Shadow's Mark (Currently Being Edited)

Chapter 19: Girl Scout Cookies

This chapter is dedicated to Cheirin. May you continue to be a light in the dark.

"A vampire hunter, huh?"

"Why don't you sound surprised?" I questioned Drew. But before she could answer, I drawled on, "So not only are there supernatural creatures in Shady Heights, but there are also people who hunt them?"

Drew just shrugged her shoulders while turning the steering wheel as we headed down a new street. "Hey, don't look at me," she said, defensively. "This is the first I'm hearing of a vampire hunter, too."

"Okay," I sighed in response. "I just wanna know everything you guys know. And, come to think of it, since this person is a vampire hunter, won't they find out about Autumn?"

"Well, that's a goo—"

"And what if he tries to hunt her?" I gasped as I interrupted Jack from speaking. "Or do you think he'll only hunt the vampires back in Redblood?"

"That's why we—"

"But of course the vampire hunter would have to hunt the original vampire who turned them in the first place," I stated, matter-of-factly, also cutting Jack off yet again. "Which brings us back to my first concern: Autumn's safety."

I continued to ramble on and on, mostly just blurting out whatever thought was in my head, leaving no chance for Jack to speak his mind.

When I was finally retired, Jack groaned in the back seat, clearly annoyed. "Never shoulda told you," he grumbled.

"Too late, you already did," I snapped at him.

"Yeah, but I didn't think you'd be this inquisitive," he complained.

"Hey, I'm just tryna make sense of things. Yesterday I woke up just a normal teenage girl and today I awoke as the savior of this town," I said, a bit agitated. "I just wanna make sense of it all."

"It doesn't have to make sense," he said in a nagging little voice. "Your friends are shadow creatures, so are countless others in this town. And YOU happen to be a shadow monster-slaying warrior. GET. OVER. IT."

I scoffed back at him in disbelief. "You think it's easy to accept all this?"

I went on about how everything was absolutely normal in my life until I was nearly killed by vampires just last night. So was a poor guy who just happened to be with me: Wes. And then I mentioned how upsetting it was to discover my best friends have been keeping a huge secret from me that they're what? Oh yeah, a wolf, a witch, a vampire, and a seer!

On top of that, I've been having daydreams about shadow clouds and magical swords. And now everyone was telling me I was this so called 'shadyss' and that it was my duty to protect everyone and slay dark shadow monsters.

What I didn't mention to my friends was that I had no idea what I was doing. Not in the slightest. Who's to say I wasn't gonna just mess up and end up getting killed by supernatural creatures.

After I took a deep breath, I tried to calm myself down by turning the volume of the radio up. Sugar Sugar by The Archies played, filling up the silence. And when it ended and radio ads went off, I switched the dial off.

"Jenkins, we're here for you," said Jack gently from the back seat. "And I'm sorry if we just dumped all of this on you outta the blue, but we'll be here for you every step of the way ."

I didn't reply and got quiet for a while, causing Jack to scoot closer to my seat to ruffle my hair, a gesture he did as kids when we were apologizing to each other.

"I swear, Jenkins, you're such a baby," he cooed, as if talking to a baby.

I slapped his hand away and adjusted my seat further towards the dashboard. "Well, you're a...dillhole ." 

Ugh. I never was good at name-calling.

Drew snorted as she stifled a giggle. Up until this moment, she had been uncomfortably quiet as Jack and I bickered.

Jack suddenly burst out laughing and soon Drew couldn't keep it up any longer and began laughing as well. It took all I had not to smile but, giving in, I started grinning from ear to ear. I could never stay upset at my friends for long, especially Jack.

"I hate you, guys," I said with a big smile.

"We love you, too," my friends replied in unison, still grinning cheekily.

"We're here," said Drew shortly as she brought the car to a stop at a curb. "There's the place," she pointed towards the house right across the street.

It was quite an impressive two-story colonial house, probably decades old, yet still appearing very well-kept. The front porch massively expanded the length of the house with two great white pillars on either side. The front yard looked quite spacious with green luscious grass, a stone walkway dividing the lawn towards the front steps of the porch. On the curb was an old, off-gray Pontiac station wagon, which looked out of place yet vaguely familiar.

On the sidewalk, we spotted two young girls in yellow uniform and hats walking down from the house onto the sidewalk. The older one was pulling a red wagon behind her full of boxes. Probably girl scouts selling their cookies.

We waited for the girls to round the corner out of sight before Jack and I stepped out of the car to cross the street towards the house.

"You're coming, too, Drew," Jack called out to her in the car as I followed behind him.

Drew turned the ignition, shutting the engine off and followed suit. We eyed the Pontiac as we passed it on our way up to the house. The entire back seat as well as the front passenger seat was filled with a couple of suitcases, bags, and other personal belongings. It looked like someone is moving out.

"Is it just me or does this car look familiar?" asked Jack, glancing at us.

Drew and I both nodded in agreement then continued the walk towards the house. I was the first to reach the top of the steps, Drew and Jack right behind me. When I halted at the porch, Drew stepped forward and approached the great wooden door, reaching a finger to push the doorbell.

A loud bell-like gong resonated from inside and was followed by a sudden crash. Someone cursed loudly inside, a man by the sounds of it. We heard footsteps shuffling towards the front door before it bursted open.

"For the last time, I don't want any of your cookies!" yelled a gruff voice.

When the door fully swung open, we all caught our breaths and froze in place when we quickly recognized the man in front of us.

"You're the vampire hunter?" I asked in dumbfounded shock.

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Aaarggh! Cliffhanger! Don't ya just hate those?

From the bottom of my black heart🖤,

E