Unnatural Thirsts

More screams, but they were closer this time. I could feel the pain and fear behind them. And on the other side of that, someone was afraid but also raging, taking revenge for someone who they fear is dead. It was so hard to focus, to think.

I froze. The rage was in the hallway now. I debated on making noise, drawing attention to myself. It could have been rescue, or it could have been death. I didn't know much about my father but I imagined that he could have made a lot of dangerous enemies with his unique personality. I decided that the better part of valor was remaining seated. I couldn't really run even if I got out and the bed was only about three inches off of the floor so hiding was right out too.

It was on the other side of the door now. I couldn't hear it but the emotion was there. Wait, was it sniffing? There was a metallic squeal and a loud snapping sound. The door swung open, parts of the lock clanging to the floor.

You were there. I was stunned. I must have looked pretty dumb there with my mouth gaping.

You walked in and saw me, and you walked straight over and hugged me. Your hair was shorter, like a bob or a pixie cut, and it really looked good on you. You had something like black bike shorts on, they hugged you like a second skin. Your shirt was, god, it was amazing on you. It was white with some kind of fashionable logo on it that I recognized vaguely, and it fit you perfectly. You'd gained some weight, but it really worked for you, like you'd grown into yourself. There were a few blood drops on your shirt and face. There was a lot more blood on the other side of the door, pooling on the floor and splattered on the wall.

I wanted to say something romantic. Expressive of my love and appreciation at being rescued.

"Did your breasts get bigger?"

Well I did say that I was drugged.

You rolled your eyes.

"We gotta go," you said, pulling me to my feet. I nearly fell forward into my desk, but you caught me.

"I'm sorry...I can't...I'm drugged..."

That made you angry and I thought you were annoyed with me but really it makes more sense that you'd be upset that people had kidnapped and drugged your lover.

"All right, I'm going to get you out of here, ok? But I have to carry you so its gonna be uncomfortable."

I nodded but you were already slinging me over your shoulder like a sack of potatoes, casually showing incredible strength. I could tell already that a lot had changed for you. I was really unbelievably happy to see you, but in my state I was fairly certain that you would drop me off at a hospital and I'd never see you again. I'm not sure why.

As we left I recognized some of the corpses that you'd left. There was the skinny guy from the first day, in a crumpled heap. I almost felt bad about him. And there was my dad, his head twisted around unnaturally, his eyes glassy.

Good fucking riddance to him.

In any case, you were gentle with me, and moved incredibly quickly. I passed out, feeling safe for the first time in months.

* * *

I don't remember a lot of the next few days. I know that you took me to a new place, like an apartment or a hotel. I remember you checking me for injuries and finding a lot of them. Cracked ribs, bruises, electrical burns, cuts. Nothing serious enough to take me to the hospital for but you were angered and concerned. You stripped me and washed me, bathing my injuries.

"I have something for pain, but...I don't know if its safe to give to you until you get this other junk out of your system."

I was still so tired that I didn't care. You put me to bed in a large, comfortable bed. I remember it was by a window, and we were at least ten stories up, so we could look out over the city at night. I slept.

I remember you making me eat and drink. I remember a lot of sleep and nightmares, waking screaming and sweating. Day and night blended together. I tried to tell you what happened to me, disjointed accounts which must have made no sense to you.

Eventually I felt like myself, if somewhat weak and in pain. You were nothing but patient, but you could tell that I was more coherent. I asked the first question.

"How did you find me?"

"I found you because of...that girl. When I got your message I felt your pain and loneliness and fear and helplessness. You were so sad, but you also sent me a great deal of love. It felt like goodbye, the permanent kind. I was terrified. I started to ask around with your friends. Most hadn't spoken to you but one of them told me about Jeni, and it turned out that she was still attending class. So I followed her back to where they were keeping you. I could just barely catch your scent from outside. I was worried, so I decided to wait until it was dark and just break in."

"Wow. I don't know what to say. I thought I was going to die and you just broke down the door and saved me. You're amazing. And you smelled me?"

You blushed.

