Authors note; Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot! Okaayy, if this chapter seems short I promise it's not, it's actually over 2,000 so it's a bit of improvment. Please Review at the end of this chapter, I don't like to keep asking for people to review but honestly the more I get the faster I update since then I know that people are waiting for my next chapters...does that make sense? Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 3
I woke up early the next morning to the sound of my phone ringing.
I groggily reached over to the nightstand, flipped it open and held it up to my ear.
"Hello?" I spoke in a tired and a bit of an annoyed voice.
There was some shuffling on the other line and then they responded. "Rose, its Josh"
I rubbed my eyes. "Hey Josh...so... why has someone like you woke me up so early in the morning?" I asked not meaning any of the annoyance I heard in my voice. Josh was a guy my age who hunts Strigoi now and again he's un-promised like me. He's a pretty good friend of mine but he knows me well, since the first time I met him he tried to hit on me and, well let's just say I wasn't in a good mood. But the boys smart; he knows when to back down.
"Uh...well for starters its 7'oclock so it's not even early..."
"...7'oclock is early for me." I told him.
He ignored me "And also Jackie said that you would go hunting with us today."
I let out a loud sigh "Did she now?" I asked still a bit more annoyed then I attended to. Even though I went out looking for Strigoi every day I did like to sleep in. Besides, it was mainly at night when I would look for them. Strigoi wouldn't be out in the day unless they wanted to be burnt to ash.
"Well I can see you're not really in the mood so I'll just leave you to—" Josh started, nervously picking up on the tone of my voice.
"No, no it's ok; you have woken me up anyway. Where are you?"
I heard more movement like he was just getting ready to leave himself. "You know that street across from that gay bar?"
"What gay bar? There are a lot of gay bars."
"It's like down the road from your hotel." He said a bit frustrated, but he wasn't mad Josh like never got mad, it just sounded like he was doing two things at once.
"Well. You would know." I mumbled in a low voice.
"I heard that, and no I'm not gay."
I laughed. "Sure, sure I'll see you soon then"
"Yep, see you."
"Bye." I said before I hung up.
I groaned as I pulled myself out of bed and headed to my closet. I was in a rush and wanted to meet the others before they got started so I picked out some black skinny jeans that were easy to fight in, a white tank top and a leather black jacket to go over it. I stood in front of the mirror as I pulled my dark brown hair into a high pony. I winced as my hand touched the scar I had at the top of my forehead. Well, I guess that joins all the other scars I had like tattoos scarred all over my body. After my hair was done I put on my boots, grabbed my stake and headed out the door.
I didn't have a car so I would mostly have to walk the streets at night. Most people would think that was dangerous but if you had trained the way I had you would see how easy it would be if it was just a human who attacked. It would be a bit harder if it was a Strigoi, but I could still take it.
Besides it was day time. I never really do much hunting in the day since Strigoi can't come out in the sunlight so this would mean that some of the 'group' I will call it, found some place that Strigoi are hiding. Seriously this town is Strigoi infested.
I really need to get a car I thought as I continued walking. But unfortunately to get a car I need a little thing called money, and that's something I really don't have enough of.
That's another thing that is definitely not easy for me. I hardly have any money, it had been hard at first since I was completely broke and did something I really regret. I stole.
It's not something I'm proud of but back on my first year on my own I really didn't have much other choice, I was living on the streets of Spokane. It was at a bar one night and nobody had been around the cash register. I stole two hundred dollars enough for me to stay in a cheap hotel a few days.
I had done that only once and I felt immensely guilty. Not for the people who worked there, because they were all creeps but just the concept of me stealing, being a criminal.
But from then on, I got my money differently. It was kind of like stealing stolen money. . . if that makes sense? But you would be surprised how much money Strigoi carry around in their pockets.
But now and then it would be hard to come across Strigoi with any money so a few times I've had to work. Crazy, I know, me working. But that was only when I got really desperate and low on cash . . . which was starting to happen.
I sighed at the thought. I hated working, not that I ever did it long I only did it for a week or two since I move around so often. I usually chose to work at a club or bar because despite the irritating customers, it was really easy.
I thought it would be hard to find the others but luckily it wasn't as I saw five of them standing outside what seemed to be some sort of old warehouse.
"Rose!" Jackie called out waving for me to come over. She stood with a few other people, she was wearing a leather jacket like me. But she usually didn't since she liked to show off a tattoo she has on her shoulder.
