Consume

by Shelly Crane

  I grabbed him around his neck and dragged him down to me. That was the end of any plights for sanity. He lifted me and carried me like that, kissing me and holding me with my legs around him all the way to the hotel. He pressed me to the wall by our room and tried to fish the key out of his pocket, but he couldn't stop kissing me to do it.

  And I had no intentions of stopping.

  Finally he jiggled the door open and we crashed through it. I heard Enoch muttering a curse, but Eli quickly threw me on the bed and grabbed them both by their shirts to throw them out. Enoch looked at us both and realization dawned. He yelled. "Friggin' Elf smoke! Eli, do what you want, man, but you know you're going to regret it later when the smoke clears." Eli shoved him out the door and started to slam it. "Eli, dude, you know I don't care, but…the bond. You're both going to regret this!"

  "Out!" Eli roared before slamming the door, dead bolting it and turning to me. He looked wild, and it fueled me to be not only bold, but brazen. I got up on my knees and beckoned him to me. He plowed into me as gently as our sudden need would allow and I fell back on the bed that I'd just sat up from.

  His mouth sucked on my earlobe before moving to my neck. I wrapped myself around him, willing to let all my beliefs slide away. It was unexplainable the way that I just…needed him, right here with me, just like this. My muddled brain said screw everything else and just let me feel Eli.

  His hand made a slow path from my knee to my hip to my side. His fingers squeezed. A noise I'd never heard before came from my throat. He looked up at my face and watched me. He couldn't seem to stop kissing me though, so with his eyes open, he kissed my lips in soft pecks, over and over. His eyes seemed to focus more as he worked something out in his mind.

  I was getting impatient. What was he waiting for?

  "Don't stop," I complained.

  His eyes snapped open widely at that and he kissed my lips, even as he dragged me from the bed. I clung to him as he carried me and the war waged on his face. He kissed my neck as he climbed into the tub with me. He pressed me to the wall and kissed my open mouth, deep and heady…

  Before turning the freezing cold shower on us both.

  I gasped, but couldn't seem to stop kissing him. Eventually the cold seeped into me and I started to feel clearer and more level headed. I pulled back from him and saw that he, too, was coming back to himself.

  Oh, my… I blushed as I realized that I had been attacking him and letting him attack me…we'd been about to….if Eli hadn't thrown us in the shower…

  He tipped my chin and shook his head. "It was the smoke. It was wrangling both of us. Don't feel like that."

  "I'm always safe with you, aren’t I?" I said as I recognized that he had saved us. I gulped.

  "Yes," he answered and kissed me again, but it was just a kiss this time. We sank down to sit in the tub and let the water flow over us. I was cold, but it didn't matter as we sat with our knees up and leaning on each other's. If the cold was what it took to keep a clear head until the smoke was gone, then so be it.

  "I think we're ok now," he said, his arm snaking around my shoulders to turn off the water. He sighed and whispered his words, "You trust me still?"

  "I trust you more now than ever."

  He smiled sadly and helped me up. We toweled off and he went to let them back in the room. I rolled my eyes and cringed as I heard Finn making cracks about me being 'virtueless' now.

  I took a deep breath and opened the door to the room. Then I felt something sear through my head, right in the front of my forehead. I gripped it and noticed my hand was blurry. Everything went red…and then everything was black.

  ~ ~~

  It smelled horrible, like feet and bleach. I wrinkled my nose and then heard a loud noise near my ear. I winced and shied away. Hands came up to my face, gentle and soothing. I knew those hands.

  "Eli," I said, but my voice croaked. What was wrong with me?

  "I’m right here, baby," he said. It sounded like I was talking to him through a window. And he sounded so distraught. I made my eyes open to take in the room. It was too bright and white. Eli immediately jumped up and pulled the string above my bed. The lights dimmed and I blinked to see him better.

  "Eli."

  "Right here, love," he repeated and smoothed my hair from my forehead with his fingers. He started to smile, but stopped and gawked at me.

  "What?"

  "Your eyes…" He could see I was about to get frustrated with having to drag it out of him, so he shook his head quickly and continued. "You have one green eye and one purple." He gulped. "Oh, God, please," he said to no one and then laid his head on my stomach.

  Ok, maybe he was speaking to someone. I barely heard his words as Eli begged God for my life. He made all kinds of promises and said he loved me over and over and over. I didn't know if God would be listening to a Devourer's prayer or not, but the things Eli was saying… He wasn't asking for me not to die as much as he was asking for me not to be like him.

  I touched his hair with my fingers, ignoring the tubes and then gasped as I felt something bury itself in my chest. It stung and barbed into me. It felt too hot, rotten…putrid. And when a startled Eli sat up and I saw the tortured look on his face, I knew exactly what it was. He was feeding me his sorrow and guilt. And I never, ever, ever wanted to feel it again. I understood now. Eli said he hated the way my fear and sorrow tasted. I couldn't taste anything, I even licked my lips to test it, but I could feel it. And it was horrifying.

  "Please, stop, Eli. Please," I groaned.

  "I'm sorry," he said and ran the backs of his fingers down my cheek, collecting tears. "I'm sorry."

