Pain. All I could feel was pain. My head felt like a truck had run over it a dozen times and maybe it was still on me, as I couldn’t move. I felt paralyzed. The burning in my throat told me I should also be feeling nauseous and then one word managed to break through the throbbing in my skull.

Tequila.

A hell of a lot of tequila.

Slowly, very slowly I tried to open my eyes and found everything was dark. Well dark enough it didn’t add to my suffering and wiggling my fingers, the softness of the bed had me snuggling back into it.

The foul smell that hit me next nearly had me passing out and after a few more breaths; I realized the smell was me. Opening my eyes again I saw the bedside table, a bottle of water, painkillers. Good start.

I didn’t have the energy to sit up, so kind of rolled completely onto my stomach. Why did I drink so much tequila? I remember charging a bottle to our room; the rest was a little hazy.  My arm felt like rubber as I reached towards the water, keeping my head buried in the pillow. Instead of grabbing it, I knocked it over.

Why? Why did I do that?

“Need some help?” Logan’s voice broke into my morning agony and turning my head slightly, glanced up at him with blurry eyes.

“I’m dying. Call the doctor.” I managed to croak out.

“I told you to stay off the tequila!” he lectured. If I had the ability right now I’d tell him to fuck off. “Usually you just get violent on it.”

“I will if you don’t call a doctor!” I threatened, thought it was lacking a lot of conviction. Closing my eyes I tried to suffocate myself instead, putting my head back into the pillow. God, my breath stinks!

“Can you even move right now?”

I can feel my hair being pulled back, which only has the throbbing headache intensifying. A second later, I open my eyes to find the ceiling above me. How did that happen?

“Here, have some more water.” Logan appears, sitting beside me and I feel like an invalid as he tries to help me with the bottle.

A second later he offers me two pills and my body is finally waking up enough to fend for itself. “Thanks.”

“Anytime Bunny. Hungry?” He grins.

“No. God no.” I groan. “What’s the time?”

“Two o’clock.”

We got back to our room at two o’clock. I remember that much. “I slept all day?”

“Yeah, you did get up about ten and puked so I gave you some water then you just passed out again.” He is loving this. What kind of jerk enjoys seeing their girlfriend suffer?

I manage to take in the room and first of all notice the curtains blocking out the afternoon sunlight. Then it hits me. “Where the fuck are we?”

This isn’t the hotel and I’m starting to wonder if I was blaming tequila over nothing. Did they drug me again? Hung over or not, I will kill them!

“Well, when Ailin came to get us this morning, she said they were going to take you to the Council’s jail again. You didn’t manage to get out of there last time.” He tells me, and looking around I know we’re not there. “But I came up with a better suggestion and everyone agreed to it.”

“Logan, where are we?”

He doesn’t get to answer as the door swings open and my Mum walks in. The smell of the food she has on the tray has my stomach churning, yet not in complete disgust as I am actually kind of hungry.

“Oh good, she’s up!” She smiles. “Hello sweet heart!”

“Mum?” I look at Logan who smirks and before Mum has made it half way over, Alfie is sliding by her and knocks Logan out of the way as he moves over the bed and into my waiting arms. “Hey pal!”

“My Elise! Safe Elise! Alfie safe!” He mumbles quickly and Mum sets the tray down on the table beside me.

Looking down, I have on Logan’s shirt and I seem to have reclaimed my underwear too and letting Alfie go, Mum has on her ‘this is your fault’ no sympathy face as she takes in what has to be a rather disgraceful appearance.

“You got them to bring me to the Academy?” Logan nods.

“Thought you’d want Alfie nearby and your parents are happy to have you here.” He steals a piece of toast off the tray, “I’ll give you an Alfie a minute.”

Alfie watches him closely as he walks out and the bulk of the snake is now on the bed with me. Mum pushes him over so she can take a seat.

“I can’t believe the only way we get you to visit is when a demon brings your back, drunk may I add with a faint story about you being put under protection, again.” She sighs, and I can see the worry all over her face.

“I’ve been trying to come back, I got Alfie here didn’t I?” I just didn’t know until this point when or how I’d get here.

