The Next Generation

  Remembered horror sent a shiver down my body as Dad twisted his dark head to Halina. “I don’t know…a few times.”

  Dad shifted his gaze to meet Mom’s eyes. Standing from the bed, she walked over to him. A stuttered exhale escaped her as she wrapped her arms around her husband. He held her tight and rested his head against hers. In the silence, I heard Mom murmur, “That was too close, Teren. Much too close.”

  Over Dad’s shoulder, Mom locked eyes with me. They began to water as she shifted her gaze to stare at the blood-stained sleeve of my jacket.

  Dad was about to respond to her when Halina interjected, “Those bullets will need to be removed, Teren.”

  Dad sighed as Halina walked over to Ben and pulled a switchblade out of his pocket. My eyes widened at the thought of having to witness another operation like I had earlier. I really didn’t think I could right now. The shock and fear were wearing off, and a feeling of peace was starting to come over me. Watching my dad in that much pain would surely undo that calm; it would probably unhinge me.

  Arianna too. She shot up off the bed. “What are you going to do with that?”

  Dad looked over the many young adults in the room, then indicated the bathroom door. “Maybe we could do this privately?” Halina nodded and grabbed his hand, leading him away; Mom hurried after. Before they disappeared into the bathroom, Dad locked eyes with Ben and pointed at us. “Watch them for me.”

  Ben straightened, and his expression hardened as the weight of his newfound responsibility settled around him. When the bathroom door closed, Ben turned back to the window, all the more vigilant. Someone in the bathroom turned the faucet on full blast. It wasn’t enough to mask all the noise, but it helped. The conversations drifting from the room were muted under the surge of water.

  Standing up, I walked over to Arianna; her wide eyes were glued on the bathroom door. Slightly shaking, she asked me, “Nika…are they doing what I think they’re doing?”

  Putting a comforting hand on her shoulder, I nodded as I sat on the bed with her. “Yes, they need to get the bullets out. But it’s okay, my dad will be fine.”

  I heard Dad inhale a quick breath, and I figured the operation had started. Maybe to distract us, or maybe to distract himself, Ben murmured, “I’m glad Olivia is with her mom right now.”

  Sympathy bubbled to the surface as I watched Ben diligently scanning for trouble. The neon sign outside cast a reddish light across his skin where it shone through the blinds. The light enhanced the slight scars that marred his perfect face, scars he’d received over the years either protecting or confronting our species. It made me think maybe Mom was right, maybe Ben should be wiped and set free. Maybe my friends should be wiped and set free too. “I’m sorry you got wrapped up in all of this, Uncle Ben,” I told him.

  Ben shook his head without looking at me. “Protecting your family is an honor, Nika. There’s no place I’d rather be right now.”

  Hearing my dad’s muted attempts to contain the pain he was feeling overwhelmed me with guilt. This was all my fault. Well, no, if I were to place the blame properly, this was all Hunter’s fault. He’d overreacted to the situation, acted out of fear and prejudice, not reason. My family wasn’t a threat to humanity. We just wanted to fit in, to belong…even if we never really could.

  Needing an explanation, needing to vent, scream, question, and maybe break something, I turned to Arianna. Seeing her purse securely fastened across her chest, I whispered, “Let me see your phone.”

  Wrapped up in guard duty, Ben didn’t hear me. Julian did. As Arianna’s still shaking fingers dug through her small bag, his expression darkened. “What are you doing, Nika?” he asked, equally as quiet.

  I didn’t answer him. There was nothing I could say, no rational explanation for the risk I was taking. I wasn’t sure just how tech-savvy Hunter was, wasn’t sure whether he could track Arianna’s cell phone once he knew her number. There was a lot I wasn’t sure about. But I knew my parents were wrapped up in Dad’s situation, and this was the only chance I would get to talk to Hunter again. And I had a few things to say to him.

  Luckily the vampires next door weren’t paying any attention to me either; a lively debate about whether or not placing an ad was still a viable solution to the problem was being tossed around the room. Time seemed to be the biggest factor in the con column. It would take a considerable amount of time for Hunter and his father to assume we’d left the area, to feel comfortable enough to fall back into their old ways and again start answering vampire blood ads. In the meantime, we’d be in a constant state of worry, anxiety, fear, and hiding. We’d have to put our entire lives on hold—like we’d been put in the vampire protection program.

