By the time Jack had woken up the next morning, he was completely healed and felt better than he had in a very long time. All that was left of the cut was a scar that loosely resembled the bold hunter's mark from bloodborne. Needless to say, now that the pain was gone Jack was able to appreciate the badass design. Years ago, he had actually contemplated getting a tattoo in that spot but was never able to find the time.

The rain had stopped completely and washed away most of the heat. Winter was on the way in full force and a thick layer of fog outside the house and a cold draft from where he was sitting on the floor emphasized that fact. Jack didn't want to overstay his welcome with Mark and Enis, but he also didn't want to have to navigate through the foggy woods, especially after the rain had turned the dirt into mud.

Mark was drinking a water out of a coffee mug in the kitchen. Enis was asleep on the couch.

"Was he up all night?" Jack whispered to Mark.

"He's a vampire. Vampires are nocturnal, I thought you would know that." Mark said with an eye roll.

"Yeah, but-"

"But what?"

"I-I don't know."

Jack started down at the floor. A few birds chirped outside the window.

"You were sharpening your knife incorrectly last night." Mark said without making eye contact with Jack.

Jack continued to look down on the floor in silence.

"Uuuugh! Fine if you insist!" Mark groaned out. "Let me show you."

Jack held back a chuckle and looked up at Mark in surprise.

"Go get your shit."

Jack brought his bag into the living room. By the time he was back, Mark had placed two coffee mugs, his own much larger knife, and a sheet of paper on the table.

"Okay, now show me how you normally sharpen your knife."

Jack hastily took out his sharpener and knife. Mark picked up the sharpener and examined it at eye level.

"What the fuck is this?"

"Uh…."

"Just show me how you normally do it."

Mark angrily threw the sharpener back at Jack. He repeated his actions from the last night. Mark cringed as he watched.

"Okay, okay stop, let me see that."

Jack handed Mark the sharpener. Mark unceremoniously snapped it in half. He then handed Jack one of the mugs.

"Flip it upside down."

"What?" Jack asked, very confused by the whole situation.

"Did I stutter?"

"Sorry, sorry." Jack stammered out, afraid the next thing to be snapped in half would be his neck. He flipped the coffee mug upside down so that the non-ceramic bottom was facing upwards.

"Okay take the paper."

"But you just told me to…"

"I just told you to take. The. Paper." Mark said in an almost snarly tone of voice.

Jack grabbed the sheet of paper. It was blank with lines and looked like it was torn out of a notebook.

"Cut through the paper."

Jack fumbled around a bit until he awkwardly twisted his hand behind the paper, poked a hole through it, and slowly ripped a jagged line down the paper. He soon felt the paper being ripped out of his hands by Mark.

Mark took his own knife off the table and in a split second, he had slashed a clean line down the middle of the paper. Jack watched in fascination.

"Okay, lesson one: always cut AWAY from yourself."

Jack kicked himself for being so dumb.

"Trust me, the last thing you need to do is die from a careless mistake."

"Wh-why are you helping me?" Jack asked, a bit alarmed by Mark's sudden attention.

"Because...Jack…" Mark looked away and thought for a second about his answer. "You seem like a good person. You wanted to talk to me, you trusted Enis, hell, most people would have killed both of us or at least robbed us last night. Enis wanted to let you stay because he's a good person, and you are too."

One thing that Jack noticed about Mark was that rather than talking with his hands, he showed most of his body language through his shoulders and head movement. It was strange but gave everything he said a lot more weight.

"People like you are going extinct," he continued, "I'll be the first to say that I'm not a good person, but you remind me of an old friend of mine. People like you need to know how to protect yourselves."

"Mark...I'm sure you're a good person. Everyone has a little good in them, you just have to want to let it show. I'm sure of it."

The two of them stared into opposite directions for a while.

"Do you still want to know how I ended up here?" Mark asked, throwing Jack even more off guard.

"Yeah, if you want to tell me."

"It's a long story."