Fire and Ice

A young woman named Maris ran into an abandoned hotel through a broken window with a young girl beside her. The girl is around sixteen. She has the same dark brown eyes as the woman and slate black hair. Her name is Selena. It's around one o'clock in the morning and the lights and noises from the city have begun to fade.

A man about the age of Maris followed them into the hotel.

"Now, Maris is this the right way to treat me? Why are you running?" he called out slowing down to a steady walk. Maris and the girl were nowhere to be seen. You could only hear the far away reply.

"Stay away!" She yelled.

Maris was shaking but her voice was firm. She guided Selena to a room that looks like a ballroom. They both hide in the shadows of the far corner of the room.

"Where are you going to take our darling daughter?" The man asked coming closer to their hiding spot.

"She's not yours! Stay away from her!" Maris cried without thinking of the risk calling out.

"Why surely you remember that glorious night when we-"

"She's not yours anymore!" Maris knelt down by her daughter. "Selena, run far away. Don't come back. Not even for me. I love you always, Lena. Run now." She whispered her voice desperate.

The girl ran out the door. She istopped for a moment and saw the dark shadow of the man who apparently is her father was coming closer to the ballroom.

Don't come back. Not even for me.

The words of her mother still echoed in her mind. Lena ran without turning back. She ran down the corridors imagining what life would have been like in the hotel. She heard the footsteps of her father echo in the hallways.

She imagined the hotel to be brightly light and with fancy deco.

​The man's satisfactory laugh when he found her mother sailed through the hallways.

She heard the music that played for the guests and the dancing feet-

She heard an angry argument breakout between both her parents. She made her way to the lobby when she heard an ear-piercing scream. She tripped in surprise falling to the ground. The scream wasn't masculine but feminine. Her mother. She is hurt.

Not even for me.

The words came back into her mind. Her mother knew she was going to die. She sacrificed herself for Lenato get away from her father.

Lena silently cried still on the ground. She knew she must stop and run far away like her mother told her to. Her mother's scream replayed itself in her mind. She mustn't waste her mother's sacrifice.

Lena got up and wiped her eyes with her sleeves. She found her way back to the broken window and exited the hotel but this time alone.

***

"Maris," The man said in a tone you might use for a young child, "Why run? I am powerful. You are a simple mortal. I can catch you easily."

Maris is sprawled out in a puddle of her own blood on the floor of the ballroom. A knife lay beside her covered in her blood. She coughs. "I may be mortal, but you are a monster, Isaac. Is that even your real name?" her voice was cold. Maris begins to shake on the floor and her breaths deepen.

"Isaac is my true name but I am not a monster. I save mortals from monsters, but I am not a monster. I am a Hunter. I seek evilness and destroy it. Why take your life, Maris? I would never hurt you. I love you." He said looking down at her his eyes full of care. He looked straight into her eyes, her beautiful blue eyes.

"I don't love you anymore. You lied to me. You poisoned my daughter. She is a monster. You-"

"I did no such thing. The gene that makes her the way she is comes from me, it is more dominate. I didn't make her a monster or poison her. She is a hero." He interrupts getting angrier.

Maris takes a shaky breath.

"Maris, let me help you. You are dying. I have salve to close your wound." Isaac takes out a jar and steps closer to her.

"Stay. Away. I'd rather die than be touched by you," Maris spoke.

Deep inside Isaac a part of him broke. Hearing that his lover would rather die than be touched by him broke his heart. His chest started to ache and he felt sick. He tried to speak but nothing came.

"Go away. Leave me. Just stay away from my daughter," her voice weakened. She took a shaky breath and then her heart stopped beating.

"Maris, I love you," said Isaac to the body. A single tear shed from his face. He kneeled down by her body and stayed there for the rest of the night.