The Problem Read online

  She's serving the teenagers while Sandy's pouring us each a cup of coffee, "None for me thanks,” I put my hand over my cup stopping her.

  "If you're sure now, but it would give you a little push of energy to get you through to your Maple festival", she encourages.

  "Thanks, but I'll just take an unopened bottle of water,” I declare.

  Sandy's eyes met mine for a moment almost searching for something, then she plasters the smile back over her face, "Smart wanting to stay hydrated that's important,” she murmurs before walking off to get what I asked for.

  Savanna snickers at me, "Geeze would you lighten up Knightly she's like fifty what's she gonna do poison us all with community coffee?”

  I glare, trying to ignore her comment, Fletcher remains tight lipped, but gives me a questioning look. I shrug, looking away from him and the table. When she asks for orders everyone orders something warm, while I choose a muffin from the tin at the front that I have made sure to keep my eyes on. Everyone gives me another look, meaning for me to blend in better. Quincy just smiles finding the whole situation comical.

  When the food arrives everyone digs in, Quincy especially excited to have some food in front of her. I take small calculated bites out of the blueberry muffin, I have to admit it's not half bad. We all make small talk trying to talk about normal teen things like clothes and upcoming concerts, that we would never get to wear or attend in real life.

  "I don't feel so good,” Hudson mutters holding his head. A moment later his head falls, he collapses, still breathing, but unconscious.

  "Ahh Hudson,” Beatrice shrieks, jumping up to help him, but before she can get up her body collapses onto his.

  Quincy pushes her chair away from the table, "Gemma I don't feel right,” she comments before her head rolls to the side. Dmitri catches her before she can fall out of her chair.

  "Crap,” he mutters as he loses control of his limbs and falls unconscious beside her.

  "Babe are you alright?" Dante asks looking at Rick who has fallen unconscious in his eggs. Dante tries to wake Rick, but just as soon, his head too falls against the table.

  "Ahhhh,” Savanna shouts once looking terrified as she slips it off her chair onto the floor.

  "Gem ma ge get in tou wit Hunt in it worse they thou t,” Fletcher murmurs as he tries to speak his eyes closing.

  Everything seems so slow, all around me people who were once seeming ordinary now look ready for a fight. Parents stand in front of children holding up utensils, the teens glare at me and suddenly, Sandy, our waitress charges at me with a mop.

  Dodging her attempts to strike me, the others in the diner soon join in trying to get me, "Why couldn't you have just eaten the food,” Sandy yells frustratedly.

  Kicking out, I knock her back into a few tables, her daughter in retaliation charges me and I use my backpack as a shield, hitting her with it. The two men from the bar stand up ready to attack. I'm a fiercely loyal person, the overwhelming urge to look after my group almost causes me to stay in the small diner, but I know we need backup. Pulling my bag on I jump across the table knocking plates and silverware to the ground, charging out the door.

  I can feel them chasing me, just needing to get away, I run. Dodging people on the street, I look behind me seeing them in pursuit. Too focused on the men chasing me I miss what is in front of me.

  Bang, my body must have hit a wall, falling onto my butt I look up startled. For the first time in my entire life my heart skips a beat. Looking into the eyes of the most magnificent man I have ever seen. He's tall with brown hair, golden eyes, dressed in a grey shirt and red flannel with jeans. For a moment, just a moment, I feel something, something great.

  "Get her Shep," one of the men following me yells from behind me.

  The man's eyes flash looking at my pursuers and then back to me. In an instant, I’m shocked back into action, jumping up ready to run. He reaches for me almost delicately, but I dodge his attempt to grab me. Going on the offensive, I lash out preparing to hit him in the face.

  As soon as my hand strikes his face, pain flares, feeling like I just punched a cement wall, "Ahh what are you made of, metal?" I shake my hand out trying to shake the pain away. Most hunters describe fighting a vampire like fighting a human, but faster and stronger, they never said anything about them being made of rocks.

  Preparing to strike him with my other hand, he catches my fist before it can make contact with his face, looking at me with those eyes, "Stop, you're just going to hurt yourself,” he whispers.

  Ignoring him, I strike for his legs, knocking him down, but the problem is that even with falling he still holds a firm grip on me forcing me to the ground with him. At this level, the man, Shep, he acts primal wrestling with me. He is soon able to get me under him as he holds my arms pinning them to the ground and sitting in a way that I can't kick him, has he done this before?

  I keep thrusting my body this way and that, trying to slither out of his hold. “Can you stop doing that or we’re going to have a whole other problem to deal with?” His eyes meet mine and glances down, I realize that I’ve been rubbing myself against a particularly sensitive part of his body. I blush, unintentionally. “Control yourself would you,” I practically growl.

  “I'm trying, but I’m a man, it’s a natural reaction,” he says, not sounding at all guilty.

