Sterling Silver (Sterling Hunter Series Book 1)

Chapter 20

Tabitha scowled down at her phone for the millionth time. When she went into school that morning she'd found a text on her phone from Sebastian saying he was busy "interrogating" Keller and that he wouldn't make it in today. Figured. Kiss a girl and then don't show up the next day to talk about it. How predictable was that?

Shoving her phone into her back pocket she shut her locker, making up her mind. She had a free period before lunch which gave her about an hour of investigative work. If Sebastian wasn't going to include her on his interrogations she would find some information for herself.

"Hey Tab, you're looking... rather determined today," Chelsea said coming up beside her.

Tabitha slung her backpack over her shoulder, forcing a smile on her face. "Yeah I am. I'm heading out for my free period and lunch. Forgot I had to help Mrs. Carter with something today... So I'll see you in study hall, okay?"

Chelsea raised her eyebrows as they stopped in front of the exit door between two lockers. "Okay... try not to skip like you did last time. Your mom just about killed you."

Tabitha grinned and saluted her, winking as she pushed open the door. "You got it. See ya Chelse."

"See ya..."

Keeping her pace even, Tabitha made her way around the school building and toward her car. She threw her backpack in the passenger seat, started the engine and headed out. One hour. That was all she had. And luckily Jonas was in school. He would be in advance algebra right now and Mr. Carter was out of town on a "business meeting." In other words, he was meeting up with a bunch of other hunters to go on a little trip. Or to talk about vampires or whatever it was vampire hunters did on vacation. All Tabitha had to handle was Mrs. Carter, which should be pretty easy seeing how Mrs. Carter was always busy even when it wasn't tourist season.

She hit the gas going a bit over the speed limit, and zoomed through town. Tabitha followed the wooden blue painted sign pointing down a gravel road. In white cheery letters it said THIS WAY TO CARTER'S INN. The inn had been passed down in their family from generation to generation. When Jonas's dad retired, Jonas would take over as leader of the vampire hunters and as the owner of Carter's Inn.

Tabitha used to see Jonas all the time. They would hang out and talk and train together at least two to three times a week. Especially before her dad died. Afterwards they saw each other often. But then... the Carters got weird on her during their last hunting trip and Tabitha wanted to know why. During the few talks they had had over the years, she knew the task of chief vampire hunter and Inn owner was daunting to Jonas. He'd told her once how he wished he had another sibling to pass the responsibility onto. Kind of like what Derrick had done to Tabitha. He didn't want to deal with the vampire hunting life but one of the Sterling kids had to follow in their father's footsteps, uphold the Sterling legacy. That legacy fell on Tabitha's shoulders.

Not that she minded, it was just... she knew what it felt like to be boxed in. To have a fixed destiny like Jonas did.

She pulled up the long driveway in front of the three-story, wide cottage. A thatched roof, painted white and the shutters a pretty robin egg blue. On the first floor was the check-in office, the Carter's actual offices, the kitchen and dining area. Second floor and some of the third floor for guests and the rest of the third floor held the Carter's rooms.

Tabitha turned off her car and headed up to the large wrap-around porch with the two wicker rocking chairs on either side of the door. A whoosh of warm air blew into her face as she stepped in. To her left was the front office counter with papers strewn all over the desk and a swivel chair behind it, a laptop's screen up and on. To her right was a large cozy dining area with wooden tables and cushioned chairs and a few booths in the corners, a large buffet style bar counter by the kitchen. All the walls were painted the same blue as the shutters outside, the rooms accented with white and brown.