I know that not all that lurks within the dark, has a face to name, a form to look upon, that the sounds they make will terrify me like the scream that rustles the leaves on a midnights walk. 

Knowledge is power, it allows decisions to be made, but ignorance allows fear to slumber, unaware of what lurks within the shadows that is dragged along the road. I was a hunter once, tracking and following those who caused unrest and yet...

I found myself staring into the eyes of a predator that glittered with avid attention and something dangerously close to delight. I released the door handles but clasped my hands behind my back, fingers wrapping tight around my left wrist. 

He stood there in front of the crackling fire, flames wild and flickering despite the chill in the room. They might as well have been there for decoration. He had changed into his nightwear, a loose-fitting long sleeve shirt that was as thin as the hoodie had worn today, it had buttons traveling down his chest, but only four held the cloth over his frame. The last four. Almost lazily, the front was tucked into his silken bottoms, the drawstrings untied, his feet bare. Damp hair fell over his face, curtains of white strands dangled uncaring of obstructing his view. Not that it was, in any way. His stance was a mirror of mine. Had I mimicked his?

"I just-" My words would not come out, my mouth shut as my mind tried to find a way to say what I wanted, to get my main points across, but there was too much running through my mind. Frustrated I looked away and around as if the answers would come to me.

"You just?" His voice bounced from all around the room, pushing for me to continue.

"I just...wish to converse." 

He stared at me, those keen eyes no doubt taking in my behavior of the day and pondering over with what I was doing here. He tilted his head to one side and then another before nodding slowly. Without another word he turned. I took a moment to scan his room.

There was a large bed on my left, further in, besides it, a walk-in closet with the door was ajar. On my right a bathroom. I noted ice in the tub, barely beginning to melt as droplets transferred from one ice to another. Upon entering the room the first thing to spot would be the vast space that could be considered the sitting area, but there was no couch or even chairs here. The walls were made of wooden planks but painted white, there were no photos, no nicknacks or personal belongings that would be in any other room. The room was practically vacant, but with a view of the open sky, I guess anything else was a bother.

"Will you join me?" 

Past the bathroom and a step up, he had a floor to ceiling open balcony, the structure turning circular as a dome took shape in the space. Motioning to me he pointed to the singular black armchair that sat pointed outward to face the window. Walking over, I noted how the floor went from plush carpet to cold wood. I was about to walk around the chair as he stood on my left, but all in one motion he spun it on one leg until it faced him. Then he took a few steps back and leaned against the window. I glanced at him, but didn't comment and took a seat.  After a moment I crossed my leg and put a hand on my lap, trying to at least look a bit braver than I felt.

Vulnerable, that is what I would be if I acted upon my plan. Anxiety and dread ate at me, whispering within my mind to not risk it. I must have had a strange or telling look on my face, something that warned him I was close to running from this whole situation.

"What is it you desire of me Mykela?" He murmured. "If you tell me, if it is within my power I will do what I can." 

"It is not that I desire anything from you, but rather that I find ignoring you no longer an option and I don't have the leisure to do this cautiously." My world filled him with confusion and curiosity, white brows furrowing as he watched me.

"I apologize, but I do not follow."

"Harper had an idea," I began, noting the tightness that appeared when I mentioned her name. "She thinks the main reason I struggle with my gift is that in holding on so tightly to myself, I've somehow also refused to let go of you."

All emotion left his face as his eyes caught fire, like liquefied gold illuminating the dark. The sudden intense interest in his eyes had me picking my next words very carefully. Within my mind, on his side of the door, I felt something. Movement? Pacing?

"She wants you to let go of me?" He hissed, this time there was nothing calm in his voice. Pure malice bled through like water slipping through my fingers. 

"No." I clarified quickly. "Quite the opposite actually. She wants me to learn where you begin and where I end. She wants us to work on our bond. Something about locked doors and what hides behind them."

