The Vampire's Requiem [malexmale]

Chapter Four

He resurfaced an instant later, reaching up to wipe his hair back from his face and rubbing at his eyes. He grimaced, blinking a few times to blink away the sting of chlorine before he swam over me to, but kept a good distance.

"I do not want to do this." His voice was deep, rumbling, and commanding. He had an accent that I could only peg as Greek. It gave me chills to hear it. I felt the heat of jealousy pooling in the pit of my stomach as a heavy rock as I watched Xed look at me sternly, reminding me of the way adults would look at me, thinking I was a child. I narrowed my eyes, hardly intimidated by Xed's expression, or voice, no matter how authoritative it was.

"I know, I can tell by the way you're looking at me, but it doesn't matter. Alaric wants it. And if we want information on this hunter, we need Alaric's help. I went there knowing full well he was going to ask for something ridiculous." I explained firmly. Xed ground his sharp teeth together, mismatched eyes glaring at me.

"We will get ourselves killed doing this. We already made a mistake in angering these oni. Do you want to put yourself at further risk by stealing from them? Why can we not just look for this hunter ourselves?" He asked impatiently.

"Because we don't have the resources," I answered heatedly, "We only had access to a computer today because the library just happened to be open."

"We have money--"

"Money for survival," I cut him off sharply, "Not money to waste on this. Alaric doesn't ask for money."

"No, he asks for the impossible," Xed replied in irritation, "He is asking you to put your life on the line, and for what? A silly deal little deal? I know exactly what you are planning. You want to use yourself as bait, to put yourself in a position where the oni will find you and grab you and take you to their headquarters, but you will not be able to get away. Not if you are by yourself there."

Anger boiled in my veins and I wanted to strangle him. How dare he talk to me like that! It wasn't like I had a choice anyway! Alaric wanted what Alaric wanted. And I wanted what I wanted, and the only way to do that was to give Alaric what he wanted. And I never asked him to come with me anyway, and I definitely was not asking for his permission! I was much older than him and I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I didn't enjoy it, but I had to do it.

"I'm not asking for your permission, Xed. I'm doing it whether you want to help me or not." I said coldly. Xed's eyes glowed, literally, matching his temper as he drew closer to me. I concealed the uneasiness I felt by having him so near, his sharp, jagged teeth glinting as he spoke.

"And I am not asking yours. If you do this without me, we both know that you will not come out alive. You need me." He spoke softly, his tone eerie and giving me goosebumps. I glared at him, curling my lip at him in repungence.

"I don't need you. You're the one who followed me home like a lost puppy." I answered. Xed stared at me for the longest time. I waited for him to say something or maybe even attack me, but he just floated in the water just in front of me, his eyes level with mine. His expression was completely blank, so trying to read it was impossible.

"I do not want you to get killed," He said at last, "Not after everything that you have been through. You are wasting your life here."

"What life," I asked dryly, "While I admit that I would prefer not to die, what would be the harm in dying? I've lived quite long enough to know that even after I get back all that I've lost, I will still be the way I am now." Xed said nothing to that. Just stared at me. I narrowed my eyes, then looked away.

"I need to position myself in an area where the oni will find me. I'll pretend to use the subway, thinking I can get away. I have no doubt I'll run into at least two oni there trying to prevent me from escaping. They'll take me to their headquarters. From there, I'll do whatever I can to find the star ball and get out." I explained sternly.