oh, how cute. She's begging.”

  “Leave her alone!” Luke hollered.

  “Shut up, old man,” the one who held him menaced. For emphasis, he twisted Luke's arm, and I heard his bones cracking. Luke screamed like I had never heard a man scream.

  “Let’s just get rid of these two and get out of here,” the chick who held Drew told the one who had me. Drew fought against her, screaming obscenities and twisting in her grip while he tried to release his arms.

  The ugly vamp’s eyes suddenly flickered and lit up bright red as her blood lust took over.

  “No!” I screamed and suddenly felt a hot fire awaken throughout my entire body. “Don’t touch him!”

  I yanked away from the vamp with every ounce of strength I could muster and felt my right forearm snap. I screamed long and hard. The pain was excruciating, and when I screamed my whole body erupted. Literally, I became engulfed in flames. I lunged forward and threw myself at the vampire who held Drew. My screams were joined by those of the burning vampire who had held me. I didn’t dare look. The fire wasn’t hurting me at all. I veered around Drew and into the vamp who held him. Because she held Drew, she didn’t have time to do anything to defend herself when I slammed into her and locked her in a fiery embrace, my broken arm sort of hanging limply around her.

  She let go of Drew. I think he had been waiting for it because he immediately grabbed his gun, then spun and shot. Two precise shots lodged into the skull of the vampire who was squeezing Luke tightly around his chest. Luke fell to the ground, his foot twisting at an odd angle when he went down.

  I ran at the one who’d been shot, screaming like one of those bloody warriors from Braveheart. I hit him with such force it toppled him to the ground. Even though he was already eroding from the UV bullets, I wanted to make sure. I stood and kicked the body over and over again until Drew grabbed me away.

  “Chloe, stop!”

  “Where’s the other one?” I hissed. “Where is she?”

  The flames still flickered and licked around my whole body.

  “She ran.” Drew panted, then glanced over at Luke, who appeared to be unconscious, lying on the cold snow, and ran to him.

  “No!” I concentrated as hard as I could, trying to get the flames to go away. I waved my good arm around and stomped my feet. Nothing happened. I squeezed my eyes shut and thought of only nice, cool, calming… the ocean. The waves rolled in and crashed on the shore. I felt the water dousing my feet as the surf rolled up the sand.

  I opened my eyes. It had worked. The fire was gone. Not that it had been that long, but for the first time, I really, really appreciated having the gift of fire.

  My arm still hurt like hell. I cradled it gently and tried to set aside the pain and thoughts of fire for the time being and ran to Luke.

  He lay on the ground, with Drew on his knees hovering above him. I fell to my knees beside Drew.

  “Is he okay?” I asked while silently begging god, the goddesses of our family, the angels, and anyone who would listen to help him.

  “I don’t know,” Drew replied, and then lifted him off the ground and into his arms. Gently, he carried him into the house while I followed behind. While I watched Drew place Luke on the couch, I realized that if my arm hurt like hell now, it was going to get a whole lot worse when the adrenaline wore off.

  “Drew, he needs to go to the hospital.” I looked down at Luke. “I think I need to go, too.”

  Drew yanked a cell phone from his pocket and hit a speed dial number. “Damn it!” he said after a minute. “No answer.”

  “Who are you trying to call?” I winced as pain shot up my arm. I could feel tears welling up and threatening to spill over. I really didn’t want to start bawling in front of Drew.

  “I’m trying to call the medics. We have our own little version of a hospital, like an urgent care center, I suppose. They are either really busy with other injuries or the vamps got them.”

  “Let’s just go to the real hospital then.” I really wanted to go. I knew my arm was messed up.

  He sighed. “We’re going to have to.” He glanced at my face and then down at my arm. “Go out to the garage and start Luke’s car.”

  I did as he said, but first I collected my bow and some of my arrows. I placed the arrows into the quiver and then hurried out to the garage, just in time, too, because the tears finally broke their dam and began their suicide mission down my cheeks.

  After starting the car, I waited for Drew to come out with Luke. When I saw them, I opened the back door so he could gently slide Luke onto the seat. Luke cried out and coughed roughly a few times during the move. I ran around to the passenger side and hopped in. I was ready to go. I’d never had a broken bone before, but I knew that the longer I waited, the worse it was going to feel. I still felt kind of pumped up and was entirely sure that when that completely wore off, I was going to be in even more pain. I guess I could be grateful there were no bones or anything sticking out through the skin.

