A Slayer's Daughter

2

The next morning I woke up with a jolt, from one of my nightmares, but it was about seven. I sat up and took a better look around the room. Lillian had told me it was going to be mine. It was simple, nothing over decorated with colour, it felt cozy as if I had lived here my whole childhood. I was lost in thought, when somewhere the phone rang. I got up and headed to the door, when I heard Lillian answer.

"Hello," she was quiet for a second, as I walked down to see what was going on."Are you kidding me, James...no that was the problem yesterday, and John had fixed it just fine..."

It was quiet as I walked down the stairs, and sat on the last step, just behind her. She turned and saw me. I gave her a smile. She chuckled.

"Fine, I'll call him again." she hung up and sighed deeply.

"What's going on?"

"Damn oven, is going haywire, and the repair man just fixed it yesterday."

"I guess he didn't fix it."

She gave me a look.

"No, he did, I saw it with my own eyes, the damn thing was warming up, was cooking and all that just fine. I feel like I'm being sabotaged!"

"By who?"

She thought about it for a minute, she seemed to come to a conclusion, but didn't say anything. Instead she turned to me, my guess taking in my dark under eyes and baggy clothes. I'd been shopping only in second-hand stores, none of which really had my right size. I was 5'5 and now weighed at least 165, five pounds under weight, with a big ass and hips, and I would have an hourglass figure, but I never let myself get that thick.

"Hungry?" she asked, but my stomach growled loudly in response, we both laughed.

"Sure, I can eat."

"Okay, then go get changed, and we'll go to the bakery and then go eat."

I got up and headed up stairs, changed, did my hair in a french braid, and headed down stairs again.

"I'm ready." I said, pulling on my shoes, which had seen better days but they still worked for me.

"Okay, let's go."

I followed her out to the Tahoe, and we drove into town. Once we drove into town, I got a better chance to look around with the sun out. The town was nicely assorted with shops and stores all down the main street. The roads out lead mostly to houses, apartments and gas stations and bigger restaurants. We parked and when I looked at the place, I was surprised.

"What do you think?"

"It's cute." I said as we walked into the bakery, the display cases or whatever, empty of any baked goods.

"Take a seat, I'll be out in a minute." Lillian pointed me to one of the little tables and chairs. I took a seat and waited. Looking over one of the little menus. Lillian made breads, cupcakes, cakes of any kind, and donuts. The menu had pictures of all the things they had made in the past. It surprised me how a mind could be so...creative.

I heard the jingle of a bell but didn't look up, until I heard his voice.

"Hello, again." I looked up and found the officer from last night. When I remembered what he was, I quickly got to my feet, putting room between us.

"How the hell?" I said. He was fighting back a grin, but took a seat across from mine.

"How am I walking out in the sun?" He asked and I nodded. He invited me to sit down again. I did it carefully.

"Magic." I finally said, that made the grin come, and he did this little thing showing he was impressed.

"Magic, we all help each other out here. It is, after all, a safe place to do such things."

" Somethings should not be mixed!" I said, feeling like I was going to faint, but I kept myself steady.

"Indeed, but in this case, everyone that walks into this town is under oath, and if it's broken...."

"You'll kill them?"

He went straight faced, and shook his head.

"They get kicked out."

"Wow, so awful, so cold-blooded."

The officer gave me a look, as if studying me. He sat there like that for a while, until I heard heels clicking in our direction.

"They won't have any bread today, so, I won't have my toast today...hi, and you are?"

I looked up and if anyone could be called a rich girl, this girl definitely fit the definition. She had the most soft looking, amber-colored hair that reached half way down her back, with porcelain skin, full lips, and the lightest brown eyes. She looked like she belonged on the cover of a fashion magazine, like a super model. With a perfectly fitted dress and red heels.

"Nobody, I'm just..."

"This is Lillian's Niece, Alessandra." said the officer, not taking his eyes off me, I wished the ground would swallow me whole.

"Oh, is that so, its...nice to meet you." she said really unenthusiastic, I forced a smile, and barely shook her hand.

She was obviously taking in my clothes and stuff, and coming to the conclusion that I was beneath her obviously, my hands weren't soft like hers, my hair was dark brown, and wildly curly, and I was toned with muscle because of work and training.

"Nice to meet you too, Miss..."

"Branfield, Amanda Branfield." she emphasized her name with pride, I just nodded, " well, babe, let's get going, we have some time to hang out and then you have to get back to work, excuse us, Alexia."

I just smiled and nodded, the Officer gave me a look, but stood up and pushed his chair.

"See ya later, Alessandra." he said it so sweetly, I had to fight a small shiver, as he walked away.

Soon, Lillian came out and took the Officer's empty seat.

"Damn it, it's dead. How the hell did that happen?"

