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

Apparently, in these histories
of vampires, dhampirs were considered real, whereas a race of
vampire hunters was considered mythological. To me, that sounded
weird.
    I spent the entire day reading through the
books and taking notes. My hand began to hurt from all the writing
I did. It was almost dinnertime when I realized how long I had been
gone. So I packed my stuff, returned the books to their places and
headed out.
    “See you later, Linda, and thanks for your
help.”
    “Anytime, Chloe.” She waved as I passed the
desk.
    I couldn’t wait for Drew to get home so I
could tell him all of this. I had to tell Luke, too. I’d rather
tell them both at the same time than have to repeat all the
information.
    The sidewalks were so icy that I couldn’t
walk on them. I stepped down onto the road and walked in the
accumulated snow. It was slushy and brown from the passing cars. I
was concentrating so hard on my footing, that I didn’t hear the
footsteps behind me.
    “Chloe, wait up!”
    My head snapped up, and I spun around. Well I tried to spin around, but, my foot stuck in the snow and the
rest of my body tried to turn. Just as I saw Gavin Turner rushing
toward me, I fell butt first into the slushy, dirty snow.
    His hand was stretched out in front of me.
“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean for you to fall.”
    I grasped his hand, and he yanked me up out
of the snow with ease. I could not believe this was happening.
Gavin was one of the more popular guys at school, and I didn’t see
him that often because he was a senior. I did see him enough to
gawk at him and his dark-haired, green-eyed hotness from afar.
Falling in front of him was complete agony.
    I brushed at my soaked jeans. “Oh, no.”
    “Are you okay?” he asked me, taking my bag
from me so I could use both hands to uselessly brush at my
clothes.
    “Yeah, I’m all right. I guess I was just off
in space, and you scared me a little. I didn’t hear you coming up
behind me.”
    He smiled. “Yeah, I do have a tendency to
walk lightly. It’s a hunter trait.”
    “Well, I don’t have it.” I told him. There
was an awkward silence. We both stood there, facing each other
without saying anything. Finally I asked, “Were you calling me for
a reason?”
    “Oh, yeah,” He handed me back my bag. “I was
just wondering if you wanted to… uh, if you would like to come to
the New Year’s Bash with me?”
    Stupid took over my personality altogether.
“Like a date?”
    “Yeah, like a date.” He grinned.
    The New Year’s Bash was a big deal in town.
Drew had told me everyone in town always attended, and the dress
was formal. And a formal occasion meant having to find a formal
dress. “I’d love to go with you!” exploded past my lips. I wanted
to sink into the ground. Why couldn’t I have said something cool
like, ‘Sure’ with a dainty hair flip, and then called out ‘Pick me
up at seven.’ No, I just wasn’t that good. I was a clumsy kid whose
crush had just asked her out.
    “Okay, how 'bout I pick you up at seven,
then?”
    I giggled. How ironic. “Seven sounds great.
If you don’t mind, I really need to get home and change before I
get sick from being in these wet clothes.”
    “Oh, I’m really sorry about that.”
    I had already started to walk away. I just
wanted to get away from him before I said anything else I’d
regret.
    “I’ll see you soon.” I called out and started
to fast-walk through the slush.

    “Hey, Luke,” I called when I opened the
door.
    I heard his raspy voice holler from the
kitchen, “In here.”
    I pulled off my boots and peeled off my socks
and then went into the kitchen where I found him preparing steaks,
seasoned rice and a big green salad. Everyone in the community was
a health food addict, but I was so glad they still ate meat.
I didn’t know what I would have done if I’d had to go
vegetarian.
    “Let me go change my clothes real quick, and
I’ll come and help you with dinner.”
    Wondering why I would want to