Rolling into a new town isn't that exciting anymore when it becomes the seventh place I've been to during the year, and we're in March. Since I was four, my mother, my sister, and I have been on the road, never really staying in one place. Arriving, enrolling in a new school, pretending to make friends, and then leaving shortly after is a ritual I am very much used to. It's so common that I don't even bother to socialize anymore. What for, if we are to forget about the people we meet? My mother doesn't care about my asocial tendencies, I don't think she has noticed. As long as I'm ready to hit the road when she says so, then fine. My sister, on the other hand, thinks we should take this as an opportunity to make as many friends as we can. She has yet to see that it's pointless. Thus, in every new place we arrive, Lily becomes the popular girl that charms students and teachers alike. She's ready to take on the reins of whatever is the highest position for as long as she can, while obviously ignoring our family history. Lily wants nothing to do with the darker side of our trips, and while I cannot blame her, I don't agree either.
When Lily was one and I was three, our father, Mark, died under mysterious circumstances. It was ruled out as a house fire, but mother remembers bits and pieces differently. Father was already dead when the fire started and, according to her, a shadow with yellow eyes had done it. The death of our father weighed heavily on mother and ultimately led her to seek vengeance against the creature that killed him. That's how the supernatural world was introduced to us. Demons, vampires, werewolves, ghosts, all the nightmare-like creatures turned out to be real. And we became hunters... well, my mother became a hunter, since she doesn't believe I'm ready to take on more than a ghost on my own. We haven't found the yellow-eyes demon, and that's one of the reasons why we move so much, plus the more than occasional hunts that pop up while hunting my father's killer.
My mother, Elena, is not a bad mother, but she tends to forget that we're still in high school and that Lily likes her normal life too much. At the last town we lived in, Lily threw a tantrum about only staying for two weeks. She wanted to remain longer in a place. I decided not to get involved in that discussion when Lily asked my thoughts. She got angry at me for remaining quiet, but ultimately got what she wanted. We're in sad little Lawrence, Kansas for at least four months. If we actually manage to stay that long, then it'll be the most time we've spent in one place. However, mother didn't lose in the quarrel, lately, Lawrence and its surroundings have been showing a lot of supernatural activity. Furthermore, mother thinks she's got a lead on the yellow-eyes demon here. She won't tell me any more about it, though. Of this, Lily couldn't care less, the only thing she seeks is normalcy.
Elena pulls at the school's parking lot with a heavy sigh. I know she's tired, she was all night researching her newest case -information that she refuses to share with me. Still, I know that she's going to interview some witnesses after dropping us off.
"I won't be able to pick you up later, you can ask a friend for a ride or take the bus." She rummages through her bag, "here's some money." Lily is quick to take it from her hands and jump out of the vehicle with a short goodbye to mom. I linger a while more. "You can ask Lily for the change, should be enough for both and some breakfast." I don't tell her that Lily isn't giving me anything. She usually uses the spare to pretend we aren't poorly living in a motel.
"Can I come with you?" She knows I mean the hunt.
"No," her voice is firm, "you need to study. You can come to the next one." I know that she's probably lying. "Now, off you go." I get out of the car and start walking away. It's pointless to try to convince her, I never do.
One thing I don't understand about mom is her reluctance to let me take on difficult monsters. When we started to be introduced to the supernatural world, Elena made sure to teach us about hunting. I learned to shoot when I was eight, and by ten I knew all there was to know about most monsters. Lily received a similar education, but unlike me, she only ever got to memorize the basic things. Disinterested as she is about hunting, she has never killed a creature before, I had. Well, mainly ghosts and some rouge low-power beasts. Nevertheless, mom has seen me hunt, and I don't get why, every time demons or a difficult monster is involved, she wants me out. Last time, she even forbade me from accompanying her to hunt a rougaru. I'm seventeen, I can handle myself. When will she let me hunt alone?
The hallways are crowded by the time I enter the school. The bell is about to ring, everyone is hurrying along or simply chilling with their friends. I can distinguish Lily in one of the corners, gossiping with her buddies. We've been here for two weeks now, so it's no surprise to see that she already has a group. She's still a freshman, so she's not old enough to hang out with the super popular kids, but she's clearly weaseling her way to the top.
The bell rings and I go directly to my first class. The room fills quickly, I manage to find a seat at the back. A boisterous laugh sounds at the door, and thus enter the popular kids. I rarely pay attention to them, they tend to draw too much attention I don't need. Luckily, the disinterest is mutual because they've never cared for me before. That is, until today. I lock eyes with one of the jocks, and he doesn't hesitate to send a wink my way. I remain poker-faced. He doesn't seem to mind my lack of response because he goes back to speaking with his friends. Not even a minute after everyone is seated, the teacher enters the room.
