"Ugh." Boyd groaned while holding his head as he walked back into the house.
"Calm down yet?"
His eyes twitched. "Did you have to throw me outside?" He was lucky that the sun was behind the clouds and that Tristan hadn't thrown him that far.
Tristan shrugged. "It was the most efficient way, and I don't exactly have the patience to deal with that this morning."
"Tch. Some Alpha you are." Boyd grumbled and took a seat around the dining table and turned to Noshiko who was looking at him with clearly shocked eyes.
"I really hope we're not listening to what she's trying to say." He stated while giving an almost passive glare to Noshiko who had managed to compose herself.
She looked at Boyd as he tried to get his breath in order and not lash out at every word he didn't like.
'He really is a vampire. The first true sired vampire I've seen in over a 100 years.' She thought.
"We're not killing Allison." Malia said in a low voice that almost sounded like a growl. Given that she was the one with the most reason to kill Allison(with her own reasoning), it was surprising that she was the one who was stamping it down that no one was killing the happy-go-lucky Huntress.
Noshiko frowned inwardly, knowing beforehand that this would most likely be their reaction and stance.
"I don't think you understand—"
"I think you're the one who doesn't understand." Tristan interrupted while stealing a bacon sandwich off Malia's plate. "There's no convincing you'll give me to think otherwise. I'll leave that option for when I have nothing else to choose from."
It wasn't that he couldn't bring himself to kill Allison, he'd hesitate for sure, but he'd do it if there was absolutely no other choice. In other words, when Malia's life was on the line.
"I see. I'll be taking my leave then." Noshiko said and stood up to leave. "Thank you for saving my daughter. I am extremely grateful."
She gave a small bow of her head and left, leaving the trio to themselves. Boyd however, was the first one to break the silence.
"What are we doing now? I don't trust her not to do anything shady."
"I'm going over to Allison's." Malia suddenly said and stood up, leaving behind a half eating plate as she stomped out of the house.
"You aren't going to do anything about that? You know, make sure she doesn't try to kill Allison herself?" Boyd looked on worriedly as Malia got in the car and zoomed off.
Tristan sighed tiredly, something he's been doing a lot lately, he noticed. "I'll be back soon."
"And with that he's gone too. Ahh."
...
[POV: With Malia]
She drove absentmindedly towards Allison's house with a cloudy head, not knowing why she was doing it except that she just felt that way.
Was she blowing this whole thing out of proportion? She really didn't know.
Somehow it felt as if she was being forced to choose between the two of them, and it hurt because her choice was obvious. But that didn't mean that she felt less towards Allison.
To her Allison was practically family, a long lost twin sister in a way.
"I don't even know what to think anymore." She whispered as she pulled into Argent's driveway.
She wanted to knock on the door but decided against it and just scaled the wall and tree to Allison's window.
"Psst. Psst. Allison, open up." She knocked gently on the window, startling Allison who had been staring blankly at her ceiling. She looked even more shocked when she saw that it was Malia at her window.
"Come on, open up. I promise I'm not trying to kill you… not yet anyway." Malia rolled her eyes as she saw Allison looking extremely suspicious and hesitant to open the window.
Allison took a deep breath and opened the window to let Malia in, which ended up with both girls standing and staring awkwardly at the other.
"So what brings you here? I was under the impression that you didn't want to see for the foreseeable future." Allison was the first to speak as she crawled into her bed and held her knees to her chest.
Malia tried to find a reply but nothing came to her mouth so she just grabbed a chair and sat at the foot of the bed facing Allison.
"Don't tell me you came all the way here to just look at me. Well you can have a good look, not much to see though." Allison said in a sarcastic dry tone.
"I don't know what to say, Allison. You tell me." Malia bit down hard and looked at Allison with a pair of conflicted eyes.
"I'm angry, pissed at you…. I just want to lash out at you but arghh! It's all so confusing, Allison. Why did you have to go and make it so confusing?" Malia felt as if she wanted to pull out her hair and beat Allison with it.
Did Allison not realize how accommodating and accepting she was with her? In fact, the only reason they were having a semi-civil discussion about this was solely due to the fact that she cared so much about Allison. Anybody else would probably be body bags of human meat in the middle of the forest.
"If you ask me that, who am I going to ask?" Allison said while staring down at her feet and refusing to meet Malia's eyes.
They fell silent as there was nothing else to be said. Both had their thoughts and feelings on the matter that either of them pushing it too much would be disrespecting of the other person.
Allison took a brief glance at Malia and found her resting her head in her hands.
"… Can we ever go back?" She asked softly, almost whispering low that Malia almost missed it.
Malia looked down and locked eyes with Allison.
"I don't know. I'm not sure. I just… don't know." Malia let out a breath as she said that. No doubt her relationship with Allison will become strained after this.
"Right." Allison nodded in understanding.
"So apart from all these talks, any new news I should know of?" Allison asked while changing the topic to something that wouldn't make them feel so bad about themselves.
"Nothing much, except maybe Noshiko is trying to kill you." Malia said offhandedly while Allison just sighed and leaned against the headrest.
She somehow expected something like that. She looked at Malia and managed a slight smile. Regardless of what their relationship might be going forward, at least they were still her friends and had her back.
...
[POV: With Tristan]
After leaving Boyd at home, Tristan made his way to the animal clinic to look for Deaton and know how they could go about with eradicating the bug in Allison's body.
"Oh hey, Tristan." Scott looked surprised on seeing Tristan inside the clinic.
"Is Deaton in?" Tristan asked.
"Yeah, he's out back. Hold on for a sec." Scott went ahead and called Deaton for Tristan.
The man had a wry smile on his face as if he had been expecting something like this. However since it was just the three of them, Deaton did not bother with privacy.
"If it's about killing the Nogitsune, I'm afraid I don't really have a concrete way to kill it." Was the first thing Deaton said before Tristan could even ask the question that brought him here.
"However," he held up a finger to draw Tristan's attention, "I came across something that could work but I'm not sure; the Nogitsune cannot have two identities."
"Two identities? What does that mean?" Scott asked with confusion written all over his face.
Tristan also thought of what it might mean and soon got it moments later. "So it'll leave if Allison's identity were to change?"
Deaton shrugged with an uncertain face. "It seems entirely plausible but I can't say for certain."
"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Scott asked, still not understanding what was being conveyed.
"Short version: the Nogitsune will likely leave the body if Allison were to be bitten. Hence two identities." Tristan patiently explained.
"Ah!"
Ignoring Scott's epiphany, Tristan stroked his chin while appearing deep in thought. There was no self respecting Hunter that will willingly allow their daughter and heir to become the very thing they have been hunting for centuries.
Deaton nodded knowingly when he saw the look of realization in both Tristan's and Scott's eyes. "All I can say is that you have your work cut out for you."
Tristan left the animal clinic with a very pensive face; thinking and failing to come up with a sound enough reasoning to tell Chris and Victoria.
…. Still, nothing came to mind.
.
.
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