A Hunter Within

by Anna Applegate

  “Okay, Mama.” I heard my little voice say.

  “Good girl.” My father squeezed my shoulders tightly.

  Tears were falling freely from my eyes and heard myself sob. I had never been able to remember anything of my parents or my childhood before Amanda, or Lizzy, I guess. It was like I had shut everything out. This memory felt so real. I knew it was a memory, one I had pushed down so far it was just now breaking to the surface. I forced myself back to the moment I had been remembering. I didn’t want to let them go. And there was something that I hadn’t remembered yet that was important. I just knew it.

  “Remember, you are Jules Parker now. You need to listen to Auntie Lizzy and be a good girl for me. What’s Aunt Lizzy’s name?” One single tear slipped down my mother’s cheek, and my little hand cupped her chin.

  She immediately brought her hand to mine and kissed my palm.

  “Aunt Amanda,” I answered.

  “And are you Jules Van Helsing?” my mother’s voice said softly.

  “No, I’m Jules Parker.”

  I gasped and opened my eyes. My body was trembling, and my face was wet with tears. Amanda was on the floor in front of me, and Seeley’s voice came from behind me.

  “It’s impossible,” he said, breathless.

  “I’m Jules Van Helsing,” I whispered.

  Seeley approached me from behind the couch, and I saw a picture in his hand. His face captured the shock and surprise that I was experiencing. He watched me with wide eyes and nodded, handing me the picture.

  “These are my parents,” I told him. “I’m the last Van Helsing.”

  CHAPTER 12

  Seeley looked like he wasn’t sure what to say, and I was certain this was one of the rare times he felt speechless. A vampire king probably wasn’t caught often with nothing to say. I looked back down at the ground in front of me and tried to regulate my breathing so I didn’t give in to panic.

  Amanda looked at me, unshed tears still brimmed in her eyes along with the streaks that had already fallen down her face. “You remember?”

  “I think so. It has been so long,” I said, my voice sounding as if I was still far away in my memories.

  “You didn’t talk much after they died. The therapist, who of course didn’t know anywhere near the level of detail of what had happened, told me that you might block some things out,” she informed.

  I nodded and sat in silence.

  “I know you haven’t spoken to Henry yet, but you can trust him,” she said quietly, slowly glancing at Seeley as she did. “Your parents worked for Falcone Industries, Jules. No one has come looking for you from that place, not ever. I don’t know why they needed you safe other than they loved you, but I’m not an idiot. They were more than researchers there, and you are more than just an ordinary girl. When you went to school, you met Henry, who recognized you instantly. He came to me and told me who he was. I had heard his name, but it had been so long. Apparently, whoever took you at Falcone was trying to do something to you, and Henry was the one who found you. He was the one who got your parents that day you were taken. He prevented anything serious from happening to you,” Amanda informed me.

  I looked down at my hands, not sure what to say as the realization dawned on me at what Henry meant from earlier that he knew me as a child. He hadn’t just known me; he’d been protecting me then just as he had somehow been protecting me now.

  Amanda continued on. “When you started showing an interest in Falcone, I was terrified, and Henry was too. But he found ways to keep you safe. I don’t know if it was your parents calling you there somehow, or if it’s just a terrible, cruel joke of the world that you were so set on working there, but that’s why I’ve been scared and hesitant. Whatever happened when you were a child was enough to scare your parents into giving you up. And Henry believes, as I have in the back of my mind, that whoever took you, may have hurt them in the end.” She sniffed and lost control for a few minutes, wrapping her arms around me.

  I held onto the woman who had given up her entire life to protect and care for me. The woman who never asked for anything in return. “You sacrificed everything for me?” I asked her.

  “Whatever they were, whatever you are, you are worth all of this a million times over. I love you,” she said, strongly and confidently.

  I tightened my arms around her. I couldn’t put into words what she meant to me, and how grateful I was for everything she sacrificed.

  Amanda sniffed and pulled away. “I should get some tissues.” She smiled and retreated quietly.

