Taken (Book #2 of the Vampire Legends) (6 page)

“Listen, Violet, what you heard was
nothing. Benji didn’t mean it.”

“You can stick up for him all you want,
but you can’t convince me that what I heard was untrue.”

Hunter knew that Violet always had a
thing for him. She had liked him for years, but Hunter never acknowledged it.
He barely spoke to her because he’d seen how she treated other guys she’d
dated. He didn’t want to get mixed up in her evil ways.

“I’m late for class, I gotta run,”
Hunter said, as he began walking away from Violet.

“We’re not done talking, Hunter. Meet me
after class, I’ll be waiting for you in my room,” Violet said as she batted her
eyes.

“Fine,” Hunter said. “I’ll meet you
there.”

He knew he had to get to the bottom of
this with her. If he didn’t, he knew she was capable of doing horrible things
to him, Benji and their entire coven.

Hunter walked away with a sharp pain in
his chest. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. If things were bad for
their coven before, now they were even worse. He didn’t know how he would get
out of this situation, but he knew he only had one class period to think about
it.

Hunter had been looking forward to today’s
class topic since the syllabus had been distributed over the summer. He loved
painting night scenes and he loved using dark colors to express himself. Hunter
thrived off of making and creating art, and he must have made over one million
paintings. Many hung at the family castle, but he kept some of his favorites
for his dorm room at Mount Pines. His favorite scene of a wolf with blood
coming out of his mouth was front and center on his wall. One could describe
his art as eerie and violent, but to Hunter, it was beautiful.

As Hunter walked into class, the teacher
greeted him and said, “Hunter, the day has come – are you ready to learn about
the realm of darkness?” the teacher laughed as Hunter took his seat.

“Can’t wait,” Hunter said back, trying
to sound excited.

Hunter’s talk with Violet and Benji had
completely ruined his mood. He no longer felt happy to be in the studio, or
eager for the lesson on darkness to begin. All Hunter could think about was
Violet. He only had one hour to strategize how he was going to get through the
night.

As he sat there, with his hand to his
head, thinking, his mind drew a blank. He couldn’t come up with a solution to this
problem. He wished Benji had never come up to see him today, and he especially
wished that Violet hadn’t heard what he said. He wished she didn’t have the
power of supersonic hearing.

Hunter sat there listening to the
teacher explain how to create the illusion of darkness. He decided to forget
about this whole thing and start painting. After all, painting was his therapy.
He could deal with any problem when he painted.

He pulled out his paintbrush, dipped it
into a midnight black shade of paint and touched his brush to the canvas. As he
sat there painting the night sky, he became inspired. Hunter knew exactly what
he could do to keep Violet in his good graces.

Chapter Eight

Hunter’s brush was flying across the
canvas as he created his masterpiece of darkness. The teacher walked by in
astonishment at his work. He couldn’t believe how fast Hunter had painted this
piece and how much of the lesson he had absorbed and used in his work.

Hunter looked at the big black and white
clock that hung on the wall above the door. It said 3:30pm, which meant he only
had fifteen more minutes until class was over and until he would meet back up
with Violet.

He sat there watching his artwork dry as
thoughts of his conversation with Benji flashed through his mind. He was trying
to recall exactly what Benji told him so he would know how to face Violet. He
hoped she hadn’t heard everything but feared she had.

The bell rang. Hunter packed up his bag
and walked out the door on his way to Violet’s dorm room. He knew his plan
would work, which made him less worried about the outcome of their meeting.

Hunter got to the top of the fourth
floor of her dorm and walked down the hall. As he walked, girls on either side
stopped what they were doing and stared at him. Humans. He’d seen this reaction
in them before. There was something about him that attracted them to him like a
magnet. They all openly stared, and wouldn’t look away. But he wasn’t
interested in any of them.

Hunter stood there, in front of Violet’s
door, waiting for her to open it. He heard her footsteps coming close to the
door as she swung the door open. She stood there alone in the doorway,
motioning for him to come in with her pointer.

“Hey Violet,” Hunter said in a kind
voice.

“Hunter, glad you came back. That was
smart of you,” Violet said in a creepy tone.

“Listen, let’s get to the bottom of
this.”

“Oh, don’t you worry. We will get to the
bottom of this. Benji should never have disobeyed the ancient code and he will
pay for it.”

“What do you mean he will pay for it?”

“That Rachel girl he likes so much-- we
will have to bring her down. We can’t have anyone knowing our secret. It’s too
risky.”

“Take her down?”

“Yeah, take her down…terminate her. What
don’t you get about that, Hunter?”

“You can’t do that. You have to promise
me you won’t kill her.”

“And why can’t I?” Violet said.

Hunter thought for a moment and then
said, “You can’t kill her. If you kill her, Benji will kill himself.”

“He will not, he’ll be fine,” Violet
said.

Hunter knew the powers that Violet had, and
he knew she was backed by the Greslins, an evil pack of vampires that lived at
Mount Pines. He knew if he were on her bad side she would make his life a
living hell.

“Listen, Violet, there’s no need to go
terminating anyone. Benji made a mistake -- but that doesn’t mean you have to
go killing this poor human. She didn’t do anything wrong.”

“She heard the secret, that’s what she
did wrong. How do you think she is supposed to live knowing our ancient code?
If she keeps it bottled up inside, one day she will surely have to tell
someone.”

