*Sorry for the long wait and any mistakes!*
Chapter Seventeen
I followed my dad into the living room and my mom was lying on the couch. My mom never lied down at any time that I had ever seen, other than when she went to bed. She had a cloth over her eyes and didn’t see me come into the room with my dad.
“Honey look who’s home,” my dad chirped.
My mom bolted upright, flinging the cloth across the immaculate living room. I had never seen her act this way before. When she laid her eyes on me, tears started flowing down her cheeks and she launched herself across the room and threw her arms around me.
“Whoa Mom, I’m okay,” I said as the air whooshed out of my lungs as my mother hugged me.
“Oh honey, I’m so sorry for what happened yesterday,” she managed between sobs.
“I know Mom.” I stepped back and sat on the couch giving them both a hard stare. “You guys owe me an explanation. I want to know everything there is to know about what it is you do!”
My father was the first to sit and my mother just crossed her arms over her chest. My mother had a stubborn streak, but so did I. It was one of the main things I inherited from her personality wise.
“Lyla!” my father started.
“Connor, save it,” my mother cut him off.
My dad clamped his lips shut. My mom came and sat down on the couch beside me and took my hands in hers.
“We have tried all your life to keep you sheltered from exactly what happened yesterday. I suppose it was our own fault bringing that filthy blood sucker into the house, but at the time we had no other choice,” she said, sighing at the end.
“Do you really think you could have kept something like this hidden forever?” I asked, astonished they wouldn’t want to tell their only daughter what they did for a living.
“We managed for this long,” my mom replied.
I stood up and walked over to the fireplace and looked at the family photos on the mantle. My parents looked so normal, not vampire hunters. I let out a long sigh.
“So now I suppose you are going to expect me to want to hunt vampires along with you?” I asked, figuring now that I knew what they did for a living, they would want me to follow in their footsteps.
“Oh no honey, there is no way we want you doing any such thing,” my dad nearly shouted, causing me to spin around.
“Kara, we want you to go to University and have a normal life. We didn’t choose to do this for a living, your father and I had no choice.” My mom looked off out the window.
“Why didn’t you have a choice?” I asked, confused. Why couldn’t they have had a normal life?
“Back when your mother and I met when we were teenagers, our families were all hunters and the plague of the vampire was extremely high. There were more vampires than there were hunters and every last one of us that were in the family was expected to become hunters. Both your mother and my family were the largest of the hunter families in America and every family member got trained to become a lethal weapon to vampires.”
I stood there with my mouth hanging open. I tried to picture my sweet old grandparents, from both sides hunting vampires. Granted I hadn’t seen them in some time, but still they seemed like every day, ordinary grandparents. They’d lavish me with presents for Christmas and my birthday and my mom’s mother loved to bake.
“You mean to tell me that my grandparents, all four of them are hunters?” I managed to ask through my shock.
“They were a long time ago. I guess you could consider them retired. You see there is not such a demand for hunters now because we decreased the problem considerably years ago,” my mom said softly.
I shuddered at the thought, my mind immediately going to Landon.
“That is the reason we have tried to keep what we do from you Kara, because there is no need for you to become a hunter.”
I sighed. “Well that’s good because I don’t think I could do it anyways.”
My mom gave me the look. I knew what she was thinking and my face turned red.
“So tell us Kara, where did that blood sucker take you last night?” my mom asked, the tone of her voice sharpening.
“He took me back to his place.” I said, knowing that was going to shock them both.
“His place!” my father croaked.
“Yes and he was the perfect gentleman and don’t call him a blood sucker.” I said, defending Landon even though I was upset with him. Despite being mad at him, he did heal me after being staked.
My mother stood up. “I need to go lay down for a bit.” She left the room, my father and I stared at her retreating back.
My father turned his attention back to me.
“She feels really bad about what happened yesterday.”
“She has a funny way of showing it,” I mumbled.
Ignoring my comment my dad continued. “I need you to tell me where the vampire lives Kara.”
“No!” I said standing. “You are not going to hunt Landon!” I stormed out of the room and ran up the stairs to my room, shutting and locking the door behind me.
Yes I had a lock on my room for privacy, something I never gave my parents a choice about when it came to getting a lock installed on my door. Privacy was something I valued greatly.
When I turned around in my room after locking the door I nearly shrieked. There sitting on the edge of my bed was Blake.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” I screeched.
“I came to see what my enemies were up to. After all it is good to know what ones enemies might be planning.” He said evenly.
“I’m not your enemy. Well at least I didn’t think I was.” I didn’t move from my spot near the door, ready to bolt if need be.
“Oh you’re not my enemy Kara. Your parents on the other hand are a different story now aren’t they?” he asked.
I shivered. If Blake planned to do something to my parents I was going to try to have to stop him.
Blake must have read my face because he immediately said, “Now Kara don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to your parents if they leave Landon alone and I hope there is some way you can express this to your parents because if they continue to hunt Landon I’m going to have to get involved and believe me I have disposed of my fair share of hunters over the last century.”
“I will! Please don’t do anything,” I pleaded.
“Because you asked Kara, I’m willing to leave them be for now.” His face took on a strange look when he said this and he was staring at me intently. It was starting to freak me out.
“So would you mind going now? I really need to just chill out and unwind from everything that has happened in the last couple of days.” I asked softly, hoping he wouldn’t get offended that I wanted him gone.
He turned that silver gaze on me and his lips quirked up at the corners. He stood and walked over to where I was standing and stopped right in front of me. My heart skipped a beat. He looked so much like Landon only he exuded so much more confidence.
“You want me to leave?” He gazed down into my upturned face, locking his eyes with mine.
I found that I couldn’t break his gaze. His eyes flashed silver and I knew from experience with Landon that it was a good thing.
“Yes.” I croaked.
My heart was beating double time. What the hell was the matter with me? This wasn’t Landon, and I felt like I was on the edge of a slippery cliff and was about to fall off. Blake reached his hand up and stroked his thumb down my cheek, sending chills down my spine. Was I having this reaction because of some vampire trick he was preforming or was it because he reminded me so much of Landon?
“You are so beautiful. Like a porcelain doll.” He ran his fingers through my black hair. “Just like the finest silk. I can see why Landon has taken such a fancy to you.”
I tried to step back but the door was right behind me.
Blake chuckled and dropped his hand. “No need to be frightened darling. I’m not going to hurt you. As much as I would love to have a sample of what you have to offer I won’t take it against your will.”
My hands were shaking. “You will never get anything from me.”
He laughed louder this time. “Oh we will see Kara. We will see.”
With that he walked over to my French doors, leading to the balcony off my room and disappeared over the edge.
I sighed and my knees gave out beneath me, causing me to slide down the length of my door to the floor.
“What the hell have I gotten myself into?”