Chapter Twenty

 

  Lea’s heart stopped when she saw Kaeo walk into the room. She didn’t want to believe what she was seeing but it was too real to be a dream or illusion. The younger teen looked scared, she had lost a large amount of weight and paled once she met Lea’s eyes. Tears dripped down her face which showed her bones making Lea shiver. The girl walked forward slowly, treating Lea as if she were going to jump up and attack her. The seventeen-year-old felt so angry, so betrayed by her presence.

 

  The entire time, she had been befriending something wearing a human meat suit. Some creature that posed as a small, meek human teenager too shy to speak most of the time. Whoever’s body Kaeo was wearing no longer existed, trapped as she had been in an endless memory. Or, she had never been human and instead was the product of a shapeshifting demon that preyed on her. That worked with Momo, who had appeared in her therapy session, her safe space to harm her.

 

  Thinking about it now in her delirious, weakened state it all made sense. Kaeo was someone she barely knew but had started to trust. They had similar interests and were around the same age. From what Kaeo told her about her life, they had gone through a lot of the same issues as children and Lea empathized with her. She had played into the girl’s hand and now was trapped in a room, chained to a hospital bed wearing clothes she didn’t recognize.

 

  This only meant someone had touched and seen her naked body while she had been unconscious. They had felt her skin as she sat open to any sort of assault they wanted to perform on her. If she hadn’t felt sick already Lea would be disgusted by the implications that revelation left her. Before she knew it, the two were arguing and Lea could only lash out. It was hard for her to describe everything she was feeling, it was becoming a blur.

 

  She felt her blood boil at the sight of Kaeo’s lips moving. But she was terrified with the knowledge Kaeo could break her, could destroy her body inside and out if she wanted. No one would even know if the girl chose to torture her. She felt her heartbreak bit by bit at the news of what the public thought of her. No one even wanted her to be found, they despised her. The rumors made her head spin as she was frantic to know what had happened and how much time she had missed.

 

  A monster like her didn’t deserve to be free but selfishly she craved it. She wanted to be let out and to face the rumors, the press, and the reality of her situation her way. Desperately, she fought as the memories of her life flashed before her eyes. She had killed her parents? Or was this all a ruse to make her give in to whatever game they were playing? It hurt so badly for her to struggle with figuring out what was the right answer. Lea was scared to trust her mind with the demon who lurked within it. Blood was on her hands because of the other woman. So much had happened to her and it was all because of the woman taking control over her.

 

  Still, the feeling of guilt came with the waves of horror. If she had been smarter and fought with a better plan to stay in control none of this would have happened. She had been too weak to fight back and now her parents' blood was in her mouth. Lea could hear her brother's screams as they echoed in the back of her mind. Forgotten memories from that night she still couldn’t see properly. All she remembered were their screams. Her family would be safe, she would be able to live a normal life and Kaeo would be far away from her. Lea would be safe if she had been stronger.

 

  The non-human girl felt her mouth open as she screamed. Her neck was being torn apart by someone’s teeth as they bit into her body. It was hard to remain lucid with all the pain she had pulsing through her body. There was blood all over the white-haired woman’s hands as she stood over her sisters. All she could hear was her voice screaming out to the lifeless bodies. Lea wanted to make her stop but everything grew hazy and she snapped awake to being ripped to shreds. Someone was biting her and she was begging for them to stop, clawing at their face.

 

  It was terrifying and she screamed so loud her mouth began to bleed. Blood was all she tasted; the world spinning around like she was on an amusement park ride. Lea was so tired, she wanted to go back to sleep and never wake up. Would her life be like this forever? Fighting to stay alive, fighting to stay in control, as a monster tried to eat you alive? The seventeen-year-old fought until her chest heaved with exhaustion and her lips broke from being brittle. She heard her skin break into tiny shreds as the teeth gnawed at her flesh and savored it strand by strand.

 

  It was something that would be laughable if she wasn’t paralyzed from shock. Her body was ripped to shreds and she felt every little shred without any relief. No matter how much damage her body was going through it refused to die. It kept pulling through the torture, forcing her to wheeze weakly with every breath she took. She could feel the blood filling and spill from the back of her throat. It would suffocate her but her screams caused it all to fall out of her mouth with her lips becoming tinged a darker shade from her naturally soft, baby pink.