"I picked up a lot of new skills while I was gone," you said, but then grew a little more serious, "so, um. You want to tell me about Jeni?"

I looked at you, deadpan. She had the decency to look away.

"She seemed like a nice girl. We went on a date, had sex, then she kidnapped me and I was tortured by her cult. Maybe I'm overreacting but I just don't see myself going out with her again."

"So...you had sex with her. Do you love her?"

"I think you might be missing the part where she kidnapped me and I was tortured."

"I didn't miss it...I just...you know...worry..."

"You said we weren't exclusive. You left without explaining anything. You don't get to judge me, even if you did rescue me in the most amazing way."

You smiled at that, but frowned a little.

"I'm not judging you! I just...ugh. I know that I didn't hurt anyone who fits her description. I just need to know how you feel about her is all."

"I feel deceived and angry and betrayed. She was weirdly obsessed with me and I'm pretty sure it was because my dad manipulated her into it. I don't want her dead or anything but I never want to see her again. Oh, and I love you by the way, you dork. Happy?"

You smiled again, and hugged me, which hurt a little, but was worth it.

"I'm sorry for being jealous. Also...I had to kill some people. I think one of them might have been your dad."

"Yeah, I saw his body on the way out."

"I...I am so sorry. He tried to stop me and he had a gun. I was so mad and I..."

"You did the right thing. As long as he was alive mom and I would never have been truly safe. He was a narcissist and I'm pretty sure he didn't have a conscience anymore."

You were surprised at my apparent coldness, but you hadn't been at that fucker's mercy. I didn't blame you.

"Oh...well, then I'm glad."

That meant that Roger was still alive, probably. Well, you can't have everything you want.

"All right, your turn," I said. I was so happy to be with you but I needed to know where the fuck you'd disappeared to.

"Um. My turn?" you said in your most innocent tone.

"Your turn to explain yourself. You know, your absence. Where you were. What you were doing. Who you were doing it with. Do you need to look at your facebook page to remind you of all the men?"

I was upset and it was unfair but you were jealous first. Ok it was selfish and I'm sorry for saying it that way, but I had to know, just like you did.

You took a moment, and nodded. You radiated sincerity when you spoke, as you nearly always do.

"I swear to you. I never had sex with anyone. I was offered, um, people, to feed on who would have pretty much whatever I wanted, but I just slaked my thirst. I wouldn't do any more. I understand why you found someone else, and I'm not upset, but I need you to understand that I wasn't on some grand adventure fucking my way across Europe."

"You could have fooled me. How many goddamn facebook photos do you need to put up with hot guys?"

You sighed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't want to but father insisted. He said it had to be real. People had to be annoyed with my posting and obvious wild partying. They had roll their eyes at my antics and completely separate me in their minds from you. He said that it would hurt you, but that you'd understand in the end."

"Well, I fucking don't. I don't understand any of it, ok? Because you never told me anything!"

You let me shout, although I'm sure you wanted to tell me to just shut up. I knew even then you felt awful about everything. And you'd just saved my life, too, so this really wasn't fair. But I just had all this fear and pain inside and I had to let it out. When you responded, you were very calm. You just sat next to me on the bed and pulled me close, running your hands through my hair as if you couldn't get enough of touching me.

"Can I explain now? I'll tell you everything. Even the things you probably don't want to know about."

I felt your fear. It was far deeper than you'd ever expressed to me.

"I want to hear everything. I'm not going to stop wanting you. I accepted a lot of things about you, long ago, including extreme possibilities that I doubt you even considered. Yeah, I'm upset and sad, but I will never ever stop loving you. Don't ever think I'm going to leave you, all right?"

You sighed and relaxed slightly, then went to the kitchen. You came back with water for me and a fancy foreign beer for yourself. As I opened my bottle, I realized I was parched. I drank most of it in one pull.

"I always know what you need," you said, opening your bottle as if it were a twist-off. You smiled smugly, both from your statement and your casual display of strength.

I'm not ashamed to admit that both of these things turned me on, even in my weakened and confused state. The confidence you displayed was of a new type, and I liked it, but I worried that the caring girl that I loved was gone. I didn't need to be.

