Chapter Seventeen

  Many years ago

  Momo came into the classroom disinterested, her fingers absentmindedly tapping at her school bag. She hadn’t attended a charter school before, having been homeschooled and then passed around from various public schools until now. Still, the prospect of being able to play around with a bunch of wannabe privileged humans intrigued her. It was their actual bodies that disgusted her. They tried to look wealthier than they were but to someone who was raised with wealth, it was cheap and fake to her.

  Knowing better, she kept her sneers to herself and started to pay attention to what her new homeroom teacher was saying. The woman was dressed plainer than her classmates with a modest skirt that reached her ankles that was plaited. For a shirt, she wore a uniform polo shirt that fit her body poorly, along with thinly framed glasses. She directed Momo to introduce herself and with a tense moment of hesitation, she obeyed.

  “Hello everyone, My name’s Momo and I’m this year’s exchange student. I hope you treat me kindly for the remainder of this school year,” As she spoke she watched their eyes judge her and heard a few students begin to whisper. More fun. “Thank you for accepting me into your class. Let’s be friends, everyone.”

  Her homeroom teacher clapped with a small grin as Momo finished her introduction. The teenager wondered if her old age had made her less perceptive. “Thank you for such a warm introduction! You’re our first exchange student so please feel free to ask around for help. Our school is now your new home.” She patted the teenager’s shoulder eagerly.

  The class was silent now, but she could tell that they’d show their true colors once they were alone. So, she kept quiet, simmering internally as she waited. “Please, take a seat next to Sonya. Right in the back sweetheart.” The woman pointed to an empty desk, a dark brown-haired girl chewing on her pencil next to it. Momo had heard her whispering about her when she came in, but suddenly she was as quiet as a mouse.

  As she walked to the back of the classroom she sized the other teen up. With every step she made the girl’s smell grow stronger. A small simple graced her lips briefly as she came to a realization. It seemed that she wasn’t the only non-human in the classroom. Her scent was distinct from a human’s, full of blood lust and a growing addiction. An addiction to the meat on a human’s bone that she kept at bay biting anything near.

  And the other girl had realized it to be the way her eyes widened in disbelief. Their eyes met as she neared the desk, her gaze confused and Momo pleasantly surprised. The girl, Sonya, had probably encountered mostly humans throughout her life. She was surprised the teen hadn’t noticed her earlier, her scent was thicker than most. And Momo made sure to carry herself in a way that reflected that. This made this school even more intriguing to play around with for the next few months.

  The two stared at one another briefly before Sonya looked away. She looked down at her desk nervously clenching her pencil in her hand. This made Momo smile, she had gotten under her skin without speaking. Her mere presence was startling to her. It wasn’t because of her appearance, which was what upset the humans. To this stranger, the blood that coursed through her veins was enough to make her rethink the gossip she had spread.

  She sat down, with her chair making a loud screeching noise as she moved it. Heads turned as she set her school bag down and waited for class to restart. Next to her, she could feel everyone’s eyes watching her like a hawk and gave a small grin. This would be interesting.

***

  Present Day

  “You went too far with him,” Sonya glared at her as they hurried out of the bathroom with blood on their hands. Both had to hide the man’s body rather quickly, leaving no time to work on extreme cleanup tactics. “I told you not to eat him!”

  They made sure to avoid suspicion, keeping their pace in that of a fast jog instead of a run. Momo could feel the rage emitting off of her companion from what happened. She wanted to admit that she had lost control of her hunger. Blood had been split and the other woman had to get her hands dirty helping her. Despite looking and smelling pathetic, the man had been difficult to subdue once his adrenaline kicked in.

  He was so desperate to survive, he attempted to strangle her at some point. His weight and stature proved difficult for her even with the fact she wasn’t human. It was such a rough tussle that when Sonya came in she had already cracked his skull. Killing him was never part of the plan and would make going after any other leads much harder. However, his death had given them information that could be used to their advantage.

  "He squealed about the people who hired him." She argued, watching the guard from before come over to where they stood.

  "But we got zero names! Just physical descriptions and phone numbers." The dark-skinned woman huffed at the comment. Momo found it incredibly ridiculous along with her tone. Even without names, they had gotten something out of the man.

