He's well-built, not so high, but his friendly face doesn't scare me at all, the opposite of what I expected from whoever can freely walk alive in Mikael's house.
«Who's Blade? How did you come behind me? I saw you walking away! What the...?!» I observe the ring Mikael gifted me on my finger. I'm sure I didn't have it last night.
«Mikael's surname is Blake, but, you know, Blade reflects his personality as a nickname, doesn't it? By the way, have you seen him?» He gives me his hand and I grab it to jump up, drastically rolling my eyes to make him see I just want to eat alone.
«Who's this beautiful girl?» He asks, trying to kiss my hand that I immediately move on the table to make a jam sandwich. When I finish it and took a big bite of it, I notice a weird silence and I turn to the smiling man that is ruining the start of my new life with Mikael. The guy's smile turned in a worried grimace as his eyes settled upon my ring.
He seems a nice person, but his humor annoys me. «Listen, teleported idiot, I don't know where is Mikael. Let me eat in peace, ok?» I push him away, for some reasons he gets on my nerves, something that rarely happens with me.
«Where did you find that ring?» He asks in a flat voice as I grab a peanut butter's jar and put my finger and the ring in it. Seems Mr. Teleported lost his good mood.
As I take some more peanut butter, he grabs my t-shirt near my neck and pushes me on the table, bending over me to reach my ear. «Where did you find it?» He asks again. I'm scared, but not of him, I can feel he doesn't want to hurt me.
«He gave me it, we're a couple. What's the matter?» I face him and slap him as he releases me. He doesn't react, his face doesn't even move of an inch, then his eyes drained of happiness crosses mines.
«Mikael is my friend, but he's not the right man for you. This can't end up well. For the good of both of you, you have to stay away from him.»
«I can stand him, he's not...»
He puts his hands on my shoulders a little too violently, but he immediately loosens his grip. «Listen to me, he's a monster. He will make you reach a level of pain that will keep you in agony without making you faint. You're running straight to the devil's throne, please...» His fingers playfully drum on the tense muscles of my shoulder. «... I'm sure you will have fun hunting with us! Right, Mikael?» He smiles to someone behind me and I turn, seeing Mikael's narrowed eyes moving from me to...
«I see you met Joseph.» Mikael walks to us and suddenly Joseph becomes the most likable person I've ever known. I gulp, feeling guilty for talking with him, and for wanting to keep doing it to stay safely away from my angry man.
«Yea, we were eating and talking about you.» Joseph starts, cleaning my mouth with a decorated cloth that I would sell for his beauty, the same he's using as a napkin. I let him do this, feeling extremely uncomfortable, and what makes all weirder is that I feel bad only because Mikael is watching us, like it's normal for a guy to clean a twenty year old girl's mouth. I blush, silently insulting my parents for always doing it. «I think she should come hunting with us, I miss using weapons to kill.» Joseph's arm lands around my shoulders and I move away, seeing Mikael's body stiffen in an instant.
«Katrina will stay at home.» That was my plan, until he said it out loud. He can't decide for me, I'm not a little girl anymore! Well, not entirely.
«I think I'll come, you can't leave me here alone. Joseph is right, we can have fun hunting together.» I try my best to smile at him while the thought of his control mania gets on my nerves.
«It's too dangerous for you.»
«I'm an adult, Mikael. I can take my decisions and I know how to take care of myself.» I protest, hands on my hips and a fake smile on my face. Suddenly I feel a strong fear growing in me. I take the ring off and the courage comes back to help me as I dedicate a sly smile to my furious boyfriend. «One day I'll shove it down your throat.» He whispers. I shiver, this time I can't force myself to smile.
«You can't close me here, I'll go wherever I want, whenever I want, with whoever I want.» I dare to say, clenching my fists to stop my body to shake.
«You won't do anything without my permission.»
«She's right.» Joseph interjects us with his happy voice. «You're not her daddy.»
I smile to him and he makes a little bow, making me laugh a little. I admire the cute smile of Joseph realizing he doesn't annoy me as I thought, I take a step towards him and I end up at an inch from Mikael's face that slipped between us.
I sigh, rolling my eyes. «Mikael, you can't...»
«I hope you're a good shooter.» He states with a straight face, his jaw clenched and his eyes killing me with his anger.
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I don't know where we are, but I'm sure it's not Las Vegas. We walk in the wood and I keep apologizing to Joseph for hugging his arm as he walks fast among the trees that darken the place in the morning making me a blind terrified girl.