"Ok," I said, settling back, just happy to be sitting near to her, "start from the beginning."

* * *

"There are a lot of strange politics on my dad's side of the family. They made things dangerous for us in ways we weren't aware of and I honestly still don't fully understand."

"Father came for us about a month before we disappeared. He'd never really abandoned us. And that includes you. He wanted to marry mom and adopt you as the son he'd never had. The one he couldn't have. His...kind, my kind I guess, aren't supposed to be able to have kids. When they do, its usually a big problem. We don't survive or we do and we hurt our families or friends. And kids like that...like me...draw a lot of attention of the wrong sort. Some want to kill us as threats to secrecy. Others want to study or even vivisect us, because we shouldn't exist. So he had to make a choice, kidnap all of us and take us away to a life of hiding, or disappear himself and cover up any connection he ever had to us, and content himself to watch us from afar."

"It broke his heart, but he obviously did the latter, because he wanted us to have as normal a life as possible. He watched us as best he could, monitoring our family. It's actually kind of creepy and I'm sorry you had to be included in it. He half-expected to have to clean up some mess where I'd killed someone, maybe even you, by accident. But it never happened. And it never happened because of you. As I grew up he realized that we were safe and stable. Once I became an adult he planned on approaching me and mom. Now that I was older and could protect myself a bit, he could take us home. He could offer mom the choice of becoming like him, and introduce me into his society. If everything went smoothly, I'd be admitted into his House. Then it wouldn't matter how weird I was, I'd be protected from the worst parts of the unnatural world. I could be taught by the wisest of my father's family, strange secrets and powers. And I'd be rich. Which means you'd be rich, too."

"But things went a bit awry. Mom started going to the doctor. She'd told us that she had to do some extra work but really she'd started feeling very tired and had some strange abdominal pain. She didn't want to worry us. She was diagnosed with liver cancer. Because of some unique aspects to her anatomy, a transplant wouldn't be effective. Even if it would have been possible, it was probably too late anyway."

"I can see you're horrified. I was too. I had no idea. Mom was doing her best to make sure that her finances were in order, that we weren't burdened with crippling debt. She was going to skip the final trip to the hospital. It was filing her Do Not Resuscitate that forced father to act."

"He approached her first. She was angry and afraid. She hadn't quite figured him out before he disappeared, but after I was born she'd understood everything. She kept it from you but she was pissed. How dare he knock her up and then abandon her without ever mentioning anything about my...uh, special needs?"

"So she yelled at him and he explained everything to her. She was resistant at first but he still loved her, a lot, which is pretty romantic, dontcha think? Like he loved her from afar for almost two decades! Ok, I can see you're not as into that part as I was but like I was saying, it was kind of impressive. He offered to save her by making her like him at the same time as he would bring me into the family. The safest way would be to do both at the same time. That would leave us vulnerable for the shortest amount of time."

"We all talked and made plans. He offered to take you with us too, but mom and I wouldn't go for it. Don't look so pissed off. The only way you could come is if you got changed like mom. Yeah, I thought that might change your mind. If we told you, you'd have no choice. So we voted no on your behalf. Don't get me wrong, I'd love it if you, uh, came over. You would be so much safer, and I think you'd enjoy it, even with the, you know, blood stuff. But I won't do it against your will, and I was sure at the time that your answer would have been no."

"So we had to keep it from you. Which sucked. We made our plans, and we lied to you. Over and over and I hated it, ok? I fucking hated it. Mom and I talked about...um...us. She knew we were close and getting closer. She told me that she understood, but that I should wait to, uh, 'consummate' our relationship until I came back. She said that I might meet someone while I was gone. Or...or that you might. And then one of us would be all broken-hearted."

"She made sense. But the more I thought about it, the more upset I got. If we left...and I never told you...never expressed how I really felt...you'd find someone for sure. You'd think that I'd left you behind, and you've never had any trouble finding women...or having women find you. I know I hurt you but...I had to show you how I loved you. I had to tell you how I felt before we disappeared. And I needed to fuck you. So fucking bad. God, its sick how much I needed your cock."

