Altered

by Shelly Crane

  “Fay, please don’t think about what happened to you. I don’t want to…feel that. I don’t want to…feed off of you. I don’t like it. Let’s find someone else, all right?”

  She gulped, looking up at me. “You truly believe you can feed off of my emotions.”

  “Humor me,” I said and smiled cockily to bring some of the snap back to the conversation. I swept her hair behind her ear as I let her go, stepping back. “Let’s just find what we need and then I’ll get you a soft, warm place to sleep.”

  She sighed. “All right. You’re clearly insane, but all right.”

  She eyed me as she pulled her cell out. She asked the person on the line for a cab at the motel. We sat side-by-side on the curb in comfortable silence for ten minutes waiting for it. When we got in, she told him to take us to the shipping yards. I looked at her curiously. She sat with a little knowing smile on her lips.

  I stepped from the cab and looked around at my surroundings. I knew there was a bar around here somewhere. Where there was a bar, there was a bar fight not too far away. If vampire boy over here wanted to get his kicks by watching somebody get his lights punched out, then fine. As long as I didn’t have to sleep on a park bench with cold fog coming from my mouth all night, I could deal with a little crazy from this guy.

  I had dealt with far worse.

  The guy was so weak, I had to help him from the cab. I didn’t know if he just needed a good night’s sleep or what. A meal hadn’t helped him any.

  “Are you going to be all right?” He sighed and I heard him gulp as we walked. “We probably should have just went to the hotel.”

  “That wouldn’t have been good for you,” I heard him mutter low under his breath.

  I rolled my eyes. “Sticking with it, eh?” He stayed silent. “Fine. But if you pass out, I’m calling an ambulance and then I’m out.”

  He chuckled, his voice rough, but still managing to be amazingly sexy as it skated across my cheek.

  “Okay, blue eyes.” I shook with goose bumps, unable to contain them, and he groaned a little, whispering, “Bloody hell. You’re killing me, little human.”

  “It’s cold,” I lied. It was cold, but that was absolutely not the reason for the goose flesh. He knew it and I knew it. And I hated it. I didn’t like for people to get under my skin. It made me feel too vulnerable, like they had power over me. When they had power, they could hurt you, leave you, die and leave you destroyed. I wasn’t up for any more of that. Except for Clara; she was already attached to me and I owed it to her.

  He looked over. Even in the dark with barely any light being provided from the streetlamps, I could see his purple eyes searching mine. “Just help me and then you never have to see me again.”

  It was almost like he could tell what I’d been thinking about.

  Before I could open my mouth to rebut, someone calling Enoch’s name followed by a throaty laugh was heard from behind us. We both looked over our shoulders to find a tall redhead standing there. She was smirking in a way that showed her obvious enjoyment. “Oh, Enoch. It’s delightful to see you again, babe.”

  “Don’t babe me, turncoat,” he growled back. He looked over at me, suddenly furious and shook me off. “And you. Get out of here and stop hanging on me like a bloody leech.” I felt my eyes go wide. Excuse me? I opened my mouth and his grip tightened on my arm. “I said. Get. Out. Of. Here. You stupid little human.”

  I yanked my arm away and bumped his shoulder hard as I passed him. I heard his sigh as I did so. It was relief, and I knew exactly what he was doing. I turned the corner to the building and stopped at the edge where they couldn’t see me.

  He had been trying to get me away from the situation quickly, that was obvious, and he thought the quickest way was to upset me. It was a tactical move, but why? What was going on? I strained to listen but not make a sound. I calmed myself down, breathing slowly.

  I could hear the redhead speaking, even as people came in and out of the bar across the street. “You should have stayed with the rebels, Enoch. At least there, you might have stood a chance. Now, you’re just going to die alone, here, on this dock.”

  “You going to take me out by yourself?” Enoch asked her.

  “Oh, I’m not by myself,” she answered with a laugh and walked around him once slowly, stalking him like a cat as he stood still, as if he knew what was coming. “Don’t you know me better than that?”