  Ignoring my brother’s anxiety, I quickly called Hunter. He answered immediately. “Hello?”

  I paused for a moment as his voice washed through my brain. Even though it hadn’t been that long since I’d talked to him, it felt like forever since I’d heard his voice. Or at least, since I’d heard it without the sting of rejection added to it. When I didn’t answer him immediately, he whispered, “Nika? Is that you?”

  Needing some additional background noise to hide my conversation from Ben, I turned on the ancient TV bolted to the wall. It flashed on and some Spanish telenovela started blaring. Ben cocked his head, but didn’t turn to look. He was more concerned about things outside of our room than inside. Covered by some shrill, irate woman, I focused my anger.

  “You open fired on my family? What the hell were you thinking?”

  Julian leaned forward on the bed, intently listening. His mood was stormy, and he was clearly restraining himself from either ripping the phone from my fingers or launching into his own tirade.

  After a microsecond of silence, Hunter’s voice hit my ear. “Open…what? What are you talking about?”

  Rage roiled in my stomach as I remembered the incident he was playing dumb about. “Don’t. Don’t even try that innocent crap. You followed us from the ranch, then pulled up beside us at a red light. You started firing…” My throat dry, I had to swallow before I could continue. “There were humans in the car, Hunter.”

  “Oh my God, Nika…I didn’t. Are you okay?”

  The true concern in his voice seared my heart, but the fire in my belly quickly obliterated it. “No, I’m not. You hit me!” I didn’t elaborate on that, didn’t tell him that he’d only nicked me.

  “Jesus! Are you okay? Are you at the hospital? Where are you?”

  The panic in his voice muddled my mind, and I clarified my situation. “It was just on the surface…I’m fine.”

  I eyed Ben, but the television was doing its job, and he wasn’t paying any attention to my conversation. So far, no one else was either. The vampires next door were still in contemplation, Mom was sniffling in the bathroom, and Dad was snapping at Halina that there wasn’t a bullet in his spleen so she could stop digging around in there. Hearing that made me gag a little.

  Hunter sighed. “Thank God…you scared me.”

  The temperature increased in my stomach, evaporating the confusion in my head. “I scared you? You’re the one who freaking shot at me!”

  I could hear Hunter sputtering, then he said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Nika! I’ve been at home, cleaning up, and wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do about you.”

  That deflated my anger a bit. “Then who…?”

  Hunter gasped as he made the only logical conclusion left to make. “No…he couldn’t have. He said he wouldn’t… He said he would leave you alone until I… Oh my God…”

  “Your dad did this, didn’t he?” I whispered, awed by the shock in his voice. “He followed us, and fired on us…and you, you didn’t know?”

  “I swear I didn’t know he’d do that, Nika. I told him…” he paused, and I couldn’t help but picture his dark brow compressed in puzzlement, “I told him I couldn’t hunt you…that you were different, that you were basically human. I told him I couldn’t kill you, and
I begged him to leave your family alone. Just until we figured out what your kind was.”

  “You…couldn’t kill me? But you said…you said I was a vampire and it didn’t matter?”

  Hunter sighed, the sound as conflicted as his voice. “I know what I said. I was in shock. I still am. I just didn’t expect… All of this has turned my world upside down, Nika. You have to understand that. But the thought of anything happening to you…I just can’t…handle it.” His voice full of worry, he again asked, “Are you okay?”

  My heart melted at the love I felt coming from him. He still cared. Regardless of what I was, he still cared about me. Julian frowned as my feelings leeched into him, but I ignored his disgruntlement. “Yes,” I whispered, lightly rubbing my wound. “I’m fine.”

  “Thank God,” he reiterated. “Dad was pissed at me when we parted ways after the incident at school, but I never thought he’d… He really shot at you?”

  Just then, the water shut off in the bathroom. There was some light laughter from my dad, and I knew I only had moments before my parents reemerged. “Yes, but I’m fine,” I breathed into the phone.

