The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection (29 page)

I felt like jumping for joy and decking her
at the same time. She finally decided to leave Trevor, but only
after she had ruined my trust. I couldn’t leave her though. She
would die for letting us out. We had to repay her.

“Let’s go, then.”

I turned and lowered myself on the ladder
Drew had already descended and had help Oscar climb down. Alice
followed me, shutting the door and latching the top of the tunnel
hatch over us, surrounding us in complete darkness.

THE VAMPIRE HUNTER’S DAUGHTER

PART VI

ARCADIA FALLS

It was so dark in the tunnels I was positive
I was the only one who could see anything at all. For about ten
minutes, we stumbled through the tunnel, hanging onto each other’s
hands and bumping against one another.

“I can’t do this anymore.” I was at the head
of the line, and I stopped so quickly it caused Alice, Drew and
Oscar to bump into me and each other from behind.

Drew moved from the back to stand beside me.
“Do what? We have to keep moving.”

“I just can’t walk in the dark like this
anymore. Give me a second.” I flexed my hand a couple of times and
after a few deep breaths, I managed to pull up a little flame,
similar to a candle flame, in my palm. “There.”

In the glow of the small flame, I saw Drew
grin. “Nice.”

“Now we can keep moving, but we have to be
quick. If we linger too long, Trevor will figure things out and
catch up to us. Once we get above ground, we can figure out where
to go from there.”

Drew nodded but looked nervous, something I
wasn't accustomed to seeing. I figured it boiled down to the fact
he wasn’t used to being defenseless; he usually had his guns.

“You okay?” I asked him.

He nodded again. “Yeah. Let’s move.” He
encircled Oscar’s waist to help him walk. “You doin’ okay?” he
asked Oscar.

“Yes,” Oscar croaked out.

I turned to lead the way again, my little
flame guiding the way. We had only been walking about five minutes
when Alice cried out, “Oh!”

Every single one of us halted to a stop and
turned.

“I totally forgot!” Alice said.

“What?” Drew and I demanded at the same time.
I expected it to be something bad, like she forgot there was no
exit or something.

“This!” She reached into the pocket of her
jeans and extracted a cell phone.

“Oh, my god! Alice, I love you!” If my hand
hadn’t been occupied by flame, I would have hugged her.

Oscar shook his head and croaked. “It
probably won’t get a signal down here.”

Drew shrugged, “You’re right, but I’m still
trying.”

It powered up and Drew turned it around for
us to see. “He’s right, no bars. Let’s go.”

We moved on with renewed energy. We walked
for what seemed like hours, until I saw a ladder that reached to
the ceiling with another hatch, like the one we came down
through.

“There!” I pointed.

We rushed for the ladder.

“I’m going first,” Drew told us, letting go
of Oscar. He shimmied up the ladder quickly and lifted the hatch.
We waited patiently while he went up and inspected.

“Drew?” I called after a few minutes.

He stuck his head down. “It’s all clear. Come
on.”

I turned to Alice. “Let’s get Oscar up
first.”

“I agree.” She nodded. “Yeah, it will be
easier for him if we help. Come on, Oscar.”

I extinguished my flame and then we helped
him off the floor where he’d practically collapsed after Drew had
released his hold. It took both of us to push him up the ladder and
Drew pulled from the opening, once he could reach him, to get Oscar
out of there.

Once he was safely at the top, I called out,
“Drew, see if the phone works now.”

Alice and I climbed up and out.

“I already did. Our ride is coming.”

Above ground, darkness surrounded us. We were
in the woods. How deep in the woods, I had no idea, but the thick
forest of trees blocked out any moonlight we would have seen
otherwise. I shivered against the chilly fall air and wished I had
a jacket.

“How will they even know where we are?”

“I just told them to follow the road to your
father’s and look for us on the way. You should be able to hear
them, right?

I sighed. Crap, now everyone is depending on
me. That’s the last thing I need.

Because the night was already upon us,
vampires could come out. I was positive Trevor had either realized
Alice wasn’t around, found out we had escaped with her, or both. He
could put two and two together pretty quickly. “We have to go, you
guys. It won’t be long before Trevor finds us.”

