The Vampire Christopher (9 page)

He stopped. “C’mon, Snow. This is serious. You’ve got to be prepared.
T
he Hunter
is
working to make sure you become the next queen
.
And, others,” he waved his unarmed hand upward, “are planning your demise.”

At his words, the
poisonous arrow Christopher
pulled from my leg crossed my thoughts.

Gabe’s right, my inner voice scolded. 

“Ugh. Fine,” I snapped. “Stop chitchatting, and show me what to do!”

Chapter 10

A
fter an
hour and a half of training, I
finally started to get the hang of how to stand
with my butt and stomach tucked in
.
I f
igured out h
ow to hold the blade
correctly—not to
o
tight
, not to
o
soft
, and
how to move
with more agility
. I
didn’t stumble
, or cut myself
once. Even Gabe had been impressed.

By the time we finished
,
Gabe
lightened up
, and though
the training
was
intense, I felt like, on a personal level, he and I
were
better. Maybe back to being friends.

“
Good job, Snowflake,” he said
placing the bl
ades on the wall. “You surprise
me.”

“Gee, thanks,” I
replied
, my voice
thick
with sarcasm, but
the compliment made me
lightheaded
.

He tossed a white hand towel at me.
I caught it, and patted my forehead
. The front of Gabe’s grey shirt clun
g to his flat stomach. His arms
and neck
glistened with sweat. I’d worked
just as hard as he had, but I
hardly pers
pired
.

You’re a revenant now. Get over yourself, my inner voice
muttered
.

The
thought made me smile. Yes
.
I
. A
m!

Gabe lifted a brow, questioning my sudden, silly grin. He draped the towel around his neck and hung on. Even sweaty he was hot. “I’ve got to hit the books, so I’ll see you tomorrow.”

My smile defl
ated. “Oh, okay. Later
.”

As he walked by he patted my arm.

Great, back
to awkward, I thought, containing my sigh. I followed him out, and Gabe locked the door.

“
I’ll be by to take you to school in the morning,”
he said, sounding
odd
. I wan
ted to shake him, forcefully require him to
get over his weirdness, and bring back
my
best friend,
Gabe. Instead I waved to his retreating back.

After he left
, I browsed around the
Museum of the Supernatural
,
casually checking out each creature, but I’d already decided which one I wanted to research first.

The Hunter.

I hadn’t forgotten the look on
Christopher’s
face
when
he saw
the carved bear
. I
t’d been
filled with
a mixture of excitement, fear, and joy. That had to mean
something didn’t it?
I wanted to see if the answers to my questions
, includin
g
my finding a token
belonging
to Christopher before he’d turned,
could
mean
.

I opened the drawer next to the
statue of a vampire Hunter,
pulled out the book
,
and
placed
i
t on the strange podium in the center of the room.

“Chapter one,” I said, and the pages flipped until they
reached
the correct page. On the facing page was a fully colored picture of a
young
man. He looked to be of Asian descent
, with deep olive skin, black eyes, and long, black hair. He posed
regally in a navy blue robe
, decorated with i
ntricate designs
. He seemed familiar.
Something about the eyes.
Under the picture was a caption: Kenmei
Yamata
.

“
Kenmei,” I
murmured
, and started to read
.

B
efore th
e time of man, v
am
pires ruled the earth. They
lived in harmony with
all creatures, both great and small.
The trolls, and the goblins.
The pixies, and the pixilettes.
The dragons of the air
,
and
of the
sea.
The griffin and the mermaid.
The elf, and the dwarf.

After a thousand years, one vampire rose up from the rest, her magic more powerful than all others. She was beautiful, the most beautiful in the land. Creatures fell at her feet to worship her.

S
he was also greedy,
hungry for power,
her heart filled with enmity. She subjected other
s with her
authority
, and became the Vampire Queen.

But there were those who resisted, and war broke out. Both sides suffered
abundant
losses. In the end, the Vampire Queen, and her followers were forced into hiding.

Then came the time of man.

Dis
covering their usefulness, the q
ueen created the first Hunter.

“Kenmei
was the first Hunter.
” I
whispered, remembering the conversation between Professor Pops, Kenmei, and I
.

“That’s right,” Professor Pops said and I jumped. I hadn’t heard him come in.

