The vampire and the wife

Chapter 12

I took a couple of days to figure out what to do with myself after the day with Hunter and the night with Zack. I really thought through the hunter thing. I knew I wouldn't be able to talk to Dorian about it because I knew he'd be protective and tell me not to go for it, but I knew I needed more in my life than simply spending time healing. I really did need to move on with my life and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to do just that and also to make amends for what I'd done in the past.

I'd called Jen and asked her about it all, and she'd given me Creed's number and told me to call him and talk to him, as he was the one who dealt with that stuff, so I did, and I arranged to go and talk to him about it at his house when I was ready.

I got up one morning and looked outside to see the autumn sunshine coming through. I closed my eyes and turned my face to it to let it warm me through the glass before I turned to my wardrobe to get dressed. I went digging and decided to get out my wool dress top and my jeans. I figured that since I had no plans for today, I'd go and see Creed about how I could help him.

As I was just finishing up getting dressed and sorted my phone pinged. I reached back onto my bed and looked at it to see that it was a message from Hunter. It was a simple, one-word text. Coffee?

I texted back sure, put my phone next to me and laced up my boots. I figured if Hunter was offering to go out for coffee, I might be able to rope him into dropping me off at Creed's. My phone pinged again.

I'm outside waiting for you. I got up and walked to my window to look out, seeing his car parked out front, which made me laugh a little as I shook my head. I hurried up and went, got sorted, and grabbed my coat on the way out the door. I locked the door and then ran to the car and got in.

"Good morning. How are we?" Hunter grinned.

"No Shadow today?" I asked, looking in the boot, to find no guard up.

"I decided that on this coffee date, I want attention." He grinned in a playful manner. "Do you mind?"

"I do because me and Shadow are besties." I grinned. "No, I don't mind at all. It means we don't have a crazy dog with us who wants to jump into the lake."

"Yeah, it's starting to get a little cold up there, really." Hunter sighed. "There's loads of leaves now and it makes it a little dangerous underfoot to do that walk."

"So what's the plan?" I asked, simply looking over at him.

"Anywhere you want." Hunter shrugged as he seemed to look over at me. "You look nice; did you have plans?" I noticed a small blush creep over his face, which made me blush as well.

"Oh, ummm... I had plans for later." I muttered. "Umm, I was going to see Creed to talk with him."

"Everything ok?" Hunter shifted in his seat to look at me as he frowned a little.

"Yeah." I looked down at my hands in my lap, as I'd begun to feel a little nervous. I had no clue why; after all, there was nothing going on; we were just friends. Because you don't want to disappoint your friend.

"Sure?" I looked up to meet Hunter's eyes as I let out a small sigh.

"I was thinking of joining the hunters." I told him honestly. "I mean... I need more in my life than what I have right now..."

"People usually join them when they either have something to prove or something they want to atone for." Hunter folded his arms across his chest. "I mean, I get you probably want to prove that it's your life and you can do what you want, but there's better ways to do it than this."

"Actually, I want to try and fix the mistakes I made in the past." I told him honestly. "I need acceptance with myself if you will."

"Over him?" I looked down at my hands again and began to fiddle a little.

"No... Yes... Kinda... It's complicated." I eventually settled for as I looked up to see him looking at me with concern.

"How about coffee in the car and we figure this out?" Hunter asked. "You can tell me what's going on and we can figure out if it's wise for you to do this."

"Sure." I muttered as I let out a sigh and looked out the side window for a moment as Hunter started the car up and drove. The car was quiet between us. I wasn't sure if it was uncomfortable or not, as my head had been too wrapped around what the meeting with Creed was going to be like.

"So other than that, how have the last few days been?" Hunter asked, shaking me from my thoughts pretty quickly. I looked over at him.

"Good. After I left you that night, Dorian asked how everything went and then told me he had to go and see him."

"Oh?"

"I don't know what about, as Dorian didn't say anything, so Zack and I had a heart to heart about things..." I shrugged a little. "I got some stuff off my chest and I didn't feel like a complete i***t for saying some of what I'd said."

"That's always good." Hunter grinned.

"What about you? Been busy these last few days?"

"Mmm, yep. Ended up having an arguement with my mother over the phone." He sighed. "Lucky for me, I got to cut it short as Luna Jen needed me." He grinned. "Then apparently she rang my sister and had an arguement with her too."

"Nothing bad I hope."

"It was over you." Hunter glanced sideways on with a coy grin on his face. "Don't feel bad. I had a feeling it was going to come and so did Annie in fairness." He shrugged a little. "She always has a thing about jumping the gun and seemed to think that you and I are together."

"I...I...I..." I had no clue what to say as I turned bright red this time at the idea of being with Hunter. Don't get me wrong, he was a good looking guy, but he wasn't my guy. He wasn't Xander.

"Don't worry or feel guilty about it. Annie and I put her in her place pretty quick. Which reminds me... It's Annie's birthday soon and her boss is throwing her a party at the bar and she asked me to ask you if you want to come. She told me to tell you that she promises Liam isn't invited."

"When is it?"

