Revamped (7 page)

“Some people have all the luck,” she scoffed irritably.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, gently touching my hand to Brooke’s shoulder.

She shrugged it off. “Nothing. Nothing at all!” she yelled, storming off across the field in the direction of the cottage.

I rushed after her, grabbing her arm and pulling her around to face me. Her deep blue eyes were streaked with tears.

“It must be so nice to be you!” she sobbed.

“I apologize if I did anything to upset you,” I said delicately, confused by Brooke’s unexpected burst of anger.

The rest of the team gathered around us, silently observing our interaction.

“You’re so smart and so talented and have a father who cares about your training and get to grow old and all that stuff!” Brooke spewed, her shoulders shaking violently.

“Oh, Brooke.” Without thinking, I pulled her into a hug. This time, she didn’t resist my touch.

“It’s not you, Dawn.” Brooke sniffled into my shoulder. “Not really, anyway. The whole talk just reminded me of the fact that it’s been a long time…” she trailed off, pulling away. She wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her pink sweater. “It’s been a while since I’ve had any kind of family,” she said, exhaling. “After being turned, I had to leave everything I knew behind and go into hiding. My dad was a senator, so having a daughter for a vampire didn’t sit well for his campaign. He didn’t even win the stupid election, but since the summer of 1960, I’ve been travelling across the country, enrolling in one senior year of high school after another, competing for one prom queen crown after another. Do you know how tiring that gets after fifty years?” Brooke sobbed.

“Why didn’t you give college a try?” Sophie asked innocently. The question elicited a cold stare from Brooke.

“Do you have any idea how hard it is for a seventeen-year-old to get the cheer captain spot on a college team? Plus, I’m not ready to graduate from high school,” Brooke said, looking away from us. “There’s no one to watch me walk across that stage,” she added, her voice dropping.

Brooke’s words struck me deeply. My father—despite his insistence on treating me more like one of his generals than a daughter—was always there for every one of my triumphs.

I turned toward the blonde girl and smiled. “Think of this new guardian role as a positive change in your life.” I said warmly. “This team can become your family.”

Brooke looked at the group and scrunched up her nose. “Uhh, yeah. We’ll see about that.”

Nevertheless, after her outburst, Brook’s mood improved. For the first time since I met them, all four team members were in high spirits. We concluded the first training day without any further disputes.

Over the following week, the training continued to progress very slowly. Hunter and Brooke were the only ones showing signs of physical advancement, although what Sophie and Seth lacked on the battle field, they made up for in the classroom, during theoretical instruction.

The emotional bond between the team members had improved drastically. While they were still not the best of friends—and I questioned if they ever would be—they were at least civil towards each other. Seth had even abandoned his desire to slay Brooke, it seemed.

It had become a custom for the group to spend lunch breaks sprawled out on the grassy meadow, sharing memories and reminiscing about the past. On the seventh day of our training, the talk turned to how each member became a vampire.

“It all had to do with a guy, of course,” Brooke gushed. “His name was Matt Lewis and he was the captain of my high-school’s football team, back in California. He was super hot. Like, movie star hot. I’m pretty sure he’s actually working in Hollywood right now,” she said lustfully, plunging a pink straw into a can of
Blood Cola
.

“Anyway, on prom night, right after he was crowned Prom King, he asked if I wanted to go all the way with him. At first I thought about saying no. I was a good girl believe it or not, but I was feeling pretty down about the fact that stupid Isabelle Darling won Prom Queen, so I said yes.” Brooke’s shoulders sank.

“Except, to Matt,
going all the way
apparently meant something totally different,” she sighed. “I should’ve been more careful. But in those days no one knew vampires existed. They were just a myth. So, like, imagine my shock when he turned me. It was definitely not what I was expecting to happen that night, but I guess I should’ve guessed by his purity ring that he was a prude…” she trailed off, then quickly regained her composure. “
Anyhoo
, that’s my story of passion. Or lack thereof, I guess,” she sighed, looking around at the group. “So, who’s next?”

“You all know how I became a vampire,” Seth said, glaring at Brooke.