The intensity in which he stared at me did not necessarily lessen, but I knew something had shifted. I could not see it, could not put my finger on it, but there was something almost disquieting about it. I felt as I had seen this look of his before, but I could never understand the things that triggered or fascinated Venom. I hadn't wanted to learn, hadn't tried. I still did not want to because I had a feeling that once I turned my full attention onto him...he would not let me look away. 

"Ah." His mouth parted as his fangs peaked out. "You will do it." He hissed out confidently, a sharp tone to his words, but there was no smile on his face. If anything, by the slight droop of his brows he seemed pensive.

"You don't know that." I exclaimed, glaring at him in annoyance.

"Oh, but I do." He assured me swiftly.

"Because you claim to know me." I repeated sarcastically, shaking my head in disbelief with a huff.

"As I said." 

"And why is it that you believe to know me so well? To know me well enough to say with confidence that I will do this and that?" Demanding I shifted in the chair, setting both legs down firmly on the ground, both hands gripping onto the armrest of the chair as I challenge him for an answer. 

"Now is not the time. Not yet."

"As I thought," I exclaimed and crossed my arms. Then his words rang out and I realized that he had chosen not to answer me, not that he hadn't had an answer. "You're saying I'm not ready to hear what you have to say? Me?"

He scanned me, eyes taking in how I leaned forward but gripped the arms of the chair with a hooking force. Did I look as if I wanted to leap forward and attack him? Or did I look as if I was restraining myself from running? These thoughts made the grip I had on the chair tighter for a moment before leaning back. 

"You, Mykela are a remarkable woman, but you run when it comes to me." He remarked almost gruffly, a challenging lift of his brow had one of my feet beginning to bounce. 

"I'm here arent I?" I snapped out, not liking what he was insinuating even if his words did ring with some truth. What fault of mine was it to run when the creature before me had years of trying to sink claw, fangs and anything he could into me. If I couldn't hide from him, then the only option that remained was to run.

"As you said, without much choice." Devoid of emotion I still felt the chill of them, the bite of their sharp pronunciation emphasizing the meaning of each word when put together.

"Well, answer me this then." Looking away for a moment I stared at the sky above his shoulder before looking back into those piercing eyes."What is it about me?"

I didn't have to use specific words, didn't have to spell it out to him. He knew what I meant. I would never use the word with him. I feared that speaking it out in the open between the two of us might stir a misunderstanding.

"Because," He stepped away from the window and began walking to me slowly." Because you see the world as it is and not as it should be."

His words made something in my chest tighten, but also made a trickle of awareness, something clicking into place on a suspicion I had of him and maybe even myself. 

"Because you watch the world go on without you with those beautiful earth eyes so full of pain and yet you never break when faced with another obstacle. You do not gamble with your actions, you simply know if it is or isn't possible to win against a foe. I've never seen a being so aware of the truth laid in front of them, so openly accepting that their final moments are so near. You do not live in the future, you live in the now." He stopped in front of me and placed both hands on the back of the chair and leaned down, I tilted my head back as he lowered his face. Cool air brushed down across me.

"Survival of the fittest," I whispered, his eyes trailed down from my own and to my lips. Pupils flexed twice before returning to their normal shape. He chuckled, tongue snaking out to come over one of his fangs as he shook his head. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"I have seen this phrase, I have lived through it." His hands came down from the back of the chair, each sliding down until he trailed his hands over the armchairs, where my arms were. "You do so much more than survive." 

His fingers skimmed over my forearms slowly until they came to my hands, placing his cool ones ontop of mine he slid his fingers underneath easily as if I hadn't been gripping the armrest tightly. I glanced down and then back up at him.

"You will do it, not because I tell you to," Pushing his legs into mine he slid in between them and began to lower himself. "but because you will do whatever it takes until there is nothing left to do." 