 

  Her mind was being consumed by unimaginable terror, tears blinding her into she saw nothing but red. The seventeen-year-old found herself desperately wiping away them in a futile attempt to see what was happening but this made things worse. A sticky, wet liquid smudged onto her cheeks from the rapid movements of her fingers and the pressing other palms. It smelled strongly like her sweat tinged with a bit of iron. She had smeared her blood and saliva all over her face, worsening her overall state. She felt herself become ill and she wanted to vomit from the sheer overload of emotions.

 

  One minute she felt nothing but fear, the next she was enraged by the act of betrayal from someone she trusted. She wished she could go back in time and stop this all from happening. But it was hard for Lea to even identify where it all began. They could have been watching her that day when she found the drawing in her bedroom. Watching her become curious and struggle with the reality she had been thrown into. When she went to therapy, they knew she’d be alone and Momo had cornered her. She couldn’t run anywhere, she was backed against a wall literally and figuratively.

 

  And she hated herself for it, as her weakness got her loved ones killed. She wanted her mother to swoop in and save her from this nightmare. To listen to her cries with a loving rub on the back to silence her. She wanted her father to hug her close and tell her it would all be okay. The both of them would comfort her while reassuring her it was all a dream. They’d stay by her side until she calmed down and fell back to sleep. Hell, she even wished desperately that her younger brothers would interrupt the three, loudly begging for a playdate with her sisters snickering at her dismay.

 

  She would never hear their voices again. They were corpses in caskets, mauled to the point they were unrecognizable. Her pain sunk deep into her bones, tears drying as she found herself unable to cry anymore. Lea became numb, her body shaking as she slowly closed her eyes to try and disappear into a dissociative state. The seventeen-year-old desperately wanted to disappear as her eyes became heavy and her limbs paralyzed. She had read about this before, in health class. Sexual assault was something that could make you freeze up and shrivel from fear. Your mind was stricken with terror and your body wouldn’t move no matter how much you tried.

 

  So, she lay there frozen in disbelief as someone else’s lips met her own. It wasn’t soft despite the other girl’s appearance but rough and feral. It felt like someone was biting into her skin as their lips touched and mashed together. The other girl was inexperienced as their teeth banged atop one another and soon Lea’s mouth was filled with blood. She felt no lust as they made out with one another - she hated herself even deeper for automatically kissing back. Kaeo was a child, she was a kid even if she was a monster internally. And it felt gross for this little girl to be acting so vile with her tongue depositing itself into her mouth and playing around for a bit.

 

  Lea was distraught, she felt like a monster, a predator for kissing back. Her lips were crushed against a 10th graders and she wanted to curl into a ball and vomit. If they went to school together, everyone would see her as a little kid. She was so tiny when they met, barely eighty pounds in her eyes and now she was even smaller in size. Barely more than a middle schooler in intelligence level compared to herself, a near-adult woman. It made her skin crawl as she was forced to look at her distraught, traumatized face peering down at her defenseless form.

 

  There was no love behind what Kaeo was doing to her but pure desperation from the look in the younger girl’s eyes. She wanted to beg her about why she had to do this to her but her voice was gone. As those lips touched hers, she felt everything fade away from her body into the nether. Her mind was falling into pieces of debris as it was assaulted from all directions. She felt like she was drifting somewhere and it couldn’t come fast enough. ‘Is this what giving up feels like? Or am I finally dying?’ At this point, she wouldn’t have cared if either answer was right or wrong.

 

  Lea’s hands began to shake uncontrollably as her thoughts began to mix and become incomprehensible. There was a low ringing in her ears, too low to be her voice or Kaeo’s. It felt like the room was closing in around her as her vision continued to fail her. The blurry figure went in and out with every blink her eyes made until the girl was nothing more than a blob. Time was hard to properly identify, she wasn’t sure how long it had been. She could have been trapped for hours or days, she struggled to comprehend what was happening. Like sand, her awareness was slipping away with every heartbeat until she felt herself choke.

 

  Terrified, she closed her eyes hoping this was the end. That she had been right and the girl was killing her in some twisted act of mercy. Without her family, living held no purpose. She saw no reason to live when her siblings' blood was on her hands. If she had just spoken up if she said something maybe she could’ve stopped their deaths from happening. Being locked away in a mental facility where everyone thought she was manic was better than being possessed and finding out her family was dead. Anything was better than having to continue living with the guilt of their deaths weighing heavy on her mind. It was worse than the assault than the possession itself just knowing they were gone.

