CHAPTER 12
I'd talked to my sister on the phone while I killed a half hour. There was nothing else to do, and I needed someone to talk to. She was the only person I counted on for boy advice. The fact that I was even asking for boy advice made me want to hide my head in shame.
She'd laughed. Of course she had laughed. Then she had squealed, so loud I thought my eardrums would burst.
I put the phone back by my ear when the high-pitched banshee screech had ended. "Are you done?"
"Yes, sorry. I just can't believe my little sister is getting into the swing of normal girl stuff."
"I'm not getting into the swing of anything," I mumbled as I picked at the invisible fuzz on my blanket.
"You just told me you kissed a boy. I'd say that's pretty darn normal."
"He kissed me." I pointed out. "And then he ran away." I rolled onto my back, looking up at the plain white ceiling.
"But you also went on a date, and you brought him back to the house. Did he meet Dad?"
"Yes he met Dad." I scrunched my nose. "And it wasn't a date. It was Zombie burger and a tour of downtown. That's the furthest thing from a date."
"It was totally a date."
"I don't even know why I'm telling you all this." I sighed and covered my face.
"Because I'm your sister, and you needed to talk to someone about your new boyfriend."
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold the 'b' word there. I do not have a boyfriend. Jared is so not my boyfriend. I barely even know the guy. He's been here less than a week."
"I always knew you worked fast." I could hear the smile in her voice. She was totally loving this, every uncomfortable, squirming minute of my agonizing discomfort.
"Whatever." I rolled my eyes. Even though Sarah couldn't see it, she knew I'd done it. "I need to get ready for a hunt, and you need to go do your doctor duties."
I may not understand Sarah's choice of quitting the hunting life, but I knew being a doctor was something that was important to her. I'd started to understand that when Jared talked about his own dream. If being a doctor was what Sarah wanted, then I would be happy for her. Or at least try to be.
"It was good talking to you again, El."
"It was good talking to you too. Now go be smart."
"Bye," Sarah said with a laugh.
"Talk to you later."
I put my phone down and rolled off the bed. I pulled out my typical hunting gear and changed. I grabbed my boots from the closet and sat on the edge of my bed as I pulled them on and laced them up. I went downstairs and grabbed my leather jacket off the rack, continuing on to the basement.
The door to the armory was wide open, and my dad was inside looking over the array of weapons. We hadn't even used a good portion of them, but The Organization was constantly issuing us more.
I grabbed my dagger from its place on the steel tabletop, thankful that Ian had at least brought it back with us and given it to my father. Looking over the display of guns, I picked up two Neco handguns, checking them both, to make sure there was ammunition for both a werewolf and vampire. Stashing the weapons in their normal spots on me, I picked up a stake, sliding it into my boot.
"You really cover everything, don't you?" My dad said from behind.
"You taught me everything I know. Be ready for long range and close quarters." I turned around to face him.
"You were probably the fastest learner."
I wasn't sure if it was meant as a compliment, but I took it as one. Compliments from him were always rare.
"I'm ready to go."
"Don't you want extra ammunition?" He asked.
"If I need more than what I have in these fully loaded guns, and what I know you're carrying ... we're screwed anyway."
My dad shrugged and started to head out. "Okay then."
I reached behind and grabbed a small box of silver bullets and one of wood, slipping them into my pockets. I went up the stairs and to the garage, getting into the passenger seat.
"You do realize tonight's the full moon, right?"
He pulled out of the drive and down the street.
"You're taking us after a werewolf on the full moon."
"An omega without a pack, yes."
"But it's still the full moon."
He glanced my way for a brief moment and I could see the smile he was trying to hide.
"Stay away from their claws and fangs and everything will be fine. You brought bullets and you have your dagger. You went up against an Alpha last night."
Is that what this is about? Are you mad because I went after an Alpha without telling you? Is this supposed to teach me a lesson or something? Because I learned my lesson. I'm not hunting with him anymore."
