The Hunter

Chapter 3

I wish I could say the drive to the Vampire King's summer home was quiet, but it was not. Luna had not stopped talking about a crazy party she attended in Paris during the winter. She told me all the drama that happened. A fairy had snuck their way in to a vamp’s party and created a scene. It wasn’t unheard of that a vampire and fairy had relations, but it never truly develops into anything more than a fling. This particular fairy had fallen for a vamp and decided to profess his love to her in front of all the other attendees. Oof, what a mess. Glad I wasn’t there.

I’ve been to many of these vampire parties, mainly to offer Luna some protection, but she did always make me have fun and drink on the job. Thankfully, my fast metabolism never truly allowed myself to get drunk, thus able to still to my job. I had to ingest copious amount of alcohol to truly get plastered. I know, I’ve tried in my early twenties. I won’t lie, I did have fun at these parties. Luna and I have been friends for a while, and she has told me on several occasions that she always enjoyed my company because I never judged her. Why would I? When you live for a while, you tend to change and adapt to your surroundings. Being a princess doesn’t help her either, she always has to put on a façade of royalty and uphold herself in a certain way. I won’t deny, I’ve enjoyed the company. She has been the only constant thing in my life since I was seventeen.

I’ve roamed the States in my late teens and early twenties trying to gain the knowledge on the murderer who changed my life. I, once upon a time, worked with the humans and was trained by them. They were apprehensive at first, but later came to trust me. And I, them. They provided a safe haven while I went through my young adult years figuring out my place in this world. I’ve trained, and superseded, my teachers in a short amount of time. They wouldn’t deny having a werewolf on their side did help a lot. We took down many rouges in my time with the humans. But I outgrew them. While they still provide me with the things I need, they too receive the occasional help from me. It was a thing they unheard of, humans and a werewolf working together. They knew my story and they knew my intentions.

“You’re not listening, huh?” Luna’s voice broke me out of my train of thoughts. I chuckled a little.

“I heard you, but sometimes you can be a little dramatic, so I space out.” I said jokingly. She scoffed at me. I took a quick glance over at her, noticing she was feigning a broken heart

“Yeah, well, you’re boring.” She said turning her nose up. Although she is a few decades older than me, she does have a child-like attitude at times. Luna was born in the forties, when Polio was a big thing. She was human at the time and unfortunately contracted the disease. Daniel found her and had turned to save her. She said that Daniel always told her that she reminded him of his daughter, whom he lost in the Civil War. That’s how she came to call him “Dad" now. King Daniel is truly a kind-hearted person, when he wants to show it.

“So, what if I am? Two of us can’t be dramatic all the time.” I said laughing a bit. I scanned the area around me, noticing the early morning light I the horizon. “We have a problem.”

“What?” she said, sitting taller in her seat.

“Not that kind of problem,” I said quickly. She wasn’t one for conflict, not that she couldn’t hold herself on her own, she just hated fighting. “Day is breaking and we won’t make it in time to Daniel’s.”

“Well, that is a problem.” She said pointedly. I grabbed my phone and scanned the area for any abandoned homes. Luckily, I found one. Twenty minutes away. That’s gonna be a tight squeeze, but not one I haven’t done before. I pushed my foot on the gas pedal to make my car go faster. Luna was calm even though any sunlight would burn her skin.

“Inform your dad, I don’t want him sending people to find us.” I said, docking my phone back. She huffed, but did what she was told. A little less than twenty minutes later we reached a house that was slightly off the highway. I looked out my windshield for any sort of movement. Luna had long placed a blanket on herself and laid the seat back, in hopes of avoiding sunlight. I put my car in park and told her to wait for me. I got out the car, my CZ 75 P-01 in hand and scanning the area. I opened the door and quickly checked the house of any inhabitants. When I felt comfortable enough, I lowered my gun and walked over to the passenger side. I opened the door a bit.

“Safe?” Luna asked. I nodded. In a flash, my car door swung wide open and her blurred figure passed by me and into the house. I went to the back of my car and got my duffle bag. I walked towards the house and looked around the area once more. I closed the door behind me. Luna was still under the blanket. I got some sheets and covered all the windows in the living room, taping them down for good measure. Once satisfied, I signed and sat on the old wooden floor.

“Windows are sealed, you’re fine.” I verbalized to Luna. She peaked her head out, and when she noticed I was right, she completely uncovered herself. She let out a large breath and started taking her shoes off.

“This place is disgusting.” She pointed out. I shrugged, following her actions. I might as well sleep while I have the chance. It has been more than 24 hours since I was last able to sleep. I took my jacket off, removing my small arsenal of knives from my body. I took my belt off, which held my holster for my gun. I folded my jacket up and laid my head on it. My gun was beside my head, only a few inches away for easy access, in case anything was to happen. I felt my very sore and tired muscle relax.

“Wake me up when the sun goes down.” I mumbled. I let the exhaustion take me into a dreamless night.

***

I was woken up to a slight shove on my arm. I reacted quickly, gun out and finger on the trigger. Luna's annoyed face was mere centimeters away from my barrel. She rolled her eyes at me as she pushed the gun away from her face. I dropped my arm, relaxing my posture a bit.

“Wake up, sleepy head, sun is setting.” She stated while lacing up her shoes. I followed suit, putting everything together. I got up and removed the sheets and folded them up and replaced them back into my duffle bag. I took a blood bag out and whistled to Luna. She turned to look at me and groaned.

“I know, it’s not fresh, but your dad would kill me if I let his precious daughter go hungry for the night.” I said tossing her the bag. She caught it and sniffed it before she punctured the bag with her canines. She emptied the bag, scrunched up her nose and handed the empty bag back to me. She gave me a silent thank you. She knew I was right. Daniel had tasked me to always take care of her. No other vampire would come and talk to me about the dealings with the King. They didn’t trust me and didn’t like me. That’s why Luna was my “handler” in these types of situations. I was always paid for her protection. Before I became the King's special assassin, I worked full time to protect Luna. That’s how we got close. She hated a protection detail, but only allowed me to watch out for her when she realized I was pretty ok. Like I’ve stated before, she was good company once you got passed the royalty façade. I opened the door and noticed the sun had just barely set, making the sky have a deep orange hue that went into the dark night. Luna followed me out to my car talking about how happy she was to get home to her goose feather bed. I only gave her a small laugh. I was used to sleeping on hard floors and cold places, so a plush bed only felt claustrophobic to me. Once I was settled into the car, our journey to the house continued with Luna having the radio to control. After a good night sleep, I didn’t mind her playing the music she wanted. In less than an hour and a half we finally reached the outskirts of the territory the house was built in. I gripped the steering wheel.