Horror and nausea rolled through her. Her stomach in a tumult, her body broke out in a cold sweat, and her temples pulsed with the fierce beats of her heart. For a moment she thought her life was flashing before her eyes, but then she realized it was just white lights blazing because she had forgotten to breathe. She inhaled sharply, the air burned through her tortured lungs.
“An Elder?” Chris asked softly, his voice tight and choked.
Luther nodded vigorously, shoving his glasses back up with his index finger. “Yes, murders are up, and animal attacks have doubled over the past couple of weeks. You know what that means. Now, it could be a young vampire, but I don’t believe so.”
“But you don’t know for sure?” Cassie asked her voice higher pitched than she would have liked.
He nodded again, his gray eyes grave as they met hers. “I’m fairly positive Cass. This thing has been stalking people for a little while now. It’s covering its tracks very well, something that younger vampires are not so discreet about, and tend not to do. I wouldn’t have noticed the trend if I didn’t follow the newspapers so carefully. I firmly believe that this thing is older, more powerful, and it is hunting here.”
Cassie shivered; she wrapped her arms tightly around her middle again. The painful knot in her stomach only clenched further, seeming to twist her intestines. An Elder. They had never dealt with an Elder before, never even come close to one. And she had never wanted to.
It had been The Elders that had grouped together to destroy The Hunter line, determined to take them all out in one fell swoop. Though they had not completely succeeded, they had managed to slaughter hundreds of men, women, and children. Including their parents. The massacre had left The Hunter line straggling, broken, scattered and lost across the globe. The survivors had fled for their lives, moving about continuously in order to stay hidden and alive.
Before the carnage there had been almost six hundred Hunters. After, there were only thirty two known ones left. That number included Cassie, Melissa, and Chris who hadn’t been old enough to walk, let alone fight for their lives when The Slaughter occurred. It had been left to her grandmother, Luther, and Chris’s mom to keep them safe and alive.
Chris had been telling the truth when he’d said that Luther was good friends with Melissa’s parents. Luther had also been their Guardian; one of the people entrusted to train and protect The Hunter line. His duties as a Guardian consisted of schooling them in the old ways, navigating them through Vampire and Hunter lore, and teaching them how to fight. When The Slaughter occurred Luther had fled with Melissa to Germany, then Japan, and finally to the U.S. where they had bounced around in search of survivors. During the carnage, Guardian’s had also been slaughtered; there were only twenty one survivors that had been accounted for. Her parent’s own Guardian, Brent, had been murdered with them when The Slaughter occurred.
All the Guardians had known where The Hunters had been located before The Slaughter, but in the aftermath, many had been lost, maybe forever. Luther continued to search for more survivors, but his journeys always came up empty handed, and Cassie knew he worried that he wouldn’t find anymore.
With the small number of survivors, it was feared that The Hunter line would eventually die out. Cassie did not plan on having children. There was no way that she would leave them orphaned and alone after saddling them to this life. And if she didn’t have kids, and the others did not survive to have children, then it was only a matter of time before there was no one left. It was Luther’s biggest fear; after their deaths, of course.
Cassie tried to swallow the hard lump that had imbedded itself in her throat, but it was choking her, cutting off her air as it remained lodged in her windpipe. It seemed that their time had come, much sooner than she had expected, far sooner than she had wanted. Tears burned the back of her eyes. However, they were not tears of pain or sorrow, but of anger.
She was angry at fate, and this monster that had come into their lives. It was not fair that she had finally found something good in her life, and now she was going to lose it. She glanced around the room, her heart breaking for the only family she had ever known. Chris looked shell shocked, Melissa’s gaze was distant and unfocused; Luther was frantic.
“What do we do?” Chris asked softly.
Luther turned toward him, the normally soft lines in his face hard and fierce. “We run.”
There was a moment of stunned, breathless silence, before Cassie and Chris exploded at the same time. “What!?”
Luther nodded briskly, he folded his hands behind his back as he started to pace the confines of his kitchen. “None of you are ready to face an Elder. You haven’t had enough training; you do not know the full scope of this creature’s abilities. No one fully knows what an Elder is capable of. You cannot go up against that.”
“The three of us…”
“Are not enough,” he interrupted Chris sharply. “Your powers and abilities are nothing compared to what this creature may be able to do.”
Cassie’s head spun, her extremities went numb. She felt as if she could slide off the kitchen island and become a limp pool of body parts on the floor. There was nothing left to her. “How can you be so sure that this is even an Elder?” Chris asked softly.
Luther heaved a large sigh as he continued his relentless pacing. “I cannot. The biggest clue I have is the lack of evidence that the police have. This monster is killing for the pleasure, and power, of it. He is not turning them; he is leaving their bodies behind with no blood, when he leaves them behind, but he also leaves no hint of his mark upon them, which is something that new vamps tend not to do. The lack of blood at the crime scene is stumping police, but they are not digging too deeply into it. Probably because they don’t want to know. Also, most new vampires do not survive their first month.”
“What? Why not?” Cassie gasped in shock, breaking free of her paralysis.
