Devour

by Shelly Crane

  Before I could speak I heard a growl off to the side. We both looked in that direction to see Eli. I wasn’t surprised to see him. He’d told me he was coming over, but I was surprised to see his face at least a shade too red to be normal and the veins in his neck and arms were blue. Yes, blue and bulging. He shook with rage and I felt a second’s spike of fear as he speared his brother with a glare.

  His gaze immediately shot to mine and he visibly calmed; his veins seemed to be less prominent and his fist shook less as he heaved a long breath.

  “Don’t be scared of me, Clara,” he said gruffly.

  “Have you looked at yourself, brother?” Enoch chimed happily but didn’t release me nor back away. “I haven’t seen you this enraged since I stole that girl from you in Philadelphia.”

  “That was over a hundred years ago and I was stupid back then. I am not the same, as it seems to so easily escape your grasp, brother,” he spat.

  “I’m not the only one who lets things slip their grasp.” He leaned back a little but held me firmly to the wall. Eli’s eyes shifted to the space between us and his eyes widened to impossible half dollars. Then his gaze settled on me.

  Anyone else would have been frightened out of their mind. But you see, the look on Eli’s face was something indescribable. The way he felt for me, the affection, the care, the...love, was all over him as if I could see it written in ink there.

  “Clara,” he said, his voice was almost a beg.

  I didn’t understand what was going on but, I wasn’t scared of it either. Enoch interrupted anything that was going on between us.

  “You see?” He turned to look at me again and sneered. “I couldn’t hurt her even if I wanted to. So you can relax, little girl.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked in a harsh whisper.

  “You don’t see that?” Eli asked.

  “See what?”

  “Come here, Clara. Enoch, let her go.”

  Enoch’s hand gently released my wrist and he backed away. I made a swift move to Eli who had completely returned to himself. He was no longer filled with rage, and his eyes never left my face.

  I let my fingers smooth the skin of his neck over a vein, plump it pumped his blood, but was invisible now. I asked the silent question with my eyes as I took my hand away.

  “Forgive me for that. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “What was that?”

  “It was protection,” Enoch said across the porch. “He thought I was hurting you.”

  I ignored him.

  “What do you see that I don’t see?” I asked Eli.

  “We’re bound,” he said, barely a whisper, in fact I really just read his lips.

  “What does that mean,” I asked in the same fashion.

  “It means that Enoch is correct. He can not hurt you…because he too is bound to you.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “There’s a string…” His fingers moved between us into clear air and nothingness. “Why can’t you see it?”

  “A string?”

  “There’s a barbed strand here…between you and I and between you…and Enoch.”

  I gulped. I glanced at Enoch and he was stoically watching me. He didn’t look like he was surprised so he’d apparently already seen it. I looked back to Eli. He touched my face softly, almost as if seeing if I was real. I heard Enoch tell him, “No, don’t,” but I didn’t understand why. Then my gaze snapped alive with a new brightness.

  Although it was darker I could see better than before. Like it wasn’t dark but a bright sunny day. The colors of Eli’s white shirt and black button up and the grass below us was contrasted to high definition levels. But most importantly, I saw the string attached around my wrist and his. It was black and barbed as he said, like it hooked into us like barbed wire, taut and ridged, but I didn’t feel anything. It had a haze around it and the ethereal look of it made it seem smoky and unfocused.

  His fingers barely caressed my cheek and then slid down my neck and arm. When he looked back up his face changed. He tilted his head to look more closely into my eyes. His jaw dropped slightly and a stunned breath blew across my face.

  “I told you to stop,” Enoch said behind us. “Idiot.”

  “What?” I said confused. I felt a prickle of unease shoot through me that whatever he was going to say wouldn’t be something I’d be thrilled about.

  “My eyes.”

  “What about them?”

  “Your…I completely forgot. Your eyes…are like mine now.”

  “What do you mean?” My heart pounded. “They’re purple?”

  “No, they’re green, but you can see like me. When I touched you I gave you my perspective. The green is just a backlash, some kind of mishap or something. We have no idea why they turn green instead of purple but it happens when the two bound ones touch for the first time. You noticed the sight?”

  “Yes,” I answered and looked around again, “everything is brighter and more focused.”

  “How are we going to explain this to your guardians?” he mused more to himself.

  “Wait,” I asked in my most calm voice. “My eyes are really green? Really?”

  “Yes,” he nodded solemnly, “and they’ll stay that way.”

  I wanted to panic and I wanted to do…something. But I knew my reaction was important right now. The way Eli viewed me and handled me from now on hinged on my reaction to this moment; my reaction to something supernatural and awe inspiring happening to us. We were bound somehow. And that part of the equation thrilled me. It was the other stuff that was making me want to bolt. I thought long and hard about my next statement. One, to make sure I wasn’t lying to him and the words were true and two, to make sure my voice was calm before I said them.

