He leads me to an adjacent room, which seems to be a bedroom. There's nothing much in there aside some basic furniture and a bed of course. It's neatly made, as if nobody would sleep in there for a while, not even a fold.
Makes you think if he either has some sort of obsession to keep it in perfect condition, or he just never used it in the first place. My bet is on the latter.
"Rest well." He waves at me, I wave back with an awkward smile, and he leaves closing the door behind. I have to admit that the thought of crashing on the bed face first in all my gear is highly alluring, and it takes me a lot of will power to gather my thoughts and remember the current plan. I rub my temples and focus, my sight is getting ab it blurry already. I take a deep breath and approach the window.
I make my way around the house, trying to be as quiet as possible, but then I gasp loudly at what I see next. My horse is there where I left it, but... it lies there motionless in a puddle of blood. "My trusty ride... my companion and buddy..." is all I can think when I kneel at it's side. The cause of death are, without a doubt, the multiple deep punctures in the body, as if someone would stab it repeatedly with a spear. When I touch it's neck I notice strangling marks, but the pattern is odd, it has small punctures around as well. Did they use a barbed wire or what...? Whatever it was, it prevented my horse from making a noise before it was brutally killed.
I can hear the door to the house open slowly with a creak behind my back, and in that moment my instincts kick in. Every single nerve in my body screams that I am in danger and I should get the hell out of here immediately, but as soon as I get up, black thorny vines emerge from the ground in front of me, forming a tangled mess of a fence within seconds. There's no chance to force my way through it without proper tools or weapons, which happen to be missing together with the equipment bag that I left with my ride.
"Leaving without a goodbye is rude." I hear a familiar voice from behind. I turn around, but what I see isn't the cute youth from before; what stands before me is, well... more like a twisted, nightmarish version of the guy I knew. Jun's skin is now a darker tone like ash, his eyes gleaming, and the black vines seem attached to his back, the other ends protruding from the ground. He stands there leisurely, his arms folded.
"I knew it. I fucking knew it." I say through teeth. I admit that a part of me didn't want to acknowledge it, and tried to find an excuse that the Jun from before isn't the Jun that stands in front of me. Maybe he has an evil twin brother and just hides inside the house or something? But the other part of me knows better. His leg is wrapped in the bandage that I used to treat the sprained ankle. Wake up, the other me. This is your enemy. It feels like your consciousness would be split in two, and the halves argue with each other. Heart vs common sense, perhaps? But I digress. Speaking of hearts though...
"Are you the beast from the woods?" I slowly move my hand to the crossbow. I really didn't want to engage in a fight in the state I am right now, but I have no other choice. "The one that feasts on hearts?" He tilts his head and smirks, spreading his arms. "Well yes, yes I am."
"And you want to eat mine."
"Indeed. And honestly I can't wait to dig my teeth in it." He leans forward.
"Eat THIS!" I grab my weapon and shoot at him, but a few factors were against me. Due to fatigue sudden movements cause my vision to blur for a second, and my aim is off, just as my prediction of his movements. I thought he'd have trouble moving because of the hurt ankle, but he showed no signs of being injuried. He dodges my bolt with ease and sends one of the thorny vines from his back towards me. Before I can react, it wraps around my ankle as if it had a will on it's own, and tugs on my leg causing to lose my balance. I crash with my back on the ground, then yelp as I am dragged towards Jun. I automatically reload the crossbow, relying on my trained skills. It's like something you do on instinct rather than think about it, years in the field do that to you. I fire at him again, but the situation repeats and he leaps to the side. He puts more force in the pull and throws me inside the house. I land on the floor, and before I know it, I hear the door slam shut and he's already above me. I had no chances from the start, but I thought I could do better than this... how pathetic. Instead of reloading I just grab a spare bolt in my left hand and want to stab it in his side, but a vine wraps around my wrist and squeezes it, the thorns grow in size and pierce through. I scream at the pain and drop the bolt. Another surge of pain explodes in my side, blurring my vision for a moment. Once I can focus again, the first thing I see is a twisted smile, the next one is a blood drenched spear... no, it's a few entangled vines that form a spear, which is still lodged deep in my left side. The beast guy takes it out with one swift move, the blood spills and I clutch the wound with my free hand.