“Yeah, that was fun. Think you can teach him some new words. Old blood isn’t sitting well with your father.”

I had to laugh at that. “Well Jordan is same blood. He comes up with his own words. Don’t you Alfie?”

“Elise stay with Alfie?”

“Yeah bud, I’m staying.” I want to say for now, but maybe Zane was right and I need a break. I got thrown in the deep end and everything has been happening so quickly.

“I made your favorite chicken soup. From what Logan’s been saying, you two had quite the night. I loved Rome when your father took me! It’s just been hard finding the time to go back.” She goes quiet for a moment, reminiscing before she looks at me with her eyes sparkling. “I knew you’d give him a second chance.”

“Between us, don’t trust him. I think he is a demon.” I whispered, hoping Alfie didn’t take me seriously.

“Why?” Mum looks a little hesitant.

“He’s been so nice. Like completely not Logan. It’s been like, a good couple days since I’ve wanted to kill him. I think someone is just pretending to be him!” It’s true. He is either giving sucking up a whole new meaning, or we have a pretender walking amongst us.

“He isn’t a demon Ellie, just a boy in love. Eat some soup, take a shower, your Dad is in class at the moment, but he’ll be back by four.” Once standing, she kisses my forehead and leaves me and Alfie alone, yet I hear her as she closes the door and it breaks my heart. “I’m glad you’re home.”

Sighing I sink back into the pillows and idly stroke the top of Alfie’s head. “You been a good boy?”

“Esna feed Alfie.”

“Yeah, but have you been good? Not attacking students or scaring Trackers and being a pain?”

“No. Alfie good. Alfie protect home like Elise wanted last time.”

I hug him again before feeling confident enough to give the soup a go. To my relief it stays down and I do as Mum told me. Just having Alfie around has helped me feel better and the painkillers have worked nearly instantly.

By the time I find Mum in the kitchen, I’m feeling like me; a very relaxed, happy version of me. It’s been a while.

“She’s just walked in, did you want to speak to her?” Mum smirks, and with a nod hands me her phone.

“Hello?”

“What the fuck were you doing last night?” Jordan screams down the phone. “I just got a call from the my bank telling me about the charges that were put on my card they thought were suspicious!”

“If I could remember, I would tell you. Seriously, thanks for giving us such a great night away. I think between you and Ailin, you can plan all my vacations from now on!”

“Not. Funny. Elise!” He yells back.

“You could afford it. Be thankful that’s all I did. Stop going behind my back asshole!”

“Elise!” Mum scolds, and I shrug.

“It wasn’t like that.” Jordan defends.

“What ever. So did any big and bad come by last night?” That was why they kept me away after all.

“Yeah, actually. V did.”

“What?” I don’t know why I am shocked by that.

“I think you’re right in trusting him. He told us where they were holding Robyn and Julio.” He sighed.

“What?” I can’t process much else than that.

Mum sensed the change in our conversation, mostly because we’d stopped yelling at each other and put the phone on speaker.

“He came by wanting to talk to you, Zane had other ideas. It took him two seconds to work out you weren’t here and went to leave. We had him surrounded; so then he decided he only wanted to talk to Drew. Zane told him no, and the pair of them had a smack down. It was fucking insane!”

The last time I saw Zane and V fight had been at the portal and Zane had looked like he had the training of an awkward fifteen year old against the vamp.

“Is Zane okay?” He was stronger now, the year had turned him into even more of a machine and I know that was why.

“Yeah, just a couple of ribs were broken. Nearly got V a couple of times, but between us, I think the vamp was taking it easy on him. I don’t think he was even trying. How the fuck did you bring him in?”

“I shot him a bunch of times first and then beat the shit out of him.”

Mum gasped slightly and I shrugged. I was positive I saw a bit of pride on her face and it reminded again how messed up our lives were. Parents aren’t supposed to be proud of you for beating up vampires, stealing cars or killing demons and getting awards at graduation for being stealthy. Had I been younger, it probably would have got me a bonus in my weekly allowance.

