A thought popped into my head.
"Aren't you supposed to be defensive? Like you barely know me!" I said.
"Well, Hunter brought you here and we trust him, also if you are here that means you already know our little secret," Sergio said.
"Little..." I huffed.
I saw Claire standing behind Devon, while she texted on her phone. The thing was she was pretending to text.
"Heyyyyyy," I said once I got near her.
"What?!" She said pretending to be angry.
" I'm sorry okay? I mean for how selfish I was." She looked away and tapped her foot on the ground. Before I playfully punched her.
"Took you long enough." She said with a smile." "But..." Mischief glistened in her eyes.
"But what?"
"Follow me." She started walking away. When she noticed that I didn't follow she turned back and beckoned for me to come. "You coming or not?"
We entered the kitchen to find Hunter comfortably leaning against the counter.
"Hey," Claire said then gave him a quick hug.
"Hi. What are you doing?" He asked Claire without taking his eyes off me.
"Trying to wake Andrew." Claire deadpanned like that was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Okay, then he's in the sitting room if you didn't notice."
"I know."
"Then why are you here?" Hunter turned to face Claire for a while in confusion before turning back to me.
"I tried asking her." I folded my arms and pouted.
"Aww!" Claire exclaimed. "You look so cute! Don't you agree Hunter?"
I felt my cheeks burn as Hunter sized me up, well till he said,
"I've seen cuter." With that, he walked out of the kitchen.
"Aren't you hot in that thing?" Claire asked as she grabbed something out of the freezer.
"I am," I replied pulling at the buttons of the jacket.
"Then take it off."
"I can't."
"Why?" I pulled the jacket off releasing the outfit.
"Whoa. Better keep it on." She smiled nudging me slightly.
Hunter entered the kitchen with nothing but boredom etched across his face.
"What happened?" Claire asked.
"The movie I was watching got reminded and now Andrew is still occupying the couch. Now I have to wait at least 15 minutes.." He reached for an apple and I grabbed it out of his hand.
"What's that for?" He asked nearing me.
"Step back," I commanded, pointing a knife at him.
"Try it." He took a step closer.
"Go away." I groaned.
"You're holding my apple." He said as I grabbed a board, placed the apple on its said in the plate and tried to locate the centre with the knife. "What are you doing?" He said looking over my shoulder.
"None of your business. " I said as I pressed the knife into the apple.
"Whatcha doing?" Claire asked.
"I heard if you slice an apple in half horizontally you can make a star."
"Interesting." Claire said with a slow nod." Done." She announced carrying two buckets of ice. I left the apple on the counter and carried a bucket. We tiptoed our way over to Andrew.
"On go." Claire said." Go!"
We dumped the ice on Andrew causing him to shriek and fall off the couch. Once aware of what happened he started to glare at Claire and me.
"We tried waking you up earlier." Claire lied as she gave Andrew a gentle pat on his head. I burst into laughter before getting a near heart attack from someone shouting behind me. I shrieked and fell on my behind with the remnants of ice in my bucket landed on my body while the bucket landed on my head.
I tilted the bucket to see who had caused this mayhem and found Ash laughing his head off.
At that moment, Hunter stalked in. In his hand the apple.
"Who did this to her?" Hunter asked as he pointed to me. Andrew, Claire and I pointed at Ash who immediately stopped laughing. Hunter glared at Ash as he took long strides toward Ash.
"You..." Hunter started. "Deserve an award." He completed with a high five with Ash. At this, my jaw dropped. I closed my mouth and narrowed my eyes to slits before picking myself up. Rolling my sleeves up I stomped over to the two cows.
My plan? To deliver, simultaneously, slaps to the boys.
Nineteen pairs of eyes watched as I rose both my hands and brought them down with force. Both my hands were caught by the boys inches away from their faces.
Ash was laughing while Hunter's jaw was set grimly as he looked at me. Does he ever smile? They dropped my hands and Ash swung me over his shoulder like a bag of cement as he headed over to the couch on the other side. I kicked and tried to wriggle free as my wet hair whipped around.
Suddenly Ash stopped walking and laughing, and so did everyone else. I didn't know what was happening but something felt wrong, I didn't know what or how but it just did.
A few seconds later Tony ran in.
Micheal and Elizabeth are here and they are looking for her. He mind-linked and everyone looked as if they had got the message.
Ash put me down carefully and looked at me with worry in his eyes.
"Claire, Andrew, Ash, Gabriella, Isabella, Tony. You're with me. Anjola, Venus, Bella, Jessica, Stephen. Search all the rooms. The rest stay here and protect Eleanor at all costs." They all gave a slight nod of their heads and did as told to do.
"Old guys. Vamps." Angela said.
" I thought they were myths. And dryads." I said referring to Venus.
"Well, we are real flesh and blood."
"So if a vamp shows up how do you guys kill it...them without guns," I asked as they stood wearily.
"Guns don't work on them. Things that simple human beings don't understand." Valerie said.
"What does?" I asked.
"Crosses, fire, metal, holy water etc etc." She said with a shrug.
