The shadow Hunter

chapter 8

After another hour of silent fighting, the guards brought us back to our cells. "Are you stupid?! They could have seen us!" I burst out as soon as they left. Pietro looked at me through the glass, startled. Wanda was sitting cross- legged in her cell. I knew she was probably listening, i knew she had probably seen. It weirdly bothered me; I had felt vulnerable when Pietro kissed me- like I had been stripped back. I hadn't appeared strong and I didn't like that people had seen that. But the three of us became a package now, there was no hiding from each other here. Pietro leaned against his side of the glass. "What if they had? What would they have done?" He questioned. I scowled and clenched my teeth. "I didn't ask to be kissed." I muttered. Pietro chuckled quietly which i didn't understand, what was there to laugh at? "I suppose not, but didn't you enjoy it?" I scoffed, "it was a kiss, what is there to enjoy." Pietro furrowed his brows and looked quizzically to the ground before looking back up into my eyes. "What other purpose is there? A kiss is to be enjoyed, to show love and affection." 

I pressed my lips together and looked away quickly. "Love? What a useless feeling." I spoke, a laugh playing on my lips. Pietro was silent for a few seconds too long and i almost looked up at him, to check he was still on the other side. "You don't believe in love?" He asked quietly and slowly with more concern than astonishment. "I don't believe there is a use for it, or any emotion of the kind. It only distracts from the mission." I said matter-of-factly, the last sentence springing to my lips with out thinking. "Mission?" Pietro asked. "Like the missions you used to go on in Russia?" I looked up at him sharpish and glared. "You don't know what you're talking about." I told him. He smiled softly to himself although it didn't look like a happy one. "I'm not stupid." He told me. I had never thought of Pietro as stupid. I had once thought of him as naive however grew to realize he wasn't naive at all, just hopeful. 

"That man they mentioned when you first woke here, the man you talk about in your sleep." My face went slack. Did i really say his name when i slept? Did the images in my head pass by my lips? "Only a particular type of man has connections to this place. And where else does a sweet English girl learn to speak Russian and fight like you can?" My lips parted slightly as i decided whether to deflect the conversation or just turn away and go to sleep. "I know you have a dark past, but you don't have to worry, there are no evil missions here." There it was, that hope again. 

"They have enhanced us, made us weapons. If you think there are no evil missions here then maybe you are stupid." Pietro narrowed his eyes at me, not with anger but with intrigue. "If there is some horrible mission then, why don't you just leave like you did Russia?" He questioned. "We both know you could and wouldn't even have to try that hard." I dropped my gaze and turned away towards the back wall. Pietro laughed again, still with nothing to laugh about. "Ah, those useless feelings." I clenched my jaw and rolled my eyes. "If you're suggesting i have feelings-" Pietro put his hands up defensively. "I'm not suggesting anything. I just think you don't leave because you don't want to." he said leave as if i could just walk out, it wouldn't be that easy, there were complications. Was it not true though? Had i not thought myself there was something pulling me back here. 

"Inside i think you are still a little girl who is scared." I turned away more, pressing my back against the glass so i couldn't see Pietro's face. "Despite all the blood and violence that has stripped you of yourself, or god forbid the feeling of love." I hated how he spoke as if he knew  me so well. He spoke of violence and blood as if he had known me for years. But he did really. In this whole world, there were few people who knew me as well as Pietro could. No one could see inside me with out me even showing them. "What is your obsession with love? What is so great about it?" I asked, leaning my head to the side so i could see his face out of the corner of my eye. "Love, Alena, Love is a beautiful feeling. There is so many different types of it and it can bring out the best in people." Pietro spoke whimsically but to me it all sounded like a bunch of bullshit. "Love is good for nothing." I spoke, stating every word clearly. "You think that now but only because you have never experienced it."