chapter One
Luanne stood at the curb in front of the shopping mall and fiddled with her cell phone. She'd shared a car with her grandma today, since they'd been going in the same direction and she was waiting for her to pick her up. She pursed her lips and stared at the message she'd received from her best friend, Claire. She was still trying to make sense out of it when the pendant on her chest began to grow warm. All her senses went on alert as a thin thread of apprehension shot down her spine. She lifted her head sharply to search around for the danger but before she'd fully lifted her head a dark figure came at her with such speed that those who witnessed it saw only a blur.
Acting instinctively and with no time to think, she leapt into the air with equal speed and held out her left hand in a protective gesture at the same time. Twin darts of fire shot from her palm, engulfing the dark figure. The last thing she saw before that figure disappeared were the gold capped pointed incisors.
Dropping down to her feet, her heart pounding with fear and adrenalin, she was grateful to see her grandma pull up in her silver Lexus. She looked around quickly before she pulled the door open and it still baffled her that everyone was going about their business like nothing had happened.
“Hi Katrina,” she mumbled as she slipped into the comfortable leather seats of the car.
“Hi honey, what happened?”
Luanne stared out the window as they left the shopping mall behind. Her grandmother's voice was carefully modulated and sounded pleasant, but she knew Katrina was trying hard to conceal her fear and she didn't want to contribute to that. Still, she couldn't not tell her what had happened. “There was another attack. This time I saw the person, not the face or anything, just the teeth.” She turned to look at her then and said quietly, “It was a vampire.”
Katrina didn't say anything but she noticed her hands had tightened on the steering wheel and her normally porcelain complexion was even more white than usual. Luanne used the opportunity to study her grandma, not for the first time. Looking at her smooth features and lustrous red hair, it was almost impossible to believe that the woman was her dad's mom. She did not look a day over thirty and it had nothing to do with cosmetic surgery and everything to do with her heritage. She cast blue eyes on her granddaughter before returning them to the road.
“You can't continue this way, Lu,” she said softly.
Luanne knew what she was talking about. Her heart was still pounding from the recent attack and it was only one in a long line of several since she'd turned sixteen a year ago. She absently fingered the stone in the pendant, which was hidden beneath her pink tank top. “I don't know what to do.”
“Don't worry about it, baby.” She reached out and patted Luanne on her bare knee. “We'll get through this.”
Just like they'd gotten through other stuff. Katrina didn't say it but she heard it loud and clear. “But why me? Why do they target me this way?” There was a noticeable thread of despair running through her voice.
Katrina was silent for a moment. “How did you get rid of this one?” she finally asked, not answering the question.
“Fire,” she replied shortly.
Her grandmother turned to look at her and there was shock in her eyes. “Did you just say fire?”
Luanne nodded. “I lifted my arm and fire came out of my hand.”
Katrina turned back to the road and focused on her driving. It was clear that there was a lot going on in her mind. She looked troubled. “Do you have any idea how that happened?”
“Er, no.” She shrugged. “I just lifted my hand and fire, like, just shot out.” She shrugged again.
“OK. That's great.” She nodded slowly. “So did you find what you were looking for at the mall?”
Luanne lifted one finely arched eyebrow at the abrupt change of subject, but knowing her grandmother, she'd already shifted gears. “Yeah, I did. But I'm not sure I want to spend all that money on a dress.”
Katrina sighed delicately, “I don't understand you, Lu. It's almost as though you don't have my genes running through you. You have all that money, yet you won't spend it. I've never met a teenager as frugal as you are.”
She carefully hid her thoughts and smiled at her grandmother. “Just because I don't subscribe to retail therapy doesn't mean that I'm frugal.”
Once again her grandma took her eyes off the road to glance distastefully at Luanne's outfit of shorts and a tank top. “Look at you, Lu. You're beautiful—stunning, actually—since you take after me.” Her eyes twinkled at that, then she turned back to the road. “But you don't even make an effort. No makeup, no pretty clothes, nothing. It's almost as though you're in mourning.”
When Luanne remained silent, Katrina flashed her a quick look before swinging the car into the parking spot in front of their eighteenth century townhouse. Switching off the engine, she turned to face her granddaughter with a somber look. “You still miss them, don't you?”
Luanne glanced outside and stared at the manicured lawn of their neighbor's home. She felt the usual pressure in her chest which accompanied that topic and wanted desperately to escape. “I don't want to talk about it, Katrina.”
“You've kept it inside you for the past three years, Lu. Don't you think it's about time you talked about it?”
Feeling the tightness increase in her chest she turned pleading eyes to her grandmother. “Please, just leave it, Grandma. I'm not ready, I don't want, I can't...” Taking a deep breath she tried to push back the rising panic and tried again. “I'm just not ready.”
Katrina stared at her for a few seconds, her ruby red lips pursed, then she nodded. “So, are you going to the prom with Eric? What?” She asked, feigning innocence as Luanne rolled her eyes and opened the car door.
“Has anyone told you that you're too nosy, Grandma?” she asked before stepping out of the car.
“Hey, who are you calling Grandma?”
***
I shook my head as I walked into the house I'd shared with my grandma since I was sixteen. Katrina could be impossible sometimes, but I loved her with every fiber of my being. I didn't tell her this, but I had nightmares that someday she would be taken from me. I know this is somehow connected to what happened three years ago, but I didn't want to think about that. I glanced back and saw her with a small shopping bag. Looking at her, it was easy to understand why I called her by her name and told people she was my aunt. What else could I do? How did you go about explaining that, even though your grandmother looked like a young thirty-year-old, she was actually a hundred-and-fifty-three-year-old vampire? Did I say vampire? Sure I did. You don't believe they exist? Well, that's exactly how we like it. And yes, I did say we. You see, it's something I didn't talk about then and it's not something I like to talk about now, except with those like us. Sharing such information would probably have earned me a vacation at the funny farm.
I entered the cool interior of the home and sighed with relief. We were in the middle of summer and the heat outside was killing. But that wasn't why I loved Katrina's home. It was like living in an exotic cave. The walls were a very pale blue with one section painted in dark grey, and the windows had heavy curtains that were always drawn. The darkness was softened by soft lamps in different parts of the living room. I felt my tension melt away as I sank my feet into the beautiful rug that grandma had told me was an Ambusson rug. When I first came to live with her, I'd been entranced by the patterns on the rug. I looked around me, felt that familiar ache in my chest, the emptiness that had been my companion for the past three years. When was this all going to get better?