A/N:
Date 5-24-17

Hey everyone! Sorry if there are any mistakes in this chapter! I was on the phone with my sister while editing this chapter, so I wasn't paying full attention to it.

Word Count: 2900

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Chapter 20: Couldn't Hide Forever

Selynn looks around at the smiling faces, feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic, like everything is on the verge of spinning.

Selynn can't let go of the vision because it keeps coming back to her. It has to be happening right now.

Selynn grabs Vanessa's hand, forcing a smile on her face as she pulls her sister away from everyone and into the kitchen.

"I need to talk to you." Selynn whispers urgently as she grabs a plastic cup filling it with water. Selynn feels like someone just turned up a heater and the room is filling with too much warmth. She downs the water fast.

"Why are you whispering?" Vanessa asks her sister in the same quiet tone.

"Like I said, I need to talk to you." Selynn says, emphasising that it needs to be now.

"About...?" Vanessa prompts.

"The vision I had. I think it's happening now. Hunters are breaking into someone's house right now." Selynn insists, realizing with every word that this is correct. Vampire hunters are actually hunting someone.

Adrian's head snaps towards the kitchen, listening closely as he hears Selynn trying to quietly tell Vanessa something that is obviously important. Something about hunters.

Adrian's grin drops in horror. They've found him. Adrian quickly recovers, putting up a blank expression so as not to alarm anyone.

But it wasn't quick enough, because Monique walks over to Adrian after she notices the look on his face.

"What is it? What's happening?" Monique mutters, barely making a sound so Adrian has to strain to hear her and no one else will hear.

"Nothing. I thought I heard something, but I didn't." Adrian responds, knowing before Monique even argues that she doesn't believe him.

But this is far worse than the way Adrian thought Monique would react.

Monique decides to call out Adrian in front of everyone, so that he's forced to reveal his secrets.

"I'm sick of this, Adrian. Stop lying and tell the truth!" Monique exclaims, anger burning in her eyes.

Shoot. She's not letting it go this time, is she?

Adrian's eyes flick around the room, where Lucas and Mason turned towards them because they picked up the noise with their super hearing. And because they noticed, everyone else noticed.

Everyone in the room has stopped to listen to the drama of the Lee siblings.

Vanessa and Selynn suddenly hear most of the noise in the living room vanish. The only sound to be heard is the music playing the background of silence.

They slowly creep into the entrance of the living room to hear and see what's happening. Selynn wonders if everyone was listening to her and Vanessa's conversation, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Monique, I don't know what's gotten into you, but I'm not lying. Nothing's happening." Adrian says in a cold but quiet voice. He wishes that everyone would ignore them and go back to dancing.

Ivie, who's standing by Lena and Lucas, stares at Adrian wide eyed. Adrian glances away quickly, unable to hold her stare.

"But you are lying. And I'm not going to continue letting it go. Something is going on with you and it's messing you up. You're receding into yourself again. Don't you remember what happens every time you do that?" Monique pauses, allowing Adrian to think for a minute.

Adrian does remember. Every time he holds back this many secrets, the stress builds up. He becomes angry all the time. Then the worst happens, when everything going wrong becomes way worse. Because Adrian tries to not involve anyone.

Adrian feels the weight of all the stares around him. Ten sets of eyes bore into him, urging him to unload his problems on them. Why do people have to be so curious? Don't they know that being oblivious is best?

So Adrian does the thing that he saves as his last resort when people turn on him. He pushes the spotlight to someone else.

"Why doesn't Selynn tell you what's going on? She's the one who's been hiding things from you guys." Adrian says to divert their attention to Selynn.

Selynn pales a bit when all eyes turn to her, and Vanessa stands uncertainly next to her, looking slightly guilty.

Selynn glances at Vanessa, staring into her eyes to find some clue of what to do. Selynn averts her eyes after deciding to go with being blunt.

"There are hunters in Cain. Vampire hunters." Selynn states loud and clear for everyone to hear.

Adrian glares at the floor, angry that this was happening to him. There's always some huge complication when he starts being happy. And with Ivie, Adrian is almost always happy.

Ivie immediately worries for Adrian because he's the only vampire in town, but she's also furious that he's been lying to her. To all of them.

"Who's the hunter?" Ivie asks, avoiding looking at Adrian.

"I don't know. But there are four of them in town right now." Selynn tells Ivie nervously.

"How do you know all of this?" Jerica demands to know, not liking that one of Ivie's best friends suddenly has this information, and has been hiding it for who knows how long.

Selynn glances over to Vanessa again, not wanting to reveal what's been going on with her.

But Selynn sighs, knowing that they had to find out sometime, and tells the truth. Unlike Adrian.

"I have visions. I see the future in images in my mind and sometimes hear words." Selynn says with her chin held up stubbornly, refusing to cower in fear. There are a few gasps in their crowd of friends.