«Here we are!» Joseph announces as we come out in a small lighten square, a little paradise in a world of scary darkness. There are around twenty people chatting quietly dressed like survivors and some giant wolves looking around and yawning. They seem all joyful and ready to make some sort of game. I didn't know hunting was amusing, I thought it was more like a work.
«How do I...» As I turn, Joseph is disappeared. A wolf took his place. «Hi big wolf. You don't bite, right?»
He stares at me intensely, his majestic size intimidates me, but I delicately caress his head and the fear flies away when he closes his eyes and his ears move down. He rolls and I crouch down to pet his fluffy belly.
«You're late. Take the weapons, I want this stupid haunting to end fast.» Diana isn't screaming, but her authoritarian tone catches everyone's attention.
Among all the people she obviously strides to me. She's wearing a black jacket and trousers, black boots and a green t-shirt. A sportive green hat makes her even more fun, but also bossy. It doesn't surprise me, she would seem bossy also dressed like a clown.
«You have a mate, move your ass away before she sees you flirting with another girl. She wouldn't hesitate to thrusts her teeth in your head if you cheat on her.» I need some minutes to understand who's she talking with. The wolf scampers away with a moan like he understood her words.
«And you.» Her perfect finger stops close to my face. «You must hope to be Mikael's slave to death, 'cause if he trashes you I'll be ready to shove my hand down your throat and rip your heart off.»
«Calm down, Mrs. Strain.» Joseph seems to have a tight grip on Diana's wrist, he's stronger and she evidently doesn't like it, but she doesn't rebel. He releases her and her arm moves away from him in a nervous fast movement.
«We can't all do this just for a human Mikael cares about. She's just...» Joseph's hand hit her face that turns. Diana is strong and classy, why is she acting like a rude teenager? She clenches her jaw, looking down at the grass.
«She's Mikael's girlfriend, she has the ring, she's the one and you're no one to anyone here, not anymore. Put it in your mind.» He growls. Where's the nice guy I met at breakfast?
Is everyone gone mad?
Joseph wraps his arm around my waist and I lean on him, confused and a little bit scared, all the eyes on us. Diana glares at me, looking at me from head to toe, her chin held up, then she walks away. I see her clenched fists bleeding.
«Don't mind her, a jealous woman doesn't worth your time.»
«I didn't want to discuss with her.» I really didn't want to. She's not bad, she just likes to be the boss and it's ok, I never wanted to be a leader and I will never try to steal her power, whatever it is.
«You didn't, she did. Don't worry, she'll accept you.»
«I hope so. She's been nice to me, she bought me an expensive dress and always respected me.»
«She's good at hiding her mood when she wants to.»
«She wasn't faking, I see her as a friend.»
«Are you defending her? Oh girl, Mikael was right, you're too good to live in this world. Come on, take your weapon.» He hands me a knife and loads his rifle. «Are you ready?»
I look at the knife: only have it in my hands makes me feel bad. «I don't want to kill any creature. Can we take a walk and talk about Mikael? I need to know more about him and he doesn't talk so much. You know him, right?»
«Sure. Let's go, I have many horror stories to tell you.»
«About what?» I jump as I hear Mikael's voice behind me. I panic, but Joseph seems to know perfectly how to handle him, he's not even worried and he gives him a bored look.
«About my best friend Blade, a monster with a bad temper. You know that badmouthing you is my favorite hobby.»
I remember Jordan trembling after Mikael discovered he was saying bad things about him to me. This time both Mikael and Joseph giggles.
«You can do it tomorrow, now she has to hunt with me.»
«She needs answers only I can give her. I'll handle this, trust me.»
The atmosphere changes in an instant as Mikael takes a step to Joseph putting a hand on his shoulder, his face now straight. «She doesn't need any answer I can't give her myself. Jog on.»
What about my opinion?
«Women learn with women.» Her voice sounds clear and powerful, I and the men turn to see Diana staring at me with hate in her eyes.
I gulp, unable to talk. Mikael looks at me and nods, ignoring the visible fear shaking my body. I'm ready to protest when I realize that Diana is very close to Mikael. She must know what's real and what's a crazy fantasy of him in the words he told me. The truth won't be useful if you let a furious woman kill you walking with her alone in the dark wood. I ignore the little me screaming worrying thoughts and I follow Diana in the hell.
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I finally feel the cloth of her jacket under my fingertips and I crouch down in the bush where she is, immobile and silent like a statue.
«You took too long to find your partner, if a beast was running behind me I would be dead.»
«Sorry, it's hard to find someone hiding in a black wood, stopping you from taking her hand to know where the hell is she running.» I talk fast, trying to find a comfortable position without dirty too much the stupid white jeans I decided to wear this morning, when I didn't even know how to hunt.
