CHAPTER 3

 

 

 

When I reached my locker I yanked it open, took the books out of my bag, and started shoving them in. I wouldn’t need them today because I didn’t plan on going to class. There was no way I could endure seven hours of school while I was so upset. I was the queen of skipping school, like I said invisibility was one of the most useful powers you could have.

 

I slammed my locker shut and when I turned to leave I saw Ethan standing behind me. I stepped around him and headed for the door.

 

“Evy wait,” he called.

 

I kept walking, but then stopped when I realized that he was following me. Chances were he wouldn’t stop until he caught me.

 

 

“What do you want?” I asked rudely.

 

“Why are you mad at me?” he asked in a hurt voice.

 

I couldn’t believe he didn’t know. Men really were oblivious. “You told my mom about last night,” I told him still rude.

 

“I was worried about you. Besides you were almost killed, I thought she should know,” he said.

 

“Do you know what she did?” I asked. “She won’t let me hunt by myself anymore; she thinks it’s too dangerous for me. She thinks I can’t take care of myself. So now, thanks to you, if I want to go hunting I have to have a chaperone like a little kid,” I ranted.

 

“Well maybe if you stay out of trouble she’ll change her mind soon,” he said.

 

I glared at him. I turned to leave, but he caught my arm.

 

“Okay, okay I’m sorry. I didn’t want you to get in trouble. I won’t do it again alright?” He was practically begging for forgiveness.

 

I sighed, I was about to give in. I couldn’t help it; the guy was my best friend. I was quiet for a minute and then said, “Fine okay, I’m not mad anymore.”

 

He grinned and his blue eyes lit up. “If you want you can go hunting with me tonight,” he offered.

 

I hesitated, he looked way too hopeful. I wondered if this was his idea of some kind of date. To normal people hunting vampires may not seem very romantic, and it really isn’t, however, hunters relish in their work. It was a rush of adrenaline and the feeling of doing something good that made it so enjoyable, we practically lived for it, so while Ethan’s offer may not be your typical movies and dinner type of date, it would still mean something to him.

 

“Maybe tomorrow,” I said attempting to bid for time, “Cheryl and Nicole both already said they’d take me and after last night I don’t really feel like hunting anyways.”

The disappointment on his face almost made me feel bad enough to reconsider. I then decided better against it and turned still fully intending to leave the campus. He caught my arm again.

 

“Where are you going?” he asked, his eyes strayed from my empty backpack to the front door where I was heading. “Are you cutting class again?”

 

“What are you going to tell on me?” I snapped.

 

He flinched, “no but you already weren’t here twice last week.”

 

I sighed, I didn’t skip school often, last week I had missed Thursday and Friday to go hunting, but usually I had perfect attendance. You would think that protecting humanity from evil vampires would be a good enough reason for my mom to let me slide when it came to school, but no, I had to have top grades, anything lower than a B and I was screwed.

 

“Okay fine, I’ll stay,” I agreed.

 

A look of relief crossed Ethan’s face and I turned back to my locker to get my books. Class would be starting in about five minutes. Ethan walked with me and then he walked me to my first hour class.

 

I took my usual seat at the back, and contemplated the idea of sleeping through this class. I wasn’t tired, but history was the most boring class on the face of the planet.

 

“Hi,” Anna, a friend, of mine said when she walked in the room.

 

“Hey,” I answered. We talked until the teacher started the class.

 

My friends at school were strictly school friends. I didn’t go to the movies with them, I didn’t call them on the weekends, and the only time I made much effort to talk to them outside of class was occasionally during lunch, usually when Ethan wasn’t there. This was because it was hard to pretend to care about things like American Idol when you had to worry about not getting killed by vampires daily.

 

The first three classes of the day went by as normal as anyone could expect. Teachers lectured, kids slept, and the natural order of school life stayed in harmony. At least, it did until lunch came.

 

I was heading to meet Ethan at our usual table when I noticed him. Perfect features, square jaw, short, untidy copper brown hair, and the nicest biggest ocean blue eyes I have ever seen in my life. Vampire.

 

My senses were whirring, I could feel it; instinct was telling me to lunge at him while common sense was telling me to ignore him. My heart started beating, something felt wrong; he was way too powerful.

 

Another one of the reasons hunters are so well equipped to fight vampires is that we have a sixth sense that allows us to sense vampires. Not only that but we can also sense exactly how powerful a particular vampire is, and this one that I was concentrating on was a lot more powerful than any other vamp that I had ever come across.

 

The vamp sensed me as well because his whole body tensed and he looked up from the food he was playing with. His eyes did a quick once over and then he relaxed, most likely deciding that I wasn’t threatening enough for him, and as if that wasn’t insulting enough, he also looked me dead in the eye and smirked. He didn’t hypnotize me; that took way too much concentration, his lips just turned up as if he was fighting back a grin and he returned his attention to his food.

 

“Evelyn,” Ethan was standing behind me. He instantly noticed the vampire and frowned. “Come on,” he said.

 

I had no desire to stay behind. I followed Ethan outside, once there we both looked at each other. I decided to speak first, “when have you ever heard of a vampire that goes to school?”

 

“Never,” he answered frowning. “I don’t get it, there’s no reason for him to come here.”

 

“Actually,” I contradicted him, “there’s a perfect reason. Imagine how easy it would be for a good-looking vampire to find teenage girls to feed on in a high school.”

 

“You think he’s good looking?” Ethan’s voice was hard.

 

I rolled my eyes. “You know what I mean.”

 

I actually did think he was good-looking. All vampires were good looking, I could never understand why hunters downplayed their looks, it was obvious that they were an attractive race. I agreed that they were disgusting and evil parasitical creatures, but I refused to lie to myself and say that they weren’t attractive.

 

It wasn’t Ethan’s question that bothered me, it was the way he had asked it. He had that jealous boyfriend sort of tone. I sighed internally as I realized I was really going to have to talk to him, because this crush thing was only bringing us further and further apart.

 

I decided to call my mom. Now imagine if you called your mother and told her that the new student at your school was a vampire and she was one hundred percent sure you were telling the truth, she would make sure that you got out of there right? That’s what most moms would do, but my mom? She told me to keep an eye on him and report details of his actions to her when I got home; she also told me that I should start bringing a knife to school “to protect myself” as she put it. Did she think to consider that I would get expelled if I got caught stalking a student or carrying a knife? No, of course not, hunters did not make the best parents, they taught their kids useful lessons for being hunters, everything else was just considered unnecessary, however since those lessons included not getting caught by humans I guess it isn’t really that destructive to the kids. I knew exactly how to avoid getting caught keeping tabs on the vamp, and how to not be seen with a knife, yet I have no clue how to get a boyfriend, sad isn’t it?

 

Ethan and I hung out for the rest of lunch and then we headed to fourth period. It was the one class we had together. We both stopped dead when we entered the classroom, sitting in the seat right next to mine was none other than our new vampire friend. The bell rang.

 

“Please take your seats,” Mrs. Firn said to us.