Chapter 8

“Shysie? I knew the letter was not from Paris. What do you want?” Ann asked, keeping her distance.
“Well, let's see. I want you dead, but you know that is not possible,” Shysie said with an evil smile.
“Is it true? What you said in the letter? That you got rid of Paris’ wife on their wedding night?” Ann asked, feeling the fear build up in her.
“Yes, let it be a warning. Stay away from him, he is mine,” Shysie said with a tone filled with anger and jealously.
“Shouldn't you be leaving?” Ann asked mockingly.
“I will leave once I am done with you,” Shysie said, stepping towards Ann.
Ann gave a couple of steps back. “Won’t your skin boil if you do harm to me?”
“Ha, I got away with it before. Surely I can get away with it again,” Shysie laughed.
“Why did you get away with it before?” Ann asked, worried.
“Ha, as if I will tell you,” Shysie laughed again.
“I am leaving, leave me alone,” Ann said, regretting coming to the park. She was about to walk away but Shysie stopped her.
“Stand still and keep quiet,” Shysie compelled Ann. “I think I will take one last drink from you, one for the road,” Shysie said, taking Ann's hair out of the way. Ann started to hymn that Mr. Ondrink taught her in her head and wondered if it will work.
Paris noticed that Shysie was not around. “Hey Wynn, where is your sister?”
“I'm not her keeper,” Wynn said, channel surfing.
“It is not safe for her to be out right now. I heard wolves earlier, and it can only be Mr. Ondrink and his pack. Come help me find her,” Paris asked Wynn, making his way to the door.
“Fine.” Wynn knew his werewolf's sense of smell was needed to track her down.
As they got out of the door, Wynn sniffed the air, “this way”
They move with vampire speed towards Ann's house. “What is she doing here?” Paris asked, concerned. Wynn sniffed again, “she is no longer here, she was here earlier today, come, this way.”
Paris and Wynn arrived at the park just in time to see Ann shoving Shysie. Shysie was caught off guard, lost her footing, and slipped. “Bitch! I said stand still!” Shysie tried to compel Ann again, wondering why it didn’t work just now.
Ann noticed Paris and Wynn and started to run in the direction of her house while she hymned.
“What the hell?! Why can I not compel her?!” Shysie yelled, getting up. Shysie used vampire speed to catch up with Ann. As she was about to grab Ann, Paris caught up with them and slammed Shysie to the ground. Shysie was determined to get to Ann and tried to fight Paris off.
“Get Ann home!” Paris yelled at Wynn.
Before Ann knew what was happening, Wynn picked her up and, in a blink of an eye, her feet landed on her porch.
“I am sorry about everything. I should have let Shysie un-compel you the moment I saw it,..” Wynn was still busy trying to apologize when Ann's front door opened.
“It is just past midnight. What are you doing outside?” Ann's father asked.
Wynn could smell the Whisky, “Wynn Mateo,” he reached out to greet Ann's father, Eljo Willow, and thought, ‘he looks familiar.’
Eljo took Wynn’s hand with a firm grip. “Willow, vampire hunter.” Eljo, being born with a special ability to seek out the dead, immediately felt that Wynn was half dead.
Wynn tried to get his hand out of Eljo’s grip, but once a hunter’s sense kicks in, they were overcome with power greater than that of a vampire. In the hunting state, no spell or compulsion will work on them.
“Dad?” Ann tucked at the father’s arm.
“Ann, go inside the house,” Eljo ordered, with a powerful voice.
“Dad, please, he is leaving,” Ann tried again, confused about what was happening.
Eljo heard the fear in his daughter's voice. In the distance, the wolves were howling.
Eljo let go of Wynn’s hand, and in an instant, Wynn was gone.
Ann and her father went inside their house. “go to your room! We will talk about this in the morning,” Eljo ordered.
Wynn got to the park, Paris, and Shysie were still at it.
