“Shh Bethany, I’m not going to hurt you. Stop, just stop.”
Tears slipped down my face, I couldn’t keep them in anymore. This was just too much to handle right now. It had been so hard for so long, but this this was going to be my snapping point. I could feel my mind unraveling rapidly; feel everything within me spinning wildly out of control.
“Oh Bethy,” he breathed. “Please don’t cry.” His head fell against mine; he inhaled a shaky breath as he held me tight. He actually seemed genuinely distraught, but I knew he was not genuine about anything, he never had been. A sob lodged in my throat, my broken heart kept beating. “Let me explain love, let me…”
Noise from the hallway cut him off. He stiffened, his hard muscles locking against me. Though I couldn’t see him, I could feel the blackness against my back as it crept over him, seeping through his eyeballs, bleeding through his veins. A primitive growl escaped him, his hold on me tightened as running footsteps approached.
Cade slipped further into the shadows, carrying me easily with him as he moved. I started to struggle against him, wanting to be free, wanting to alert the people approaching to the danger that lurked within this room. That had always lurked amongst us. The danger I had so fervently and desperately wanted back. But Cade held me easily and with a rigid strength that was impossible to break free from. We reached the back corner of the room. I had a brief moment of hope as Cade let go with one hand to reach for something behind him. I lurched against him, but he grabbed me back, pinning me against him as three people burst into the room. I had a brief flash of Bret as light filtered on, but Cade had already pulled us into the other ballroom and away from all promise of salvation.
CHAPTER 15
Cade didn’t release me until he had carried me deep into the woods. I felt as if we had walked for miles, and going by the strength and speed that I now knew he possessed, we probably had. The moment he set me on my feet, I tried to run. He grabbed hold of my arm and pulled me back with surprisingly gentle ease. I was brought up sharp against his chest, my arms pressed against the hard flex of muscle beneath his blood spattered cotton shirt. His eyes were dark, fierce as he stared at me, but at least they were back to normal now. His eyebrows were drawn sharply together over his nose, his jaw clenched.
I glared defiantly back at him as I struggled to break free of his tight hold. “I am not going to hurt you,” he snarled.
“How do I know that?” I demanded breathlessly. “How can I believe anything that you say, anything that you do!?”
He watched me for a moment longer before he released me suddenly. Holding up his hands, he walked a couple of steps away. “Because I have never hurt you before, and I never will.”
I blinked at him in surprise, torn by what he was saying, and everything I had just witnessed. What I had just seen. He’d lied to me repeatedly, he’d pretended to be something he wasn’t. He’d pretended to be human. I was filled with the heartbreaking certainty that I didn’t know him at all. “You’ve lied to me repeatedly. I have no idea who or what you are.”
Anger filtered over his features, though the black did not return to his face, I could sense it lurking just beneath the surface. “You know exactly who I am. I’m the person that’s kept you alive. I’m the person you claimed to love.”
“But you’re not a person,” I breathed.
He recoiled as if he’d been slapped. For a moment guilt and uncertainty flared hotly through me. I was ashamed of myself. I didn’t know who he was, I wasn’t entirely certain what he was, but he had saved my life. Many many times he had saved my life, and no matter how betrayed and deceived I felt I still loved him, I always would. Even if he tried to kill me. I didn’t want to cause him any hurt, I didn’t want him to feel like I felt right now, but I couldn’t stop myself from striking out at him.
Couldn’t stop myself for inflicting some measure of hurt on him, because I was so unbelievably hurt by him.
“No,” he agreed. “I’m not.”
The blunt admission was like a cold blast of water against my heated skin. I had known it, I had seen it, but I hadn’t truly believed it until that moment. Hadn’t fully understood it until he confirmed every horrible thought, emotion, and fear that tangled within me. “What did they do to you?” I breathed. Even as I asked the question I knew that I was wrong. This hadn’t been done to him.
