Kim's POV:
"It's almost time," Gwen says as she changes into her uniform as I do my hair. We've gotten too old to hunt alone so it's time to train our young ones.
"Do you think the kids are ready?" I ask, beginning to walk out the door. Gwen follows right behind me as we walk to the corridors of the committees house.
"Only time will tell," she says before the whole committee is in front of me, along with the trainees. I take my spot next to Bruce and Gwen sits behind me, placing her hand on my shoulder. I wait patiently, hand in hand with my husband, until the last of the committee comes to join us and the head stands to begin speaking.
"Lobe den Herrn und begrüße alle (praise the lord and welcome all)," he chants and everyone echoes his words. The nostalgia hits me as I remember the first day of my trainee years. "Today marks the day of reflection and action against the bloodthirsty monsters that we live among," he announces, making chills run down my spine. I've made the decision to speak in front of the committee and bows my time so I get up and stand before the 200 members and take a deep inhale before speaking.
"About 20 years ago, Bruce and I were unable to have a kid on our own so we adopted a beautiful babygirl named Amanda Pratt. She was our world and was so successful, graduated high school and got her own place with her best friend," I explain as tears rise to my eyes, threatening to escape. "The vampires ended up taking her life because she was a threat. They believed she would hurt them in someway so they took her life and I will not just stand here and do nothing. I will avenge my daughter no matter what," I end as the tears escape and flow down my cheeks. Quickly, the head takes the floor back as I'm overcome with emotions I've held in since her funeral.
"Will you stand with us? Will you go against the monsters to avenge the fallen?" The head asks making a roar of screams go across the room. With everyone in agreement, we can proceed with the attack.
~~~
"Thank you for speaking today," the head, Emanuel, says to me. I freeze up and bow to him before speaking.
"I hope I executed my part and inspired the recruits," I add, earning a smile.
"You did exactly that. I watched everyone's face and you can see the emotion in their eyes. You were able to touch everyone in the room, even me. Keep up the good work," he says before walking past and vanishing around a corner.
Amanda's pov:
"Will you help me change-" Elijah begins but is cut off by a loud bang on the door. The door slings open and Antoni walks in with a wooden stake and a menacing look in his eyes.
"Stay back Elijah," Antoni says before focusing his gaze on me, "I'll take care of this."
"Put it down, Antoni," Elijah try's to calm him down as he moves in front of my figure. I rise to my feet and pull my hair back, readying myself for a fight.
"Don't... Don't make this more difficult than it should be," Antoni stutters and takes steps closer to us. If he's not going to listen to Elijah then I have to try and get him to listen to me, even if it gets me killed.
"It's fine Elijah, I got this," I say and face Antoni head on, "What I'm doing may be crazy, but you have to trust me." Reluctantly, Elijah backs off and my instincts set in. It's time to defuse a situation and get Antoni to realize I'm not the enemy.
"Come one! Show me the real killer," Antoni yells and bolts towards me with the stake. I twist around him just in time to not be hit. He takes no time to lunge back towards me but this time, aiming for my head.
"Why do you hate me so much when you don't even know me?" I ask and keep my defensive position. I grab his arm with the stake in it and bend the bone until it painfully cracks. I watch as his face twist in pain but instantly goes back as he throws another swing with the other hand.
"All you want is to hurt everyone in your path because you're heartless," he hisses, catching me off guard as he brings his claws down on my shoulder, leaving painful gashes. Rage builds up inside me as I now take the offensive.
"Im just like you!" I yell and grab onto his neck, slinging him across the room. My vision turns black along the edges as my rage takes over my body. Before I can stop myself, I'm on top of him and my arm is buried deep in his chest, heart beating rapidly in my hand making a scream rip through his throat.
A gasp erupts in the room and I turn over my shoulder to catch Christens terrified eyes looking back at me and what I'm doing to Antoni. I release his organ and move off of him, making the blood drip from my arm. "Christen, please," I beg but she only backs up into the room with the same frightened face.
"I'll take care of her," Elijah says and disappears into the bedroom Christen is in. Before I can turn to Antoni, a sharp pain shoots through my chest, making me yelp in pain.
"Why did you turn away from me?" He asks, confusion in his voice. I stay quiet as my mind races to Christen and what she can be thinking right now. "Answer me!" Antoni yells and twists the stake that is going deeper into my chest.
"I needed to check on Christen," I hiss between moans of pain. This only earned a deep laugh from Antoni.
"Why would you care about a human? She's your prey," he asks while grabbing my hair and pulling it roughly. I've never felt so much pain in my life, it's hard to breath and move. I feel as if every breath I take, makes the stake get closer to my heart.
"She's not anyone's prey! I will kill anyone who would even think about laying a finger on her," I bark and try to turn my head to Antoni but fail. Unexpectedly, the stake is taken out of my back and my hair is let go. I turn over and look at Antoni's confused expression.
"Purebloods don't have feeling for anyone besides themselves, why are you..." he begins but shuts his mouth immediately. I take my time to figure out what I should say to get him to understand, how I could explain something but not make him mad and try to attack me again.
I take a deep breath and look at his broken figure, standing there looking at me dumbfounded, "I used to be human. I'm apart of the Pratt bloodline that used to experiment on themselves so they could keep their bloodline going and I was the outcome of that," I explain but stop as Antoni's face shows confusion again.
"Purebloods cant go extinct. You're able to reproduce because you are full vampire," he says but that's when I stop him.
"People have been killing off Purebloods because of what they are. I don't know what experiments they were doing but if I'm human and also a pureblood, then they had to be doing experiments with humans to make a half breed that could still repopulate..." I explain my theory and hope it's enough to get the fighting to stop, to get Antoni to realize I'm not what he thinks I am.
Suddenly the bedroom door flings open and Elijah runs out and over to me. "She's not listening to me, I need your help," he says, making me jump to my feet and make my way to the room. As I enter the door I notice Christens shivering body under the covers and cautiously make my way to her. I need for her to see that I'm not the bad guy, I'm just trying to help a situation.
"Christen?" I question and her body immediately goes stiff. I crawl on the other side of her and pull the covers over my face and meet her gaze. Her eyes are wide with surprise and fear as I smile at her. Before I can say anything she opens her mouth to speak.
"Remember when we just met and this girl was picking on me?" She questions and I nod my head to her. "Then you punched her in the nose and got OSS for a week," she explains, making memories rush to my mind.
"Yeah, I do," I say as she grabs my hand.
"Is you putting your hand in a guys chest the same?" She asks before wiping at the blood that had dried on my arm. I laugh a little and nod my head, earning a sigh of relief from her.
"It's all for your safety," I explain and she nods her head before pulling me into a hug. "Things might get messy but remember it's all for you," I explain before squeezing her tight.
"Just warn me next time," she explains and laughs at the same time. I chuckle and let her go but stay in the bed with her as my mind races to the argument we had a few days ago.
"Why do you want to be a vampire?" I bring up catching her off guard. Her body tenses but relaxes just as fast. I watch as she chews her lip in an attempt to find the right words.
"I want to protect you. I don't want to be baggage and the person you're always worrying about. I'm strong as a human, I'll be even stronger as a vampire," she explains but all I can think about is how the hunger will tear her apart. How do I say no to her when she's basically begging?
Reluctantly, I inhale deeply and grab my hand, biting down on it hard, before pushing the bloody palm to her lips. "Don't make me regret this," I say before she latches onto my hand and sucks at the red liquid.