Chapter Seven (Part 1)

Idris and I didn’t speak for the rest of the day. We were both nursing wounds, though him more than me, and we were lost in our thoughts. There was still tension between us, sparking hot like electricity whenever our gazes happened to meet. Honestly, I wasn’t sure why we didn’t just call it quits right there and give up on watching the swamp. No one was going to be stupid enough to come back here. They would know we’d caught on to them and steer clear.

But there wasn’t much else we could do right now. Until Nen came up with a lead on a suspect, we were stuck here. With each other. Joy.

Even though Idris seemed to be regretful of his words and actions, he didn’t apologize. Every time he opened his mouth to do so, the words ‘I’m sorry’ balancing on the tip of his tongue, his brow would furrow angrily and he’d snap his jaw shut, glowering at the ground. Probably for the best that he didn’t bother. I wouldn’t believe him if he did say it. I didn’t want an empty apology anyway, because it would be just that – empty. Idris didn’t say anything he didn’t mean. Ever. And we both knew it. If he was apologizing, it wasn’t for what he’d said, but rather the fact that he’d lost control enough to let the words slip out from behind that façade of decency.

Honestly, I was surprised that it took as long as it did for us to get into a physical fight. I figured we’d argue about some stupid shit eventually and I would stick my fist into his obnoxious mouth. I didn’t think it would get as serious as it did this fast.

Him calling me a slut was unexpected, but I would have gotten over it. I’d been called worse. I didn’t give a shit about stuff like that. And while I still would have beat him up for it, I wouldn’t have gotten quite so fired up if he hadn’t mentioned him.

There was a line that I didn’t let anyone cross. Idris took a big fucking leap right over that goddamn line.

Night fell. The moon was nearly full tonight, casting a warm silvery-yellow glow over the swamp. Crickets and frogs began to sing, alongside noises from other monstrous creatures. Not that the frogs and crickets weren’t monstrous. Crickets in the venomous forest feasted on a number of things, from other crickets to spinal fluid. Frogs ate hearts. Didn’t matter what kind, if you had a heart, a frog wanted to take a bite out of it.

At the thought of food, I realized that neither Idris nor I had had dinner. I wasn’t really hungry though, and it took a moment to remember why that was.

Oh, yeah, I’d sucked a pint or two of blood out of Idris. No big deal. Not like he was the king of the gods or anything.

…Fuck.

Though I really didn’t want to, I figured I should probably feed the bastard something. I had taken quite a bit of blood, and while it wouldn’t make someone like Idris too weak, it would probably make him hungrier than usual as his body urged him to replace what he’d lost. And since he’d fed me, even if unintentionally, I should probably return the favor, just to be fair. I didn’t want to owe him anything.

So with a scowl, I dug around in my pack for another apple and a hunk of bread I’d wrapped up. I tossed them in his direction, once again not looking to see if he’d caught them. I settled in against my tree to take a light nap, letting Idris take the first watch.

I’m not sure what I was thinking, though, giving Idris food, because he immediately took it as an invitation to talk to me, when it so fucking wasn’t.

“Are you not hungry?” he murmured. I gritted my teeth, considered faking sleep, and rolled my eyes as I gave up.

“I already ate. You were my fucking dinner. Congratulations.”

Idris made a soft noise that I wasn’t going to try to decipher. And then, a moment later, “Did you get enough?”

Did Idris think he was my daddy or something, making sure I got enough blood in my belly? Fucking psycho.

“Are you offering?” I bit out sarcastically.

“Yes,” Idris replied, dead serious, and I scowled, whipping around to toss him a scathing glare. He stared back at me evenly, taking a casual bite from his apple. I curled my lip.

“Yeah, well, your blood tasted like garbage, so I don’t want any more. Get fucked.” A complete lie. His blood was delicious. But he didn’t need to know that.

“It seemed like you were enjoying it.”

“I was enjoying causing you pain. It makes me all tingly and warm inside.”

Though Idris’s expression didn’t change, the index finger on his left hand tapped angrily against his drawn-up knee, betraying his annoyance. I smirked at him, baring one of my fangs. Idris’s gaze caught on it and held, curiosity making him sit forward slightly.

“I didn’t know you had fangs,” he said. “No one else does that I know of. Why do you have them?”

I shrugged and leaned back against my tree, tired of looking at him. “I didn’t. Not at first. They grew in about a year after my creation.”

“Why?”

I sighed. Nosy as hell. But that was Idris for you. And I wasn’t quite sure why I continued to humor him.

“An adaptation. Blood was one of the only things safe for me to eat in the early days. The universe made it easier for me to get it.”

Idris was quiet for a moment, considering that. I didn’t tell him that the universe’s gift to me was a painful one, as if the universe was punishing me for living the way I was, even while making it easier for me to do so. I had a horrible aching pain in my gums for two months before the fangs came in. My mouth would bleed at random, sores popping up on my gums, the insides of my cheeks, and my tongue. I couldn’t chew anything for quite a while, feeling like my whole face was shattering when I bit down.

And because it was so painful, I spent most of those two months simply not eating. I lost twenty pounds, which was kind of dangerous considering I didn’t have much weight to spare in the first place. I was positively skeletal by the time the fangs finally pushed my canines out, sending them clattering to the forest floor, replaced by much sharper, longer teeth made for punching through flesh.

After the pain subsided, I was ravenous. I must have drained a hundred shadow creatures and other animals, tearing through them like rice paper. But my hunger was finally sated, and once I caught my breath, the wind brushed sharply over the blood drying on my mouth and chest, and at that moment I knew that the universe had done this to me, to help me. But it was angry with me too, not for the creatures I’d killed once I received the gift, but for something else. Clearly, the path I was taking was wrong, was not what the universe had planned for me, but it didn’t bother to tell me what it wanted me to do instead.

I could still eat food aside from blood. Once I’d built up an immunity to the poisonous fruits in the forest, I could eat those even though they did very little for me nutritionally. I could eat meat when I found an animal that was edible. I could eat bread and grains when I managed to sneak to Abdos to buy some.

But nothing kept me full like blood. And Idris’s blood was so potent, so powerful, that I probably wouldn’t need to eat again for days.

I fell asleep sometime later. It was a little warmer tonight, and given that I’d consumed liquid power that was warming me up from the inside out, I was actually sweating a little, which made the branches on my tree absolutely delighted at the treat. They suckled it eagerly, brushing gently over my skin like the caress of a lover. It was oddly comforting.

I woke in the middle of the night to the sound of fighting. My eyes shot open, scanning the area frantically until I spotted Idris kicking someone into a tree. The intruder hit the trunk with a sickening crack, but they must have been tough shit, because they shot right up.

A shaft of moonlight fell over the attacker, and I frowned. They were tall, just slightly shorter than Idris and I, but they were wearing a black cloak that concealed their figure entirely. They could have been male or female, bulky or skinny. Worse still, they had some kind of blue paint smeared all over their face, concealing their features, along with a gauzy black veil pulled over the lower half of their face. The hood of the cloak covered their hair.

A glint of teeth appeared behind the veil, a psychotic smile. It was too dark to see what color their eyes were, but the moment I stood up to stand next to Idris, their gaze was locked on me. I glared back.

“Who the fuck are you and why are you in my goddamn forest?” I demanded. Idris was tense next to me, and once I was beside him, he shifted forward slightly, as if shielding me. I ignored it, even though it made fury lick at my insides. I wasn’t a damsel in distress. I could kick ass like anyone else – which I had proven earlier when I beat the snot out of Idris.

The intruder didn’t say a word, but they did lift a single finger to their mouth under the veil, licking it lewdly with their tongue while keeping eye contact with me.