As soon as Hunter had replied, he felt overcome with a sense of dizziness. He began slumping forward, but managed to catch himself just in time.
W..why..? How am I losing s..so much blood from such a little cut?
It went way too deep.. I know, b..but how is it so m..much..?
...
Hunter looked at the wound again-- ignoring the clench in his stomach-- and groggily tried to figure out what was causing the blood to flow so heavily.
But after a few moments, the pang in his stomach forced him to look away.
And plus, he wasn't a doctor so he didn't see anything different about the cut. It looked just like any other cut, but the only thing was that it bled like a stab wound.
...
"Wow.. It's still dripping..? There's so much blood.." Hunter murmured wetly as he let slowly himself sink onto the floor.
There's so much of it! And it even smells so good--
He lay on his side making sure that his bleeding arm wasn't underneath him and his face was turned away from its enticing scent.
It was then that his head sort of cleared for a moment and he refocused on Steve's voice. That was still spilling out of the phone lying next to his head.
"HUNTER HUNTER HUNTER!!! HUNTER WAKE UP HELLO!? HELLOO!?? HUNTER! WAKE UP HUNTER!!" The cries were consistent.
It was only then that they reached Hunter's ears.
"Hi Steve.. Can I call you Steve? Why does it hurt so much Steve.. What should I do?" Hunter was blabbering and occasionally a giggle would escape his mouth.
"OH THANK THE LORD AND ALL THINGS HOLY... Okay can you hear me if I don't scream? Hunter can you hear me?" the man asked through the phone.
Suddenly Hunter was himself again.
He rolled his eyes. "Yeah.. I can hear you Steve" the sudden clarity in his mind passed as fast as it came. And then he was dizzy again.
"Okay, Hunter, can you press the wound? Try to stop the bleeding.. And bud can you tell me where it is?" Steve was giving orders as calmly as he could.
"Hm Hm.. This pain is gonna feel--" Hunter began but after applying the pressure his words were replaced with a howl of agony. But he quickly bit his tongue. And pressed harder.
"S..S..so..so..sorry for y..ye..yelling.." He ground out through the savage pain.
"Why are you apologizing? It's normal to cry out in pain.." After a pause the man continued asking the next question carefully "Where you.. Were you taught otherwise?"
When the man got no reply he dropped the topic.
"Where are you Steve..?" Hunter asked in between a gasp.
"Outside your gate" came the reply.
"Okay.."
...
Hunter lay there with his hand pressed on his wound. He could feel the blood flow beginning to slow down.
A few minutes later he focused onto the sound of Steve's footsteps..
Why are there two pairs? Who.. Steve and who.. Oh. No no.. Not her! please don't let it be her!
"Steve..?" he called into the phone.
"I'm here" The man sounded worried for a second.
"Who's with you?" Hunter asked. Forgetting that it wasn't actually possible that he would know whether or not there's more than one person.
"Excuse me?"
"L..let me rephrase.. Is there anyone with you?" he said slowly making it sound like a question rather than an accusation.
"Ah, yes I have Lykke with me.. And she's been crying rivers of tears this entire time--" Steve was suddenly cut off by Hunter's sob of anger.
"Is there a.. A problem..?"
"Leave. I can deal with this myself. I don't fucking need you guys. So. Fuck Off..!" Hunter growled into the phone.
"What are you saying!? You sound like you've lost a lot of blood, you are obviously dizzy, you're losing your state of mind, AND may I add, I am a doctor!" Steve growled back.
"I DON'T CARE! FUCK OFF!" Hunter shouted in reply.
"Okay, okay calm down, I've stopped walking, now why do you want me gone so bad? No wait.." The man paused apparently deep in thought.
"You only wanted me gone after I told you that Lykke was with me.." The man mused.
Then with a surprised tone he asked, "Are you embarrassed!? Is the Big Bad Wolf scared of the little red riding hood?"
"Fuck off I'm not embarrassed. She just doesn't need to see this! I'm a fucking mess!" Hunter retaliated hotly.
Then he sighed.
"She.. I don't want to f-fucking ruin her too.. I don't want to fucking b-break her as well..! I just don't want kitty to end up l-like her.." Hunter's voice began to falter.
Memories of that torturous day flowed through his mind as he remembered that girl.
"Hunter, calm down.. And, what are you talking about? Lykke wants nothing more than to see whether you are okay or not.." Steve said slowly.
