Nevermore, the Complete Series
was my biological mom or not, I still loved her.
    “Of course she isn’t,” he smiled reassuringly.
    “This is all some sort of trick, right?” My voice was filled with panic as I stared at him with pleading eyes. “Tell me this isn't real. Tell me my mom is at home waiting for me, and that she's secretly planning a surprise party and is just using you guys to distract me.”
    “I wish I could,” Salem replied.
    “I don’t know what to think. This is all impossible,” I said, shaking my head, “Okay, I’ll play along Mr. Vampire, but I have one question.”
    “Anything.”
    “Why, if Paul is your enemy, are you willing to be around me at all? Aren’t you afraid hunting is in my blood or something? Or that, you know…HE might kill you?”
    “I told you before. I find you intriguing; in more ways than I can even explain. And, you haven't been taught in the ways of hunting, therefore I have nothing to fear from you. As far as Paul goes, I have nothing to worry about.”
    “Nothing to worry about? Okay, whatever. I have another one for you, then. If you’re a vampire, how are you out here in the sun? Shouldn't you have shriveled up and died by now? Or burst into flame?”
    He grimaced. “This is reality, Alexis, not a story. Everything you have read about vampires – most of it is inaccurate or downright false. We are not beautiful, we don't turn into bats, we don't shrivel up in the sunlight and we are most definitely not afraid of something as fickle as garlic.”
    “That's not entirely true,” I whispered bashfully, turning to look out the window, hoping he somehow had not heard.
    “What isn't?” He questioned.
    “The beautiful part,” I said, turning back to look at him.
    “You are too kind,” the sound of his laugh extinguished my embarrassment.
    “So, then it is all true?” I paused for a moment, “are you going to kill me?” I really wished I didn’t always blurt out what I was thinking.
    He put his finger on my chin and turned my face toward him. I flinched at his touch, trembling slightly. “I would never hurt you. In fact, I have no interest in hurting anyone else for that matter.”
    “Paul said you’re a monster and that I shouldn't trust you.”
    “Paul,” he said through gritted teeth, “is the monster. A lot of vampires haven't done anything wrong, not in a very long time. Some of us haven’t at all. The hunters…the ones that kill without feeling or discrimination…they are the monsters!”
    “A long time? So you’re saying you used to be a monster?” I asked.
    “Some of us, yes. Some still are, but I'm not amongst those. These hunters such as Paul do not understand that many of us are different. They only judge us by what we are, not who we are.”
    I stared into his pale blue eyes, wondering if he was telling the truth. If he really was a vampire there was no telling over how many years he could have perfected the art of lying. “If your kind is nothing to be afraid of, why do hunters even exist?”
    “I said a lot of us, not all of us. There are some vampires that are still a definite threat to society, and that is why the Waldron lineage exists. Your ancestors are natural born hunters of our kind. It would overwhelm you to know just how many vampires exist in the world, how many exist in just this little town. That is why hunters exist.”
    I gulped at his words, trying to avoid wondering just how many vampires were roaming around in what I thought to be a peaceful little town. Sure, Willowshire wasn't perfect – we had criminals just as any town did, but thinking that there were undead monsters roaming through the city sounded far more sinister than your everyday crook. “Are your special abilities a part of being...what you are?”
    “No,” he said quietly, “I have always assumed it was something to do with my father’s heritage.”
    “Your last name is kind of contradictory, too,” I said, speaking my thoughts again. “That is, assuming all those

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