The Eye of the Knife

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Reunited.

"You know I shouldn't be doing this." The gruff voice rang out yet again, reminding me for the billionth time.

"Yes, I know. Thank you again for reminding me of that.... yet again." I didn't look up from Christian's sleeping form.

The gash on his arm was no longer bleeding nor oozing the green poison. His completion was still pale, but was gaining back its color by the hour. Hair clung to his forehead with sweat and blood coated throughout the brown locks. Small cuts and bruises littered all over his face and body. My heart ached knowing that even in sleep he was still in immense pain.

"Well I should remind you. I could get in a shit tone of trouble for this." The voice pulled me from my thoughts.

I looked up, away from Christian for the first time in hours. My Father's old best friend Tim Cross stood before me with his arms crossed and looking anything but pleased. His green eyes glowed with sadness and concern as he rubbed the light stubble on his pointed chin.

"Your lucky that your Dad told me to protect you no matter what." He grunted and gestured to Christian. "What's so special about him?"

I looked back at Christian and shrugged. How to put it into words? Before I knew it my mouth was moving. "I think..... I love him."

The room went silence apart from the deep breaths coming from Christian as he slept the day away. I swallowed suddenly feeling like I was under a microscope, being examined from every angle. "Is that so? So my little Monica has finally found love?" He spoke out into the silence.

"Max." I corrected with annoyance. "I don't go by Monica no matter who gave me the name." I stated flatly already knowing where this conversation was going to head.

"Whatever." He said with a smile in his voice. "How'd this happen anyways? Where did he come from?"

Mentally, I rolled my eyes, but on the outside I sighed and dove into the story. How Christian had stayed in my hotel room for hours, how we talked about nothing yet everything. How he followed me around like a shadow, and how I started to realize that I was falling for him.

Tim looked at me after I was finished, and green eyes searched brown ones; looking for hints of deception. When he was satisfied that I was telling the truth, he spoke. "So basically, you got found out, then you helped him practice what you do for a living; what we all do for a living, and then he got hurt because you made a mistake. What happened to you Max?" Green orbs shined with concern as well as the expression to go with it.

"Honestly, I don't know. I knew it was wrong when we started, and I knew and told him that we could get in serious trouble. But he still wanted to learn."

"Does he know the extent of the consequences?"

I looked away, I couldn't bare to see the disappointment in his eyes. "No." A sigh greeted my words as a response. I looked at how Christian's and my hands fit together perfectly as they lay beside him, intertwined. "I know I should have, but he was so excited. I just couldn't find it in my heart to tell him the truth. It would have killed his dreams and spirits. I couldn't do that to him. It was the last hope he had left for his life. How was I supposed to tell him that he could get murdered for it? That he could get the Death Penalty by my own people because he isn't blood."

Tim stood silent as I whispered each word, barely audible, but knowing that he could hear me. A tear fell down my cheek and fell to the white sheets of the bed besides our entwined hands. I sniffled and waited for Tim to say something, anything, to fill the unbearable silence.

Instead of Tim answering, Christian started to move and stir. His grip on my hand tightened, almost to the point where it hurt. I squeezed back, knowing that it would comfort him in some way, to wake up and have me right there by his side. I waited and watched his eyes, hoping that they would open and we could finally see if he was going to be fully okay.

I waited and squeezed his hand more. Finally a few minutes later, his blue orbs opened up slightly, as if he was scared of where he was going to be. As he gently opened them more, a look of panic crossed his features until he saw me, and visibly relaxed.

 "Hey.' He breathed at me.

"Hey." I said back. I knew that he was in pain by the way he tried to sit up, then winced along with giving up his fruitless attempts.

"Where am I?" He asked as he gazed around the small room with dark blue walls and wooden furniture. It held a small desk in the corner with a lamp on top, the bed which he was laying in, and a chair with the desk and another by the window as a reading area.

"In your room." Tim spoke up. "I'm Tim Cross by the way. Also the one who saved your life."

"Out." I said and pointed at the door. Tim laughed, knowing he just created a very long discussion for me to have. One that I was hoping to put off, at least for a few hours. "Don't forget what we talked about." He said as he opened the door. Tim then gave me the 'I'm watching you' gesture.

The door closed and then came the utter uncomfortable silence. I didn't want to have the talk I was about to with Christian. Anything but this, especially after he just woke up.

"What was he talking about?" Christian asked, big blue eyes set straight on me and nothing else.

"Christian... we need to talk." I said in a huge rush of air. He looked at me with pure confusion, etched all over in his handsome face. "First off you are here because of a mistake that I made. We weren't fully prepared. I didn't take into account that the demon we encountered could have poisonous claws. And as a result you almost died. If I hadn't brought you to Tim, then you would have died, end of story."

I watched his reaction carefully, taking a pause to catch my breath as I did so. I could tell the gears in his brain were turning, just from the way he seemed to be looking at the sheets that covered his legs.

 "And for all this I am sorry. But there is more that I have to tell you. I couldn't tell you before because... well I didn't know how. I didn't want to be the one to crush you like this, but now I guess I have no choice. If you get caught being apart of what I do... you could have the Death Penalty. Its because your not from Hunter's bloodlines. They don't want you to go out into the world and tell our secrets. That's why I didn't tell you before. I'm sorry."

We sat in silence as my words died down. I didn't have anything else to say, and didn't want to just ramble on and on. I wanted, and needed, him to understand why I didn't tell the whole truth. I hadn't technically lied, just didn't tell the whole truth.

Christian took a sharp intake of breath. "There's something that I have to tell you." His words hung in the air like thick fog. I felt my blood pressure rise and heart rate increase as his words finally penetrated my skull and sunk in. I nodded at him to continue since I didn't think I could make my mouth form words.

 He seemed to think for a minute before he spoke. As if he was trying to find the right way to say something, the concentration face ever present. As he bit his lip, he opened his mouth to speak. "You know how I told you my father died when I was young, correct?" I nodded.

"Well... he was of the Hunter Community. So I do have Hunter blood in my veins. I did know all of this before you told me, I did my research. That's how I found you. Your father was one of my father's friends, so I knew that you would have been trained right, therefore could train me correctly."

Christian fell silent and let the words hang in the air once more. I didn't know what to think, or to believe him in all honesty. Of course it all sounds a bit crazy and unrealistic, therefore it is only natural that I would be skeptical of what he was telling me. Part of me wants to believe it, yet the other part wants some sort of proof.

But throughout my internal battle, one sentence kept running through my mind. The sentence that scared yet excited me the most.

My father was friends with your father.

Friends with your father.