The Hunter's Vampire {Re-writing}

Chapter 16 Cracked Foundation

Adam took his time in his bath. His thoughts elsewhere than where it should be. He was thinking of Marissa and how the young girl yearned for him and how he told himself that he did not want to be tangled within another relationship that might most definitely bring him heartache. He remembers her asking him to come to visit her in town and was skeptical. Should he venture back into the town just for her? His sister would certainly hear about it and want to have a word with him about staying away for so long. He groaned and sank lower in his bath, making decisions like these were not something he was good at.

The cabin was quiet, not much sound being made, just the normal creaks and cracks, of the household, but he heard nothing of Lexander for as long as he'd been in his bath. That made him curious. He sat up and then stood, the water rushing off the edges of the tub at his sudden movement. The water ran down his body in thick streams as he stepped out onto the cloth at the foot of the tub before he grabbed his towel and wrapped it around his narrow hips. His wet footprints dampened the floorboards as he walked to his room. "Lex?" the room was empty, the candle on his nightstand was lit and the bed made. It was cleaner than he had left it with no signs of the Vampire. He sighed, was it something he did? He was pondering just where the Vampire had gone to, but then Lexander was a free man, he could do as he pleased with his own self. He turned around then yelped in a startled fashion and jumped back and into a fighting stance. The werewolf took in the hunter and turned away from him. "He went hunting. Stop smelling so worried." He walked into the living quarters and flopped onto the couch.

"What? Wait, what!" he stood up straight and took three stomping steps towards the teen. "Hunting? Hunting what?" he turned on his heels. "I need to stop him!"

"Relax hunter, he went deer hunting up in the mountains. Yes, the mountains, he rather feed on the animals up there, than hunt near your village, or hunt the clueless humans. It'll be fine. He's just hungry," he shrugged, "but you know what they say, let feeding creatures feed." He yawned then stretched as he lied back. Adam hadn't the slightest clue how they conversed while he was in the bath because he didn't hear a thing. Maybe they whispered, but then how low were their voices? He straightened his stance and took in the young man. "Thank you," he said remembering that the wolf had taken him home when Lexander couldn't.

"Not starting a problem, but I just wanted to make sure you got tended to properly. Do you love him?" Adam rose a brow and he elaborated. "Lexander, he smelt of arousal earlier and so did you. It was quite hard to miss even as I slept." The hunter turned pink and he stuttered an answer for the wolf.

"It... It was nothing! Clear your head of your unsavory thoughts Leeland."

He sat up to look at him and a smirk played on his lips. "Unsavory... Your moans say otherwise. If you're conflicted hunter then please, don't be shy."

"Shut up." He didn't have to tell the child anything. He shook his head then turned to his room, but he did not enter, he shut the door then leaned back against it. His throat was tight and his heart was pounding. Why had Leeland's question rendered him speechless so easily? Why upon hearing those words had he gotten so defensive? He gulped. The wolf had heightened senses, and he was no fool. He knew that he and Lexander were sexually engaged and that they had sex while he was asleep. Darn wolf.

He straightened up, then set his right hand at his hip, "I don't blame you for the attraction towards the Vampire. They happen to resonate sexual energies around mortals... Us Werewolves aren't enchanted, but then, I cannot speak for everyone because we have interspecies mating. They aren't quite forbidden, but they aren't fully accepted either." Leeland said trying to calm his embarrassment.

Adam was curious now. "Does your species allow humans to intermingle with your own?" Leeland took a second to answer him, thinking of his words. He nodded once to himself then gave Adam his eye contact. "Yes... And no, but that is only if the mortal survives the transformation." His eyebrow arched.

"Transformation? I... I don't follow."

"You do, but it seems unreal to you. Humankind doesn't promise a long lifetime and with supernatural beings like us, you'll wither away before we blink. Your lifespans are short and our own isn't. We werewolves may age, but the process is slowed down immensely. Vampires once changed don't age at all... Those born—however rare, age quickly then stop and stay youthful until their life is ended. To keep either of our species or lovers alive, we bite them or scratch them. But that is only if we see our numbers dwindling over time. For Vampires, it isn't a good thing to be with another Vampire for too long. Their territorial instincts take over and it's dangerous... But I have heard about them working out. But pace yourself, dear hunter... Loving a being out of your species is difficult and for them to be the same gender is harder. Our kinds don't care about that sort of thing because reproduction happens regardless, but yours does." He yawned softly. "Hunter, you are a man that kills us. Acceptance for you will be more difficult since we can smell our killers and we fancy revenge." He brushed by the hunter on his way towards his room. "If I become a burden to you, then please tell me so that I may not impose on your life any longer, okay. But for now, I'm going to rest."

"You're not a bother child, sleep tight." He replied. The door shut behind Leeland and Adam stood there and wondered to himself what would happen to him when Lexander finally grew tired of his presence... What would they do to each other if that time comes sooner rather than later... Would he need to be the hunter that he was raised to be or the good man that he truly was in the eyes of the good people of his village?

~ ~ ~

Lexander was making his way back after discarding the corpse or two deer's that he drained over a cliff. He felt better than he had before, not as much as when he drank from Adam, but stable enough. He would be sustained for a good enough amount of time before he had to feed again, so deer's blood will have to do until then. In all his years he had never planned on getting involved with someone human especially not a human hunter who killed his kind and other supernatural beings. He surely never intended to get attached to Adam, but then again, he didn't plan on being attacked and injured by a lone wolf either. He was just traveling that night when he got tackled and bitten. The fight had proven to be one of his worst because of his lack of sustenance and how he hadn't anticipated the force behind the wolf's strength.

He grumbled at what had become of his life after getting free of his capture and it was distasteful. He had become entangled with a hunter, and if that wasn't already bad, he now had a young werewolf ward who he saved from being killed. He came through the opening of trees and sighed at the darkened cabin of the hunter. "Are you going inside, or are you just going to stand there and sulk?" Leeland asked from a tree near the cabin.

"No, not sulking... Just thinking."

Leeland jumped down from the tree that he had perched himself on and landed next to Lexander in a fluid motion. "Adam likes you a little too much Vampire. You know how dangerous this relationship can be and it's worse because he's a hunter. Fix this before anyone gets hurt."

"I'll do my best."