The Hunter

The Hunter - Chapter Three

I gently pulled on a worn, leather bound book at the end of a shelf. A familiar click, whoosh of air, and the book case slid open. I reached for the lantern Father kept at the top of the narrow staircase and headed down to our secret room.

If the townspeople only knew what lurked amongst them. I shook my head as the dungeon door slid open.

Inside the walls were covered in various weapons of torture and death. Trunks were filled to the brim with artifacts our family had collected over the centuries from various parts of the world. Each one meant to kill a different type of monster. Vials of potions from witches and medicine men and books filled with different types of monsters with the different ways a Hunter can kill them. I went to the far left wall and grabbed a silver dagger. The handle was white ivory with a rather graphic image etched on it. I could only assume it was one of my long dead ancestors killing a vampire. The person had the monster by its throat and jammed the dagger in the heart.

This particular dagger had a pure silver blade, which was useful whether you were up against a werewolf or a vampire, but it was also infused with holy water when it was forged, then blessed by the Pope, and handed over to my family as a thank you for eradicating a particularly nasty coven in the early 1500's.

"That blade helped me out of quite a few nasty binds."

"Did it?" I asked, glancing up at my father.

"I know it seems your mother and I don't care, but we do, Alyssa."

"I know."

"We worry each time you go out."

"Its' been over two-hundred-years, you can stop worrying."

"We will never stop."

"I need to go, dad."

"I love you, Alyssa." He held onto my shoulders and pursed his lips.

"I love you, too."

I led my father back to the library where Mother waited. Taking a green and tan silk handbag from her, I tucked the dagger inside and wrapped a shawl around my shoulders.

I stepped into the brisk evening and down our front path. I looked over my shoulder, Mother and Father stood in the doorway watching as I headed into the night. I waved before heading down the street. I wasn't going to the crime scene. I had no interest in finding the coven tonight. I wanted to visit an old friend.

"Flowers, Miss?"

"I'll take a dozen roses, please," I said, pulling out a few coins.

"Absolutely!" the old woman behind the cart said, smiling, revealing her rotting teeth.

Once around the corner, I crossed a wide field leading to the cemetery. I walked down a small hill to a small brook. A large weeping willow shaded a small cluster of fenced off tombstones. In the center of them all was an angel over look them all.

"Elizabeth." I stooped down and placed the roses at the base of the angel. "You always were the sweetest of them all. I've missed you every moment since we left."

"What kind of friend just leaves without saying good-bye?"

I stood and spun around.

"Bryston!"

"Alyssa."

"What are you doing here?"

"Trying to live."

"That's funny coming from a vampire." I laughed.

"You know what I mean."

"I guess Father was right when he said that body was drained of blood."

"What body?" he asked.

"Don't play stupid. You're murdering the townspeople, just like in London all those centuries ago."

"I'm not like that anymore."

"You're kind doesn't change, Bryston."

"It's Bryce now."

"Bryce?"

"We do change." Before I knew it he was in front of me with his arms around my waist. "Believe me, Alyssa. I had nothing to do with what happened. I'm not like that anymore. I haven't had a drop of human blood since that night."

I slowly opened my handbag and grasped the handle of the dagger. "Then what have you been surviving on all these centuries."

"Animals."

"Animals?"

"Yes. It's not quite the same, but it satisfies the thirst. Even though you still smell as delectable as ever," he murmured, burying his head in my hair.

I pulled the knife out of my bag and pressed it into his chest. "Do anything and I swear to everything Holy I will ram this into your heart, Bryston."

"I'm not going to hurt you, Alyssa."

"You'll have to forgive me if I don't believe you."

He released me and pushed back. I felt the bark of the weeping willow against my back. I looked up and saw Bryce across the brook.

"I will prove to you that I had nothing to do with the murder. I have had nothing to do with harming any people since the night you destroyed Adallan. I'm not the same monster I was. I have atoned for what I was."

My heart slammed against my chest as I watched the vampire disappear into the forest.