Demon Huntress (Alt Collector)

Chapter 16

Of course I spoke too soon about it being a great vacation. It was, honestly, I had a great time getting to know Brody's parents more, and was astonished when Evan approached Brody wanting to learn more about lacrosse. I think Evan was shocked when he learned that Brody wanted to study chemical engineering in college, and planned to get at least his masters degree. It was nice seeing them finally bond.

What wasn't so nice, however, were all the demon attacks on the beach that I had to deal with. I'm supposed to be some delicate little girl, not a demon hunter who has to be armed at all times. Oh, well, I just keep reminding myself about Buffy.

By the time Brody got me home, Dad was waiting for us to give us more information on the major demon that was in the area. He said that Finn had reported in while I was on vacation, and ten demons had been killed. Wow. And I thought I was busy.

The major demon, which is what I was calling it, had taken over Gettysburg, which wasn't that far from Frederick. We were going to be going up there to do some hunting, and Finn was going to be going with us. Dad said that Frank and Kyle were expecting us back for training the next day, and that we'd be hunting with Finn that evening.

Welcome back to the real world, Emily.

Sean and Nate were both waiting to pounce on us as soon as Dad released us. He'd told them all about the demon slaying I'd had to do at the beach. Sean teased me with the old phrase "no rest for the weary." I had noticed bags under my eyes, and it wasn't because Brody slept in my bed. Our alarms had gone off several times our last night there, and I worried about Brody as we drove home. My birthday was just a month away. Now to just get to it.

I started my laundry and was about to go up to bed, because we had to be out to train early, when Dad grabbed me again. He said that he was going to start teaching me how to track demons so that I didn't have to rely on people all the time to do it for me, then just be like some point and shoot weapon – my words, not his. He asked that I sign up to study Latin instead of pursuing German any further. The local college taught it as well, and he had made arrangements for me to be able to take it the next summer session. So much for a relaxing time off of school. At least this way I could translate the old books without needing him.

Sean and Nate had continued to train while Brody and I were on vacation, which I was now calling a working vacation since I had to kill a bunch of demons. Frank started me off with more hand to hand, since that seemed to be what I was having to do the most. He allowed me to spar a bit with Kyle, so I could practice pulling punches. When I wasn't paying a lot of attention, he put Sean in to spar with me. He looked as if he was really going to enjoy it.

"Go ahead and hit me as hard as you want," I told him. Figured I'd give him as much enjoyment as possible.

"Trust me, I will," Sean grinned as he circled me.

"I'll heal your bruises. You know like I should have done for you when you went into the hospital," you could hear it in Brody's voice how much he still hated that I got hurt. He told me that he just panicked when he saw me laying there and blanked out that he could do that. I told him it was fine, I was still alive, and that's what really mattered.

"Come on, Sean, stop teasing me," I said just before he threw a punch. I blocked it, and threw one of my own.

Nate and Brody cheered me on the most, I think. When it was over, Sean had a few more bruises than I did, and Brody ran to heal mine. "Think you could heal Sean's?" I'd managed to give him a black eye.

"I can at least try," Brody walked over to Sean and put his hand over his left eye. "Will you hold still?"

"That hurts," Sean grumped. "Eww, now it feels warm."