"It...it was the best week. Wasn't it? I mean...you might be really mad at me, but...but you loved me so well that whole week. And I took good care of you too, didn't I? Fuck. Of all the things that I did before I left, this is what I feel the worst about. Not because it was bad. It was wonderful. But because I worried that you thought that I was toying with you, or didn't care. I was really busy most of the time, but when I had a moment to myself you were what was on my mind. I worried and fantasized and got myself off thinking about what we'd do when I got back. I didn't expect you to be kidnapped and tortured."

"I've dragged this on enough. I'll tell you more when you want, but about half of what I was doing was learning how to use my blood to make myself better or stronger or to do things that others can't. That's the other reason why ones that are born like me aren't trusted. We're just, better at that stuff. The other half was like history and civics for monsters. Our society, how to behave, the rules. Oh, and my dad's family has a lot of cool stuff everywhere. Like safe-houses or blood banks or even clubs. I can even take you as my special guest. We own this hotel, as a matter of fact."

"I don't know if you and father are going to get along. He's...been great so far and he likes you, for sure. I just want you to give it a chance and not hate him too much for what we did."

"For now, its just going to be you and me. Later...if you want...I can make you like me. We can live forever together, and be with mom and dad too. I know you and I know that your first instinct will be to say no, and live and die a normal life. I just...just want you to think about it ok? If you won't say yes, then just don't say no yet. We belong together."

* * *

I watched you carefully. Your eyes flashed as you spoke and you moved even more smoothly than before. You were already catlike but now you put cats to shame. I felt a fear from you, a fear of rejection. It didn't disappear when you were done.

I was sure that becoming like you wasn't for me. I was the most emo person I knew, ridiculously sensitive. I couldn't imagine myself as the future predator that you envisioned, not even to be with you forever. I hurt when other people hurt, after all. How could I feed or kill if I had to?

And as you said, that would be likely.

"I won't say no," I answered, "but I won't say yes, either."

You sighed, but smiled. Finally we were both relaxed.

"Do I need to tell you that I won't leave?" I asked.

"No...but it would be really nice to hear," you said, and I could still feel a little uncertainty.

"I won't ever leave you. You're my one-and-only," I said and then leaned forward and kissed her. She met me and we made out like uncertain teenagers, gentle, tongues meeting and dancing. I wished I could do more but even this had made me out of breath. You saw my frustration and smiled.

"Take it easy, love. Soon enough you'll get better, and until then I'll take care of you."

You were leaving the room. I was really tired already, which was irritating because I wanted to talk to you more, spend more time. I also really wanted to get laid.

"So, what was it really?"

You stopped, your fear spiking.

"What?"

"What is it that you're afraid to tell me? I love you, but if you don't tell me what's bothering you it's going to eat at you, and me too. Remember who you're talking to. If you need forgiveness I can't give it if I don't know. If you need understanding or support I can't provide it without your help."

You sighed and came back, sitting at my side. You wouldn't met my gaze.

"There was something I had to do. At the end of all the history lessons and cool powers. To be accepted into the House. I had...I had to kill someone. They had me choose someone, then I had to stalk them, catch them, and finish them..."

"That's it?"

"What do you mean, 'That's it'? I killed someone! I picked a really bad person...a rapist...but still."

"You just killed like ten people to rescue me."

"It was seven, and that was different. I couldn't let them keep hurting you or worse, and they weren't just going to let you go. This was...just because they wanted to be sure I was a killer..."

I hugged you.

"Maybe the last few months have changed me. Maybe I was never really a good person. Or maybe I'm just not as naive. In either case, I'm not bothered by this."

"Really?"

"Really. I've been mentally preparing myself for having to help you get rid of a body since the first time I realized what you were."

"Oh my god. That's really...sweet actually."

You hugged me back and it was really nice.

"Um," I said, uncertainly, "will you sleep in here tonight?"

You laughed and kissed my head.

"Don't be silly. I've been sleeping next to you every night. You've just been too out of it to notice."

That's how we found each other again, and for a brief time, things were perfect.

* * *