The Vampire Hunter's Daughter The Complete Collection by Jennifer Malone Wright

him, in
the mall, in front of all those people.”
    I clenched my fists, getting angrier by the
second. I had let him get away. “I don’t care. He needs to
die.”
    “There was nothing you could do, Chloe. He
was messing with you.”
    I wanted to scream, I was so frustrated and
angry. “Where were you ?” I demanded of him.
    “I was in the knife shop.”
    “Figures,” I mumbled under my breath.
    “What?”
    “Don’t worry about it,” I snapped.
    Despite the attack a couple nights before, I
felt safer once we had driven through the gates and they were
securely locked on the other side of us. We pulled into the
driveway and I jumped out of the truck, slamming the rusty old door
behind me. I had no idea why I was treating Drew so badly, but I
had to take it out on someone. I guess it was how he had felt
earlier when he had yelled at me.
    “’Night,” I called out rudely. I let myself
inside the house. I didn’t even look back to make sure he came
inside. I went straight up to my room.
    Once I had stripped off all my clothes and
put on my comfy pajamas, I crawled under the covers and hugged my
extra pillow to my chest. I wasn’t tired at all. I tossed and
turned, I tried counting backwards, I tried turning on my iPod, but
nothing was going to bring the sleep I needed so much.
    My mind kept going back to those piercing
eyes, those dangerous eyes…
    While his dark eyes haunted me, a realization
hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. It was a realization so
simple I should have thought of it before. He wanted me.
    People were dying because of me.
    So, maybe… maybe I should simply go to him
willingly. I could protect my other family, by going to the one I
hated and making him believe I wanted to be with him.
    And then I could kill him.
    Well, I could try…
     
     
    THE VAMPIRE HUNTER'S DAUGHTER

PART IV
     
    DIVIDED
     
    The cast on my right arm was more than
annoying. It was bulky and sweaty and stinky and itchy underneath.
I could not wait to get it removed.
    I stared at myself in the mirror and wondered
why the heck I had agreed to go to the New Year’s bash. My
grandfather Luke was still in the hospital. It felt wrong to go to
the event without him. Also, Drew was not happy about it at
all.
    It wasn’t all bad, though. Going with
Gavin—one of the hottest guys at school— to the dance wasn’t
exactly a terrible thing. It just felt like the timing was wrong.
Besides, I had other plans to get on with. Aside from all that, it
really wasn’t so bad.
    I thought about these things while dressing
and doing my hair.
    And my dress!
    It was certainly nice to wear something
pretty instead of jeans or workout clothes. The silky royal blue
fabric hung loosely against my skin and went perfectly with my dark
hair. My cast stood out stark white in contrast with the blue.
    Groaning, I gave my hair one last bobby pin,
placing it in with my good hand with the other hundred bobby pins
that held up the top half of my hair. I had it piled in a bun type
thing with loops and curls, which hadn't been easy to do with the
freakin' cast on my arm. The bottom half of my hair lay in ringlets
against my back. Finally, after putting on a pair of silver hoop
earrings, I turned away from the mirror and grabbed my coat.
    I had a wrap, but that certainly wasn’t going
to keep me warm. I planned on wearing my coat, no matter how out of
fashion it might be.
    Knowing Gavin would arrive soon, I tried to
hurry.
    Drew was down there, and I didn’t want Gavin
to have to deal with him. Drew had been super cranky the last few
days. I figured it was because of the attack, losing his uncle and
Luke being in the hospital. That was certainly enough to make
anyone cranky.
    When I finally managed to make it down the
stairs in the dangerous too-high heels I had bought to go with my
dress, I found Drew in the kitchen, tying his bowtie and eating an
apple. Boy, he looked good in his tux. Weird how some guys looked
uncomfortable dressed up and others