Then with a little sigh he added "And she is my apprentice so she must." It ended at that.
"Please..?" Hunter begged.
"I'm sorry.. I can't,"
Yeah, sorry my sweet little ass.
"How about you talk to her?" Steve passed the phone before Hunter could reply.
Hunter groaned and let his head tap onto the floor, he obviously didn't have a choice. He quickly choked on his memories of that girl, and blinked the tears away.
"h..H-hello?" A thick and lilting voice called out.
"Hey kitty.." Hunter purred through the ever persistent throb of pain.
"H-HU..--!" She suddenly stopped and he could almost hear her blush. And he made sure to point it out.
Although he accidentally let out a snort before he replied.
"I can hear your blush kitty, calm your pretty little heart." He whispered in his normal-- not as seductive-- voice.
"Sh-shut it my dad is listening!" even though she hid it well, Hunter could feel her cry of relief.
Hiding emotions from him was just as impossible as saying the letter 'p' without separating your lips.
Attempting it is pointless.
"Ah, yeah yeah okay--" Hunter's eyes widened as he scrunched into himself. He felt a jolt of pain course through his arm and he let out an accidental yelp "Ahk-!"
Huffing he let himself untense his body. "Sorry what were you saying?"
"This. Is. Your. Problem!!" she snapped.
Hunter flinched at her angry tone.
"What" He asked, his voice turned to stone. Any warmth they shared? Gone. He closed himself off. A wall sprung up between them.
Who is she to snap at me like that? I didn't do jack-shit to her so why's she getting mad at me!?
"Lykke!! APOLOGIZE! What is wrong with you!?" Steve's angry voice cried out.
Suddenly the phone got very quiet.
He heard muffled voices and then Lykke's voice was back.
"I'm so sorry for yelling at you.. I-I just got upset cause you keep apologizing for things you can't control..! Like, you're in pain! So what if you cry out?" She was barely keeping her voice steady.
"It's none of your fucking business alright?.. I don't give a shit about me and I advise you'd do the same." Hunter growled in response.
"N-No. It is my business--" She began.
"It's not Kitty, It's not. And don't try and act like it is." Hunter said matter-of-factly.
And then before she could cut him off he added "Hate to break it to you, but I've known you for barely an hour, two maybe--"
"What are you trying to say?!" She cried out getting upset.
"What I'm trying to say, is that you don't mean anything to me, and I don't mean anything to you." He said plainly.
"You were just a means of taking my mind off things. A distraction.." Hunter sighed as he told her the truth.
...
He sensed the gasp before it actually happened. And when it did, it was followed by a gulp-like sob.
"A-Are you s-serious?" she asked hollowly.
"Yeah, I'm serious. I didn't wanna say it, and If you would've just kept your pretty little mouth shut, I wouldn't have." Hunter said all of this with no sense of empathy.
it was what it was.
"You're lying!" She cried angrily.
But Lykke couldn't say anything normal without blurting some nonsense right after.
"I-I'm outside anyways! Your dumbass was so busy talking, you didn't realize that we were walking towards you the whole time!" She added hotly.
How predictable..
"Well, even if I did.. Would that stop you?" Even before asking the question, he knew the answer. It was obvious.
"No."
"I rest my case."
"But I still think you're a freaking LIAR!!" She screamed in his ear.
Hunter's gaze turned cold and his emotions vanished as the girl's voice pierced at his heart. It brought back memories of violent conversations..
Those painful memories lead Hunter's heart into overdrive and his body began trembling.
"LYKKE!" Steve snapped and then suddenly the phone closed.
Ah, so they're finally outside..
...
I'm so sorry Kitty, but I truly don't care about you. Or if I'm being honest? I can't care about you. That path only leads to misery, both ways.
And your voice. You'll only ever use it to hurt me..
...
A few seconds later the door flew open.
...
Hunter glanced up from where he was laying on the floor. Then he looked back at the phone using it as a reason to not engage with the two.
"Hunter.." Steve tentatively reached out and tapped his shoulder. "Hey.. Are you listening?" When he continued to gaze hollowly at the phone on the floor the man sucked at his teeth.
He suddenly grabbed Hunter by the chin and forced him to look at him. Even then Hunter made sure to keep his gaze on the floor, he wouldn't let him see it.
But the man didn't need to see it to know. There were other telltale signs. Steve could feel him trembling and Hunter hated it. He hated that a girl's voice could do that to him.
...