  Drew slid into the driver’s seat and pushed the button that lifted the garage doors, backed out slowly and then hit the gas. We flew down the deserted road and into town. The street lights cast an eerie glow onto the empty streets. As I stared out the windows, I thought about where everyone was. I guess I had an image of people running all over in the streets, bloody and screaming, like in some zombie horror movie.

  When we arrived at the gates, Drew slowed and came to a stop at the guard shack.

  “Oh, great,” he murmured.

  “What?”

  “There isn’t anyone in there. When the sirens go off, the controls for the gate in the guard shack shut down. I’m going to have to go up to the control room and turn them back on.”

  “Really?” I moaned.

  Without a word, Drew slammed the car into reverse and turned a wide circle until we were headed back the way we had just come. It seemed like forever to go the short distance to the control room. When we finally arrived, Drew parked the car and asked if I had my gun.

  “Of course, I have my gun,” I told him, but in my head, I was wondering how the hell I was going to shoot with my left hand since I obviously wasn’t going to use my right one.

  He nodded, and then he slammed the door and ran through the dark parking lot. I watched through the windshield and saw him punching numbers into what must have been a coded lock. He slipped inside and didn’t come out for close to fifteen minutes—fifteen long, painful minutes.

  While he was in there, I looked back over the seat to make sure Luke was still breathing, but it was rough and gurgly. When I managed to lean over the seat and feel his face, he felt cold. I got out of the car and opened the trunk. Sure enough, there were two army green blankets folded and tucked into the corner. I grabbed one and placed it gently over Luke’s body, trying to be cautious of his arms as I tucked in the sides.

  With my arm throbbing and feeling like it was still on fire, I got back into the front seat to wait for Drew. When he finally came back, his face was flushed, and his eyes were blazing.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  He slammed the door and fired up the car. “Nothing,” he growled, and then peeled out of the parking lot in reverse.

  “Well, it looks like something is wrong.”

  “Leave me alone, Chloe.”

  “Fine.” Normally I would have crossed my arms because I was so annoyed, but my arm hurt too bad to move it.

  Finally, we arrived at the hospital. Drew sped into the ER drop off and jumped out of the car. He ran through the double glass doors and was in there for about two seconds before people dressed in paper coats and gloves came rushing out with him. They gathered Luke onto a gurney and wheeled him through the doors. I watched him go, and
said a little prayer that he would be okay. I didn’t love him, but he was the closest to anything in my life that I could love.

  A nurse or doctor or something had stayed behind. “Miss, you need to be seen as well. Come with me.”

  I looked at Drew. I desperately wanted him to come with me, but he only nodded and got into the driver’s seat.

  “I’ll come in and find you,” he told me, and then he slowly drove away.

  The first thing they did was a bunch of X-rays. It turned out my forearm was broken, but not as badly as it felt. They set it and gave me a cast that only went up to my elbow. Obviously, I didn’t have to stay in the hospital for anything, but we stayed all night in the waiting room because Luke was in surgery. One of the nurses had explained to us that Luke was unconscious from shock, mostly. He had to have surgery on four broken bones, and one of his ribs had punctured a lung. He was going to be in the operating room while they did all the surgeries and made sure there wasn’t anything wrong with his brain.

  We sat in the pink and white waiting room reading magazines for hours. We drank nasty coffee and ate nasty vending machine sandwiches, and we waited.

  At about four in the morning, a young, preppy looking doctor came out and told us that Luke had come through his surgeries well, and that the MRI showed no damage to his brain, but we were going to have wait until he woke up to find out if everything was functioning normally.

  “Can we see him? Is he awake?” I asked.

  “Of course, but only for a few minutes. He needs rest right now. Your grandfather will probably be asleep anyway; we’ve given him quite a bit of pain medication.”

  “Thank you,” I told him.

  Neither of us said a word while the doctor took his leave. I lifted my eyes and met Drew’s green-eyed gaze. We stayed that way for a while, not moving or speaking, just locked in each other’s stare. Finally, I became uncomfortable enough to break eye contact. I looked away. “We should go see him now.”

  Drew nodded and mumbled, “Yeah,” under his breath.