The next day I successfully avoided King. I was still angry with him for getting hurt and I was a bit embarrassed about how I'd flipped out on him. My day was spent training with Abby and cleaning the hideout. I love Abby and King to death, but they both know nothing about keeping a home clean. I honestly have no idea what they would do without me. The idea of leaving and joining another cell popped up into my mind a few times, but there was no way I could abandon the two people who had raised me since the age of ten.
That night, after King was asleep, Abby crept into my room, geared up and ready to hunt.
"Zoë, I'm going to hunt. King's obviously out for a few days and I need a partner. Wanna join in the fun?" she asked with a smirk. My eyes widened and I smiled.
"Are you serious? I can come?" I questioned, amazed. Abby shook her head and motioned for me to follow her. I trailed behind her down to the weapons room, where she put King's gun holster on me, after tightening it quite a bit. She then handed me two guns and a vest that held UV bombs and a few silver stakes. I grabbed some extra bullets from a cabinet and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like a nightstalker.
I drove to our destination, while Abby began to make her playlist. There was no need for a game plan because we both knew what we had to do. Kill vampires. As we pulled up to the seemingly abandoned building, Abby nodded to me.
"You'll do fine. I've trained you well."
Abby's confidence in me added to the confidence that I had in myself. Endless nights of rigorous training were about to be put to the test as we finally found out if I would be an acceptable hunter. Abby put her headphones in place and I smirked as she bobbed her head to the beat of the song that was pulsating through them. We entered the building from the back entrance and silently crept up the old stairs. One look at the building and one could tell that it was at least a hundred years old and was completely untouched by modern civilization. Exactly the place that vampires would hide out. A lighted room awaited us at the top of the stairs. Abby and I peaked through the cracked door and surveyed the damage that needed to be done. We counted six vampires. Six seemed to be quite an obstacle to me, but Abby shrugged as if it would be a walk in the park.
The room was large and looked as if it had once been a theatre of some sort. There was a stage and a balcony and in the center of the room there was a long table where the vampires sat and huddled over something that looked suspiciously like blueprints. Abby motioned to the stage and I shook my head in understanding. I crept up and waited for the signal from her. Once she was in position at the door, she nodded to me. I ran across the stage and jumped onto the wood floor. I looked up to see all six vampires looked at me angrily. I stared each one down as I retrieved my guns from King's holster. Having his holster on gave me a feeling of power and finesse.
"Ready to die, motherfuckers??" I asked manically. Abby busted out from behind the door a smile directed in my direction. It was something King would've said and she knew it. A moment passed where the vampire simply gawked at us before the battle royal began. They all hissed and cam at us. I dodged the first one easily; by kicking his stomach none too gently. Then I shot him directly between the eyes. I took a moment to admire my shot before he turned to ash. Immediately, a second vampire grabbed me by the throat and held me high above his head. I struggled to get free, but his grasp was simply too strong. I heard a shot ring out and that vampire was also ash. Abby nodded to me and turned back to a large vampire that she had on the floor. A third came towards me with a knife. We circled each other for a moment before he struck out and slashed my arm with the blade.
"You fucker! This is my favorite SHIRT!" I yelled as I kick his stomach repeatedly. He doubled over and I took the opportunity to stake him. After he turned to ash, I took a minute to assess the damage done to my shirt. It was a black thermal that King had given me. It had been one of his. Now it was ruined. I growled as I ran towards the last remaining vampire. He hissed lamely and attempted to punch me, but I was quicker and dodged it, and instead lodged a silver stake into his cranium.
After they were all little piles of glowing red ash, Abby walked over to me. I was panting and my arm was stinging like hell. She looked at my arm in question, but I shook my head, letting her know I was okay.
"You killed three on your first hunt. Wait until King hears about this. He only got two on his first time out." she told me smiling. I laughed but then I realized how mad King was going to be when he found out that I went hunting.
"You think we could wait to tell him, until tomorrow?" I asked. Abby nodded and motioned for me to follow her back to the car.
As we re-entered the hideout, we talked and laughed about the successful hunt. I entered the kitchen and turned on the light, revealing a non smiling King. My face fell instantly and I immediately braced myself for the stinging words to come. I'd never seen King look so angry. He was burning holes through me with his glare and I gulped in anticipation.