  I sat on the couch, stunned and not sure where to go. Perhaps this was the reason I had been so sure I should be helping with everything going on at Falcone. Maybe Amanda was right, and my parents had somehow drawn me there.

  Seeley’s voice broke my thoughts. “No, I need you to get her stuff out of there. She can’t stay.”

  My head snapped over at him. “What are you doing?” I questioned.

  “You’re moving in with us.”

  “I’m doing no such thing, Seeley,” I said. Of all the times to act rashly, now certainly wasn’t it.

  “You don’t understand, if Marissa knows what you are, she’ll try to kill you, again.” He didn’t shout, but there was a complete lack of kindness in his voice and an underlying panic.

  I reached out my hand to touch his arm, but he pulled back and turned back to his call. “I don’t care what time it is, do it quietly.”

  The dread was rising in me again. I needed something that was mine, something untouched by all the change around me. “I don’t want to leave my apartment.”

  “I’ll call you back.” He threw his phone onto the couch in a fierce act of frustration. “I’ve put you in more danger than you understand. If I had known… If I had even thought for a minute…”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  He looked furious but acted as though it was a fury toward himself. “Henry was right. I should have known better than to show up at the gala. If Marissa has any suspicions about you, I could have confirmed them, or hell started them!”

  “We didn’t know,” I said, lowering my voice and my eyes to the ground.

  He came over to me and lifted my face gently with his hands. “Are you okay?” Seeley asked.

  “No,” I laughed. It was the wrong reaction, but at this point I wasn’t sure what reaction to give. I didn’t know what to do with what I had learned.

  I was apparently meant to lead an entire organization of hunters someday. Would anyone expect that now? What right did I have, growing up completely oblivious to this world? Was I even a hunter anymore? I was adamant about stopping Marissa, but beyond that, I had no idea who or what I was, or where to go from here.

  “Parker.” He stopped when I glanced up at him.

  “Guess you really can’t call me that anymore, huh?”

  He didn’t say anything but stepped back, which I found strange. I thought we had been growing together, but there was a shift and suddenly an entire world between us.

  He frowned and looked back up, as if he wanted to say something. Amanda walked back into the room, holding a box of tissues. She had taken longer than necessary, and I noticed she had cleaned her face up a little bit. I smiled warmly at her. I’d always admired her. But now, knowing more about my past, remembering more, she was my hero.

  My phone started ringing, and I noticed Henry’s name flash on the screen.

  “Hey thank goodness! What’s—” I was cut off by Henry’s urgent shouting.

  “Jules, you need to leave your aunt’s house immediately. Falcone is on their way there. I just heard.”

  Seeley looked at the phone and then barked out urgently, “Get in the kitchen.”

  I turned my head back to where he stood, but he was gone. The back door was open, and I was frozen in place for a second, wondering what had just happened. I obeyed his command, taking Amanda’s arm and leading her with me back into the kitchen area.

  “Was that Seeley?
” Henry asked.

  “Yes,” I said hoarsely, scared at the call and Seeley’s sudden departure.

  “Stay close to him, Jules. You’ll be safe with him, okay?”

  “Yes,” I said again.

  There were three loud knocks at the door, and I jumped, dropping the phone.

  “Ms. Amanda Parker?” a man’s voice boomed from the other side.

  We stayed quiet, and Seeley reappeared, looking extremely tense and absolutely ferocious. “There are three cars outside with six men. If you don’t answer, they’ll fan out and surround the house. We need to get out of here, now,” he urged.

  “Who are they?” I asked.

  He responded, almost annoyed. “Falcone, Jules.”

  “Why would they be here?” I hissed. My mind wandered back to the discussion this evening with Marissa, and I knew. She tested me with the pictures of my parents, with the reflexes. She’d seen Seeley.

  “She knows,” I said quietly.

  Seeley made eye contact with me and then looked away.

  “I’ll stall them,” Amanda spoke up, fixing her hair and dabbing her fingers under her eyes one last time.

