The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (5 page)

“Same goes for me.” She took back her hand.
“I’ll leave you to your studying now.”

I watched her walk away and decided I liked
her.

Letting out a really big sigh, I scanned some
of the titles on the spines of the books. After about five minutes
of looking at the titles, I found one that read
History and
Legends of Vampire Slayers
. That one looked like it would have
some interesting material. I lifted the gigantic book off the
shelf, and then I made my way to one of the tables and began to
read. On the very first page was a description:

The spread of vampirism was a relentless
disease, so a warrior angel was created and sent to battle the
vampires. This warrior angel, Andronikos, found love with a warrior
woman, Sostrate. She was uniquely gifted: a demi-god, born of a
human and a god.

The union of the angel and the woman
produced four children: two boys, Alkaios and Alexio, and two
girls, Thekla, Lysistrata. These offspring became a new kind of
warrior, gifted with both the blood of an angel and a god. Out of
this unique mix, the vampire slayer was born.

I looked up from the text. I came from the
blood of angels, gods and in my own special case, a vampire.

Now that's deep.

But… it was hardly believable considering how
clumsy and without talent I was.

The book continued on with how the children
of the warrior angel and the demi-god woman mated with other people
of power or commoners and their children had children and so
on.

“Good book, huh?”

Startled, I jerked backward in my chair and
almost toppled over. Drew caught the back of my chair and steadied
it. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Annoyed at being disturbed, I shut the book
and glanced up at him. “Drew, we live in the same house. Is it
really necessary to follow me around all the time?”

Drew ignored me and pulled out the chair next
to mine so he could sit. Giving in to the fact that he wasn’t going
to leave me alone, I opened the book to the pages I had been
reading. “How come you never told me any of this stuff?”

“You never asked.” He shrugged.

I sighed. He could be so aggravating. “And it
never occurred to you that I might want to know my ancestors were
angels and demi-gods?”

“Nah, it never occurred to me. But if you
wanted to know it, you should have asked Luke. He has a whole
family tree drawn out that dates all the way back to the very
beginning. It’s taken several generations to finish it.”

“He does? Why didn’t you tell me?”

This time it was Drew who sighed loudly.

“Because you didn’t ask,” he repeated.
“Chloe, you aren’t just descended from angels and demi-gods. You
are in the direct line of the original hunters. You could possibly
be a very powerful woman.”

I didn’t say anything because I didn’t know
what to say. I was a direct descendent from these powerful and good
creatures, but yet my blood was tainted with the evil of my vampire
father.

Yay
.

Breathe in, exhale, hold and ease back the
trigger.

I hit the red dot every time. I felt like I
could hit it even with my eyes closed. Shooting was calming for me,
something that eased pain yet allowed a release of my anger at the
same time.

The big earphone things muffled the shots
while I fired clip after clip into the targets. When I finally felt
I’d had enough, I cleaned up and put my gun back in its case. I was
going to have to remember to give Drew a really awesome present for
Christmas, since I didn’t know when his birthday was, because I
really loved my gun. That also reminded me that I basically had no
money and should probably look for a job, but I didn’t have time
for a job.

The information I had found at the library
was definitely interesting. One of the first things I wanted to do
when I got home was to ask Luke about that family tree thing.

While I was leaving the range, I stepped out
onto the sidewalk and looked up at the gray clouds that covered the
sky. There had been no sunshine for several days, and it was
beginning to wear on me. I needed sunshine! Dang, how could I ever
be related to a vampire? They died in the sun, and I could bask in
it.

Just when I veered into the woods, the first
snowflakes of the year floated down and rested on the bare tree
branches.

“Oh, just great.” Instead of enjoying the
beauty of falling snow, I was concerned about the fact I was going
to have to run in that crap every morning. I picked up my pace and
jogged the rest of the way home.

When I burst through the door, I found Luke
sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper.

“Hey, Luke,” I greeted him.

His wrinkled cheeks lifted when he smiled.
“When are you going to start calling me grandpa?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It seems weird
because I just met you.”

I opened the fridge and grabbed an apple out
of the fruit bin. Man, I missed junk food. Every person in the
community was a health food fanatic, so I had to be, too. They
didn’t even have regular potato chips in their stores. It was
sad.

“Luke, I was wondering if there was some way
I could… possibly… uhm, earn some money.”

I took a giant bite of my apple.

Luke looked a bit surprised. “Well, I guess I
don’t think of everything. I’m so sorry. Do you need money right
now?”