With both hands clasped firmly around mine, he kneeled before me, his height being what it was he was almost eye to eye with me now, but I understood the implication of his action. Of both of his actions. He hadn't released my hands for a reason, the cautious look of earlier, as well as his lack of or rather, his controlled delight in me being here, was the only warning I needed to know there was something that made Venom cautious. Whatever made him cautious was something that would no doubt be a hindrance to me.

"What is it you want then?" I questioned. "Because I'm sure you know that this does not mean that my stance on you and I has changed. Not in the slightest." 

My words amused him, I could tell by the small movement at the corner of his mouth, the way his lips wanted to tilt upward. I scowled. 

"Oh, everything has changed, but that is for me to work on." He paused, a mirthless expression taking hold as his words came out grim. "All that I ask, is that you will not fear me for what I am." 

"What are you?" I questioned for what felt like forever. He might as well tell me, once the door was open all secrets would be laid bare. If anyone had anything to fear it should be me. I was letting a monster in. Quite literally. 

So what did he have to fear?

"All that I have ever been." He answered openly, staring at me intently as if trying to convey something.

"And what would that be?" I pushed, almost as if hearing the words from his mouth would change something. 

"Venom." 

He would not tell me, that much I could see, but instead of leaving me with a burning curiosity, I found dread in its place, worry tightening around my neck like a noose making it difficult to swallow. At my hesitant nod, he watched me before the serious look of his faded for a familiar, more annoying one. Mischievous. This too stressed me, but not as much as his previous one.

"But that is not the only thing I want." He said softly.

"No." 

"You do not know what it is that I am going to ask for." He smiled, not angered by my denial, in fact, I think he saw it coming.  

"Whatever it is, no."I said through clenched teeth. 

"You may ask something of me as well, as a sign of good faith." He promised calmly, a persuasive smooth tone in his voice, around me I felt the air thicken. 

"..." I opened my mouth to repeat my answer but found the idea tempting. This was different from our usual interactions. Yes, he would provide me with things when asked, but there were instances where what he thought I wanted were...alarmingly wrong. Looking into those golden eyes helped in deciding, a cunning beast looked back. I needed leverage, perhaps not something to hold over him, but something that would ease my mind, if only a little.

"What is it you want?" I asked with a reluctant sigh. I slumped a little in my chair, feeling unexpectedly tired. 

"What is it you want?" He repeated, his thumb beginning to move up and down on my hand. I looked down at our hands. His pale and slightly silver scaled one against my dark one.  It didn't really matter to me who stated their wishes first, so I caved. Keeping my eyes on our hands I spoke.

"All I want is for you to promise that if I open my door, you won't devour me." 

He froze.

"Devour?" He repeated a dark edge in words, all movement still. I didn't lift my gaze from our hands even when I felt that powerful gaze of his on me. "What an interesting choice of words you have when it comes to me." 

"You are an interesting creature." 

"Hmm." His thumb finally continued the back and forth motion of before, I let out a breath I was unknowingly holding. "I wish to do many things to you Mykela, but devour in the sense that you are thinking, is not one of them." 

Heat rose to my face but I did not bite the bait and remained focus on our hands, he was cold to the touch, a type of smooth that unnerved those who did not expect it. There was nothing soft in them either, no give where flesh was. In this form of his, he remained as well protected as I imagined his natural shape was. There was a sense of invincibility when it came to him. Of course, that did not stop me from fighting him. 

"Very well, I promise you, I will not devour you in the sense that you are thinking." His words snapped me out of my small distraction. I looked back up to meet his gaze. I stared at him, seeing the seriousness in his expression, the almost unhappy line to his mouth and tightness around his eyes.

"Ok." I murmured, for once, beliving. He won't. He won't. I repeated, trying to make the doubts and shadows that dug their fingers into my fear dissipate. He won't devour you. " So what do you want in return?"

"A kiss."

God damn it. Give him a branch and he wants a whole damn tree.