He looked at me over his shoulder, his eyes narrowed as he scowled. There was so much anger in him, so much murderous rage still lingering beneath the surface that I found myself taking an instinctive step away from him. I didn’t know him, not anymore, but I was strangely certain that he still wouldn’t hurt me. “They didn’t do anything to me. I was born this way.”
My mouth dropped, my legs began to shake as he confirmed what I had suspected. I thought I was going to fall, thought I was going to melt into a puddle of boneless goop right there on the forest floor. How could I have been so wrong about everything? “How… how is that possible? I’ve known you…”
My voice trailed off, I leaned heavily against the tree behind me. Cade had been five when his family had moved to town. Cade’s family had been wealthy; his father a prominent lawyer whose own father had once been a congressman. Mr. Marshall had been intending to run for office himself when he was killed. Cade’s mother had been a teacher in our elementary school and had enrolled Cade there. She’d been a sweet woman who always smelled of raisin cookies and Play-Doh.
Cade and Aiden had been in kindergarten together. A year behind them, I was not yet in school when Aiden brought Cade home for the first time. I remembered that day vividly, I always would. I could recall him standing there, skinny and disheveled, as he’d played catch listlessly with Aiden. I remembered being struck by the fact that he seemed to take no joy in the act of playing as other children would, as Aiden did. Cade had been wearing a spider-man shirt and jeans, and his face had been emotionless, until he’d seen me. I hadn’t known it at the time, I was too young I couldn’t have, but the shocked look and wide eyes that had transformed his face would forever be in my heart. Forever be a part of me.
Aiden had tried to shoo me away from them, annoyed to have his little sister trying to interrupt his time with his new friend. Cade had insisted that I stay and play with them; he had in fact taught me how to throw the football the best he could with my small hands and uncoordinated movements. He’d come as Aiden’s friend, but there had been an instantaneous bond between us. He had never treated me as Aiden’s annoying younger sister, he’d always been kind, patient and gentle with me in a way that neither Aiden, nor any of his other friends, ever had been. I hadn’t known what love was then, but I did now, and I recognized the fact that I had loved him even then. Had loved him from the moment my eyes landed on him in his comic book gear.
Cade spent the next three years at our home nearly every weekend, and at least a few days a week after school, he would come over. If Aiden went to his house, I would also be invited along, though I wasn’t allowed to spend the night when Aiden did. Cade had stopped coming over immediately after his parents were killed in a botched home robbery. He had pretty much faded from my life after that. Though he was placed into foster care, we had continued to go to the same school, but where he had once been a constant presence in my life, a steady friend, he barely spoke to me again. I had been hurt by his abrupt dismissal of me, but I had been a child, and I had moved on. Until the night of my father’s funeral, when Cade had come back to me, comforted me and allowed me to cry when I would not cry in front of the others. And then he had disappeared from my life again afterward.
Cade had gone out of his way to avoid me until the attack began, though I’d often caught him watching me in the halls or in class. I hadn’t known how to approach him again, hadn’t known what to say to him. The older he got the more intimidated I became by his good looks, and the aloof air that set him aside from a lot of the other boys in school. And then there had been Bret, and though I had been acutely aware of Cade still watching
me, I had tried to move on with a life that had not included him in almost ten years.
Then The Freezing had occurred, and he hadn’t left my side until they had taken him from me. I’d thought they’d killed him, that they were torturing him. Instead they had just brought him home. They had just taken him back to where he belonged, and it was not here, it was not amongst us. It was not with me.
“Lies. All of it, everything. It’s all been lies.” My voice was choked, hoarse. I could barely think straight let alone speak well as my head spun with the implications. “Oh shit,” I moaned, closing my eyes as waves of anguish washed over me. “Oh hell.”
“Not all lies,” he said softly. “Not everything Bethany. I couldn’t fake my love for you.”