  "It's better than nothing," The guard came closer, his demeanor changing. He gave her a mean glare that confused the nineteen-year-old. As far as she knew, the two had never met and she hadn’t done a thing to him when coming in. "What's up with your boyfriend?"

  Sonya flushed, gawking at her with disbelief. “He is not my boyfriend! We're just friends.”

  “I’m a happily married man.” His voice was deeper than she had expected. He avoided looking at her, choosing to hand Sonya something before walking off. It was their phones. “I’ll see you two later.”

  Momo looked at the two of them for an explanation. She had no opinion on the redhead being the mistress of someone. It wasn’t her problem when the truth came out. However, it really wasn’t a great time for a quickie when they just murdered a man. “Seriously.”

  “We aren’t having sex. He’s got the information,” The redhead handed her, her phone sounding annoyed with her assumptions. Momo checked to see if anyone had been on it while they had been separated. A passcode kept it locked and from what she made out no one had attempted to figure it out. “And besides I’m not worried about sex twenty-four-seven.”

  “And he decided out of a random act of kindness to give us that information with no price?” It was an obvious lie that she was confused about why Sonya would spin. Maybe he wasn’t the best in bed and she was ashamed. To be found out to sleep with a weak married man would be rather shameful. Especially if he wasn’t that great in bed.

  The nineteen-year-olds nose wrinkled. He smelled pretty bad too. Underneath all that cologne and body spray Momo could smell something foul. Worse, she could still smell the pig they had killed earlier making her stomach turn sour. She hated having such a keen sense of smell at times like this.

  The two hurried out of the club, throwing their wristbands in a nearby trash can as they left. It was dark outside, crickets chirping loudly as they left the house and headed toward their car. The night air felt hot against her skin, the temperature having risen despite their short time in the club. Checking her phone she noted it was later than she had anticipated.

  “No. As I said, he’s a friend.” Sonya muttered hopping in her car and starting in a rush. Both women wanted to leave before someone noticed the body and began to investigate.

  Momo tsked and held her tongue before voicing her thoughts. She wondered if this man would ask for a favor in return for the information. She wasn’t interested in being anyone’s lapdog or a booty call. But she wouldn’t try and deny the free information given by him when it came. Linking names or aliases to the tips she had would be a bonus.

  Then she could simply buy the rest of the resources she needed before handing them off to Zachary. Thinking about the man made her teeth clench as she tried not to growl. He was lucky she didn’t want to waste her time fighting the entire family. Otherwise, she would have said fuck him and fuck his orders to get the information or else. She also wanted her money from her aunt before anything else hindered her efforts.

  “This ride’s going to be awkward if we don’t talk.” Sonya sighed, looking conflicted.

  The other woman shrugged, feeling disinterested in the idea of chatting. If they started talking it would only lead to her questioning her relationship with that man. And the questioning would turn into an argument or worse, more blatant lies. She was exhausted from attacking the man earlier so she had no energy for any shenanigans. Everything ached, and her eyes struggled to stay open.

  “Just turn on the radio or something. I’m too tired to talk.” Momo gestured to the car’s old-fashioned radio with knobs and dials. The nineteen-year-old laid her head against the car window as she heard the other woman grumble. With a soft click, the radio turned on.

    It buzzed loudly as Sonya changed through the various stations until something caught both of their attention. It was a news report, live with some woman who was sobbing. There was a lot of chatter behind the woman as the reporter comforted her with a gentle tone. Confused, Momo put her full attention on the broadcast.

  “It wasn’t your fault, ma’am. The police will find the man who took your daughter’s life,” Sonya looked over at Momo, frozen by what they both were hearing. It was something they all knew all too well. But something was different, something crucial. “A candlelight vigil will be held in her honor by her school. We are all sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you. My daughter’s life was taken from her so suddenly. She was only supposed to be gone for fifteen minutes.” The woman choked up as Momo cursed. “That monster stole my baby! That creature snatched her up and wouldn’t let her come home even when she tried to call me.”

  ‘Those fucking bastards let her see them?’ She felt like she was about to blow a gasket. Not only were these assholes ruining the hunt for everyone for being greedy and grabbing attention. Not only had they meddled with the resources for beings like her to feast upon. Not only did they enter her “family’s” territory, but they also allowed their prey’s mother to see them.