A sound came from the back of my throat. It burned as I made it, but it was a sound of shock and disbelief. The expression on my face made him throw his head back and laugh freely, shoulders shaking. His strange fangs gleamed at the tips as his mouth opened wide. He shook his head as he came back, his hair intertwining with other strands, becoming messy.

"V-V-Venom." I choked out.

"Mykela." He replied cheekily, a small grin in place.

"N-No."

"I cannot keep my promise if you do not fulfill yours." He said casually.

"That's coercion." I pointed out quickly, an almost hysterical tone to my voice as I looked at him wide-eyed. My hands twitched uner his, trying to pull away from what suddenly felt like the weight of the world.

"Is it really?" He gasped, tilting his head to the side and blinking all too innocently. "Then I suppose you have to comply with my demand." Releasing my hands he raised his own to my face.

"Have you no shame?" I muttered as his hands slid behind my neck and cupped my face. He paused, his mouth inches from mine and smirked.

"No." With a final hiss, he pressed his lips on mine.

Unlike the gentlemen he pretended to be, there was nothing gentle in this kiss.

The grip he had on the back of my neck tightened as he pulled me closer, tilting my head back as he leaned closer. Immediately his lips parted my own as he nipped at my bottom lip, and began to monopolize my mouth with enthralling enthusiasm. His other hand trailed down from my face, down my neck, making me shiver from contact alone as my pulse spiked at the exact moment his fingers skimmed over, blood boiling under his touch. My own hands remained frozen on the armrest, but the moment I felt his arm wrap around my waist they rose up and landed on his chest, his bare chest I realized. My hands slipped through the opening that widened as he leaned down. My fingers flexed. 

As he pulled me closer, my legs fell apart, even more, my mouth learning the pattern that he started. My heart raced, sounds fell away as sensation took over and all I could feel was him. His mouth was as chilled as his body, but as I was now, it didn't bother me. Or rather, it made the rise in my temperature all that more noticeable to me. Before I could control myself, my tongue felt out those odd fangs of his, feeling their unyielding structure, similar to what I grew when I channeled him, but there was something forbidden in touching his. Especially like this. The very air around us was charged, pressing against my skin as he was at that very moment.

For a moment his body pressed tighter against me as a low sound, barely discernable to my ear, began. When I felt his tongue begin to trace my bottom lip and trail- I pulled away. I looked down at my hands on his chest, flexing, only this time for a different reason. He didn't move for a moment and when he finally did so he leaned down to peck my forehead before unwrapping his arm from around my waist, leaving it on the armrest while the other slide from around my neck and down my back and down to the other armrest. I focused on my breath, ignoring his stare.

"Oh," He hummed, slowly, a teasing hint in his voice. "So only your tongue is acceptable?" 

I shut my eyes and ground my teeth, jaw aching in protest. My hands balled upon his chest but did not drop. I could feel the steady beat of his heart, it was slow, but that was normal for him. 

I wouldn't think about this. I would shove it to the back of my mind. This did not just happen again. It did not. It simply could not have just happened. Oh god, I made out with Venom. Venom. Of all people....not even a person, actually. I felt myself pale at that. To the back of my mind. I took a breath. 

"Can we just-"

"Pretend it never happened? Absolutely not." He interrupted. He pressed himself closer to me as if to prove a point. 

"Get this over with." I corrected through clenched teeth. 

"Oh, yes, that we can do." As he began to lower himself I made sure to keep my eye on my hands. "But remember, do not fear me."

"Hmm."

"Mykela." He repeated a warning in his tone.

"I get it." I snapped. He sighed but said nothing more. 

When he was finally on his knees in front of me I unclenched my hands and slid one around his neck and into the base of his hair, taking a handful of hair. He grunted at the grip. I placed the other on his shoulder as I tilted his head away and bared his neck. Focusing I let myself welcome the part of him that I usually have to reject, the part attached to my gift. Automatically, strength, and power-filled my veins like a rush of adrenaline but better. Mouth tingling I felt the change happen, felt those familiar fangs drop. Peering up, from the corner of my eyes I could catch the vibrant gold of his eyes turned towards me, but I couldn't pay attention to his expression as I stared at his bare neck.