While I've always enjoyed researching monsters, school has never been to my liking. It's kind of stupid having to sit through hours of useless information when I could be saving people. Still, I do enough to get passing grades, so my mother doesn't forbid me from going on hunts. We're good as long as I don't skip classes or fail a subject. Or at least, as long as she doesn't know of it. God knows I've done my fair share of solo monster hunting during class schedule. It's easy to miss class when your only parent is MIA half of the time. And even more so when you know how to falsify documents. Let's just say mom didn't design her last FBI badge.
The first period goes by in a cloud of boredom and expectancy. It's not long after that it's time for lunch, my intentions are to stay only until then. I have things more important to do than listen to whatever topic in the history lesson. The place is crowded with hormonal teens and judgmental stares. Everybody is talking about the latest gossip: Homecoming. Boys and girls alike are overly excited about the preparations and the snow Winterland topic. As if all schools in the country don't overuse the theme. The candidacies for queen and king are also widely discussed. There are plenty of favored names that I've heard, but cannot bother to remember right now.
The line in the cafeteria takes forever to move, when it finally does, all the tables are occupied. That leaves me with two options, either I eat in the library like a loser, or I decide to join a group of people. I haven't tried to make friends and that isn't about to change now, but a loser is something that I'm definitely not. Thus, I move to settle in a place near doors to the football field. According to my expertise, that's the best route to sneak out of this hellhole. At the same table where I'm sitting, there's a guy with two girls, one on each side, both giggling dumbly. The boy looks up when I approach, but his companions don't.
"... that's why you need to think very carefully about who you take to prom," one of them is saying. "Right Cassie?"
The other girl promptly speaks, "yes! You wouldn't want to go with just anyone, like those nerds from the drama club, ugh."
I couldn't care less what they're talking about, so I focus on my barely eatable food. Lunch is monotonous, once the bell rings, I drop the remaining food, take my stuff and walk towards the door without looking back. I have a vampire to catch.
The vampire has been a sneaky little creature that flew under my mother's radar. I have to give it to him, if it weren't because he's in my high school, I might have missed him entirely as well. For a newborn, he was clever. So, while my mother was too busy hunting the monster a few towns over, I caught wind of the sporadic disappearances and drunken teens waking up with marks on their necks. I'm not certain he's completely on his own, yet he clearly wants to remain unknown to hunters. He has only taken the lives of those who wouldn't be missed; the homeless, and he feeds on parties while pretending to leave weird hickies to the drugged girls. He also has a tendency for ditching after lunch to make out with random chicks. Is it too much of a cliché that the resident school vampire is one of the bad boys?
The shining sun doesn't seem to hurt him much as I follow Rodney to a safe distance. He goes to his usual spot by the bench near the woods. Which is all the better for me, from there, I can safely grab him without anyone noticing. I'm pretty certain no one noticed me leaving after him, we exited through different doors, and he's here to meet good girl Mary Anne. I have to make sure that if anything were to happen to him, nobody can pin it on me. Once he sits down, I wait for a second. Their meeting time is ten minutes after the bell rang. Goody Mary Anne doesn't want people to know she's going to make out with resident bad boy aka vampire, how cliché is that? Of course, she doesn't know he's a vampire. I have more than enough time to kill the bloodsucker and leave. And yet, I hesitate for a minute. The last time I killed a vampire it almost got me, Elena had to help me, there had been two against me, but still.
"Are you stepping out of the shadows and showing yourself or what?" Rodney's voice smoothly asks. Of course, he can hear my wild heartbeat. I walk towards him slowly. The gun on my waistband feels heavy. He doesn't make any sudden movements or attempts to even stand, it's like he's content just staying there smiling at me. I don't speak. "You need to work on your stealth, you know, I could hear you following after me." He could? Damn it. "So, why were you following me, Colt?" My last name sounds wrong on his lips.
"How do you even know who I am?" I've kept a low profile and whilst he's not part of the popular gang, he's one of those kids that only cares about themselves.
His charming grin allows me to see his teeth, and I wonder when the other pair is about to pop out. "C'mon, Colt, am I that self-absorbed?" Yes. "I've hung out with your sister, she's a wild one."
The way he says it makes my stomach churn unpleasantly. "You... you've been with her?" I don't beat around the bush about what I'm hinting at, and he knows it.
