KATERINA
I sat in the bathtub, which was filled to the brim with warm, aromatic, water which emitted puffs of steam and fogged up the room. I was still unable to fully comprehend Haydon Veneziano and his outrageous threat. Who did he think he was? Who did he think I was? Clearly Haydon had been born into this world a privileged twit, believing he was the end all and be all. As if I actually wanted to hang around him like a little puppy. Of course I was not going to get involved with him.
This, however was not what bothered me. I had picked up on the words “I don’t want you getting close to me” almost immediately, but had chosen to ignore them, because acknowledging them would have been too awkward for us both.
Was Haydon afraid that I would develop feelings if I hung around him too often? Maybe such a thing had happened with other hunters or girls he had met in the past, but I knew I was certainly not one for developing a feelings for someone so pompous, especially when that someone was a vampire. Haydon was too full of himself for his own good. I was, however going to show him that he was wrong, that I would not stoop to liking him no matter what. Staying away from him and ignoring him would be a piece of cake.
However, as I thought of this, my mind could not help but go back to our conversation in the front yard. Even though I was absolutely outraged at his threats, I could not help but feel strange when I was near him. This was especially true when his face was mere inches away from mine as I attempted to strangle him. Even just thinking about it had me unable to breathe... It was probably just a hint of fear, I had decided. Although, somewhere at the back on my mind I knew my reason for feeling strange was untrue.
After a while I drained the water in the tub and dried myself off. I then got dressed into a pair of black shorts and a red sweatshirt I had stolen from my brother for my top secret “extracurricular activities”. Thereafter, I got to work on a few books on the history of vampire hunters, vampire and vampire hunter law and some English. My mother had me studying through my nose so I could be admitted to Venandi Academy, one of the most prestigious vampire hunter academies of the world, located in Transylvania.
I, however, was not looking forward to it at all, but I knew my parents would never ever approve of me becoming a professional vampire hunter, and I hated the look of disappointment they gave me everytime I tried to wiggle my way out of taking the exams to get into Venandi. That was why I had decided to just blindly follow everything they had asked me to. I was afraid of being an utter disappointment to them, and I was afraid to bring dishonour to our family.
I was however not alone in my struggle. Although Dylan was not given as high expectations as I was, he felt just as pressured by my parents. He was also expected to follow in their footsteps and take his place on the vampire hunter council.
The irony of the whole situation is that once upon a time my parents had been professional hunters as well. In fact, they were the top two most powerful hunters in the world. This was all back in the day when vampires and hunters were still at each other’s throats. Now, they were on the vampire hunter council, fighting for peace instead of bloodshed, all because they valued honour and reputation above all else. Giving up their career as professional hunters paved the way for them to become well-known council members. I always wondered whether they missed their careers as professional hunters.
After studying I made my way to the kitchen to grab something to eat. I was always hungry and because of this, always eating.
As I walked into the brightly lit room, I stopped dead in my tracks as I began witnessing one of the most traumatic events of my life.
Right in the centre of the room, atop the kitchen counter sat Jasmine who had her lips roughly pressed against my brother’s. Immediately I screamed and threw the closest item I could find- a wooden spoon hanging from a rack against the wall- at the couple.
Immediately they broke apart as the spoon landed right against the side of Dylan’s head. Both Jasmine and Dylan turned towards me.
“Ouch!” He yelled, rubbing his head.
‘Was that really necessary?” Jasmine asked.
I nodded vigorously and said, “I was so hungry before I got here. Honestly you guys make me lose my appetite everytime I see you.”
Dylan shook his head and helped Jasmine down from the counter. He then opened the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and an apple and threw b.th items at me swiftly.
“There, now leave.”
I caught the bottle and the apple and huffed. “Gladly. I am going to go and remove my eyeballs in hopes that that disgusting image will vanish”
However, just as I was about to leave, I heard Jasmine calling out to me.
“It that Dylan’s sweatshirt?”
I froze. It wasn’t weird for sisters to wear their brother’s clothes. However, Jasmine asked it so suddenly, and the secrets it held were so potent, I couldn’t help but feel as though I had been caught red handed.
“I um—”
“-Use it for illegal underground fights.” She finished.
My eyes widened and I looked at her panicked, and then at my brother who scratched his head as a guilt-stricken look made its way onto his face.
“You idiot! You told her!” I yelled, throwing my hands up into the air in frustration.
Jasmine shook her head at me and said, “Honestly Katerina, did you really expect him to keep it a secret from me?”
I sighed as I realised, she was right. Of course, Dylan would tell Jasmine that I participated in underground illegal fights and used his clothes to do it. I’m sure he even complained about me having to use his clothes.
“Just-”
“-Don’t tell anyone, don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. You know I can keep my mouth shut, unlike your brother here.” She said motioning to Dylan.