  I scoff, “I’ll show you a natural reaction,” I move my knee upwards. He stops me before my knee can make contact with his sensitive parts. Struggling against him our eyes make contact and I notice that his eyes seem to glow gold, "That's not possible,” I whisper, an ounce of fear reaching my insides like molten lava. One of the men from the cafe catches up to us. He punches me hard across the temple, making my mind go blank.

  NINE

  Voices fade in and out, faces of people I have never met flash before me, "Gemma wake up,” a familiar voice urges.

  Groggily, I open my eyes, confused to see my group chained up around me. Their ankles and wrists fastened to the wall by thick chains. It is then that I realize that I'm also confined, my wrists and ankles bound to a metal chair in the center of the room.

  My mind quickly fills in the blanks, the dosed food, unconscious friends, and running into the golden eyed man. Pain hits me fast and I almost release a moan before stifling it. I can feel the cut near my temple where I was hit, it's still bleeding.

  "Oh thank goodness I thought you might never wake up,” Quincy looks relieved taking in my appearance.

  "Where are we?" I ask looking around at the cement walls, all around with no sign of a door.

  "We're not sure we've all been up for a few hours, but no one has come in. Were you able to get in contact with Huntington?" Fletcher asks, looking hopeful.

  I shake my head, "No as soon as you were all out the whole diner came after me.”

  Their faces all fall looking distraught, and grave, "I told you she didn't,” Savanna chirps.

  Choosing to ignore her comment I struggle against my bonds, but they just won't let up no matter how hard I pull.

  "We're going to die here, they’re going to kill us, aren’t they?" Beatrice starts to panic, she begins whispering gibberish to herself.

  "Can someone please shut her up?" Dante sarcastically begs.

  "No one is going to die, just remember your training, they may be strong and fast, but they don't know why we're here,” Fletcher ushers trying to regain control of the room.

  "What are we doing here? Especially this town of all places you would think the Creed learned their lesson after what happened years ago, it's a joke sending us in here with no stunning salt and giving trainees the assignment that no one wanted,” Savanna lashes out with her words, confusing me.

  Fletcher sends Savanna a look that silences her, but just as I am about to ask what she's talking about the wall starts glowing in the shape of a door before a hole in the wall pops open. Eight people enter the room. Only two I recognize, the first as the man from the diner who hit me and the second
as the golden eyed man.

  "You didn't tell us that one of them was bleeding", one of the women mentions as I catch sight of their eyes and when I do, fear spreads like a mighty fire. Three of them are vampires, their eyes appearing bright red at the sight and smell of my wound.

  "That be on Abe," Golden Eyes replies looking at me.

  The man Abe looks only slightly guilty, "I had no choice she was putting up a hell of a fight. Wouldn't eat Sandys tainted food.”

  "Very well Abe you may go,” one of the vampires instructs. With a nod he leaves not sparing any of us a second glance.

  "Hmm Really she must be my kind of girl,” a woman my age approaches me. With long dark hair and wearing all black clothes she smiles playfully.

  "Let us out of here,” Beatrice yells, fighting against her chains.

  The girl smiles tauntingly at Beatrice, "Or maybe this one is more my style.”

  "Enough Rose, Ward do we know what they're doing here, or who they are, yet?" A woman that looks to be about Fletcher's age asks.

  Rose backs off at the woman's insistence and moves to stand beside another girl her age who looks miraculously like her, must be twins.

  The man, Ward, also a vampire shakes his head, "No, not yet, but I'm sure Sandy will be able to reveal some answers for us.”

  "Did I hear my name?" Sandy asks, easing her head into the doorway. Ward gestures for her to enter the room, just behind her, her daughter appears carrying some sort of staff.

  "Which one would you like me to do it on?" Sandy asks looking at all of us.

  "Him,” the last vampire who had not yet spoken breaks his silence as he points at Fletcher. Sandy looks to Ward for the final say, and with his nod approaches Fletcher.

  We all start to fight against the barriers holding us to stop them from torturing our Professor. "Leave him alone,” I shout.

  The vampire woman looks at me, "She will not cause him any physical harm,” she says trying to reassure us. A vampire trying to keep me calm, the injustice of it.

  Sandy kneels beside Fletcher, holding out her hand, Mina hands her the staff. Sandy begins to chant slowly at first and then much louder before touching the staff to Fletcher's head. She steps away from him, "Ask him anything, he will answer truthfully.”

  "Who are you and what are you doing here? Be specific,” Ward orders.

  Fletcher shakes his head and struggles as he fights to not answer, "My name is E. R. Fletcher and I'm a hunter. I've been sent here by the Creed to assess the situation, and was approved to bring eight students along since no one else would accept the case for fear of its location, they are all just Huntington trainees,” he reveals.

  The vampire woman gasps, "What? Edmond it's been ten years they were supposed to leave this town alone,” she places a hand over her mouth clearly feeling dare I say, emotional.

  "Alice it'll be alright we knew this day was coming,” he holds her hand in his.

  "They're just children still, they don't know any better. They've been raised to think vampires are the only other ones out there and that we're all evil,” Alice cries.