Luther rolled his eyes as he shook his head. “You never listen to me,” he muttered. “Most new vampires are killed in their first month.”
“Why? How?” Chris demanded fiercely.
Luther shot him a fierce, disapproving look. “Either by Hunter’s, especially when there were more of you, or by other vampire’s.” Cassie stared at him in stunned silence, her mind spun with the revelation. Luther shoved his glasses back up his nose and returned to pacing. “Older vampires don’t want a lot of newbie’s around. They do not want the human population to know that vampires are real, and young vampires tend to be careless about the conditions they leave their victims in, and the amount of bodies they leave behind. They tend to raise questions that the Elders don’t want raised. Also, hunting and killing another vampire is more power than a human, and more thrilling for them. I imagine that they thoroughly enjoy it.”
Cassie inhaled sharply; she found the brutal picture he was painting extremely disturbing. They fought amongst themselves in search of a more thrilling kill, and more power? She knew that they were monsters, awful, horrendous, and despicable, but this was far beyond her scope of disgust and hatred for them. Nausea twisted in her already sour stomach.
“How come we didn’t hear about this fact before now?” Chris demanded.
Luther stopped pacing; folding his arms firmly over his chest he glared at him. “Because you and Cassie didn’t want to learn about the lore, and the behavior of vampires, you just wanted to learn to fight.”
Cassie had the grace to look chagrined, Chris did not. Melissa stood silently to the side; she already knew what Luther was talking about. Having grown up in the life, Melissa had been taught everything as a child. She also firmly believed that if she was going to know the future, then she needed to have a tight grip on the past. And Melissa was very much about the future and the things that were revealed to her. However, Cassie had resented her heritage as it was; she did not want to learn more about it. And Chris, well if it didn’t involve food, girls, and action then he wanted nothing to do with it.
“Well it’s all borin
g crap,” Chris muttered defensively.
Luther’s jaw clenched, his eyes narrowed slightly. “Well you just learned something new, and important, from that boring crap!” Luther snapped. Chris finally had the grace to look discomfited as he ducked his head. “So that is why I believe that we are dealing with an Elder now.”
“The thing in the woods,” Cassie said softly, looking wildly at Melissa and Chris. “That’s what was out there tonight, and at the beach the other day.”
“How could it have been at the beach? It was daylight,” Chris argued.
Cassie shook her head, hopping off the counter as she began to pace rapidly. “It was overcast though, probably cloudy enough for them to come out at that point of the day.”
“What are you talking about?” Luther demanded fiercely. Melissa quickly filled him in on what had happened the other day, and the strange feeling they had all experienced again tonight. Luther’s face was grave and thoughtful, his eyes distant as he studied the far wall. “We may never know exactly what an Elder is capable of. The scope of their powers may be far beyond anything we can even imagine.”
Cassie’s stomach rolled over again, and she was very fearful that she was going to throw up her strawberry shake before this night was over. “If it is watching you, then it’s likely that this creature knows what you truly are. It is also likely that the three of you may have drawn it here. It may have sensed your powers, and abilities, and it also may have noticed the deaths of its brethren do to you. That’s why we must leave. It will hunt you until it destroys you.”
Cassie abruptly stopped pacing; she nearly tripped over her own feet as she stared at him in disbelief. Melissa slid limply off the island; she rested her hand against it as her legs buckled slightly. Chris took a step forward, his eyes turbulent, yet blazing with a fiery determination.
“No,” Cassie said softly, swallowing heavily as she tried to wet her parched throat. “No, I am not leaving,” she managed more firmly.
Luther looked at her in surprise, his eyes blinked rapidly behind his Lennon style glasses. “What do you mean no? You don’t understand Cassie…”
“I understand that you think this thing will kill us, and you may be right. I also understand that we may have led this thing here; I will not abandon the town, and the people I have known since childhood, to this monster. It may kill us, but we are also the only defense that they have against it. I will not leave them to be slaughtered because of us.”
“Neither will I,” Chris said firmly.
Melissa wet her lips nervously before straightening her slender shoulders. “We can’t Luther. Cassie’s right, this thing may be far more powerful than us, but we are the only defense here. We can’t abandon them; it would be like leading the lambs to the slaughter.”
Luther stood silently for a moment, disbelief and something akin to pain bloomed in his eyes. “I understand your desire to stay, and I commend it, but I cannot allow that to happen. There are not enough Hunter’s left to risk your lives. I must keep you safe. You cannot stay here.”
“I will not allow innocent people to die because of us!” Cassie retorted fiercely.
“They die every day. Your lives are more valuable, you do far more good alive than you do dead.” Cassie stared at him in surprised disbelief, she felt as if she had been slapped. She could not believe that he had just said that. “I’m sorry to sound cruel, but it’s true. If you are killed, then even more innocent people will die, you must weigh everything before coming to this decision. Sometimes we have to do things that we do not want to in life.”
Cassie took a step toward him as fury blazed through her. “I am already doing something that I don’t want to do every single day! I did not ask for this, but I will not run from it! Not now. I am staying, if you wish to flee then do so, but I will not!”
