The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (32 page)

Luke wheeled me right up to the side of
Gavin’s bed, where I could easily hold his hand.

“Gavin,” I whispered, “are you awake?”

His eyes fluttered a bit, but didn’t
open.

“Gavin, I’m sorry you’re hurt. I hope you can
hear me, because I just want you to know how grateful I am for your
help.” I was grateful. Even though he didn’t come with Drew, he did
come through in the end. “I hope you’re going to be all right.”

“He’s probably on heavy pain killers,” Luke
explained.

“I know.” I nodded. “I just wanted to say
thank you.” I squeezed Gavin’s hand. “I’ll try to come visit you
every day until you go home.”

Suddenly, I felt his hand move in mine, and I
was sure he could hear me. His body simply wouldn’t let him
respond. “Okay. I have to go now, but I’ll be back tomorrow.”

I released his hand and nodded at Luke.

“I’m ready.”

He wheeled me back into the hallway, and I
saw Drew waiting with Alice by the nurses’ station. Alice was also
in a wheelchair. She looked exhausted, but other than that, you
couldn’t tell anything was wrong with her.

“Hi, Alice.” I waved a little.

She lifted her hand in a weak wave back at
me.

“Hey,” she whispered. She looked up at Luke.
Apparently, they had already met and no introduction was needed.
“Are you guys sure it’s okay if I come home with you? I’ll
understand if you don’t want me.”

Luke waved her comment away. “Don’t be
ridiculous. We wouldn’t put you out in the street. Where else would
you go?”

Even though Luke tried to reassure her, tears
formed and fell down her cheeks. She didn’t sob, but silent tears
continued to escape from the corners of her eyes.

“Alice, it’s all right. We’re going to take
care of you.” I tried to help. I knew it was hard for her. She had
lost everything.

Drew turned her wheelchair in the direction
of the elevators. “Let’s go.”

We wheeled out to the car in silence. I guess
no one could think of anything appropriate to say. The ride home
was quiet, too.

The trees had already begun to turn; red,
gold and burnt orange leaves fluttered over the road as we
drove.

When we reached the gates of the community, I
exhaled a large sigh of relief. I was home, and I was safe again.
“Does this place have a name?” I asked. “I always just call it the
community.”

Luke laughed. “Actually, yes, the community
has a name. It’s called Arcadia Falls.”

“Arcadia Falls.” I tasted the name. “That’s
pretty. I like it.”

While we drove through town, I stared out the
window at all the places I’d missed while I was gone: The Java
Bean, the library, even the school. There were people out on the
sidewalks, and every single one of them waved when we drove by. I
remembered why I’d left in the first place: to protect them.

I could smell smoke from the wood stoves as
it curled out of the chimneys and mingled with the crisp fall air.
For the first time, I realized it was a smell that reminded me of
home. It reminded me of when I’d first come the year before. Where
I’d lived in the city with my mom, there were no wood stoves
curling smoke out of the chimneys.

Drew’s rickety old truck sat in the driveway.
We pulled up next to it and parked. Quickly, before anyone could
come help me, I opened the door and tried to stand. I wanted to
walk by myself.

Drew eyed me, as did Luke, but neither said
anything. I clung onto the car door for a moment before I took a
few limping steps. Drew went around to help Alice out of car,
because she didn’t attempt to get out, or even move.

I knew neither of them would have helped me
out. Drew was my trainer, the one who said ‘If I help you, then
it’s not helping you in the long run.’ I took a few more steps and
was certain I could at least make it into the house.

“Do you want your crutches?” Luke asked. He
opened the trunk and lifted out my bag.

I smiled big. “No, I can do it.”

“All right, then,” Luke answered, but he
grabbed the crutches out of the trunk anyway.

I was exhausted by the time I reached the
front door. Drew had already gone inside and helped Alice sit on
the couch by the time I even made it halfway. I finally tumbled
down onto the couch next to Alice, causing her to bounce.

“Hey, Alice.”

“Hmmm,” she mumbled.

“You’re going to like it here.” I took her
hand. “I promise.”

Later that night, after I tried to bathe
myself without getting my bandage wet, I explored my room. My bow
sat in the same place I had left it. I lifted it and ran my
fingertips over the smooth wood and beautiful carvings. Suddenly, I
wondered what purpose Sostrate'd had when she gave it to me.
Sostrate was a demi-goddess, and her intentions always came with
deeper meaning. So far, I hadn’t used her gift for anything except
to kill one random vampire.

The thought actually made me nervous that the
fighting between the hunters and the vampires might not be
over.

The next day, my leg felt worse than the
previous day, for some reason. I had plenty of pills to cut through
the pain. My plan to avoid the crutches wasn’t exactly working
either. I had to use them to get around or deal with more pain.

Alice had shared my bed with me, and it
looked like that was how it was going to be for a while since we
had no spare bedrooms.

