The Vampire Hunter's Daughter: Part I by Jennifer Malone Wright Page B

used to know, the one with fight!”
    In an instant she was up and snagged one of the busted chair legs off the floor on her way. With a quick spin for distraction and then a lunge, my mom did something I never would have imagined: She staked the man.
    He laughed at her.
    I was so freaked out by the whole situation I couldn’t say a word. Shock ate through my body, making my fingers and toes tingle like they were asleep. My head began to throb, and it looked like a fog was rolling into my room.
    Yes, he had laughed at her, and then he pulled the stake out. “Felicia, you should know enough to know that you have to get under our ribs. This little piece of wood could never penetrate our bones.”
    He grabbed her by the hair, and she screamed in pain. He twisted her around until her back was against his chest and the stake was poised above her heart.
    “Chloe, look at me!” she demanded. “No matter what happens, you always remember that I did everything for you . I did what I had to do to give you a good life.” She paused and twisted her neck to look up at the scary, dark-haired man with the smooth voice, and she nodded. Then, with a final look back at me, she whispered her last words, “I love you, Chloe.”
    He shoved the chair leg into her heart and snapped her neck at the same time. Instantly, her body fell lifeless in his arms. Blood seeped out of the wound and bloomed like a flower around the chair leg protruding from her heart, staining the pale blue silk almost black. In the distance, I heard myself scream. James kept his grip on my arms while my legs kicked at his. I even tried to bash the back of my head into his face, but he was too tall for it to be effective. I ended up thumping it into his hard chest.
    Eli turned to me with my mother still in his arms.
    “Shut up!” he snapped and carelessly threw my mother’s body onto the floor.
    I did stop screaming, but only because I wanted to tell that bastard off. I felt so scared and helpless, but for some reason, I knew I was going to live through this. My voice cracked from all the screaming, so I’m sure I didn’t sound serious at all, but I told him anyway, “If it is the last thing I ever do, I will kill you for what you just did. I swear to God.”
    He casually wiped my mother’s blood from his hands with one of the towels I had left on my desk from when I had showered before bed. “It’s not nice to swear, Chloe. Now let’s take you to your father.”
    I swung my leg up and kicked out at him. “I’m not going anywhere with you! And I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about. My father died before I was born.”
    Eli sighed. “Of course he did. Let’s go, James.”
    He waved his hand, and those who had stood by doing absolutely nothing while my mother was murdered in front of me made way for him to pass. James dragged me along behind him, and they followed.
    Even though I was sure I was going to live—only because Eli said Trevor wanted me—I certainly wasn’t expecting a rescue. I was trying to figure out a way to escape when we reached the landing at the bottom of the stairs. The front door burst open, and people started to file in.
    Eli’s goons rushed forward and more fighting began. Everyone was fighting everywhere and smashing up everything in our house. I could do nothing but watch and scream. I couldn’t even struggle anymore because I was exhausted from trying to get away from James. I couldn’t fight anymore, so I just hung there in James’s grip.
    The people who had burst through the door looked like average people, from what I could see, but the weapons they carried were extraordinary. I saw one of the rescuers drive what looked like a steel arrow into the belly of one of the men and upward under his ribs to meet the heart. One of the women rescuers had a whip. With one smooth flick, the tail of the whip found the neck of the woman on Eli’s side and wound around it. When rescuer yanked it back, it sliced the other