“No, figured we could take a few extra days this time around; it’s been a rough year,” he responded with a grunt from under his car.
My shoulders sagged slightly from relief.
It truly had been a rough year. I was sure we had done more hunts this year than ever before.
“Which means…” he continued while grabbing onto the edge of the car to roll himself out from underneath it and get to his feet, “that we’re going to celebrate you just a little longer this year, so where do you want to start with? Milkshakes at Mickey’s? Movie marathon with a ridiculous amount of takeout? Pizza? More fishing than normal? It doesn’t matter what you choose because now we’ll have the time to do all of them.”
He cleaned off his own hands, tapping a quick kiss on my head as he walked past me to grab the new containers of oil and then moved back to the front of the car to dump them into the engine.
I couldn't hide the flutter of excitement. Spending a week with my dad—my best friend—was something I looked forward to every year. I looked forward to spending time with Sam and my aunt and uncle, too.
Sure, we spent plenty of quality time together through the year, but there were always monsters, hunts, lives at stake… During this week, however, we could just benormal.
Don’t get me wrong, I love what we do to help those who can’t help themselves, the lives we save, the monsters we stop. But being normal, having just a small reprieve from the death and gore, is nice.
A few minutes later, a loud rumbling truck winded up into the long dirt driveway of our little cabin in the woods. Cousin Sam and Uncle Theo were here.
No one else knew about this place. It was our little family secret.
I beamed at the truck when it came into view. My Aunt Gail wasn’t in the truck, but my Cousin Samantha was in the passenger seat.
We were the opposite when it came to everything, even down to the way we looked. She had dirty blonde beachy waves and honey eyes, while I had dark wine-red hair and icy eyes. She was more extroverted while I had always been one to keep more to myself. She liked color with her clothes while I was pretty certain I had been wearing the same black clothes from theit was just a phasedays in high school.
It was, in fact, not just a phase. You’d have to pry my tight black tank and plaid overshirt from my cold, dead hands.
Despite our differences, we’d kill for each other. She was like the sister I never had. I waved at them as he parked the truck and shut it off. Uncle Theo returned a forced smile, and I knew instantly that something was wrong.
Theo pulled his brother into a one-armed hug before grabbing me into a big bear hug. It had been a few months since we had last seen them. They had been busy taking care of some demons further up North and had come back down for my birthday week.
I was sure my dad had messaged them to let them know we were already here. We had always gone on our annual fishing trip with just the five of us every year during this week. It had been a time for us to just be a family. It had never been the same after Mom died, but then again, nothing was the same after that.
Theo put me back down on my feet, and I went straight for Sam, wrapping my arms around her tightly. She smelled like spring after the first rain of the season. She squeezed me tighter.
“Gosh! I missed you! How are you? Are you okay?” She jumped from one thought to the next as she skimmed a finger over the scratch on my cheek.
“I’m fine. Just like I told the old man, I’ve had worse,” I said, my gaze flicking to her shoes. “And so have you.”
“I will never live that down, will I?” she joked, picking up my reference to the time she shot herself in the foot while we were hunting a pack of werewolves.
“Nope.” I laughed, but it faded as I glanced over to my dad and Uncle Theo who had moved further into the garage. I sauntered up; there weren’t any secrets between any of us, especially not me and my dad. “What’s going on?” I asked.
My Uncle Theo looked at me. Was that fear? I couldn’t tell because I couldn’t remember a time when I saw my uncle scared of anything. We literally walked with death every day with our occupation, and what was scarier than that?
“There seems to be a target on hunters' backs. A few have gone missing, and some have been changed…” He paused, looking down, unable to meet my father’s gaze. “We had to take down the Keenans last week.”
My father’s eyes widened. “A-all of them?” His voice cracked, but he cleared it quickly.
The Keenan family had been friends of my parents from their younger years. I had only met them a handful of times in my life, but it was horrible to think that they were gone now.
“Well, Sophie and Nick were found as changelings, but they weren’t themselves. It was like they were being controlled by compulsion or something. I tried to stop them, but they wouldn’t listen to reason. Their eyes were empty, and when they went for Sammy, I just…” He took a steadying breath. “I didn’t have a choice.”
My father’s brows furrowed. “I understand, Theo, it’s not your fault. You did what any father would do to protect their family.” There was a long pause between them, and then I realized what was scarier than death for my uncle and my own father.
Dying didn’t scare them, no, but losing their family, the ones they loved more than life itself… that was a fear they both shared.
“It would have been impossible for them to be compelled, as once changed, Vampires can’t be compelled,” my dad said, rubbing a hand down his face in disbelief. “It had to have been the bloodlust. Maybe they just couldn’t control themselves.”
“Yeah, maybe, but it seemed odd. Vampires are capable of controlling themselves, but this… it was different.” Uncle Theo hesitated.
