by Erin Hayes
I snarl and run towards him. He holds up his arm, and I catch it in my teeth as we both fall to the floor, with me on top of him. He screams as I shake him in my jowls, his uniform no match for me. With his free hand, he punches me, but I barely feel it.
I just want him to suffer.
Then things slow down for me as another Human raises something—a segif, I realize—and a blast of blue energy shoots out towards me. I react too slowly to get out of the way and the blast hits me right in the side. I’m thrown off the Human with a yelp.
I land on my side, feeling like there’s not enough room in my lungs to breathe. My fox form recedes, and I transform back into my mostly-Human form. I’m too weak to conjure up clothes, so I’m bare naked before everyone, as one Human runs away down the dark tunnel.
Escaping.
I should be unconscious, right? That’s how segifs work: they’re only meant to incapacitate, not kill. Except, my eyes are wide open, and I don’t pass out, despite pain rippling through my body. It’s as though the electric shock of regulation segifs was replaced with a blast of blunt-force trauma. Something’s definitely wrong with my abdomen. I watch as Kaleb appears like a shadow, attacking the Humans with deadly efficiency. His movements are too quick, too practiced for them to be able to counter, and I realize that there’s a reason why immortals live so long—they’re really good at defending themselves. Maybe because they’ve had so long to practice.
Kaleb corners the Human that shot me, pressing him up against the wall.
“No!” the Human cries, panicked. There’s pure terror in his voice. “Please, please!”
I see Kaleb opening his mouth, and that swirl of blue energy writhes in his mouth. The Human’s eyes widen as red energy leaves his own mouth, and Kaleb drinks it up, their two life forces combining into a deep violet color.
The Human stops struggling. And still, Kaleb keeps feeding, sucking more and more of his lifeforce away. I watch as the male ages, turning from a virile, young adult into an old man and beyond. His dark hair thins as his skin sags and goes papery. He slumps in Kaleb’s arms, his eyes closing forever more.
The last of the red energy leaves his mouth, and Kaleb absorbs it before he releases the Human. The husk of a man crumples into a brittle pile on the floor.
Now I see the full power of a shtrigu. And I’m terrified.
I still can’t breathe fully though. And that warning bell in the back of my head is turning into a loud alarm.
I think I’m dying.
I dimly feel something sticky by my cheek. Blood?
Kaleb’s golden eyes flick to me. “Stay alive, Serena,” he growls to me as he stalks over to the remaining Human, the one whose arm I had nearly torn off. He’s sobbing hysterically at what happened to his friend, his eyes wide in terror at the shtrigu that towers over him like a nightmare.
I move my mouth slightly to respond to Kaleb, that staying alive may be too hard.
“Don’t kill me,” the Human says. “Don’t—”
Rather than suck his life force, Kaleb throws one good punch, knocking him across the face and snapping his neck to the side. The Human falls limply to the ground amid his own puddle of blood from the wound in his arm. I see his chest rise and fall though.
Kaleb hasn’t killed him. Why not?
“Hey, Serena.” The shtrigu kneels over me, brushing a strand of my dark hair behind my ear. “Don’t die on me.”
Darkness edges into my vision, and I can’t seem to respond to the him. There’s no breath and no voice for me to speak with.
I see the hard-set line of his jaw as he considers his next steps. What he’s planning, I’m not sure.
“Do you trust me?” he asks.
If I could laugh, I would. As it is, I can’t. But my labored breathing must be answer enough for him, because he pulls himself into a sitting position, and takes my head in his lap.
“This may feel…strange,” he murmurs.
I can’t even ask him what he means by that. He opens his mouth, and I see that swirl of blue energy. No, he’s feeding off me. Taking the last few breaths of life that I have, he’s just going to take. I guess, if that’s what it comes down to, might as well make it count.
But still, I don’t want to die. I have too much to live for. My siblings. My mother. My future outside of the Complex. I can’t let it end here. I just…can’t.
I watch in morbid fascination as the blue swirl leaves his mouth…and enters mine.
Like he’s giving me his life force.