 

***

  Momo looked at the laptop screen with displeasure. The news of the missing girl’s mother’s interview spread like wildfire online, with local newspapers releasing articles questioning the woman’s words. People were unsure whether or not the woman was telling the truth about what her daughter said or that she was losing her mind from grief. The police had offered no comment on the matter which led to citizens taking the law into their own hands. The inhuman woman was annoyed with the way humans were getting in the way of matters they had no business being in. She had enough on her plate with coming to the town in the first place and she now had humans crawling all over the trail.

 

  Who knew a child could cause such an uproar with humanity. Momo wondered if this was a part of the kidnapper’s initial plan. Grow the distrust between the media, the public, and the family of the missing girl to use for an advantage against the police. Have the town become overrun with out-of-state search parties to not look out of place when encountering locals. Her nose burned as she wiped her sleeve against it, all she smelled was their foul scent. If she had been weaker-willed, she would have gone mad with rage from the situation. Instead, she decided to get what information she could and await her meeting with the man from the nightclub.

 

  She didn’t like relying on the man for information, but from what Sonya had told her he was the real deal. The woman had been flustered ever since their encounter becoming extra sensitive to comments she made. Whatever connection she once had with the man was strong enough to make her show genuine emotions and not just a fake ploy for seduction. It was sad to see the woman she once had a relationship with care so much about some weak little human.

 

  Momo dealt with less harsh words than usual and a few snide remarks here and there. Sonya was loyal to her but she didn’t doubt the older woman would rage if she prodded her too much. She had no qualms with slitting the man’s throat if he became an obstacle, he smelled weak to her despite his history. If she had to crush him beneath her feet she would, there were more important things at hand. The stench of human body odor made her nauseated and the decay was spreading rapidly.

 

  ‘It’s all so revolting,’ The woman sighed and closed the laptop with her gaze twisting into something foul. She could try her best to clear her sinuses but no matter what she did it would always linger in the back of her mind. ‘Gross.’

 

  Her appetite was gone by the time she finished her research so she didn’t bother touching a bit of human garbage. It was for the best as compared to regular human food she was surrounded by, whatever Sonya made was ten times worse. It was messy and slopped down the side of the spoon, drying up Momo’s mouth and forcing her to cover her mouth in disgust. It smelled too heavy, overloaded with various spices and seasonings that made her feel sickened. Just the thought of the meal made her head throb with a new migraine and her stomach twist as she sat with disgust.

 

  She had no idea why the woman wasted her energy engaging in such activities when she fed nearly every single day they were together. Once she noticed Momo’s displeasure, her mood became even stranger with a frown coming onto her face. She put whatever it was she was eating down and walked over to the agitated woman. Sonya sighed, watching Momo wrinkle her nose in disdain.

 

  “If the smell was bothering you, why didn’t you just tell me?” Sonya asked, looking at the now-closed laptop with a bite of her lip. She looked exhausted, the other woman realized as they became face to face for a brief moment. There were bags under her eyes allowing her skin to be noticeably yellowish as she wiped at her face. “Did you find anything useful?”

 

  Momo shrugged. “If you find articles that cost ten dollars to read useful, then yes. It looks like the internet is running wild with what the mother said and how the police are acting.” A sniffle left her nose, it was beginning to become inflamed. “And it’s more than the food, I can smell the rat doing this. They reek like shit, to put it bluntly like they haven’t showered after a two-month-old kill.”

 

  It was hard to find a proper way to describe the aromas she was smelling. Like a bloodhound, she could pick up scents that not many others could. And one of those scents was that of the person who was causing all of this to happen. They were old and left a bitter taste on her tongue when they met one another. Physically, they hadn’t crossed paths but mentally she knew them like the back of her hand. She could recognize their scent from miles away, from the past and the future. Smells told her whether or not someone is one of her kind and things that she had trouble identifying at first. Their body odor sickened her, making her skin crawl as she was mentally enclosed in a tight space and forced to take everything that the rat had to give her.

 

  That’s why Zachary had sent her to investigate and take care of what she could. No one else in the clan had the gift of enhanced senses and she was the first in decades to be born with it. Her kind had strange quirks sometimes, little abilities that were clan-specific or genetic. How some women could use their bodies and whims to attract people to them, how familiars were made and how some of them managed to feed. Momo didn’t bother to research or dive deep to find information on why this was possible, it just happened. She just happened to be born this way and it led her to become stronger and far deadlier than anyone realized.