"Where have you been, you little sneaks?" he asked calmly. I could see his last restraint was breaking as we stood before him. I opened my mouth to speak, but Abigail stopped me.
"I took Zoe on a hunt, King." she told him, just as calmly.
"YOU DID WHAT?" he roared. Now his death glare was centered on her, rather than me. "I specifically said no. I've said no a hundred times. God Abby, what the fuck were you thinking?!"
"She did fine, King. She did amazing actually. Better than someone else did if I remember correctly." she shot back, sending him her own death glare. King seethed anger from every pore.
"She's fucking bleeding Abby! Did you not see that? AND YOU LET HER WEAR MY HOLSTER? AW, WHY?" he yelled as he advanced toward me. He reached out to touch my arm, but I jumped away from him as if he'd burned me. He looked shocked at my reaction, and I began to cry. I couldn't take anymore of his anger. I ran past him, and past Abby, up the stairs to my room. I faintly heard Abby telling King 'way to go', but my heart was pounding so hard, I couldn't hear much of anything. I felt like a child that was in the middle of a fight between parents, which was really what it was. I sank into my bed and silently let the tears fall. I hated King at that moment for being so hostile towards Abby. She didn't do anything wrong. I WAS ready for a hunt. I did a great job. King was the only one who refused to believe it.
Sometimes later I heard a knock and a soft, 'Zoë' from the other side of the door. I knew it was King from the knock.
"GO AWAY." I said loudly. I knew he wouldn't. My door opened slowly and King poked his head inside. I sent him a glare very similar to the one he sent me. I like to call it the 'eat shit and die' glare. He hung his head as he stepped inside my room. I turned on my bed, so I was facing the wall instead of him. He sighed and sat in a chair next to me bed before he finally gathered the courage to speak.
"Abby said you dusted three? That's pretty amazing. I barely got two my first time." he tried. I shrugged my shoulders and kept my back to him.
"If you came for your holster, it's on the desk." I told him curtly, still facing the wall.
"I came to talk, Zoë. The holster looks better on you anyways." King knew this would get a response. It wasn't any apology. That would come later. Right now, he was simply trying to get to me speak to him. I smiled and turned over, unable to resist his charm. He smiled at me sadly. I scooted over on my bed to give him room and he jumped in without an invitation. We laid there for a moment before he spoke again.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you and Abby. I've already apologized to her. I just-, I was just worried Zoë. I'm so scared that you'll get hurt, or worse, I'll lose you to some blood-sucking punk." he stopped and took a deep breath. "Abby told me how great you were tonight. I wish I could have been there." He paused to let the words sink in. Let me know he wasn't mad anymore. "Now let me see your arm. I need to bandage it up."
I sat up as he assessed the gash on my arm. He hissed as he looked at it. He looked up at me and shook his head. I rolled my eyes at him as he left to get bandages. I told him all about the hunt as he cleaned and dressed my wound. He smiled and laughed as I told him about the one who tried to sucker punch him. His eyes twinkled as I retold my story. I don't know what Abby said to him, but it worked because he finally got it. He understood that I was ready to accept the challenge of being a Nightstalker. I curled up next to him like I used to do when I was younger and had a nightmare. I could creep up to his bed and poke his arm. He wake up instantly, see me, and pull me into bed with him. He'd hug me tight and wait up until I fell back to sleep. Once I hit thirteen, I stopped coming to King. I'd go to Abby instead. Abby understood why and she'd sit up with me until I fell back asleep. King asked me once why I didn't come to him when I had nightmares anymore and I made some lame excuse about how Abby would actually talk, rather than mumble incoherently. It got me out of an embarrassing situation and he seemed to accept that answer.
"How long has it been since you've had a nightmare?" King asked me.
"About two days." I admitted.
"I didn't hear you scream." he said, looking into my eyes.
"I don't scream. I cry." I told him.
"My room is right across the hall." he reminded me with a smile. I nodded, but somehow, we both know that me sleeping in his bed with him wouldn't be a good thing. He hugged me tight to his chest before getting off of my bed and walked out my door, stopping just before he reached the hallway.
"Zoë, are we cool?" he asked, sincerely.
"We're cool." I agreed. He smiled and turned to leave, but turned back and glared at me playfully.
"Abby said you stole my line." he accused with a smile in his brown eyes. I laughed remembering my comment while jumping into the pack.
"Those motherfuckers were ready to die." I reasoned.
"That's my girl."