Kelly POV
I sit crossed legged on a table sharpening my sais, listening to the conversation dad and Karen are having,
"So, am I a prisoner here?" she asks, I smirk at this, if she were a prisoner she would be in a cell about now.
"Not at all. We just had to take certain precautions before we Let you go. You got to understand, they're everywhere. Vampires- the Hominus nocturna. We hunt them, you see—moving from one city to the next tracking their migrations. They're hard to kill. They tend to regenerate" dad says, summing us up in one sentence practically, I look to Blade who's leant agains the table I'm sitting on beside me,
"We using her as bait?" I ask silently so she can't hear me, knowing Blade will hear me, he gives a nod as answer, best thing to do considering they will be after her since she's been marked, they always come for their own, loyal at least otherwise they will be looking to kill her if she doesn't want to be fully turned or be a pet.
"And I'm supposed to believe all this?" she asks, looking to dad like he is crazy, well its what they usually think of us when we tell them that vampires are real.
"Well, you already met Mr Crispy at the hospital. What do you think?" Blade asks, I smirk at this, handing him my sharpening stone for him to sharpen his dagger, he takes this with a nod, since dad rescued Blade as a young teenager we became siblings, looking out for one another. Yeah I'll admit I love him as a brother, he can be a pain in the ass but I'm pretty sure that's what all siblings are like together. I don't remember much about my sisters and mum, I was only a baby when that vampire attacked and dad had taken me to the doctors for a check up, I've seen pictures of them, we keep them safe and look at them sometimes. I still have my dad and I still have Blade after all that we have gone through, every day we get stronger and smarter, and every time I get the chance to kill a vampire I take it.
"So, what do you use, then? Stakes? Crosses?" she asks, I laugh at this, who the hell came up with damn crosses?
"Crosses don't do squat. Some of the Legends are true, though. Vampires are severely allergic to sliver. Feed them garlic, and they go into anaphylactic shock. Then, of course, there's always sunlight, ultraviolet rays. I got this sucker running. You want to give it a try tonight?" dad asks, handing Blade a large torch after shining it in his face which made me smirk, he frowns at me for this I just feign innocence,
"It's still heavy" Blade says after weighing the torch in his hand,
"Well, you're so big" dad says, I chuckle at this, Blade smacking me lightly at the back of my head, I poke my tongue out at him childishly, he sneers playfully then walks to the car after giving me a hand down, I didn't need it but I think he is being nice, like I said, we're siblings and we look out for one another.
"If you want to live to see another day, you'll be out of town by nightfall" dad tells Karen, I put my bag into the backseat, leaning against the car, counting how many bullets I have,
"So where am I Supposed to go?" Karen asks,
"You've been exposed to them. One way or another, somebody's going to take you out. There's a war going on out there. Blade, Kelly, myself, a few others, we've tried to keep it from spilling over onto the streets. Sometimes, people like yourself get caught in the crossfire" dad says,
"I have blood samples. I can go to the police." She says, but I roll my eyes, she takes anything to the police and they will take her into a private room and kill her.
"They own the police. You have to understand, they're everywhere. Chances are you've seen them yourself and didn't know it- on the subway or in a bar" dad says, lord knows how many I have passed in the street when picking up groceries,
"So that's it? You guys just patch me up and send me on my way?" she asks, well we're not all bad, if we can we help people when we know they are treatable, but if it passes the point of no return then they get a merciful killing.
"Here. Vampire mace... sliver nitrate, essence of garlic. You keep your eyes open. Be careful. One other thing... buy yourself a gun. If you start getting sensitive to day light... if you find you're thirsty regardless of how much you had to drink, then I suggest you take that gun and use it on yourself. Better that than the alternative" dad says, at this Karen looks over at Blade who is stood slightly in front of me, I bet he's trying to look all intimidating, I know if I were in her shoes I would be frightened, but I've known him too long to be used to it.
"Come on we'll take you home" I say, getting into the back, closing the door behind me, not long after Blade and Karen getting in, Blade obviously getting in the driver's seat and Karen in the passenger seat.
I bring out my small sketchbook from my messenger bag, sketching in black and white the sunset, dad wanted me to have a hobby separate from the hunting, so I went with Art. Some of my work has been bought too, I go by a different name as Gabriella Knox, the money I receive I put towards gear and weapons, clothing and food.
It doesn't take long before we are in the city and Blade moves the car near a curb to let Karen out,
"Hey! Remember what we told you. You keep your eyes open. They're everywhere" he says then speeds off, I look behind me slightly seeing her looking at us and from the looks of it shouting but I don't hear what she says with how fast Blade is going.
"Did you eat this morning?" Blade asks, I roll my eyes at this,
"No, I didn't get time because I was helping dad with the formula" I say, hearing him sigh not happy and then parks up, the smell of food hits my nose,
"Go and get some food for yourself" he says I nod at this and taking my messenger bag with me I go into a take-out shop that's open all hours, ordering a chicken curry and boiled rice and I order some spicy wings for Blade, he never asks for food but I know he will be hungry too, it's not a big meal or anything like that but is something nice to eat at least.
"Here you go brother dear" I say, handing him his polystyrene box with food in, using my fork to eat my food,
"Thanks. I haven't seen anyone going in yet" he says, I look to the building and then around, my eyes going to a police car, frowning I look around for a police officer.
"Has a police member come out of that car any time?" I ask, pointing to it, he looks at it and shakes his head, I look and notice it's on yellows, my eyes narrow again looking around,
"Police don't park on double yellows unless in emergencies, and I haven't heard or seen any alarms going off anywhere" I say, he looks to me and then hurries out of the car, I eat my food, knowing that there won't be many in the apartment so he'll be fine, besides I need to eat this food quick or else he'll kill me for making his car smell of curry again.
About ten minutes later I look in time to see Blade coming out of the building with Karen following him, with a police officer in his hold, familiar I wager, he looks jittery enough, but then I watch as Blade gets a gun out to shoot or intimidate the man before Karen stops him, what is she doing? The damn familiar runs like the coward they all are, Blade doesn't look too impressed with Karen, don't blame her now we have to do stake out. They come over but I don't move over, I stay in the passenger's seat, forcing her to go into the back seat.
"I have to stick with you. It's the only way that I'll stay alive long enough to find a cure for myself" she says, I roll my eyes, here we go again, another one looking for a cure before the inevitable.
"There is no cure" Blade says, turning the engine on and driving us around to keep an eye on the familiar car to wait for him to come back, another day in the office