Total eclipse of a heart (Embry Call)

22. New assignment

Darkness surrounds me, a mist dancing in the moonlight as if to make sure the night's secrets remain cloaked from curious eyes. An unsettling feeling overwhelms me, warns me to be careful and move towards people, towards a light. Dread claws at my muscles, my legs hardly making an effort to take me away from danger. The sound of my heart beating drowns out all noise, reminding me just helpless I am - an open target, a victim for whoever wished to do me harm.

"Hello darling."

And there it is again, that sickly sweet, velvety voice of the vampire in my nightmares. Curling my fingers, my hands form fists in order to hide the fear he can likely smell on my skin. He might not be able to control emotions, but it doesn't mean he can't sense them.

"Why are you here?" I ask, looking over my shoulder towards where I heard his voice only to find the area empty. Dragging in a shuddered breath, I close my eyes as I let myself remember this is likely a dream. Opening my eyes, I'm in for a shock as I face those blood pools he has for eyes, their proximity shaking me to my core. Even the breath I need is knocked out of my chest as I wait for his next move.

"I've missed you, my little huntress. Can't I miss you?" He cocks his head, his tongue dragging across his soft-looking lips - the only ones standing between me and his fangs.

"No. You can't." I attempt to push him away, to create some distance, but all my hands find is a concrete sturdiness of his unmoving body. The coldness of his skin seeps through his dark clothes and into my palms, reminding me he's undead but also that this might not be a dream as I had hoped.

"And why is that, my dear, huh? Is it because I'm a vampire?" He asks, but it's not his words that force a shiver down my back, but his eyes as they slowly move across my face, my neck, as if he's memorizing every pulsing artery behind my fragile, very warm skin.

"You didn't seem to mind decapitating that wendigo last week." The vampire remarks and I find myself stepping back, eyes widening with his reasoning. How could he possibly know what I've been doing?

"How?" I barely utter, my lips quivering as the rest of me surrenders to a paralyzing fear - can he read my mind?

Does he know of my family too?

Does he know of La Push?

Are they in danger now?

"Heard from a friend...of a friend." He smirks, the subtle smile adding onto his unnatural beauty, but also to the dangerous aura he's surrounded with. I'd be a fool to let my guard down - dream or not.

"If you knew where I am, why haven't you come for me yet?" That's the answer I need, the one that would tell me what I am to him behind Jasper's mate theory and behind all my fears of him turning me. The last thing I'd want to be is a vampire - the very thing I hunt.

He steps forward, closing the distance I fought to create, his face nearing mine as if it's the most natural thing to do. And I want to move, to run, to scream, but I can't. I can't feel anything as if I'm bound by an invisible spell and as his cold lips near my neck, I hear the unmistakable sound of him drawing in a breath - of him taking a whiff of me. That's when those cold lips brush my earlobe and he whispers: "Why bother? You'll come to me."

Waking up drenched in sweat had become a norm for me. It's been months since I was taken from La Push, since I heard from any of my friends. I've hoped, dreamed that someone would break me out of this self-imposed prison, but I knew better. There was no escaping your birthright, your heritage. You can't choose family and for better or worse, mine wasn't nearly as half bad as they seemed to be.

Our policy was to be resourceful, tough and follow the rules because this is what keeps a hunter alive. Considering our line of work, the way we treat each other is why we're all here to tell the tales of the monsters we fight...but not all monsters do monstrous things and I've met quite a few who fall under this category.

It took a while for my family to buy into the vampire story, but they were pleased by the discovery of a new kind for our Bestiary. I've kept the wolves out of it. No matter what, I'd never tell the story of shapeshifters I've missed on a daily basis - of the silver and russet wolf I could only try to remember. I had no photos, no evidence they ever existed but the constant ache in my empty heart.

How could one explain to their monster-hunting family that their legacy had fallen for the very thing she hunts? The worst part is that I fell for two wolves, befriended vampires and considered quitting the family business. No one would understand and I'd likely be contained in a mental institution as result.

But today was a new day, a new dawn and no nightmare vampire would ruin it for me. I've come to realize these dreams aren't just dreams, rather a way of entering my mind when I'm at my lowest. Alec is using or borrowing an ability to contact me and they feel real because they are. I felt him last night, touched his cold, hard skin, the breath he released after inhaling me - it was as real as my heartbeat.

Even suspecting he could tell where I am had made me uneasy, but I knew I would go on a new solo assignment soon and that made me both anxious and exciting. I've already made a mental note not to fall in love with my target, but I doubt that would ever happen again. Embry is still with me, in spirit if not in flesh. They all are.

"Someone's chipper," Blair noted as I skipped down the stairs, luckily not falling to my death. I can hold my own with monsters yet I'll fall five times a day if not more. My mum was just as clumsy as I am. She used to say it's a way to keep the good hunters humble, to remind us we can fall even if we're simply walking down the road or going to get a glass of water. If that can happen, we shouldn't underestimate any opponent we come across.

I carry her weird-ass wisdom with me everywhere I go. Sometimes I forget her face, her voice, her words and in times of need they come to me like hidden treasures, a guideline to every problem I encounter. But I also carry the burden of her death for she died to protect me and while I don't know who was the beast who took her life, I will find them and they will tremble before me then. It's why I do this - this job, why I stay in the family and why I can't rest until her killer is put to death.

"I'm about to get my new assignment and I can't wait to be away from all of you." I chuckle as a chorus of annoyed groans and whispered remarks come from my brother and the rest of the younglings of the family.

"Be nice." Father speaks up as he enters the room, clearly amused by the light tone in his deep voice. His arm is outstretched toward me, the leather clinging to his arm like second skin. His hand is opened and in his palm rests a small piece of paper, folded just once to temporarily hide the content.

"I am being nice." Raising my eyebrow made him smile, but I had my eye on that piece of paper he's holding, the curiosity killing me.

I don't hesitate in snatching it up, aware this is what I've been waiting for - my ticket out of the family home/training grounds.

"Hope you've packed your bags." My father taps my shoulder as my fingers move to find the secret mission I'm supposed to take on - yet another chance to prove myself to be worthy of leading this family - my dream from before Embry walked into my life - a dream I was willing to let go of.

Unfolding it, I've expected a lot. I thought it would be a name of some horrid monster I've earned the right to hunt by passing the recent exhausting tests they subjected me to - another way for them to make sure I'm human, prepared and acquainted with our rules.

But it wasn't. There was no name, no specific instructions, just one word that brought me overbearing anxiety.

Volterra.