 

  “They smell like death which makes a lot of sense seeing as they kill so brutally,” Momo confessed, looking down at her nails briefly before continuing. “They’re a lot older than us, most likely centuries-old from all of the decay they carry with them. It's like someone has shoved a rock up my nose sometimes when I try to take a breath of fresh air.”

 

  “Jesus, it’s gotten worse than when we were teenagers.” Sonya gave her a sympathetic look as she anxiously picked at her shirt sleeves. “Are you sure you want to meet with him today? If your nose has gotten that bad it may affect your health in other ways and you’ll need to rest. I’d rather talk to him alone than have you coughing and retching the entire time.”

 

  In the past when the smells were too strong she’d vomit and become dizzy from how powerful the fragrances were. It was common for her mood to worsen from the massive headaches she would get afterward, something that was already starting. She rubbed at her forehead, foregoing pain medication as it only worked for so long before the smells overpowered it. Her gift was a blessing and one hell of a curse. She would have to power through it as when news spread about that pig being murdered, getting information would get much harder. The little rats working for the bastard would act more cautious and lay low, covering their tracks from the cops and anyone else who wanted to find them.

 

  Momo thought briefly about the security guard’s stench that night and felt like retching. “Talking to him alone is a recipe for disaster.” Even while sick and slightly nauseated Momo found herself able to recognize an ulterior motive. “You’re worried about that gossip he told you about me, aren’t you?”

 

  Sonya looked off to the side when the other woman’s accusation hit her full force. “It’s not just gossip once people start to connect the dots. We’ll have both of our families’ histories and actions on display if we don’t take what he told me as a warning.” There was a slight dip in her voice that made Momo stare at her for longer than usual, noticing the stress that had grown as she shook her head. “I think after we get whatever intel he has, you should tell Zachary that this shouldn’t just involve you.”

 

  Continuing, the older woman looked over at her laptop with a stony glare. “Multiple people have been killed in various ways that are obvious messages to our kind. To humans, it’s just a gruesome crime scene but to us, it’s someone attempting to steal marked territory. And that could lead to them trying to harm you or some other clan who caught wind of their behavior. You can’t handle this on your own, the others have to step in to help.” It was rare to hear Sonya, the childish party girl, being serious but Momo was thankful that she knew what was to come.

 

  This explained how odd her companion had been acting since they got back from the club. Neither liked the idea of other clans having to get involved or their family’s becoming entangled with it. But, Momo had to admit it was more than likely to happen, it was going to happen if it wasn’t already. Clan business was too political for the nineteen-year-old’s comfort and always seemed to end up screwing everyone but the big fish over. Still, they had to maintain some form of order and this bastard was causing humans to involve themselves in their territory and hunting grounds. And they couldn’t pay off the entire human government to hide their true nature.

 

  “I planned to ever since we heard that interview in the car,” She admitted, thinking back to the shock of the woman’s hysterical words on live radio. “I’m sure some of the other clans in the area are going to bang down my aunt’s door in a few days. I’d just rather not involve myself further in this bullshit, it’s irritating knowing some idiot is doing this all for attention.”

 

  “It has to be more than that if they’ve gone far enough to gain so much attention from the media,” Sonya replied as she got to walk towards one of the room’s windows. “He’s late.”

 

  Momo looked over at her briefly before looking down at her phone. It was half-past noon already, the time had passed within a blink of her eyes. She had to have been sitting on her laptop since around six in the morning. “He might have had second thoughts.”

 

  “But he said he was coming,” Sonya muttered before holding the palm of her hand to her forehead, grimacing. Her cheeks were flushed as she continued to stare out the window. “All of this is giving me such a headache. The clans coming, the murders and now he decides to just bail on us.”

 

  “If he doesn’t show up by two we go and kick his ass for wasting our time,” The nineteen-year-old watched as the other woman’s mood failed to change and shook her head. Allowing a human man to mean so much to her that she foolishly trusted his word was pathetic. However, she decided now was not the time to scowl at her and simply rolled her eyes at her back. “Or we can try and see if any other of your fuckbuddies have intel.”

 

  “Seriously?” Momo wasn’t surprised by the lack of a reaction she gave, the woman’s attention was solely on waiting for the man to arrive. She wondered if her theory about their intimate relationship is more than a fling was correct and scowled. To become so close to a married man who barely contacted you or spoke to you after your chance in his bed was done was sad.