  My mind registers his words making me beyond confused, what?

  "Let us out of here you monsters", Savanna yells fighting against her restraints.

  "Monsters huh? Scarlett I think we should show them what monsters really look like,” Rose says turning to her twin.

  "Enough, Edmond, Alice, what do you think we should do with them?" Ward questions.

  The couple look at each other almost having a silent conversation just with their eyes, "They're children still they need to be told the truth, what they're really fighting, the truth about the Creed and the lies they've been told,” Alice answers.

  "They're from Huntington, maybe they have news on Henrietta,” the man, Edmond looks around at us.

  In that instant, my blood runs cold, craning my neck to get a good look at them, my eyes widen in shock, but I quickly cover it up. Turning my head to Savanna, it all suddenly makes sense, this town, the very one we're in is the one that my parents supposedly died in.

  Even worse than that, Alice and Edmond, they are my parents, or at least, they used to be. One thing I'm certain of is that Fletcher and Savanna knew, not about my parents being undead alive, but about what this town would mean to me, and the dangers of this place.

  Savanna looks at me guiltily, knowing that I now know. Turning to face Fletcher, he doesn't even have the decency to look guilty. Quincy's eyes grow wide as she just figures out what I have, she looks like she wants to say something, but she holds it in.

  They're still alive, or well unalive. How is this possible? Why have they never somehow let me know? Of course, I don't portray any of my emotions, just resuming my unemotional, stoic expression.

  "Are you sure that's wise? They may be teenagers, but they've still been trained to kill your kind, especially Ward?" The woman Fletcher's age asks, taking us all in.

  Ward turns back to Fletcher, "Do you know the truth about this town?"

  Fletcher again fights some invisible force as he fights to not speak the words, "Yes, the Council told me about the Vampires, Werewolves, Casters, Fairies, monsters, a town full of them,” he wheezes.

  "What the hell is he talking about? Beatrice exclaims agitated just as confused as the rest of us.

  "We don't know anything about this place, he's are teacher we were just following orders let us go,” Rick argues.

  "Is that true did none of them know?" Ward asks looking at Fletcher.

  "Just me, and Dmitri,” Fletcher coughs.

  All eyes turn to Dmitri, of course, his family is in the Creed. He knows everything, but he chooses to share nothing. Not even the significance of this town with me, not even its inhabitants.

  "What the hell Dmitri?" Quincy has had enough and reaches with her leg to kick him.

  "Ouch, stop that, I swore on the Infinity Creed not to reveal what I know. You all know the importance of that,” Dmitri looks to all of us hoping for understanding.

  "Maybe, but you helped to lead us into some town that we clearly weren't prepared for,” Dante replies what we're all thinking. Quincy stops kicking Dmitri, but she refuses to look at him, anger and disappointment written on her face.

  Our capturers all leave to discuss what to do, leaving us all alone in the room. My gaze turns to Fletcher, "How could you not tell me the significance of this town?"

  He sighs, "I knew you wouldn't come if you knew.”

  "Yeah and that would definitely have been a bad thing,” I sarcastically refer to our predicament.

  "Gemma I'm so sorry this must be awful for you. Are you going to tell them who you are?" Quincy asks.

  I shake my head, "No and neither are any of you,” I give them each a stern look.

  Savanna snickers, "Always just looking out for yourself aren't you Henrietta.”

  "Shut your mouth or I swear even these binds won't stop me. Afterall, I still have a sucker punch I owe you,” I sneer.

  She gives me a nasty look, "Wait your Henrietta, as in the one those vampires want information on,” Beatrice questions not having kept up with the conversation.

  "Yeah apparently my dead parents are only really half dead and I am one of the people whose responsibility it is to make sure they're dead dead. Boy is this just turning out to be a great field trip,” the room quiets.

  "G it'll all work itself out,” Quincy whispers, trying to be encouraging, it only half helps.

  "Yeah parents and children disagree all the time,” Hudson chimes.

  “Thank you", I reply hesitantly, not knowing the right way to respond. He gives me an encouraging smile before leaning his head back against the wall.

  "This is intense, I thought my parents were bad,” Rick intercedes looking at me.

  "Yeah your Dad is pretty bad, do you remember the time that he,” Dante starts on a story before letting it fade away, realizing that now isn't quite the time to reminisce.

  I sigh, "Just please don't say anything, I'm st
ill a hunter, just because they're vampires, that means nothing to me. My parents are dead, those people are just echoes of who they used to be, so I'm going to do what I've been trained to.”

  "Gem,” Quincy hesitantly speaks my name wanting to either argue or comfort. Before I can decide which the door bursts open and Golden Eyes walks in carrying a chair and what looks to be my backpack.

  Setting the chair facing me he sits down and unzips the bag, "Is that my bag?" I ask annoyed.

  He pulls out my bow first, it's collapsed right now so it only looks like metal sticks and string, "Be careful with that it's a very expensive longbow,” I explain.

  He looks at me before throwing it to the side.