I feel whatever’s broken inside me knit back together, piece by piece. Healing whatever that segif did to me. I nearly sob in relief, except relief is replaced by something else, so rare to me that I barely recognize it.
Ecstasy.
I’ve had a few lovers in my time, before the Complex and before I was sharing a tiny space with my mother and eleven siblings. We had bigger quarters back on the ship during the war, which allowed for a bit more privacy for me and any of my boyfriends that I’d grown up with. Sex was an experiment. I enjoyed it, but it was neither great nor mind-blowing.
Nothing like this. And we’re not even having sex.
The feeling builds somewhere in my core, and I gasp in his arms as my release hits me. I arch my back against it. I go from dying to orgasming in ten seconds flat.
All because he gave me some of his life force.
No wonder San was so ready to jump into bed with him.
When I open my eyes again, I can’t keep the blush from my cheeks, because that just happened. And now I can’t help but wonder what else he could do, given what I just experienced. If he had full permission and full access to my body…
“Are you okay?” he whispers, ignoring my afterglow.
“Y—yes.” Even beyond my great climax, the pain is gone from my chest. I reach down my bare body, and while my hand is slick with blood, I’m whole. I don’t know exactly what happened nor how injured I was, but at least I’m not dying anymore.
“What was that?” I ask, my voice rough.
A small smile comes to his lips—lips that I want to taste in a more intimate fashion. “Remember how I said that I can give you pain or pleasure from feeding off you? The same happens when I give life force as well.”
“So you decided to give me pleasure?”
“Would you have preferred pain?”
I suck in a breath. No, I definitely preferred pleasure. I’m just so embarrassed with how I acted in his arms.
“I was trying to save your life.” The lump in his throat bobs nervously. “I didn’t want you passing out, especially in these tunnels. And—”
I pull him to me, fiercely kissing his lips, wanting to capture some more of that. He’s pliant, molding to my naked body as his hand explores my backside and then cups my ass. I growl as I gently tug at his lips, wanting more than just some energy.
I want to so much more.
“You’re going to make a mistake,” he says, his voice strangled.
“I nearly died and then you brought me back to life with that.” I give him a hard look. “So either you follow through with that, or we’re going to have a problem.”
He narrows his eyes at me before his own growl issues from his throat. I find myself hoisted up in his arms, as he walks both of us to the wall. I gasp as my shoulders hit the cold concrete. He holds me with one hand as his other undoes the button of his pants, pulling his length free. The shtrigu may be tall and lanky, but he has girth where it counts. And as he thrusts himself into me with one go, I trail my nails down his back with a strangled cry.
This is rough, unbridled sex. If there are other Humans nearby, they’d hear my panting as I ride him, holding on for dear life. He doesn’t go gentle—he just pumps his hips into mine. Sounds come out of my mouth—partly animalistic, partly coherent, and all sexual. My tails curl around us, and he knows exactly what to do. He strokes one with his hand, and I moan at the sensation.
When I’m just about to come, his mouth opens, and
another thread of blue energy leaves his mouth and enters mine.
And I come undone around him as my second orgasm hits me. He comes a second later, emptying himself into me, crying out my name into the fleshy part of my shoulder. I nip at his neck and his earlobe as he pulls back to look at me with those strange golden eyes of his.
“I can see why San likes you,” I murmur, stroking his cheek. He leans into my palm and kisses it.
“It’s borne out of necessity,” he says softly, as he buries his face into my neck, almost as if he’s embarrassed now. “This is going to…complicate things.”
I don’t know how to reply to that, but when he pulls himself out of me, my body immediately craves his touch, that missing part that made me feel so undeniably whole.
He’s like a drug, and I’m hopelessly addicted right now.
Then I realize that I’m still naked in these tunnels, and I gulp back the lump in my throat as I call up the winds around me to create my colorful robes. Kaleb winks at me. I try to hide my disappointment as he steps away from me and we both look at the remaining, unconscious Human.
“What are we going to do with him?” Kaleb mutters under his breath.