"The other visions I've had have come true, and I have a strong feeling that the latest one is coming true at this moment." Selynn announces, causing everyone to look around in concern.

Ivie's hurt that Selynn didn't tell her this latest vision. That's one more person keeping things from Ivie. Then again, Ivie didn't tell Vanessa and Selynn that she thought she was the killer. But that was different.

"What was the vision? What's happening?" Lena asks Selynn nicely while Lucas wraps his arm around Lena protectively.

Selynn looks around at all the familiar faces. Jerica is standing with her arms crossed and jaw clenched, just a few feet away from Lena and Lucas.

Ivie is standing away from Jerica on the other side of her sister. Mason and Monique are standing next to each other, not touching but close enough to.

John is standing not far from Mason, with his sisters Evie and Alisa next to John.

Selynn wonders if it's safe to talk about this in front of Evie and Alisa. But it's too late to turn back now.

"The four hunters are breaking into someone's house. They will find a piece of glass that has blood on the corner of it." Selynn tells her vision.

There's a moment of shocked silence while everyone tries to take in what they're hearing. "They're at my house." Lucas says suddenly, staring blankly at the floor.

"What? Why would they be there?" Jerica demands to know, confused on why Lucas would say something like that.

Lucas rubs the back of his neck subconsciously. "I broke the mirror in my bedroom earlier..."

"Lucas! Why didn't you tell me?" Lena asks softly, hurt that he hadn't told her.

Lucas completely faces Lena to look her sincerely in the eye. "I didn't want to tell you. You would've worried."

"Well now I'm really worried! But why are vampire hunters searching your house?" Lena asks Lucas, glancing around at the confused expressions.

Adrian runs a hand through his hair, slightly ruffling it, to settle his nerves. "Because they think Lucas is a vampire. They've been testing him." Adrian admits, done acting like he doesn't know anything.

"What?" Lucas shouts in befuddlement. Why would he be a vampire? Lena stares at Lucas with a worried expression.

Then Lena turns to Adrian with a deadly glare. "Why didn't you warn us if you knew already?"

"I didn't know for sure until I heard about these visions!" Adrian shouts, gesturing towards Selynn.

"So that's what you've been hiding from us? That you know about the hunters?" Monique questions Adrian, crossing her arms defensively.

Monique doesn't give Adrian the chance to speak before going on with her interrogation. "Do you know who the hunters are?"

Adrian clenches his fists at his sides, hating that everyone has suddenly turned against him. Even Ivie! She can't bear to look at him.

"No! I mean, yes. I suspect. But I still don't know for sure. I don't think it's best to shout out names because I could be wrong." Adrian says, shaking his head to try and push away the headache building in his skull.

"And how did you know about the hunters?" Monique asks, going back to her other question because Adrian didn't answer it. That was most likely on purpose...

This is the question that Adrian doesn't want to answer, the one that changes everything and makes him the target. Adrian doesn't want anyone to know that he's the target, that the reason the hunters are here is for him.

Then again, Adrian knows that if the hunters are the Sterling parents, that means they already lived here before Adrian moved here.

But admitting that he thinks the Sterling parents are hunters would hurt a lot of people. Ivie, Lena, Lucas, and basically everyone in this house would be hurt because they know those people. They trusted those people.

"Because I'm who they're after." Adrian sighs, looking down at the floor to avoid eyes.

"Obviously." Jerica says from across the room with an eyeroll. "You are a vampire, and they're vampire hunters."

Adrian scowls at Jerica, easily falling back into his normal way of living. Being rude to people. "It's more than that. Obviously." Adrian replies, mimicking Jerica.

Ivie bites her lip to hold in a laugh, while Lena looks from her sister to Jerica anxiously,, wondering if a fight is about to break out.

Jerica frowns deeply, but Adrian turns away from her, dismissing Jerica in a plain way, which does exactly what Adrian wants it to do. It makes Jerica furious.

"Explain." Monique says in a tired tone, ready for this conversation to be over.

Mason takes Monique's hand in his, squeezing it to comfort her. Monique turns her head to look at Mason, who's the same height as her while she's in her wedges, and gives him a small smile.

"First of all, there are different types of vampires. The rarest are being hunted right now." Adrian starts to explain, but Lucas interrupts him.

"I'm guessing you're a rare type?" Lucas questions with a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Actually, I am the rarest. I'm called a Kitsune Vampire, which is named after the fox. Kitsunes are clever and fast like a fox, which is why I'm called a Kitsune Vampire." Adrian goes on, but is once again interrupted by Lucas.

"Let me guess, you're the first ever and that makes you the most valuable." Lucas says sarcastically with an amused gleam in his eye. He is enjoying this way too much.

"Lucas, I swear if you open your mouth one more time, I will come over there and beat you to death!" Adrian snaps, his voice echoing through the now silent room. It seems that someone turned off the music. Lucas doesn't appear fazed by Adrian's outburst.