That's the thing about locked doors. They all require a key. 

Without another moment's hesitation, I sank my fangs into his neck and delved back into my mind, past my gift and went to that large wooden door that stood mighty. 

Nothingness pooled around me as I walked towards it, each step echoing like a drop of water. When I was within my own mind, it was always the same size as I was, but as I walked closer to it, I soon came to realize I was wrong. It was larger than me, larger than life and the only thing that proved to me that what was within my mind and soul was bigger than myself. It was a representation of the power within Venom that I held in my hands and I channeled all that power in keeping him out. I suppose it worked too well if I was back here again. When I stood before it I raised my hand to the door and with an uneasy heart, knowing that something lurked beyond the other side, I pressed my hand to it. Like mist, it evaporated into nothing. Leaving me standing there alone. Just like the mist, something in me also disappeared. I would have to look into it later.

At first, there was nothing, only darkness and myself. Then from in front of me, I heard a cracking, something fast approaching as a strong gust of wind swept by. Underneath me, the cold began to seep through as from in front of me the water turned to ice, frost traveling faster than I could blink until all that I saw was covered in ice blue and than white. Snow, falling from a world without sky began to paint even a skyless place white. I wrapped my arms around myself as I stood there, not daring to move forward into the uncharted, somewhere I had never stepped foot into. Then there was a pulse of power, shaking the ground and making the falling snow swirl and fly, more pulses followed by another and another until I realized they weren't pulses, they were steps heading towards me. 

My teeth rattled along with my body, holding steady nearly impossible as the world under my feet continued to tremble. I squinted, trying to see in a world of white and with little to no sense of direction anymore. It was like I was standing in a winter wonderland, only there was no wonder and a whole lot more fear. Something moved up ahead, something black maybe? I took a small sluggish step forward, feeling as if I were walking against time itself as I took another step forward, trying to distinguish the curled shape. Was that a horn? Then I spotted another one and leaned forward a bit. Then I realized the distance between those two objects, so far high off the ground as they moved closer and closer to me with alarming speed. 

And then he opened his eyes and familiar golden eyes stared right ahead of me, the edges outlined in vivid green and red, letting me know where the head of this thing was. Now knowing where his eyes where I stood frozen as his whole body followed suit, all scales, claws and the small black horns on his head that trailed down his back. The closer he got the more I felt the horror begin to creep onto me. Horror and disbelief hand in hand, but a panic attack was soon to overcome them both as my breaths seemed to come faster than I could feel the actual air.

My heartfelt as if it could leap from out of my chest, my eyes stung from anything but the cold as they took in the image before me, my hands dropped to my sides numbly. It was too much. Then he opened his jaw and all I saw as the row upon row of razor-sharp teeth approached me was the impossible and so I screamed.

I took a step back and then another until I found myself jerking myself away from Venom's neck and out of the chair. I was running for the door but halted to a jerking stop when I found him already there, leaning against it with his arms over his chest a glazed look about his face. I flinched away from his eyes. The sound of my breathing was louder than the crackling of the fire, am almost rasping sound as if the air was getting caught onto something. 

"You promised." He said dully. "Though I do understand that not all emotions can be controlled." 

I said nothing as I looked everywhere but at him, but it was nearly impossible. It was as if a sheet had been removed from my eyes. He pulsed with power, with life, thrumming the very air around him. Words would not form, my lips felt dry, sealed shut to one another, my tongue plastered to the roof of my mouth. My hands opened and closed on either side of me, anxious to hold onto something, to hit something. I wanted out. Out of the room, out of the house. Away from...it.

"Mykela."

