The Hunter and the Hunted ✔️

~•28•~

When I woke up, I was laying on silk sheets. They were the color of sun rays, gold and sparkly. At first my pulse quickened, my heart rose, my anxiety rolling because I had no idea where I was What happened, how did I get to wherever I was now? And then I remembered.

Konrad. Colin. My dad. Konrad taking me.

I looked through a tall window with sheer white curtains, the sky outside a shade of blue that made me confused whether it was dawn or dusk.

I looked down at my body, a deep red velvet sleep-gown was clinging to me like a second skin. I hated it, I felt disgusting and different. Especially knowing that someone else changed me.

I blinked my eyes rapidly, anger replacing my fear with a shot of adrenaline. "I never agreed to this!" I screamed. I tried to move off the bed but fell onto the hard wooden floors, my legs felt weak from laying down for so long. How long was I asleep? "I DON'T WANT THIS!"

"Honey you already sold your soul to the devil." Konrad smiled, standing over me. He said playfully with a southern accent, joking with me. "There's no taking that back."

He grabbed my hair and pulled me up, making me wince. But I've had worse. There was thing a Hunter was prepared for, and that was pain.

"But I don't—" I tried to argue my piece but there was no point. Not with him. There would be no winning. I'd only make things worse for myself.

He put a long finger to his red lips. "Shh Shh Shh... we mustn't bite the hand that feeds us."

"Oh I'll bite a lot more than your hand if you touch her one more God damn time." Konrad let go of me and dusted his hands off. The room got a shade lighter, like the sun and shadows were frightened and backed up to let the light breathe.

"COLIN!" I yelled and ran to him. He caught me in his arms easily, naturally, safely.

He kissed my head and Konrad laughed.

"Puppy love. What a concept." He strolled around the room until he reached the window. The sun drizzled onto his face, making him seem almost surreal. At this angle... he almost looked liked Colin. They had the same jaw line, same nose. But it was more than just that. If you looked carefully enough, they had the same look in their eyes.

Collective. Calculating. Careful. But Colin's eyes were soft and kind, Konrad's were cruel and hard.

"It isn't puppy love." Colin stated, so sure that it made me swoon. Even in a situation like this.

Konrad grabbed the sheer fabric and tore it from the window, revealing Becker's front yard to the mansion I visited a day ago? Two days? However many days ago.

Konrad picked up the curtains and threw them into the air. We watched two Ash Roses fell back into his hands. "Why? Because you got these to prove it?" He twisted them between his fingers. By the time I blinked, they were curtains once more. "When was the last time you saw your roses?"

I froze. The day I got mine.

"I burned mine." Colin said.

I shrugged, pursing my lips. "I think... umm... I don't know where I put it."

Konrad scoffed. He had an incredulous look on his face that made me embarrassed. "You're definitely a Dawn. Making dumb, reckless, decisions. And you... are definitely a Gold, or should I say... Reinheart?" He moved around the room and picked up a paperweight off a mahogany nightstand. "I ask because I figured you thought you lost them, it only makes sense. They were never real. Just a figment of my imagination. Well... actually Leslie's imagination." He snickered as he threw the paperweight at me, it stopped before it hit my face. Colin had gasped but I didn't even flinch. Konrad looked at me smugly. "Such a Strong Dawn. Such a weak Reinheart."