  “Well…I’ll tell them I got contacts or something. I’ll tell them I was tired of blue,” I tried to come to a solution when really, weirdly, strangely, I found it oddly satisfying that I was in possession of something that only Eli could give me; his view of the world.

  It hadn’t really hit me that this might change my world entirely. It scathed by my thoughts that things may be different in every way but Eli seemed to function, so could I, right?

  “Maybe,” he thought, “but they are really green, Clara. In the mean time, put these on.” He took the aviator glasses hanging on his shirt collar and put them on me. I grimaced and wrinkled my nose. “What?” he asked me, his lip twitching as it fought a smile.

  “Aviators are so not my style.”

  He laughed and smoothed my hair before saying, “Please try not to be such a girl right now.”

  “I am a girl,” I countered.

  “A girl who looks fine in my sunglasses,” he insisted with a little smirk. “Besides, we have bigger things to worry about.”

  I looked back down between us to see the barb connecting our wrists and looked back up to Eli’s face.

  “What does this mean? What is this?”

  “It’s a linkage,” he explained in a soft voice. “A bond.”

  “Like what you were talking about before? Because I’m your…mate?”

  “Not quite,” he answered carefully.

  “Tell her, brother,” Enoch said snidely. “Tell her what it means.”

  “Shut up.” He looked at me closely and carefully. His face was lit with a glow I’d never seen before. He almost smiled. “Later,” he promised in a low rumble.

  “Why not now?” I insisted. “I’m not exactly known for my patience.”

  Enoch laughed, “Oh we can see that.”

  “Shut up,” Eli told him again and looked back to me. “I will explain, but not right now. Besides…” He stepped back and stuck his hands in his pockets. “Pastor, good to see you again.”

  Pastor had just turned the corner and look up startled.

  “Oh. Eli, hello. And…” He looked at Enoch with a hilarious expression. “Eli?”

  I giggled nervously and both Eli and Enoch chuckled.

 
“This is Eli’s brother, Enoch,” I told him.

  “Nice to meet you, Preach,” Enoch stated and shook his hand. “I’m just visiting my little brother here from out of town.”

  “I thought you were twins?”

  “We are. But I was born first.”

  “By 6 minutes and he never lets me forget it,” Eli offered. He extended his hand too and smiled. “Good to see you again, sir.”

  “You too, son. You staying for dinner?”

  “If the Mrs. will have me.”

  “I’m sure she will. Enoch?”

  I started to butt in and state that he was absolutely not staying but he declined.

  “Nah. I’m on a strict diet, but thanks anyway.”

  “Ok,” Pastor said easily but quirked a brow at him. “Do you mind if I ask where you’re from? Your accent is more pronounced than Eli’s. Where did you boys grow up?”

  “Amsterdam,” Enoch answered while Eli said, “Africa.”

  Eli laughed and then said, “We moved around a lot, lived all over. I guess that’s why our accents are hard to place.”

  “Huh,” Pastor said. “Well, good to meet you, Enoch.”

  “And you as well,” he answered slowly.

  Pastor turned to look at me and cocked his head, looking thoroughly amused.

  “Sunglasses at night? Do I want to ask?”

  “I wouldn’t, Pastor,” I said grinning, trying to deflect. “It’s a Diva thing.”

  He laughed and nodded. As soon as he went inside I turned to stare at both of them.

  “Answers,” I demanded.

  “All in good time, princess,” Enoch said grinning. “You need to enjoy your family dinner and I need to…trick some silly girl into feeding me. We’ll meet somewhere tonight and discuss it all.”

  I groaned and turned away, disgusted. Eli grasped my fingers and I looked at the barbed string connecting us all. I turned back to the door. Although I was in awe of the whole situation, I didn’t want to think about how Enoch got his kicks.

  “Get out of here,” Eli told him. I heard footsteps retreating and then Eli’s arms came around me from behind. “I’m sorry.”

  There was so much in his sorry; hurt, love, trust…regret. I turned in his arms and looked at him. What was he sorry for? As if he read my mind he answered me.

  “I’m sorry for dragging you in my world.”

  “I’m not exactly kicking and screaming,” I said coyly.

  He didn’t laugh at my joke. He lifted my hand and placed it to his cheek. He inhaled the skin at my wrist and rubbed his scruffy chin on my palm. He then kissed it and held on to me as he pulled me inside to have dinner with my family without another word.

  Twelve

  “I’m sorry you’re not feeling well. We could have done this another time, Clara,” Mrs. Ruth said in response to my ‘migraine’ excuse for wearing sunglasses at the dinner table.