  He began to take slow steps backward toward the alley. I pressed further in, making sure not to be seen. I couldn’t bring myself to leave. Enoch had saved me when he could have just walked away, even when he clearly was weak or sick or in withdrawals…whatever was wrong with him. He hadn’t left me; I wasn’t leaving him. One thing I had learned was that no matter what, you didn’t leave someone behind. Not only was it a douchey thing to do, but it would come back to bite you—eventually.

  I had left Clara behind and was paying that price every day.

  I strained to see but not be seen as she came back around to his front. He was perfectly still, almost inhumanly so. She pulled something from the bag draped across her chest and he hissed, taking another step back, another step closer to me. “Wow, Ang, you’re really going to stick that thing in me? You’re going to take the rebels’ ways and use them against our kind?”

  “Isn’t that what you did to the Horde at Arequipa?” she seethed.

  “How did you make it out alive, by the way? I thought you’d be worm food at Resting Place by now.”

  She gripped his throat with speed that didn’t look possible. I blinked as he choked and took a step back, throwing her arm off. He stepped again, but she followed. “These legs are for more than just looking good.”

  He scoffed and I wondered why he was so intent on antagonizing her when she clearly had something over him. “Did you really just say that, red?”

  I looked on the ground of the alley for something while they bickered. A metal pipe was all I could find, but it would do. I would help Enoch and then we’d be even-steven. The closer they got, the more heated their words were. She was practically screeching by then and I rolled my eyes at the fact that I used to be just like her. So dramatic and thought I was so entitled. You know, except for the drug dealer part, which she clearly had to be.

  I peeked out again and wondered if the reason he wasn’t fighting back was because she was a girl. She slammed his head with the side of her fist, but his head barely moved. “Tell me where they are.”

  “I haven’t seen them since I left.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “He’s a human now,” he growled and I fought to keep my breaths even. Human now? As opposed to what? “I don’t want anything to do with him.”

  “I know that the Enoch I used to know would be telling me the truth right now, but I don’t even know who you are.” She gripped his neck and this time, he couldn’t push her off. She squeezed and lifted him just a tad so only his toes were touching the ground. I watched and couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing. How could she be doing that? That wasn’t possible. Even for a really strong person, that wasn’t possible. “You’re not feeding,” she said steadily and my lips fell open. “You’re bringing yourself to the point of starvation and probably trying to live off emotions that aren’t forced, just like Eli had been doing.”

  Eli was Clara’s husband’s name, too.

  “Then kill me and get it over with.”

  She shook her head. “Why, Enoch? What happened to make you do this? What did Eli do to you?”

  “Nothing,” he groaned and scratched at her arm. “Eli had nothing to do with this.”

  “I don’t believe you. There is a reason for this. Devourers don’t just turn soft. It’s not in our nature to. I don’t know why or how, but Eli did something to you and I’m going to find out what. He won’t get away with this. He won’t do this to someone else. We’re going to stop those rebels once and for all.” She must have squeezed tighter because he began to choke harder. “I’ll aveng
e you, Enoch. I’m going to make him pay for what he’s done to you.”

  I didn’t think; I let my nature—my basic instincts—take over, and moved forward swiftly in the dark behind her and cracked the steel pipe over her head. Enoch fell to the ground coughing and cursing. I moved to help him, knowing he was going to be angry with me for not leaving. I didn’t realize how angry, however.

  “What the bloody hell are you still doing here?” he growled and jerked his arm away from my outstretched hand.

  “Saving you, looks like.”

  “Saving me!” he scoffed and stood, coughing the last bit as he looked around. “That is rich, little girl. Now you’ve done it. I tried to be the good guy and you instead had to be the big bad girl who saves the day, didn’t you?” His voice went up a few octaves as he mocked me. “Oh, look at me, I’m such a chick, I think it’s a good idea to sleep in my car in the middle of the night in a seedy neighborhood. Oh, look at me, I’m such a girl, I agree to get rooms with complete strangers for the night because I have nowhere else to go.” His voice was getting lower and more back to normal the louder and angrier he got. He moved toward me as he spoke. “And bloody hell, I think I’ll stick around and get myself killed after I’ve already been told to get lost when I see someone about to get his block knocked off when it’s obvious I have no business being there to begin with!”

