IV: MARS

my deer.

After his last shift, he went straight home.
On the way to his bedroom the hair on the back of his neck raised; he felt like someone was staring at him. He jumped to see the intruder, but it was just Dakota. Standing in the doorway to the kitchen. They just stared at each other like two deer in a forest. Malakai thought if he made any movement, he'd scare him off. Finally, Dakota spoke.
"Can you die?"
"Excuse me?!" He responded in an offended tone. That's not exactly what he expected to hear. That's definitely not what he wanted to hear.
"Are you able to die?" He asked again.
Oh that's what he meant.
"Yeah, I'm able to die." Malakai said with inflection.
"Why are you asking me this?"
Dakota's eyes wandered around the room and he fumbled with his hands.
"I don't think I can die. And now Wenn thinks I'm a vampire." He answered without meeting his eyes.
Malakai could not comprehend how he managed to confuse him even more. How the fuck do you respond to that?
"Wenn...he's the half demon rookie right? Why does he think you're a vampire?"
"He doesn't believe I could've won a match against him any other way."
"You won a face off against a half demon? Why am I just now hearing about this?"
"Baddar wanted to tell you yesterday but he couldn't find you."
Malakai felt a tad bit guilty after hearing that. Maybe he should start checking his messages more often. Did Baddar even have his number?
"I'm going to give you my number. That way you can message me on VRSCOM if you need to find me."

Malakai went to bed that night feeling he had accomplished something. Even though it was a weird conversation, they had still sort of talked. Venus must be rubbing off on him. He shouldn't be this excited over something so trivial. He avoids everyone else who tries to talk to him, so why does he care if Dakota does?