“Zane told us not to shoot.” Jordan sighed. “Anyway, so in the end he has Zane by the throat, we’re about to take out the vamp and then Zane does this insane move. I just, you should have seen it! Totally reversed the situation and V is all laughing and taunting him. Zane gets a stake, tells V you told us he was nothing more than a distraction and we didn’t any more of those and started to stab him.”

“Shit!”

“Yeah!” Jordan says something muffled, clearly blocking the phone, “So V says he’ll tell Zane what he came to tell you and we found out about what happened with that team of slayers at the fair.”

“What happened?” Mum blurts out, clearly wrapped up in the story.

“Um, well, we don’t know the vamp behind it. It was a massacre and Robyn and Julio were taken as hostages to get Ron’s attention.”

“Ron as in Ronaldo, the president?” Again Mum joins in.

“Yeah, but Robyn is Alison’s cousin!” I point out. “Could she be behind it too?”

Julio is her husband; surely she can’t turn on him like that. If one thing I did know from that meeting was that she was really into him. Julio trusts her, so either they’re innocent, or both behind it.

“I really don’t know. By the time we got to where V said they were being held, they were gone and just some new vamps were still there. The President has requested we return to base and Zane told him about your theories on Danielle. From what I heard from Ailin this morning, she has had shadow monsters following all of us since her arrival to see if she can work it out.”

“So you’re going to the Council now?”

“Yeah. V is also telling people you’re still with us and once we get there, we are meeting with some people they call The Trifecta. That’s all I know. So keep your head down. You’ll be safe at the school Elise, please just stay there. I promise I will keep in you loop. Mum, make Elise stay!” Jordan begged.

“Just look after yourself Jordey, I’ll look after your sister.” Mum frowned, staring at the phone as if Jordan could see her.

“Fine. I get it. So is V with you too?”

“No. Zane let him go. You trust him, so Zane is as well. For now.” Again there was more rustling and the next time someone spoke, it wasn’t Jordan.

“Ellie? How was Rome? As soon as they told me I couldn’t believe it!” Raya spoke at a hundred miles per hour and I had to laugh.

“It was, amazing. I couldn’t believe it either!”

“Ah I’m so happy for you! As soon as we get back to the Council, I’m calling you for all the details!” She had never sounded so girly to me and I honestly couldn’t wait.

“No worries. Keep safe Ray, and if you keep an eye on those idiot boys that would be great!” I laughed.

“Easy. I’ve been with Keiran for so long now idiot boys are kind of my specialty.”

The phone disconnected and it took a second for it all to sink in.

“So I guess Logan didn’t tell us everything that had been going on?” Mum looked at me expectantly and after she made us both a cup of tea, I let it all out. I wasn’t even half done when Dad got home and after doing a quick run through, kept going until the point I was zapped away to Rome.

The first thing Dad asked had me laughing. “So how did Tom like hearing that Drac wasn’t as dead as we’d all like to think?”

“Not impressed. I’m pretty sure he thinks it’s just a copy cat.”

“I’ll be sure to have a word to him next time I see him. Who does he think he is treating a daughter of mine like that?” He snapped, his anger building.

“He is an asshole and maybe he is working with Dani since he is always so quick to side with her.” I sighed.

“Oh no, they broke up a while ago. Too much ego for one relationship!” Mum ever the gossip filled us in.

“They had a thing?” It was hard to imagine either of them having a relationship away from a mirror.

“Mhm. Academy sweet hearts if I remember correctly! Such a shame to see those boys turn out that way. We were quite good friends with their parents.” She got up and made another cup of tea while Dad fell silent, clearly thinking.

“Just Tom. Drew and Nigel are great. Drew is so smart, and clearly got the brains of the family, though they are definitely a good looking trio!”

“They got it all from their father.” Mum agreed and she quickly focused on the kettle as Dad raised his eyebrow at her. “Anyway, we actually have a staff meeting tonight. It might be a good idea to get Frank working on extra security while Elise is with us don’t you think love?”

“Yeah.” Dad wasn’t completely listening and after mumbling something he got up and disappeared down the hall.

