Token Huntress (25 page)

              “And who is this boy to you?” The man who claimed to be my father asked in an arrogant way.

              “I’m her familiar!” Chase said sharply through a growl.

The other vampire gave out a monstrous laugh. “You will never be good enough to be my daughter’s familiar. You are tiny, nothing but a pretty boy flashing his bare chest.”

I held Chase back, my head swirling. Instead of accepting the challenge, he slowly walked me over to the log. I was feeling nauseous. So strange considering I had never been ill before.

              “Cesar, stop!” my mother snapped at him, and quickly the large vampire ceased his antagonizing.

              “But my father is dead,” I whispered, trying to understand.

Finally we sat down and my mother knelt in front of me, shaking her head. “Let me explain to you from the start, my Esmore,” she said, patting her hand on my knee. “Cesar here is your biological father. We first met one another in a raid. His group of vampires were much older than our hunters, most of us were killed. But Cesar took me to safety so I would not be harmed. If this young man claims to be your familiar…”

              “I am four hundred years older than you, easily. I was turned in my twenties. I would be careful as to who you call young,” Chase said, showing his fangs.

              “I’ll rip those fangs out of your pretty mouth, boy,” Cesar roared, already his hand placed protectively on my mother’s shoulder. Yet neither of them stepped forward as my mother and I gave them harsh glares to stand down.

              “Cesar and I are familiars, so obviously the pull was far too great to deny, as I imagine you would only know. Miraculously you were conceived. Because of my ability, it was something that was pushed through to the very end. By then Tyler, whom you thought your dad to be, saw us together. He was my best friend, but he could have reported it. I would have been beheaded instantly. But instead, he gave us a chance. His condition was that Cesar and I could no longer see one another. And although Cesar offered us protection, I feared leaving the Guild, it was all I knew. So we parted ways. Even though I wanted to be with Cesar, you were my child and your protection was my absolute concern.

              So much relief swept over me on the night of your birth because you had huntress eyes. I thought maybe you would have come out of this unscathed and live a normal hunter life. However, Tyler was sceptical, and because you always had a temper, he tried his hardest to train you to calm yourself, just in case that rage was something else entirely.

When Tyler died, I felt awfully alone. Although we were only friends, and he was good at keeping such a long-time secret away from Campture, it was so hard to not think of the treachery we played around her. We avoided her at all costs, and kept our minds busy with other trivial thoughts if we crossed paths with her. But she had her suspicions and we were closely watched. When you excelled at everything, they thought you a prodigy. But I had my suspicions of it being something else.”

              I was breathing in slowly, staring at the ground as I practiced that exact same thing my father had taught me, which was supressing my urges and darkness. It made a lot of sense now that my father trained me so thoroughly. And it was only until I was within the Council and Chase was threatened that I broke that seal.

              “It seemed you were living a very normal life, you and James were…” She fell silent, looking at Chase as his lips tightened angrily around his fangs. “You had made it onto a raid team.”

              “I am now Token Huntress,” I interjected. She smiled proudly at that.

              “No doubt Miss. Campture named you as a Token Huntress. The closer you came to your eighteenth birthday the further you excelled. Your superiority was hard not to notice, which had many hunters snooping around our home and things. A few days before your eighteenth, you were mumbling in your sleep. And the words you spoke were ones no mother wants to hear. I always told you I wouldn’t assert myself into your body without your permission, but I then realized what your gift was, and I only had days to think of what to do.

              I went out in search of word on where Cesar might have been. I didn’t know what to do or who to ask for. But with no luck could I find him. So I had to make the decision myself. Your gift was like a ticking time bomb. You are the weapon against both vampire and hunter. Within your very heart was a disease and I felt it growing within you. All hunter’s gifts are derived from their heart. It is the very source of us and passion for our fighting. Yours was exceeding at such an incredible rate. I feared that upon the very hour of your eighteenth, you would infect us all to death. And even if you didn’t, once you displayed it in front of everyone, you would be chased by both hunter and vampire.”

              Chase stared at me from the side, trying to read my blank expression. I had no words to say. I felt like I could neither talk nor breathe.

