Chapter 2 ∣ Walk The Line

-Mavis 5 Years Old

My daddy had to meet with some vampires today. I grew bored very quickly as most of my family also had to attend this meeting. Grandma was going to show me something cool, but then daddy pulled her away also. Even my aunt said that she'd take me out to play for a while and once again, that plan didn't go through.

I played with a few of my toys in my bedroom, but when I was tired of playing pretend, I sat on my bed instead. I flipped and flopped all over the place, trying to see if I could get tired and take a nap, maybe then when I woke up the meeting would be over, and daddy and I could hangout. When that didn't work, I huffed and grabbed one of the books on my bed stand.

Laying on my tummy, I placed the book in front of me. Flipping through the pages, I read a story about a princess locked away in a tower who eventually was saved from the dragon guarding her. I smiled when I saw the prince charming holding her in his arms.

A knock came from the other side of the door followed by, "Hey, Mavis? Are you in there?"

"Zak!" I squealed and he immediately let himself in. His eyes landed on me as he smiled back, closing the door behind him while checking to see if anyone followed. I thought that was odd, but when he walked across the room and sat at the edge of my bed, he motioned for me to come closer. I whispered, "What? What is it?"

Zak glanced around and then whispered back, "Do you want to go do something fun?"

I tilted my head to the side and asked, "What's fun here?"

"Not here," he shook his head and then said, "do you want to go into town?"

I gasped and stood to my feet, jumping up and down on the bed as I giggled, "Yay! I'm going out, I'm going out," I sung, and Zak shushed me while pulling me back down to sit.

He held his finger up to his lips and chuckled, "Don't say anything or we won't be able to."

"Oh...gotcha!" I stepped off the bed and Zak followed me to the bedroom door.

"You know how your dad is," Zak said while he pulled open the bedroom door and I moved out into the hallway. I poked at the handle of his swords, furrowing my brows in the process.

I asked, "You really need those?"

"Yes Mavis," Zak replied as we walked down the hallway and to the staircase. While we took a few steps at a time all the way down he told me, "It's still a dangerous world. It always will be, and you have to protect yourself."

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs while Zak took a few more steps away from me before coming to a halt. He turned around when he noticed I wasn't moving and came closer to me. I hesitated at first before asking, "If it's a dangerous world, maybe we shouldn't go out?"

"Just because there is the possibility of danger, doesn't mean you shouldn't live your life to the fullest," Zak smiled while he leaned closer to me, his white irises searching my own. He glanced around the mansion and asked, "Do you really want to be stuck behind these walls for the rest of your life because you're afraid of what might happen?"

I shook my head and replied, "No... I guess not."

"Well," Zak stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he stated, "Let's go!"

No one saw us leave the mansion. Zak held my hand while we walked down the sidewalk. It was really bright out, squinting as my eyesight wasn't so good and usually, I only spent time outside for short periods or took breaks under the shade.

When I frowned, Zak asked, "What's wrong?"

"My eyes hurt," I glanced up at him and he chuckled back.

"That's because we're hunters," his gaze moved back to the sidewalk ahead of us. I followed his gaze and saw all of the beautiful tall buildings come into view. While I was in awe, Zak continued with, "The reason we see so well at night is because of our vampiric gene however, our eyesight is hindered during the day because of that," he paused a moment before we rounded a corner and headed near the middle of the city, "you'll get used to it and you'll adapt quickly."

I'd never heard that before. Mostly everyone treated me like them, but I knew about the slight differences. Daddy drinks blood and I don't have to, all the vampires have to. I don't have fangs; I keep checking every day thinking I'll be like daddy more. I'm disappointed when he tells me they'll never come in because I'm not a vampire. That saddens me and then I remember that I am different from the rest of my family.

"Here we are!" Zak exclaimed when we stopped in front of a large building. I looked up and there were times next to names.

"What's this?" I asked when Zak stood in line behind a man. The man spoke to another man in a small box with a clear screen in front of him.

When the man moved away after being handed a small square paper, Zak stepped up and said, "Two for Elora Cara."

Zak hands the man money while I rock back and forth on my heels, my eyes wandering around while I wait. A few seconds later and the man hands Zak two small square papers. When he turned to me, he outstretched his hand and offered it to me. When I took it, I could see there were words on it and I glanced up to ask him, "What do I do with it?"

"Come on," he laughed while steering me in the direction of the door to the large building. Once we were inside, I followed him to a counter with a few people who were in line. Once it was our turn, I saw through the glass case the different types of candies they had.