  "Where am I?"

  "You fainted. I was so scared…I knew what was wrong with you was supernatural, but I couldn't just let you lay there and not do anything. I brought you here. They think you're dehydrated, which may be true, too." He grit his teeth, his jaw hard. "You didn't even eat any supper last night. And we spent all night in the club, dancing and sweating and… I'm not taking very good care of you."

  "I’m a big girl, Eli. If I wanted to eat, I would have said something."

  "But you didn't say anything because of the smoke. You didn't care about anything last night, you even let that Witch cut a skin sacrifice off of you!" he said vehemently and then closed his eyes as he inhaled a large breath. "I'm sorry. It was my job to take care of you, watch out for you, and so far I'm failing miserably."

  I saw his point of view, but I didn't want him to feel bad. I was responsible for myself. "Get me out of here?"

  He nodded without hesitation and helped me sit up. I took the glass of ice water on the bedside table and gulped it down. Oh, boy, I was thirsty. I asked him to pour another glass and drank that down, too.

  "Slowly," he coaxed. His eyes squinted as he looked away guiltily.

  I stood, but swayed a little. His arms snapped out to grip me. "I'm ok," I told him.

  "No. You're not," he said sullenly.

  He grabbed a hospital bag from under the bed and tossed it on the mattress. Then he put an arm around my waist and the other undid the ties of my hideous hospital gown. He took my sweater and put it gently over my head and shoulders. Then he pulled my gown down and finished the sweater by putting my arms inside.

  I felt ok, mostly, just tired and dizzy, but Eli apparently needed to do this for me. To feel like he was taking care of me, so I let him. And I managed not to blush at what he did next, but the doctor walked in just as Eli was letting me step into my skirt. Eli pulled it up and pretended he hadn't seen the doctor, who gawked and started to stutter about me being out of bed.

  "I think we're going to go," Eli said looked at him over his shoulder. "And you think it's a good idea, don't you?"

  "Um…"

  "Yes, it's a good idea," I said and stared at the doctor. He blinked and then nodded slightly as he turned to go.

  Eli gazed at me with equal parts wonder and horror. I did that; I made the guy leave with…persuasion. I looked down at my
feet. I had hospital slippers on. He lifted my face with his fingers delicately on my neck and jaw. He leaned forward and kissed my forehead. Then he picked me up in his arms under my knees and behind my back.

  I didn't have any shoes.

  He carried me that way all the way out of the hospital to our hotel room. It was only about five blocks. The sun beat down on us, but it felt heavenly to my tired body. Another headache had begun behind my eyes so I kept my face pressed into his neck until we arrived.

  Enoch and Finn were there, and Enoch was pacing. He stopped and stared when Eli entered, but Eli took me straight to the bathroom and closed the door. He turned on the bath water, the steam rising up quickly, and dumped the bottle of hand soap from the sink into it.

  When the bubbles started he came to me, all gentle touches and reassuring looks. He rubbed a thumb over my eyebrows and looked at my eyes. My mismatched eyes.

  "I won't look," he promised softly and without giving me time to over think, he pulled my shirt over my head. I looked down when he knelt at my feet to remove my hospital slippers. His eyes were closed as he finished undressing me and stood. He held my arm as I lowered myself into the bubbles. I sighed out loud and he took that as his cue to open his eyes.

  "Better?"

  I nodded. "Much. Thank you."

  "We need to get going as soon as you're done," he explained. "We have to take a boat the rest of the way. Are you going to be ok with that?"

  The thought of rocking on a boat for hours with this headache made me nauseas, but I nodded my head anyway. He spent the next thirty minutes kneeling on the floor beside the tub watching me. He leaned his head on his arm and took my soapy hand in his, lacing our fingers and massaging my skin.

  Eventually he had me lean forward and he washed my hair for me. I told him I was fine to get myself out. He smirked in tolerance and stood, closing his eyes as he held the towel out. When he wrapped it around me, he pulled me to him and hugged me. "Can you do me a favor?"

  "Sure. If I can."

  "Can you sit here while I take a shower?" He set me on the toilet lid. "I don't want you out there with them alone and I really need to shower."

  "Ok," I answered and turned my back to the tub. I picked up my hairbrush and tried to get all the tangles out as he started the water again. Within three minutes, he was done and standing behind me in his clean clothes.

  He went and got me some clothes out of my bag, but I assured him I was ok to dress myself. He sighed, but let me have it. I dressed quickly and threw my hair into a ponytail. I didn't put on any make-up or earrings. The mirror was not my friend today. She was telling me I had huge bags under my eyes and bruises on my arms from the IVs, and a large bandage - that the hospital must have replaced - covering my skin sacrifice. And the durable band-aid had survived the bath.

  I licked my dry lips, so confused as to why I was dying of thirst again. I opened the door and, surprisingly, Enoch was first to jump up and make his way to me. He stopped, his eyes wide and angry.

  "Now what?" he roared and looked at Eli accusingly. "What's going on?"

  "I don't know," Eli said in defeat.

  Enoch looked back to me. "Do you feel different?"