After using the bathroom and brushing my hair
and teeth, I fell back on the bed and tried to wake Alice.

“Hey, you.” I touched her nose. “It’s time to
wake up.”

She moaned and swatted at my hand.

“Time to get up now.” Still nothing, so I
shook her a bit, and her eyes popped open.

“What?”

“It’s time to get up.”

She sat up and rubbed her eyes, then glanced
around my room.

“Why can’t I just sleep for a while? I’m so
tired.”

I sighed. “Alice, I know you’re tired, but
you need to get up and move around. If you stay in bed all day,
it’s not good for you. It could make you depressed.”

She flopped back down, rolled over and
covered her head. “I’m already depressed.”

“Well, you shouldn’t be. You’re free now. You
can do whatever you want.”

I tried to roll her back over.

“That’s the thing... I have nothing. What am
I supposed to do?”

I lay back on the pillow beside her. “I don’t
know. You can stay here for as long as you want while you think
about it. I’m sure there is something you have always dreamed of
doing. Maybe now you can work on that. “

"Now, let’s get up. We need to see how Oscar
is doing this morning.”

She sat up. “All right, fine.”

“The shower is in there.” I pointed at the
bathroom door. “You can wear any of my clothes you want.”

“Thank you.” She reluctantly pulled the
covers off, got out of bed, and headed for the bathroom. I lay
there, enjoying the purple comforter and staring at my mother’s
picture on my nightstand. Man, I missed her. If she could only see
me now, all shot up and recovering from a fight with vampires.

“I did it, Mom,” I told the picture. “For the
last year, all I could think about was killing the man who ordered
your death. But now I know that you loved him, and I don’t
understand how you could love him.” She stared back at me from the
picture, smiling. “I know you loved me more. I just wish you were
here to explain it all to me, because it’s more than I can handle
right now.”

I thought of Trevor. I wondered if I was
supposed to feel any sadness for the father I’d known for less than
a year.

I didn’t.

The only real emotion I could muster about
Trevor’s death was happiness. I remembered not wanting Christina to
stab him, and I wondered why I didn’t just let her. It was a weak
moment. I didn’t want to be weak.

I knew we would still have to fight vampires.
I knew that would always be an issue; we were vampire hunters,
after all. With Trevor gone, we were safer, and that made me
happy.

After Alice had dressed in a pair of my jeans
and a sweatshirt, we tried to go downstairs.

“I could piggy back you,” Alice
suggested.

I shook my head. “No, I’d be afraid you’d
fall. I’m bigger than you.”

“How about if we just try to go down with you
hanging your arm around my shoulders and using me like a crutch and
the handrail for balance on the other.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” I wished the
vampire healing thing would hurry up and kick in. I didn’t like to
worry about getting around. I figured it was taking longer because
the wound was so deep.

We jostled comically down the stairs and into
the kitchen where we found Luke making sandwiches.

“Hello, ladies. Did you rest well?”

“Yes, except for waking up a few times
because of my leg. Otherwise, I slept great.”

Alice whispered, “Yes, thank you.” She pulled
out a chair from the kitchen table for me to sit in, and then she
pulled another out for herself.

“Where's Drew?” I asked.

“He went out for his run, and then he was
going to get Oscar.”

“Oh good,” I said. “I was wondering how Oscar
was doing.”

Luke put the sandwiches onto plates and cut
them all in half. “He's doing well. The medics said he could leave
the care center, but he's going to have to stay with us for a few
days so we can monitor him. He had a lot of bites, and we just want
to be certain he isn’t going to have any side effects of a partial
turning.”

He handed us each a plate, and I asked him,
“Don’t you have to drink blood after you’ve been bitten to complete
the change?”

I’d read a lot of vampire stuff while I was
at Trevor’s and thought that was the only way someone could become
a vampire.

He nodded. “Yes, normally it would take
drinking the victim’s blood until their heart almost stops, then
they would have to drink blood, any blood, to begin the process of
the change.”

Alice stared at the table, seemingly
uninterested.

“But, an incident like this, with this many
bites, the victim may not become a full vampire but could have side
effects of vampirism, like sensitivity to sunlight and becoming
exceptionally strong for no known reason.”

I took a huge bite of my sandwich. “Oh, I
see.”

He sat down at the table with us, his own
sandwich in front of him. “It’s just better to be safe than sorry,
so Oscar is going to stay with us for a few days.”

Alice hadn’t touched her sandwich. She asked,
“Is it even safe for him to go home at all? Won’t there be vampires
who will want to want to avenge Trevor’s death?”

I looked at Luke and raised my eyebrows.

“Most likely, yes. They will probably look
for him, considering the circumstances, but really, that will all
depend on what he wants in the long run.”

Just then, we heard the door open and voices
in the hallway. Drew and Oscar appeared in the kitchen.