"Lykke.. You little--! How could you--! Why would you--!" Steve could hardly speak with all the anger he was barely containing.
The man let go of Hunter's chin and turned around.
Hunter simply ignored the man and his daughter, focusing instead, on getting rid of those memories.
Finally he felt the trembles receding and his heartbeat slowing down. He felt his senses come back alive and his voice return.
"Ahk!.. Hah..!" He growled as the pain spiked suddenly.
"Ah, Hunter..? Are you.. C-can you sit up please?" Steve asked.
"I can.." He replied lightly.
Letting go of the wound he used his good hand to prop himself up. Shrugging the man's hand away when he tried to help.
"I can do this." He growled.
But what he forgot was that by letting go of the wound it would begin to bleed again, and the smell was driving him crazy.
Steve noticed his discomfort and how he kept his head turned away from the wound. Hunter watched as the man began to form a sort of 'reasons' dot plot in his head.
And then he watched in anger as Steve seemed to almost connect them.
"Oh Lord." Steve mumbled with a greenish tinge on his face. "You're h-hungry.. N-no that can't be what you meant.."
Hunter sucked at his teeth "You can fucking leave if it bothers you that much."
Then with a sob he added, "I can't fucking help it okay?"
There was an unintentional note of helplessness and despair in his voice.
"No it's okay, I understand--" at Hunter's skeptical look, the man rephrased. "All right fine! I honestly don't understand.. And it's disg-- B-but I'm still helping you."
Hunter scowled at him but said nothing else as Steve began pulling out his equipment and examining the cut.
"Did you try and kill yourself? Is that what this was?" Steve asked slowly.
"What!?" Lykke gasped from the side. But both of them ignored her.
Hunter laughed mirthlessly "If it had been that easy, trust me you'd never have even met me.."
Steve glared at him, "yes, or no Hunter."
"No." He replied plainly. "It wasn't"
"Then, what were you thinking?" Steve made sure his voice stayed level. He really didn't want Hunter to clam up now.
"I wasn't," Hunter said with an irritated tone. "Okay? I wasn't thinking I just wanted it to stop. Is that so bad?"
Only now did Hunter look the man dead in the eye.
He then did something he had never done before. He dropped the facade off his eyes and let the man see his pain, every speck of it.
Steve gasped.
"It hurt so much Steve.. I wanted to die.. It was torture.. So I stopped it in the only way I knew how.." Hunter blinked and his eyes lost their tortured sheen.
"It was a matter of kill or be killed." He finished.
Steve watched how Hunter made sure to keep his head turned away from the wound speaking with his head turned to the side.
The man watched for a moment and then he did something cruel.
Hunter stiffened in horror as the man grabbed his arm and shoved it in front of Hunter's eyes.
Before Hunter could react, let alone say anything, Steve called on Lykke, and suddenly she had grabbed his head, immobilizing him.
"No..... Please.....! Uuhh......!" Hunter moaned as the smell reached his nose.
He didn't have the energy to pull away. So instead he held his breath to keep his hungry groans inside.
"Lyykke...! Auhh.... Stop.. Uhh.. L-Let me go..!" Hunter moaned as the smell began driving him insane.
Suddenly Steve grabbed Hunter's nose and relief flowed through his system as the smell was blocked off. He felt Lykke let go of his head as if it was scalding her.
She must have expected him to stay up. Which was stupid.
Hunter immediately flopped backwards and straight into her lap.
He lay there panting unaware of the position he had put her in.
...
"So it was true..?" Steve murmured looking baffled, but under the bafflement was a look of disgust.
...
Hunter groaned and opened his eyes, only to end up looking at the one face he really didn't want to see.
"U-um--" She was trying to speak but her face was red and she was sweating, plus her eyes kept traveling down his still bare chest.
"I didn't mean to moan your name by the way.. So I wouldn't think too much into it." he rolled his eyes when she blushed harder.
Then he slowly lifted himself off her lap and back into a sitting position.
...
Now, he looked at Steve with rage filled eyes. "Are you fucking satisfied now?" Hunter shook his head, tears threatening to spill.
He had trusted this man to treat him as a human, but just like his mother, he looked at him like he was an abomination.
Pity, disgust, disappointment.. It was all there, only, it was all hidden under the mask of the words 'I want to help you'..
Bullshit.
...
Steve seemed to snap out of his state of shock then. And by the look of it, he'd only just realized what he'd done.