“So this is nice?” I gestured around the kitchen.

“It’s not the best place we’ve ever had. Done a few things to it since we arrived, but I’m actually enjoying it more than I thought I would. It’s nice to have people actually listen and care about what I have to say and want to learn what I can teach them!” The double meaning isn’t lost on me.

“Why shoot arrows when you slice them in half?” I joked.

“Just like your father.” She rolled her eyes, but apart from the stress my arrival returned to their lives, my parents look happy. Dad was either dying his hair, or the grays had stopped taking over. Mum no longer seemed to always have a frown disguised by a fake smile and the whole time I’d been here, no one had raised their voice once – at me or each other.

Jordan would enver believe Dad and I could stay in the same room for more than an hour without that happening. Then again he had walked out.

“I’ll be back.” I got up and went after Dad, finding him in the only place he ever looked truly at ease; his office. “Dad?”

“Hey pumpkin.” He glanced up briefly from the book he had in front of him and I took a seat on the edge of his desk.

“What ya doing?”

Looking over the page it was a report on Dracula.

“Just some reading. Never mind. How are you?”

“Fine I guess, you?” I ask, casually swinging my legs.

“Fine.”

We stared at each other for a moment before his eyes landed on my hands that I had in my lap. No not my hands, the tattoo. Pulling down the sleeves on my sweater I tried to hide it.

“How are you really?” Dad asked again.

“Fine. Really!” We sat in silence for a few more minutes before Dad finally nodded.

“What took you so long to come home?” Here we go.

“I dunno. I would hardly call the Academy home. I had my house, I had college. I couldn’t just come back.”

“Or you didn’t want to?”

“That too I guess. You know how I felt about what we do. After that night, I wanted out and I was given a chance to do that.”

“Yet here you are.” He pointed out.

“Here I am.” I repeated softly, more disappointed in myself. I could have done so many things differently, but instead I ran and hid.

“Would it help you if I told you I did the exact same thing?”

“You’re lying!” Dad was Dad. My perfectly righteous, the Hunter keeping the Bunting name alive and respected.

“Ask Huntington what kind of student I really was. Looking back, you won awards at graduation, had good grades and made a name for yourself. In ten, twenty years the fact you used to sneak out to go drinking at the bar up the road will be forgotten as staff change and only your academic record will really remain.”

“I don’t believe you for a second!” I gasped.

“If you don’t want to ask Huntington, ask Darius.” Dad winked and getting up I let him hug me because I was hugging him too. “We’re not angry or disappointed Elise. It hurt you pushed us all away, but it really shouldn’t surprise me. You really are my daughter and I guess in more ways than one.”

Since when did my parents become so, so, not like the parents I know? And Logan. Aliens. It had to be aliens. Or maybe this was a dream. It was hard to tell them apart from reality lately.

"Hey Dad, what is The Trifecta. Jord mentioned them?"

"Oh you don't know? Strange. A Hunter, a Slayer and a Tracker. Quite the team. They're in their mid thirties, and I guess they are kind of like our equivilant of a super soldier. The Slayer is actually the daughter of the a light fae and her father was a Slayer. Interesting lineage that one." He mused.

"And the other two?" All I could think of was last year when I declared Logan, Reece and I to be the three musketeers.

"Not sure about them. I know they're male, can't remember their names. They have worked hard to stay off the radar, it is what makes them that much deadlier to our enemies. For Ronaldo to get them involved, it must be important."

I guess getting your son kidnapped would classify as important. With a smile, he left and I took a seat on his chair and started reading over the Dracula section of the old history book. Alfie soon came in and curled around the desk. I got so lost in what I was reading; it was night before I knew it.

Logan had me nearly jumping out the chair as he called out to me. “Bunny, you want dinner?”

“Shit Logan! Give a girl a heart attack!” He stood in the doorway smirking and Alfie rose up to his at him in warning. “It’s okay Alfie.”

“Sorry, what are you doing?” Logan avoided Alfie as he came over.

“Tom had a go at my family for keeping the pelt of the wolf that the Lord Alpha could shift into because it gave him something in this world to be connected to.”