I pointed at the chocolate chips and gasped, "Can I have this?"

"Of course, you can," he nodded and then turned to the man and placed his order, "can I get one pack of chocolate chips, a medium and small Pepsi, and a large popcorn."

"Popcorn!" I was super excited. This was turning out to be a great afternoon out with him. Once we had our goodies, Zak led me down a dimly lit hallway, stopping when we reached the third door down and I took the handle with both my hands to help open it for him. Inside, we moved down an aisle. I saw people sitting in seats while staring at an exceptionally large screen that played commercials like at home. We ended up sitting near the top row.

"You have movies at home," Zak said when he handed me the popcorn, holding it flat on my thighs while popping one of them into my mouth, "it's the same thing, only on a bigger screen and much louder so you won't have to adjust the volume as much."

Excited, Zak and I ate the popcorn while I also munched on the chocolate chips. When he leaned down to take a sip of his drink, I took one of the pieces of popcorn and flicked it at his head. He laughed, a smirk now on his face as he took a top piece and flicked one back at me. We laughed together, the movie starting.

Unfortunately, it didn't last that long because the moment the sound started, I threw my hands over my ears and grimaced. Zak's hand was on my upper back as I leaned forward, while his other grabbed the popcorn and set it aside. He asked, "Mavis, are you okay?"

I shook my head, tears forming in my eyes as I replied, "It's too loud."

"It's not..." Zak thought a moment and then tilted his head to the side, "is it really that loud for you?"

I nodded, holding my hands tighter when the volume rose again. He looked to the screen and then back at me, having me stand up while he guided me back down the stairs and out of the large room. When we were in the hallway, I slowly slid my hands down away from my ears, glancing up at Zak as I said, "I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay, I wanted to make sure you were alright," he was more concerned by the way I acted. He knelt down in front of me, his eyes searching mine and he asked, "Are you okay now?"

With a slight nod of my head I confirmed, "Yes, it's better out here."

There was a momentary pause before Zak stood to his feet, taking my hand, and saying, "Alright, I have another idea."

We left the large building, leaving it behind as Zak walked with me down one of the streets, taking a few turns before we were standing outside a pink and green store. I lifted my eyes, a cute little face at the top with a swirly ice-cream hat on top of its head. I read out loud, "Menchies?"

"It's frozen yogurt," Zak opened the door and I immediately smelled the delicious scent of waffles.

The girl at the circular bubble counter smiled and greeted, "Hi! Welcome to Menchies!"

When we came closer, she asked, "Have you been here before?"

Zak nodded and replied, "I have," but then he motioned to me, "however, she hasn't."

The girl came around the swinging doors of the bubble and placed her hands on her thighs before bending slightly toward me. She motioned around, "Everything is by weight, you can grab a bowl from over there," she motioned next to small little cups, "feel free and have some samples to figure out what you like best, and then you can add toppings at the end. I'll weight you up when you're ready."

"Thank you," I replied kindly, but I told Zak, "I want ice-cream."

He laughed again and said, "Mavis, you won't be able to taste the difference. Trust me, this is the best."

I huffed and replied, "Okay...but I only want Cake Batter."

Zak took two of the cups and pulled down on the handle for the Cake Batter, a swirl coming out the bottom and filling the cup. He showed me and I jumped, "More please!" He chuckled again and gave me just a little more before he handed me the cup and I ran over to the topping counter. I stretched, but I couldn't reach the spoons, not even the containers on the bottom.

"Zak! Help please," I was trying to touch the spoon with the Rainbow Sprinkles. He was at my side a moment later with his own chocolate frozen yogurt. He helped me put the sprinkles on top and he didn't add anything to his. He took both of our cups and placed them on a small scale. The girl weighed them up and he paid her while placing two dollars in the jar in the center of the spoons.

I grabbed a pink spoon and Zak took a green one. The girl asked, "Did you want a sticker sweetie?"

She outstretched her hand with a small marshmallow looking guy on the sticker and I nodded and said, "Thank you!" Taking the sticker, Zak peeled it off the paper and placed it on the front of my shirt before we walked outside and waved goodbye to the girl.

"Thanks for coming in and have a great day!" The girl called as we walked out onto the sidewalk. Zak and I walked for a while, eating the frozen yogurt, and talking about what the movie was supposed to be about. He laughed when I bonked my nose with my spoon and Rainbow Sprinkles stuck to it.

