The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (10 page)

~~~

Although extremely rare, the natural-born
offspring of vampires exist throughout the world. These rare beings
are called the dhampir. Dhampir are usually the product of a
vampire and mortal. The most common of these unions is a male
vampire impregnating a mortal woman. Vampires, both male and
female, are seductive in nature and some mortals came willingly to
these unions. However, the majority of dhampir born were produced
through an act of rape.

Solitary by nature, it is uncommon for a
vampire to settle with any one mate for long. The children of
vampires, the dhampir, more often than not exhibit all the
characteristics of their vampire parent. The strength, speed and
agility are the usual hereditary traits that the children develop.
They are not always born with these traits but develop them as they
grow into adulthood.

The dhampir are day walkers. Some of these
children are sensitive to the sunlight but will not perish in the
direct rays. Most have no sensitivity at all. Drinking the fresh
blood of mortals is also not usually required of the dhampir;
however, some have a liking for it. Very few actually need it to
survive.

Most dhampir are rejected by the vampire
species because of their mortality and weaknesses. Mortals often
reject the dhampir, as well, due to their vampirism, so they
frequently remain outcast.

Dhampir are known for becoming vampire
killers. Their closeness to the vampires and their vampire
characteristics make them powerful vampire hunters. The unique
ability to track and kill vampires is specific to only the dhampir
and the mythological race of vampire hunters.

Historically, dhampir became vampire hunters
as a trade. Towns and villages became plagued by vampires who were
terrorizing their homes and killing their people. The dhampir
accepted contracts in exchange for monetary payment and used their
likeness to their vampire counterparts to exterminate the
vampires.

~~~

Holy crap, that was a lot to process. The
more I read the passages, the more I understood that my being a
hunter was more than my heritage; it was my history and my future.
Everything about my bloodlines had hunters involved.

I slammed the book shut, not happy about the
realization or any of the information the book had given me.
Opening another book and scanning, I found a lot of the same
information, only there was some new stuff about the legends of the
dhampir originating in the Balkans. Apparently, in these histories
of vampires, dhampirs were considered real, whereas a race of
vampire hunters was considered mythological. To me, that sounded
weird.

I spent the entire day reading through the
books and taking notes. My hand began to hurt from all the writing
I did. It was almost dinnertime when I realized how long I had been
gone. So I packed my stuff, returned the books to their places and
headed out.

“See you later, Linda, and thanks for your
help.”

“Anytime, Chloe.” She waved as I passed the
desk.

I couldn’t wait for Drew to get home so I
could tell him all of this. I had to tell Luke, too. I’d rather
tell them both at the same time than have to repeat all the
information.

The sidewalks were so icy that I couldn’t
walk on them. I stepped down onto the road and walked in the
accumulated snow. It was slushy and brown from the passing cars. I
was concentrating so hard on my footing, that I didn’t hear the
footsteps behind me.

“Chloe, wait up!”

My head snapped up, and I spun around. Well I
tried
to spin around, but, my foot stuck in the snow and the
rest of my body tried to turn. Just as I saw Gavin Turner rushing
toward me, I fell butt first into the slushy, dirty snow.

His hand was stretched out in front of me.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for you to fall.”

I grasped his hand, and he yanked me up out
of the snow with ease. I could not believe this was happening.
Gavin was one of the more popular guys at school, and I didn’t see
him that often because he was a senior. I did see him enough to
gawk at him and his dark-haired, green-eyed hotness from afar.
Falling in front of him was complete agony.

I brushed at my soaked jeans. “Oh, no.”

“Are you okay?” he asked me, taking my bag
from me so I could use both hands to uselessly brush at my
clothes.

“Yeah, I’m all right. I guess I was just off
in space, and you scared me a little. I didn’t hear you coming up
behind me.”

He smiled. “Yeah, I do have a tendency to
walk lightly. It’s a hunter trait.”

“Well, I don’t have it.” I told him. There
was an awkward silence. We both stood there, facing each other
without saying anything. Finally I asked, “Were you calling me for
a reason?”

“Oh, yeah,” He handed me back my bag. “I was
just wondering if you wanted to… uh, if you would like to come to
the New Year’s Bash with me?”

Stupid took over my personality altogether.
“Like a date?”

“Yeah, like a date.” He grinned.

