A rewrite of The Hunters: Destiny Rising. By LJ. SMITH.
LJ.SMITH created Klaus.
A stand alone monster.
No family.
No redeeming qualities.
"I'm one of the Old Ones! An Original! Do you know what that means? I've never died. Every one of you has di...
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"Thanks for meeting me," Christian said. He grinned up at Lexie from his seat on the weight bench. "I know you don't remember," He added, "But we used to work out together a lot."
"Really?" Lexie said, interested. She could believe it, easily: anyone raised by her father would try hard to excel physically. "Which one of us was better?"
Cristian's smile widened. "That was pretty hotly disputed, as a matter of fact," He said. "You were a little faster than me and better with the stave and martial arts, but I was stronger and better with knives and bows."
"Huh." Lexie was good with knives and as a vampire she thought but her animal diet made her weaker. Of course, in her reality....the real reality, she reminded herself....she'd had a lot more actual battle experience than Cristian. "Maybe we should see if that's still true," She said challengingly.
"You know, I've gotten pretty strong." Cristian chuckled. "Lexie," He said. "I'm a vampire now. I'm pretty sure I've gotten stronger, too." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his face fell. "A vampire," He repeated, rubbing one hand across his mouth. "It's hard to believe, you know?" He shook his head. "I've become the thing I'm supposed to hate." He raised his eyes to meet Lexie's, his face was bleak.
A pang of pity swamped Lexie. She could remember how she'd felt, before the Guardians changed everything, when she'd learned that Klaus had left her wrong. Wiped her memories leaving her with an insatiable hunger for blood.Until Stefan had helped her. Now Cristian was changed and desolate. "There are good vampires, you know,"She told him. "My friends Stefan, Enzo and Chloe, they fought with us against Klaus. Stefan's saved a lot of people."
Cristian nodded, acknowledging her words, but didn't speak."Okay," Lexie said, mimicking her father's time-to-train, no-nonsense tone as best she could. It wouldn't help Cristian to dwell on his misery. "Enough flapping of the lips. Show me what you've got."
Cristian grinned, welcoming the change of mood, and stretched back on the weight bench, his hands on the racked barbell overhead. "Load me up," He said. "I want to see how strong I am now."