  “No!” I said, grabbing her arm, holding on as if everything depended on keeping her next to me.

  Three more knocks came. “Ms. Parker if you do not open this door, we will be forced to break it down. We simply wish to bring Ms. Jules Parker back to work. We believe she is in grave danger.” The man’s voice barked from the other side of the front door.

  “We don’t need you to stall,” I whispered, grabbing onto Amanda’s arm. “Seeley’s fast, he can get us away.”

  “I could get you one at a time, yes. But not both at once.” He looked upset as he spoke.

  “Well you go.” I pulled on her arm. “Then come back for me,” I told him.

  Amanda turned and cupped my cheeks in her hands. “You are mine as much as you are your parents. I would do anything to protect you. I will not leave this house until you are safe. Go,” she said. Her voice was strong and steady, and I was looking into the eyes of a woman who showed no fear when she spoke to me.

  “What if they take you?” I said, my eyes filling with tears and thoughts of unspoken words of adoration.

  A succession of knocks came, banging so hard I thought the fists alone would have been enough to splinter the door off its hinges.

  “I’ll stall them. It’s you they are after, and I won’t let them have you. If they are as dangerous as I believe, as Henry believes, they can’t ever take you, Jules. Especially if they did have something to do with your parent’s death.” She started walking to the front door. “Go. I love you. Call me when you’re safe.” She sounded so confident, so brave.

  I ran up and grabbed onto her, hugging her fiercely.

  “I’m coming. Sorry, I had to get dressed,” she shouted toward the door, buying an extra minute.

  I couldn’t bear to let her go. “I love you,” I said, squeezing hard once more.

  She smiled, running her hand down the side of my face and looking at Seeley. “Do not let anything happen to her, Seeley.”

  “You have my word,” he said solemnly.

  Amanda was opening the door as Seeley was pulling me out the back. “Jules we have to move.”

  I heard Amanda’s voice but couldn’t make out what she’d said. Seeley tugged on my arm. We slipped out the back door.

  A single gunshot sounded.

  I turned back toward the house, my eyes wide with fear. The sound was quick, but I couldn’t get the noise out of my head.

  I heard nothing but the sound on repeat—no voices. I pulled away from Seeley to run to Amanda, to make sure she was okay. But his arms wrapped around me, and his hand covered my mouth. I was yanked backward, quicker than possible, but not quick enough to pull me from the nightmare in my head.

  Everything blurred around me. By the time the world stopped spinning, I was somewhere I’d never been. Seeley set me down, and I lashed out, shoving at him and pounding at his chest.

  “Take me back,” I screamed. “We have to get her,” I continued shouting, which was probably stupid if we were being chased.

  He let me have my moment, standing there looking broken. When I relented, he spoke. “We can’t go back. We have to go home.”

  “I was home.” I screamed louder than I ever had with rage, with frustration, with fury. I fell to my knees as the weight of what may have just happened hit me, truly hit me. If that shot was for Amanda, the last remaining family I had was gone, and I was alone in this world. I took a deep breath, which sounded like I was choking. And I was, I was choking on memories, on the pain.

  “I need to know she’s okay,” I said, breaking down in the middle of wherever Seeley had run to.

  He kneeled beside me, taking me in his arms. “We have to keep going. I’ll go back myself as soon as you’re safe and see if it was her, but Jules I need you to prepare yourself…” he broke off as I met his eyes.

  In my heart, I knew what had happened. Something was said, Amanda wouldn’t move out of the way, and they killed her. They wanted me and she stood in their way. She was expendable to them. But not to me.

  “I’m so sorry. We have to keep moving,” Seeley urged. He stood beside me, holding out his hand.

  I glared at it. My anger at the situation reached out to him now. I didn’t want his focused determination. I wanted to be held tightly and woken up from this nightmare. I needed to see Henry. While he wasn’t family, he knew Amanda, and that was the closest thing I had to family at the moment.

  I stood on my own and took a shaky breath before trembling for a minute longer. More tears escaped, and I held my hands over my eyes for a few moments. I breathed again, brushing the tears from my face and trying to set on a steely façade to get me through whatever was coming next.