"Shut it, you guys," Sergio said. " Do you hear that?"
Listening carefully I heard a rustling sound in the darker area of the room.
"What is that?" I asked, taking a step forward before jumping back in fright, what caused me to jump back? A face showed, glimmering pale white, fading pink lips, jet black hair, and bright blue eyes. He looked like death.
"You look like death," I said before thinking.
"The name's Mitch. The compliment is appreciated." He said moving forward.
"Stay back," Marcus growled.
"What are you going to do? Stake me? You know as well as I do that would only and fire to the eternal war between werewolves and vampires." He turned back to face me. " Eleanor's the name, right? Just wanted to give you a warm welcome to the neighbourhood. Hope you have a deadly good time." He flashed his fangs.
Run! Valerie tethered and without a second thought, I obeyed. I turned on my heels and I ran outside until I bumped into someone. By the person's scent, I knew it was Hunter. I wrapped my arms around his torso and laid my cheek against his back as I tried to control my breathing.
The image of Mitch's fangs continued replaying in my mind.
"I thought I told you to stay inside?" Hunter whispered, sparing me a glance before looking at whatever he was looking at before.
" There's one inside," I whispered.
" Well, there's two out here." He replied and I held on tighter. Standing on the tip of my toes I tried to see over Hunter's shoulder but it was no use. Instead, I peeked under his arm to look at two pale white figures conversing with the rest.
One was a guy who looked like he was in his mid-seventies. Silver hair, green eyes and a grin plastered across his face, Micheal. The other was a girl who looked around my age, with brilliant blue eyes and eyebrows that gave the impression that she was scared for life, Elizabeth.
Micheal noticed me and smiled, flashing his dreadful fangs at me. I cowered behind Hunter and pulled the coat tighter.
" No no. As I said earlier we aren't here to fight, or bite. We are just here to congratulate the new addition to the addition to your pack." Micheal said.
"Thanks for the congratulations. You may take your leave." Hunter said as if he was just having a normal everyday conversation.
"Okay, we'll go but just keep her away. We don't want anyone on our turf. Wouldn't want to send back a corpse. " Elizabeth said.
"I'll keep that in mind," Hunter said and with that, they were gone.
"Mitch's gone." Alexa came jogging out.
"Good." He turned to me. "You!"
"Me?"
" I told you to stay inside! Having you outside was a burden on me!"
"But Valerie said..."
" I said stay in!" He pinched the bridge of his nose, closed his eyes and started mumbling all sorts of things while turning on the spot.
"I'm sorry," I whispered. Opening his eyes he looked down at me and sighed before saying, in a much cooler tone,
"Obviously you are. If something happened to you or if you suddenly happened to be amid bloodsucking assholes then you would really be sorry. My coat."
I looked at him horrified, " I'd be cold!"
" You'd be cold? What about me! I'm shirtless for Christ's sake!"
I looked around me to see everyone staring at me with pity in their eyes. It infuriated me. I unbuttoned the coat and shoved it in his arms with angry tears flowing down my face. Here! I shouted at him as I gave him. I felt humiliated, I didn't need anyone's pity.
At first, he looked shocked then he stormed inside. As I watched him go inside I felt a hand on my shoulder and knowing who it was I turned around and buried my head in the book of his neck.
Burden. He. Called. Me. A. Burden!!!
" He cares he just doesn't know how to show it," Ash said as he stroked my hair.
A few minutes later, a car pulled up in front of the house.
" Eleanor follow me," Hunter said coming out of a hallway. I got up from the chair I was sitting on with Claire...
"Where are we going?" I asked. He didn't answer my question, he just walked out the door. I followed him outside till I caught up to him at the car.
" I asked a question."
"Home." He replied as he looked at my hand holding his arm.
"I thought you said I wouldn't be going home till tomorrow," I said without removing my hand.
"My home." He opened the door of the back seat and I looked at him. He nodded his head towards the door and I got in. He shut the door and sat in the passenger seat.
While he and the driver, who I assumed was his friend, did their greetings I studied the driver. His long curly hair dyed blue, a tattoo on his wrist, lip ring and dimples.
"Hey, Hunter you gonna introduce me?" The boy said.
"Nope," Hunter said looking out the window.
"Dick." The guy shook his head." I'm Edward."
"Eleanor."
"E-E, cool." The guy gave me a once over. " You're a beauty aren't ya? No wonder you're with Hunter." A dark blush coloured my cheeks.
"Shut up and drive," Hunter growled.
"Fine Mr Possessive." Edward licked his lips before starting the engine.
Looking outside, I saw the moon crescent-shaped shining on the trees like a mother hen watching over her chicks. A pond nearby glistened. The trees made a beautiful silhouette but that wasn't the only thing silhouetted.
A body silhouetted against a tree. The person stepped forward and I saw Elizabeth's scared face. Brilliant eyes and a sly smile. I shook my head and she was gone.
"Probably my mind playing tricks on me."
Or not. My wolf spoke.
Death. Fangs. Blood. My last thought as I closed my eyes and let the world of dreams engulf me.
***