"The Dark-Hunter is close. Desiderius must prepare.' "
Tabitha put her hands in her pockets as she considered the words."Any idea what that means?"
Selena shrugged as she handed the paper back to Tabitha. "I've never heard of either this Dark-Hunter or Desiderius."
"Eric said 'Dark-Hunter' was a code name for one of us. What do you think?" Tabitha asked.
Amanda had heard enough. Ye gods, how she hated it when they began with the whole vampire-demon-occult garbage. Why couldn't they grow up and live in the regular world?
"Look," Amanda said, rising. "I'll catch you two later."
Tabitha grabbed her hand as she started to walk off. "Hey, you're not still sore about Cliff, are you?"
"Of course I am. I know you did all that on purpose."
Completely unabashed about the fact she'd broken Amanda's engagement, Tabitha released her hand. "We did it for your own good."
"Oh yeah, right."She beamed a false smile. "Thank you so much for watching out for me. Wanna poke my eye out while you're at it, just for fun?"
"C'mon, Mandy," Tabitha said with that cutesy face that made their dad forgive her anything. It didn't do anything to Amanda, except irritate her more. "You might not like what we do, but you do love us. And you can't marry some uptight jerk who can't accept what all of us are."
"Us?" Amanda asked incredulously. "Don't include me in the madness. I'm the one with the recessive normal genes. You guys are the ones—"
"Tabby!"
Amanda broke off as Tabitha's Goth boyfriend ran up to them. Eric St. James was only an inch taller than the two of them, but since they were five-foot-ten, that wasn't unusual. His short black hair had a purple stripe in it and he wore it spiked. He would have been very cute if his nose wasn't pierced, and if he would actually find and keep a full-time job.
And lay off the vampire-hunting. Sheez!
"Gary got a lead on that vamp pack," Eric said to Tabitha. "We're going to try and get the vampires before it gets dark. You ready?"
If Amanda rolled her eyes any harder back into her head, she'd go blind from it. "One day, you guys are going to inadvertently kill a human being acting this way. Remember that time you attacked the Anne Rice-Lestat reenactment group in the cemetery?"
Eric smirked at her. "No one was hurt, and the tourists loved it."
Tabitha looked back at Selena. "Can you do some research for me, and see if you can find anything on this Desiderius and Dark-Hunter?"
"C'mon, tabby, how many times do I have to tell you to lay off it?" Eric said irritably. "The vamps are just playing with us. 'Dark-Hunter' is just a bogeyman term that means nothing."
Selena and Tabitha ignored him.
"Sure," Selena said, "but Gary would probably be your best bet."
Eric let out a disgusted breath. "He said he'd never heard of it, either"—Eric looked at Tabitha heatedly—"which means it's nothing."
Tabitha shrugged his hand off her shoulder, and continued to ignore him. "Since it's written in Greek, I'm betting one of your college professor friends might be more up on it."
Selena nodded. "I'll ask Julian tonight when I go over to Grace's."
"Thanks." Tabitha looked back at Amanda. "Don't worry about Cliff. I know just the guy for you. We met him a couple of weeks ago."
"Oh Lord," Amanda gasped. "No more blind dates from you. I still haven't recovered from the last one and that was four years ago."
Selena laughed. "Was that the alligator wrestler?"
"Yes," Amanda said."Crocodile Mitch, who tried to feed me to his pet, Big Marthe." Tabitha snorted. "He did not. He was just trying to show you what he did for a living."
"Tell you what, the day you let Eric hold your head inside a live alligator, then you can make a comment. Until then, being the expert on alligator halitosis, I'll stick with my opinion that Mitch was just looking for a cheap Scooby snack."
Tabitha stuck her tongue out at her before grabbing Eric's hand and dashing down the street with him in tow. Amanda rubbed her head as she watched the two of them make goo-goo eyes at each other, thus proving that there was someone out there for everyone. No matter how bizarre the person.
Too bad she couldn't find someone for herself.
"I'm going home to sulk."
"Listen," Selena said before she could leave. "Why don't I cancel with Grace tonight and the two of us can go do something? Have a symbolic itty-bitty weenie roast for Cliff?"
Amanda smiled in appreciation of the thought. No wonder she loved her family. In spite of the chaos, they were dear hearts who cared for her. "No, thanks. I can roast the Vienna sausages on my own. Besides, Tabitha will stroke out and die if you don't ask Julian about her Dark-Hunter."
"Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know. Oh, and while you're home, why not call Tiyana and have her do a penis-shrinking spell on Cliff?"