With my mouth full of apple, I shook my head.
After I swallowed, I said, “I just figure, with Christmas coming
up, I’m going to need some cash to buy presents for you guys. Also,
it would be nice to be able to get some of the things I need
instead of asking you.”

“Chloe, you have money.”

“What do you mean?”

“Your mother left everything to you. There
was a life insurance policy worth more than enough to see you
through most of your life, as long as you don’t waste it. Of
course, it’s in a trust. It’s in your name, and I’m the trustee,
but there’s a board made up of community leaders. They approve all
transactions and watch out for your best interests. We can submit a
request to the board to withdraw a small portion into a checking
account and get you a debit card.”

He folded his paper. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t
even think about you needing money of your own. I did not intend to
isolate you after everything you’ve been through.”

I shrugged again, pretending that using my
mother’s death money to buy Christmas gifts didn’t bother me. Talk
about crappy. “It’s okay. I’m just glad I won’t have to ask you for
money for personal items and such.”

He gave a mock shudder and then cracked a
grin. “Yes, that’s probably for the best.”

I decided to just come right out and ask him
about the family tree. So, I sat down in the chair opposite of him
and fiddled with my apple.

"Luke… Drew said something to me today about
a family tree.” Luke’s eyebrows rose in curiosity, but I kept
talking before he could say anything. “He said it took generations
to finish it, but that you have it and it shows my family back to
the beginning."

He folded his paper and set it on the table.
“Of course, I have it. Would you like to see it?” He pushed his
chair back and stood. “It will certainly help you understand where
you come from, Chloe."

I nodded my head slowly, not certain I wanted
to know everything but at the same time, curious.

"I’ll go get it,” he told me, and I watched
him leave the room.

When he returned, he cleared off the table
and unrolled a gigantic piece of super-thick paper. We both bent
over the paper to examine the names. The family tree wasn’t an
actual picture of a tree, as I had sort of expected it to be. It
was really just lines connecting with each other with spaces for
names. Toward the bottom was my mom and beside her was Trevor’s
name, and then stemming from their names was my name. At the top of
the tree it said:
Andronikos and Sostrate
.

“Do we know who the warrior woman descended
from?” I looked up and caught Luke’s eye. “I mean…the god that was
her parent?”

Luke looked thoughtful, like maybe he
shouldn’t say anything. “No one can be certain, but it is said that
Artemis was her mother.”

“Artemis, goddess of the hunt. That makes
sense.”

He nodded. “It does.”

“Except she was supposed to be a virgin
goddess,” I pointed out.

“Not all tales are actually the way it
happened, Chloe.” He pointed at the names of the warriors children.
“Do you see here where the children of the warriors have paired
with many people, conceiving children.”

I nodded and he trailed his finger down the
tree a bit farther.

“Well, look here.” He pointed to two names
who had conceived a child together.

I couldn’t believe it.

“Brother and sister?” It came out like a
question, but it was more like a surprised statement.

“Yes. It wasn’t uncommon in ancient times for
brothers and sisters to be together. Most royal lines have done
this to keep their blood pure. I’m assuming that's what happened
here, with cousins.” He paused to assess my reaction, then pointed
to another set of names down the line, “And here.”

“Eeeewwww! Our family is incestuous.
Gross!”

“Indeed, it is gross, but the result is the
same. It kept the blood of vampire hunters powerful.”

Confused, I shook my head. “Drew said
something about that earlier, about power and me possibly being a
powerful woman. Now you’re talking about power. What are you guys
talking about?”

Luke rolled up the large family tree. “Chloe,
think about it. Angels, demi-gods and for you, the power of vampire
blood: How could you not be a powerful woman?”

“But I’m not even strong or anything. I don’t
have anything that could be even close to a special power.”

“Not yet, you don’t. Most hunters acquire
their gifts when they’re about sixteen. Not sure about vampires
though. You might want to do some research on vampire
children.”

I had already planned on researching
vampires, mostly to know their strengths and weaknesses. “So, I’m
probably going to end up getting some kind of superpower.”

Luke laughed. “Well, I don’t know about
superpower. Most hunters have something they are just exceedingly
good at, so we call them gifts.”

I nodded vigorously. “Like how I’m really
good at shooting!”

“Exactly, but some hunters do come into a
little more than just gifts. A rare few do have what could be a
‘superpower,’ as you called it.”

As interesting as it all was, I wasn’t sure
having to deal with some abnormal and untrained power was something
I really wanted. Really, my whole life had been turned upside down,
and I had enough problems as it was.

“Now help me get dinner started.”

Luke opened the fridge, as though our
conversation had been as normal as the weather. I guess even
demi-god, angel, vampire mutants had to eat dinner.