I shook myself out of my thoughts, and looked at her.

"How old is the oven?"

"I just replaced it,maybe a couple of years ago...it can't be broken."

"Don't you have other ovens?"

"Yes, but this also keeps the bread warm so it would rise faster, and both are dead."

"Oh, I'm sorry, so what are you going to do?"

"I guess buy an other oven. Those suckers go for $5,000!"

"Oh, my gosh, and do you have that kind of money?!"

"Yes, but if they keep breaking down, this is going to cost a hell of a lot more."

"Do you have video cameras?"

She suddenly went still, then looked up at me, with a big grin.

"Why didn't I ever think of that? Thank you so much hon!"

"Wait, but don't tell anyone about them. That way, you find out things a little better."

She clapped her hands excitedly, and told everyone the store would be closed today. Then we headed to the appliance store. It was just out of town, and they had a small bunch of ovens.

"John?" Lillian called, and a man in his thirties, early forties came around the corner. He was tallish, but a little husky, light beard and mustache which was lightly graying. The man had the most charming smile I had ever seen, I was even feeling it, but Lillian seemed unaffected.

"Hey, Lil, what's going on?"

"I need a new oven."

The charming smile was quickly replaced with a worried look.

"What do you mean? I just fixed it yesterday."

"Yeah, and this morning James called me and it's just dead."

A look of anger crossed John's face. I mean I would be too, this could affect his reputation as a repairman.

"I'll bring in the new one, later this afternoon."

"Thank you." He then noticed me and cleared his throat, " Oh, this is my niece, Alex. Alex, this is John, he runs this store, and is a repair man for..."

"I dabble in a little bit of everything. How do you do Alex?"

When I took his hand, I could feel some of his muscles relaxing, as if not to put too much strength into his hand shake. Wolf. I took his hand a little more firmly than I had with Amanda, but I still had my doubts, even when it was obvious he liked my aunt. I turned to look at Lillian who was now on her phone. I had to sigh.

"It's nice to meet you, John, hope to see ya around."

"Count on it." he said. Now I could tell he was hiding an Irish accent. I let go and Lillian said good-bye while walking to the tahoe, and looking at her phone.

"Okay, I found where we can buy some cameras. Let's go!"

"Yeah, didn't you just ask John if he had any?" I asked and that idea seemed to dawn on her, then awkwardly got back out of the Tahoe, and walked up to John. They talked for a bit, and then John turned to walk inside, then came back out with a medium-sized box. Lillian gave him some cash, and walked back to the vehicle. I watched as poor John just watched my aunt leave, his eyes just hurt in a way.

"Okay, glad you said something while we were still here."

"Lillian, what's the story about John?"

"Um...oh, John is the Alpha of the pack in town. He has two kids, about your age, I think; one boy the oldest, and the youngest is a girl."

"Is he well liked around town?"

She looked at the instruction manual, as I asked questions.

"Um...yeah, for the most part yes, he's not too happy to have so many vampires around?"

"How many are there?"

"Um..five I guess, Captain Marcus, Christopher, Joseph, Samuel, and Johnathan."

"What's the officer from last night's name?" I asked, taking advantage of her not paying attention.

"That was Chris, or Christopher."

I smiled inwardly, I now knew his name.

"How did he know what my name was?"

Lillian now put the paper down and looked at me.

"I wrote it on the paper."

I sighed and sat back.

"I'm sorry hon."

"Naw, it's fine."

After she put things back in the box, she pulled out of the parking of the store, and we headed to get food. To my surprise, Hollow had a small mall. Lillian pushed me into some of the shops, and I couldn't help but like some of the clothes. They were cute, and they fit me well. I bought a few things, then Lillian took me into the salon. They cut my hair, which was to my butt, and cut it up to half way up my back, they styled my curls, and did my eyebrows. Which God knew I needed it. They also gave me a couple of products to keep my hair tame but my curls bouncy. I also got somethings I needed. Once back in the Tahoe, Lillian looked at me.

"How do you feel now?"

"Refreshed honestly, I haven't had this kind of thing before, it was fun."

"It never hurts to get pampered!" she said, and we headed back to her house. She stayed with me for a while, then went back to meet John for the oven, and to place the cameras. I changed into some work out clothes I just got, and went for a run. Lillian had told me of a path. Most runners take I followed the path for a while, but then I found an intersection. Without thinking, I took the left, and somehow got turned around. I tried to go back but now couldn't find the first path I had taken.

I stopped, and looked around to see if I could find familiar landmarks, but everything looked the same.

"Okay, I guess, I should just keep running." I did exactly that until I reached a house. It looked livid in, but I didn't try to explore much further, until I heard something that made my blood run cold. Someone was screaming.