"Oh my fucking god.. What did I.. H-Hunter I am so sorry! What did-- I am so sor--" Steve tried to apologize but Hunter cut him off.
"Don't. You f-fucking. Dare.." He growled, his voice thick with too many emotions to count.
But he made sure that it was only his voice that gave away his feelings. His face was turned into an impenetrable mask.
...
He was shutting them out. Any form of connection or budding friendship that had been there, was now covered by a thick layer of pain.
They both betrayed him. And yet, they had done it so nicely.
...
It was only a matter of time before Steve spilled his secret to the world.
And then-- and he was one hundred percent sure about this-- even cutting himself wouldn't stop the voice.
"Hunter please..!" Steve tried again. "Look at me and ask me if I'm sorry. You can tell, I know you you can tell."
Hunter's eyes widened by a fraction. He snapped his head back to the man.
How does he know?
Is he lying..
I can't tell..
This.. I really can't take much more of this..
I want to trust him, But I know that he'll just hurt me in the long run..
...
So why does my heart still wanna try?
He's not my father.. He's just a man..
...
A man that has heard the voice. A man that knows..
...
Hunter looked as though he was battling with himself.. Until with a loud 'tch' he finally looked at the man.
"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to do that. I've never been good at this stuff.. I'm honestly sorry about hurting you.." Steve said all this as he stared at Hunters unblinking eyes.
"I will never look at you the same way.. But I.. Allow you to.. To fix.. Thi..?" Hunter didn't finish because he suddenly blacked out.
I mean, it makes sense since we completely ignored the fact that my arm was fucking bleeding this entire time..
...
When he woke up again he was in a bed.
Forgetting about his arm being injured, he put his weight on it trying to prop himself up. But it just resulted in him letting out a howl.
"FUCK THIS SHIT!" He cried when the pain slowly ebbed away.
Not even five seconds later Steve was in the room.
"Wait. A-am I at your house again!?" Hunter stammered in confusion.
"No.." Steve replied as he walked over to him.
Hunter growled as he moved to grab his arm. Steve immediately put his hands up in surrender. Hunter watched as sadness washed over the make features.
"I'm sorry, please don't look at me like that.. I would never hurt you.. Never." Steve sighed when Hunter gave him a wary look "I just want to check it."
...
After all the examinations were done, Hunter got up and walked out of the room with Steve trailing behind.
the first thing he noticed was that the floor was clean. He whirled around, "Who asked you to mop it?"
"I did it because you couldn't." the man replied nicely.
Hunter hummed but said nothing, until he noticed the sudden quiet, "where's Lykke?"
"Lykke? Who-- oh shit for a moment I didn't realize who you were talking about since you always call her kit--" Steve rambled until he caught Hunter's cold gaze.
"I dropped her home." Steve stated quickly.
Hunter nodded. "You can go too."
...
Steve stopped walking and after a moment Hunter turned around, "What?"
"Can I ask you a few questions..?" the man asked carefully. Trying to figure out how Hunter would react.
Hunter was about to shut him down, but then thought otherwise. "Yeah, whatever.."
Slowly he lowered himself onto the floor. And after a moment Steve followed suit.
Hunter watched the man fiddle with his fingers for a moment.
Then finally Steve cleared his throat and spoke.
"S-so I'm gonna ask you a handful of questions and then after I'm done can you answer them?"
"I already said yes." Hunter said while rolling his eyes.
"Right.. Sorry. S-so ah, number one.. Do you drink blood? Number two, Do you crave for it? Is-- Is it like an addiction?" the man shuddered at the thought.
"Number three, did you mean what you said to Lykke?.. And finally.. Number four.. Who is her..?" With all his questions out in the open Steve waited for the answers.
Hunter looked at him, unsure as to whether or not he could trust this man.
Fuck it. I don't give a shit anymore.
Taking a deep breath he began to answer the questions in order. "No.. I've never drank blood before. Yes I crave for it.. Its a dangerous soul crushing crave that eats at my humanity.."
The man flinched as if he had been struck. But Hunter wasn't bothered, he said it how it was.. No reason to fabricate at this point.
"I'm sure if I do ever drink it, it will most likely become an addiction.. Yes I meant what I said to her. It's just the way I was raised. I have no feelings for people I just met.." He stated casually.
"And for your final question..? She--" He cleared his throat ridding it of the burn that could only mean tears.
"Oh, her..? Well let me just say.. To me.. She's not just a person.. No she's more than that.."