Hunter knew the only thing he could do
was make a pass at her. He knew that all Violet wanted in this world was to be
loved by Hunter. She had tried to be with him many times before, but Hunter had
rejected her. He figured that if it would keep her quiet, he would at least
pretend he liked her.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful your
eyes are?” Hunter said, changing the subject and gazing into Violet’s eyes.

Hunter watched as Violet’s demeanor
shifted. She became soft and let herself smile.

“My eyes?” Violet said.

“Yeah, you are beautiful,” Hunter said,
trying to keep a straight face.

Hunter walked close to her and grabbed
her hand. He could feel Violet’s body begin to relax. She grabbed his hand and
pulled him down onto the couch. Hunter looked at Violet, and before he knew it,
the two had locked lips and were making out.

He felt her tongue in his mouth and her
cold hands going up his shirt. He didn’t want to think about what was
happening. Hunter would have never predicted that his day would end up like
this when he woke up this morning.

All of a sudden, Violet sat up and
buttoned her shirt and motioned for Hunter to hide.

“Hurry, they’re coming,” Violet said.

“Who? Who’s coming?” Hunter said, trying
to pull himself together.

“The Greslins. I hear them approaching
the dorm. We have a meeting tonight and they will be here any minute. You have
to leave. I can’t let them see you here.”

Hunter felt a sense of relief knowing
that she was kicking him out of her room. He didn’t want their kissing to go
any further.

“Come back tomorrow,” Violet said. “I’ll
forget what I heard today if you come back to me.”

Hunter heard the desperation in her
voice, and knew he had gotten himself into deep, deep trouble.

Chapter Nine

Rachel sat quietly in the back of her
family’s station wagon on her way to school. She was thankful it was Friday,
because she needed this week to end. Rachel’s mind jumped from thinking about
her punishment, to trying to come up with a way to go out with her friends, to
thoughts of Benji.

Sarah was sitting in the back seat with
her, and her younger brother Mark was sitting shotgun. Rachel saw her sister
take out her notebook and begin to write something.

A moment later, Sarah tapped Rachel on
the leg and handed her a piece of paper. Rachel looked at Sarah and then down
at the paper and began to read.

So, I tried talking to M & D late
last night. They were still pretty pissed but I think they’re going to soften.
I told them that their punishment didn’t fit the crime and that you really didn’t
do anything wrong. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Eventually they started to see things my way. So I don’t know what that means
for you in terms of your punishment, but you should talk to them again. They might
lessen it. Hope that helps! Luv Ya Sis. XOXO

Rachel folded the note up and looked
over at Sarah. She didn’t want to be too obvious since her mom was only inches
away in the front seat driving the car. Rachel gave Sarah a thumbs-up and
mouthed “
Thank You
” with a huge smile.

As the car pulled up to the front of the
school, Rachel waited for both of her siblings to get out before she opened the
door. She knew she had a better chance of talking to her mom if she were alone
in the car.

“Mom, I know I’m punished, but I need to
stay after school today.”

“Why?” Rachel’s mom asked as she turned
around to look at Rachel.

Rachel knew her mom would ask why, so
she had something up her sleeve. She felt a little bad about what she was about
to say, but knew it was the only way to get out of her unjust punishment.

“Because, there’s extra help in math and
I could use it.” Rachel said.

“Math?” Rachel’s mom paused. “But you’re
great in math, why would you need extra help?”

“Actually they’ve begun algebra and it’s
pretty hard, Mom.”

Rachel’s mom paused and looked at her.
Rachel couldn’t tell what her mom was thinking or what she would say to this
request.

“Well, OK, you can stay.”

“OK, I’ll be home later then, thanks,
Ma.”

Rachel got out of the car and shut the
door.

She was psyched. She couldn’t believe
her mom had bought her math extra help lie.

As Rachel got to the front of the
school, she couldn’t believe her eyes. There was a long line of kids entering
the building, and it seemed to be taking forever to get inside. As Rachel
approached the front doors, she saw security guards, policemen and German
Shepherd dogs lining the entrance. Students had to walk through a metal
detector on their way inside. Rachel couldn’t help but feel like she was at JFK
Airport about to board an international flight.

“Take out all metal items, watches,
wallets, coin purses, jewelry, keys. Let’s go people. Keep the line moving,” A
rather large security guard was screaming. Rachel’s heart began to thump as she
approached the metal detector. She couldn’t understand what all this was about.
She hoped it was not because of her or because of Benji.

Rachel took out her cell phone, keys and
wallet, put them in a little dish, and placed them on the conveyor belt. She
was nervous. She instantly felt like she had something to hide, but luckily
they weren’t scanning the secret she held in her brain.  As she made her way
through the metal detector, she made eye contact with the police chief that had
questioned her yesterday. He motioned for her to come over.

“Rachel, do you have a minute?” the
police chief asked.

“Well, I do have to get to class,”
Rachel said, looking down at her watch.

“This will only take a minute,” the
police chief said, as he pulled out his notebook and motioned for Rachel to
step inside the main office.

“I know we were going to meet today, but
we think we are on to him, and have a clue. We have checked everyone’s cell
phone records, and we have noted that you have not been in contact with Benji
since the fight. You are off the hook for now.”

Rachel looked at him in astonishment.
She hoped Benji would be all right.

“What do you mean, a clue?” Rachel
asked.

“That’s not for you to worry about. We
will get to the bottom of this. If you don’t have anything else to say, you are
free to go about your day, Rachel,” the police chief said.

““

“Do you know where he is?” Rachel asked.

“We might, but again, that’s not for you
to worry about. Have a nice day,” the police chief said as he walked by Rachel
and back out to the security station.