“Have you told your parents yet?” she asked, the word
parents
catching in her throat and causing her voice to crack. “Aren’t they like super anti-vampire? How did they take it?”

“Maybe you should’ve thought of that
before
you turned me!” Seth’s dark eyes narrowed, but his exchange with Brooke was less heated than it had been a week ago. The two had settled into a comfortable truce, though the tension hadn’t completely dissipated.

“My parents still don’t know. I’ve been keeping a low profile,” Seth explained. “They think I’m away at a computer camp. I had to beg them to let me go—even got them to sign a permission form and made a whole ordeal of packing my bags.”

Brooke laughed, looking as if she had more to say on the topic of Seth’s parents. Seth quickly changed the subject. “What about you Hunter?” he asked. “How did you join the fang club?”

Hunter had been more alert since I’ve put him on the strict diet of clean blood, but he was still not much of a talker.

“I dunno, I think it involved a bangin’ concert and lots of drugs,” he said in his sluggish, aloof voice. “The rest is a bit hazy. I think a hot vamp fan saved my life after a particularly bad overdose.”

Brooke rolled her eyes and pointed her chewed-up straw at Sophie. “And let me guess, your story is the same as ours? You were also turned because of hot night of passion? With some nerdy vampire guy perhaps?” she teased.

“Uhh, not exactly,” Sophie murmured. “More like a
girl
,” she added shyly.

“
Ooh
, do tell!” Brooke squealed.

“In 1905, when I was only five-years-old, my Mom got a job as a live-in maid on an estate of a very wealthy New England family,” Sophie explained. “The couple had one child, a pretty little blonde girl named Charlotte. There were whispers around the house that her parents could not conceive a baby so they adopted Charlotte from an orphanage abroad. She was so pale and sickly, she couldn’t even venture out of the house. Just being in the sun caused her skin to blister up. But I made sure that she was never alone. I spent every single day by her side, reading to her as she lay in bed in her dark, dim room. We were inseparable. Best friends. Sisters.”

It was the first time I had seen Sophie so animated, but as she continued to speak, her face hardened, her big brown eyes becoming more turbulent. “As we grew older, Charlotte started to suddenly shed her childhood frailty. With her improved health, she didn’t need me anymore. She began venturing out of the house, meeting new people and making new friends—friends of higher status. Slowly, she was becoming a stranger.”

All four of us were staring at Sophie, hanging intently onto her every word.

“Right when I came to terms with Charlotte being lost to me forever, she came to my room on the eve of my eighteenth birthday, announcing that she had a present for me. She told me that she had the key to lifelong happiness and asked me if I wanted it too. Of course, I said yes. I wanted to please her, though I had no idea that this wonderful gift she was promising would turn out to be a curse.”

As Sophie continued her tale, I glanced over at Brooke. She was wiping a large tear from her cheek.

“At first, I was frightened by all the changes I was experiencing. It even caused me to drift apart from my mother. But Charlotte helped me through it all. I really thought that my turning had brought us closer together. I thought that we would once again be best friends, together forever,” Sophie confessed longingly. “It turns out that I didn’t know my friend as well as I thought. Greed got the best of her, and when her father threatened to cut her out of his will if she didn’t stop associating with the help, she dumped me.”

For the first time ever, Sophie’s voice was loud, laced with anger. “Charlotte went on to marry her father’s business partner’s son. I assume they lived happily ever after. I didn’t stay around to find out.”

No one spoke for a long while.

Finally, Sophie turned to me with a sad smile. “That’s how I knew you were one of the Born, Dawn. Charlotte was special like that too. She hadn’t known it until her teens, though, so without the proper nourishment of blood and garlic, she barely survived her childhood.”

“Wow, your life is like a movie,” Brooke sighed. “One of those films that make everyone cry and wins lots of awards."

Everyone has such passion-filled stories of their pasts
, I thought wistfully. I was thankful that my existence hadn’t been as tragic as that of the four vampires sitting around me, but I had to admit that I was also a little envious of how exciting their lives were. I had lived the perfect life inside my father’s protective bubble, doing what I loved doing most: training, studying, and teaching. But nothing moving, riveting, or even noteworthy had ever happened to me. For a fleeting moment, allowing my mind to be influenced by the heat of the summer day and the exhilarating stories of love and lust, I silently wondered if that would ever change. Coming to my senses, I chastised myself for getting caught up in silly daydreams. I had to focus on the mission in front of me.

