3 The hunters

Chapter 3 The hunters Iceland, Now This is James Kim." The teacher patted James's shoulder. "Shall we welcome him to Dalvik High School, everyone?" "Hi James," mumbled the students. Here we go again... James thought. Another month, another school. His dad's job meant they were always moving.

James was fourteen years old and well- built for his age. Most people assumed he played a lot of sports. In fact, his only exercise was helping his dad at work. But since his dad, Mr. Kim, was a vampire hunter, this meant James spent most evenings running, jumping, ducking and wielding a wooden stake or a crossbow. James glanced out of the window as the teacher waffled on through her 'be nice to the new pupil' speech. Although it was the early afternoon, it was already pitch-dark.

This place is a vampire paradise, James thought, grimly. At this time of year, it's dark almost all the time. James looked around the class. Do any of them know what's out there? He suspected that they didn't. Hardly anyone in the world knew about vampires. James often wished that he'd never found out about them himself...

Long ago, James and his family were attacked by vampires. He and his father got away unharmed. His mother didn't get away at all. Ever since then, his father had devoted his life to killing these monsters. As soon as he was old enough, James joined him.

Dalvik was their latest stop- Mr. Kim had read about some mysterious disappearances there and was sure that vampires were responsible. They'd moved from New York to Dalvik within a week. As James was being introduced to his new classmates, he knew his father was searching for vampire lairs.

The plan was that James and Mr. Kim would observe the creatures' movements and habits for a while, then ambush them. "But you need an education, too," his dad had insisted. So here he was. As the teacher finished her speech, she ushered James to the only empty chair, beside a pretty girl with pale, fair hair. She smiled as he sat down.