• Chapter One-Aurelia

    I sat in the cafe, sneaking fleeting glances at the man in the booth near the window as he stared at his untouched latte; the steam swirling around his hands. Looking down at my sketchpad, I darkened the outline of his jaw, and the shadows under his eyes, sighing as I closed the book and motioned for the waitress. Like everyone else in the cafe, she was a vampire; well, except for me that is. Allow me to Introduce myself. My name is Aurelia, and I'm a Vampire Hunter.
    I payed for my coffee and silently left the cafe, cursing under my breath as I looked at the time. Dasi was going to throw a demon-sized fit if she knew I was hunting again. I sighed as I got into my car, tossing my sketchpad into the passenger seat and sticking the pencil into my ponytail. I had just started the car when a shadow from the streetlamp stopped at my window and I heard the tapping of a finger against the glass, making me jump. I looked up cautiously, growling when I saw the annoyingly-familiar face. I rolled my eyes and rolled down the window.
    "What do you want? I'm late." I snapped. He smiled and I felt a shiver run up my spine. Grabbing hold of the window frame, he unlocked the door and opened it, pulling me from the vehicle and pushing me against it, grinning.
    "One, you know I like talking to you face to face, and two, I thought you might need a little help." I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood so I wouldn't say anything I might regret.
    "Lasarn, for the hundredth time...I don't need your help. I will never need your help. Ever. So get over yourself and go back to your precious little castle where you belong." I pushed him away, getting back in the car, revving the engine and speeding off in the direction of home.

    It was later than I thought by the time I got back to the house. Taking the back door through the kitchen, I tiptoed my way to the dinning room, only to have the light flip on and see Dasi standing in my direct path to the door; and she didn't look happy. Now don't get me wrong, my mother is a small-statured woman, but she's the most intimidating person I have ever known. She makes hunting vampires look like a picnic in the park when she's angry. I took a long look at her to determined just how mad she really was. Her long black hair was braided down her back, her slender hands resting on her slightly rounded hips; her black eyes were filled with an icy fire I knew only too well, and her lips were a tight line of disappointment.
    "Aurelia, sit down," she said, taking her seat at one end of the table. I sighed and went to the kitchen, making coffee not only to stall, but to give me a pick-me-up. I'd been up for more than 36 hours, and could really use the caffeine boost to stay awake. My little brother, Liam, peeked half of his face into the kitchen, watching me until I growled and he scurried to the shelter he knew our mother would give him. Little b*****d, I thought as i stirred my coffee. I could hear the staccato of my mother's nails on the table while she waited for me, and with a sigh, I sat at the end across from her. It seemed as though she hadn't moved, and I shuddered as her gaze deepened, as though trying to hear my thoughts. Thankfully, that wasn't possible for my ever-powerful mother, though she didn't stop amazing our world with what she could do.

    First of all, my mother was born a witch, like me. Our family had the legacy of being the strongest Vampire Hunting line since the beginning. When my father, Harent, was killed, my mother went on a revenge-induced rampage. This is how she met Daamon. She was about to take the final blow, when she looked into his panic-stricken eyes and went ga-ga over the bloodsucker. I honestly didn't think it would last; that my mother would get a grip on her senses and just kill him, but she didn't. They were married a few weeks later, surrounded by our entire disapproving family. After that, it wasn't long until the little monster was born. I was 11 when that day came, along with the screaming. Somehow, during the process, Mother became Dasi, the vampire, and my life fell apart. She wasn't my mother anymore; she was its wife, and his mother. I just happen to live in the same house; two vampires raising a vampire hunter and an evil half breed from hell just doesn't seem like the family I wanted.
    My thoughts snapped back when Dasi's hand hit the table, making me jump.
    "Aurelia, are you even listening to me? What did I say about breaking curfew, for hunting no less?" I pointed to the clock on the side wall with disbelief apparent on my face.
    "In case you forgot...I'm not a vampire...I need sleep. Besides, I have class in the morning. Can we argue about this some other time?" Dasi sighed, not even bothering to glare at me for my blatant use of the word Vampire. She'd become touchy about it since she had become what she had once hunted.
    "Fine, go to bed. Daamon and I will discuss it when he gets home. In the mean time, I'm binding your powers." I growled when she mention the man that had turned our lives upside down. Depsite the happy family persona we gave the world, no one knew the chaos and discord that went on behind our ward-protected walls.
    "Tell him he owes me. This afternoon." He would understand what I meant, even if she didn't. Refusing to answer her questioning glare, I pushed away from the table and left for my room; always wary of what, or who, I would find there.

    Of course he would be there. Even Dasi wouldn't have noticed his arrival. It was an Elf thing. He was sitting on my desk chair, making easy work of the rubix cube that had ticked me off for months. I ground my teeth when he tossed it on my bed, finished.
    "So, you were late for curfew again. How unfortunate," he stated, standing up and sauntering over to the bookshelf to pry further into my daily life.
    "Well it happens when one is stalking the undead." I paused, shaking in anger. "What do you want Lasarn? I thought I left you in the city." He scowled. I was the only one in the magical world that didn't address him with his proper title. If he was going to be popping in and out of my life on a whim, I was going to piss him off any way I could.
    The scowl vanished from his face quite suddenly, and he gave me the same intense stare Dasi had given me only moments ago, and I threw up my mental shields; which would have been childsplay for him to crumble but he just shrugged and went back to prying. I sat on the bed, my eyelids already threatening to fall, and yawned, waiting for him to speak since I refused to fall asleep until he was far away.
    "Do you know where your step-father is?" he asked, looking back at me intently. I twitched, still not quite sure why his gaze made me suddenly so self conscious. It took my mind a moment to process his question after his emerald green eyes scattered my thoughts...again.
    "Out...hunting I assume," I muttered cautiously. Normally he didn't ask about the leech, so i was caught off guard.
    "Hmm..."
    "Why do you ask?" I snapped, getting frustrated that I couldn't just banish him from the room. Thanks Mom
    "No reason." I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
    "Yea, right, and I'm the Elvin Princess." Sending only the quickest of glances my way, he chuckled to himself.
    "You could be, if you accepted my offer."
    "Thanks, but I'd rather fall on my own dagger," I couldn't help the way my voice sounded like frozen stone. Again, he chuckled to himself; a throaty, husky laugh that always set my nerve endings on fire, and I prayed to every goddess there was that he couldn't see the blush in my cheeks.
    His green eyes flickered to my silver ones, full of sparking amusement. Before I had a chance to blink, he was hovering over me; his face just inches from my own.
    "I still don't understand the reasoning behind your refusal to..."
    "Shut up and get out," I growled, not wanting to remember the past. He hovered there for a moment, and I was beginning to think I'd have to push him away when there was a slight breeze near my face, and he was gone, leaving his woodsy scent behind like a territorial mark.
    Dammit.