Exhausted, Maya returned to her room, collapsing onto her bed in a heavy sleep before she could even consider discussing the day's events with Elena. Her energy had been utterly spent, leaving her unable to keep her eyelids from shutting.

When she awoke, it was the dead of night, throwing her circadian rhythm into disarray. She reached for Elena's phone, which she was currently keeping safe, to check for any calls or messages from Erik. The digital numbers on the screen read 3 am, and to her disappointment, there were no notifications.

She had slept in an uncomfortable position and was still fully dressed. Rubbing her eyes, she could feel the lingering fatigue in her muscles.

Elena was absent from the room. Maya remembered that Elena would opt to sleep in the locked bathroom at this hour. However, noticing the open doors, she speculated that Elena might have found an empty room to rest in for the night, sparing herself the discomfort of the bathtub. For reasons unknown, Elena always seemed to avoid sharing a room with Maya.

With a lingering worry that Elena might have ventured outside the walls again, Maya sent a text from Elena's phone to Maya's new phone that should be with Elena, inquiring about her whereabouts.

The answer was short:

<Be right back>

Tears began to swell in Maya's eyes. The unprocessed emotional strain was too overwhelming. Relief washed over her when Elena entered their room a few minutes later.

"Is something wrong?" Elena asked, noticing her discomfort.

Maya looked at Elena's bruised face, illuminated by soft, warm light in their room. Her bruises looked aged already. It was a good choice not to show up in school like that. They might get completely healed by tomorrow.

"I… I need to talk about everything that's happened. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," Maya confessed.

"Me too," Elena admitted, sitting down in silence for a moment before breaking it with a question. "Do you believe him?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Maya responded tiredly. Elena's question was a clear display of her inherent scepticism of others. "Don't you?"

"He's hiding something," Elena said with assurance, lying back on Maya's bed. "He knew of your parents, yet, somehow, you came as a complete shock to him. Why wouldn't he know about you then?"

"He hasn't given us the full story yet. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. I'm sure it will all make sense. He has no reason to lie," Maya defended.

"Maya, you'd known him for five minutes. What do you know about his agenda? Now, we even gave him time to construct more lies."

Maya gave her a jaded glance. "I think you're just overly suspicious."

"Why was he alone in the woods with so many vampires lurking around? How does he know so much about things we've struggled to grasp for months, yet refuses to elaborate about himself? Why does he seem to know so much about you? Why is he so attached to you?" Elena listed a barrage of questions left unanswered.

Taken aback, Maya couldn't resist a teasing jab. "Wow, Elena. I don't think I've ever seen you this interested in someone."

Elena returned her comment with an incredulous look. "Maya, these are natural questions to ask. You're the strange one willing to accept such a suspicious man into your crusade without ever learning about his motives."

Elena sat back up, her tone grew frustrated. "I don't get what got you so infatuated with him! Did he actually cast some spell to confound your mind? I bet even if he were to write 'suspicious' on his face, you'd suddenly become illiterate."

Exasperated, Maya threw up her hands. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Just don't get involved with him," Elena threw herself back on the bed. "You're terrible at picking people to trust."

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"The fact that he knows so much makes him valuable," Maya declared. "Your questions can be answered with time, and there's no reason someone should tell you their life story the first time you meet. For all we know, it could be traumatic and painful to recall. And besides, Anastasia said I could trust him."

"That Anastasia again? Maya, you trust her too much," Elena grumbled. "When the only two people able to verify each other's account say you can trust the other—that's a conspiracy!"

"Do you hear yourself?! He is conspiring with a 16th-century ghost he didn't even know was there?" The frustration was brushing on Maya. "What got you so on guard against this one guy? I won't let him hurt you, I promise," Maya assured. "He let you go. You don't have to be so on edge."

Elena sighed, grumbling to herself. "I just don't like him."

"Well, I do," Maya declared.

"That was clear as day," Elena rolled her eyes.

"What?" Maya suddenly felt embarrassed. Was it so obvious she was crushing on him?

Maya kept glancing around the room to make sure Leo didn't suddenly appear.

It seemed Elena could read her like a book and rolled her eyes again. "C'mon. Are you really worried your ex will find out you like undead guys?"

With Leo nowhere in sight, Maya released a sigh of relief. "Do you think he might… like me too?" Maya asked shyly.

"He let a vampire live for you," Elena pointed out.

Besides being a vampire, Elena also provoked him quite relentlessly. After Maya thought back to it, she concluded Erik had quite impressive restraint, never resorting to violence against her.

"However," Elena added, shifting the tone. "I think you should turn your gaze elsewhere."

"Why?"

"For one, he sure did jump in fast to comfort you. Don't forget you're complete strangers. If it comes so naturally for him, you know he does it to other women, too. I don't think you can handle a ladies' man."

"Elena, showing empathy to someone in distress is a normal, emotionally mature response," Maya defended him, leaving Elena momentarily speechless.

Sighing, Maya decided to change the subject. "I can't believe you tried to steal his knife."

"Come on. That asshole has a bunch of them," Elena grumbled. "He could spare one. I mean, he was ready to leave it in that vampire's corpse, but not let me have it?"

"I think your knife obsession is getting out of hand," Maya chuckled.

"It's a knife that kills vampires, Maya. Don't you think that would be something useful to have around?"

Maya swallowed her words. If Elena had something like that, would she have died that night?

"Besides, did you see the strength and precision of his throw? And at that distance…" It seemed Elena still held some residual admiration for hunters. "Do you know how insane that was? I even struggled to pry it out of that vampire's chest bone."

A smile crept up on Maya's face. Elena seemed to get more lively whenever she talked about weapons and battle. If you ignore the fact that she was casually talking about murder, Maya would admire her passion.

"I swear, it almost cost me my life," Elena joked. "When he grabbed you and dragged you away… Luckily, they still thought of recruiting me and underestimated me."

"Then you shouldn't have gone for that knife."

"I needed a weapon…" Elena stated it as if that was an intrinsic need every person had. "That fuckface!" she groaned. "I have nothing now… I lost Keith's stake."

"Only you can get mad at someone for not giving you something you tried to steal from them," Maya found it funny. "But maybe I could ask him and work something out."

"Like depending on you to beg for my life isn't enough…" Elena scoffed and looked to the side.

"How do you feel, Elena?"

"Huh?" she stared at Maya, genuinely confused by the question.

"I mean, after seeing what you could have become if fate weren't so cruel."

"Yeah…" she looked away melancholically. "I would've killed it being one of them." Elena swallowed, retreating into herself, clearly not liking being at the other end.

Maya squeezed her shoulder to comfort her. They stayed silent for a moment.

"I don't know how that doesn't affect you," Maya began quietly. "I mean killing them… I know they were vampires, but still…"

Elena looked at her strangely, tilting her head slightly. "They wanted to hurt you," she stated flatly, as if her response was the most natural one.

"But Elena, you and he, both…"

"You make it seem as if we slaughtered them one-sidedly," Elena stared at her confused. "Believe me, most of them are already up and running tonight as if nothing had happened."

Maya blinked in shock.

"Yeah. Neither your new boyfriend killed as many as you thought," Elena continued. "He prioritized your safety." Elena sighed tiredly, returning to the topic of Erik. "I know he's hot and all, but he better be useful and worth it. And you should really take a shower."

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