"Her birthday is in four days. I think they're doing it on the day of her birthday, I'll double check and let you know. I mean, no pressure to come and if you want, you can bring your two friends too and I'll be there as well."

"Thank you... For the invite." I looked over at Hunter. "I don't think Dorian would come, but I'll ask him and Zack." I shrugged.

"Jen will be there with Eric too. If it sways your decision in the slightest."

"I guess it does sway my decision a little." I let out a sigh and laughed. "Sure... I'll come. You'll have to help me pick out a present for your sister though, you do realise."

"How about, I get the present and tag your name on?"

"Won't that just be fuel to the fire to your mum?" Hunter didn't say anything as a twisted smile just seemed to stick in place. "Oh boy." I muttered.

Hunter pulled into a car park and turned the engine off and then got out the car. He went and grabbed the coffee from inside the coffee shop, so I took my phone out and text Dorian asking him about the party. I pretty quickly got a message back from him.

You go. I don't want to ruin your friendship with the mutt and it will do you the world of good to be with your friends too, so use it as a time to go out with Jen.

"Well that's settled." I muttered, but I felt like his answer was a little suspicious as if he was hiding something from me. I made a mental note to talk to Zack about it as well and see if he knew anything that was going on with Dorian.

I lent my head back against the head rest and closed my eyes a little to allow myself to relax when the car door open making me jump as Hunter laughed at me.

"Coffee." I laughed and took the coffee from him and wrapped my hands around the cup as he shut the door and came around to his side of the car and got in. "Dorian said he doesn't want to ruin the night by being there, so he's out."

"Cool, but if he changes his mind, the invite is open for him. So, what's going on that's got you into wanting to join the hunters? I mean, there's not many women who join and if women do they certainly have to prove they deserve to be there."

"I'm not weak if that's what your trying to say." I told him.

"If you've been running with vampires, I know your not weak Rosa, it's just I can't imagine you fighting demons and bad guys." He shrugged as he took a small sip of his coffee.

I looked down at my coffee for a moment and then looked up at Hunter. "If I tell you that I beat Liam's arse fair and square until he cheated would you believe me?"

"I'd find it hard to believe but from the way you told my sister he's trouble... I get the feeling you two have a long rough history together."

"Liam and I use to date many bad mistakes ago." I told him. "Liam and I would fight a lot... and one night more recently he pushed me too far and tried to ruin my life, so I taught him a lesson to not mess with me."

"Was that what happened when you were in the hospital? Because you certainly didn't look like you won that fight."

"That's what started it, but he cheated and had a vampire drag me off and as you can imagine... A vampire and human fight is a little unfair."

"Fuck." Hunter muttered. "So what makes you think your strong enough to fight these bad guys now?"

"I have a history with fighting, shall we just leave it at that?" I decided to opt for because I didn't want to share away Hunter the way I'd almost scared away Zack.

"The scars on your neck?"

"They're vampire bites." I muttered and then took a sip of my coffee. "Before him, I was unwillingly in the service of another vampire and he'd take what he wanted from me."

"I'll ki..."

"He's already dead. Another vampire made sure of that for me." I told Hunter. "Like I said, I just need something to keep me going. I just need something to keep me busy."

"Creed can be a pretty ruthless man I've heard, so if you do decide to join, just becareful of what jobs he gives you and don't put yourself in the line of trouble for no reason Rosa. I've seen the state of Eric when he's come back from a hunt before now." Hunter shook his head. "You'd think that he'd be a little more kinder to those who choose to work for him since his soon is one of the hunters, but... It seems like all he is fixated on is the ends to a mean and he doesn't care how many lives or who those lives are."

"I promise I won't let myself get dragged into anything too bad for you."

"Good." Hunter grins. "After all who else is going to go for walks with me when I have Shadow and who else is will have coffee with me?"

"Other pack members?" I asked looking at him confused.

"Other pack members tend to keep their distance from me because of what happened to me and because of my authority." He shrugged. "That's what tends to happen to those who are lower in the ranks."

"Oh." I answered looking at him and seeing just how lonely he probably felt. "So, what's the plan for after coffee?" I asked.

"Well... I was thinking do you want to go somewhere together?"

"Any ideas where?" I asked as I finally took a good sip of my coffee as it had begun to cool down.

"Nope." He laughed.

"How about, you take me to see Creed, I'll be as fast as I can be while I'm there and then I show you one spot I use to love as a teen growing up?" I suggested.

"Your really set on working for the hunters?"

"I am." I answered. "I need a reason and I need to try and fix my past mistakes and if that means that I do something good to try and wash away all those bad marks against me, then I will."

"Fine." Hunter sighed. "Coffee first, then we'll go."

I couldn't help but laugh a little at his comment as I drank my coffee. Maybe all I needed was a month or so of feeling like I've done something good in my life and then after that I'd break free from it all and decide to try and settle into normal life. Normal? You'll never have a normal life. Your ex is a vampire, your best friends are vampires, your currently hanging out with a werewolf, your looking at a job that is hunting demons and anything else... What part of that is normal?

I laughed again at myself and Hunter looked at me me. He asked what I was laughing at and I just merely shook my head.

"Nothing." I commented as that private thought was going to be exactly that. Private.