"Are you sure you want to do this?" Brian asked me as he stood at my bedroom doorway, watching me pack up.
"I'm sure." I couldn't stay in this mansion much longer.
It has been two months since my mother died in this very mansion. Died saving the life of her son.
Brian sighed heavily, knowing there was no way to change my mind once it was made up. Something he has learned throughout the years he had raised me.
"You do know she would kick your ass if she was here," he said.
"If she was here, I wouldn't have to do this," I told him, throwing a random shirt into my duffle bag.
I hated when he would talk about her like she's still alive. It takes the edge off of my rage. Though I think he knows that.
"He's gone," I told him, referring to Lucian. The one who killed my mother, trying to kill me. "We all know that. No human hunter can find him." I went to my closet and removed my chest consisting of various weapons against vampires. "I'm the only one who can track down his scent. Not even Victor's people know what Lucian smells like."
Victor was the leader of the vampire clan my mother was with for a few years before our hunters found her. Nearly drained to death by one of their members turned traitor. It was two months ago that we met them. My mother was unknowingly hired by Brian to take out Reapers in our area. Soon after she left to find them, we were attacked by them. When she got back, Victor and his clan were with her. It was the first time in history that vampires and hunters fought along side each other for a common goal. Since my mother's death, Victor's clan has been a distant association of our hunting group. Victor and Brian have been passing information to each other of bogus vampire and hunter groups that needed taking care of.
"Just try not to get killed," Brian said. "I don't need her coming back just to haunt the hell out of me if anything was to happen to you." And he was gone.
I sighed and zipped up my bag, heading for the door. As I walked down the hall, to the stairs, hunters lined the banister and crowded at the base of the stairs. A farewell committee, I suppose.
Everyone was silent. All eyes were on me.
I descended the stairs, holding my head high as I walked away from everyone and everything I knew. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, Brian was at the front door.
"She was practically my baby sister," he said, looking straight into my eyes. Never wavering his focus. "Give him one hard for me."
I nodded to him. I knew that he would be right there by my side if he could. But he was getting too old to play this game. Especially against Lucian, the strongest vampire ever to come across us. And he doesn't have wings.
He stepped aside and opened the door. And the farewell committee wasn't over with yet. Standing in the vast front lawn was Victor and his clan.
A smirk tugged at the corners of my lips. I knew Victor was in love with my mother. We all knew it. Though I don't think he knew we all knew. You know?
"So I hear you're going after Lucian," he said with a straight face, trying not to show any emotion.
"You hear correctly," I told him.
He nodded. Then he turned to his little sister, Veronica. She handed him a picture and he turned back to me. "This was very special to her," he told me. "I think she would have wanted you to have it."
He handed me the picture. It was one of my mother and Lucian. He was on the rock by the lake and she was on his lap. He had his arms around her and his chin on her shoulder. Both of them had big smiles with lots of love in their eyes. The love that they had before he died and was brought back as a monster. The monster that killed her. Great motivation.
I nodded in appreciation to him as I tucked the picture in my cargo jeans pocket.
"And remember," he added, "if you ever need a safe place, I have guys all over the world. Just mention my name and you should be set."
Ever since I met him, Victor has tried to play a fatherly figure. He's helped me out and given me advice that was given to him by my mother. Though Brian had always been the only thing closest to a father I'd ever known, I still appreciated the effort. "Thanks, man."
He gave a single nod without any emotion present in his expression and I thought I saw a bit of my mother in this action. I may not have known her that long but I knew she was a large influence on everyone she was near. She spent five years with Victor and his clan. From what I hear, she made them stronger. Smarter. Whether she knew it or not, she was more of a leader than Victor. Or even Brian, for that matter.
"Good luck, Jason," Veronica said, standing there with a stone face. Everyone was reminding me of my mother. Veronica looked up to her. Though she was a little older than my mother, she still wanted to be like her.
"Get him good," Derran said, his arm around Cara.
Cara was newer to the clan. Darran saved her from some out-of-line hunters out on a drunken escapade.
"You can do it," another member said. And then they were in an uproar. Cheering and encouraging.
The hunters were out of the mansion, crowding on the porch behind me. They started cheering me on as well.
Cries of encouragement to kill someone. Now this was a family.
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