  I felt the wall slam into my back and my eyes went as wide as they could go. I was staring at something that wasn’t possible. It was being fed to me in small pieces, this puzzle. He had said it, she had said it, and now I was staring it in the face—he wasn’t human.

  His neck and arms were lined in little blue veins that had only popped out when he’d gotten truly angry. All I could do was stand there and stare because I was truly, honestly, to my very core, terrified. Of him? Of what was going on? Of the fact that there was obviously things in the world that I didn’t want to know about? I didn’t know. But right then, I just knew that he was angry and looking at me as if he wanted to hit something. And I was the only thing that was around.

  I felt the breaths as they escaped my lips, in and out, but I didn’t move. His eyes searched my face for several long seconds that seemed longer than they actually were, I was sure, before he seemed to snap back onto himself. He looked down at my mouth and back to my eyes. Then his gaze wandered to his arm to find the little blue rivers, seemingly no surprise there, then back to my eyes. He sighed and took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a few beats before opening them, all the while keeping his hands at his sides, his fists tight.

  “Fay,” he said slowly as he looked right into my eyes, “don’t be afraid of me.”

  “You weren’t lying,” I whispered, “about needing to feed. You’re not human. I heard her say it and now…”

  “Just don’t be afraid of me,” he commanded softly and stared into my eyes. Weirdly, I felt calm—almost too calm—but I knew he wasn’t going to hurt me. He kept saving me. Why would he hurt me if he kept doing that? I nodded. He nodded back. “Good. Now,” he scowled now that that little…impediment seemed to be out of the way. “Why didn’t you leave when I told you to? I was a jackass to you. Why would you stay?”

  “I knew you were just being mean to get me to leave.” His scowled deepened. “And I knew you were just getting me to leave to keep me safe. You saved me earlier at the hotel when you could have just left and kept going, but you didn’t. You helped me. It wasn’t right to leave you, especially when you were so weak.”

  He groaned in a huff, looking at my throat, anywhere but my eyes in that moment. “I’m not weak, I’m—”

  “I’m not hurting your ego—”

  He laughed, a scoff more than anything. “Oh, really!”

  “I’m just stating a fact. You were weak. Whatever is going on with you…whatever it is, you’re not doing well,” I finished, sucking my breaths in slowly through my trembling lips. He noticed and watched them as he spoke.

  “You going to lie to me and say you’re cold again, little human?” he sneered, but his eyes were soft and I could tell it was all a front. He was just like me. He pushed people away so he didn’t have to deal with them. So he didn’t have to feel. Being alone was better than being disappointed. Someone had disappointed him before and he was trying his hardest to nip this in the bud.

  “No,” I breathed and lifted my hand to touch his arm. He pulled back, but I didn’t let him get away. I grabbed his wrist quickly and turned it over in my hands. I could hear his breath hissing through his teeth at my forehead as I looked down at our hands. “I’m not cold. I’m afraid.”

  “I told you not to be afraid,” he said softly. He pushed my fingers away gently and held my hand captive to stop my searching. “You won’t find any blue veins. It only happens when we can’t…contain our anger.” I looked up to find him watching me closely, curiously.

  “What are you?” I dared to ask though I knew…

  “No, Fay.”

  “Why?”

  “I need to get you out of here,” he said, but didn’t move. “You need to get as far away from me as possible. Run and don’t look back. Don’t ever think of me again.”

  I sighed and screwed up my lips. “That’s not going to happen. How can I forget?” He took a deep breath and it gave me pause as his grip on my hand tightened just a bit, just enough to be telling. “Can you…make me forget?”

  “No,” he answered quickly. “I can only help you feel better about things with my persuasion. Help you feel comfortable with a decision.”

  “I don’t want to leave,” I said harder. “I need to find my sister. She’s close. Don’t you dare send me away.”