Recovering, I
closed
the book
. “So vampires
lived
before hu
mans?” I asked, swallowing. “They
didn’t start out human?”

“If b
y human, you mean
like we are now, then no.” He shook his head, moving closer to the book. “Append
ix A,” he said. The book quietly
flipped to
ward
the back, its pages stirring the air with the smell of old paper. When it
stopped, I
unconsciously withered away from
the pictures
on the page, finding it difficult
t
o
grasp what I saw
.

“What are those things?”
I finally asked.
The creatures
had
dark and
hairy
bodies
. The
ir
arms and legs were the same length,
similar in
proportion to an ape. Large,
pointy claws extended from their appendages
, and
spreading
from the
ir backs,
was
a set of glittering, web-like wings. That wasn’t even the oddest
part. Their heads were human
, covered in smooth skin the color of a
baby
fawn.

Cherubic, my inner voice said.

Yes. That was the word
, cherubic
.
The faces of angels.
Each one seemed more
attractive, more exquisite
than the one before. The eye colors ranged from blue, to violet,
to yellow, to orange. The
hair
growing
from their heads matched their eye color,
as did their lips.

“Those, Snow, are what vampires looked like in the beginning.”

“They’re
creepy, yet somehow
…
regal. It’s weird.”

Professor Pops chuckled, and the warmth of his laugh calmed me. “I understand.” He placed
an
hand
on my shoulder. “That’s enough for today. Why don’t you head on
home?
Gabe s
aid you did well during
training.
”

“
He did?” Maybe he was
more
comfortable with me than I thought.

“Yes, he did. Now get some rest, and I’ll see
you after school
.”

“Okay. Plus,
I’ve got a lot of hom
ework to do.” Christopher
flashed
across my mind, and my legs
turned to mush. I wanted
him. Jogging toward the door, I stopped before heading up the stairs, and said, “See
ya
, Professor Pops.” 

“One mom
ent
.”

“Yes,” I said turning.

His
countenance changed to
sadness or maybe it was concern.
“A
s your Protector I’m here for you.
No matter what.
You
understand
that
,
right?
”

Did he somehow know what
I was doing
with my Hunter? I hoped not. How humiliating. I didn’t want to discuss that—my fee
lings
—with
him, or anyone
else
.

Thankful for the low lighting in the room, I gulped. “
Yes, thank you
. I
t’s good to hear
the words. I’ll remember.”

His tense face
calmed
. “Good.”
He rubbed his fingers against his jawline, making a scratching sound. “And…
” he paused, and I stopped breathing
. Did he expect
us
to talk now? I couldn’t
.
No way
.

But I
didn’t need
to worry. His
uneasiness
was
re
placed with
joy.
“Have you had a chance to look through the dresses? Did you
notice
the red one near the back? That’s the one I’d pick for you.”

Confused, I racked by brain to figure out what he meant.
Then I remembered the book of dresses from Vera Wang.
Ohhhhhh
.
I hadn’t
spotted
a red dress, but then I hadn’t
gone
through the entire book
yet. I wanted to tell him
the red dress
would be
perfect, just to get the whole ordeal over with. I did not understand fashio
n. But, if Cindy found out
I’d had an exclusive book full of
couture
dresses and hadn’t let her look through it, well
,
my life would be over.

“Near the back?” I repeated, placing a foot on the bottom step.

“That’s right.”

“I’ll be sure to check it out, and let you know in the next couple of days. Will that be okay?”

“Of course.” Professor Pops waved me away, and I took the remaining stairs two at a time.

On my way out
of the house
, I said good-bye to five of the seven brothers
. Dorian
and Gabe weren’t around
, which reminded me that I hadn’t heard from Cindy since
chemistry
. I really hoped she was okay.

In
the brisk night air, I glanced at the stars, each one so bright,
like
the moon. Inhaling, I tried to calm myself. The thought of being alone with Christopher did
things to me—to my heart, l
ow in my belly. Without thought, I started to cross
our
yards
, hurrying
t
hrough
the
thick
trees and brush.
When I reached the stairs leading up to my back porch,
I noticed several lights
in the house turned
on—upstairs too. He’d snooped.

What are you up to, I thought, my heart skipping several beats.