The Venatrix

Chapter Eight

Malkai's home is beautiful. It's a small one bedroom, one bathroom farmhouse style home, with a complete wraparound porch. The inside is immaculate. Gray wash floors, creamy white walls, stained dark oak sliding doors, large bay windows and plush white furniture to match. 

"You like it?" Malkai asked. I don't really know why he asked. I'm pretty sure my wide eyes and the open mouth says it all. 

"Not only is this place beautiful, but it's also so warm and inviting, it truly feels like a home." I marvel. 

"I've been living here a long time. It was starting to feel lonely and now I've got you to share it with!" He says smiling.  

"Well, Malkai, we have skipped some steps. Normally I get to know a person before I move in with them." I joked, flashing him a smile of my own.

"That's fair. What do you want to know?  He asks to take a seat at the kitchen table. I follow suit, gently taking off the flame thrower, sitting it on the ground before I sit at his table. 

"How old are you?" I ask. 

"Are you asking me how old I was when I turned or how long I have been a vampire?" He asked.

"Both." I shrugged. 

"Well, I stopped aging at twenty-one, but I have been alive over two hundred years." He says simply. I can't honestly say that I am shocked. I have heard that a lot of vampires have to wait many centuries before they meet their mates. He just has so much more life experience than I do. I am a baby compared to him. 

"Whatever you're thinking, stop! The vampire gods chose you to be my mate for a reason. You were made for me." He says. His expression is stern, but his eyes are soft. 

"I had been hired by a rich family to eliminate a vampire who had been causing some issues. When I found him, I didn't get to fire off a shot. I didn't get to throw a stake. No hand-to-hand combat. Before I could blink, he had already sunk his teeth into my neck. I woke up three days later in the same field confused. I hadn't been assaulted. I still had all my gear on. Someone had tipped him off. He knew I was coming. I had no doubt that he bit me with the intention of killing me." I am not quite sure why I was going into so much detail. 

"I mean you do specialize in killing vampires." He says. Anger starts to form in the pit of my gut.  I mean he isn't wrong, but I don't go around killing people just to kill people. How dare he assume that I do so.

"I've also killed rogue wolves too. I've worked with vampires to form peace treaties with werewolf packs, but nobody wants to talk about that." I hissed. 

"I'm not belittling your career. I'm just pointing out what someone might do from a different perspective if given the opportunity." He says gently. 

"I was seventeen when it happened. I've been a vampire for four years." I admit I'm unable to keep the sadness out of my voice. 

"Why were you out being a hunter at seventeen? Most seventeen-year olds are finishing up high school and making plans to go to college." He asked. 

I feel my body tense up. My teeth involuntarily start grinding together. My family is an extremely poor subject. A part of me is happy that I will never have to see them again. I hope they think that I ran off and got myself killed. Well in a twisted sense I guess I did. Another part of me wishes they would have respected my relationship and let the moon goddess decide if Light and I should be together. You can't always get what you want in life. 

I glance up at Malkai. His body language is relaxed. His eyes show patience. Another part of me is concerned that he will kick me out of his house. The second that I tell him who I was or what I was could mean the end of us but it's now or never.