Monsters

"You know what's the fun thing about being a vampire girlfriend?" Jade asked Max.

"What?"

"Treated so special and so romantic." She showed a smile. She was happy and looked so excited.

Max chuckled. "Not because of vampires, Jade. That's just the way I am. My family and even my friends say I'm the most romantic of all."

"It means, I'm lucky to have you."

"We're both lucky, Jade."

The ride ends and the car stops in front of Max's house. Jade looked around and, as usual, looked lonely and horrifying enough for anyone to feel frightened.

Max took her into the deep forest. Not so far away, Jade had even heard the commotion of Max's family.

The smell of meat being grilled and also chicken smelled deliciously in her nose. Jade could also see the vegetable salad Melwa was preparing.

Seeing her presence, they smiled, except for Mara. "Oh hi," said Jade.

"Well, is this the human that Max is crazy about?" asked Teddy. He then laughed and quickly dashed towards her.

Jade was a little surprised. They then laughed at her expression while Max was behind her guarding her.

"I'm just kidding. You don't have to be that scared, Jade. My name is Teddy. Just call me Ted. I'm Mara's boyfriend" Teddy said to her and introduced himself.

Jade returned Teddy's handshake and she smiled. Again she felt the cold from the touch of his hand. Though she was almost used to Max's touch.

"Oh, sorry ... you must be feeling cold, huh?" asked Teddy.

"No problem. I'll get used to it," Jade replied smiling.

"Well ... then, come on, let's start eating!" shouted Melwa announcing.

Sitting with Max's family no longer made Jade nervous. She enjoyed the dishes they served and even admired the enjoyment of their cooking.

"Is it taste good, Jade?" asked Mara who suddenly spoke. Usually, Mara never opened her lips when Jade was around. But this time she asked her.

"It is. The taste is very good," Jade replied with a smile. She thought Mara could be friends with her, in the end.

"Of course, it tastes good, it's human flesh," said Mara.

Jade immediately glared and vomited the food she was chewing. All the vampire's eyes then glared at Mara in annoyance.

"Mara! Watch your mouth!" Wenny said.

Mara chuckled, belittling Jade. "Jade, if you want to be a vampire, you shouldn't even be disgusted like that. You'll be drinking blood from the flesh you pricked with your fangs. I was just saying that but you are already that disgusting," Mara told her.

Feeling upset and emotional, Jade says goodbye to Max's family and leaves them. Max immediately followed her without caring about Mara and the others.

"Hey, Jade ... wait," Max shouted, holding her hand.

"Mara's gone too far, Max. Why does she hate me so much?"

"Jade, give her some time. Teddy is trying to control herself. Come on ... I mean, Mara does have that trait."

Jade sighed as she closed her eyes. Then she looked at the Max family who were all standing looking at her with regretful expressions, except for Mara's expression that seemed content to play with her.

"May I ask you something?" Jade asked.

"Certain."

"Does Mara have the ability to listen to our conversation?"

Max shook his head. "The ability of her is that she runs so fast, she can easily prank someone that the person is so ... believe it."

Inwardly Jade cursed her. Because what Mara had just done was to work on her to the best of her ability.

"Then let me prank her again if she messes with me again. I'm not afraid of her, Max. I'm annoyed that she hasn't been very friendly since she saw me," Jade said asking permission.

"Okay. I won't stop you. Now, let's go back to them and enjoy the meal," Max said to her.

***

Jade sat across from Zack who was giving her an annoyed expression. He looked at his daughter so seriously while sighing many times.

The two stood facing each other without speaking for several minutes.

"Oh come on, Dad ... what are you going to talk about? Don't delay my break," Jade said, starting to get annoyed.

"You keep coming home late, Jade. Don't you think I'm really worried when you're out there?"

"I brought my pepper spray. What are you worried about? You know me, that I'm not that easily afraid of people, right?"

Zack was silent. He knew that Jade didn't say anything wrong because his daughter was not easily afraid of strangers. But on the one hand, he also couldn't tell her about the real situation. That he is a vampire hunter and around her, many vampires are roaming around.

In reality, Jade knew it all. She was just pretending and waiting to see if her father dared to tell her or not.

"Ok," he said, nodding his head repeatedly. "Ok. You can go to your room. I'm done talking to you," he continued.

Jade immediately got up and he went upstairs to her room. She didn't forget to lock the door to her room and put her bag on her study chair.

"Big problem?" asked Max, who had been in her room for some time. He came closer and rubbed his girlfriend's back.

"Just worrying too much about Zack," Jade replied.

"You're the only daughter. Of course, he's worried about you. What's more, he's a-"

"Don't mention it, Max. For some reason, I don't want to hear about his hidden profession or whatever."

"Why, Jade?" asked Max with a curious look.

"Because not all vampires are bad. I mean, you and your family, as well as Ted ... you've been good to me, to me as a human," Jade explained and look proud for explaining how Max's family was nice to her.

His hand stroked Jade's hair. He tucked it back and stared at her intensely. Then he shook his head at her. "Don't think of us like that, Jade. There were times when we were like monsters. And that's who we are," Max said.