My Favorite Nightmare by Abigail Livinghouse (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

irritated with me. I rolled my eyes.

 

“For God’s sake Mother, do you honestly think Mikael’s going to care about my damn hair?” I said, my tone a bit colder than I had intended.

 

Dating was a touchy subject with me. The only person I had ever begun to develop feelings for had turned on me, but what should I have expected? He was a creature from hell anyway.

 

“Yes, he will care.” She hissed.

 

I sighed, propping my elbow on the table and my chin in my hand. I was just going to the market, I didn’t need mother fussing over me like she does dinner.

 

“Please”, I said, standing up before she could get the scissors and chop off my bangs. “I’d like to leave now.” I said.

 

Mother dropped her comb, waving her hands frantically. “No! We have to take the curlers out first.”

 

I huffed but realized she was right. Hey, I might not care about my hair but that doesn’t mean I’m blind. I plopped back down in my chair, allowing her to gently remove the hard plastic cylinders from my head. I felt my hair fall, mother gasp, and I jumped back up.

 

“What?” I asked, nervous now.

 

She just shook her head, her hand covering her mouth. She reached behind her, snatching a mirror and holding it up to my face, I blinked a few times, stunned at my reflection. My hair fell to my waist in dark waves, giving off a bit of a shine, even my bangs were wavy and had a bit more volume so even without being trimmed they didn’t fall in my eyes.

 

Mother squealed like a child and put the mirror on the table, gently hugging my shoulders as to not damage her hours of work. “You look so beautiful.” She said, tears in her eyes.

 

I couldn’t argue with her, my hair did look pretty fantastic. And trust me, I was the last person to be called conceded. I just wasn’t used to curls instead of flat hair. Good God, I sounded like such a girl! Another thing I wasn’t used to. Mother covered her mouth with her hands, shaking her head.

 

“Okay”, she said, then dropped her hands. “Go, Mikael is probably waiting for you.” I rolled my eyes, but grabbed my hunting bag and gladly left, standing a bit taller with my dark curls shimmering around my face.

Chapter Twenty Seven

I wasn’t going to search the market for Mikael, instead, I headed over to Sal’s where Tirana was once again leaning against the counter and downing a bottle of cider. When I got closer I could hear she was ranting about something no one really cared about. I greeted her and she barely spared me a wave before she began shouting again. I picked up the bottle she had been gulping and sniffed the top. I wrinkled my nose, set the bottle down, and waved my hand when Sal offered me a drink. Apparently Tirana preferred her cider spiked.

 

“I just wish the vermin would keep out of our damned village!” She screeched, grabbing her bottle and hanging on to it as if someone was going to snatch it away from her, like someone should. I turned to Sal.

 

“A vampire?” I said, deciding that asking Tirana would be like asking a wall, considering how tipsy she was. He leaned his elbows on the counter.

 

“Listen here missy”, he said in his very deep, gravelly voice which he didn’t use often, pointing an angry finger at me. “Don’t go looking for no trouble. When you look for it you’re bound to find it.” He growled at me.

 

I scowled. He was speaking to me like I was a child, not a sixteen year old girl. “I’m a hunter. It’s my job to look for trouble and come back with it dead over my shoulder.” I turned around, ready to leave just out of pure frustration. “I can take care of myself. If you’re not going to tell me, then I’ll find someone else.” I said.

 

Sal chuckled. “Oh, like this drunk bat over here?” He said, pointing to Tirana who was shouting about ‘those goddamned immortals’ to an old woman buying apples at one of the fruit stands. I shook my head.

 

“It’s none of your concern.” I said flatly, turning my back on him.

 

“You’re going out on a suicide mission girlie.” He called to me. “Don’t start something you can’t finish.” He said as I walked away, ignoring Tirana’s flushed shouts about the world ending with vampires taking over.

 

I scanned the crowd, not seeing Mikael anywhere. A sinking feeling began to fill my stomach, as if I had swallowed rocks that were settling at the very core of my gut. I shook my head, pressing my hand to my forehead. The sun was setting, turning the sky a creamy orange. I went to Mr. Bo’s, dropping my bag down on the ground and sitting behind the counter next to his feet. He looked down at me.

