Chapter 23

“So what kind of bullets do you use?” I asked Daniel, my hands sore and tired by the time the sun started to die down.

“What?” Daniel replied, barely listening to me as he took apart and cleaned his gun.

            “You said the bullets I used for practice, aren’t the ones you use to hunt. So what kind of bullets do you use?” I asked again.

            Barely lifting his head Daniel said, “Oh... silver bullets engraved with hex symbols.”

            “Seriously? That’s it?” I asked a little disappointed.

            Looking up, Daniel snickered at my reaction, “Yes that’s it. What’d you think the bullets would have been forged in a volcano and bathed in the blood of a virgin?” He responded, an annoying smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth.

“No.………Maybe. Something a little along those lines.” I conceded

            With a soft chuckle, Daniel got up and gathered his things, “You’d be surprised how the simplest of things can be used as a weapon.” He added. 

             Tucking my revolver in the small of my back I followed Daniel as we walked over to the cottage. Walking inside I found Lucas diligently making a plateful of sandwiches on a small round table near the couch. Smiling at the sight I walked over and took a seat on the couch next to him, as Daniel sat on the floor next to the empty fireplace. 

             “How’s your hand?” Lucas asked, as he passed the plateful of sandwiches to Daniel for him to take one. 

             “Oh..” I responded, looking down at my hand as I clenched and unclenched a small fist, “it’s fine.”

             “Yea.. your joints wouldn’t be so stiff if someone had given you a few minutes break here and there.” Lucas said, giving Daniel a hard stare.

             “It’s fine.” I said, reaching for a sandwich.

            “Yea, she’s fine. I think October is a lot tougher than we think.” Daniel said, giving me a curious look.

            Not really sure what to make of that I continued to eat my sandwich, and den two more, before retiring for the night.   

Chapter 22

“Ok, fine. Maybe it wouldn’t kill me to learn how to use a gun, but does it have to be him? Why can’t you teach me, I mean he’s such an ass.” I said to Lucas, as I stood from my seat on the forest floor. 

With a small laugh Lucas replied, “Believe it or not but Daniel is a better shot than I am.”

Picking up the clean pan off the grass, we both walked back around, to the front of the cabin.  

“You ready?” at the question, Lucas and I both turned around in the direction of the voice, and saw Daniel, leaning on one of the hundreds of trees that surrounded the cabin. 

“Ready for what?” I asked Daniel, as I tried to contain the annoyance in me, he seemed to invoke whenever he opened his mouth.  

“For your first lesson.” Daniel casually answered, lifting his hand and showing me my grandfather’s gun.

Looking over at Lucas, the amused expression on his face quickly died as he caught the glare I threw at him. Using my gun Daniel pointed to a tree more than a couple feet away, with a bull’s-eye carved about 5 feet up, into the thick dark bark.

“It’s ok. Lucas said he’d teach me.” I said with a feigned confidence.

“I said, what now?” Lucas asked in surprise.

“Lucas has other obligations that need his attention.” Daniel said to me, his gaze locking onto Lucas’ “I said I’d teach you, let’s go.”

Shifting between them both, I watched as they traded intense glances until finally Lucas walked off into the cabin, without a word.

“What the hell just happened?” I asked, confused about his sudden behavior.

“Nothing.” Daniel replied before walking over to me.

Holding out my gramps- my gun in front of me, I took the revolver from him and watched from my peripheral vision as Daniel walked around to stand at my back.

“Do you know how to clean a revolver? How to take the safety off and put in the bullets?” Daniel asked, as he reached for my arm from behind.

Pulling away from his touch I answered, “Yeah, gramps showed me a few times, not really rocket science.”

“Good, then we don’t need to start from scratch.” He added, before grabbing my arm once more.

Lifting my right arm up from behind me, Daniel held it out towards the tree’s carved target. Leaning in close I felt his left hand lightly rest on my waist, “Don’t be so stiff, relax.” Daniel softly whispered in my ear.

Taking a deep breath I let my body soften and adjusted my hold on the gun’s hilt.

“Now widen your stance, take aim and be prepared to feel some recoil.” Daniel added, before leaning away from my shooting arm.

Focusing on the middle of the target, I held firm and pulled the trigger. The loud crack as the bullet fired, along with the slight recoil made me step back into Daniel.