"No, that's not what this is about. I'm taking you after a werewolf on a full moon to show you how to take precautions. If you're going to go after these things when they're at their strongest—if you're going to go after the heads of their packs—then you need to know how to do it safely. Your mother died going after an Alpha, and you just went in without asking any questions or taking extra precautions."
"Take us home. We'll do this another night," I said.
"No. We're already out, we're doing this tonight."
"No we're not."
"We are doing this," he said between gritted teeth.
"It was one stupid hunt, Dad! It was one Alpha, and I'm perfectly fine."
"Yeah, you have the black eye to prove it."
"Yes, a black eye. No scratches or bites, no broken bones. Just a black eye. It will heal in a week or so and I'll be fine."
My dad stopped talking. It was clear he wouldn't be turning around, and that was fine by me now. I needed something to take my anger out on. It was just like Josh had said when we were all together. We were going to be off on our own at some point. We were going to be doing this by ourselves—well, I was going to be doing this by myself. He couldn't watch over me forever. Injuries were a part of the job. We knew there were risks to hunting, and I was prepared to handle them.
The Jeep rolled to a stop and my dad turned the ignition off.
"Are you involved with that boy?"
"I don't get involved," I said quickly.
"Good ... that you're not with him I mean."
"Why's that?" I leaned against the side of the Jeep while he dug out the weapons he wanted.
"Like I said, we don't know him. It's best not to get involved with people we don't know." It was there in his answer. Something that gave away that it was a lie.
"How are we supposed to get to know people if we don't get involved with them?" I pulled one of the Neco handguns out and examined it, double-checking it was the one with wood tips. I put the clip back in and ran my hand over the metal, keeping it firmly in my right.
"Carefully." He closed the back of the Jeep and we made our way to the house where the creatures were supposed to be living. We used the trees around to hide as best we could. There may not be any neighbors around, but we didn't want to chance the targets seeing us. As we got closer I reached around, touching the hilt of the dagger.
My first weapon of choice. It calmed what little nerves I had. My family called me crazy for preferring a close-range weapon over a gun, but it was what I liked. I like being up close for the kill, actually getting up there and working to get the target. It was more satisfying than standing back as far as possible and pulling a trigger.
"Remember to stay away from the teeth and claws," my dad whispered, knowing what I was about to do.
He was right. I needed to be careful. Close combat would be a last resort tonight. Just a scratch from the wolf and the chances of turning were up to ninety percent. I couldn't risk that.
"If you go after the wolf, try to keep it from turning. Empty as many silver bullets into it as you can. Did you grab the ones with the powder?"
"They're in my pocket."
"I'd switch out. You're going to want them. The powder will go into the system and act like a poison."
I popped out the bullets already in the gun and reloaded it with the hollowed out tips filled with silver powder. We stepped up to the back door. My father motioned for me to go to the front. I inched my way around, keeping low and quiet. I let out a low whistle letting him know I was in position and waited for a response. When he called back, we both counted to five before opening the doors.
The house was silent. There was a chance they wouldn't be in. It was night. The vampire could be out hunting, and the werewolf could be out in the woods for the full moon doing a full shift.
I met my father at the center of the house. We hadn't seen or heard anything on the bottom floor. I could tell my father was thinking the same thing I was. I was about to suggest we check the woods when we heard a thump above our heads.
I made my way to the stairs, going up first. I stepped on the first step gently, testing it for any creaks. It seemed good, so I started making my way up. About half way up, one of the boards creaked and we both paused. I listened for any movement, but there was no sign of them coming to check on the noise. There's no possible way they didn't hear that, not with their abilities. When we started moving again, my dad skipped that step on the way up.
We started checking the rooms. My father saw where one of them was immediately. I continued to check the rest of the rooms, making sure the other wasn't somewhere else. The rest of them were empty. I joined my father near the room where one of them sat. It was the vampire. He still hadn't looked our way. Either he was completely oblivious to our existence there, or he was pretending not to know. I wouldn't put it past him.
We moved in quickly, keeping our backs close to the wall so nothing could sneak up behind us. The vampire would be fast, and the last thing we needed as for him to be able to attack from behind. We wanted to keep him where we could see him.
