Andrea Sanders, legendary hunter, is the kind of legend that only the brave and stupid dare to whisper about at night. After ditching the foster system at sixteen, she follows her father's footsteps into the only life she's ever known: hunting down...
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I wiped the blade off on my jeans, frowning at the blood stain it would undoubtedly leave behind. The body of the hunter laid sprawled out before me. His dark hair was buzzed close to his head and the unkept beard he was rocking told me more than I wanted to know as I rolled back on my heels, staring at him. Remorse tried to tug at my heart strings as I wondered who exactly he was leaving behind. A kid? A wife? A mother? But it didn't matter. Standing, I turned to the shapeshifter that was still shaking in the dark corner, clutching her baby to her chest.
Pocketing the blade quickly, I walked slowly toward her. However, I suppose saving her life and her child's life meant very little as she began screaming. With a good purse of my lips and a deep breath, I tried my best to calm her down. "Shh! Please! I'm trying to help, I promise!" I glanced behind me, making sure the dead dude was staying... well, dead. You'd be surprised how often that wasn't the case. However, mommy dearest didn't shut her pie hole. I didn't want to resort to drastic measures if I could help it, so I tried again. "Elaine, I need you to listen to me. I'm not going to hurt either of you. I just want to get you somewhere safe." Her screams died in her throat as her eyes searched mine for a lie she would never find.
"But," she whispered, timid as a puppy. "Aren't you one of them?" I pursed my lips once more. That, was an excellent question. Was I one of them? You weren't really supposed to kill your own kind, but I don't think I'd ever met someone like me. Not since...
Shaking my head, I simply restated, "I'm here to help you." That question was not worth stressing about again. This kind of work was never without the guilt and confusion, but I could worry about that later: right now I was still on the job. "A car is parked in the lot behind the building." Pulling the keys out from my pocket, I held them in my outstretched hand. "There's already a car seat in there, and a brand new license plate. Get out of town and don't come back. I'll clean up." Her eyebrows furrowed.
Elaine shook her head, her blonde rats nest flying around her head. I guess after being chased through a forest and locked in a warehouse I really couldn't blame her. "What about Jerry, my husband? And our home?"
I pulled back my hand at the question. Lowering my head and biting my lip, I stared at the ground until the anger rising up inside me could fall back down to a dull simmer. "That man," I started, my remorse for the hunter evaporating as my memories returned. "That man was a murderer, and there are others like him. They will come for you and your baby if you aren't careful." Finally getting the nerve to look back up, I stretched out my arm once more. "Please. Go."
Slowly, painstakingly slowly, Elaine inched toward me. Her light grey eyes never left my own brown ones as she creeped toward me and retrieved the keys.
I offered no resistance.
Looking left and right, Elaine took off quickly toward the door on the other side of the warehouse as though she feared I would change my mind and attack her, too. I watched her place her hand on the door knob before she turned to me with her ever furrowed brows. "Why, miss?" I raised an eyebrow at her as a way to voice my question. Elaine cleared her throats and adjusted the dirty dress she was wearing before looking back up directly into my eyes. "Why are you doing this for us? He was one of your own."
