"Faith!" Marcus' voice ran outside. I roll my eyes at him and ran to the door opening it for him.

Today I am wearing short tights, with a tank top hight enough to almost show my boobs. "Yes?" I said leaning against the door with a crooked smile. Marcus looked me up and down, staring at my boobs for longer than was necessary.

His lascivious look did things to my body I did not understand yet. "See something you like?" I say teasingly.

Marcus walks towards me stopping a few inches away from me. He is taller than me so I have to look up at him with the crooked smile still in place.  "Yes. I do. But you are still a child." I glare at him annoyed at him calling me a kid.

"I'll be 18 in a year."

"Well until then we'll have this conversation." I roll my eyes at him and walk inside the apartment. Marcus follows me close behind. "So, ready for practice?"

I groan. I rather study something but Marcus told me I only needed to be strong and an education wasn't necessary.  "I rather do something  more intellectual since you and I both know I'm strong." 

He glared down at me, not liking my statement. "Yes you are strong, but you need to be able to fight a bloodsucker-"

"I have!" I snap at him.

"The vampire that killed your parents are stronger than any hunter I ever have seen, they were able to kill your mother a fearless Slayer."  I gulp feeling the hurt of losing them when I was born. I try to hide the pain away. 

"Fine," I give and get ready to spar with Marcus.

Marcus takes off his shirt and I stared at it in awe. I had to admit that for an old man he looked good for his age. "Concentrate Faith." He murmurs but he was grinning from ear to ear. He was enjoying the fact that I was checking him out. "Ready?"

"Yes."

30 Minutes Later

Marcus was covered in sweat and breathing hard whereas I was like new. He ran towards me about to throw me on my ass but I anticipated his movement. I grabbed him by the arm and threw him to the floor hard on his back. I got on top of him and put the make-believe stake on his chest.

"30 Minutes un nouveau record de vieil  homme." I smirk looking down at him as I spoke in French.  (A new record old man)

"Just like your mother," He murmurs breathless staring at me with a smile. I stiffened at the mention of my mom. He knew damn well that subject was touchy for me. I get up slowly helping him stand up.

"I am better than her. If she was so fearless she wouldn't have been killed by a bloodsucker." Marcus sigh hating my tone. I hate the fact that Marcus after all these years was still in love with my mother. I was jealous of that fact and that jealousy made me hold a grudge against hers.

"She got ambushed, Faith. Yes, you are stronger than she was but even you would lose against an ambush." 

"I doubt it," I murmur.

"Faith if you're going to blame someone blame me. I was the one that left her alone... She said she would be ok, while I bought the groceries... She swore she would be ok." He turned around and ball up his hands into a fist. The subject was touchy to him too. I walked towards him and put a hand on his broad shoulder. 

In an instant, he grabbed my arm and flip me throwing me towards the floor hard just as I did him a few seconds ago, and got on top of me pinning my hands to the side and he looked down at my boobs, then my lips, then my eyes with a smug smile on his face.

"You are very, very, very similar to your mother in the way you talk, act, and even spar." I know there's a glare on my face as he once again compares me to my dead mother.  "But you surpassed her in one thing... You are more beautiful than she ever was." I can find my self-smiling and starts to breathe fast. Maybe today would be the day he gives me my first kiss...

"Did... Did you love her?" I murmur.

"Yes... Very much... But she chooses your father," There was venom in his tone when he talked about my dad. I did not like this side of Marcus. He refused completely to tell me about my father, he only talked about my mother. "I accepted it and move on."

"Is that why you always tease me?" He looks down at me with a frown.   "About not being old enough to be with you. You want me as a reminder of my mother?" He purses his lips and I saw the answer in his face. "You want to be with me because it will make you feel like I am her?" 

He holds both of my hands with only one of his and with his free hands he put it on my cheek caressing it softly. Something deep down inside of me told me this was not right, that Marcus practically raised me... But I never saw Marcus as a father figured I saw him first as a brother, then as a friend, and now as something more.

"You know... When I met your mother... She liked to have sex a lot... She tried to seduce me a lot of times." I hated when he told me this side of my mother... Especially when he was involved.  "We fucked once..." He licks his lips and I could see he was there with my mother again.

