Lost In The Night (On Hold)

The Big Hunt (Part Three)

(Raphael's P.O.V.)

Jerimiah requested me in his office about two hours before dark, when I was supposed to set out to hunt Jade and Ethan. Standing in front of his office door, I raise my hand to knock. Before I can though, the door swings open, revealing a grinning Jerimiah.

"Raphael, hello. Do come in." He opens the door wider to admit me. Walking towards the couch he insisted on having, I sit down and look up at him expectantly. "I suppose you're wondering why I've called you to my office." I just nod, assuming it has something to do with my hunt later this night.

Jerimiah pours some burbon into two glasses and hands me one. "Well, it has come to my attention that you seem to be very close with the Jones girl."

I look at him, feeling a confused expression making its way onto my face. "Apologies, Jerimiah, but I'm not entirely sure where you're going with this."

"I daresay you know exactly where I'm going with this, Raphael." His voice had suddenly turned firm and harsh, and I couldn't help but gulp nervously. Did he know about whatever the hell Cress and I have? "Yes, I do." Startled, I remember that Jerimiah is so powerful that he has the ability to read vampires' minds as well, which is probably how he found out about this so called connection.

Taking advantage of his knowledge and age, I ask, "do you know what it is exactly?"

"It's exactly what you refer to it as, Raphael. It's a connection. A connection that is so rare there hasn't been one for centuries. I've only ever known of one other pair of people to have the connection you and Cressida share."

Now, I'm intrigued. "Well what does it mean?"

"Hush boy," he says with a wave of his hand. Someone's getting sassy. Jerimiah smirks. "I do not 'get sassy'. As I was saying, I've only know of one other connection like this, so I took the liberty to do some research on it. Oddly enough, in all the research that I did, not once did I read about a connection between a vampire and a hunter. In fact, there were no interracial bonds at all."

I open my mouth to ask yet another question, but the vampire before me holds up a hand to silence me. "I did manage to find some articles explaining the bond." This shut me up effectively, causing a smug expression to cross Jerimiah's features. "However, I do not think it wise to tell you such vital information right before such an important event."

My mouth hangs open, until I finally manage to form words again. "Wha- Jer! You can't do that! That'll screw with me even more. Please, tell me what the bond means."

"Tell me what you feel when you're around the girl." He says, not even bothering to point out that I called him "Jer", which he hates.

A frustrated growl escapes my lips and I all but rip my hair from my scalp. "I don't know! I just, I feel this need to talk to her, to hug her when she looks sad, to just be near her. Somehow, I know when she's upset, when she's happy, I can sense when she's near, or when she's in hunting mode."

"Interesting. Very well, you are dismissed. Go prepare for the hunt of your immortal life thus far, boy." Knowing that Jerimiah would not say anything more, I glare at him and exit the room as fast as I can with my abilities.

Once I'm out of the building, I head to the nearest secluded area. I yell and punch the walls of the abandoned building before me, frustrated with Jerimiah but also scared. Scared for the first time in I don't know how many years. Why was I scared? Because, for the first time since I met Cressida, I truly considered what this so called bond might mean, how it might make me feel.

Being alive for so long, I learned to not get emotionally invested with people, Jerimiah being one of the few exceptions as seeing he was like a father to me. But then, I just happen to make eye contact with her at some stupid club, and then everything changed.