  “Creature? Ma’am, you not only saw the individuals who took your daughter but she tried to call you afterward? Are the police aware of this?” There was disbelief in the reporter’s voice as she fired off the questions rapidly, her desire for answers bombarding the woman.

  “My daughter has or um had nightmares often before she was taken. She ran into my bedroom one night, claiming to have dreamt of a woman trying to save her from monsters. It took so long for her to calm down and when she finally did it happened.” A loud sob left the heartbroken woman as she struggled to continue. “Our poor puppy, the way she was found. It was all things she told me and that I read from her journal.”

  Rubbing a hand through her hair, she groaned aloud. This was the worst thing possible, besides the mother running around screaming about creatures to strangers. Which in all honesty would be ten times better than doing it on a live broadcast to thousands. The police she knew was in her family’s pocket so she had no idea why they would let this happen.

  How did this woman even go on an interview without someone watching what she blabbed about? While having the person interviewing her hint that the investigation hid this information. It was so careless, it was almost as if they wanted their corruption to be found out. And the idea her daughter somehow had visions about her kidnapping made her anger grow.

  These guys were definitely amateurs being puppeteered by someone with nothing to lose. Someone who had no qualms with using humans as bait for any nonhumans searching for answers. She did not doubt that some of the phone numbers would be changed by the time they contacted the owners and that the radio broadcast would have them on edge. Which would lead to more slip-ups for the henchmen to run around, trying to fix to save their own asses. As long as she got them, she’d be fine with leaving their master in Zachary's hands.

  People with nothing to lose could be less willing to give up. When you had a family, children, and lifestyle to maintain you ran on paranoia. Momo wondered who exactly this mastermind was and how they slipped under her family’s radar. She was enraged at the way they had let their prey get into someone else’s vicinity. It screamed that they had stumbled, obtained a weakness and she’d rather die than be seen as the same.

  “I told them about her dreams and her journal! No one listened! My baby was murdered after writing about those creatures, that hellspawn, and no one cares about what she saw! Everyone, even my family, believes it’s all a coincidence. But my baby wasn’t lying and those bastards tortured her!” The woman was unable to continue with her tirade as she broke down into a fit of tears.

  Sonya turned off the radio quickly, her face ashen from the entire conversation. “Christ.”

  “Their lackeys are shit but whoever’s doing this has some balls,” Momo looked down at her nails, there was some blood under her nail beds. “Kidnapping a kid in broad daylight and gifting the mother their body half-eaten is sadistic.”

  “And risky. I can’t understand why they'd take the girl if she saw them coming. Could she have been one of us?” The question was something both women wanted an answer to.

  “I doubt she was one of us, she would have fought back easily. Probably had better sight than most humans and was able to see our forms or something. Eating a meal with those genes does sound exhilarating.” She watched as her companion considered the theory.

  “But if she was someone gifted with a sixth sense or whatever, why did she walk right into her death? Wouldn’t she just expose our kind to her family when they tried to snatch her?”

  Momo snorted. “As if they’d believe a word she said. And besides, when we catch our prey we have to sink our teeth into them or else. Whoever their boss is wanted her and they made sure to get her despite the obvious risks. And a child with a sixth sense is still a child.”

  They neared Sonya’s home and Momo sighed. Both women had a million questions that the broadcast had only worsened. Momo knew the general public would just think the mother was delusional from her grief and sympathize with her. If that was all there was, she'd be fine. But hearing her claim the police ignored her pleas was a nail in the coffin.

  ‘One cop blabs their mouth to the press and our asses are public enemy number one.’ She wasn’t exactly sure how her relatives had gone about paying the authorities off, but she knew it could be exposed. While they were above humans, they could still be double-crossed when reputations were at stake and prison time was on the table.

  “Are we going to pay the police a visit?” Sonya stopped the car as they came to a red light.

  “Not my problem. If any cops get in the way of finding these imbeciles, I can just remind them who signs their paychecks. And besides, the other clans are already on their necks.” She had no doubt they were on thin ice with the other families. Some of them could behave like children when pressure was put on them by meager humans.