Looking over where I had just sat I scanned the full-length window walls and ceiling for a latch, some sort of door. Maybe even- from the corner of my eyes I saw him take a step forward, I took one to my left. There was nothing in between us, that made me bite down hard on my bottom lip until it stung, but even then I didn't pay it any mind. 

"Mykela."

Scanning the door behind him I noted the turned lock that I most definitely had not done. Looking to my right, past his bed, and into the closet, I tried to see if it was anything similar to that of the one I was using. Was there a high ceiling with open ventilation or was it automatic? I blinked. Why the hell was his closest smaller than my own? Damn. Alright, the closest was out, locking myself in the bathroom would still mean being in here with him and the door was no serious barrier. The windows...would work if I ran and simply smashed through it, but that would also mean he would be free to chase. The door was behind him, but even if I managed to get past him that didn't guaranty that he wouldn't follow. Clenching my fists I dragged my eyed his way, starting from his bare feet until I found his scrutinizing glower.

"Mykela."

"I wish to leave."

"No." Shaking his head he pursed his lips. "You wish to flee. You would leave this room, this house and hide from me, but Mykela, I've already told you, you have nothing to fear from me."

I gave him an incredulous look.

"You expect me to believe that now?" I shook my head. "No. I can't. You're-You're a-" I couldn't say it. I just couldn't come to believe that it was true but I knew what I had seen hadn't come from my imagination. Just being in the same room as him, knowing what he was, made me feel cage in as if there wasn't enough space between him and I. I feared that even if I went outside and was halfway across the world that it still wouldn't be enough. Even in my world, he was...abnormal. 

"Just as this world is a reflection of yours, my very own is a reflection of this one. Only that we didn't become extinct, so the humans never evolved because we adapted to the sudden change that quite literally hit us." He brought a hand up to his chin and looked away in thought. "Viper and I aren't fond of the title dinosaur, I mean I understand the terrible-lizard part, but I feel as if it's missing a certain ferocity to it." He glanced back at me and smiled as if I were in on a joke.

Viper.  Oh god. There were two of them.

Dinosaurs. He was a fucking dinosaur. 

No. No. This was not something I was going to handle. I refuse. No thank you fate, you can pair the walking relic with someone more his...style.

"I will not flee." His eyes narrowed into slits. He took a step. I took one back.

"I do not believe you." He made a point of looking at the space between us. Yeah, I wouldn't either. At the moment the unsteadiness in my voice was not working in my favor. "I do not plan on letting you leave without talking this out."

"What is there to talk about? You're a fucking dinosaur." I snapped out, nails biting into my palms as I watched him wearily. 

"I'm sensing some tension from you."  

"You don't say."

For a moment his teasing words rilled up annoyance but that was squashed away when he began walking towards me, I backed away not even thinking of my steps as I moved away, this continued on for far too long. Which is exactly how I found myself falling backward onto the bed, but not one to be put in awkward situations I rolled off of it and found myself closer to the door while he stilled at the foot of the bed. A challenging look crossed his face as he glared.

Don't do it. Was what his face told me.

"We really do have much to talk about." He said slowly, watching me carefully for any sudden movement. "Especially since I've sensed a shift in myself. I've the suspicion that all of the side effects from you withholding what belongs to me will soon be nulled."

I froze wide-eyed. How could I have forgotten that? How could I have... 

"Hunger, taste," Eyes skimming down me brazen. "touch. Oh yes, we both know what this entails." 

Run.

I turned and did what I said I wouldn't do. The very thing I knew would be a bad idea. Three steps is as far as I got. The door beyond my reach. I found myself beside the bed, facing the white planked walls of this room. Venom behind me, his cool breaths fanning over the top of my head, my hair swaying from a movement to fast for even me to follow. In front of me our shadows blended, mine swallowed whole by his very own. No part of him pressed against me, but he surrounded me, downed me in his presence, the very air in the room his to command. My chest lifted as shaky rapids breaths filled me. He didn't have to hold onto me or pin me down for the message to be any clearer.