I skip the small talk. «How long have you known Mikael?» I wait, but all I can hear is the sound of nature. «So? I need to know more about him, I know you know him better than anyone else, you know what he is, what he wants, what he likes...»
I feel something sharp pressing on my neck and I resist to gulp. My basic instinct tells me that the best way to stay alive is to show Diana I'm strong. «What? If you think you can't be better than me to your friends' eyes you can lie and tell me what Mikael hates the most, so you will lose the battle for the power with a vantage point and prove that I'm better for real.»
She pushes the knife a little more, cutting my skin. «I don't care about what my friends know of me, I only need my enemies to believe I'm the strongest.» She moves the knife away from my neck and I take deep breaths, happy to be able to breathe normally again. In the dark, I catch her angry gaze gives way to a bored expression. «He's a man that conquered everything he has with his own blood, all he knows came from experience and evidence, he's on the right path to be perfect. All he needs now is a woman that accepts him for what he is and understands him and his ideas.»
«Sure, if she knows who he is and what his ideas are. He doesn't open to me easily.»
She gives me a disgusted look, like she just came out from a dream on a throne and suddenly found herself dirty in a forest and saw her opponent. «Sure, a little angel like you can't understand a man like him.»
I ignore her polite insult. «I know he's violent. I hardly accept it, but I do. I just don't understand how can he love his woman if he desires to see her in pain.»
«Some people think he's heartless cause he loves in his unique way and it doesn't surprise me, they are the same people that don't believe in witchcraft cause witches help nature instead of flying on a broom and curse people as they believe real witches do. Mikael rather conquers a woman with good sex and real pleasure besides a romantic dinner and fake smiles. He's an old-fashioned man, but he's misunderstood: he doesn't force his woman to stay at home cause he thinks she can't work cause she's inferior to him, but because he wants to take care of her and provide for everything she needs without making her lift a finger.»
There's a logic in her little speech, but that doesn't answer my question. «Love means to want your partner to be happy.»
«Everyone has his own definition of love. Hate is a form of love.»
«Right, but Mikael doesn't hate me.»
«His joy is your pain. He can't love you if you don't hate him.»
«What? He wants me to be angry and push him away?»
«He wants you to be yourself. You are sensitive and nice, Katrina; he wants you to smile when he destroy your enemies and cry when he hurt you. This is his vision of love, what he wants. And you must accept it.»
«But he doesn't want me to fear him.»
«He's a predator, if he senses your fear his basic instinct will order him to kill you. He thinks you're strong enough to bear whatever could happen if someone from his hell breaks in the little paradise he built for you, that's why now you're here.»
Things get complicated. Mikael's actions' meaning change depending on how I perceive them. Maybe I'm wrong, he's not bad, I'm just too good. Maybe I'm losing the most powerful man of the world because I'm too close-minded to understand he loves me for real. Or maybe I'm just thinking too much without even trying to change him as I want. This sounds evil, but he's evil, so if I change him it's good... right?
«He's in love with my sensitiveness. Maybe my fear will make him understand what's wrong and what's good.»
«Have you heard me? He didn't do anything wrong. What's wrong with you?!» She bursts out. «He's giving you everything, he's trying to use his anger to protect you, he's letting you free from his desires and his secrets and you keep trying to correct him like he's not enough for you. You should be proud and grateful, not angry and afraid, cumberworld!»
I want to protest, but the confusion stops me. «Cumberworld?»
«Yes. It's an insult used in the Victorian Era. It means you're a useless person that just serves to take up space.»
That's the most complicated insult I've ever heard, my mind is so shocked I don't even feel offended. «I just want him to learn to be harmless.»
The loud sound of the knife cutting the air makes me jump. I look wide-eyed at the died bird on the ground.
«You can't expect him to act like a human. He's a beast, he can't control his emotions, he will always be ready to kill every life around him and you. You can't change his nature, not without stealing his happiness. I don't think you want to, you love him.» She takes the bird and walks away as I look at her with my mouth open.
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There are only three dead animals and there are around twenty people with some wolves. I could think they were just terrible hunters and take a sigh of relief if they weren't all covered in blood, especially on the mouth. What creeps me even more are their smiles, the same they had before we started hunting.
«What do you think of our new life together?» Mikael smiles to me, some blood drips fall from his lips to his t-shirt.
I look at him and my first thought is about his look: he's sexy in his sports clothes, a black t-shirt and black trousers. The world could fall and all I would think about is Mikael. My eyes run from his grey eyes to his dirty red lips.
«I will get used to it.» I kiss him, my mind and my heart totally rapt by him.363Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcepk2szec9
