Once Bitten, Twice Shy

Chapter 67

After everything we have been through, I never expected us to get to this point where we are all lounging in Olivia's house, sipping blood and telling tales. What's even more impressive is that they are tales of joy.

I forgot how it felt to be happy. I am not sure if I ever felt that way at all.

I mean, I have things that brought me joy, such as bleeding humans dry and spending time with Tobias, whom I've always seen as my family, my son. Yet, I was never as happy as I am now, surrounded by friends who became my family and especially with Eliot by my side.

"So what have you guys been up to?" Eliot asks Seymour and Alarcos, noticing our hesitance to do anything but enjoy each other's company.

"Oh, don't ask them that! Alarcos is bound to have an inappropriate comment." I say, in a hurry.

I am still not ready to hear about the romantic exploits of my ex and his boyfriend.

Alarcos grins from ear to ear, making it clear that I was right and that he was on the verge of making a joke, an innuendo, or something far worse.

Seymour, seeing that mischievous grin on his lover's face, nudges Alarcos, gently warning him to behave. Though I am still adjusting to them being together, I can't help but find them utterly cute. Annoyingly so.

"We've actually been trying to find a place to settle down. This nomadic life is great, but it gets tiring after a while," Seymour says.

"Really?" I ask.

I recall that Seymour had always been the one to chase after new adventures, hunt fresh prey. The fact that he wants to stay in one place is odd, to say the least. But then again, who am I to criticize anyone? I have spent a year isolated from the world, barely doing any hunting.

It's debatable if I can still call myself the Huntress of my tribe, extinct as my tribe might be.

"I guess my sadistic days are truly behind me," Seymour says.

It's difficult for me to believe that, but then again, I have changed so much as well, why can't he?

We could have never gotten back together, not after he left me the way he did, but I guess I see him as a friend now.

I didn't trust him in the past because I believed he would hurt us. Once bitten, twice shy, and all that. However, I realize now that he does want to become better, that he has become better.

Perhaps some wounds can never be fully healed, but the fact that I still have him as a friend means more to me than I would care to admit.

"I didn't expect that. Where have you decided to settle?" I ask.

"Not far from here, actually. There is a farmhouse there which can provide us with enough privacy, away from the prying eyes of humans," Seymour says.

"That sounds nice," I say, not really sure if a farm would have been my choice.

"What about you two? How is learning about what it means to be a Healer going?" I ask Tobias and Cecilia.

"Well, I guess it's going as well as can be expected, having in mind our warring natures," Tobias says.

Two opposite instincts of healing and killing residing in the same body must be exhausting. However, if two people can deal with that kind of burden, it's them. After all, they have been through so much already, and they deserve to find a place that will make them feel a bit better about who they are.

I remember how much Cecilia struggled when she first turned, and I can't help but wish that I was a better friend to her back then. That I had not allowed her to kill that human.