Ivie steps up quickly, right in front of Adrian to stop him as he takes a step forward. "No, you won't. Just continue telling us what's going on." Ivie says in a calming voice. Adrian is still fuming, but he refuses to attack Lucas and make himself look stupid.

Adrian breaks the stare that Ivie was holding him in. "Anyway, there are six of us. I'm the third. Not the first." Adrian says, making a jab at Lucas.

"There's a system set up to warn the Kitsune Vampires. It's complicated and I don't want to tell you how it's done. But I know that numbers two and four are dead. Last time I heard, which was last night, five and six are being hunted right now. Or already dead. I'll know later tonight." Adrian tells everyone, staring down at his shoes to avoid Ivie's eyes.

"So you're probably next." Monique says slowly, unable to think straight at the thought of Adrian dying. And staying dead.

"Most likely." Adrian answers softly, hoping no one notices the fear threatening to close around his heart.

But of course they have to know that Adrian is afraid, because who wouldn't be in this situation?

Adrian isn't exactly afraid. Most of the time when he thinks about it, he's angry that the hunters have killed off his fellow vampires.

"Then we'll help protect you." Ivie responds fiercely, a fire starting in her eyes to burn down the hunters.

"I don't think that will-" Adrian says, but Ivie jumps in.

"Yes it will! Did the others have supernatural friends to help them?" Ivie asks angrily.

"Probably not. Kitsune Vampires are known for hating people." Adrian says bluntly, shrugging his shoulders.

"No wonder." Jerica mutters under her breath.

"We can do this, Adrian. We can all be there for you, to make sure you keep on existing. Okay? Just start telling us things instead of keeping secrets." Ivie basically pleads, wondering if Adrian will be so stubborn as to not accept help on the matter of his life.

"You can't speak for them, Ivie." Adrian responds, nodding his head towards the others in the room.

"I'll help." Monique says instantly.

Mason quickly looks at Monique. "Me too." He says, staring at her in admiration.

Everyone in the room agrees to help, even Alisa and Evie, who barely know Adrian.

"This means you have to help protect Lucas too. Don't forget that they think he's the vampire." Monique adds sternly once everyone agreed.

Adrian rolls his eyes at his sister. "Well I was going to help anyway. I can't have his death on my stupid conscience." Adrian says nonchalantly.

"Adrian." Monique says warningly.

"What?" Adrian questions, playing innocent with a grin on his face.

"We need a plan to protect Lucas. I can't have my brother murdered. No one would be there to make me dinner." Jerica says, not too seriously. Jerica's not the type to get all emotion, but she does care about her brother.

"I make you dinner too." Mason pouts.

"You can barely cook. Lucas has slightly more knowledge when it comes to cooking." Jerica says and shrugs.

"Let's get back to the hunters. Adrian, you said that you suspected who they could be." Lena persists a solution to the problem.

"Oh, right... Well I'm not sure but... I think it's your parents." Adrian says, feeling awkward about the situation.

"My parents? That's ridiculous!" Lena says, her voice coming out slightly higher pitched than normal.

Ivie stares ahead in horror, unsure what to say or do.

"It kind of makes sense, Lena." Lucas agress quietly. Lena stares up at him in confusion.

"The pepper spray, the weird tasting cupcakes that your mom gave me, the late night work they do with Vanessa and Selynn's parents, and the basement." Lucas says nervously, hoping Lena can get past this if it is her parents.

"That can't be true." Lena whispers, barely able to make her voice work. Everything seems unreal, like Lena will wake up from this nightmare any second.

"We can check the basement. There may be clues down there." Lucas says gently, feeling like he's hurting Lena with each will word.

Lena nods her head. "Lena and I will go. We'll be back in a little while." Lucas tells everyone. Then Lucas and Lena turn to finally explore the forbidden basement again.

~*~

"So what do you advise we do, sir?" Mrs. Sterling asks her boss on the phone. They just exited Lucas' house and are sitting in their car a few blocks away.

Mr. and Mrs. Delaney left to go home.

"You kill him." The boss answers coldly.

"But sir, this teenage boy is our daughter's boyfriend." Mr. Sterling pipes up, not wanting to kill Lucas.

"Oh. Well in that case, you don't have to do this." The boss replies sympathetically.

"No sir! Of course we can do this." Mrs. Sterling says quickly.

"No, no. I'll take care of it. You two can get the next one if you wish. I understand." The boss says.

"I must go now, but we'll be in contact." The boss says, shutting his flip phone to end the call.

He turns to three of his colleagues, who are in the dark room with him.

"Good news! The Sterlings will not be handling this one, we will. You three will help me." The boss says with a heartless smile.

"How will we deal with this one, sir?" One man asks excitedly. He's ready for another hunt.

"We will kidnap him." The boss says simply. "Then we'll bring him here, interrogate him, then kill him."

"When are we leaving to get him?" The man asks, shifting from foot to foot in anticipation.

"Right now. We'll be there by early morning."