JAEGER

I thought I could tolerate walking in Izzy's presence, that was until she decided to open her mouth. She kept asking me where we were going to stay this time, and how long it was going to take.

"Are we there yet?" She asked me every second, driving me insane.

Kidnapping was more stressful and difficult than I thought. Dealing with her started to feel harder than the actual kidnapping part. She finally stopped asking me the same questions but quickly replaced them with something much, much worse.

"You know, you're quite a good fighter," she complimented me one time.

"You know, you actually are good-looking," she said another time.

"I trust you now, I believe you're on my side. Partner," she said yet another time.

I didn't know what her plan was, but if it was to irritate me then she was doing an incredible job. I was tempted more than once to knock her out and drag her the rest of the way. If only I had some tape, that would solve all of my problems. 

"By the way, where are we going?" She asked again.

"Doesn't matter," I sighed for the hundredth time.

"Oh come on, Slayer," she said. "Just tell me," she added with a sweeter tone, hitting her hip against mine.

What the blades was she doing?

I whipped my head in her direction and I just stared at her, aghast. Offended. Horrified. She was trying to coax me, I realised, and she was doing the complete opposite right now. 

"Don't do that ever again," I warned her.

"Ay ay captain," she responded with a smile that irked me all the more. She didn't know how close I was to tying her to a tree and leaving her for vampires. "So you're not going to tell me where we are?"

I knew she only wanted to know where we were so she could come up with some kind of plan to escape. She couldn't run away even if she escaped me because she didn't even know where she was, so she was trying to get that information out of me. I just exhaled and continued walking, completely ignoring her questions while keeping a reasonable distance away from her.

It was as if we switched roles. I was supposed to be the one to annoy her, but she was doing an unbearably great job annoying me. I hated it. She was just as good at irking me as I was at irking her and if I had known that before I would have come up with a different plan rather than kidnapping her and having to deal with this.

"By the way, Slayer," she suddenly said politely, "Is there going to be a potty break anytime soon?"

I stopped, and she bumped into my back, that action breaking whatever resolve I had. I spun around and grabbed her by the shoulders, pinning her back against a tree. 

"Just stop talking, Izzy." I was supposed to sound intimidating, but I couldn't help but feel like I was begging. Could she get any more immature? What kind of normal person said 'potty break'?

Izzy's lips quirked upward, realising she had gotten under my skin. "Stop calling me Izzy."

In a desperate effort to get her to shut up, I said with as much menace in my voice, "I could kill you right now."

She leaned forward, forcing me to lean back, and whispered, "you could, but you won't, 'cause you need me."

What did I even expect from her? 

I groaned, releasing her shoulders and continued walking again.

"So, what about that potty break?" She asked again, skipping beside me, "I kinda need to pee."

"Hold it."

"That's the thing, I have been holding it for a long time. I feel like I'm about to burst," she unnecessarily informed me. "I can only hold so much pee, you know."

I stopped again, let out a long sigh then faced her.

"You could have just stopped at 'I've been holding it for a long time.'"

"I could have, but I didn't want to," she said, turning around and holding her arms back to me. "You have to untie me now because I'm not going to allow you to pull down my pants."

I shut my eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, "I wasn't even thinking that."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

I took a deep breath before opening my eyes and shooting her a glare. I detested her so much right now. I took her hands and untied them.

"You don't happen to have any tissue do you?" She asked and I shot her another glare that answered the question for her. 

She walked off and I couldn't help the grin that spread across my lips as I watched her walk toward the cover of trees. I knew she wasn't peeing, she couldn't get any worse at lying than she already was. She was most definitely going to search for something sharp that she could use against me, either to cut the ropes after I tied her up, or stab me before I could tie her up, which was why when she disappeared behind the trees, I climbed up one of the several trees and followed her. 

When she stopped walking, she glanced back and shouted: "You better not peak!"

I shook my head, a grin pulling at my lips, but I hid behind the branches and watched as Izzy did a few stretches before dropping to her knees and searching the ground. I knew it. She picked up several rocks, sliding them across her palm to test the sharpness. Eventually, she found one sharp enough—not to stab me—but to cut through rope.

Just as she slipped the rock under her sleeve I jumped from my position in the tree and landed right in front of her. Her breath caught and her eyes shot open at my sudden appearance.

"Care to explain?" I asked. Her lips formed a thin line but she didn't say anything. "Nice try, Izzy," I said, holding my hand to her, beckoning. Reluctantly, she slid the rock from her sleeve and placed it in my palm. "This is definitely rope-cutting worthy. If only you were a better liar."

I threw the rock away before taking her hands and holding them behind her back where I tied them.

"You have no idea how uncomfortable that is," she said.

"You have no idea how much I don't care," I retorted as I secured the knot. "Alright, let's go."

Rather than walking forward, she turned around and faced me, her lips pouted. 

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Begging."