  “Still, we should try to verify that they’re still loyal to your family. I don’t want to spend a night in a jail cell with some butch creep eyeing me.” Momo rolled her eyes at her comment, the woman worried about someone wanting her number more than a child murderer.

***

  “When will she wake up?”

  Zachary looked over at the fifteen-year-old, his expression softening briefly once he saw the bags under her eyes. It was obvious she hadn’t been getting much sleep. “Hopefully she will be ready to wake up in a week. It depends on how fast the transformation completes itself.”

  Sullenly, she nodded her head in a weak show of acceptance. She held the unconscious girl’s hand, feeling how dry her skin had become. If you had taken just a glance at the teenager you would think she was holding onto a corpse. But despite it all, Lea was living and breathing.

  The room looked washed out and reflected the state the seventeen-year-old was in. The walls were bright, hurting Kaeo’s eyes as the bright lights above her clashed with them. She was careful not to touch anything besides Lea when Zachary took her to see the girl. When he found her early that morning, she had already decided that needed to see the girl no matter what.

  This was despite her stress-induced illness and fears for her family. It seemed like the world was determined to find who kidnapped Lea and murdered that child. Her social media was bursting with messages from old school friends asking about what happened since she lived in the town where the time took place. Nervously, she lied to them about everything. Her stomach still felt sour but she shakily swallowed her discomfort and watched Lea breathe.

  “She’ll grow to understand what you’ve done. While tragic, the recent murder has worked in your favor in earning her trust back. We can explain to her just how fortunate she is to still be alive.” Kaeo whimpered and wiped at her eyes with her free hand. She started to tear up as he spoke.

  “I’m scared she’ll tell me she’d rather be dead,” Her voice was a whisper as she sniffled. “Her family’s dead, Zachary. And everyone she loves thinks she’s been kidnapped by a psychopath. Someone who wants to use and abuse her. They’re right.”

  How many people were still looking for Lea? How often would she have to watch news reports with the seventeen-year-olds grandmother sobbing as she pleaded for her to come home? It was endless mourning and pain that she was forced to confront. And worst of all, her mother hadn’t replied to her message, she hadn’t even seen it which crushed her emotionally.

   “Mistress, you aren’t a psychopath. You’re a savior compared to the people she would be with if you hadn’t intervened. You don’t have a bone in your body that takes pleasure in abuse.” It was hard to listen to his pleas for her to calm down and stop blaming herself.

  Kaeo was appalled with her species and the way they were treating the humans of the town. They wanted to toy with them and the death of that child was only the beginning. She had no doubts that it would only get worse for any human child they desired. Her family treated the news of the murder like a mosquito, they wanted to get rid of it without considering why it appeared in their lives.

  Her grip tightened around Lea’s limp hand, she was terrified of being numb like the others. She had to feel or else she’d become heartless. “What if auntie commands me to hurt her? I can’t disobey her or else she might kill Lea. I can’t let Lea get hurt but I also can’t bear the thought of hurting her instead. I don’t want to be her master or owner. I just want to be her friend.”

  The older man walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Zachary sighed, she felt his eyes on her and wilted as her shame became too much to handle. “I’m the same as those murderers, Zachary. I’ve killed people. I’ve stood by you and Momo and auntie slaughtering humans.”

  Kaeo knew she sounded ungrateful towards her family but she had to get it out. “I’ve helped you all and now I’m supposed to sit back and watch you guys hide monsters.”

  “We aren’t human, Mistress. You can’t expect your aunt and cousin to uphold morals made by them. I understand you’re scared but you are not a monster or the same as us,” He sounded sympathetic but she knew he was tired of this constant conservation. Her hands began to tremble as she swallowed the rest of her tears. “I think we should go get some fresh air.”

  She nodded, realizing that the room was becoming claustrophobic for her. “Yeah, um can we visit her later?” Kaeo was worried about leaving the other teenager alone again. All of the drama happening in her life was making her paranoid.

  “Of course. We’ll come back after a quick walk in the garden, it’ll cheer you up.” It was hard not to smile at the mention of the family’s large garden. Just thinking about walking around and picking flowers and fruit made her feel somewhat better. With one more look at Lea, she let go of her hand and let it fall onto the bed.