“We can’t call the Intra,” I say. After all, we had just killed one of his friends, so we may implicate ourselves in the process. “I guess we interrogate him ourselves?”
Kaleb’s eyes meet mine as he gives a lazy grin. “Let’s see what he has to say.”
Chapter 7
It takes another twenty minutes for the remaining Human to wake up. Long enough for Kaleb to search the nearby tunnels for the other Human. He’s long gone. I feel a little guilty, because we could have tracked him down if I didn’t recover in such a…horny…mood.
I keep stealing embarrassed glances at Kaleb. He made me feel like I have never felt before, and it was near where he had drained one human dry and I nearly died. At that point, I didn’t care what happened, I just wanted more of what Kaleb could offer me.
I was wanton, crazed. And it was so damn good.
I can’t keep it out of my head as I watch him kneel in front of the unconscious Human. We’ve wrapped his wounded arm to stem the blood flow. At least for now.
Kaleb snaps his finger right in front of the male’s face as he holds one hand on his throat. The Human groans, and Kaleb gets more insistent.
“Wake up, asshole.”
The Human’s eyes open, unfocused at first, but when they settle on Kaleb, he thrashes about wildly. His voice is strangled as he screams, but Kaleb holds him fast.
“Good morning, sweetheart,” Kaleb says with a toothy grin, his expression taking on a different tone. This is how I imagined shtrigan to be when he first arrived in my restaurant. Sinister, conniving. Nothing like the shtrigu who poured me tea in his apartment.
Or just fucked me up against the wall.
“I’m going to loosen my hold on you,” Kaleb says coldly, “and if you scream, I will drain you dry just like your friend over there.”
The Human’s eyes flick over to the dead hulk of a man and widen so far, his eyes nearly pop out. He looks at me, pleading without speaking. I hold my hands over my middle, remembering that the dead man was the one who shot me with the segif. I’m not about to show remorse
This Human thinks you’re inferior to him. Remember Ken.
I clench my jaw, steeling my gaze. The Human, finding that he won’t get any sympathy from me, looks back at Kaleb and nods. Slowly, tentatively, the shtrigu lessens his hold, and the Human finally gasps a full, shuddering breath.
“Who are you?” Kaleb asks. “And before you think about lying, know that I can read your mind, even with the implant.”
I try not to show my reaction to his words, knowing full well that he can’t. But the male nods, fully believing him.
“My name is Jerry.”
“Hi, Jerry,” Kaleb says with sugary sweetness. “Are you with Humans First?”
Panic enters the male’s face, and he gulps audibly. “Yes.” The single word comes out as a whine.
“Good, you’re telling the truth, Jerry, and that will help you live longer,” Kaleb croons, giving his cheek a playful slap. Jerry doesn’t take it playfully and he flinches at the contact.
The man’s terror doesn’t escape Kaleb, and he eases it off before Jerry has a heart attack. “You see this lady here?” He nods back towards me. “She’s searching for a little fox shifter. And we have it on good authority that your group is kidnapping Meta children for some reason. Why?”
I nearly snort, wondering if I’d consider San to be “good authority.” Then again, she was correct about Kaleb’s talents.
“I have no idea,” Jerry says, his voice breaking. “I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Oh, Jerry,” Kaleb mutters, clicking his tongue. “I thought we were friends. I guess you do want to end up like your buddy over here.” He opens his mouth and blue energy swirls within it.
“No!” He clips the word, realizing that he shouted it when Kaleb raises an eyebrow. He gulps again and licks his lips. “I mean, I don’t know why they’d be taking Meta children. There are different…groups within Humans First,” he adds. “If someone’s taking kids, I have no idea why or what for.”
“So you’re saying that you’re not in one of those groups?” I ask. It’s hard to keep the skepticism from my tone, and Jerry looks at me again.
“I’m just a grunt,” he whines. “I just do what they tell me.”
“And that hasn’t been to kidnap kids?” I counter.
Jerry shakes his head. “N—no. I’d never!”
