The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (17 page)

“Hey there.” He jumped up and jogged over to
help me.

“I got you a coffee. It’s probably cold by
now, though. I didn’t think of that when I bought them.”

He took one of the lattes from me and took a
big swig. “Nah, it’s still a little bit warm. At least I won’t burn
myself.”

I giggled.

“True. Sorry it took me so long. I knocked
over the tip jar at the Java Bean and cut myself.”

I held up my finger and wiggled it
around.

“Oh, man. Does it hurt?”

I set my stuff on the table. “Nah, not
really.”

I took the bandage off so I could inspect the
damage now that it wasn’t bleeding. “What the…”

There was no cut on my finger.

Gavin looked worried. “What? What is it?”

“It’s gone.” Shocked, I stared down at my
finger. “I know I didn’t imagine it. Look at the bandage.”

I held it out and, sure enough, the bandage
had a dark brown blood stain on the white pad.

“It healed already.”

I could still see a faint white line where
the cut had been, like a new scar.

“This is freaking me out,” I told him.

“Sometimes hunters have quick healing. It
just depends on the hunter.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense.” Unless that
hunter is also half vampire. Then maybe it’s her vampire half
coming through. Maybe that was what was going on with my eyes, too.
“Well, in any case, it’s better now. Should we get started?”

He ran his fingers over his dark hair and
grinned. “Let’s do it.”

We got to work and stood side by side to fire
at the targets. I was a better shot than Gavin. I don’t think he
really liked that much, even though he pretended to. I was better
than him even with my cast on, which surprised me.

“Damn, Chloe. Your aim is impeccable.”

“Yeah, I’m gifted,” I told him.

He thought I was joking, but I was serious.
Marksmanship was one of my gifts. After we shot for about half an
hour, we both needed to rest our arms. We sat at the table and
sipped on our cold coffee.

“Gavin, are both your parents hunters?” I
asked him. I wanted to get to know him better because I suddenly
realized that, aside from being the hot popular guy, I didn’t know
anything about him.

“Yeah, they are both hunters. I was born
right here in this community and have been here my whole life.”

“Do you have gifts? I heard that some of the
hunters eventually develop, like, powers or special abilities
around our age.”

His eyes narrowed and he stared at me through
the slits. “Why do you ask?”

I shrugged. “I’m just wondering, I’m getting
to the age where I would inherit gifts and was wondering what kind
of gifts other hunters developed.”

“Well?” I raised my eyebrows in question.

“I am one of the few of us hunters who is
elementally gifted.”

“Elements, like air, earth, water and
fire?”

He nodded. “Exactly like that, except that I
can only control water.”

Wow. Water.

“You said control. Can you create water?”

“No, I can only control what already
exists.”

“Are there people who can create elements…
like, um… fire?”

He shrugged. “I suppose there are. I don't
think we have any hunters left who are fire elementals. Any who did
have it probably passed away long ago. Some of the elders might
know better, though.”

I was extremely curious. From what I'd read
at the library and from being observant and watching the community,
I'd learned that most of the hunters who had elemental powers could
only control them, not create them. I was a fire starter who could
create fire from nothing. I hadn't heard anything about other
hunters being able to do something like that.

Then I thought about how odd it was that
Gavin and I were basically opposites: fire and water.

“Will you show me something you can do with
water?”

He grinned. “Maybe… when we leave.” He looked
down at his cup, which was empty. “It must be hard, coming into our
world and knowing nothing about it.”

“Yeah, but I’m learning. I do a lot of
research at the library, and Drew helps me a lot.”

At the mention of Drew’s name, Gavin narrowed
his eyes and set his jaw. I just ignored it, figuring it was
because of the fight.

“Let’s go over to the other side and work
with guns for a little bit,” I suggested.

“All right.” He stood from the table and
gathered his things. I did the same and threw my cup in the
garbage.

After we spent another half an hour at the
shooting range, my arm was aching beneath the cast.

“I think I need to quit,” I told him.

“Getting sore?”

“Yeah, but I think it’s good that I practiced
with the cast on. I was worried about how it would affect my
shooting.”

“Seems it hasn’t,” he said.

I thought I detected a bit of jealousy in his
tone.

He quickly changed the subject. “Hey, that’s
a nice bow and quiver.”

“Thanks,” I told him, totally not wanting to
go into where I’d gotten it and hoping he wouldn’t ask.

“Where did you get them?”

Crap. Figures.

“My, uh…Luke gave them to me. They were my
grandmother’s.”

Well, they kind of were, so it was only a
little lie.

He reached out and touched the carvings on
the quiver, running his fingers over them. “They fit you.”

I blushed. I don’t know why. “Thank you.”

He lowered his hand. “Let’s go.”

We headed back toward Main Street, both of us
saying nothing. We were almost there when Gavin veered off toward
the trails.

