House Of Pain | Marko

eleven

Marko and I stood in front of Video Max. The store I had seen when I first came back to Santa Carla. I actually hadn't been in here yet.

"You know the owner?" I furrowed my eyebrows together while I looked up at the sign.

"I guess I do." Marko responded before reaching over to pull my hair over my shoulder. "I would keep that hidden if I were you."

"What?" I asked after being taken back. I brought my hand to my neck and brushed my fingers over my wound from Marko. I hadn't even thought about the outcome earlier and was just now realizing the bruised area when I flinched from my touch.

Marko laughed in my face before stepping forward to give me a quick peck before turning to enter the store, leaving me standing there with my hand on my neck, thinking about the boy who did it.

I took a deep breath before walking straight into the store. Marko was standing by the counter talking to a man with glasses. I then noticed a white furred dog sitting by the counter opposite to Marko. He was panting up at me.

"Well, isn't he the cutest!" I complimented.

"I am, aren't I?" Marko spoke up and I shifted my eyes to him from the dog.

"Not you." I hissed out, making Marko frown.

"That's Thorn. Say hello, Thorn." The man with the glasses spoke up.

Thorn barked and took a few steps forward to greet me. I crouched down so I could pet the soft creature. The two men standing near me just glanced at me with small smiles on their faces.

"Is this the girl that has you wrapped around her finger?" The man spoke up again. I widened my eyes and looked up at Marko. He looked away to hide the blush on his cheeks. "She's lovely, Marko."

I put a small smile on my face before standing up after petting Thorn one last time, "I'm Portia."

"Hello, Portia. I'm Max. It's great to finally meet you." He held his hand out for me to shake and I graciously took it. "I hope you're keeping Marko in shape."

"I'd like to think I am." I shrugged. Max let out a small chuckle as a woman walked into the store behind us.

The woman greeted Thorn before joining me by my side. She was in her forties at least, but she looked so young and lively.

"You made it! It's lovely for you to join us, Lucy!" Max greeted the woman before looking back at me. "It was lovely meeting you, Portia, but I have to tend to my work duties." Max smiled at me before giving his attention back to the woman next to me.

I looked at the young woman and shot her a smile before looking back at Marko. He gave a nod to Max before exiting the store, dragging me behind him when he took ahold of my hand.

"Where are we going now?" I whined out.

The curly blond loved dragging me around the town of Santa Carla. I had gotten used to it and expected to be brought to a new location every time we met up. Marko knew more about Santa Carla than I did. It was impressive. Too much free time on his hands I guess.

"On a walk." Marko responded when we got closer to the beach access, which was just a set of stairs.

I didn't say anything. Instead, I let him drag me down to the shoreline where we began our walk in the sand. It was windy and the breeze blew my hair behind my head whereas it made Marko's curls dance on his forehead. The moonlight reflected off of the ocean and onto Marko's soft skin. Just like our exchange a week ago, before I found out what he was, I admired his sculptured face that seemed like it had been created by God himself. My trance on Marko was so full blown, I hadn't realized he had stopped us and was looking directly at me with his big blue eyes.

"Portia." Marko said, snapping me out of it. "What are you doing? Why did we stop walking?"

Wait, I had stopped us from walking? I gave a nervous grin and shrugged, hoping he wouldn't notice how fixated I was on him.

"Nothing, sorry! I was just thinking about what I should get for Greta's birthday." I lied before tugging on his arm as a sign to start walking again, but he pulled me back.

Marko leaned over and pressed a kiss to my cheek before whispering in my ear with, "no you weren't."

His breath was hot on my ear and I shuddered in place. What he did next made my knees wobble. Marko put his lips to the wound on my neck that had been produced from his fangs earlier this evening and pressed a soft kiss to my skin. I was left speechless when he pulled away to give me his signature Cheshire grin.

"I wanted to talk to you about Max, but I can tell your mind isn't your own right now." Marko said softly, but his comment gave me the ability to speak again.

"And whose fault is that?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow at the vampire in front of me.

"Obviously yours. Why would you let yourself get so distracted like that? It's dangerous." Marko responded and I dropped his hand at the comment.

"You're dangerous." I rolled my eyes before picking up my feet again to walk down the shoreline. "Lose that stupid glove if you want to hold my hand."

"It's not stupid!" Marko cried out before running to catch up to me.

"What did you want to tell me about, Max?" I asked after a hand grabbed mine. It was Marko's. He had taken the glove off and intertwined our fingers.

"He's like our dad." Marko began.

"Why are you telling me this?" I furrowed my eyebrows even though he couldn't see them.

"The woman that came into the store, Max wants to turn her and her sons so he can have one big happy family." Marko explained in depth. "I believe we told you about one. Michael was his name. Darcy lured him in with her charms. We've already began the process with him. He just has to make his first kill. His brother is next, but we think he may know about Michael. I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I wanted to inform you in case something goes wrong."

"So that's where you've been running off too." I nodded. "That makes sense, and might I add, you can keep doing it. That means I don't have to see you around as often. Cheers." I smiled as we walked down the beach.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Marko whined beside me.

"Don't worry about it. Will I ever get to meet this Michael fellow?"

"Maybe. He's too caught up with Darcy right now. I think you'll get to meet him eventually." Marko shrugged as I lifted my wrist to look at my watch. It was one in the morning.

"Hey, I'm gonna head home. I'm pretty tired. It's been a long day of hanging out with Greta."

"We need to change that." Marko spoke up and I shook my head at his comment. I knew what he meant and I told him before that I wasn't comfortable about being a vampire.

"I told you no. Goodnight, Marko." I let go of his hand before heading back up to the boardwalk to begin my travel home.