It took three weeks before I saw my prey again. We were at the end of August and I was sitting where we always met before. She hadn’t been hurt in a way I hadn’t seen, right? So why was she not there?

More importantly, however, I was aware that she knew. She knew about me. She had seen my face the day before while I wasn’t wearing my Black Hawk outfit. And she had seemingly recognized me. Would I need to flee again? Would I need to abandon this new life? Would I need to choose a new country? A new continent? Questions were filling my mind and none had an answer. They all meant the same, however. Would Ama tell my secret?

I tried changing the subject with myself by thinking about the prophecy. Despite everything I was telling myself, the prophecy was true. The cold was too much for me to hunt. Cold. Snow. What was preventing me from hunting? I didn’t know. And then, I remembered the fire. Saving my prey. Why had I done so? I could’ve killed her right there while she was unconscious. I could’ve eaten her. Finished her.

I missed her.

I hugged myself, cringing. The snow… it was… attraction. Not love, not friendship. Attraction. I couldn’t kill Ama because I was somehow attracted to her. The snow…

I had been attracted to Youngjae. Snow had fallen. It had melted when Youngjae had betrayed me. Attraction had disappeared. And then, snow had fallen again when I had met Ama. I couldn’t fight the snow, I couldn’t fight the cold. They were keeping me from killing her. How could I escape those? How could I escape my own feelings? Why was I so stupid, geez? Attracted by a prey…

I suddenly heard a noise behind me and flipped, pulling a dagger out and striking. It stopped a millimeter away from a soft, warm throat.

“… Ama?”

“Charming ‘welcome back’, uh. But good evening anyway, Black Hawk.”

I sighed and sheathed my dagger, turning back towards the lake, sitting again.

“You surprised me.”

“I see. How have you been doing?”

I hesitated for a second.

“Better now that you’re here.”

She kept silent for a moment, sitting by my side, before she spoke, a few minutes later.

“You were the one who saved me.”

“So you know.”

“I do.”

. So it was true, uh… she knew about my identity.

“No worries,” she chuckled, looking at me. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“Nothing tells me that you’ll keep your promise.”

“I got a debt. I can’t let it- wait a second. What the happened to your eyes?”

She had moved to look at them.

“Last time I saw them, they were glowing, but now… now I can’t see them all that much anymore. What the hell?”

“Beast meat isn’t nutritious.”

“You-”

“It’s just because I can’t control my energy output.”

I had never learned how to do that. A spirit’s eyes went from glowing brightly, to glowing dimly, to turning black, then gray, then paler and paler until the eyes would be pure white and the spirit would be dead. Mine were close to black. They had lost their coloration already.

“I can’t let you die like that,” she sighed.

“You can’t help me.”

“Yes I can.”

“You can’t.”

“Tsk. We’ll see.”

She grabbed my dagger, pressing it against her left wrist. I frowned.

“Don’t do that.”

“I do whatever I want.”

“You can’t hold that big lens that’s with your camera if you don’t have both hands.”

“That’s all you’re worried about?”

“I won’t let you do it.”

“We’ll see.”

The blade was sharp, made to cut anything. It went through her skin and her muscles and even her bones without any problem. Blood started flowing and I just stared, showing my fangs.

“You ing idiot…”

“Eat,” she said, pointing at the hand that was on the ground.

There was so much blood. My eyes turned black as I used my own energy to close her wound. She took the hand with a disgusted pout, handing it to me.

“Eat,” she repeated, and I sighed before taking the food, observing it. My lips touched the blood and I shivered. it was good.

I ate the entire thing except for the bones and the nails, my fangs once I was done. Ama was looking at me with a chuckle.

“So, was it good?”

“Yeah,” I told her, feeling weird. It was so strange to tell a prey that she tasted good. Usually they weren’t there to hear it.

“Your eyes are glowing. Feeling better?”

“Yeah… human meat is nutritious.”

We sat next to each other again and she leaned against me, quiet for a moment, only speaking after a few minutes.

“You probably have another name… something else than Black Hawk. Right?”

“Jaebum.”

Why had I told her? It wasn’t even the name I was using here on top of that…

“Jaebum. I see. Mind if I call you Jae?”

“I… don’t. That uh… that’s actually the name I use around here. Jaebum… was before.”

“I see ~ I’ll call you Jae, then.”

I sighed a bit.

“Erm… I should go. I need to hunt. There’s a little wilder area not too far from the city and it has animals in it, so…”

“Oh, I see.”

She moved, not leaning against me anymore. I tilted my head a bit.

“Uh… do you want me to walk you home?”

“It would be nice, yeah. I live with a friend right now, it’s not too far from here.”

“We’ll go using the roofs. Just tell me where it is.”

“Sure thing.”

We got up and headed out of where we were, going to the closest buildings. While we walked there, I sighed.

“I shouldn’t have.”

“Shouldn’t have…?”

“Eaten your hand. Let you cut it. Had you as a prey. Met you…”

“You don’t make any sense.”

“You wouldn’t have lost your hand if I hadn’t met you.”

“And I would’ve died in the fire a few weeks ago.”

“There might not have been a fire.”

“And there might have been a fire anyway. Stop feeling guilty, would you?”

I kept quiet and it made Ama smile. She knew I was feeling guilty anyway, but she did as if she hadn’t noticed and we soon enough reached taller buildings. Once there, I took her in my arms and jumped. It took just a few minutes from there and I landed near the door to her friend’s place after having made sure that nobody would see us. She gently pushed me back so I’d let go of her and I obeyed, lowering my head, pressing a very soft kiss on her forehead.

“Good night, Ama. And… forgive me.”

And after that, I turned and left.