The New Year’s Bash was a big deal in town.
Drew had told me everyone in town always attended, and the dress
was formal. And a formal occasion meant having to find a formal
dress. “I’d love to go with you!” exploded past my lips. I wanted
to sink into the ground. Why couldn’t I have said something cool
like, ‘Sure’ with a dainty hair flip, and then called out ‘Pick me
up at seven.’ No, I just wasn’t that good. I was a clumsy kid whose
crush had just asked her out.

“Okay, how 'bout I pick you up at seven,
then?”

I giggled. How ironic. “Seven sounds great.
If you don’t mind, I really need to get home and change before I
get sick from being in these wet clothes.”

“Oh, I’m really sorry about that.”

I had already started to walk away. I just
wanted to get away from him before I said anything else I’d
regret.

“I’ll see you soon.” I called out and started
to fast-walk through the slush.

“Hey, Luke,” I called when I opened the
door.

I heard his raspy voice holler from the
kitchen, “In here.”

I pulled off my boots and peeled off my socks
and then went into the kitchen where I found him preparing steaks,
seasoned rice and a big green salad. Everyone in the community was
a health food addict, but I was
so
glad they still ate meat.
I didn’t know what I would have done if I’d had to go
vegetarian.

“Let me go change my clothes real quick, and
I’ll come and help you with dinner.”

Wondering why I would want to change my
clothes, he glanced over at me. “What happened?”

“I fell, walking home from the library.”

His gray hair bobbed and he nodded. It wasn’t
unlike me to do something like fall down while I was walking home.
I ran upstairs and quickly threw on a different pair of jeans and a
sweatshirt that said ‘Whatever’ on the front. I hurried down to
help Luke. When I arrived, he was just putting on the steaks.

“Will you get the plates and silverware out
and set the table, please?”

“Sure,” I nodded. “Hey, Luke?”

"Humm?"

I pulled plates out of the cupboard. “Could
you not cook my steak too much? It tastes funny to me when it’s
well done.”

“Rare it is,” he told me as he flipped the
meat.

Just then, the front door opened and closed.
Drew.

I ran to the kitchen door and peeked out. It
was him. “Hey, I thought you were going on a mission tonight?”

“We will. We leave in about four hours.” He
threw his bags on the ground by the door. “What’s for dinner?”

“Luke is making steaks,” I told him and went
back to setting the table. Drew had followed me into the
kitchen.

“Drew,” Luke looked over his shoulder, “I’m
glad you’re here. Is the mission planning going well?”

“Yeah.” Drew pulled out the chair at his
spot, and I set silverware and a napkin in front of him.

“You should wash your hands,” I told him,
eyeballing his fingernails. Dirt was caked underneath them and had
been ground right into his fingertips. He rolled his eyes and got
up, but only headed to the sink after I put my hands on my hips and
glared at him.

After all three of us were seated and the
food was on the table, Luke cut into his meat.

“How are you two doing today? I haven’t seen
either of you all day.”

Both Drew and I glanced at each other. We
knew we had to tell him everything, including the appearance of
Sostrate. I didn’t want him to think we were crazy. I’m pretty sure
Drew was thinking the same thing, but we had to tell him.

“Well, it’s actually been pretty eventful
since last night.” I grabbed the salad dressing and doused my salad
with it. “We went to the cemetery last night, to see my mom.”

Luke swallowed a piece of his steak. “I was
wondering when you were going to want to do that. I’m glad you
went. Drew did take you, right?”

“Yeah, and I’m glad he did.”

“Why is that?”

Again I looked at Drew and gave him a
pleading look to explain it to Luke. He knew Luke better than I
did, anyway. I was so afraid he was going to think I was nuts.

Thank god, he acknowledged the plea and
cleared his throat. “We saw Sostrate, in the cemetery last
night.”

Luke immediately paused his chewing, raised
his eyebrows, and then proceeded to finish chewing. “So the warrior
woman showed herself to you?”

We both nodded.

“And she spoke to you?”

“Yes, and she gave me a present.” I cut into
my meat and forked a big piece of it.

“Chloe! That’s gross!” Drew pointed at my
steak.

I looked down. “What?”

I didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“It’s bleeding all over.”

“Well, I like it this way. Okay? Leave me
alone about it.” I shoved the steak into my mouth and chewed.

“Gross,” Drew mumbled.

“So anyway,” I swallowed, “she came and told
me I needed to work on not being so mad and full of vengeance. Then
she gave me a bow and a quiver full of arrows. I thought maybe it
was a dream, but when I woke up this morning, the bow and quiver
were still there.”

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.