“I remember.” He agreed.

“What if the Van Helsing guy did the same thing, but with Dracs fangs?”

“That’s kind of sick. They would have to have been removed before dusting him.”

“What else could they keep in this world as an anchor for him?” I closed the book and leant back against the chair. “I was reading up about some of their other big kills. The witch behind the Hansel and Gretel story, that zombie Frankenstein thing, something I can’t even pronounce but I think it came from Medusa cause it turned people to stone.”

“Yeah, its why they’re famous.” Logan looked at me, trying to work out what I was getting at.

“When Alison had that fang bracelet on, she as indestructible. I stabbed her and she healed instantly. She was strong, could even put Alfie to sleep. Some of these seem kind of impossible for one Hunter to achieve. Maybe if they just stuck to one nasty, not a few it wouldn’t seem so strange.” I waited for him to click on and thankfully he did.

“Van Helsing had fangs on him.”

“He had to. No one is that good! Especially not back then with the weapons they had!”  At least now we knew how Dracula had returned.

“You two ready for dinner?” Mum appeared in the doorway and Alfie didn’t need to be asked twice as he dashed out the office. “What is it?”

“Van Helsing kept Dracula’s fangs before he killed him. It’s how he was able to come back.” Logan told her and a look of disbelief passed over her face.

“That’s what I was thinking.” Dad appeared behind her and I kind of wished he had shared that thought with me before I just spent all that time reading. “I’ll send a message to Ronaldo so at least they’ll know who they’re dealing with.”

“V kept saying the others. Drac was just the guy who was getting him distract us. Again, I think he is just a cover for something more. Something bigger.” I tell them, wishing I was wrong.

“I think you’re right Ellie, but there are many experienced Slayers out there that can deal with this vamp issue. There is a reason why we each have our own categories to deal with. We can do what we can to help, but this is their issue.” Dad answered firmly.

“But we’re Hunters. Everything kind of falls under us at some point.” I can’t believe I’m arguing for this. I should shut up and let him be right, this isn’t technically our issue. Slayers should have this under control.

“I am a Slayer, she is my daughter too so I guess she can’t help be involved with vampire issues.” Mum points out.

 “Was there talk of dinner being ready?” Logan quickly throws into the mix and getting up I roll with that.

“Yeah, come on. Don’t want it getting cold!”

My parents look at us before going to the dining room and once dinner is over, they leave us to clean up and go to their staff meeting.

“So where did you go this afternoon?” I curl up beside Logan as he turns on the TV.

“Just looking around the Academy. Did a quick work out, thought you’d want some time with your parents.” He yawns.

“How are you not hung over?”

“I was struggling this morning, but after a few litres of water, a shower and breakfast with your Mum I felt better. The nap I had before helped.” He yawned again.

Most of last night is just a little fuzzy now my brain had a chance to recover from the stupid amount of alcohol I had drunk.  Just thinking about some of it now had me blushing.

“Jordan phoned and was glad we had such a good night. His credit card company was impressed by how much I was able to spend too.”

“On a scale of one to ten how pissed was he?” Logan groaned.

“About a twelve, but he’s over it now.” I laughed, snuggling closer against him Alfie came back in from outside and joined us. His head was on my legs and he was asleep before Logan.

It was nearly eight o’clock now and somehow I managed to get up with the pair of them staying asleep. Going into Mums room I took a pair of her boots and typically dad, his weapon stash was in his office cupboard. Taking one of Logan’s jackets, I didn’t want to wake him to find out if I actually had a bag of stuff here apart from the few things that were on the bed for me to dress in when I had a shower and sneaking out the front, got onto the four wheeler parked by the garage.

Turns out their house was back behind the school’s oval and through the row of trees that separated the house I could see the lights of the school. I knew Franks place was near here, and wasn’t sure how many other residences were around, so as I pulled out onto the gravel drive that lead out to each property, I pushed the bike to it’s limits and left the academy behind.

Hopefully I’d be back before anyone knew I was gone.

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Eh, another filler... Action is back from next chapter ;) Updates will be back to Fridays again after this!