If it were possible to become any more
scared, I was. Any head start we’d had on Trevor was pretty much
gone. I lit the flame in my hand again, and we traipsed through the
woods, over fallen logs, crunching leaves, pushing through tree
branches. It was a given that Trevor, or any vampire, would hear us
or smell us before they saw my little light.

“Drew, what time is it?”

I turned to see him glance at his watch.
“Four fifteen in the morning,” he answered. “Man, I had no idea it
was so late…er, early.”

Thank god, at least one thing is running in
our favor.

We pressed on in search of the road. Oscar
looked pretty ragged. Alice and Drew both had to help him. He was
so pale he seemed to glow in the darkness. He mumbled phrases like:
“Never should have listened… Don’t go into the water...” I was
pretty sure he was hallucinating.

“Don’t worry, Oscar,” Alice whispered. I
looked back and saw she was whispering in his ear and smoothing
back his hair while they walked. She provided comfort for him,
despite the fear shown in her eyes.

“The road can’t be much farther. I hear cars,
so it can’t be that far away.”

“Are you sure it’s a car?” Drew asked
me..

“I know what I heard, Drew.”

“Just asking, Chloe.” Tensions obviously were
running high.

I swiped a branch out of my way, so I could
pass. “I don’t know. Maybe we're going the wrong way.”

Suddenly, the leaves and branches stopped
their crackle beneath their feet, signaling they had stopped. I
looked back at them.

“It’s possible.” Drew turned in a circle and
assessed the area. “There probably aren’t many cars on the road at
this time of night. We’d have been lucky to hear one at all.”

Not knowing what step to take, we just stood
there in silence for another moment. Only Oscar’s raspy breathing
made any noise.

“Let’s just keep going the same way.” I tried
to keep the frustration out of my voice. The last thing we needed
was to be lost in the woods. I headed out in front to lead the
way.

After about five minutes, I heard it more
clearly. “A car!”

“I don’t hear anything,” Drew complained.

“But I can. Let’s go!” As fast as we could
with Oscar in tow, we plowed through the forest.

“I hear it!” Alice exclaimed, when we saw
headlights flash their bright light through the trees. I flexed my
hand and extinguished my flame, and then I bolted for the road.

“Chloe, wait!” Drew must have released Oscar
because I felt his arms wrap around my waist and lift me off the
ground. “It might be Trevor or one of his vampires.”

Oh. That never occurred to me.

“Don’t move,” he ordered while the car
passed. Then he whipped out the phone and dialed a number. “Yeah,
it’s me. Where are you?” He grunted and then clicked off.

“Where are they?” Alice asked. I sensed the
urgency in her voice. She, of all of us, knew Trevor best. I didn’t
even want to think of the things he would do to her if we were
caught.

“They aren’t far, hopefully. It’s hard to
tell because we don’t even know where we are. We're going to have
to take the chance of going out into the road.”

None of us wanted to go out there. The woods
weren’t exactly safe, but they were safer.

“Come on.” Drew signaled us.

My heart pounded as we noisily crept out of
the trees and onto the hard cement of the road. It felt good to be
on the flat surface instead of fighting our way through the woods.
If anything, it would be a lot easier to walk with Oscar.

Once again, we had to decide which way to go.
Drew and I discussed which direction we thought we had come from
and agreed to go left.

While we walked, Drew made another call.
“Hey. We’re on the road now.” A pause. “Yeah, she’s fine. Just
hurry up.” He clicked off and pocketed the phone.

“Who was that? Who’s coming?”

Drew rolled his eyes. “Who do you think? The
one you wanted to save you.”

That wasn’t true. I’d never really expected
anyone to save me. I’d always figured I’d do it on my own. “That’s
not fair, Drew. It’s not true, either.”

He turned away so I couldn’t see his face.
“Well, all that matters is that you’re safe and we’re going home,
right?”

I nodded. I just didn’t understand why he was
always so back and forth about everything. One minute we were
kissing and the next he was almost shoving me at Gavin. I pushed
back the tears that threatened to surface and clamped my mouth
shut. I wasn’t about to say anything to him in the middle of the
road while we attempted to escape evil vampires.