"Do you want to know why I like books. I am in awe of how a sentence can convey more than that of which you read. I like how humans use words to communicate, to ask for something. Back home," The words were whispered softly over my head, he placed a hand over my shoulder and onto the wall. The fabric of his shirt brushed up against my shoulder. I watched as the pale scaly hand grew denser, silver-white scales hardening as claws grew out. "there are no words. No please or thank you because actions do speak louder than words. I like using words, it's more efficient and less time consuming, but if you do not wish to speak then that is your choice. You know, sometimes, you remind me of home."

I had lived long enough to know how to recognize an ultimatum when I heard one. Stay and talk this out peacefully or...do things as they were done back home. His home. I shivered.

"So Mykela," He hissed out ever so whimsical. "Will you talk to me? Please."

My head felt as if it weighed a ton, but even then I forced myself to nod in small jerks. He didn't move. His hands remained shifted and scaled on the wall. 

"Yes." I croaked out. Swiftly his hand morphed back until it was back to what I perceived to be as normal as he could manage it.

"Thank you." 

Then he was gone and I heard the sound of a chair being moved to my right. He was picking up the chair I had toppled backward in my attempt to get away from him. He motioned for me to take a seat, just as before. I glanced at the door and then back at him. With a sigh, I walked over, uncomfortably close to him and planted myself within the confining chair. He took a couple of steps back and leaned against the window. Deja Vu, in the worst sense possible.

If I had known this outcome, would I have taken the same path? Was ignorance as blissful as I thought it to be heedless? I peaked up at him and then away. I wanted to say that I would have taken the same choice, but at the same time, for once I was unsure if I wanted to remain aware of the very situation I found myself in. My shoulders dropped forward as I dropped my hands onto my hands. A moment, I just wanted a moment where I would not be filled with so much...

What was it? Anxiety? Questions? Anger? Frustration?   

He wasn't my problem. I hadn't brought him here on purpose, he and his sister were not my responsibility. Whatever damage they did to this world... was not on my hands and yet...I couldn't...not now, but what could I do if they ever...

"What do you want from me Venom? You clearly have the upper hand." I laughed humourlessly. "Always have, apparently." 

"I want you not to fear me. We have walked this earth together you and I, knowing that I was something beyond what you knew to be possible, how does knowing what I am change anything?" He spoke, a plea in his voice. My eyes watered, I blinked away the sudden moisture.

I understood where he was coming from, but it was not mere emotion that drove me, I had stopped being an emotional person long ago. What had me trembling within this chair, my insides contracting and that had my breaths coming out in short gasp and my fingers digging into my face was instinct. All I could see was the image of him running towards me, the ground frosted and trembling beneath me, humongous claws digging into the snow, row upon row of jagged and sharp teeth bare to me.

"It changes everything." I whispered, more so to myself than answering his question. 

"Then allow me to change everything that has changed." I gasped at the nearness of his voice, my fingers began to shaken notably when upon opening my eyes I caught sight of vivid gold peeking through my fingers. I shut my eyes. Cool fingers took hold of my fingers and pried them away from my face. I made a strangled sound. 

"Shh," I felt him lift my hands up, lips pressing against my fingers. "Just listen to me. When I'm done you can decide on what to do from then on." 

I said nothing.

"I know that you fear not me but what I am and perhaps even what I am capable of. Viper and I come from a place where the death of many is something that brings no sadness, no joy and no problem. Violence and blood is daily just as breathing and looking for what brings you happiness is normal here, but you have to know that we want to do no harm to you or others." He paused. "Well, we want to, but nature must take its course in all beings. As you said, the survival of the fittest. We take only what we need now, we've learned. You meet us when we had recently arrived to your world, unknowing that these forms would not be able to handle the vast amount of hunger we were used to filling. The new surroundings and beings were also something to get used to and then there you were.