This is it. This is my last fight, and the worst one at that. I guess some hunters don't have the luxury to go down with style or grand heroic acts. There go my dreams of becoming a legend. How anticlimatic. The saddest part is that I have an ace up my sleeve, but can't even use it. Well... at least now I can finally get some rest...
Optimism at it's finest.
Demon Jun grabs me by the collar and slams against a wall. He looks down at me with a smug smile. "Any last words?" This is a good moment to play tough and drop some memorable quote, but I'm just too tired to talk. I'm not even mad at this point, I just close my eyes and wait for one last pain to endure - the one of my heart being ripped out and that's it. I guess my reaction wasn't what the beast boy expected, as he pushes me against the wall again. "Come on! Beg for your life!" He yells at me with an irritated voice. Beg? Oh I see, you probably get a kick out of peoples misery. Sorry man, you won't get any satisfaction from me.
"You won... that's it... I failed." I mumble and my consciousness fades.
* * *
The creature is visibly displeased. It shakes the man's limp body, but there's no response. In the end there was no fear nor desperation, the hunter accepted his fate as it was, going down with a peaceful expression on his face. And that pissed the beast off. Strong negative emotions make the meal all the better, but this one feels bland even before he's able to rip the heart out. He sighs disappointed and lets go of the man's collar. The fight wasn't fun at all, so much that he lost his appetite. It's the first time he feels that way and it really irks him. He used to cheat his way through to get what he wanted before, but this time it was especially cheap. The beast can't tell why, but it just feels wrong to end it like that.
* * *
I open my eyes and I stare at the ceiling. It takes me a moment to realize who or where I am. Images flash though my mind, one of a villager with an injuried ankle, fluffy pancakes, my dead horse and the heart eating beast's twisted smile when it owned me. I rise up instantly and wince at the pain in my side. I was resting in a bed, the same that Jun offered me to sleep at. I uncover the blanket, now I see that I was shirtless, and my abdomen and left wrist were wrapped in bandages. I pat my chest, there's no wound and my heart is still beating where it should be. I look to the side and see a chair with a bowl full of blood stained bandages, my gear and shirt are put neatly together at the table. Did somebody save me...? Now I realize that there's a familiar scent in the air, one of oil and batter. I can also hear muffled frying sounds from behind the closed door. I slowly get up from the bed put my shirt on, then head to the door.
* * *
Juto enters the kitchen and stops once he sees who's at the frying pan. The ashen colored creature turns around and they give each other a surprised look. Jun's expression turns to a pout "What?" he mumbles and gets back to cooking. "Was it you who-" The hunter's sentence gets cut off by a grumpy "Shut up, I'm busy."
Juto does as said and just looks around. Dried blood stains mark the place where the beast stabbed him, the enchanted bolt is still there on the floor, but everything else looks as ordinary as it was before. Except the counter, it's all messy with the flour all over, one cracked egg on the floor and batter stains here and there. The cook groans while operating with the spatula, and slaps a weirdly shaped pancake on top of the previous failed attempts. He pours the batter and starts anew.
"Like this..." The injuried hunter stands close behind the beast. He places his hands on Jun's, one where he holds the frying pan and the other holding the spatula, and slides it under the freshly poured batter. "If you do it like this, it won't stick to the pan. Let it float on the oil." He says gently. Jun doesn't reply, he just stands there stiff and flustered, but doesn't try to fight it. "Careful..." Juto helps him turn the pancake around and let's him go. A minute later a perfectly round saucer shape lands on top of the wobbly tower, like a pancake king.
* * *
"Why am I still alive?" I ask after I sit at the table, staring at his back as he pours new share of batter on the pan. There's a pause before he replies "You ruined my appetite." He shrugs. "Finishing you off would leave a bad aftertaste." Bad aftertaste, huh? He continues. "So I thought... I'll let you live, let you recover... and we should fight again, on even grounds."