  “That’s good.” He nodded, his black hair ruffling in the cold wind. “As long as you’re not with me.” I winced at his words a little, unable to stop myself. He saw and smiled a little, the cruel face making a reappearance. “Don’t forget that I don’t want you here. You need to leave as soon as possible.” He looked around and then down at the redhead. He jerked his gaze back up to mine. “In fact, I’ll get you a cab right now.”

  “Why are you so afraid? What happened to you?”

  He didn’t pretend to not understand. “I’m not afraid, Fay. I’m just not a good person. You don’t want to know me. Trust me on this. I’m doing you a favor.”

  He pulled me forward by my arm out to where the alley met the street. “I don’t believe you.” I tripped over the stony road and he yanked me back up. “I don’t believe you!” I said louder. “You’re being a coward.”

  “Why do you want to stay with me?” he asked harshly, turning me to face him. “You know that I’m not human. I’m. Not. Human.” He stared for effect. It was working. I gulped. “Why do you want to stay with me?”

  I decide for once in my miserable life since my parents died, I’d tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help me, God. “Because I try to be tough, but I’m not always. Because I might get into trouble again and there won’t be another good guy there to save me like you did. Because being alone sucks,” he sucked in a hard breath, but I kept going, “and I’m so close, I know it. I just want to find my sister and I’m afraid that I won’t and I’ll be alone forever.”

  He shook his head, his breathing rushing in and out. He squeezed his eyes shut. “Stop. I don’t want to feed off your sorrow.” He opened his eyes slowly, almost as if testing me to see if I’d still be there. He glanced back where we’d been and cursed. “I’ve got to get you out of here.”

  “What—” I looked back to see the redhead groaning and getting up. She was awake and rolling up to her feet. Impossible! “She needs stitches at the very least!” I protested. “She—”

  “She isn’t human,” he explained. I sighed and ran as he pulled me behind him. “She’ll be fully aware in a minute and be fully pissed on top of that. We need to—”

  A loud bang rang out through the alley as it ricocheted off the buildings. I covered my ears and looked behind me, expecting the redhead to be c
oming up the rear, but there was no one. When I turned back to face Enoch, his hand was outstretched in a fist in front of his face. When he opened his fist, a bullet fell to the road with a dull clang and my lungs refused to cooperate. “You caught that?” I whispered my anguished question. “Enoch?”

  He pushed me behind him roughly and kept his arm around me from behind. To keep me calm, to keep me from bolting, to keep me feeling safe as he growled his words to the group of the men that had suddenly come from out of the shadows? I didn’t know. But I gripped his arm tightly in response and tried with everything in me to keep it together as I looked to my left and right for a way out or something to use as a weapon.

  “So who is it now?” Enoch asked in a growl and pushed me with his back, forcing me to retreat backward. “Hatch and Reece are toast. I know that for a fact. I saw it with my own eyes. So who’s the piper now?”

  “Maybe I am,” the redhead sputtered and slithered her hand up one of the men’s arm. He shook her arm off and glowered at her.

  “You can’t even get a simple task done correctly, Angelina. He should be dead now instead of pestering us, but instead I’m going to have to kill him to get to the girl.” I gasped and felt Enoch’s hand tighten painfully on my arm.

  “The girl is a human,” he growled. “I picked her up a motel and was about to have my way with her before Angelina butted in.” His breaths puffed in the air in front of him. “What could you possibly want with a stupid feeler?”

  I flinched at the insult—not clearly understanding it—though I knew he was just trying to save me. The man tilted his head, clearly not fazed by Enoch’s speech. “She’s going to lead us to Clara.”

  I gasped, unable to stop it. “Clara! What do you want with Clara?”

  They all stood silent except for the man who had been speaking. He smiled. It was the most evil thing I’d ever seen. I covered my mouth with my palm, knowing my mistake had been grave, knowing I’d given the enemy exactly the ammo they’d wanted. I didn’t know why they wanted Clara. That didn’t make any sense. But it was Enoch’s reaction that surprised me the most. He looked at me over his shoulder, his jaw clenched, his eyes angry. “How the hell do you know Clara?”