 

  Both women waited for what felt like an eternity with the man never showing up or calling to explain his tardiness. It was starting to become strange to Momo who watched Sonya’s expression become more upset the longer they sat. She wondered if he truly had backed out of the conversation and just decided to ghost them. “I’m going to call him.” Sonya reached for her phone, a worried look on her face as she once again looked at the time.

 

***

  Kaeo found herself frozen as the maids stripped her of dirty clothing and helped her walk into the warm bathwater. It was hard to see with the seam in the air and the blurriness leftover from her tears. Her skin tingled as one of the maids helped her in the water on a wooden stool, moving her limbs so she wasn’t kneeling or pulling a muscle. The older women had given up in trying to convince her to talk or to respond to any of their questions. All the fifteen-year-old could find the energy to do was cry and shake her head to their worries as they tried to communicate with her.

 

  She was too ashamed to tell them what happened. The thought of admitting to what she did make her feel sick. The staff would judge her, they would be ashamed to be related to her and everyone would turn their backs on her. Kaeo covered her mouth with her hand as she began to feel nauseated. Thinking about everything was making her stomach twist and turn with whatever remained in it sloshing around uncomfortably. She wanted to beg for forgiveness, to say she didn’t know it would happen but nobody would care to hear her excuses.

 

  A bucket of warm water was poured over her head, burning her nostrils and causing her to gasp for air. Soon she felt one of the maids take a bar of soap and begin to scrub at her body while another whispered for her to calm down. The words were quiet enough just for her to hear as the hands scrubbing at her body became softer and moved a tiny bit slower. It was hard to recognize who was cleaning her, everything around her made her feel as if she were in a daze. She felt dizzier the longer they sat in the bathhouse with the fragrant soaps and heat causing her to pant.

 

  “She’s out of it completely.” Someone whispered from somewhere in the room. They sounded angry which made her whimper and sink deeper into the water.

 

  “I think she’s in shock from whatever happened with that human girl.” Another voice appeared out of the fog of her mind, like a snake’s fangs becoming poison as it sunk into your skin.

 

  “I don’t think she’s human anymore…” The voice from before tailed off as she felt someone wiped under her chin with a rag that was cold and damp.

 

  “What? You don’t think they had her go through with it?” The rag moved under her arms, wiping over and over her skin until it became close to becoming tender. “She’s too young for that.”

 

  “A child sent to do a man’s job. I wonder how our mistress feels having to lay down with a coward.” The words stung as Kaeo felt one of the hands gripping her tighten and someone gasps in shock from what the other voice had proclaimed so boldly.

 

  “Watch your tongue!” More warm water was poured over her head with soap mixing with it forcing Kaeo to close her eyes to avoid any suds getting into them. “That so-called coward is still your boss, young lady, and mistress’ husband. You have to remember your place when speaking so boldly.”

 

  ‘They’re talking about Zachary?’ Almost immediately Kaeo felt herself wit in shame, the man must have told the others a lie about wanting Lea to be his familiar. It was obvious from their reactions that it was to help her gain sympathy for the horrible crime she committed. ‘He’s getting insulted because of me.’ She wanted to protest but after everything that had happened, she knew to keep her mouth shut. If she said anything, they might accuse her of eavesdropping and covering for him.

 

  The fifteen-year-old felt she owed a lot to the older man. He had comforted her after finding her in such a horrific state and told her to go rest. Her aunt would just congratulate her on doing something worthy of a future heir for once before scolding her for being weak. The older woman had done the same to Zachary and the maids and the guards but Kaeo doing it once made her want to cry. She didn’t know how the older woman could stomach it, for decades nonstop and expected her to do the same once she reached adulthood to continue their family line.

 

  In the book, they described it as painful as ripping off a bandaid. Afterward, you would feel relief as the wound started to heal and you could move on from the action easily. But Kaeo never saw herself moving on from what she did. Not for a very long time and she knew Lea would feel the same if she was even considering forgiving her. It was an assault, even if she had no sexual intentions, she wasn’t a toddler, she had been taught consent many times. She shuddered as the maids carefully helped her stand out from the tub and into the cold, fresh air.

 

  She had pinned someone down and kissed them. Kaeo remembered their tongues twisting together, it wasn’t like anything the book described and she was so confused. She knew it would be bad, that it would hurt but she expected it to be easy. All Lea needed was her saliva, to see her first in her new form and accept the bonding bite. But she had screamed, she had fought and Kaeo found herself panicking with her. The flesh in her mouth tasted bitter and tangy like raspberry as the fresh, newly tainted blood flooded her senses with its flavor and overwhelmed her. It was shameful to think about and find her mouth salivating at its remnants.