Pain and anger flared through Luther’s gray eyes, making them even brighter behind his glasses. “I do not wish to flee! It is the best for you. My only charge in life is to see that you are prepared to fight, and to keep you safe.”
Cassie’s anger melted in the face of his anguish and hurt. “You cannot keep us safe forever, it’s not possible. You have done your best to train us Luther; you have to have faith in that.”
He glanced at their determined faces. His eyes were troubled and wide behind his glasses, his hands fisted tightly at his sides. Heaving a sigh, his set shoulders slumped in defeat. “Fine, but you cannot go hunting alone anymore. The three of you must stick together, and you must wait for me to go with you. No more running off on your own. Also, I want to know every time you have the same feeling that you had tonight.” He turned to Melissa, his eyes intense and fierce. “Have you had any premonitions about this?”
She glanced over them quickly, her dark eyes sad and distant. “No.”
“Have you had any lately?”
She shook her head. “Nothing to do with vampires. I knew we would win the game tonight, and I know that tomorrow, at lunch, Marcy is going to announce the nominee’s for homecoming queen. Congratulations by the way,” she added with a wary smile at Cassie.
Cassie lifted her eyebrows, but refrained from commenting. The last thing she cared about was homecoming, or being queen. Maybe at one time she would have, but no longer. Her entire life had become focused upon her friends, her survival, and Devon. Her heart gave a mighty thump as her attention returned to him once more. They had left him at the side of the woods, within close proximity of that thing!
Panic tore through her as she whipped out her cell phone, sliding it open she frantically dialed his number. She turned her back on them, pacing swiftly away as she listened to the endless ringing. It clicked over to his voicemail; she did not leave a message. Sliding the phone shut, her hand shook with the terror suffusing her. Taking a deep breath she tried to calm herself as she texted him quickly, asking him to call her as soon as possible.
Turning slowly back to them, she knew she was unable to keep the horror from her face. “What is it?” Melissa asked softly.
“We left Devon standing there, and he’s not answering his phone,” she answered tremulously.
Worry flitted over their faces as they quickly exchanged looks. “He’s fine,” Melissa assured her gently. “I’m sure of it.”
“How can you be so sure?” Cassie demanded. Panic tore through her, nearly choking her as she struggled to remain somewhat calm. “If that thing is stalking us, wouldn’t it go after him if he saw us together?”
“It’s ok Cassie.” Chris grasped her arm gently; his touch only slightly soothed her tumultuous emotions.
She turned from him, pacing rapidly back and forth, her fingers still clenched around her phone. She had left him there, she had involved him in this, and she had left him there. She had been too selfish to set him free, and now she may have cost him his life. Pain and anguish tore through her nearly crushing her with the ferocity of it.
She didn’t think she could survive without him. In such a short time he had become a part of her, she needed him even more than she needed her own extremities. She couldn’t lose him; she would lose the best piece of herself if she did. She would hunt that thing down and destroy it if it hurt him, even if it meant destroying herself in the process.
Her phone went off; the ringing jarred her as she jumped in surprise. Relief flowed through her at the sight of his name and number. Opening her phone, she walked swiftly away from them. “Is everything ok?” he demanded immediately.
Cassie took a deep breath, fighting the tears of relief that burned her eyes. “Yes, yes I... uh I just wanted to say hi,” she lied badly, feeling like a complete idiot as her face flamed red.
He didn’t speak for a moment, and she could hear the wind rushing past his car as he drove. “Are you sure?” his voice was still fierce, the tension in it unmistakable.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Are you still with Melissa and her father?”
“Yes.”
“How are you getting home?” r />
“Chris will take me.”
“I could pick you up.”
Cassie licked her lips nervously, she glanced briefly at everyone but they were engrossed in their own conversation. She desperately wanted to see him again, to make sure that he was safe and that he stayed that way, but this was going to be a long night, and it would be better if he went home. Where he would be safe until morning.
She sighed heavily. “No, that’s ok; we’re going to be here awhile.”
There was another long stretch of silence. “Ok, let me know when you get home safely.”
She frowned at the command, surprised to hear him so worried about her safety again. She suddenly recalled his strange reaction earlier, the tension in his body as he had turned toward the woods. She recalled him still watching the forest intently after she had walked away. With a sudden jolt of surprise, she realized that he had sensed it to, that he had felt the evil and hatred that had permeated the air around them.
Her hand tightened around the phone. She knew, of course, that there were humans with their own special gifts. There were those with ESP, telekinesis, telepathy, and many other strange abilities that manifested in them. She suspected that perhaps Devon was one of them. She didn’t know exactly what his ability was, but it seemed to be somewhere along the lines of Chris’s talent.
What surprised her most was the fact that Chris had not picked up on it. He had sensed no power inside of Devon, no special gifts. He would have told her if he had. She thought that Chris would have recognized it immediately, especially if Devon’s gift was similar to his own. Instead, he had felt nothing except for a strange darkness. Maybe that darkness was Devon’s gift. Maybe because their abilities were so similar that Devon’s acted as a block against Chris’s own power.