A door opened and a woman stepped into the room. She looked up from the file in her hand. The vampire looked up, his level gaze on us. My father and I stood perfectly still, weapons at the ready.
Neither of them looked alarmed in the least, in fact, they seemed perfectly at ease. I never understood how creatures were able to stay so calm when faced by hunters. They had to know how many of their kind hunters killed. It wasn't like we kept it a secret. We covered the kills up from the human world, but when so many supernaturals went missing, where did these guys think they went?
I pulled out the other gun and fixed them on the werewolf and vampire in front of us.
"Do you really think that will stop us?" The vampire asked.
"Oh I'm certain it will. One for you," I paused, my eyes shifting to the werewolf next to him. "And one for you. Would you like to test it out and see?"
"I don't think that will be necessary," the woman said.
Her claws slid out and I pulled the trigger, the bullet tearing straight through the flesh in her shoulder. The woman growled and her claws dug into her skin. Her cries of pain came a moment later as the silver powder worked its way through her system.
The vampire was a blur as he moved to the woman's side. She stumbled back and fell to the ground, and I pulled my stake out and calmly walked over to them.
"Electra," my dad hissed. I ignored him, standing right behind the vampire, occupied by the woman struggling to breathe on the ground.
Reaching a hand around, I plunged it straight into the chest of the vampire and he sucked in a breath. The stake hadn't hit his heart yet, but I knew it had to be close.
"I told you I could stop you." I pulled hard and the stake went in the rest of the way, effectively killing the man.
All it took was one weak link, and his heart was it, physically and emotionally. He'd been too distracted by the woman and the memory of what love was when he'd been human. That had been his downfall.
A shot rang out and I looked to the woman sitting on the ground. Blood trickled down from a hole in the center of her head. Her mouth was hanging open, her face contorted in pain. The smell of gunpowder was in the air, the sweet smell of the gun's release. When I turned toward my father, I could see the disapproval on his face.
"What?"
"Get moving. We'll call this one in for clean up."
I was about to object. Clean up for this one wouldn't be hard. We would torch the place like we normally did. It was a standard case.
"Go," my father said quickly before I had the chance to voice any of my thoughts.
I shrugged and stepped over the bodies on the floor, making my way out the door and down the stairs.
"I can't believe you did that." My dad was upset, though I couldn't understand why. Everything went smoothly. I'd killed the target.
"Did what?" I opened the door to the Jeep and got in.
"Staked the vampire like that." My father slammed the door as he got behind the wheel.
"What else was I supposed to do?"
"Shoot him! You had a gun for that very reason."
"I wasn't worried about the vampire. I was worried about the werewolf, and I put her out of commission first." I didn't understand the big deal. He'd taken me on the hunt because he thought there was a lesson to teach me. I showed him I could handle myself. Everything had worked out exactly as it should have.
"You put yourself in harms way. Was staking him worth it?"
"Dad, I like being close. I like getting in there and working for the kill. Standing back and pulling a trigger seems pointless to me. We aren't playing a game. We're doing something real here."
"That's exactly why you need to think before you go off and do something like that. This isn't a game. It's your life that you put in danger every time you do something like that—your soul. You like getting in there, but one of these days, it's going to cost you."
"I assessed the situation, dad. He was distracted by the werewolf. The person he loved was in pain."
"Those things don't love."
"No, but they think they do, and the woman he thought he loved was in pain. He left himself open for the attack, and I took advantage of it. Trust me, I know what I'm doing. You taught me everything I know."
"Four years does not make you an expert, Electra."
"I may not be an expert, but I'm pretty good at this, and I'm done talking about it."
My dad started up the Jeep, and in the cold silence, I knew it was going to be a long drive back home.
***************
So now we're seeing a bit more of her father... He doesn't seem totally thrilled with his daughter. He even he thinks she's taking unnecessary risks. Hmmmm
As always leave your COMMENTS below, let me know what you think, and if you like the chapter then please drop a VOTE. thanks a bunch!! :)
~Red