“Time to leave! Ann's father is a vampire hunter,” Wynn said before he left, not waiting for Paris and Shysie.
Paris and Shysie immediately stop fighting and with vampire speed followed Wynn back to their compound.
Ann, still confused about what just happened, wondered what her father meant by ‘vampire hunter' and how did he know Wynn was one? She obeyed her father and made her way to her room. Her father went to his room and moments later, she heard heavy boots walking past her room.
Eljo put proper snow hiking boots on and took his Bow and Arrows. Outside his house, he could see the strip of trail Wynn left, and he followed it. At the park, he saw in the snow what seemed like a struggle and then again the strip of trail that only a fast-moving being will leave.
He followed the trail, and soon he reached the outskirts of the town. He saw the compound in the distance. He measured the distance with his fingers. Eljo knew his arrow will reach the compound. He took out an arrow. This arrow did not have a sharp point, it had a cloth wrapped around the front. Eljo opened up a small container filled with gasoline and dipped his arrow cloth tip into it. He aimed and followed the arrow. Eljo saw that his aim was good and before the arrow goes over the wall of the compound, he dips his next arrow and shot again. Eljo shot seven more before a fire started in the compound. Eljo heard screams and saw that people were running out of the compound.
Vampires won’t go near a hunter as they know that besides drinking to death or being burnt to death by fire or daylight, a hunter can kill them as well. A hunter, when their sense was activated, can penetrate a vampire's skin. All the hunters have to do was punch a hole in the place where the vampire's heart used to be and leave a single strand of their own hair; or any part of their body, but a strand of hair was the obvious choice. A single strand of hunter's hair in the place where a vampire’s heart used to be before it turned to ash, blows up vampire-like fireworks unless they were born Vampires like some Prehistoric Vampires. With Prehistoric Vampires, they had to cut out their hearts before they were completely unfrozen and then only to place the strand of hair.
Dario picked up Hanna. “Everyone grabs a human. We meet at Wainwright.”
All the Vampires sped of with a human in their arms. Paris picked up a human but delaid for a moment, looking in the direction of the hunter. Paris was shocked to learn that Ann's father was a hunter. ‘Good thing her mother is not a hunter as that would have made Ann a hunter,’ he thought.
“What are you waiting for?” The human in his arms asked worriedly. Without another word, Paris sped off toward Wainwright.
Eljo satisfied, starts to walk back towards his house, he notices on every light pole what seems like a dreamcatcher. He inspects one and notices two Snow owl feathers on the dreamcatcher. He recognizes it as Snow owl feathers because last year he helped Ann with an assignment about Snow owls. Eljo brushes his fingers over one of the feathers.
When Eljo got near his house he noticed a couple of wolves running away from his house. He followed them with his eyes and noticed that there are wolves running away from all the houses. ‘I wonder what the Lycans are up to? Wonder if they knew about the Vampires in town,’ he thought to himself as he went into his house.
Eljo and his excavating team were all Vampire hunters. They were excavating the mountains to find prehistoric vampires that got frozen solid in the first ice age. Because of global warming, the ice that trapped these vampires are melting, defrosting them, and setting them free.
The next morning Eljo approached his daughter’s room, he stoped in front of her door and took a deep breath, “knock, knock,” he said as he knocked on her door.
“Come in,” Ann said, sitting up.
“I would like to explain last night, I had too much to drink, I was just kidding with your friend,” Eljo started with a lie, trying to rectify the situation.
“Dad, I know you were not kidding. The vampires arrived here a couple of months ago, Wynn is a Vampire-werewolf hybrid, they have a compound on the outskirts of the town,” Ann said.
“Had,” her father corrected her.
“Had?” Ann asked confused.
“Yes, I burnt it to the ground last night,” Eljo informed her, scratching his beard.
“What about the vampires and people?” Ann asked shocked.