"So you realized that winning by cheap tactics feels empty." I sum it up and smirk when he twitches in anger and tells me to shut up. "Why the sudden change of... heart?" I ask again, no pun intended. Another pause. "You're different." He replies short. I could say the same about you... I stop my interrogation and wait until he finishes cooking.
We sit at the table in silence, and I can feel Jun staring at me intensely when I take the first bite. "Not bad." I comment and continue eating. With the corner of my eye I notice he smiles slightly, and he digs in his share. He frowns though "It's not the same as yours." He chews slowly "That's fine. Use more sugar next time."
There's silence again.
"You were really tired. You slept for a whole day." He says without looking up. "Whoa... I still feel like I could use a nap, to be honest..." I stretch, but the wound reminds me of its existence and I wince. "Does it still hurt...?" I could swear there's worry in his voice. "A little." I nod "I'll live. But tell me... were you always like this...?" He tilts his head "Like what? A monster?" I nod.
"No." He shakes his head and lowers his gaze. As I thought, he must be cursed. "I see. Well then..." I reach to my pocket, and take out a small bundle. I untie the rope, reach in and put a small vial on the table, with light blue liquid inside that's gleaming faintly. Jun's eyes widen when he sees it and he looks up at me with a puzzled look.
"It's a cure-all. A very rare potion, and very hard to obtain. It is said that it can lift any curse and heal any mortal wound. It's highly potent, and works only once per person. I saved it up, but... you can have it." He instantly raises from his seat, grabs the vial and looks at it enchanted. "A cure-all... but... why?" He glances at me. "For sparing my life." I say short. He's about to remove the cork, but he stops. "Wait, why didn't you use it when you were about to die?" He raises his eyebrow. "Would you let me if I wanted to?" He ponders a second. "Fair enough."
But still, there's something that stops him from using it. He puts the vial back on the table and slides my way. "You keep it." I blink, not sure why he would let that opportunity go away. He explains soon after. "I do miss being human, but I don't hate being a monster either. If I drink that now, all my powers will disappear, and I'll become a weakling again." The vines on his back raise up. "I can defeat people twice my size, isn't that cool?" I'm starting to get an idea where the curse came from.
"That's not true, you can still be strong. Maybe not physically, but you can learn magic for example." I try to reason with him, but he still refuses. I stand up and slam with my hands against the table. "I can't let you run around and eat people's hearts, just because you have some inferiority complex!" Yelling like that made my wound hurt and I sit back. I continue with a calmer tone. "You can travel with me. I can protect you. I could need a companion, traveling by myself can be lonely..." Silence. He thinks about what I said.
"What if I can eat hearts and get away with it?" He says slowly. What? I blink, not sure what he means. "Aren't there bounties which can be captured whether dead or alive?" I see now where he's getting at. "You mean, I take the head... and you take the heart?"
"Yes, like that" He smiles "...why didn't you do that on your own already?" I ask "If it's that simple, then why did you decide to hide in the woods and feast on innocent people?" He crosses his arms and tilts his head. "It's not that simple. I'd have to join a guild, and that wouldn't be very wise for a monster to waltz in a place full of hunters and enchanted weapons. Animals panic when they're near me too."
"So, why is it any different if you travel with me?"
"You can protect me, right?" He uses my own words against me, that clever little shit. I have no argument against that. "Alright, you got me. But under one condition." I lean back in my seat.
"And that is?" He asks slowly, and I smirk. "If I tell people we're a couple, then you have to play along." He shouts a loud WHAT, slams the table and leans forward. "You heard me." I make myself comfortable in the chair. "Oh, and you have to buy me a new horse too."
The look on his face is amusing, it's a mix of disbelief and embarrassment. He sighs and leans back. "You're weird. Okay... if that's the only condition... as long as you don't abuse it in any way, or else I'll rip your heart out." I just smile. It went easier than expected.
"Then it's a deal, partner." I reach with my hand towards him, and we seal the deal with a handshake.
"You really are different." He notes.
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