Over the next few days I stayed at Elijah’s house. I met his daughters, Dinah and Kacey. The sister’s bickering could be heard through the whole house some days. Doors would be slammed, voices raised till they scream, and Elijah sighing with exasperation at their disruptions. Then there were days when the two were inseparable, or their target would be Elijah. Watching the two girls argue made me wonder if I had an siblings, a sister maybe?

Dinah came across as vain, with her blonde hair, tanned skin and dark eyes. But sometimes, when I passed her open door, she’d just be staring at nothing, with this expression I didn’t understand. Kacey was more like her father, with dark hair and cold blue eyes. I think Kacey really admired her sister Dinah, even if they did fight on a daily basis.

The ointment that Claude gave me helped, my skin had mostly retuned to normal but, the teeth marks were going to scar. The tea was something else. Something was not meant to be consumed. It had an intense sour flavour that made me nauseous just thinking about it. I could finally bend my arm again and the pain had mostly subsided.

No one had come looking for me. I hadn’t really left the house. I’d spend my time wandering through the rooms, and occasionally outside within the boundaries of the property. Sometimes accompanied by Kacey and Dinah, sometimes on my own. Elijah was kind enough to let me borrow some books from his study, some about fairies, and some about other things.

There was something calming about that property. Something that made me feel like…

I want to stay.

I would debate with myself whether I should stay or go. Truth be told I had no idea where I would go, but I felt like I was intruding on Elijah and his family. I wondered what if my ‘Guardian’ was right, that people would keep coming to find me no matter what. It wouldn’t be fair to bring that into Elijah’s home.

I wondered about the women who were pursuing me earlier. Where did the woman with the red hair go? What about the person they were working for? Would he just give up? It was only a matter of time before he sent someone else after me. What will they do if they find out I’m living here? Elijah said he was raised by a family of hunters, did those who wanted to capture me know that? I wondered if they were scared of hunters. If so, then this was the safest place I could be.

But I really don’t want to bother anyone with my problems, and staying here is doing just that.

I sighed in frustration as Elijah sits next to me on the front steps of the porch. Nightmare skittered down the steps and pranced along the path before tip-toeing onto the grass.

“How are you going over here?” Elijah asked as he clasped his hands together and gazed over the property.

“Fine, just thinking.” I replied and run a hand through my blond hair.

“Do you want to talk about what’s on your mind?”

“I’m still deciding whether or not I should stay.” I replied.

“Well, where would you go?”

I shrugged and gave Elijah a weak smile. “I don’t know who I am, or where I came from, or why I’m here, or where I’m supposed to even be. I have no memories, and right this second, no one is trying to kidnap or kill me. So…”

“So why are you thinking about leaving?” Elijah asked.

“I don’t want to create problems for you, or your family.” I replied honestly. “You’re nice people, I don’t want any of you getting hurt because I stayed and bad people followed.”

“I told you, I’m a hunter, I can handle anything that comes our way. I might even be able to help you find some answers about what happened to you and where you came from.”

“Are…” I tried to think of the right words, “non-humans…are they afraid of hunters?”

“Hmph,” Elijah smirked, “I don’t think they are afraid of us unless they did something wrong.”

“Huh. So, this person who’s after me, they wouldn’t stop just because I’m staying at a hunters house?”

Elijah shook his head with a sad smile. “I don’t think so. But, they might be more careful with how they intend to proceed. They wouldn’t want to draw the attention of an entire family of family of hunters, especially since it’s sort of illegal to kidnap people against their will human or not.”

I laugh softly and nod my head.

“Look, if you’re worried about them coming after you again, or me, or the girls, don’t be. Believe it or not, but it’s normal for monsters to come after us or our family. You’d probably feel right at home here with all the attempted break-ins and death threats. If and when the people come after you again, we’ll talk about it then, okay?” Elijah waited for my answer.

If and when that happens again…

“Okay,” I sighed and fiddled with my hands.

“Until then, don’t worry yourself with it. If there’s nothing you can do about it now, then stop worrying.” Elijah patted me on the shoulder. “Anyway, we have the fierce and feisty Nightmare protecting the house. You have nothing to worry with that little ankle biter running around.”

This time I really laughed. “Nightmare? The chihuahua?” Almost as if she knew we were talking about her, Nightmare sprung off the grass and trotted down the driveway towards us.

Elijah chuckled, “trust me, she’s called Nightmare for a reason.” I shook my head as Elijah stood, brush off his jeans and then headed back inside.

Elijah offered to help me find out what happened to me and where I came from. Could I trust him to actually help though? To him, I’m just a kid.

Maybe I chose to stay because I was overwhelmed by the reality of leaving. No where to go, no friends, no guarantee of safety. Or maybe, I chose to stay because for the first time since I could remember, I didn’t feel hopelessly lost and alone. I felt safe to be outside without having to constantly be on the look out for danger.

The little dog’s paws pattered over to me, and it sat before my feet. I stared at the tiny creature and offered it my hand to sniff. Gingerly I raised my hand, my fingertips touched her soft little head. With a smile, I scratched between her ears, moving down to behind her neck where the fur became long and began to curl.

After a while I pulled my hand away and rested it on my knees. The dog stared at me, ears perked. I stared back. Nightmare’s eyes were like a black abyss. Something about them seemed empty, hollow, it was almost like they were a portal to another world. I blinked a few times and then rubbed my eyes. When I opened them, the dog was no where to be seen.