"God, your face!" He laughs loudly, "sorry, I had to. I haven't banged her if that's what you're asking," disgust fills my mouth, "but we made out once." Lily has kissed Rodney, and she didn't figure he's a damn bloodsucker?! I try not to direct my anger toward her.
"You know she's three years younger than you, jackass?" I no longer try to hide my contempt. He's made me pissed. Who does he think he is, kissing my little sister?
Rodney shrugs, "she's the one that came to me... just like you, right now."
"I'm not here to kiss you, dick."
I take a step forward in silent threat, but he seems unaware of the possible danger. "No? Then why are you here?"
I don't know how to answer that, should I outright tell him I want to kill him? That's probably not a good idea. Then, do I say it's a coincidence? Not plausible, he won't believe me. At my silence, his smile only widens. Is his ego that big that he really believes I want to make out? Well, he's a vampire after all, and they're known for being attractive to mortals... and really fast. Maybe I can take a closer shot at him if I play along.
"You're right," I fake the distress at being caught. "Ever since I entered school. I've been trying to get your attention, but I'm afraid it hasn't been working very well."
"No, it hasn't," he snickers, "it's kind of sad that your younger sister has more game than you, honestly." I don't give a fuck about Lily's flings, but I let him continue. "But no problem, I'm always willing to help you even that score."
His eyes twinkle in amusement as he gestures for me to sit beside him on the bench. I approach him, but instead of following his command, I say, "I was thinking we could go somewhere more private." My eyes shift to the woods behind him.
Rodney looks thrilled about my proposal, and I wonder if he really isn't suspecting anything or if he also plans to attack me once we are there. "Sounds good," he claims excitedly. "I have a meeting in a few... I'm sure she can wait." He isn't very brilliant if he believes girls like to be told they're one of a bunch.
He follows my lead into the woods. I only stop once I'm certain no one can see us from where we are; hidden among trees. Rodney doesn't give me a moment to ponder his next move, as soon as I turn around, he's on me. To my utter surprise, he doesn't attack me like I expect him to, he takes me by the waist and easily pins me in the bark of a tree. His lips try to descend on mine, but I manage to dodge him in time.
"Someone's eager, are we?"
"Well, I told you I'm on a tight schedule." He attempts to kiss me once again.
Just like him, I don't waste time in any foreplay. As I pretend to cradle his neck for a better angle, I directly stab him with the syringe on my sleeve. He doesn't see it coming, the dead's man blood goes straight to his body and he sways weakly. Rodney's bright brown eyes look at me with astonishment. Before he can try anything, his body drops to the floor, and I let it fall without remorse. This time I concentrated the dosage so he would pass out immediately. Looks like I did a good job.
I'm not entirely certain Rodney is the only vampire in town. Blood suckers tend to live in groups, so I thought it would be safer to take him for interrogation into a cabin not so far from here that I discovered. I need to make sure he's the only vampire before I can chop his head off. Usually, it would be recommended for a hunter to take a partner when facing a pack of vampires, but something tells me that if he isn't alone, there shouldn't be many of them. Large groups tend to cause chaos, and this one has been keeping a low profile.
In the distance, I hear a feminine voice call out Rodney's name. It must be Mary Anne, and I cannot let her find us. I take Rodney's feet and start dragging him away from the sound. The disappearance is going to cause controversy, though I don't think no one is gonna be able to connect it to me. I need to bag some of these monsters, that way my mother can see that I can be trusted with my father's revenge. That's all I need to do...
"What are you doing?" A voice calls out behind me. Mary Anne stands in my way with a hard expression on her face. Next to her, another boy our age looks at me open-mouthed. Great, just what I needed, not one but two witnesses.
"He- he passed out, I was just taking him to the hospital or something." I invent poorly.
Mary Anne takes a step towards me menacingly, "by dragging him?"
I notice at the same time she does. Our poses and situations give us away to the other, it's very obvious by the way she bears her teeth in a threat to hurt me. Thus, when I realize she's a vampire, she knows I'm a hunter. From then on, it's just a matter of speed. Her species has the advantage in that matter, but the separation between us, and the long range of my weapon, allow me to have the upper hand. When I pull out the handgun and point it at her, she is already halfway to me. Still, no matter how fast a vampire is, a bullet is always faster. The projectile hits directly in between her eyes with precision. Blood splatters everywhere, and the only thing anyone can hear after is the weight of her body falling to the ground.
As I look back up, the other boy's face is completely startled by the violence. I contemplate shooting him as well, but since he hasn't attacked me, I guess he might be human. Looking at his green eyes and cheek-dusted freckles, I recognize he's the guy that was sitting earlier at my table.
"Your name is Dean, right?"