              “So I had to make a decision. I took your heart from your chest; without it your gift was useless. Of course I replaced your heart with my own energy so you would not die, but your eyes instantly lowered in their purple glow and went to a gray. I knew there would be consequences for having violated you in such a way and having taken that away from you. I wanted to come back to you, I truly did. But I had to flee with your heart. I could not destroy it or it would destroy you. So I had to hide it.” My mother almost began crying as her expression tore at the memory. “Campture had hunters following me, they tried to kill me so I faked my death. In truth, I hardly made it out with my life. I did try to return to you, that I promise. But first I had to hide your heart and in that I found your father.”

              Cesar then spoke. “We had to find a hunter who had the gift of concealment, to hide your heart. It is a lot harder than it sounds, especially when the man we needed could conceal his very presence,” he said, rolling his eyes. “But eventually we found him and I drained him to acquire his gift, so I had full control of concealment. We have hidden it.”

              I placed my hand on my chest, suddenly feeling so empty. But then it made so much sense as to why I felt very little emotion and could not deal with such things. I literally had no heart. It was only when I was with Chase or that he touched me that I actually felt. The rest of me was heightened by my vampirism.

              Chase wrapped his own hand over mine, watching me warily.
Are you okay?
he asked me internally. My mother and Cesar exchanged a look, as if knowing that we could communicate internally. Perhaps Chase’s worried look completely gave that away.

              “I know I do not deserve your love and trust anymore Esmore, but please know that I did everything I could to protect you. And you cannot return to the Guild, they will kill you,” my mother said. “I came here now to retrieve you, but it seems you have already found an escape.”

              “I am not fleeing,” I said defiantly. I was so angry with my mother, but when I looked into her beautiful florescent orange eyes I could not hate her for what she had done. I only hated myself for not figuring it out sooner. “They have Dillian. I am going back to save him. They have pushed a death sentence on him for being in alliance with the vampire Council and me.”

              “Dillian,” my mother winced at his name. She knew who Dillian was. She had always been fond of him and thought for a long time that we would end up in marriage. “Campture ordered this?”

              “James is not who we once thought he was. He has gone ill in the mind and from what I can gather, he wants me dead or to keep me hidden for himself. He has grown obsessive and I fear leaving Dillian in the current state James is in. He has already hurt him so much, I cannot leave him.”

              “No hunter is worth risking my daughter’s life,” Cesar objected.

              “You have only been involved in your daughter’s life for two minutes, you do not get to make such declarations,” I snapped just as quickly. My fangs slid out in anger and I again covered them from my mother, ashamed of my lack of control. After a moment of Cesar staring me down he let out a monstrous laugh.

              “Ha,” he bellowed. “She is my daughter. Well, I do like a massacre at a Hunter Guild, so let’s go kill them.”

              “No!” my mother and I both growled at the same time.

              “We rescue both Dillian and his fiancée Julia, and then we flee,” I ordered. I knew Dillian would not leave without Julia, and if he were taken they would suspect her as well. After what happened to Whitney, I could not have Dillian’s and Julia’s blood on my hands, no matter what challenge that might bring me.

T
he guard of the Guild wall was prepared. Because of the execution of Dillian, I had no doubt in my mind that Campture would have raised the amount of those guarding the wall. I suspected they had Dillian tied up in the same rooms that she had imprisoned me in many days ago. He would probably be executed upon morning. The hardest part would be finding Julia. I wasn’t overly familiar with where she would be. She might even be in hiding.

              We waited impatiently and very quietly in our awkward group. We needed the cover of night visuals before getting closer to the wall. We had to be wary for sabers. The forest held an eerie atmosphere to it, more so than usual. A lot of animal blood stained the ground. I could smell it in the air as my own cravings wanted to be satisfied. We had to be wary tonight in case somewhere a pack of sabers rested close by.

              I was fiddling with a dead leaf when I thought of my conversation with Dillian, and his intention to propose to Julia. After everything that had happened, I very much doubted he had the chance to ask her. I threw the leaf away, somewhat agitated. The air seemed to be far hotter than usual, and I was starting to feel very hungry.

              I looked at Chase’s neck as he sat at the base of a large tree. Its bark looked dead and its roots unstable. He had his eyes closed but I knew he was awake as I hovered my mind over his and he scattered over various ideas. A cocky smile pressed on his lips as he noticed my mind scanning his, and then his gray eyes flashed open. “Don’t be so greedy, you cannot drink from me anymore. It would make us both sick if we continued doing that,” he said with a sly smile before stretching himself awkwardly against the tree.

              “Why not?” I asked, extremely disappointed. I thirsted so much it burnt my throat. I flushed, still very hot. “Why is it so hot?”