I’d already chosen. Drew had come for me. No
matter what the cost or who he had to defy to do it, he was the one
who chose me over all else. I couldn’t deny that. I didn’t want to
deny that. Yes, Gavin probably would have come, but only after he
had a guarantee of safety. I wasn’t mad at him or anything, but it
just wasn’t the same as someone risking everything, including his
life, for me.

Not to mention I could practically still
taste Drew’s lips.

A low hum sounded in my ears, and I realized
what it was: car engines. “Guys! Stop! There’s a car coming.” I
listened harder. “No, there are two cars coming, one from each
direction.”

Drew looked at Alice. “Take Oscar to the
trees. Now!” he ordered.

“I’m going!” she answered back. She dragged
Oscar into the darkness of the trees.

We could see the headlights of the first car
from the direction we had been walking toward.

“That has to be Gavin.” Drew was squinting
toward the headlights. “It’s his Jeep.”

I heard the other motor in the distance. I
knew the sound of that motor.

“It’s him,” I told Drew. “Trevor’s coming
from the other way.”

Drew walked to the middle of the road, in
plain view of the oncoming cars. I followed him, and we stood
there, weaponless, defenseless and vulnerable. I didn’t have a good
feeling about what was about to happen.

“He probably has guns,” I told Drew quickly.
“He tried to shoot me before.”

Drew smiled. “Well, how else would you kill
someone you couldn’t touch?”

I didn’t smile back. “Yeah, you laugh now,
but it was my gun.” That comment caused his smile to fade. He knew
how much I loved my gun.

The Jeep stopped mere feet behind us after it
skidded sideways in the middle of the road. I watched as the doors
flew open and Gavin appeared. He had his arms full of guns while he
ran toward us.

Christina popped out of the other door, and
she also ran toward us. She wore jeans with heavy leather chaps
over the top and a long-sleeved, tight black top. I’d never seen
her decked out in hunter gear. She wore it well, unlike her hooker
dress. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she wore
a double holster. In addition, her outfit boasted several sheathed
knives. I could see the dark wood of the hilts with inlaid brass
that glimmered in the headlights.

“Great,” I mumbled.

“Let it go, Chloe. No time for that,” Drew
told me.

The Mustang arrived not nearly in such a
hurry as Gavin and Christina had arrived. I glanced back and saw
Gavin toss Drew a gun.

“Ammo?” Drew called, checking the gun.

“It’s loaded. Just check the safety. Here’s
extra.” Gavin hurled a magazine at Drew, which he caught
easily.

The doors on the Mustang popped open. In an
instant, Trevor and Constance swept from the car, leaving the doors
open. I held my hands in front of me and called up the fire. Two
huge flames appeared in my palms. Just when the flames burned
brightly, another vehicle pulled up behind Trevor's, and Vincent
and my guard goon scrambled from the doors and moved behind Trevor
and Constance.

I shot my flames upward in warning to the
vampires.

“What the hell?” I heard Gavin’s obviously
shocked voice call out.

Christina flanked my right side. “Well,
someone’s been keeping secrets. Here’s a gun too.”

I did my best not to sound ungrateful. I was
going to need that gun. I wished they’d had two for me. “Can you
stick that in my pants?”

I wasn’t looking right at her, but in my
mind, I could see her raising her eyebrows and coming up with some
snarky comment.

“Just do it, Christina,” I said.

I felt her slide the gun into my waistband
and give it a pat. “I hope it was good for you, too.”

“Knock it off, and get ready to fight.”

“I’m ready,” she said. I heard her pull back
the slide mechanism and the cartridge shifted into the chamber.
“Let’s kick some ass!” she yelled.

Trevor and his vampires stood in a line of
four, just like us. I was right. He had my gun. It didn’t look like
any of the others had a gun, but there was no way to tell for
sure.

It appeared as if we had ourselves a regular
standoff. Both parties were simply waiting for the other to
draw.

“Come with me now, Chloe,” Trevor called out,
“and I’ll let the other hunter’s depart alive.”

“Don’t you dare!” Drew nearly hissed the
words at me.

Not that I paid much attention because at
that same time I yelled, “Go to hell, you freak,” and revved my
fire again.