  “I can’t believe he did this to me,” Hunter mused. I thought to say goodbye to him, even though that idea killed a part of me, but before I could, he added, “I need to see you, Nika. Where are you?”

  The bathroom door creaked open, and I knew I should disconnect the phone and hand it back to Arianna. I couldn’t though. I couldn’t sever this moment with Hunter…not yet.

  “I can’t tell you that, Hunter.”

  Dad’s eyes snapped to mine as he stepped into the room. His expression was dark as he took in the sight of me making a secret phone call behind his back. I was sure I had guilt plastered all over my face as I locked gazes with him.

  Dad looked about ready to blur over to me and smash the phone against the wall. Halina, too, for that matter. Cognizant of the tension in the air, Ben turned from his post at the window. My guilt tripled as his mouth dropped in shock. He seemed stunned that I would call the enemy right after being shot at by him. But I hadn’t been shot by Hunter. He still loved me…I was sure. He confirmed that while shock froze my family.

  “I love you, Nika…and I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to see you, talk things out. Surely we can find a way to figure this out?”

  My dad tilted his head, and hurriedly, I finished up my conversation with Hunter. “That’s not a good idea. You and I shouldn’t be around each other…”

  I was interrupted from my train of thought by Dad. Shaking his head, he whispered, “Say yes.”

  As I puzzled over Dad’s response, Hunter asked for the same thing. “Please, Nika. I’m not going to hurt you. I just need to make sure you’re okay. I just…I need to see you. My dad won’t be there, it will just be me, I promise.” When I still didn’t respond, he added, “Please? We can meet somewhere neutral. The library?”

  Wondering why my father was giving me the go-ahead, I told Hunter, “All right. The water wall, at midnight.”

  The relief in Hunter’s voice was palpable. “I’ll be there, Nika. Just me.”

  Staring at my father, I responded, “Okay…but you better not kill me, Hunter.”

  A soft laugh escaped him, and I immediately pictured his warm smile. “I won’t, I wouldn’t…ever. I’m in love with you, remember?”

  I bit my lip, not able to respond. Instead, I ended the call. Dad had his arms crossed over his chest, but he was smiling. I had no idea why. Nerves spiking, I asked him, “Why did you say it was okay? I thought you’d never let me see him again.”

  Lifting his eyes to Ben, Dad calmly said, “Because it’s a lot easier to trap a hunter, when you know exactly where the hunter will be.”

  I shot up off the bed. “No! It wasn’t him, Daddy. He didn’t fire at us!”

  Dad lowered his eyes to mine. There was remembered pain in the pale depths. “He shot me at the school. That was most definitely him.”

  I violently shook my head, but Mom objected first. “Teren, we can’t use our daughter as bait.”

  Dad turned around to face her. “We’ll all be there, waiting. She’ll be safe. Besides,” Dad twisted to face me again, “he’s in love with her. That will give us an edge.”

  Furious, I stormed past him into the bathroom. I slammed the door shut behind me, cracking the frame. My destruction didn’t alter the look of the room much, but it made me feel better. Ignoring the tinge of blood in the air, I sank down the wall and sat on the floor. It was filthy, but I didn’t care. My family was about to take a much more proactive step to finding Hunter and his father. It twisted my gut in fear and revulsion. I didn’t want this…any of this. I just wanted to sneak out of the house to go see a movie with Hunter. I wanted my biggest problem to be that my brother was in love with someone he couldn’t have, and my boyfriend was too old to openly date. I’d give anything to have those simple problems again.

  In the other room, I heard Halina making plans to temporarily leave us. She was as reluctant to go as Dad was to let her leave. But we had to fix Arianna’s car before some curious person saw it, and Halina was the only one who could make that process happen this late at night, with no questions from the repair shop about why there were bullet holes in the car. There would be no record of it either. Halina could make all of this happen in a blink of an eye with no one the wiser. Being a full vampire did have some perks.

