Vivienne Von Vexx's Arc

Chapter 9 of 21

She lifted her hand from his mouth. The hunter dragged himself back until his shoulders met the old stone slab behind him. Wilted flowers and hardened candle wax pressed under his palms. He stared at her hood and waited. "Who are you," he said. Not a question. A demand. Her eyes dropped to his belt. A braided cord hung there, strung with pale teeth. Vampire fangs. Five of them, polished smooth from being touched. She had been counting on a lie. The lie died in her throat. He had killed enough of her kind to wear them like beads. Her hand moved on its own. She slid the folded paper from her coat pocket and held it out. The sketch was creased soft at the corners. A blond boy and a black-haired girl stood under orange trees. His face. Younger, but his. "I have carried this for a long time," she said. Then she pushed her hood back. Black hair fell. Red eyes met his. He did not scream. He did not reach for a weapon that was not there. He looked at the drawing. He looked at her eyes. His mouth opened, closed. "That's me," he whispered. He did not say stay. He did not say go. He only kept looking. And for the first time, no one had run.