Completely bewildered, Freya looked over at Rose to see her small tan hands were grabbing her head, tears beginning to stream from her crimson eyes. At the same time, Winter spun around and dropped to her knees, reaching out toward Freya.
“I’ll feed her. Rose needs you right now.”
Freya wanted to ask what in the hell was going on, but she trusted Winter enough at this point to do as she asked. She carefully handed over Eden, and moved to sit beside Rose, wrapping her arms around her daughter’s thin shoulders as she began sobbing.
“W-What in the world just happened?” Lily finally exclaimed, just as dumbfounded.
“That woman,” Winter began, gracefully grabbing the dropped bottle, even while holding Eden. She then continued as she held the bottle up for the baby to begin drinking. “She had bad feelings attached to her.”
“Very bad,” Rose sobbed.
“Nancy?” Lily repeated in disbelief. “But it’s Nancy. She’s like the most level-headed nice easygoing person I know!”
“I don’t understand it either,” Winter agreed. “She seemed fine to me, but Rose felt something else entirely.”
“Crying,” Rose sobbed. “Lots of crying.”
Lily looked alarmed. “Think maybe Nancy is in trouble or something?” she asked seriously.
“That’s not what Rose means,” Winter explained, carefully readjusting Eden. “She doesn’t mean Nancy was crying. She heard children crying. Hundreds of them. Maybe more.”
Freya looked up at her in alarm. “Children?” she repeated.
“And there’s something else,” Winter continued, seeming hesitant now.
“Winter,” Freya said urgently. “What is it?”
“That woman…when she saw Eden for the first time. She recognized her.”
Freya’s breathing caught in her chest, her mind racing, only for her instincts to kick into full gear, the predator deep inside her arousing, the intensity escalated by her maternal drive to protect. Winter’s words implied numerous possibilities, one of which was very bad. And that single slim chance was enough for her to pull out all the stops that held back her full potential.
Her skin began rapidly graying.
Leaping from her seat with such force that she slammed the couch against the sturdy wall, she raced to the touchscreen on the door, trying not to break it as she hit the button with her knuckle to halt the gate from opening fully, her half-inch claws rendering her fingertips useless. She could see in the video feed that she’d tapped it just in time, with their guest waiting in her car, the gap in the gate just barely small enough to prevent her from leaving.
But that wasn’t enough.
Freya needed blood. Now.
She whipped around at a startled Winter and Lily, focusing on the only regenerator in the house. However, just as she took her first step in Lily’s direction, Winter jumped forward, having carefully moved Eden to her left side, her right arm outstretched.
“Here. Do it.”
Freya didn’t need much blood to activate her third eye, though her jaw was already an abnormal size. Without hesitation, she grabbed Winter’s arm and sank her teeth in, ignoring the woman’s shriek of pain, only to take the gulp she needed and whip back around to fly out the door, her forehead splitting open.
Freya’s arms elongated, her hands grew larger, her legs thickened, her head warped, all in response to seeing her prey backing up to try to leave through the unfinished fencing. Her legs tensed then, muscles unhinging like a spring as she leapt into the air, her aim true, barreling back down feet-first and slamming into the hood of the car with such force that the back tires raised half-a-foot off the ground briefly.
In the corner of her eye, she saw Winter rushing out the door too, her wounds ‘present’ but already not bleeding, just as Freya’s third eye focused intently on the terrified woman staring up at her.
However, what Freya saw was worse than she anticipated.
Suddenly, the monster was horrified by the atrocities residing within the mind of a true monster, disguised as a terrified young woman.
❖ ❖ ❖
Sam Archer
April 27, 2735 – Current Day – Late Morning
Today was the day, and I’d never been so impatient in my entire life. I was doing my best to get some reports read, since apparently it was actually possible to fall behind and end up with a backlog of required reading, but I was finding it difficult to focus. It was one of those things where Jackie might send me a message at any time, though I was also fully aware they might be assholes and wait until midnight or something stupid like that.
I was also nervous about them finding some way to screw me over, but at this point I was desperate for almost anything – even just a confirmation of my current suspicions about what I was capable of.
I looked up at Lexi when she set her own tablet down with a heavy sigh, realizing my thoughts had been on Freya without me realizing it, only for her to look at me with a mischievous grin.
“Need some stress relief?” she wondered seductively with a wink.
I thought about that. Honestly, kind of did, but also…
Lexi leaned forward, resting her hand on my knee. “I’d like to go to lunch in just a few minutes, so I don’t want to take the time to get there myself,” she rubbed her hand firmly up my thigh. “But I wouldn’t mind a little taste of dessert first, if you’ll let me take care of you.”
Ah shit.
She definitely knew how to make an offer I couldn’t refuse.
I smirked. “Sure,” I agreed.
She giggled. “I like you so much.”
“I like you too,” I agreed, knowing there was something almost more significant and meaningful about saying it in that manner. Because we might love someone we didn’t particularly like, and while I did love Lexi, I also really liked her too. I mean, I liked all the women in my life, but Lexi made a point to emphasize that.
She didn’t just love me. She also really liked me, a lot.
I