              “The sun still irritates us to a certain extent, my Esmore. It mostly immobilizes the sabers, that is why they lurk in the shadows.” He took my hand and began drawing light circles in my palm, which alone was enough to arouse me. His simple lingering touch was like a drug. “Because we are both vampires, our blood is in a more synthesized state. After drinking the same blood for a while it becomes toxic to us. However, I don’t know if that is the case with your own blood because you are part huntress. But if you kept drinking from me you would become very sick.” He kissed the palm of my hand, sending through me a trail of hot flames from his moist lips. I bit my lip in response.

              “Stop, or I will take you now, and I don’t feel the most comfortable doing that in the presence of your parents,” he said, antagonizing me as he rolled his tongue in his mouth playfully. “I would love the chance to have you in the wild.”

              I quivered erotically at the thought. The hardest thing to control besides my lust for blood was my tingling body that wanted Chase so desperately. Not jumping him was taking my every ounce of control. And it seemed as if Chase had more control than I could ever conjure.

              My mother was sitting not so far away and speaking with my father. I felt different toward her, now knowing what she had done. I could understand why she had done it but I still clutched at my chest where I should have a heart, instead there was nothing. It explained the constant emptiness I felt. Somehow I felt as If I were deprived of something.

              “So where do we go after this?” I exhaled evenly, trying to calm myself.

              “Where did you both come from? The Council?” Cesar interrupted, who must have been listening in on our conversation. If I had of known him as a father figure sooner in life I may have been embarrassed at the conversation he might have overheard. But instead he seemed only like a very rowdy and old vampire. The only shared quality I could see in both of us was arrogance. And that was what I disliked about him most.

              I was sad to know that the man who raised me was not at all my father. I trembled to know that all his years of raising me and claiming me as his own child might have simply been a rouse. He was all I knew as a father and I still thought of him as my dad. So how could Cesar so quickly expect me to discard such memories and fondness? He was not my father, even if he did partake in creating me. My father was the man that raised me and I would stay true to that belief.

              At first I simply ignored him, because I didn’t want to partake in conversation with him. I found myself rebelling. I grew harsher at the thought of him being my actual father, and a vampire at that. It was my mother who raised me to kill them and yet here we both were, our familiars vampires. Under my mother’s watchful eye I then spoke.

              “From the Council,” I said steadily. “My investigation team was ambushed by the Council’s small army there, and Chase took me in from the wreckage. It has only been a short time since I was last at the Guild, but a lot has changed and been revealed since.”

              “An interesting choice for a daughter of mine. I would never align with the Council,” Cesar reflected. “I even had one of the vampires I turned infiltrate there so I could suss out what was so interesting about it. I don’t think he likes it very much.”

              “Let us get one thing very clear before you aid me in freeing my friend. The man who is my father and raised me as his daughter, is dead. I will remember him for the time he put into raising me. You cannot come here suddenly to announce that you are my dad. You sacrificed that option the moment my mother and you parted for eighteen years. I am
so
happy you found one another, at the cost of yet again abandoning me. And letting me discover on my own that I am part vampire when this whole time I lived in a Hunter’s Guild!” I was now shouting. He was so arrogant, it frustrated me so much.

              “Esmore,” Chase whispered to let me know to calm myself.

              “Your eyes have returned to their purple,” my mother gasped, coming closer to study me. I placed my hands to my fangs, irritated that yet again they slipped out without my knowing. I couldn’t control my temperament. The gnawing darkness within me only wanted to spread further. I wanted to fight them both. But it was Chase’s pooling gray eyes that told me not to. His mind hovered over me, gripping tightly to my humane side before something else pushed over. After a moment of silence and ignoring my mother and Cesar who studied me seriously, I calmed myself enough to sit beside Chase again and retract my fangs.

              “Lost time isn’t something a vampire of my years has to worry about, my dear. We have an eternity to fix things. I am disappointed in your stupidity,” Cesar provoked me.

              “Cesar,” my mother growled.

              “Well, we have been sitting here for what, two hours now?” Cesar demanded from her. “I commend you on waiting until dark; it seems like a smart tactic. But have you forgotten that your mother and I have the gift of concealment to infiltrate the Guild?”

              A subtle breeze swept through us, spreading a thicker mound of fog over my knees. I bit my tongue so I would not spit harsh words at him. “And you only mention this now?”

              “Well, my long, lost, ever-brooding daughter, you never asked,” Cesar taunted in response.