“They ran away. My excavating job in the mountains is not for prehistoric animals but for prehistoric Vampires. These prehistoric Vampires not having made the promises that today’s Vampires have made are savages and need to be killed before they are free.” Eljo explained, looking at his daughter's face.
“So how do you kill a vampire?” Ann asked wondering, doing her best to hide the fact that she was worried.
“Only a pure-blood hunter can kill a Vampire as only a pure-blood hunter can break their marble skin. We punch a hole into where they heart is and rip it out then we leave a single strand of our hair. Blows them up like fireworks. It’s a pretty sight.” Eljo told his daughter.
“So how do a person that is not a hunter kill a Vampire?” Ann wondered.
“It is not easy, because they move so fast and are so strong a normal human cannot trap them to burn them or to leave them in the sun.”
“Oh. A Shaman could put a trap spell on them? Right?” Ann asked, having an idea pop up in her head.
“If a Shaman can get them to trust them to keep them in one place long enough,” Eljo said, wondering why his daughter will ask such a question.
“Breakfast is ready” Ann's mom called from downstairs.
“Does mom know?” Ann asksed, getting off her bed.
“She does, I don’t keep secrets from her, but she does not believe me, she thinks I am crazy,” Eljo said, walking towards the bedroom door.
“Do you age?” Ann asked, looking at her father that looked like he aged.
“Yes. Unlike Werewolve Lycans and Vampires, Hunters aged,” Eljo explained, stopping at her bedroom door.
“Am I a hunter?” Ann asked concerned.
“Believe me, darling, you would have known. But no, you are not. Hunters are only born when both parents are hunters,” Eljo said and left her room knowing the questions wont stop coming.
Ann went to her closet and grabbed some clothing to wear. Today was Saturday, so no school. Ann planed to make her way to the library to see if there are any books on Vampires, Werewolves, Hybrids, Shamans, and Hunters as she can only find myths on the net that does not match the info she has gathered thus far.
After breakfast, Ann took a walk to the library. On her way to the library, she noticed the dreamcatchers with snow owl feathers. ‘Mr. Ondrink and his pack must have completed the ritual to keep vampires out of town,’ Ann thought to herself, inspecting one of the dreamcatchers.
Mr. Ondrink drove past Ann, and she noticed he was driving towards Jessica’s house. ‘Probably going to inform her today who she really is,’ Ann wondered.
***
Mr. Ondrink stopred in front of Jessica's house. As he made his way to her front door, the door opened. Jessica's mom came out with a warm smile on her face. “Good morning. She will be ready in five minutes.”
Jessica’s mom invited him in, “coffee?” she asked, noticing the tired look on Mr. Ondrink’s face.
“Yes please. I did not sleep well last night,” he mumbled tired.
“That old compound on the outside of the town burnt down last night. It had the mountain wolves going crazy all night. I don’t think anyone slept well last night,” Jessica's mom said, making coffee.
“Morning,” Jessica's father greeted Mr. Ondrink as he stepped into the kitchen.
“Good morning Mr. Steel,” Mr. Ondrink shook Jessica's father's hand.
“Thank you for giving Jessica this opportunity to spent the weekend at your ancestral village, it is such a privilege,” Jessica's father said, feeling very proud of his daughter for doing so well in history.
“Well, she did earn it,” Mr. Ondrink said as Jessica's mom passed him a cup of coffee.
As Mr. Ondrink took a sip of his coffee Jessica came into the kitchen, “morning.”
Jessica’s mom passed her a cup of coffee, “morning dear.”
Jessica walked over to her dad and kissed him on the cheek.
“Morning Mr. Ondrink,” she greeted politely.
“Good morning Jessica. Are you looking forward to spending the two days at an Indian village that follows traditions of their ancestors?” Mr. Ondrink asked, knowing that, that is not what they will be doing this weekend.
“Yes, sir.”
Mr. Ondrink put down his empty cup, “Ok, let’s go.”
Jessica greeted her parents and followed Mr. Ondrink to his car.