  “It’s ok, it’s not too bad, I just wanted to head it off, you know?” I explained and she nodded.

  “So, Eli, where are you planning to go to school?” she asked him as she spoon fed one of the babies.

  “I’m not sure, to be honest. I’ve thought about moving away somewhere. Like Colorado or something.”

  “What’s in Colorado? A certain school you’d like to go to?”

  “Well…I actually already took my core college classes, I just need to figure out my major. I’m just not sure what I want to do yet, but I‘d love to live somewhere really secluded. Maybe finish college online.”

  “Ahh. Well, Clara would miss you,” she said with certainty. Eli and just looked at each other over our rice pilaf.

  “Well,” Pastor replied, “I for one think it’s commendable that you’ve got a head start on college. Clara, it would seem, isn’t all that interested,” he said, stating facts.

  “I’m a little confused right now…on what I want to do and what my parents wanted me to do,” I muttered. I hadn’t even realized I’d said it out loud until I felt Mrs. Ruth’s hand on mine. I glanced up to see everyone staring at me in understanding. “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be sorry,” she said and patted my hand. “And don’t worry about the dishes. You guys go on and do something, I’ll get them.”

  “Would it be alright if I took Clara to the park for a bit?” Eli asked cautiously.

  “Sure,” Pastor said easily, “as long as you bring her home-“

  “By midnight,” I answered for him and laughed as I grabbed Eli’s hand to drag him with me. “I know.”

  “Have fun, kids, and be careful.”

  “We will,” I called and shut the door. I didn’t bother to grab anything. “So,” I started, “we’re meeting your jerk of a brother at the park?”

  “Yep.”

  “Did you text him or something? How do you know that?””

  “We’re family. We can call each other in our minds but I’ve been blocking them all out for years. I opened up and told him where.”

  He grabbed my hand after we crossed the four lane.

  “So, you see this way all the time?” I asked as I squinted at the streetlights. “It’s strange. It’s not like night vision, it’s just…bright.” I again felt a tick of nervousness as having to see this way all the time. What would things look like in the day time? What was I going to do about my green eyes, that I hadn’t even seen myself yet?

  “It’s ok,” he assured me and squeezed my fingers, “it’s normal.”

  “I think we are well past the realm of normal, Eli,” I muttered even as I continued to take in my surroundings. The string between us was particularly interesting. I copied his earlier movements and wrapped my fingers around it, almost expecting it to cut me with its sharp looking barbs. It floated between my fingers and my palm and it seemed to flex and move with me, like I was a part of it. Or it was a part of me. I couldn’t feel it between my fingers and it didn’t make any sense.

  I pulled him to a stop.

  “Please tell me what this means,” I said on a voice that left no more room for stalling. He nodded.

  “I want to explain it to you before Enoch shows up anyway.”

  “Ok,” I edged.

  “This,” he moved his fingers along the string, “means that we’re bonded.”

  “And that’s different than just being your mate?”

  “Yes,” he said quietly. “When we choose a mate, that’s exactly what it is. We feel a connection with you and choose to keep you and you don’t really have much say. Yes, you feel strange around us and you feel connected but other than that, technically you could walk away and be fine if we let you. But this…this linkage is a decision, Clara.”

  “A decision? What…you decided to bond yourself to me?”

  “No, Clara.” He paused for an agonizing dramatic affect. “You did.”

  “What?” I said in my stunned high voice. “How could I have known? I don’t even know what you’re saying.”

  “I’m saying,” he said softly and pulled me to him. His hands held my waist loosely, as if he was telling me he wanted to touch me but wasn’t holding me against my will. I could leave when I wanted. “You may not have realized what it meant, but somehow, you made the decision subconsciously…that you wanted to keep me.”

  Even though this was Eli, even though we knew there was more between us than some lame crush, I still flushed at his implication. I saw his smile as he gazed at me, but oddly he didn’t flinch or gasp as he registered my emotion. And his smile was genuine, not cocky, not smug. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath, my hands made their way to his upper arms.

  “So you’re saying that this is my fault,” I said and motioned between us. “I don’t understand how this is different from the mating thing.”

  “When we mate, like I said, it’s something that happens to us both but ultimately, it’s almost slavery. They really shouldn’t even call it a mate because it’s anything but romantic. A consort is more like it. The Devourer owns them, carts them everywhere, parad
es them around. The mate just stays because of the strange feelings they have for the Devourer. And most of them are shady and don’t mind the protection and lifestyle they get from us.”

  “So,” I thought carefully, “that’s what I’m going to be? Just following you around everywhere like a puppy?”

  “No. Of course not.”

  “But before this you said I was your mate. What were you going to do with me?” I asked, not unkindly.