Aurora Sky Vampire Hunter - By Nikki Jefford Page 0,12

started her kickboxing and tae kwon do lessons. Couldn't you let her finish senior year first?" Mom asked hopefully.

Crist's eyebrows lowered as her upper lip rose. "The time for negotiations is over, Mrs. Sky. I thought you understood the terms."

Mom looked from me to Agent Crist and frowned. "I just don't see why Aurora has to get started so soon."

Melcher took a step forward. "Don't worry about a thing, Mrs. Sky. We'll call you the moment Aurora is finished. The sooner we start, the sooner she can go home."

Mom frowned then turned and gave me a quick hug. "You'll be fine, sweetie, and as soon as you're done I'll be here to pick you up."

The moment Mom released me she hurried back to the car and pulled away. The pit in my stomach expanded as her car disappeared from sight.

Melcher smiled at me as though I were a child. "Let's go, Aurora. You'll feel better once you understand what's expected of you."

If Melcher was the doting dad, then Agent Crist was the wicked stepmother who couldn't stand to see Melcher's attention directed away from her. I could feel the burn of her frown even on my back.

I followed them through a sliding door into the lobby of the building. A young woman in camouflage pants and a matching jacket sat at a front desk. She nodded at Agents Melcher and Crist with the same detached look as the man at the gate.

"This is our base of operation," Melcher said. "On the right we have our own private hospital and surgeons, which you've already seen. It's small, but it's the state's best. On the left are our administrative offices, where we'll go first. Then in back, we have our training facilities and several holding cells."

What? Were they going to lock me up if I didn't do as I was told?

I followed the agents down a glaring hallway. There were no pictures on the walls. We reached a set of double doors, and Crist swiped a keycard to open them. There was another reception desk manned by yet another drone. The soldier looked at the agents briefly, never sparing me a glance.

Melcher led me into an office with two desks and shut the door.

There were no photographs on either desk; no pictures on the walls; no decor of any kind unless you counted the wooden cross nailed to the wall. It formed a triangle with Crist and Melcher when they sat down.

"Have a seat," Melcher said.

I selected the chair in front of him. It was either that or fry under Crist's direct glare.

Melcher rested his elbows on his desk and leaned forward.

"Let's get right down to it. Our unit is rather peculiar. We specialize in the identification and elimination of demonic forces." Melcher paused to smile. "Don't worry, we won't ask you to do both. We have undercover informants specially trained to weed out these unholy threats."

At the moment, the only threat I sensed was that of Agents Melcher and Crist.

"You have been recruited for a very special role in the fight against terror, Aurora."

Maybe if I stared at Melcher hard enough he'd come right out and say what he meant.

"What is a VH recruit?" I asked, remembering what the guy at the front gate had said.

"Vampire Hunter," Crist said.

I started laughing so hard I had to grip the arms of my chair to keep from falling to the floor. The agents won points for creativity, I'd give them that. Great way to break the ice. Now we could move onto the real reason I was there.

As my giggles subsided, I noticed Melcher and Crist weren't laughing.

"You heard right," Melcher said. "You've been recruited by your government to eliminate the reanimated dead."

"Vampires," Crist clarified in a harsh voice.

I looked from agent to agent. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Melcher frowned. "The demonic plague is no joke."

Since when did the military start allowing fanatics to run their own special units? Now that I was trapped on base, playing along seemed like the best idea until Mom picked me up and got me the hell out of that madhouse once and for all.

"And how exactly do I eliminate vampires?" I asked.

"That's the beauty of it," Melcher said. "Your body is now a weapon - your blood. As I mentioned briefly before, a team of government scientists recently discovered a combination of organisms that, when mixed with AB negative blood cells, are lethal when consumed by the undead. From there, they found a way to