Coveted [New/Revised Version]

THE VALUE OF LOVE AND TRUST

     "How big is this place?" Mae gasped as they pulled up to the Jayden residence.

"It's only 4,800 square feet on 10 acres of land." Sky said modestly.

"Only?" she blanched.

He shrugged.

Iris, Lisa, and Mae climbed out of his car after him. He strode up the walkway to the door and turned the handle and the four stepped inside. As expected, Valentine wasn't there yet. He was most likely still with Annabelle. The thought made Iris frown deeply.

Iris only shook her head when Mae looked over to her with a questioning look. There was no true explanation why the thought of Annabelle and Valentine made her ill at ease. It didn't even make sense she even felt that way but the closer they grew, the more irritated she found herself. The concept of an imprint was still foggy to her. She only heard the word used a few times by Gregory over the years but he never explained it.

At first, she thought it was her hunter's instinct being prejudice against a vampire/human relationship.

After further reflection, she realized that wasn't the case. During one of their sessions, while Sky and Sue left them unattended to dispute something, Valentine took the opportunity to give details on it. In her opinion, it was appalling. She couldn't say she felt affectionate at the thought of vampires but there was a sense of injustice about one being bound by imprint. There was no independence. The choices were either fed or eventually go mad with thirst. The whole thing seemed like a form of psychological inhibition.

The knowledge that Valentine would never hurt Annabelle should have put her at ease but it didn't. Instead, it just fueled some nameless feeling inside her. The fact Annabelle constantly stared at her boldly with dislike deepened that feeling. How could someone hold such abhorrence for another they weren't even close to knowing on a personal level?

It turned her stomach.

Sky continued leading them up the staircase and down a hall opposite where Iris knew his room was. Slowly, she pushed her thoughts of Annabelle and Valentine from her mind to focus on the task at hand. They came to a halt in front of a pair of wooden double doors. Retrieving a key from somewhere on his person, Sky unlocked the door and flickered on the lights. The room revealed in the new-fangled luminance was very elaborate but impersonal.

It consisted no furnishings. Its coloring was an eerie bright white columned with shiny, metallic ceiling-to-floor drawers on all four walls. Each row contained ten drawers. As for how many drawers across depended on the length of the wall. A chill slithered down Iris' spine.

"My exes have given me gifts over the years. The ones I value most are kept elsewhere." Sky told them. "This room's where I keep, well, everything else."

Iris gaped at him. All these drawers were full of gifts from his exes. She turned and surveyed the room. There was possibly over hundreds of drawers in here. How many exes did he have? And how many years had he lived?

"Just out of curiosity," Iris began, "how old are you again?"

"I just turned eighty this April."

"Wow," was all she managed. "And all of these drawers hold a gift from your exes?"

"Gifts," he corrected. "Yes. Most of them are Nefarious's. The others are everyone else I've been with since."

"How many belong to Nefarious?"

Sky looked around before pointing. "All but the last row."