“But you were just saying that a half-Meta, half-Human child is an abomination,” I say through gritted teeth.
He averts his eyes as his cheeks color. Not from embarrassment, but for being found out. I try to imagine myself in his shoes, but even after twelve years of war, I can’t bring myself to hate his kind enough to steal children or think that way.
Hate drives people to do ugly things
“He’s telling the truth,” Kaleb says softly. “Aren’t you, Jerry, buddy?”
The Human nods. “Yes. I have nothing to do with it. Please let me go.”
Kaleb looks back at me, something like amusement glittering in his eyes as he winks at me. I fight the urge to frown at him as he turns back to Jerry. “You see that we can’t just let you go, right, Jerry?”
Rather than protest, the Human starts sobbing at he looks at his dead companion. I feel a bit sick that we’re terrorizing this man, but what are we supposed to do? There aren’t a lot of options at this point, as we can’t just let him go.
I don’t want to kill him though. Not after everything that’s happened.
“Good thing you’re worth more to us alive than dead,” Kaleb says, and it catches both Jerry and me off guard. “You see, I have a mission for you, buddy.”
I can’t hide my confusion as Jerry nods vigorously. “Anything. Anything!” he cries.
Kaleb cups his cheek again. “I’m going to take something from you,” he says, “and if you want it back, you’re going to have to give me information about who’s kidnapping children.”
“What are you going to take from me?” the male asks.
“This.”
Kaleb opens his mouth, the blue energy swirling within his throat, brightening up the tunnels. I watch, mystified, as red energy leaves Jerry’s mouth and goes into Kaleb’s. They’re both locked in this stance for an excruciatingly long amount of time, until I’m wondering if Kaleb intends to kill the Human. A low keening comes from Jerry as he struggles futilely.
Then Kaleb shuts his mouth and the twin glows of light disappear. Jerry’s still alive, but there’s a haggard look about him. He looks like he’s aged about forty years, and then I realize that he has.
He huffs, clutching at his chest. He stays conscious though, unlike when Kaleb took energy from me. Probably by design. I’m only now realizing how powerful a shtrigu can be.
“I’ve t
aken a good seventy percent of your remaining natural life,” Kaleb purrs. “Which makes you physically about…sixty years old? Maybe seventy?” Jerry’s eyes widen in horror and even I have to cross my arms uncomfortably. “While you may lose your life way before that due to stupidity, I’m sure you want those decades back in case you could live a long time?”
Jerry nods and winces. I bet his sudden advanced age is hard on his joints.
Kaleb keeps going though. “Only I can give you back those years,” he says. “And I will give them to you if you find out where those kids are. And if you tell your group about our little bargain, you won’t ever get them back. And you will die in ten, twenty years at the most. You hear me?”
“Y—yes,” Jerry whispers, his voice raspy. He even sounds like an old man. “What do I tell them about Randall?” He tilts his chin towards the dead human.
Kaleb shrugs. “Same thing you’re going to tell them about your own state—you had a run-in with a shtrigu. You and that other Human escaped, Randall didn’t. I’m sure your people hate Metas enough to not question it.”
I wonder if we’re only adding fuel to the fire, but at least we didn’t kill a second Human tonight. Besides, I don’t think this could make them any angrier at us, if they’re already willing to kidnap children. And I’m seeing how this can help us locate Ken, so it’s worth it.
“How do I tell you what I find?” Jerry asks. Because he’s so terrified right now, he’ll do anything to get his lost years back.
“We’re going to borrow your friend’s communication device,” Kaleb says. “So just call him when you have information. We won’t be able to hear you as it’s not ours, so you’ll have to communicate visually. But it’s as easy as that.”
Great, now we’re going to have to carry around a dead man’s device in the hopes that Jerry can find out anything.
“And you’ll give me back my life if I do this?” Jerry asks.
Kaleb nods solemnly, and I know that he’s telling the truth. He may be a scary Meta, but he has his scruples. He’ll do right by this Human, even though Jerry may not be worthy.
“Okay,” Jerry says. “I’ll find out. I promise.”
