Ch. 7

She sat there fiddling with a tissue in her hands. She couldn't believe what Nate had said. The man was Frank. Uncle Frank, she used to call him. He was the

closest to being a father she ever had. He was calm and caring. Not only that, but he would give her advice when she would get into an argument with Nate. Furthermore, he bought her a pair of shoes once because she was getting picked on. She could feel the tears coming back. She grabbed another tissue and wiped them away.

"He was a retired Vampire Hunter." Nate told her.

She couldn't believe the words that he had just said. She was afraid to ask about her mother's friend Gertrude. She was going to ask her tomorrow when she had work. Nate continued

"He would help turned Vampires without a maker get to the Coven for help," Nate said. He put the beer he was drinking down. He shook his head. "He was stupid. He should've left it to us." Wendy touched his shoulder. "Honey, he was a loner, and he did things his way." She said. Nate lifted his beer to his lips, paused, and put it down. "You know he fell in love with a Vampire?" He said, and took a gulp from his beer and slammed it down. "He was an idiot. Ha," Timothy said.

"What do you mean, to fall in love with a Vampire?" Dew asked. "Just as I said. Fell in love with a Vampire. She broke his heart. That's all she did. Thank god." Nate said and took another swig of his beer.

Wendy walked over behind him and began to massage his shoulders. "She was a teacher. He was a teacher. Simple like that. What made it different was that she was a born Vampire. He stopped hunting Vampires for her. One day, her father came to visit and begged her to come home. To please marry this wealthy business Vampire, so they could finally get the family out of poverty. She said yes and moved away. He never went back to hunting, he just helped Vampires that needed it."

Dew balled up the tissue "Oh, poor Uncle Frank,"

"So who killed him?" Wendy said.

"We don't know. The Vampire's information is unknown," Timothy said. "We know the Vampire that killed the Vampire was a much older Vampire and stronger," Joel said.

"He left for the nearby Coven and won't be back for a long time. Coward." Nate said.

Timothy walked over to the tablet and started the music. It started bumping through the speakers. Joel went to the fridge and brought out the beer. Dew was curious how the blood would look and stink. But it was just beer. "We're having a party to celebrate Frank's life. No Vamps allowed." He said as he put down the last box of beer. She was left disappointed. She never paid attention before and now that she was a part of it all, she was eager to learn all of it.

Dew decided she would go practice using her crossbow. Her crossbow was on the table and she grabbed it. She walked into the living room and saw people walking in. They were neighbors and some people she didn't know.

Wendy came up to Dew and noticed her confusion. "Those are Hunters from out of town," Wendy whispered. "Maybe you'll find a boyfriend tonight," Wendy whispered and walked away.

Dew considered the idea for a minute, then discarded it. She wanted to train, she told herself. She had no time for love. Except for Elias. She wouldn't say love, but he would pop up in her head a lot. He had a very elegant way about him. His wavy sand-colored blonde hair and emerald eyes that she could get lost in. His smile was spectacular.

Dew walked out and went to the back of the house. She took a giant bag of sand and dragged it to the light of the backyard. The forest was their backyard. They had cleared some trees to make way for a clean grass area. She took her crossbow out and set it up quickly. Pulled the string back until the trigger latched. She put a small arrow in the groove of the crossbow rail and shot it. She jumped out of reaction to the sound and speed of the arrow. It was important that she get used to that. Once more. Pull, latch, place, shoot. It gave her an incredible sense of empowerment she had never experienced before. She did it again. "Yes!" she shouted out loud. She looked all around her and it was quiet. She did it again and it made a whistle sound. "This is astounding," she thought. She did it five more times and decided it was enough. She walked up to the target and removed all the arrows. Not only that, but she was going to use the target for practice tomorrow, so moving it was not necessary.

Dew was walking back to the front of the house when she bumped into Timothy. "What are you doing?"

"I need something from the basement" he pointed to it.

"Oh for what?"

"The house. Your brother asked me to get it."

"Why aren't you going the way through the kitchen?" She studied his face.

"I needed the air."

She put her hands on her hips and looked him up and down.

"Okay fine, go away."

He walked around her.

She went inside the house and the party was still going pretty hard. The loud music, the attempts to talk over the music, and some dancing. She never saw Uncle Frank at one of these parties, but it was certainly celebrating his life. She passed the living room into the kitchen, where Wendy was with other women making sandwiches for everyone.

"Ooo sandwiches" Dew reached over and grabbed one. "Hey everyone, this is Nate's little sister, she's part of our family now. They raised their bottles in unison and drank from them. Dew was embarrassed yet smiled. "Well I'm headed to bed, everyone have fun." She waved. "Goodnight." Wendy knocked on Dew's door and Dew said nothing she went back to Wendy's friends.