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  CHAPTER THREE

  By next morning, the rain had ceased. Bright rays of sunshine penetrated the second-floor cottage window, bathing the rustic hardwood floors of my small bedroom in a golden glow. The warm light playfully announced the beginning of a new day, though for me it was the start something even bigger. I had spent the entire night awake on the soft, lumpy bed, competing for space with a frilly flower duvet, and plotting out a full training program for the recruits.

  When I first received the mission, I had anticipated being in Angel Creek for two or three days at most—a sufficient amount of time to go over a few simple rules and responsibilities with the newly appointed town guardians. Instead, I was faced with four vampires who were in far worse shape than I could ever have imagined. It would take a couple of weeks before my trainees would even be capable of taking care of themselves, let alone could succeed at protecting the humans in town.

  I swiftly rolled off the bed, making a mental note to call my father and update him on the current situation. Just as I was about to exit the room, I saw a glimpse of my disheveled reflection in a large, antique mirror hanging on a wall next to the bed. The image staring back at me made me curse the fact that the whole “vampires have no reflections” thing was just a myth. My long hair was matted from yesterday’s rainstorm, my clothes wrinkled from overnight wear. My usual tank and jeans attire just didn’t seem to cut it this morning. I had never been the type to fret about my appearance, so this unexpected desire to look good caught me by surprise.

  I picked up a hairbrush from a nearby dresser and attacked my long locks with it. The cute bartender Ethan’s face flashed through my mind, causing me to blush—in theory—at the sudden bout of self-consciousness I was experiencing. My thoughts of Ethan were abruptly interrupted by an image of Sebastian’s enigmatic gray eyes. Eyes so full of mystery, allure, even danger. A cold shiver ran down my spine as I recalled the warning look he flashed me. There was something so unnerving about the way he stared at me, yet my pulse quickened in memory of his rain-drenched face, mere inches away from mine. Alarmed by my own wild imagination, I threw the brush back on the dresser and hurried out of the room.

  I pushed Sebastian out of my mind as I descended the narrow stairwell and prepared to meet the team. Upon entering the large, open-concept main floor, I found each of the vampires in the same position I had left them the night before. Sophie lay curled up on the brown living room couches, a new novel in her hand. Brooke sprawled across the floor, drenching her nails in a thick coat of bright pink polish. Seth was watching a movie on a laptop he had brought along with him, while Hunter lazed on one of the reclining chairs, his eyes firmly shut.

  Due to the high levels of caffeine in Blood Cola and other energy drinks like Blood Bull, most modern vampires went days without sleep, often only requiring it when over-exerting their bodies or healing from an injury. Despite this fact, I had asked the entire group to rest for the night, wanting them to be in top physical and mental form before we commenced the training. Judging by the montage in front of me, I could tell that they hadn’t obeyed my request.

  “Alright, guys!” I exclaimed in an attempt to energize them. “Training time!” My dynamic voice had the desired effect, causing all four vampires to jump to their feet.

  So far, so good.

  “I’m going to get some tools from my car. Meet me in the meadow behind the cottage in five minutes,” I ordered, adding, “Don’t be late!” All the while, a joyful smile tugged at the corners of my lips. It wasn’t going to be a simple task to revamp the misfit vampires, but I was delighted to finally be on a mission. More importantly, I was determined to succeed.

  Minutes later, Brooke, Sophie, Hunter and Seth were standing on a grassy clearing, positioned side-by-side in a straight line. They studied me inquisitively as I paced in front of them, clutching an array of ancient weapons in my arms. I handed each trainees a sword. Before I had a chance to give out any instructions, Seth let out an animalistic roar and, laboriously holding up the heavy weapon with two hands, charged at Brooke. I stepped between them, intercepting his attack and shooting him a stern look. I had wrongly convinced myself that I had succeeded in persuading Seth to put the incident with Brooke behind him. I thought that by assuring him that real heroes took the high-road when it came to those who had wronged them, he would absolve his grudge against his sire. Unfortunately, it was clear that there was still unresolved tension between the two. I now not only had to worry about training the entire gang, but also keep them from killing one another.