  In the end, Halina took Imogen with her so she wouldn’t be out there all alone. Gabriel wanted to go, too, but he couldn’t pull himself away from protecting Starla and Jacen. Starla was just as human as Julian and me; unlike my dad, she wouldn’t pull through being shot or stabbed.

  Before leaving, Halina told Dad, “I’ll be back as soon as I find someone with the parts we need. Do not go off to meet that boy without me.”

  I cringed. That boy was my boyfriend.

  I heard Dad respond, “I won’t…you need to be there.” I pictured Halina giving Dad a cocky smile. Just as I felt frustrated tears stinging my eyes, Dad added, “And please be careful. No showboating, you’re still weak.”

  Halina sniffed indignantly. “I am not…weak. But I am a little…run down. Maybe I’ll grab a bite while I’m out.”

  Arianna gasped and a burst of something warm and protective sprouted in Julian. He murmured to her, “It’s all right, she won’t hurt anybody.”

  I knew that wasn’t the case. When Halina hunted in the city, she generally hunted people. A bite, regardless of how small, would hurt. But what Julian really meant was that Halina wouldn’t kill anyone. While I would never contradict that statement in front of Arianna, that wasn’t always true either, and with Halina not feeling up to her usual level of fitness tonight, she just might take a life.

  Halina was pretty good about only killing people that most of society wouldn’t miss, but how could I explain that without sounding horribly callous? Whether her meal choice was right or wrong, I couldn’t say, but I knew that it was a choice I would never make. I was never going to kill anybody. Ever.

  The two motel room doors opened simultaneously as Halina and Imogen left together. Once the doors shut, I heard a knock on the bathroom door. Having felt her approach, I knew who it was. “Come on in, Mom.”

  She opened the door and entered the bathroom where I was sulking. I spotted Dad standing near Ben through the open door. He was looking back at me, his face apologetic. Dad didn’t want to set up my boyfriend, but he needed this over with. I dropped my eyes from his as Mom took a seat beside me.

  She put a chilly hand on my knee. “We’re all very sorry that it has to be this way, Nika.”

  I felt Julian’s feelings shift to sympathy as he listened. “I know, Mom. I’m not really mad. Just…frustrated.” Meeting her eyes, I shrugged. “Does that make sense?”

  Sighing, Mom cupped my cheek. “Perfect sense.”

  I shivered as the chill from her hand traveled down my spine. Laying my head on her shoulder, I whispered, “I’m sorry I kept
him from you guys. I just didn’t want… I didn’t want you to tell me that I couldn’t see him.”

  Mom put her arm around me. “We understand that, Nika.” Giving me a knowing smile, she added, “Your father and I didn’t always share our secrets with our parents either. What matters is that you told us when you had to. When it got dangerous, when you got scared, you told us. That’s what’s important.”

  I nodded, feeling a small bit of relief from her words. As I stared at the woman who had given me so much of her appearance, I wondered if her personality had been passed down to me too. Mom was brave, strong, and a little feisty. She was every bit the hero my dad was. But I really wasn’t sure if I was anything like her, even though Julian assured me I was.

  Mom and I were silent as we felt Imogen and Halina drifting away from us. They were in the abused minivan with the pudgy man from the front desk. I’d heard Halina compel the man to take them somewhere that could repair the damage to the car in one evening. The man had immediately started spouting something about knowing a guy who owned a junkyard and could fix just about anything. Luckily, Arianna’s Mom’s car was pretty common; finding the parts to repair it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Especially since Halina could breeze around town and have any needed part delivered by…well, literally, anyone. Unless a human had vampire blood mixed into them, there was no protection from compulsion that I was aware of.

  They wouldn’t be gone long, and when they got back, we’d be heading out to trap a hunter…my hunter. It made me ill to think about it. He might have shot my dad, he might have insinuated that I was a monster, but…I still had hope that our star-crossed love would somehow work out. The logical part of my head knew that was rarely the case. Romeo and Juliet were shining examples of just how badly our type of love could end.

  I never imagined that my first real relationship would turn out this way. I’d always pictured flowers and poetry, dramatic declarations of love, followed by a beautiful wedding and equally beautiful children. Never in a million years did my fantasy include bullet holes.