"Here," he wiped it away with a napkin and chuckled again.

"Zak..." a deep male's voice spoke his name and we both turned to the man standing in front of the two of us. He had dirty blonde hair, his white irises looking between the two of us and he asked with curiosity and confusion, "Is she...your daughter?"

I glanced back up at Zak, noticing how his left hand graced the hilt of one of his sword. He narrowed his eyes and replied extremely hard, "No, Rainier...she's not."

"Rainier, I th-" another man's voice was silenced the second he came from the side street, his gaze falling on us. He was a hunter as well, though his hair was black with blue tips, the muscles in his neck tensing when he saw us.

"Zak?" I asked, confused as I huddled closer to him, partially being pushed behind him slightly. I glanced between the two of them, both of them had weapons I'd never seen before and I was scared when they made exceedingly small motions to reach for them. When Zak's hand completely wrapped around the handle of the sword my heart sped up and I asked with worry, "Zak...??"

This silence that passed between them all made me very uneasy and when the tension finally broke, Zak released the handle of his sword and took hold of my hand. He shook his head in silence and crossed the street, taking me with him as I stared back over my shoulder at the other two hunters.

He hurried me home rather quickly and when we got there, my daddy was in the parlor with more of my family members. When we came through those doors, he was on his feet, my grandpa and great grandpa storming into the entryway.

"What the hell did you think you were doing with my daughter?!" My daddy snarled at Zak, grabbing the front of his shirt while Zak released my hand. I took a step back and my great grandpa prevented me from going anywhere else, his hands falling on both of my shoulders from behind.

"We went to see a movie and get frozen yogurt...she needs to get out Maverick..." Zak's voice trailed off when daddy released him, my grandpa checking me over and seeing the scared look on my face,

My daddy glowered, "That's not your decision to make, she could have been hurt."

"She didn't though..." Zak's voice trailed off again and it seemed like he didn't want to say anything else, but he dared to say, "I saw them."

My grandma came out of the kitchen and asked, "Rainier and Ryker?"

"Yes...I don't know what they were doing, but they didn't attack when they could have," Zak replied while my daddy then turned to me.

"Bedtime," was the only word that came out of his mouth.

Tears formed in my eyes and I cried, "Bu-Bu-But daddy-"

"Bedtime, go to your room," my daddy pointed to the staircase.

I stomped my foot and yelled, "No!"

My great grandpa's grip tensed its hold on my shoulders for a moment. My grandpa moved from in front of me and my daddy replaced him, kneeling down, and saying, "You're grounded for a week. Now, go to bed before I take you up there myself," he pointed at the stairs again.

Tears ran down my cheeks and I screamed, "I hate you!" My great grandpa released me, and I ran away, running fast up the stairs until I came to my room. Once inside, I yelled again, "Don't ever talk to me again!" I slammed the door loudly behind me, grabbing my pillow and crying into it.

It wasn't fair, I didn't do anything wrong.

My heart stopped when the door to my room burst open and my daddy was standing there. My eyes widened when he moved quickly, grabbing me around the waist as I kicked and screamed, slamming my fists against his arm. He sat down on the edge of my bed and the second I felt a sharp pain on my butt, I screamed and cried again. He did this a few more times before he stopped, setting me down on the bed while he knelt down in front of me.

My eyes were red and swollen, looking down at my lap as I sniffled and cried, my daddy, saying, "Look at me, Mavis." I did, tears falling down my cheeks as I sobbed. He asked, "Do you know why you were punished?"

Sniffling again, I nodded my head and whispered, "I-I-I di-didn't l-l-listen th-the first-t ti-me y-y-y-you sa-said to g-go up s-stairs."

"And?" My daddy asked and I rubbed my eyes, trying to hide behind my hands.

"I-I y-yelled a-at yo-you," I sniffled, and daddy took my hands away from my eyes, looking into mine.

He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. When he pulled back and replied, "Yes Mavis. We don't yell and disrespect others like that. You need to listen when I tell you the first time to do something..." his voice trailed off and I caught, "...it might not mean much now, but at some point..." he sighed and lifted his head and kissed me on the forehead.

Pulling back the covers, he tucked me into bed and said, "I love you. Goodnight baby girl."

"Go-Goodnight d-daddy," I replied, slowly falling asleep as he closed the door behind him after leaving.

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The True Born Huntress by K. A. Young.

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