Duty first, thrill-seeking later.

“Alright guys, break time is over!” I announced loudly, interrupting the nostalgic trances everyone was trapped in. “We’re going to try the weapon thing again.”

I headed toward the cottage to collect the crossbows I had prepared for the day’s lesson, but froze in my tracks as a tall, dark figure darted through the woods in front of me. It was not the first time I had seen the mysterious entity; it had been lurking around the forest surrounding the meadow for days. Since our initial evening at the cottage, my attempts at capturing it had been unsuccessful. Whoever—
or whatever
—the being was; it was always a few steps ahead.

The moment it saw me rush for the forest, it disappeared into the dense trees. I let out a frustrated shout, vowing to the plants, the birds, and hopefully
it
as well, that next time, the stalker would not escape me.

CHAPTER FOUR

I spent the rest of the afternoon unable to focus on the training session, mechanically going through the motions of being a good leader. Having had years of practice, my limbs instinctively demonstrated proper movements as my lips uttered words of encouragement. All the while, my mind wandered. Frustrating thoughts over my inability to catch the spy muddled with exciting ones provoked by the trainees’ stories of love and lust. My body tingled with inexplicable anticipation, as if getting ready for something my mind didn’t know was coming.

In an attempt to recharge and collect myself, I decided to end the lesson early and head into town. We were running low on food and basic supplies, but the trip also made for a good opportunity to see a certain bartender.

Prior to leaving the cottage, I changed out of my usual uniform of tank and jeans and put on the only other outfit I had brought along—or rather, the only outfit Eliza had managed to stuff into my bag—a simple, white sundress. It was too girly, too short and not very me, but since I wasn’t really feeling like myself, it fit the occasion well. I pulled my hair into a loose braid, taking a moment to inspect myself in my bedroom mirror. I smiled, knowing that Eliza would disapprove of the stark contrast between the soft, feminine garment and my long combat boots, but chose to ignore the pair of white high-heeled sandals she had sent along with the dress. Before I had a chance to rethink the outfit and change back, I forced myself to depart.

Top down, my convertible soared along the winding dirt roads at break-neck speed, the warm summer air crashing against my cool skin. Not even ten minutes later, I found myself in front of the Angel Creek Diner. Swinging open the diner door, I subconsciously smoothed out the loose strands of hair that had escaped my braid during the drive. The place was bustling with lively conversation, the booths brimming with locals of all ages.

As I made my way through the crowd, a group of Brooke’s football player friends whistled. Ignoring the guys, my eyes darted to the bar, a slight sense of disappointment washing over me upon seeing that Ethan was nowhere in sight. The bartender pouring drinks was much older, and not nearly as good looking.

I spotted Hannah by one of the corner booths, balancing a large, frothy milkshake on a wooden tray. She was serving a young couple so engrossed in attempting to lick each other’s faces off, they didn’t even bother to acknowledge their waitress as she set down the order. Hannah waved as our gaze met, rolling her eyes behind the couple’s back. She skipped over, her fiery curls bouncing cheerfully behind her.

“My, don’t you look nice!” She cooed, motioning with her finger for me to spin around. I reluctantly obeyed her request, suddenly feeling silly for dressing up.

“Is Ethan around?” I asked, a little too eagerly.

Hannah pouted. “And here I thought you came to see me.”

“Oh, uhh…”

“Don’t worry,” she laughed. “Since he started working here, lots of girls have come by to ask about him. Although,” she said, narrowing her eyes, “you’re definitely the prettiest. My only competition.” Her voice was cool and even, though her blue eyes twinkled teasingly.

As I tried to decipher if what she said was meant to be taken as a friendly joke, or a more serious threat, Hannah burst into a fit of giggles. “You should have seen your face! You looked so worried. Could it be because you have a crush on our handsome bartender?”