A single tear slipped free. It left a cool streak on my heated flesh as it ran down my cheek. I didn’t know what to believe, what to think. I didn’t know which way was north and which way was south. Didn’t know if up was down or down was up. The world lurched sickeningly, my hands clutched at the bark of a tree as I struggled to keep from passing out.
Pressing my forehead against the rough bark of the trunk, I clung to it for a long moment as I inhaled deeply and repeatedly. It took a few moments but eventually I was able to regain control of my body, I was not so lucky with my mind or heart. I didn’t think I would ever regain control of those.
Finally, I was able to lift my head and look at him again. He had retreated to the other side of the clearing. His arms were folded over his chest, his face and posture defensive as he watched me wearily. I was surprised, and slightly angered, by the hurt I sensed radiating from him. He was angry and hurt? He wasn’t the one who had been lied to this entire time. He wasn’t the one who had just realized their boyfriend was some kind of monster that fed on blood and whatever else that black thing that oozed from Ian had been seeking when it penetrated me.
His eyes were hooded, distant. “Do you want me to leave?”
“No!” The word popped out of my mouth before I could stop it, out of my mouth before I even had time to consider a response. I wanted to scream in rage and frustration, wanted to pull my hair and stomp around the clearing like a two year old throwing a tantrum. I wanted to tell him yes, that of course I wanted him to leave! He had lied to me. He had been deceiving me for years; my pride and trust were bruised. They were demanding to be salvaged somehow. The word stuck in my throat though. I could only stand there and stare at him, wounded, hurt, confused by everything rapidly unfolding around me.
But the last thing I wanted was for him to leave. The thought of it was even worse than living with my kicked ego. I couldn’t lose him again. Not again. But how could I trust him? I knew nothing about him. Or did I?
I watched him as he moved with lithe grace away from the edge of the woods. The shadows played over his hard, enticing features. There was no sign of the blackness, no sign of whatever it was that lurked within him; something that I had never even suspected lurked there until recently. He could have killed me years ago. He hadn’t. He could have killed us all; he could have allowed Ian to kill me. Instead, he had killed for us, he had helped us to escape the Cape, and he had exposed himself to me tonight. He had killed for me tonight. One of his own apparently.
I was hurt and I was angry, but I had to listen to him. I owed him that, owed him more in fact, but right now all I could give him was my ear.
I swallowed heavily as he continued to move slowly. He stayed a good distance away from me, but I did not kid myself into thinking he couldn’t grab hold of me in an instant. That there wasn’t far more power and strength in him than I had ever thought possible. “I’ll tell you anything that you want to know.”
I took a deep breath. “I want to know it all.”
He was silent for a long moment, his shoulders stiffened briefly as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “There are some things you aren’t going to want to know.”
I was certain that there were. I was just as certain that I had to hear them; that I needed to hear them. “I know.” His gaze slid to me. “But I have to know Cade. No more secrets.” He quirked an eyebrow at me, his head tilted slightly as he watched me. His slow nod encouraged me to go on. I didn’t know where to start, but I thought perhaps the beginning would be best. “You’ve been here since I was a child, how is it possible that you’re one of them when they arrived only a year ago?”
He sighed softly, his arms folded over his chest. “We’ve always been here.”
I sputtered; something icy ran through my entire body. I had thought that there was nothing more that could shock me, I knew now I was wrong. I had a feeling that by the time he was done I was going to be shocked a few more times. I braced myself for that eventuality. “Excuse me?” I breathed.
“Over the years, throughout history, we have always been here. Monitoring, watching, keeping track of your developments, and your technologies. We’ve even aided in some of your own advancements. We’ve also come in search of food before.”
I shuddered. We both knew that when he said food he didn’t mean steak. “I’m not sure I understand.”
He nodded, took a deep breath, and then plunged in. “Our planet, from what I’ve heard of it, is similar to earth. Hence our similar appearances. My people raped it, nearly took everything they could from it, drained it of life, blood, and nourishment. When they realized what they had done they began to make trips to find other planets to harvest from. There were fifteen in total.”
