IZEL

It had taken me several minutes to fall asleep again, but when I woke up the next morning I was no longer in the bed. 

I was on a chair outside on the porch with my hands tied around the wooden posts supporting the porch roof and my face felt weird. Just... weird.

I looked around baffled then spotted the Slayer leaning against the door frame. His arms were crossed over his chest and a half-smile formed on his lips. He was a portrait of casual amusement.

"Took you long enough to wake up," he said, "I started to think you fell into a coma or something."

Realisation dawned on me. He had taken advantage of the fact that I was in a deep sleep, but for some reason, I didn't feel annoyed at that but felt like smiling myself. Despite last night, he wasn't treating me any differently. He was acting like the same, annoying Slayer I hated. And I loved that.

"How long were you trying to wake me up?" I said, forcing bitterness into my tone.

"I gave up after 15 minutes," he told me. "But you've been tied up like that for like an hour or so."

"An hour!?"

"Are Vanquishers supposed to be that vulnerable when they sleep?" He questioned. "First, I called you like a thousand times, then I tried shaking you but that didn't work so I brought your dog over and made her lick you. I'm sure the saliva has already dried on your face. She licked you for quite some time." I recoiled, realising the weird sensation on my face was her saliva.

He continued, "After that, I put you in the chair and pulled you around, that had seemed to wake you up last time, but it didn't this time. Then I gave up, tied you to the post and hoped you woke up if you got attacked or something."

"You used me as bait again?" I questioned.

"You didn't wake up when I tried—or when the dog tried—so I thought maybe you would if there was actual danger," he justified. 

I sighed, "whatever, just untie me."

"Alright," he said, but approached me cautiously.

"Why are you walking like that?"

"You should see the way you're looking at me."

I raised a brow, "And how am I looking at you?"

"I would show you but I can't disfigure my face enough to make the face you're making."

"That's not funny," I rolled my eyes but I found myself biting back a laugh.

He grinned then untied my hands from around the post only to tie them together, and I didn't fight it, but I said, "you still don't trust me enough to leave my hands free?"

"Do you trust yourself?"

I shrugged, "better safe than sorry I guess."

His grin widened and he said, "There's food inside, you should eat... and wash your face too, " he added with a grimace. "The dog left a lot of love on you."

"Gold," I corrected him. "I decided to call her Gold." 

That was her name. I thought of it last night when I was struggling to fall asleep. It made sense, calling her the colour of her fur. 

Gold.

****

It didn't take me long to clean myself up and finish my food. The Slayer had already fed Gold, though that didn't stop me from giving her some of my food too.

We went into the forest again but it was much more bearable this time, and I assumed it was because Gold was with us.

"Have you ever had a pet?" I found myself asking.

"No."

"Have you ever wanted a pet?"

After a short pause, he said, "yes."

"What kind?"

He took a pause again, a longer one this time. "Any pet, really. One that would stick with me. Accept me. Not try to kill me."

I wasn't expecting an answer like that. I thought he would say a cat, or a rabbit, or maybe even a Valcon. What did he mean by having one that would accept him? I didn't ask. I knew he wouldn't want to speak about it, that he let that truth slip out.

So instead, I said, "that's going to be difficult. You're easy to want to kill."

"But not easy to kill," he retorted. "Seeing as you've been failing for several years now."

 I was about to come up with a response when a sudden sound grabbed my attention. The Slayer watched as my expression changed as I registered the sound, a ghost of a smile appearing on his lips. We continued walking, moving past trees and bushes and the further we went, the louder the sounds got. Finally, I saw a fence, and beyond that fence, was the village I loved. Derkshin. 

My excitement grew and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

Dogs!

Gold ran forward first, slipping through an opening in the fence. I followed after her and the Slayer came through last.

Several dogs were running around, playing, and sleeping. Gold was already running around with them.

"You—we—we're at Derkshin?" I asked.

"Yes," the Slayer answered.

"You brought me to Derkshin?"

"Evidently."

"Is this because of what I said last night?" I asked. "When I told you how much I loved dogs?"

"I—well, you—I mean—" he stammered. "No."

"No?"

"No, of course not. It's because of Gold," he said, pointing at her. "She would be at risk if we brought her with us," he started nodding in agreement with himself as if he was coming up with this on the spot. "It would be safer for her if she stayed with her kind, and her kind is here. At Derkshin. So that's why we're here."

So all the dogs survived. I smiled, "Thank you, Jaeger."

His eyebrows shot up and he blinked slowly. His lips pinched together in a hard line before turning into a grin. It took me a second to register his expression and then I realised I had just called him Jaeger, not Slayer. The first time I called him by his real name was last night, but that was only because I needed him to wake up, though I didn't know why I called him that just now.

I looked away, focusing on the dogs, "I meant Slayer, not—"

"Jaeger?" He asked, interrupting me.

"Yeah, that."

"Well, since it's already come out of your mouth you may as well stick to it."

"To calling you Jaeger?" I asked, looking at him again. "Why would I do that?"

"Because I prefer Jaeger."

"Does it look like I care about what you prefer?" I questioned.

"If you call me Jaeger then I'll call you Izel."

"Really?"

"Of course. Izel," he said.

There it was. My real name. Not the nickname I resented. The nickname I had gotten so used to. The nickname I realised I preferred when it came to him. I thought I would be glad when he called me by my real name, but something about it felt weird, foreign. I didn't like it.

"Ugh, calling you that doesn't sound right at all," he shuddered.

"Then call me Izzy," I said before I could stop myself.

Jaeger blinked but then grinned and brought a hand to my head, patting my hair. "I wasn't actually going to stop calling you Izzy, Izzy," he confessed, whispering my name at the end.

My name on his lips sent shockwaves through my body. I figured it was because he whispered it, and I heard that whispers could have weird effects on your body.

Only when he stopped patting my head did I realise I hadn't hit it away like I usually did. I didn't scream at him but just stood and allowed him to touch me. His brows were creased, no doubt wondering why I hadn't hit his hand away. 

"Don't—don't touch me!" I shouted, hitting his hand away then, but it wasn't genuine enough because rather than responding with a retort, he just kept looking at me, studying me.

He didn't look away so I shoved him to the side, walking past him and forcing myself not to look back.

Why hadn't I hit his hand away immediately? Had I not minded his touch like I usually did?