Once again, she was right, she could keep secrets well and I trusted her wholeheartedly.
I was about to leave, again, when Jasmine stopped me.
“Why do you do it though?”
HAYDONThe slight feeling of wooziness was slowly creeping over me as I downed my forty eighth beer- no that was no understatement. I was sitting in an abandoned warehouse with three other teenagers I had met at the liquor store. I recognised them from school, and they invited me to hang out with them. Admittedly, I did use compulsion and hypnotism to get them to invite me with them since I needed some...distraction and saw this as a perfect opportunity for some small-scale mischief. Also, I had been the one who had been able to purchase the liquor because of said compulsion so it was a given that they would invite me along.The three teenagers fell into the stereotypical “bad boy” category which suited me quite perfectly. The leader was a tall, lank boy named Dean who had messy black hair and the brightest blue eyes I had ever seen. He offere
KATERINAI was walking peacefully down the street, just minding my own business when his scent caught me off guard. Why did the universe hate me?"Katerina," Haydon sang as he walked closer and closer toward me. I tightened my fingers into a fist and kept on walking, pretending not to be fazed by him, but inside I was a whirlwind of fear, irritation, and hot rage. "Oh, Kitty Cat, don't be like that, come on talk to me!" he whined. He was now standing right next to me. His scent was lingering in the air. I sniffed it and sighed softly. Then I focused back on being angry with him.
KATERINAAfter about an hour or so, the school bell rang, signalling the end of gym period. So, I quickly got into the shower and got dressed. Honestly, I did not know what the point was of having PE so early in the morning. Now we were going to be sweaty and smelly the rest of the day. Once I had finished tying my shoelaces, I grabbed my things, packed them away and ran to my next class-mathematics- which I was running late for, again. After mathematics I went to science and the English and then lunch. I walked toward the table where my friends were seated with a tray of macaroni, Greek salad and a box of lukewarm apple juice in my hands. I sat down and looked around for Haydon, almost instinctively and found him further away, at a table crowded wit
KATERINA"They're what!" I yelled as my brother and I continued walking home from school. I had just received the most disturbing news of the day! Today just seemed to get more and more interesting!"Dating. Haydon and Evangeline are dating," my brother said for about the fifteen hundredth time. The more I heard it, the more shocked I got, the angrier I became. I gaped at him in disbelief and slowly felt the rage bubble up in the darkest, deepest parts of my belly. I could not, however, understand why I was so angry though. What could the reason possibly be?"Since when?" I screamed out louder than I should've.
HAYDON"So where exactly is this place for underground fights again?" I asked Jeremy as he grabbed himself a glass of blood from the refrigerator. "At the edge of the town in the old abandoned factory. The code is nine four eight three and the password is ‘Bleed’," he said. Honestly… how original."Uh huh. And what will I be doing there?" I asked. "Well after the fights for cash, there are rounds where everyone can fight anyone till the death.""And who will be there?"Jeremy plopped himself on the dark green
KATERINA"Excuse me?" my mother said while putting a cake tin into the warm oven. "Umm Haydon told me to tell you that he invited some friends over from Italy to umm stay here?" I said sounding totally unsure. "For what purpose and why was he talking to you again. Doesn't he have a life?" my mom said while flicking her long straight black hair away from her eyes. "How must I know mom. I don't read minds like you do." I said sarcastically. She burst out laughing. "Leroy come here quickly!" she said still laughing. My fiery redhead, blue-eyed father came r
HAYDONLuke, Brian, Christopher, Boris and Francis stood in my living room with shock all over their faces."Who is she and what has she done with our Haydon," green-eyed brunette, Luke asked as he came closer toward the black couch that I was sitting on. He had a strange look on his face, resembling a mixture of constipation and squinting."What are you guys talking about?" I asked. Christopher made his way closer to me and sat beside me, his black, wavy hair bouncing as he sat down. He flicked his blue eyes toward me. Then inspected me very, very closely. So closely, that his face was literally in my face."What are you doing? Ever heard of a thing called personal space?" I said, mocking Katerina slightly as I remembered when she had said the same thing to me.
KATERINAIt had been two weeks since I last spoke to Haydon. During those three weeks I had met his friends, at school. First was Christopher, he was more of the quiet loner of the group. I had met him by literally bumping into him the hallways on my way to give the receptionist her coffee. He was actually kind and soft spoken. A real gentleman, which was why I had not treated him with the same seething hostility as when I was with Haydon, despite wanting to really be a rude brat.Second was Brian. The one with the whitest hair I had ever seen and bright blue eyes that seemed luminous against his pale white skin. He was the funny happy-go-lucky one in the group. We met in my physics class when he asked to bo