The Vampire Hunter

Chapter 1:

"You're going to go to school. No buts, you will complete your final year," his deep voice commanded.. The words hit me like a tonne of bricks. I was going to school. I could no longer hunt. For a whole year!

I stared at my father's ageing face in disbelief. His brown eyes met my blue ones. His grey hair was tied up and his perfectly clipped eyebrows shot up, daring me to say no. I took a seat behind his mahogany desk because I felt like the world was about to cave in and take me off my feet.. Papers were stacked in random piles. An old oil lamp was flickering, casting ominous shadows across his face. He shifted so that his tailored black suit nearly caught the papers.

Taking a deep breath I asked: "Why?" I stared, hard, at the wooden floorboards, waiting for his answer. I knew that it wouldn't justify his decision, but it might  helped me to understand. 

"Jade, please listen to me. Your mother," he took a deep breath at this point, talking about Mum was always hard for him, "she died because she took this job. I don't want the same fate for you. I don't want to feel responsible for both yours and your mother's death. You have to understand."

A part of me did understand, but there was a larger, more stubborn part, that refused to understand, that refused to be told what to do.

"What about you, then? What if you die?" I put as much hatred as I could into my voice. His expression softened for just a moment before he answered me.

"There's not much left for me here, so it wouldn't matter too much." What about me? I thought. I felt as though he didn't care about me. 'There's not much left for me here...' Was I not enough for him? Maybe I wasn't, after all when he lost Mum, he shut down and lost any kind of enjoyment he got from the world. 

"Fine," I spat. I stood up, pushing the oak chair back with as much force as possible. I walked towards the metal door. With one last glance over my black leather jacket I said, "don't bother trying to keep in contact. I want nothing more to do with you." And with that, I slammed the door and continued down the crowded corridor. I held back tears, I didn't mean what I'd said, but I had to be strong.

***

I took a gulp of the fresh, new air. I'd just gotten out of the taxi that had driven me to Morristine, a small village to the west of Phoenix. I would be staying here for one year. No vampires. No thrill of seeing the bastards that killed my mother dead. Just... mundane life. How pathetic.

I walked up the pathway of my new house. The grass was freshly cut. I could smell the lingering scent of wet grass... I breathed in deeply. It was a refreshing smell. The clanging of the small white gate that I had just entered through brought me out of my thoughts. The house was small but it looked like everything I'd hoped for. A normal door, not a metal one, thank God.I was so sick of metal doors.  The purple curtains were drawn, showing me the normal, mundane, insides of the house. Flowers littered the windowsills. I made a mental note to remove those later.

I was not a flower person. In fact, I wasn't much of a person at all. 

Dragging my duffel bag behind me, I opened the door with a bit more force than I should've used. It banged against the cream walls and nearly came off of its hinges. I cursed under my breath and closed the door; carefully this time.

Ignoring the two rooms on the sides, I made my way to the stairs. A white banister was attached to the wall, and the stairs were covered in a brown carpet. I took my shoes off and climbed the stairs. As I ascended I felt the warm fluffy carpet. I smiled to myself. It had been years since I had seen, let alone felt, carpet.

There were two rooms upstairs. So four rooms in total. There was a small room, with blue tiles for walls and a blue fluffy carpet for the floor. Bathroom. Compared to the bathrooms at the institute, it was luxurious. I followed the moulding walls to the next room. Bedroom. It had a small bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a mirror. The walls were black. Good. The floor was a pattern of black and white, like a chess board. I grinned.