“Not bad for a first try.” Daniel said as his arm wrapped around my waist, keeping me balanced. 

Looking over at the trees target, I saw that not only did I miss the center of the target but the entire target itself and hit the tree a few inches to the right.

“My god I suck.” I laughingly said, as I turned to Daniel and saw he had the same amused smile on his face.

Looking up at him and those beautiful dimples, his arms still wrapped around me from behind and his face so close to mine, I was thankful for the sound of someone clearing their throat. 

My head snapped across to the right to Lucas, as he turned away from me and Daniel towards the missed target. Stepping out of Daniel’s arms and putting some space between us I said “I think you were right.”

“As I usually am about most things,” Lucas smugly replied over his shoulder, “but to what in particular, would you be referring to?”

“About me learning to shoot, if you hadn’t persuaded me to, we would have never known how truly bad I am at it.” I laughingly said to him.

“Ahhh yes, well your welcome then.” Lucas said with a small smile, facing me.

“Ok, breaks over. Gear up for round 2. Don’t stop after you fire the first shot this time, keep going till there’s no more rounds.” Daniel sternly said, as he took a step back from me.

Chapter 21

Looking up at me, Lucas stopped whistling long enough to flash me a mischievous smile as he asked, “Lover’s quarrel?” 

Shooting Lucas a questioning look, as I took a seat on the grassy bank, “I’m guessing that murderous glint in your eyes has something to do with Daniel.” Lucas explained.

Snorting at his words, “He TOLD me that I have to learn how to use a gun. He didn’t suggest that I learn or even ask me, he told me. Who the hell does he think he is, telling me what to do?” I heatedly rambled out.

 “Well… he has a point.” Lucas said looking down at the now clean pan in his hand.

“Point? What point? I can handle myself without a gun. ” I defensively retorted.

“October you were there, you saw what went down with the cop. Those things are fast, a few feet closer when it lunged at us, and we could have all been killed.” He reasoned, resting the rinsed pan beside him.

“I have my daggers, I know how to use them. I don’t-” I started to argue.

 “Look I get it, you don’t like guns. But a gun puts a safe distance between you and a demon, enough to level the playing the field and quickly take them out.” He simply stated.

“Why are you so adverse to guns anyway? What’d you do, shoot and kill a cute bunny or something?” Lucas playfully added.

At his words, I felt all the blood in my face pool under the skin at my cheeks. Dropping my head I let my hair fall around me, hiding the embarrassed flush that began to blotch my face. A flash of white, from the corner of my eye as I took a quick peek through my curtain of hair, was enough to tell me that Lucas noticed my unguarded reaction.  

“What?” Lucas asked with a smirk, “What’d you do?”

Biting down on my bottom lip, I closed my eyes tight. “I don’t like guns because I accidentally shot gramps once.” I said in one quick breath.

I heard Lucas’ sharp intake of breath before he erupted in a fit of laughter. “Wow. Of all. The things. I would have. Never guessed.” He sputtered out between breaths.

Looking up at him I angrily said, “Don’t laugh! I shot him in the foot, it was a serious injury!”

My words only seemed to add more humor to the situation as his hysterics increased, leaving me to patiently wait as he calmed down.

“I’m sorry, but that was just too damn funny.” Lucas said without apology.

“For you maybe, but I was traumatized. Whenever I think about firing a gun I think about shooting some innocent person.” I confessed.

Wiping the tears of amusement from his eyes, Lucas got up and walked over to me. “Shit happens, don’t be so sensitive.”

“I’m a girl, I’m hardwired to be sensitive.” I replied.

“There’s no place for it in this kind of life. You’re a hunter now, it only gets harder form here on out.” Lucas said as he crouched down next to me, holding my gaze he continued in a much more serious tone. “You’re going to see and hear things that would make most people cringe, and be put into situations where your forced to do things that you never even knew you were capable of. But you swallow the bile an do it anyway, because your only one who can, because if you don’t no one else will, and that’s when innocent people die.” 

Dropping his gaze, I turned and looked out at the river’s glittering waters. “I still don’t wanna learn how to use a gun.” I said with a heavy sigh.

“Yeh, but you should anyway.” Lucas retorted.