I could recognize all six people since I have been fighting with them before, some more than others. Jackie and I were the only girls, I've done a lot of hunting with her over the years and she was actually the first one I teamed with. It sounds weird but it can be fun going out together, searching for Strigoi.
Also there's Josh. He's a good buddy. He's sweet but strong at the same time, I even considered dating him sometimes, I mean what's not to like about him he has short dark brown hair, almost like gold coloured eyes and one beautiful smile. But at the time when I first met him, I was in no place for dating anyone. I still don't know if I am.
"So, what are we up against?" I asked joining their conversation.
"Strigoi are hiding in this abandoned warehouse." Answered Austin, Another friend of mine, he had messy blonde hair and brown eyes.
"There are two sides to this place so three of us could go in that door." Josh said pointing to the old door near the front. "And three could go in the door that's around the back."
"Do we know how many there are?" I asked no one in particular.
"We'll find out wont we?" Jackie asked grinning. I rolled my eyes.
"Ok, who's going where?" Josh asked.
I chose to answer. "Ok how about Dominic, Cole and Jackie go through the front and Austin, Josh and I go through the back?" They all nodded their heads in agreement. "Alright, let's do this."
Seems a bit reckless, but that's how we do it. That's how we've done it for two years. I say two because my first year I was on my own. Now I hunt with and without them. Going in without really planning, risking ourselves without a real care, it's dangerous. But hey, I'm not a guardian.
Not being a guardian means not only do I have no promise mark I also have no molnija marks. Guardians get molnija marks when they kill Strigoi, depending on how many Strigoi you kill. But just because I don't have any marks doesn't mean I haven't killed any Strigoi.
I don't even know how many Strigoi I've killed. 30? 40? 50? Like I said; I know how to fight.
Josh, Austin and I all made our way around the warehouse and to the back. An old rusted door was at the side. Opening the door slowly, I walked in first, then Austin and last was Josh. Now that we were in we would have to stay quiet, I didn't know how many Strigoi we were facing and with the size of this warehouse it could be a lot.
It was dark. There were no windows so there was no sunlight and we had no source of light, we had to watch where we walked carefully relying on our Dhampir senses.
Well that was all they could rely on, as for me I found out there was another way that worked well for me.
It happened after the Spokane incident, when I really started to go out looking for Strigoi, at first I thought it was a coincidence but after a while it was impossible for it to be. You see, whenever I'm around Strigoi I get this strange nauseous feeling in my stomach. The closer a Strigoi is the stronger the feeling is.
None of my friends knew about this, but it has been strange a few times when I would tell them that Strigoi were nearby and soon enough they appeared.
I guess in this sort of occasion it was when I really depended on it. At the moment the feeling was there, telling me there was indeed Strigoi nearby, but I could also tell they weren't close enough so we would have to keep searching.
This place was pretty empty except for the occasional shelf or random wall that we had to turn, I was about to turn around another wall when I heard Josh shouting in a whisper.
With his right hand he waved to Austin and me to come over. We both gave each other a confused look before we walked over to where he was pointing to . . . the ground?
Getting a close enough look I relized it was some sort of door in the floor. It must be a basement.
"Should we look inside?" Josh asked me. I don't know why he was asking me instead of Austin but I guess in some way I always ended up taking the lead.
If Strigoi were hiding somewhere here, which I knew they were. A basement would be a perfect place to hide. The in ground door looked thick as well so it was hard to hear if there was any movement going on down there.
I nodded. "Yeah, but be ready." I whispered. Austin reached down to open it. "I'll go in first, then Josh and then you, don't shut the door behind you." I told Austin.
Slowly I made my way down, it looked like there were stairs but I was worried I was going to fall before I made it down to them. But like reading my mind Josh grabbed my arm making sure I didn't fall. I gave him a thankful smile.
Josh reminded me a lot of Mason. He didn't look like Mason but it was just his personality also he was someone who would be good for me, good for anyone actually he deserved the best he was sweet, caring and can still act like a bit of a smart ass but for some reason just like Mason I couldn't seem to start a relationship.
Thanks to Josh I didn't end up falling and like I thought there was stairs. The nauseous feeling filled my stomach and I helped Josh and Austin get down quicker.
But not quick enough, Strigoi have incredibly good hearing. I looked to see there were about eight sets of red eyes approaching us.
I clutched my stake tighter in my hand and prepared for a fight that I've already done so many times before.