It was past midnight when Irene stirred herself awake. The woman opened her eyes. She was thirsty. Her room was dark aside from the little light source peeking from the slightly opened door. Groaning quietly, she forced herself to get up from her bed and walked out of her room. Irene was dehydrated. She doesn’t know when was the last time she drank anything. was dry. She stretched her stiff body a little bit, not too hard as her stomach was still hurt.

It took Irene her strongest will just to walk out of her room and she was already exhausted. Opening her bedroom door ajar, Irene was greeted with her bright living room light. The woman squinted her eyes to adjust her surroundings.

“Irene?”

Hearing Wendy’s alerted voice, the hunter widened her eyes and looked at the source of the voice. Indeed, Wendy was still at her apartment, wide awake. It looked like the brown-haired woman was browsing through her laptop these whole time.

“Why are you awake?” Wendy asked and immediately walked towards the injured hunter, with a frown on her face.

“I-“ Irene was struggling to speak. was too dry. She needed some liquid, and quick. “I’m thirsty.”

“I’ll go take them. You just go and sit at the couch.” The shorter of the two immediately scurried herself to the kitchen, filling up an empty glass with water while the other woman was walking painfully slow to the couch.

Irene heaved a huge sigh of relief as soon as she sat down. I didn’t even know it’ll take this much effort to move around my own house.

Fortunately, Wendy arrived in a blink of an eye and wasted no time giving the hunter a full glass of water. The latter immediately took the glass and drank the water as if her life depends on it.

“Whoa, slow down there. I don’t want you to choke or something.”

Putting the empty glass on the coffee table, Irene wiped and heaved a sigh of relief again.

“Thanks.”

“Are you feeling better? How’s your stomach?” Wendy questioned as she sat beside the latter.

“I’m fine, Wendy.” The woman tried to smile. “It’s not like I’m dying or something.”

“I’m just making sure.” Wendy sighed and looked at the taller woman worriedly, eyebrows furrowed and lips curled into a slight pout.

Is she pouting at me? Irene looked at the woman back, she doesn’t know what to do or how to react to the, somehow cute pout of Wendy’s. They kept staring at each other for some time. Confused stare met with a worried one.

Faking a cough, the hunter feigned interest at whatever Wendy was doing as she darted her eyes away from the latter, towards the laptop screen.

“Anyway, what were you doing?” Irene changed the topic swiftly.

“Oh!” The latter quickly snapped out of her trance and grabbed her laptop, placing it on her lap. She then scooted closer to Irene, showing the hunter her research. “While you were sleeping, I hacked into a satellite and browsed through pictures of the woods the vampire told us two days ago. And guess what?”

“What?”

“I found the exact location of their so-called cult meeting.” Wendy then showed Irene a satellite image of a group of vampires in the middle of the said woods. “Which means we don’t need to wander around for hours just to find their location.”

“How do you even hack into a satellite?”

“I have my ways.” The hacker smiled smugly which earned a lazy eye roll from the taller woman. Wendy closed the laptop and placed it back on the coffee table. “Aren’t you tired?”

“A bit.” Irene yawned.

“Let’s get you back in your room then.”

“No need.” The hunter said as she scooted herself closer to Wendy. “It’s cold in there.”

“Are you sure?”

Without saying a word, Irene wrapped her hands around Wendy’s petite frame and pulled her closer.

“U-Umm...” Wendy was stuttering. The sudden body contact caught her off guard. “W-What are you doing?” She was trying to compose herself, trying to ignore her erratic heartbeat.

“Warming myself.” The hunter muttered casually and closed her eyes, trying to go back to sleep. “You’re so warm, Wendy.”

“A-Are you comfortable?”

Wendy received no answer. The woman peeked at her side and realized the hunter was already in her dreamland. Wendy tried to relax her body. She swore she was too stiff that it might woke Irene up. She then put one of her hands on the latter’s shoulder carefully, not wanting to wake the hunter.

Before Wendy can even relax herself, a sudden movement from Irene caught her off guard and she immediately went stiffer than before as soon as she felt the latter’s soft, cold cheeks on her neck.

Good Lord. I guess no sleep for me again today.

~~~~~~~~

Luckily, Irene’s body was feeling better the moment she woke up. Her bruise was almost gone when she checked it, which was impossible. But, she didn’t think any further as she was happy that they can carry on tonight’s plan without having to groan in pain on every steps she made.

Fast forward to a few hours later, the moon was shining brightly on top of them as the duo stepped out of the jeep, parked just in front of the woods.

“Where’s your werewolf friend?” Irene asked as she was stuffing all sorts of weapons inside her long coat.

“She told us to go first. She’ll be a little late.”

Not arguing, the taller of the two walked into the dark forest, tall trees surrounding them as soon as they stepped in it. They’ve been walking for only a minute but the sight of Irene’s jeep was already gone. The woods were so thick.

There was a breeze, creating the sound of rustling leaves. It made the place more eerie as if it wasn’t before. It was dark. The only light source was the bright moon and also the two sole torchlights on both of the women’s hands.

With the constant wind slapping Irene’s face, she was starting to shiver in coldness and her coat was doing no justice in keeping herself warm. However, Wendy looked as if she was not bothered by the cold weather that day. It looked as if she was used to this kind of setting.

Looking around herself, Irene realized there were only trees and trees. Lots of them. The bushes and the knee-tall grass were making their walk even tougher. Huffing her breaths, the hunter was trying hard to walk faster but at the same time quietly, scared of making any unwanted noise.

However, luck was not on her side that day.

A crack of a twig was the only warning she got. The next second, Irene was tumbling through the undergrowth of the forest – pulling Wendy with her – landing breathless on her back with the warm weight of the latter on top of her. Their faces were inches apart and Irene could feel Wendy’s hot breaths against her lips. She inwardly gulped at their awkward position.

“You know,” Wendy whispered, and Irene swore if she raised her face up, even a little, they would be kissing. “There are all sorts of monsters in these woods. You should be more careful.” Wendy pressed her hands on the ground and pulled herself up, not forgetting to do the same to the vampire hunter. “You could get in trouble.”

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