  “Fine. Let’s go,” I ordered to Seeley.

  He nodded at me, lifting me up before racing off into the night.

  ***

  At some point, we started walking and were picked up by Kellan and Rebecca. Seeley sat with me in the back of the car but didn’t pay any attention to me. He wouldn’t even look at me.

  I so desperately needed someone to let me know it would be okay. Heck, to let me know I was alive because nothing seemed real anymore. When my parents died, I hadn’t talked to anyone for months. At around month six of not talking, Amanda had called a therapist. She clung to me firmly every night. It was as if she was desperate to make sure I knew I wasn’t alone. She never left my side, even when I wasn’t acknowledging her. I had forgotten all of that, until tonight.

  It was almost as if I was reverting back into that childlike state, where I needed her to do that for me again. But she wouldn’t. My aunt was gone. And it didn’t look as though there was anyone who could hold me here like she did.

  We pulled up to Seeley’s house, and everyone got out. I just stared through the car window at the dark building before me. I thought my biggest problem would be helping the vampires get Gabriel and then letting them take care of Marissa’s reign. Now, it was my job to keep them in line and run an organization of hunters who had for some reason seen it fit to let my parents be murdered by a back-stabbing, treacherous and manipulative money whore.

  I got out, slamming the car door.

  “We’ll get your stuff when it’s safe,” Seeley said, speaking softly like I was about to break. Maybe I was.

  I felt myself getting to that point. Maybe it would be better to let myself break. Perhaps it would be better to be dead inside.

  “Is someone going to make sure my roommates aren’t killed, too?” I asked, sarcastically.

  I almost thought I saw a hint of something like pride or amusement on Rebecca’s face. She could shove whatever look it was up her uptight butt for all I cared.

  “We’ll wipe their memories of you for now. That should protect them,” Seeley said, before turning to go back inside.

  The rage came tumbling out. “Are you insane?” I asked. �
�So Falcone shows up and asks, ‘Hey, where’s your roommate?’ and my friends don’t know what they are talking about. You think Falcone’s lackeys will believe they had their minds wiped by vampires?” I asked incredulously. “No, they’ll think they are lying and shoot them, too.” I shook my head, pushing past Seeley toward the house. “I’ll call Abbey and talk to her and tell her I’m leaving school. Stay out of it. You’ll just get them killed.”

  I reached into my pocket to take out my phone but realized I had left it at the house. “Shoot, I dropped my phone,” I muttered. It appeared in front of my face a second later.

  “I saw and I grabbed it. I didn’t want them tracing anything else,” Seeley said and briefly touched my arm as he handed me the phone. He looked lost on what to do.

  I changed direction, feeling lost myself. “Henry will know what to do,” I said, trying to stay calm as I dialed his number.

  Seeley nodded.

  Henry answered on the first ring, frantic but his tone soon became one of overwhelming relief.

  The pain come rushing back in toward my heart when I heard his voice. If I couldn’t find a way to breathe, I may drown in this sorrow for good.

  “They killed Amanda,” I finally got out through the sobs.

  “What?” Henry’s voice sounded frantic on the other end. “Jules, where are you? Are you safe? Who killed Amanda?”

  I sobbed harder and felt the phone pried from my hands. I fell down on my knees in the middle of Seeley’s living room and heard his voice behind me.

  “She needs someone here. I’ll send you the address.”

  “Wait!” I yelled before he hung up the phone. “Abbey needs to think I’m not coming back. If they look for me at home, I don’t want…”

  “He says he’ll take care of it.” Seeley’s voice was grim, and he put the phone gently next to me. His retreat and the wave of loneliness that came with it made everything even more unbearable.

  A hand touched my shoulder, but it wasn’t Seeley. It was Rebecca.

  She took my arm, pulling me up from the ground and onto the couch.

  She set a glass of something carbonated with ice and a straw in front of me. I glanced over at her as I wiped at my eyes.