 

  ‘I shoved my tongue down her throat to stop her from screaming,’ Kaeo gave a weak smile to one of the maids whose own smile wavered before becoming watery. She wanted to curl into a ball while they wrapped her in designer towels and patted her hair dry. ‘Everyone’s going to be disgusted with me if they found out what I did.’

 

  ‘I’m a disgusting fuck.’ If she wasn’t numb, Kaeo knew she’d have collapsed at this point. The insults her damaged mind conjured for herself weren’t anything compared to Lea’s. The way she looked at her, the shift from disbelief to distraught to rage within seconds of her entering the room, the way her lips curled into a snark when she came nearer.

 

  It was like a nightmare came to life and she never was going to wake up from it. She closed her eyes momentarily as the maids doted over her small form and praised her appearance. It made her feel like a doll being prepared to be paraded around for the highest bidder. The guests would be dazzled, they said with grins, by how shiny her hair had become. She felt them use a detangler brush and pull it through gently while applying foam and cream to her ends until it all became full of beautiful curls. It framed her face which she heard one of the maids call adorable, making her wilter unconsciously.

 

  If they knew she was a predator, they wouldn’t be so eager to brush and style her hair. They would shut their mouths and balk at the thought of calling her adorable. All the designer dresses, the thousand dollar towels, and hair care products would never touch her body in a million years with the knowledge of her actions. She was being treated like a sweet doll by them when in actuality she was worse than Momo and just as bad as her aunt. Her eyes opened to meet their approving smiles as they marveled at their hard work and she felt horrible.

 

  “Are you alright, Mistress? Is the product making your hair too heavy? Do you need anything?” One of the maids asked as she helped put her dress on. “We can help you lay down for a bit and ask your uncle to bring you down something to eat?”

 

  “It’s fine, I’d just like to sit down for a few minutes,” Kaeo muttered, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of them sending Zachary down. The maids already seemed to dislike him for her mistakes and she didn’t want to cause even more distrust to seed in the household.

 

  Her words only made them fawn over her harder, their eyes glowing as she fidgeted in the outfit they were currently styling her in. She was uncomfortable staring at the way the dress's sleeves looked to be purposely tailored to cover her wounds and scars. The fabric was soft against her skin and smelled like perfume once the dress’s collar was buttoned. It was made out of lace and covered most of her but its thinness allowed her tan skin to peek through. If she were to look in the mirror, she was sure she’d look like a barbie from how much eyeliner and lip gloss they dabbled on her face.

 

  The guests at the party would be dressed similarly, she realized. In their finest outfits, they would come to their house dining on fine wine and human flesh. She would be someone they would scrutinize, they would judge her by her appearance and how she behaved. Kaeo anxiously swallowed the lump in her throat as she knew she’d have to hide her pain for the entire night. The fifteen-year-old knew she would be unable to show an ounce of fear or they would judge her aunt heavily. And if she did that, Lea would be the one to suffer along with her under her new social standing.

 

  “You look just like your aunt when she was a teenager,” One of the women said, her voice becoming lighter as she talked about the head of the clan with respect and care. “You both wore dresses like this, they make your skin shine along with your doe eyes, Mistress.”

 

  ‘Both of us are awful people.’ Kaeo thought with her face becoming ashen at the comparison. It was one thing to hear it in her head but to be told the same was scary to the teenager. ‘She’s dressing me like the woman who manipulated, harmed, and assaulted her. Or was it consensual and I was just the only one who's crossed that boundary in this house?’

 

  The comparison made sense, her father was her aunt’s twin and she resembled him. Her aunt had told her this on numerous occasions and so did her mother once or twice in the past. She wondered if she would become a mirror image of her aunt as she grew older. She could see their faces resembling one another, their body types becoming duplicates of one another. Sometimes, their voices even sounded in the same tone when they spoke to one another. And possibly, her greatest fear was that their way of thinking would become identical.

 

  A twisted mindset, where humans were not only prey but pets to play with. It had disgusted her when she first came to the manor and even now it sickened her. She hadn’t been able to understand the stark contrast in how familiars were treated with her extended family and why this was even allowed to happen. But by taking Lea, she somberly realized she wasn’t any better than them. Kaeo wanted to deny it but she knew it was a slippery slope and she had fallen headfirst into new territory but she wouldn’t continue any further.