              My mother warily looked between us, giving Cesar a harsh glare and forcing him to wipe his smug expression from his face.

              “And you didn’t want to mention anything?” I asked angrily of my mother.

              “You needed to calm your thoughts about all that we discussed. But it seems you have already made your mind up on it all. At least we won’t have to worry about your recklessness. We can conceal all four of us. Your father and I will look for Dillian. I cannot recall Julia. You will know where to find her.”

              “No, I need to be the one to find Dillian,” I discouraged them. We had to infiltrate the Guild so we could collect both Dillian and Julia. But I felt responsible for Dillian’s safety and urged that it was me that protect him.

              “My daughter, please be smart about this, you know you can trust us to get him out safely. It is the only way we can get them both out alive. But be wary, the concealment gift does not hide one’s physical presence. If another hunter has heightened senses it will block them from noticing us. But if someone physically sees us they will sound the alarm. It is like blocking the smell of us to vampires, but if they see us they will know we are very real. It only takes away the sense that we are there. No one can read our minds, feel our presence, or locate us.”

              “Just don’t get seen,” Cesar said. He had a large axe strapped to his back. My mother was still holding onto the same sword the last day I had seen her before my eighteenth birthday. She was always fond of that sword with the gold trimming. I gathered my sword and Barnett bow. My mother was right, if we didn’t have Julia, Dillian would never agree to go.

              “Fine, we head for the north wall, closest to where Dillian is imprisoned,” I agreed.

*

I didn’t feel overly different after Cesar put a veil of concealment over us. It antagonized me that somewhere out there in the world my heart had been hidden. It was only when Chase placed a hand on my back that I realized I was overwhelmed by the thought of not actually having a heart. I felt violated. To make it worse, the only time I could feel emotion or be tortured by my deepest thoughts was when Chase was touching me. He was my only real connection to emotion.

              We followed a small trail that my mother was familiar with. We were wary of our surroundings and froze at certain times, straining our ears for sounds. We reached the wall where Dillian and I often stood guard. Now there were another two guards that I wasn’t overly acquainted with. They were alert; Campture would have made sure they were. Did she and James plot to trap me? I was almost certain of it.

              If there was something Campture hated most besides vampires, it was traitors. Staring at my mother’s long golden hair, I questioned whether this whole time Campture was in search of my mother. I had my suspicions that she also knew that she was not dead. And what was I to do now after learning that my heart had been hidden? No matter what my mother’s intention, having no heart really did make me feel empty. I had always felt as if I were missing something. Now that I knew, I desperately wanted it back. I wanted to know love and be with Chase. I felt cheap and that the love I offered him was only erotic lust. But how could I ever explain that to him? I knew that I must have loved him, but the feeling was caught in a very hollow emptiness in my chest. Like my mother said, hunters’ passion is derived from their heart, so what did I have to live for? All I knew now was darkness, anger, annoyance, hatred, thirst, and sexual desire.

Cesar went to step forward to take the two guards out, but Chase raised his finger to him. As I tapped into his thoughts, I realized Chase was manipulating the guards, convincing them they urgently needed to collect water because one of the wooden sheds on the farm was alight. I imagined he used this very same tactic when he lured me in to first meet him.

We weren’t that far from where Dillian sat unconscious. I could feel him in the exact same room they had thrown me into. I indicated to my mother where he was; she nodded with determination. Cesar came to her side, offering his clasped hands. She placed her boot in it and he flung her over the wall
swiftly. When she touched the ground I could not hear a noise. Cesar offered the same to me but Chase brushed him off with his shoulder, in a show of strength no doubt. Just as swiftly I was flung over the wall, landing quietly on my feet and crouching with my Barnett bow aimed. The guards were all gone. Chase looked over his shoulder at Cesar smugly.

              My mother was also crouching low to the ground and walking toward the imprisonment area. Cesar and Chase came to our sides. My mother parted with Cesar, and Chase and I ran toward the huts. We were very cautious and expected a lot more hunters to be patrolling the grounds. The ones that were did not glance in our direction, proving Cesar’s concealment abilities. After two fellow Hunter’s strolled past with weapons in hand, we rolled out from between two huts and continued walking toward where Julia lived. Dillian and she had now been together for a long time, so I knew where she lived. Much to my relief, when I came closer to the hut, there was only a single mind in there that worried about Dillian. She cried for him. It was Julia.