“Where are we going?”

“Come on. You said you wanted a demonstration
of the water element.”

“Oh, cool.” I followed him through the trails
until we reached a clearing where a tiny stream ran into a rather
quaint little pond. Oddly enough, the pond wasn’t frozen. Perhaps
it wasn’t cold enough.

“This is pretty,” I told him.

He just nodded and said nothing while he set
down his bow and backpack on a large old tree stump. I watched
while he turned toward the pond and narrowed his eyes.

“Look at the water, Chloe, not at me.”

“Oh.” I changed direction quickly.

The stream poured out of the woods and into
the pond with gently running ripples of water. I almost didn’t
notice when the water in the center of the pond began to swirl. The
swirling gradually picked up speed and grew larger until it looked
like a whirlpool. But whirlpools go downward into the water. This
whirlpool began to rise up out of the water. It rose up maybe six
feet and then the water spilled over from the top like a fountain.
I glanced at Gavin. He stood stock still, silent, his eyes focused
on the water.

Slowly, the swirling fountain of water
receded back into the pond. I stood there, enthralled by the magic
Gavin could do with his power.

“You’re amazing,” I whispered to him.

“No,” he shook his head,
“
I’m
not amazing.
I can just do amazing things.”

“Well… I think you’re amazing.”

He turned his head and caught my eyes. “I
think you’re amazing, and you haven’t done anything like that.”

Oh, little did he know. For
some reason, his comment made me want to show him what I could do,
but I didn’t even know if I
could
do it on command. So far it had only happened
when I was angry.

He stared at me so deeply I felt naked.

“Gavin, what I just saw was magical. You make
magic.”

He took my hand. “Chloe, I don’t know what it
is, but I feel drawn to you. Not in the way you might think, but I
feel like you’re my best friend. Almost…it’s almost like I’ve known
you my whole life.”

I sucked in my breath. “How could you feel
like that? You just told me last night you barely know me, and you
want to get to know me.”

“No, no, it’s a different feeling than that.
I can’t explain it.”

Suddenly, I made a decision and took a chance
that was extremely out of character for me. I reached out and took
his other hand. “Well, you can be my best friend if you want. I
don’t have any friends, so it wouldn’t be that hard to score that
coveted spot.”

He burst out laughing and squeezed my hands.
I laughed too. We both laughed so hard tears eventually sprouted in
the corners of our eyes. I didn’t know about him, but I really
needed a good laugh like that.

Back at home, I skipped dinner and went
straight to my room. For hours, I lay on my bed, staring at the
faint white scar on my finger. It had to be part of the vampire
change; I just knew it. These changes only made me wonder what else
was going to happen. There were bound to be more changes ahead.

I rolled over on my bed and looked at my cell
phone. I clicked open the contact picture of Gavin and stared at
it, wondering how fire and water could survive each other. He
didn’t seem cool and icy. That was more Drew’s thing. Up until that
point, Drew had been my only friend, but he took care of me so he
was also like a big brother.

My phone rang in my hand and I jumped,
because the dang thing hardly ever rang. Caller ID said restricted.
That was weird.

“Hello?”

“Chloe,” a clear and soft male voice came
through the earpiece.

“Yeah, who is this?”

“This is your father.”

I let that sink in for minute. I wanted to
scream and yell and tell him he could stick it. I think I knew, as
soon as I heard his voice that it was time for me to go on with my
plan.

“What do you want?” I asked him.

“I’m here with your grandfather, Chloe.”

Luke. He was at the hospital. “Don’t hurt
him.”

"
Why should I spare
him, Chloe? Would he have spared me if the tables were turned? Even
if it had meant he could have gotten your mother back all those
years ago?
”

I took a deep breath and tried to stay calm.
“If you even touch him, I will not go with you. If he remains
unharmed, I will come to you.”

“Ah, that is just what I was hoping to hear.
Where shall we meet?”

“I’m coming to the hospital. I want to see
Luke and make sure he is alive when we leave. I need to make sure
you keep your end of the bargain.”

“You have my word. Your grandfather will live
through this night if you show up.”

I clenched my teeth and then forced myself to
relax.

“You had my mother killed. What on earth
makes you think that I would ever trust you? I’ll be there in two
hours.”

I clicked my phone shut and threw it across
the room.

After exactly one minute of steaming, I
jumped up and grabbed my big duffel bag out of the closet and ran
around the room grabbing clothes, my iPod, my toiletries, anything
I didn’t want to leave behind. I collected my phone from where it
had landed by the bathroom door and dialed the cab company. I had
some cash stowed in a shoebox on the top shelf of my closet. There
was no way I was going to ask Drew to drive me. I don’t think he
would have taken me. He would have just tried to go and kill Trevor
all on his own. I knew better than to tell anyone.