Page 47 of Heart of the Hunted
"I'm sorry, but no," he said with a disgusted look on his face. "I don't know how the fuck you ever stayed in one of those places. I couldn't wait to get out of the place before I even stepped foot in there."
"You get used to it," she told him.
"I agree, a bed would be nice, but not if it means sleeping underground," he said adamantly.
"You know, for a Demon, you really are fussy," she told him.
"And you know many Demons, do you?" he asked with a raised brow.
"Okay, you have me there,” she admitted. “Apart from you, thankfully, I don't know any."
"You say thankfully as if it's a good thing," he said.
"Seriously? How do you keep forgetting who you're talking to?" she asked. "So, yes, I am very thankful."
"I'm sorry," he told her.
"Why do you keep apologizing to me as well?” she asked. “I'm the bloody captive, for fuck sake."
Taredd didn't reply. In fact, he didn't say another word at all, and neither did she.
Grateful for the silence, it gave Natalia time to think over the time they have spent together so far. The more time she was spending with him, the more he confused the hell out of her.
She could understand why he wouldn't want to stay in a hole in the ground, but the bunker wasn't just a hole. It was where she had spent her entire life. Moving from place to place, it was always the same sort of accommodation. It was always a bunker buried deep beneath the ground.
It was the safest place for her kind. It wasn't that they hadn't tried to live elsewhere, because they had. Every time they did stay anywhere other than the bunkers, they had risked being caught. Even when they had no choice but to stop for the night as they moved between places, they couldn't let their guard down. One person had to be on watch at all times just in case they were spotted by the monsters.
But then, she didn't expect a Demon to understand any of that. It wasn't like they were hunted down and killed for no reason.
"Why do you kill my kind?" she suddenly blurted out.
Natalia hadn’t intended to ask him that, but now it was out she really wanted to know the answer.
"What?" he asked.
"You heard me," she said. "Why do you hunt my kind? What have we ever done to deserve to be hunted down and murdered?"
Taredd just looked at her. If she didn't know better, she would say he was at a loss for words. Maybe he didn't want to upset her again? But that couldn't be right, why would it matter to him if she was upset or not? There must be some reason though, otherwise he wouldn't be staying silent right now. She already knew he killed her kind, so why wouldn't he tell her the reasons why he did it?
Instead of answering her question, he said: "Come on, let’s go and check on the trap."
Before she could say another word, he stood up and started walking away. Climbing to her feet, she raced after him. Natalia knew she should be running the other way, especially since he didn't look back to see if she was still with him or not. But she had to admit, she was intrigued to see if the trap worked.
It was exciting to think she might have caught her first ever meal. Well, technically it was Taredd that would have caught it, but still, she had been there as well.