  "Yes," I answered truthfully. "I feel like…" I thought about how to word it and the description that came was too eerie and appropriate. "Like I'm being ripped in two different directions."

  "That's because you are," Eli said and came to me. "The Devourer and human blood are fighting for dominancy."

  Finn was on the far corner of the bed, watching us. Enoch looked at me with displeasure, probably because he'd been worried about me through the bond and he hated to feel anything for me. And Eli was focused on nothing but me. "I'm ready to go when you are," I told him.

  "I'll never be ready for this," he said quietly. He pulled out his phone and mumbled about it being dead, then picked up the hotel phone. "Yeah, I need a cab, please."

  "Why?" Enoch asked while Eli talked to the cab company. "Why do you have Devourer blood? The bond shouldn't have anything to do with that."

  "I…" I didn't really want to tell him that I'd licked Eli's blood before. "I put Eli's blood in me." His eyes widened. "It was an accident."

  "So…you're turning into a Devourer?" He grinned. "You're not going to be a filthy feeler anymore?"

  "Thanks, Enoch," I said dryly and went to go sit on the bed. He grabbed my arm to help me. I looked at him curiously. "Why are you helping me?"

  "Don't read too much into it," he replied and smirked. "But I have no problems being family if you're a Devourer. So as soon as all that feeler blood is out of your system, you and I will be all good."

  "It's killing her!" Eli boomed and threw the hotel phone across the room. It smashed into the wall, but he didn't care as he glared at Enoch. "Don't make this a joke! It's not. It's killing her, not changing her."

  "How do you know that?" Enoch scoffed.

  "Because you can't be made into a Devourer. You're born one or you're not."

  "Whatever. I think that Finn's right. If she's unbound, then you won't care so much anymore-"

  Eli went to him, nose to nose. "Don't." He took a deep breath. "You two stay here. We'll go."

  "Not a chance," Enoch refuted. "I'm not leaving her side until she's either a Devourer or unbound or…" he narrowed his eyes, "not breathing. I can't live with the nagging bond always calling me to her."

  "Then you keep your lovely comments to yourself," Eli growled.

  "Comments to yourself!" Cavuto squawked. "Raaayk!"

  "The last thing she needs is to worry about you two," Eli continued.

  He pushed passed him and grabbed my bag off the bed. My flip-flops were on top and he laid them at my feet. I slipped them on and didn’t say anything to anyone as he grabbed the bird's cage with my bag over his shoulder. He gripped my hand and walked with me out the door, not even looking back to see if they were coming.

  Fourteen

  The boat they chartered was small. I gulped as we stepped on board and Eli situated me on a leather bench. He paid the man and Finn just couldn't resist, thin ice be darned.

  "Why pay him at all?" he sneered and plopped on the bench across from us. "Just persuade him to take us!"

  "I don't do that anymore. I have the money."

  "So do I, but that doesn’t mean that you can't get a free ride once in a while. Two thousand bucks is a hefty price for a joyride across the water."

  Eli looked at me. "I'm not that man anymore."

  Finn shook his head and closed his eyes as he sang, "Kumbaya, my Lord! Kumbaya!" Enoch burst out laughing. Finn opened his eyes to see us glaring at him. "What? I thought we were having an open heart moment."

  "Bite me, Finn," Eli said and I caught his small smile he tried to hide.

  In reality, from a girl's point of view, yes, Finn was a douche bag. But from the guy's point of view - the best friend's point of view - he was trying to help him I guessed. If I was truly was bonded and committed to him, then I shouldn't have really been affected by Finn. I got it. I didn't like him, but I got it.

  "What now?" I asked Eli and put my aching head on his shoulder.

  "Straight to The Wall," he explained. "I'm not wasting a minute."

  Finn rolled his eyes, and then my phone rang. I jolted and grabbed it from my bag. We'd be out to sea soon and it wouldn't work anymore. I saw I had a couple of texts from Ariel and Mrs. Ruth was calling.

  "Hi," I said and tried to sound chipper.

  "Clara, hi, honey. How's everything going?"

  "Good. What's up?"

  "Well…" she stalled. "I just…I know we let you go, and in my mind it seems like a good idea, but I honestly have no idea why. I have no idea why we would think it was a good idea for you to go off somewhere with your boyfriend. It has me worried. Not about you," she said hurriedly, "just worried...in general."

  "Well, we needed to do some things, Mrs. Ruth," I said and watched Eli as I spoke. His interest was piqued. He looked confused. "I'll be b
ack soon, and I'm glad you trust me enough to go."

  "That's the thing, Clara. I don't." I sat, stunned. "It's not that I don’t trust you, or Eli, I just don't trust you alone together. You're very different with him than you were with Tate. More…serious. You love him, I can see it. That's why I'm so confused as to why I'm all right with you being gone with him."

  What could I say to that? "I'm sorry. I'll be home soon, ok? How is everyone?"

  "Oh, we're fine," she said happily, almost as if the rest was forgotten. "The kids are all taking naps at the same time now, thank the Lord. Pastor's been worried about you, though. He was a little upset that I let you leave, but I assured him you'd be back soon and that it was ok."