Chapter 8: The Vampire Hunter Organization

Mia's POV

Sol and I sat in comfortable silence for a while. Sol tapped away at his laptop, and I had busied myself with preparing my dinner. The silence wasn't broken until I stopped sorting out the minced meat and turned around to face Sol.

"Do you think there will be more hunters?" I asked him cautiously.

I noticed Sol staring at his screen for a moment before looking at me. The look in my eyes must have given him some hints to how I felt because the next thing he did was power down his screen and put down the device.

"Are you worried?" he asked, and I nodded my head.

"It just seemed like..." I shook my head since I tried to wrap my thoughts around the situation. "He just came out of nowhere, you know?"

When I turned my head to meet Sol's gaze, I realized he didn't have the same thought as I did.

"Honestly, I knew his presence before he showed up." I was shocked by his words. He sighed and stood up. "I didn't know that man in particular, but I was aware the local organization of vampire hunters had been keeping an eye on me."

My eyes widened in shock at his honesty. I couldn't help myself as the questions came flying out. "How? Why do they target you? Why don't you do something to stop them?"

Sol rested against the counter opposite where I stood and crossed his arms over his chest. Looking down at me, he said, "There's no need to get involved with them until now. I admit it was foolish of me to think they would leave you alone."

Sol shook his head, "Well, I couldn't actively do something without causing turmoil. They also spy on other pure-blooded vampires with high hierarchy. I've received reports from my colleagues. They are being watched as well."

It took a moment to understand who his colleagues were, and then it clicked in my head. "Serin and Sarah?" I asked him, and he nodded.

"They have experienced many incidents like we had tonight. Fortunately, they are legally married in human society. The vampire hunter organization couldn't go against human law, so they should be safe temporarily."

My shoulders drooped as I imagined if Sarah would experience the same situation like the one I was in just moments ago. It didn't occur to me that their marriage would be this widely hated on both sides of the spectrum.

"Poor Sarah," I mumbled as my eyebrows furrowed together. "Can we do something to help them?"

Sol began laughing suddenly. I was confused and looked up to him. He was looking down at me with a tilt of his head and a raise of his eyebrow.

"What's wrong with my question?" I asked him.

"You're attacked by a vampire hunter, then you are suspected of being involved with the missing girls. Now, the first thought you have is how to help my friends."

My eyes widened at his question. I looked away from the gleam in his eyes. I could feel my face burning as I mumbled, "Well, she doesn't hurt anyone. They can't blame her or attack her just because she fell in love with a vampire."

"No," he mumbled in agreement, "Indeed not."

I felt the coldness of Sol's fingers when he ran them across my brow line and smoothed the tension. He moved to capture my hair that had fallen into my face in one hand and pushed it back.

I felt my breathing leave me when he took the back of my hair in a light grip and tilted my head back to meet his gaze. The look in his eyes was sensuous. Had he not had the grip on my hair, I wouldn't have had the courage to keep looking.

He then let go of my hair again and stepped away from me, leaving my heart hammering in my chest and words stuck in my throat.

"Serin will protect her. You don't have to worry about them. They've been playing this game for longer than you know." Sol told me, "He'd sooner see the country burn than anything happen to her."

I nodded my head and turned my focus onto the meal in front of me. "Ah, I know it. Vampires and their possessiveness."

"Possessiveness?" Sol questioned with a laugh.

"You know that...." I waved the spatula in the air to try and organize my statement correctly, "There are always some pure-blooded vampires. I can't name it exactly. Maybe it's a sort of desire to possess something or someone."

"Do you mean to protect?" Sol offered, but I shook my head.

"It's more than that." I shrugged. "Well, it's just my guess."

When I turned around to put the cooked pasta into the boiling pot, I saw Sol shake his head as he sat back down. "You're wrong."

"What's wrong?" I grimaced at the lack of salt in the sauce and moved to add more.

"It's not a desire. It's just natural and instinctive, just as humans need to breathe. This kind of instinct will push us to move when certain people we care about most are in danger." He raised his eyebrow at me. "Well, for me, you're a half-blooded vampire, not an entire human."

I breathed carefully, "What do you mean?" Did he mean I was the one he cared about most?

"Have you never experienced someone protecting you before?" Sol inquired, and I shook my head.

"I don't think I've ever been… um, well, cared about by someone. But I have seen it." My shoulders shuddered for a moment as I remembered the looks my father's friends often had while protecting someone they deemed as theirs. It wasn't a good memory.

Sol laughed at my response. " So, no one was ever into you?"

My eyes widened. I felt my face heating up again. I turned around and tried to distract myself with the cooking to try and level out my voice. "Erm… No, I… No."

When I turned around to place the cooked components together, I noticed Sol's eyes staring down. His arms crossed over his chest as he leaned back on the chair with a sly smirk crossing his face. He looked almost pleased with the statement. I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, well, not everyone has heroes or lovers. Have you ever met that kind of human since you were born?" He only laughed at my defensive statement. "Seriously, how old are you now? I bet you're old enough to be someone's great-grandfather."

I crossed my arms over my chest and looked at him with a challenging stare. In return, Sol placed his hand over his heart and pretended to be wounded.

"If you must know, let me figure out when I held my 300th birthday party. Oh, about 65 or 65 years ago, so I could probably be someone's great-great-grandfather." My mouth fell open at his confession, and I balked at him.

"You're… But that's… How…" I blinked at him as I tried to comprehend the weight of being that old would bear.

Once I overcame my shock, I felt a sense of forlorn wash over me as I stared down at him. "Were you alone all that time?" I moved to sit next to Sol, my food forgotten on the other side of the counter.

His expression turned shocked for a moment. He regarded me, then a small smile turned over on his face. "It's not so bad." He moved to push my hair over my shoulder. "You get to meet many interesting people. I watched them be born, grow up, work, get ill, face death, and turn to the bone in the mud."

"But still… It must be a lonely moment," I said. For some reason, I began to feel sorry for Sol. I felt the weight of Sol's gaze as he looked at me. He shook his head.

"If that's what it took to meet you, I think it was worth it," Sol said. "And I'm so glad no one was interested in you before. It means I am your first and last man."

Should I blush? Be shy? Be happy? No. I felt anxious. If Sol meant there wasn't any pure-blooded vampire interested in me, he would be the only one drinking from me. I had to say he was wrong, but I would rather never mention that vampire.

I kept silent and finished my dinner without more questions.

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