My eyebrows flew up, my mouth parted on a soft gasp. “Fifteen?”
“There are three left, including Earth that they haven’t harvested yet and pushed to the brink of extinction. For now. They’ve raided those planets, took what they could, and left them behind. There were few survivors left but I’m sure those numbers have increased by now.”
My mouth opened, it took me a moment but I finally managed to form a question. “Why would they do that?”
“They destroyed their own planet; do you honestly think they care about others? The survivors were left…”
“For a later time. Another harvest.” I felt ill, but the words escaped me before I could stop them. I somehow managed to keep my composure even though I was rapidly unraveling.
“At first, it wasn’t that way. At first they just went on missions to collect supplies…”
“People?”
“Not every planet calls themselves people, or humans.” That didn’t make what he was saying any better. “The supplies were then brought back to our planet for everyone. Some were kept alive, for breeding purposes.” Yep, I was going to be ill. “Others were slaughtered outright in order to feed the hungry.”
“How did we not notice this?” I demanded.
“It was noticed. There have been mass disappearances throughout history. The lost colony of Roanoke in fifteen ninety, the Anjikuni Eskimo village was nearly two thousand in Nineteen thirty.” I choked at the number, gagging at the mere thought of so many lost. So many souls trapped, or taken. And yet it was nothing compared to the numbers we had lost now, numbers that were so high they were almost impossible to comprehend. “In nineteen thirty-seven, near Nanking, three thousand Chinese soldiers disappeared while fighting the Japanese. The USS Cyclops disappeared in nineteen eighteen with three hundred and six sailors aboard. It was considered to be one of the victims of the Bermuda Triangle, a place that supposedly claimed many lives. There was also…”
I held up a hand, warding off any further descriptions of death and horror. Any further description of souls that had been unwillingly taken from Earth. “So long, you’ve been coming here for so long.”
“Even longer. Those are just the ones that were written about. There was a time when people were far more isolated then they are now. It was not hard for an entire group to disappear without drawing any attention. Our society is far more advanced than yours. They are capable of many things that you couldn’t even begin to imagine.”
Anger spurted through me, I quirked an eyebrow at him
. “Obviously,” I retorted.
“Is it any worse than humans that kill for pleasure or greed? We were starving.”
“You destroyed your own planet!”
“So are you.”
Righteous fury simmered through me, a muscle twitched in my cheek, but I could not argue his words. He was right in some ways, but in others he was completely wrong. “It’s not the same and you know it. We are not destroying other worlds!”
He sighed softly. “You’re right you’re not. But if you’d had the ability to find them what do you think might have happened?”
I glared fiercely at him, more enraged by his words than I was his betrayal. “Do not try and justify what your kind has done. I don’t know what would have happened, but I do know that we would not have brutally slain so many. We are not you.”
He stared at me for a long moment, then the anger left his face and his shoulders slumped slightly. “You’re right. Humans may be brutal and thoughtless, but you are nothing like my kind. We may be similar in appearance but that is where all resemblances end, at least for most anyway.”
Some of my anger melted at his admission. “Why, why did they keep coming back after taking all of those people? If they kept some for breeding…” I choked on the word, disgusted by its implications.
“Because supply no longer met demand.” My eyes widened, I was repulsed by his words, and the coldness with which he delivered them. “My people may be technologically superior, but they are greedy and set in their ways. They are not willing to change; they are unwilling to curb their ferocious appetites for the greater good.”
“They’ll just continue to ravage planets instead?”
“I didn’t say it was a great plan.”
“Obviously not.”
“I know nothing of my world Bethany. Nothing. I have never seen it and I never will. I barely know anything of my people. I was born on a ship, and I was delivered here when I was two. My people are nearly emotionless, love is not known to them. It is not understood, it is not exchanged. We are cold; we take what we want, when we want it, and we do not take no for an answer. No matter what it is that we want, food, drink or sex, we do not deny ourselves. Ever.”
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