Kindred Series Book One: Rose's Thorns

Chapter 3: New Beginnings and New Friends

            Terrie had finally made it home sometime past five in the morning and had gone straight to the shower. Concussion or not she wanted to shower and sleep and she didn't feel like waking up her aunt to give her an update. The only other thing she did before going to bed was send a quick email to her friends before falling into a nightmare filled sleep about her mother and Blaine.

Somewhere around two in the afternoon Terrie had a sharp chill drop over her, enough to wake her up swinging though a hand quickly caught hers by the wrist. Cracking open tired eyes and looking through now drenched hair she found her aunt Cameron standing over her, a pitcher in one hand, Terrie's wrist captured in the other. "Sonya told me Zayne and Blaine were in town last night and you don't even bother to wake me when you get home so I know you are alive?" Her aunt tried to make herself look big and menacing considering her small and ample size. Standing at five foot one and a half inches tall the woman looked like an oversized Barbie doll, her long blonde hair impossibly blonde for it to be natural despite the fact it was. Her blue eyes burned with anger and worry and Terrie found herself sighing softly.

"It was after five when I got back Cameron, I didn't want to disturb you, and all I wanted was to sleep. Plus either way you would have been pissy when you woke up. Figured this was the easier route." Pulling her hand from her aunt's grasp she rubbed her tired eyes before grabbing the towel she'd left on her nightstand from her shower to dry her now soaking and cold hair. "Besides if you were so worried you would have stayed awake. I told you I was going after the vampire who has been pointlessly killing in the area didn't I?"

Cameron's gaze lost its anger and quickly became nothing but the concern and worry Terrie knew she tried to hide with that angry look. "I know but I hadn't expected it to be either of them. Nor had you I am expecting." Terrie nodded in agreement, staying silent as she finished drying her hair, the long red locks much darker still from the little water still in them. "I wish you would have called when you realized, I would have been out there to fight with you. And you know as soon as school starts back you won't be out there as much, it will be Sonya, Darrian and myself."

"I know Cameron, I know," Terrie groaned, dreading the fact that soon she would be stuck in a schoolroom learning things she had already known years in advance because her mother had taught her from home so that her role as a Guardian would not be hindered by public school. Cameron had insisted however after her sister's death that the local school would be good for her since a new generation of Kindred was there and it would give her a chance to make friends amongst them and hopefully lead them away from the path many of their ancestors had followed. "Either way now that you are awake meet me out back in twenty. We are going to get those stiff joints of yours moving so that you are ready in case anything happens tonight." She rolled her eyes at her aunt, laughing softly as the woman walked from her room with obviously more stiff and sore joints than herself.

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They trained and sparred nearly four hours, Cameron stopping when she looked down at her watch to see it was going on six-thirty in the afternoon. "That's enough for today Terrie. Go get showered up while I clean up." Terrie stopped mid-kick to the dummy she'd been practicing her high kicks on, lowering her leg slowly as she tried not to show how sore she still was from the night before. She'd not realized how stiff her laying down after chasing Zayne would really leave her. Her aunt's hair was pulled back in a high bun to keep it out of her face while they had trained and despite her petite build the woman packed more punch than most of the renegade Kin she'd ever met in her sixteen years. Terrie knew she would have more than one bruise to show for training today after not letting Cameron know she'd made it home safe. She stopped next to her aunt who was pushing training dummies back into their proper places long enough to give her a tight hug and a kiss atop her head with a small smile.