Sterling Silver (Sterling Hunter Series Book 1)

Chapter 29

Tabitha's hand went to her parted lips and she stumbled back a step, hitting the wall next to the door.

No...

No.

He couldn't have done it. Her father had been hunting a... a random vampire. A random vampire had killed him, and Tabitha had made it her mission to avenge him. To kill every vampire she met in hopes that one of them who died at her hand was the one who had killed him. Tabitha had gone into the hunting business because of her father's death. Her siblings had left her and her mother all because of her dad dying. But now... all of her hard work... every horrible thing that had happened to her in the last three years? It was all his fault. The man standing in front of her had very literally ruined her life. He had made her the person she was today. Without her father's death Tabitha couldn't fathom where she would be right now, what kind of person she would be.

Alistair nodded, smiling as if pleased with this reaction, pleased with what he had done. "Yes, let it sink in my dear girl. I had your father killed. I would have done it myself but I was otherwise engaged. But I made sure to send a person I could trust to get the job done. Your family unbalanced nature by making me and Emmeline the monsters we are and to truly set things back in order, hunter and prey, your family had to die. I told her to kill the rest of the family too, to end the Sterling line altogether. I was getting tired of these games, but now that I meet you... You've sparked a newfound interest of her family in me. So when I saw you in that alley I could hardly believe my eyes. A Sterling hunter, a very powerful one... a prodigy at that, was still alive and hunting. Not to mention teamed up with my former friend Sebastian."

Anger and pain swelled within her, like a wound being reopened. She had put her father's death aside, tucked it away and come to terms with it two years ago. She'd gotten over the sudden changes in her life. And now it felt as if Alistair was ripping the heavily fortified and reinforced band-aid off her heart.

She touched her chest where her heart beat wildly. It all came rushing back. Her father had been the glue in her family. The one who had held everyone together with his love and warmth and strength. In the first few months and then year after his death, she had exhausted herself trying to take his place and become the glue that kept her family together. It hadn't worked. And now Alistair was standing in front of her telling her she hadn't even gotten retribution for his death. She would have killed all of those vampires anyways, but the real murderer had been out in the world all along.

Alistair was the true monster with blood on his hands.

Alistair chuckled, smirking. "You poor girl have suffered so much in the past few years. I almost feel bad for tearing you apart like this. Your thoughts are roiling, your morals bending, every action, every vampire you killed being put into question. So hard, so much pain and conflict. It's almost..." His eyebrows rose in amusement, "fun to watch."

Tabitha gritted her teeth, her hands balling into fists at her sides. She was going to kill him. Plunge a stake into his heart and then rip it out. Make him feel the pain he'd caused her for so many years.

She watched, a plan edging into her mind, as he stepped back, enjoying her pain too much. His smile widened in delight at a sudden thought and he turned on his heels.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Jonas duck down behind the counter. Alistair was too distracted by Tabitha's spinning thoughts to sense his second hostage roaming about. Jonas was going for the knives. Good. But they would need something stronger. A stake. Metal knives would hurt him, but they wouldn't kill him. Not even if she plunged it straight into his heart. Vampire hearts healed around everything except for wood because wood splintered into tiny pieces and dug into their most important organ. But for now, she would settle for a knife.