Bathed in a strange moonlight and with eyes that shone with no fear to this creature in its saddest form, eyes that quickly reflected my own truth, I found myself lost within you before I had known you. And then after, when I got to know what little you let me, I realized that you and I are more alike than I could have hoped for, but I still do not understand what it is that holds you back from me. It might be because of what we are or something else, but that is for another time. All I wish for you to do is recall me, as I am, as I have always been, by your side, all this time." 

I did not open my eyes as his words coaxed me to mull his words over. The soft hiss of his voice smoother than ever as if he were trying to soften himself. I turned my face away from his but didn't try to pull my hands away from his as my mind whirled with thoughts like a blizzard.

Memories flashed through faster and faster the more I pieced things together, things I had seen him do and things he had said in the past. When we had first met and then after, every encounter growing less violent, less hostile until the look in his eyes turned into a longing kindness that always made me feel wearier than the hostile looks we had begun with. How humourous he found my evasive attempts, the praise he gave me while Viper complained about the unfairness of tracking someone who knew about hunting. Then the teasing and taunting remarks he threw the way that infuriated me faster than anyone had any right in doing so, somehow knowing exactly what to say to make me wish I had worse control over myself.  

The hair ties he always carried when we met because I somehow always wore my hair down when I knew not who I truly was, the only time I was both free and unrestrained by time. The time we spent fighting so much that at one point it had turned into training as I grew tired of his predictable wild swings. How Viper taunted and tease him until she found herself outnumbered by the two of us and unhappily agreeing to remain quiet unless something nice came from her. The tension that filled them as my time grew shorter and shorter, words and emotion so flammable that sometimes we couldn't help but snap at each other.

Had this always been there? These memories of us three? 

All I am is all I have ever been.

Venom.

What am I? What is it that I have always been? Deep at heart? 

Mykela Debrouhs. 

I opened my eyes, somehow startled to find night still dominating the sky. The window's reflection showed me and him in a position we had just been in moments ago, but somehow different. He stared at my face with such sadness that a pang within my chest forced me to breathe in deeply. I shook my head, his hands tightened around my own at the movement, before I turned to look him in the eyes. His expression was darkening, I could guess why.

"I can not-" His mouth parted as his fangs began to gleam, I tightened my hands over his. "promise that I won't be perturbed you around now, I can't, but I won't run and I won't...dismiss you either." 

He stilled, mouth snapping shut as he looked down at me, eyes scanning my face for something. I looked back at him, hiding nothing. He held my hands and life in his hands, I knew that now, but I now accepted something I had long ago known. I also held something of his, something he wanted more than perhaps my own cooperation. 

"You won't run?"The question was said with such doubt that I had to smile reluctantly.

"I won't run." I promised. "You would chase me either way." 

He didn't deny or accept the words which was as good as a confirmation for me. There was that look again, calculating and watchful. No doubt scheming about. 

"Very well." He released my hands and moved back, watching as I stood from the chair. With a small nod, I turned and began to walk to the door, my hands shaking as they took hold off the handle and unlocked it.

 "Mykela?"

I stilled.

"Yes?" I asked, not turning to face him.

"Good night." His words bounced around the room, lacking direction, no longer from a single place within the room which meant he had moved. My hand tightened on the door for a moment. 

"Good night." I whispered, sliding the doors open and walking out. "Venom." 

I didn't look back as I made my way down the glass stairs and back to the main part of the house. The lights had all been turned off. No particular sounds stood out.  I walked without haste, my hands clasped behind my back. 

And when I caught sight of something golden glowing within the dark, bouncing around the mirrors, reflection upon reflections, following me all the way back into my room, I wasn't surprised. 

Not at all.

/////AN/////

Can I check the box for the first Dino x Witch couple? Or has someone already done it? XD

Some of yall were really out there saying he was a whole ass fish, I'm weak. I love yall, I really do. 

Don't forget to:

COMMENT

VOTE

SHARE

SNATCH WIGS