"What's your point." I snap at him. He looks down at me and is back to the present.

"My point is that you and I won't fuck. We'll make love and be a real couple. You do know love. I have shown it to you." His hand slid down my cheek, then my neck, then my stomach then he moves his hand in a circular motion creating goosebumps.

"I'm not 18 yet," I murmur already turn on by him.

"Shame," He says only and stands up pulling me up with him. "Want Ice cream little girl?" 

I frown at him pretending to be annoyed that he called me little girl. But my heart wasn't on it. On the inside I was happy. Marcus always kept me in this house, always inside. He rarely took me out and when he did, they were short trips. 

He never told me why he was that paranoid, but I had a small sense that he was hiding me from someone. I wasn't going to argue about getting ice cream today. So I gave him my best smile.

"If I'm a little girl? What does that make you?" He bit his lips and stared at me debating for a short moment.

"It makes me a pervert. But you and I already knew that. I am ok with what I am." I giggle at him and ran to my make believed bedroom. It had a dirty mattress, with a clean sheet, my clothes were neatly folded on the floor. I pick ripped jeans, a tank top, and a flip-flop.

Marcus job only let us afford food. I have offered to work, but he freaks every time I mention it, so I have given up. I lived in a small studio with no furniture, no window and there was only one curtain in my make believed bedroom to give me a sense of privacy.

I put my light brown hair into a ponytail. Marcus didn't use his car so that meant we were going to the ice cream store that was closed to the house. We stood side by side looking at the ice cream flavors.

"I'll be right back," He murmurs going straight towards the bathrooms.  I stared at the window deciding between chocolate or vanilla or maybe both when suddenly I felt the urge to look outside the window.

A woman caught my eyes. She is dress in clothes that look expensive, she is wearing blue jeans but you can see it was made of the expensive material, she is wearing a white blouse that was open showing her chest. Her hair is long and loosed and it looks exactly like my hair color. She isn't looking at anything, in particular, she looks lost.

Marcus always forbade me to talk to strangers as they could be vampires in disguise, but this woman looks harmless and that she needs help. I walked outside staring at her. She is looking around as if looking for someone.

"Do you need help?" I say softly as not to startle her. She turns towards me and the most beautiful light brown eyes I have ever seen,  stares at me. All of the sudden I feel warm and fussy as she stares at me.

This woman has a sad look, she looks really really sad. I don't know why but I want to give her a hug and comfort her. "I don't need your help." She snaps at me, looking me up and down with a frown.

"Are you looking for someone?" I insisted.

"Yes." She says only and her brows furrow in confusion.

"Then maybe I can help you." Her eyebrows softened a little bit.

"I don't think you would be able to-"

"Well, there's no harm in trying," I say smiling at her, she smiled right back. "Who are you looking for?"

"My little thing." She says with a fondness that makes me feel warm all over again. That nickname rang a bell to me, but I didn't know why.

"Would you let me help you?"

"No... It's too dangerous for someone like you." I frowned not wanting to glare but she was wrong. I was stronger than I looked.

"Someone like me?" I ask with full disbelieved.

"Yes, hasn't your mother taught you not to talk to strangers?" She arched an eyebrow at me in amusement and my heart breaks.

"She died when I was born." I murmur a tear fell down my eyes and I wiped it down fast.

"I am so sorry I didn't mean to-"

"Is ok... You didn't know..." 

"I'm still sorry," She says in a warm tone. I look up at her with a big smile. I went to say she shouldn't when a voice interrupted us.

"Faith what are you-" I turn to look at him, but he was staring past me towards the stranger women, his eyes showed, disbelieve, want, lust, hate, anger... All in one. I turned to look at the woman who had her fangs out hands balled up into a fist the look she was giving Marcus was murderous and I I got worried about his safety.

Marcus was right vampires looked human, I didn't think that this lady was a murdering bloodsucker. I turn to look at the women who seem to realize something and turn to look at me, the pain back in her eyes.

"My? Faith?" She gasps and a tear fell down her cheek. 

"Faith." I turned to look at Marcus who was now glaring at the woman with hate. "This is the woman that killed your mother... KILL HER." That's all I needed to hear I took my stake out and turn to her about to kill the bitch.