I didn't answer but just walked around her, only because I didn't think I could hold the chuckle threatening to break through my lips if I continued looking at her. It was weird, the way she could easily annoy me yet easily entertain me at the same time. I didn't understand it. I wasn't used to it. 

The stars started to disappear, signifying early morning. We had been walking all night and stopped only once for that 'potty break' of Izzy's. I knew there would be no point in stopping now because we were close to reaching our destination but I still felt myself wanting to stop, only because Izzy's panting was getting louder by the second, and I was about to suggest we stop until Izzy decided to open her mouth again.

"I bet you're tired," she said. "We can stop if you want. I don't need to but for your sake, I'll stop."

I raised a brow, "For my sake?"

It was obvious she needed a break. Lifting her legs to take a single step seemed to drain her. I could keep going, but she was clearly struggling. 

"Aren't you tired?" She asked, "I won't judge or make fun of you if you are. It's normal for vampires to get tired just as humans do."

I chuckled this time, only because that wasn't anywhere near true. "So stopping would be for my sake?"

"Of course!" She exclaimed. Such a blatant lie. "I wouldn't want you to strain yourself, I'm guessing you've got a lot of fights ahead of you so you need to stay in good condition. You don't have to keep walking just to try and keep up with me."

I failed to hold in my laugh this time, "you seem to be the one failing to keep up with me, Izzy," I said, looking back at her from where she followed a good distance away. "I can keep going, so stopping won't be necessary."

She picked up her pace and eventually caught up with me, "Slayer, you don't have to—"

Her foot caught in a root and she tripped, but I caught the back of her shirt before she face-planted into the ground. Landing face first would have hurt considering the fact that she didn't have any hands to protect her. 

"That was close," she exhaled.

I was about to pull her up but came up with a better idea, one that had my lips slowly curving into a grin.

"Say, Izzy," I began, my voice dripping with wicked amusement. "How would you feel if I let you go?"

"Let me go?" She asked. "You don't mean you're considering letting me go, right?" She nervously chuckled, "right?"

"Just answer the question."

"Well, I—I'd feel pain."

"Try again."

"Umm..."

"You'd feel irritated right?" I answered for her. "Annoyed, upset, right?"

"Right?"

"Well, then I guess it's time you feel how I've been feeling the whole journey," I drawled.

"Don't you dare," she started wriggling, trying to stand on her own. "Don't even think about it. I swear I'll get you back."

"What's that? You want me to let go of your back?"

"I'm serious, Slayer, don't even think about—!"

I released my grip on her shirt and she fall face-first into the dirt. I continued walking, ripples of laughter coursing through me. 

I heard her roll over and spit out what I had no doubt was dirt that had gotten into her mouth. And it sounded like a lot. I glanced back and howled when I saw her struggling to get onto her feet without her hands.

"Damn you, Slayer!" she shouted.

I turned around fully now, not bothering to hold back my laughs only because I couldn't, not when Izzy was still fighting to get to her feet. She was making it look harder than it actually was. My stomach started to hurt from all the laughter. I hadn't laughed like this in... ever. It had been years since I felt a good sensation coursing through me like this. I had never laughed to the point where I couldn't breathe or smiled to the point where my cheeks hurt, and it was ironic that I was experiencing this for the first time in the presence of Izzy of all people. Izzy. 

When she finally got back onto her feet she stomped toward me, glaring.

"So what was it you were saying?" I asked when she reached me, willing my voice into neutrality.

"Forget it," she growled. "Forget you."

"Think you'll be hungry soon?" I asked. "Sounded like you ate quite an amount of dirt back there."

"You know you make it very easy for me to hate you," she snarled.

"Good to know," I grinned.

"You're so unbearable!" she seethed. "You could have at least come to help me off of the ground."

"You seemed... like you... had the hang of it," I said, trying to hold in more laughter. She narrowed her eyes at me. I cleared my throat, "shall we continue now?"

Her lip curled, "let me be honest with you," she said, her voice clipped, "you and I are built differently. What doesn't kill you can kill me. What doesn't weaken you can weaken me. What doesn't tire you can tire me, and one of the things that tire me, and every human being alive, is walking, consistently, all night!"

"And so?"

"And so I need a break, you idiot!" She shouted, making me raise a brow at the unexpected insult. "You tied me up and brought me here against my will so I should at least get a break."

"You followed me by your own will, I didn't force you to," I reminded her.

"You threatened me."

"I gave you an option," I corrected. "There's a difference."

"You..." she groaned.

"We've reached the cabin anyway," I said, pointing towards the outline of the cabin in the distance. 

"Why didn't you say that before!"

"Before you called me an idiot?" I asked, "and stated that we were, and I quote, 'built differently?'"

She visibly cringed, averting her gaze but she purposefully bumped me with her shoulder before fast walking towards the cabin. She stumbled, almost tripping again but this time she managed to stable herself. She glanced back at me before continuing. I snickered.

Izzy really was something.