ONE MONTH LATER"Hey there," Anthony greeted me in the school parking lot. I smiled upon seeing him and leaned into his embrace."Hi," I replied feeling content."Do you want to go out today?" he asked."Sure, where?" I wondered excitedly."Evelyn?" called a disturbingly familiar voice.I froze when I heard the voice. This was not happening. We weren't this careless. I looked up to see Anthony looking at me sadly, and then I turned to face Ethan.I couldn't hide my guilt from him. He looked furious. For a full minute no one moved. Then, all of a sudden, Ethan and Anthony were fighting. I'd almost missed the exact moment when Ethan attacked Anthony. I wanted to run between them, but I couldn't move.I woke up feeling disoriented and upset. Maybe the fact that my relationship with Anthony hadn't been discovered by anyone so far was making us sloppy. It was possible that my dream meant something. It could be that the cosmos were trying to warn me so I wouldn't be caught. Or perhaps it be
I headed upstairs to see Emily. She looked much more civilized with combed hair and clean clothes. She was staring at herself in the mirror as if she'd never seen her reflection before. Although, I guess the new face would take some adjusting to."Juana said you wanted to see me?" I said when I entered the room."Should I be doing this?" she asked immediately. "I mean this vampire thing really isn't suitable for a vampire hunter," she paused and then corrected herself, "former vampire hunter.""It's not like you're going to be killing anybody," I tried to sooth her. "Anthony and his brothers will help you." She made a face at my words. "What?" I asked."How well do you know them?" she asked carefully. "Why do you trust them? I know they've said they haven't done anything evil, but anyone could say that."It took great feats of effort to not be angry and remember she was going through a tough time. "They've already helped you this much haven't they?""I know, but I've spent my whole li
I jumped three feet away from Anthony, people stared at me. My heart was thumping painfully in my chest. Ethan only needed a few seconds to collect himself. After those few seconds, his expression became murderous.We'd been stupid of course. Very, very extremely, without a doubt, stupid, a month without problems had made us careless. I had known Ethan would be coming here, but did I consider that when I rushed like an overexcited teenager? No, of course not. Don't get me wrong, I'm fully aware that I am an overexcited teenager, but as a hunter, I'm not supposed to act like one.I was hyperaware of the very crowded mall. I imagined that it would be somewhat regrettable for the supernatural world if Ethan decided to start a vampire hunter versus vampire fight.Anthony was moving away from me slowly, obviously trying figure out what his best move should be. He glanced at me a few times trying to see what I wanted."Ethan," I said softly, slowly walking toward him.He didn't move. He did
Emily and I watched as Juana sauntered out of the room with her stupid grin."What was that about?" Emily asked.I sighed. "Nothing, she's just trying to get on my nerves.""You okay?" Emily asked looking concerned."It's just stress," I said dejectedly. "Ethan found out about Anthony and me."Emily's eyes widened. "What? How? Is he going to tell anybody?"I bit my lip. "I'm not really sure. He wants to meet Anthony. He said if Anthony can prove he really is good, then he won't tell on me. Don't worry about that though, I'll deal with it. He doesn't know anything about you. And, if a miracle happens and he does end up thinking Anthony's good, maybe I'll be able to tell him about you.""That'd be nice," she said smiling. "But, honestly, I'm not going to get my hopes up.""Yeah, I know, me either."The boys walked back into the room. "Hey there, you're out of your room. Do you need anything?" Eric asked Emily. He had a giant grin on his face.She shook her head, but gave him a small smi
Back at the house, the first person I saw was Olivia pacing up and down - an old habit she keeps up when things were bad."What's wrong?" I asked, drawing her attention to me. Her head snapped up, and she looked surprised as if I'd caught her off guard.Nicole walked in. "Oh good you're here." She looked relieved. She stared at the phone in her hands seeming to will it to ring."What's wrong?" I repeated my question.Nicole took a breath. "Don't panic, okay?"I frowned at the way her eyes were watery. Hunters did not cry on the job, and by the way Olivia and Nicole were tensed, they were definitely on the job."Mom's missing," Olivia blurted out. "She was hunting Lucas with Cheryl, but Cheryl said Mom didn't meet her at the place she was supposed to."I frowned. "How long ago was that?""About an hour," Cheryl answered walking into the room. "I tried calling her phone again. It's not even ringing any more.""Wait, that's not possible," I said. "She couldn't have been missing for an ho
Juana looked a bit too happy as she walked out of the house with her head held high."Do you think we need to watch out for her?" Mark asked, ending the awkward silence that had followed her departure.Anthony shrugged. "I'll keep an eye on her, but she just likes to hear herself talk. I don't think she'll actually do anything. She's going to want a place to stay in the next three decades, I'm sure."It was the first time I'd ever heard Anthony mention that far into the future. It was an unimportant thing to be considering in the middle of all the chaos, but I couldn't help myself. I wasn't used to thinking very far into the future. Hunters lived day to day. I could never be one hundred percent sure that I was going to survive any hunting expedition. Up till now, that day to day attitude was what I'd applied to my relationship with Anthony.How would it work for us? Sure I was immortal too, maybe I was more fragile than he was, but I still had the potential to live forever. Hunters gr
Anthony would be surprised when I told him what my sister wanted. I wasn't even sure how to tell him that she wanted to meet him."Hello?" he answered on the first ring."Hey Anthony," I was very aware of Nicole's glare while I spoke on the phone."How are you? Is everything okay?" he asked sounding worried at my hesitant voice."I'm fine, everything's fine, I think. Um," I paused unsure of how to tell him. "My sister knows everything now…"There was a silence on the other end. And then, "everything?""Yeah, with Emily and stuff, she wants to meet everyone," I said.Another silence. "Are you sure that's best?""Yeah, don't worry no one's going to get hurt." I heard Nicole hiss, but I wasn't brave enough to look in her direction."Alright, you can come over whenever you like. Just give me some time to tell everyone, okay?" The best thing about Anthony was that he could be calm in situations where I was likely to be freaking out."Okay, I'll see you in about an hour," I looked at Nicole
"What are you talking about?" I asked them. "Juana's been with you guys for over a month. You've been watching her every step. How can she have anything to do with my mom?""After you left I followed Juana," Anthony explained. "We couldn't just let her leave. Knowing her, she would be bound to do something stupid. I caught her talking on the phone with your mother.""Wait what?" I was growing more confused by the second. Everything they were saying to me wasn't adding up."Your mother's name is Ava, right?" Anthony confirmed. I nodded. "Well, Juana spoke to her on her cell phone. She said, 'Ava, you might want to cooperate with us or else your daughter may have some serious problems.'""I'm assuming she means me, when she said 'daughter,'" I groaned, feeling even worse when they nodded."She said 'us,' now we just have to figure out who she's working with," Eric told me."Lucas," I whispered. Things were starting to make sense in my head."Lucas?!" the three brothers exclaimed in unis