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ordinary people,” h e was choosing his words carefully. I barely caught that he said 'Waldron' and not 'Hobbs'. “We are...vampire hunters.”
    I burst into laughter , but there was little humor behind what he said . “ Vampire hunters?” I shook my head, about to get up and leave. “ I knew it, it’s all a joke. You and Salem are both going to get it for this crap . I-”
    “Salem ! ?” His eyes went from gentle to fierce, almost fearful , “p lease tell me it isn't Salem Young.”
    I opened my mouth to confirm his assumption, but stopped myself. “ You’re the one who set him up to it aren’t you? You’re obviously both in on it. Is there a problem? ”
    “More than just a problem, ” Paul growled. “Salem Young isn't safe.”
    “He seems perf ectly safe, and friendly, to me,” I objected, “a side from this whole birthday prank nonsense.”
    “ Alexis this is not a damned prank!” I somehow knew by the tone in his voice and the look in his eyes that everything I had been told was indeed true. “Salem…he’s one of them!”
    “One of...them?” I gulped. “As in a ‘vampire’ ?”
    Paul nodded slowly. “ He’s one of the ones that live around these parts that I haven’t been able to kill yet. ”
    “You kill people!” I gasped.
    “They aren't p eople , Alexis. They're monsters! ”
    “I don't believe in monsters.”
    “Please, you have to listen to me,” h e pleaded, reaching across the table to touch my hand. I pulled away.
    “Why did Janet and Desmond pretend for so long, how are they involved?”
    “They don't know the full truth,” he said quietly, “I put you in foster care after your mother passed away, hoping someone would find you and give you a better life than I could ever offer here on my own . But, I insisted they let me be a part of your life. So, I played the role of your uncle. You can't imagine how hard it was, pretending al l of this time to be your uncle,” h e explained with grief , “b ut, I told Janet that by the time you were old enough, I wanted you to know the truth about where you came from . I guess eighteen is old enough to understand in her book . All she knew , though , is that I was your dad, and that your real mom passed away. ”
    “Why did it have to wait until now?”
    “I had to protect you from them, if they knew I had a young daughter...” he sho ok his head, “there's no tellin’ what they might have done to you. It was for the best. But now you're older, stronger, and more able to help rid the world of their evil.”
    “I refuse to believe this, Paul! You and Salem are just playing some sort of stupid birthday joke on me but I'm sick of it. It's not funny anymore, I'm out of here!” I didn’t know what to think, my head was spinning. They both seemed so adamant about all of this, and I admit it w as an awfully elaborate prank - i f it was one . It had to be one . Why would they do this , though? It wasn’t funny at all, it was downright infuriating.
    I got up from my chair, ignoring his pleading calls and left the room. Tears streamed down my cheek, from frustration and confusion. Then I looked out the window to see Salem in my car, staring back at me. I walked slowly out of the auto shop and grasped the handle to my door. I was afraid to open it, afraid that Paul hadn't been joking...but the welcoming smile on Salem's flawless face made me change my mind. I collapsed onto my seat and glanced over at him cautiously.
    I thought over everything that I had read in vampire novels – noting the fact that he was out here, in the sunlight, not burning to a crisp. However, he was breathtakingly beautiful and he did have a pallid comple xion, but he seemed harmless - aside from the bizarre episode about his ‘special abilities’ that he went on about .
    Salem opened his mouth to speak, but I put my hand up to stop him as I remembered what Paul had said. “ There’s more about you than you let on last night isn’t there? You’re not just