 

“Well hello there Miss Kyla, what can I do ya for?” He asked pleasantly. I covered my face with my hands, sighing.

 

“Nothing, Bo. Nothing at all.” I said, my voice hoarse.

 

“You okay there girl?” He asked, concern in his low voice.

 

I shook my head, realizing how pathetic I must look here on the ground, my hair tangled from the slight breeze combined with my slowly flattening curls, and my voice rough as if I had been crying, or about to.

 

“I’m fine.” I said, got up, and slung my bag around my shoulder. I brushed my pants off, giving Bo a weak smile. His eyebrows crinkled in concern.

 

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asked again.

 

I nodded. “Fine.”

 

I left then, wiping away a single tear that had slipped down my cheek. Stood up. Was the first time, but I was sure it wouldn’t be the last.

Chapter Twenty Eight

When I got home mother wanted to talk about the last thing that I wanted to talk about.

 

“So, how was it? What happened? What did he say?” She said as soon as I walked through the door. I just shook my head.

 

“He didn’t show, Mother.” I said, my tone dead.

 

Shock crossed her face for a moment, but then she waved her hand dismissively as if to shoo away what had happened. “I’m sure it was a mistake.” She said.

 

I laughed humorlessly. “It was a mistake to think a guy would want to speak to me.” I said, then headed up the stairs, ignoring mother and the twins calling to me.

 

I slammed my door to my bedroom and threw my bag on the ground. I fell down on my bed, burying my face in my pillow. Yes, I was hurt, but only because I had actually been excited about this. I was such a fool. I couldn’t take this. I had to get out of the house. I snatched my stake out of my bag and slung it through one of the loops on my jeans, I wasn’t a total idiot. I wasn’t about to go out without any protection.

 

I opened my window, jumping out without hesitation. The drop was nothing, I landed easily. I jogged around the outskirts of the village. I didn’t feel like dealing with pitiful looks from Mr. Bo or sharp patronizing ones from Sal. I had no idea what he meant saying that I shouldn’t start something that I couldn’t finish. And whatever Tirana had been talking about was just a drunken rant. I slowed to a walk once I passed the Square. I walked slowly, dangerously close to the Outlands. I remembered the talk I had had with Trine just a month ago, how he had wanted to raise his family there, how the Outlands seemed like a safer place for his children than our village. I shook my head, picking up my pace a bit. I wasn’t sure where I was going, but I didn’t care, as long as I wasn’t holed up in that stuffy house. I stopped near an abandoned booth that used to sell equipment but was too far out from the Square to survive. I leaned against the rickety wooden walls, sliding down until I was sitting on the ground, the dirt showing up distinctly on my black pants. I let my head fall back against the wall, shutting my eyes.

 

I was stupid to expect Mikael to actually want to go on a date with me. Mother might think all these boys were fawning over me, but the truth was, the boys in our village didn’t like girls like me. They wanted broad, muscular women with strength and power. I had none of these things, no matter how I looked, without any of those qualities, I was found unattractive among the men in my village. I rubbed my tired eyes with my hand, regretting doing my hair and getting all excited about nothing.

 

“Well”, a voice purred from my right. My eyes snapped open, not so tired anymore. “Fancy seeing you here, eh love?” 

Chapter Twenty Nine

I shot to my feet, drawing my stake out of my belt. Pearce looked up at me dully, sitting down on the ground near where I had just been resting. He looked exactly the same as when I had seen him just a few weeks ago when I had nearly been killed by Carline. His pure white hair fell over half of his face, I could only see one of his dark eyes. His sensual mouth was turned up in amusement, his eyebrows raised tauntingly. He wore black jeans, and a tight blue shirt. On his feet were checkered tennis shoes. He definitely dressed oddly.

 

The people in my village wore much lighter clothing, unless you were a hunter like me, you wore all black. That was normally how people distinguished hunters from everyday folk.