  Doing the best impersonation of my poised, commanding father I could muster, I took Seth’s sword away and said, “The four of you are a team. Rule Number One: always protect your teammates.” I looked at each group member. “Rule Number Two: No intentional hurting. Ever. Or you’ll not only be expelled from the group, but will also have to answer to me.” Pausing for dramatic effect, I firmly asked, “Is that understood?”

  Seth nodded sheepishly. The rest mumbled in agreement.

  “Forget the weapons,” I sighed, looking at the vampires in front of me. “We’re not quite ready for that yet. Break off into sparring pairs and show me what you can do. Hunter you’re with Seth, and Sophie, you’re Brooke’s partner.”

  Mere moments into observing the group’s feeble attempt at combat, the realization that I was dealing with four of the weakest, most unrefined vampires I had ever seen, finally sunk in. Sadly, this statistic included even my youngest vampire pupils like Eddie and Julie. Once a human became a vampire, they were naturally stronger, faster and more skilled at many things. The group in front of me was, without a doubt, a colossal anomaly.

  Over the next couple of hours, I worked one-on-one with each vampire, as the others loitered nearby, practicing simple kicks, blocks and punches. Sophie, despite having been a vampire for an entire century, was like a deer in headlights. She yelped in pain every time she punched or kicked me, as if I was the one hurting her. Her strongest hits felt like gentle taps and her small body looked so brittle I was afraid that, at any moment, she would break in half.

  Brooke, on the other hand, was surprisingly strong and agile. The years of cheerleading had been good for something, after all. Regardless of her power and speed, she did everything in her power to avoid training.

  “My nails!” she whined, showing me a tiny scratch on her perfectly manicured finger.

  After his outburst, Seth settled down and tried his best to emulate the noble video game characters he looked up to so dearly. His best efforts fell short, due to his extreme lack of coordination and stamina. A simple jog around the field left him bent over in agony, gasping for air.

  Hunter, the strongest of the four, was the least focused one. Since he was under strict orders to not drink any tainted blood, he was beginning to experience harsh symptoms of withdrawal. Everything from sound, to light, to simple directions irritated him, continuously escalating his foul mood. Every time I asked him to do something, I would have to endure rude gestures.

  My patience with the group was rapidly dwindling, so I made the decision to call for a recess. It came just in time to prevent me from breaking the rule I myself had established earlier, by physically hurting one—or perhaps even all—of the team members.

  We stretched out in the clearing, feasting on a quick snack of garlic pizza and Blood Cola. I had brought enough food to last for a few days, ensuring that the team, especially Brooke, would stay away from any human appetizers. We ate in silence, each lost in our own thoughts. Brooke had not taken her eyes off of me the entire time. No matter how hard I tried not to look at her, I couldn’t avoid her judgmental glare. She was studying me intently, as if trying to figure out a secret of some sort. Finally, she spoke.

  “So, Dawn. What’s your story?” she purred sweetly. “How did you get to be so good at everything?” Despite the syrupy charade, there was an edge to her voice.

  “Honestly, it was mostly due to my father’s insistence that I get so good at everythin
g,” I attempted to lighten the mood.

  “It must be so nice to be a Daddy’s Girl,” Brooke retorted in a cool voice.

  I wish I knew what it really felt like, I thought wistfully, opting not to share that particular musing with the group.

  Before I had the chance to respond to Brooke’s verbal attack in a less depressing manner, Seth cut in. “You must be one of those super old, all-powerful vampires, right?” he asked excitedly.

  I contemplated his question for a moment. “Actually, I’m one of the youngest here. I only turned nineteen a little over two weeks ago.”

  Brooke rolled her eyes. “I think he means vampire years, genius. I’m technically fifty-five,” she whispered the last part, shuddering at the number. “But if we’re going by the age were made, then I’m seventeen and, therefore, younger than you,” she said, twirling one of her blonde locks around her finger.

  Suddenly, Sophie’s eyes grew wide. “Oh, my! You’re one of the special vampires, aren’t you? The Born?”

  “What’s a Born?” Seth looked at me curiously.

  I took a moment to explain to the newbie vampire the difference between the Born and the Made, sharing with the group what little I knew about my background. As I spoke, Brooke’s mood grew even darker.

  “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 th
at 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.”