Chapter Twelve

 

  Kaeo walked through the halls of the manor with a troubled expression on her face. The house was animated with everyone congratulating her on her so-called success. They looked at her differently, with an aura of respect and pride. It wasn’t a small amount of pride either but pure, extreme admiration. The news of her newborn creating such a fuss for humans made some of the maids giddy. The guards bowed lower when she walked by and her little cousins begged to see Lea, wanting to meet their new family member for everyone else.

 

  Her head was downcast, her eyes hooded with guilt. She was ashamed to feel a small glimmer of happiness for finally being treated normally. She didn’t hear whispers about how she was a disappointment anymore but instead praises her plan. They figured that this entire time she must have been waiting to do this. When really, Kaeo did what she did out of desperation. She closed her eyes at times and saw the dead bodies of the family.

 

   was impossible to be okay after what she had seen. She looked down at her arms and saw how bad they had become. Any meals offered to her she refused, ashamed to indulge in human flesh. And now, her body was beginning to feel the effects of starving herself fully. Her human form wasn’t going to last much longer but she couldn’t bring herself to eat. Every time she was shown a body prepared for dinner, she saw Lea’s parents instead. She would see their body torn apart, with their faces frozen in a scream of agony.

 

  ‘I can’t do it.’ Terrified, she had pushed the plate away and had excused herself. Tears dropped down onto her nightgown as she gave up trying to stop them. What had happened the previous week was too much for her, she felt like a piece of glass about to shatter into pieces.

 

  Her arms throbbed at her sides when she hurried to her room. She wanted to curl up in her bed and imagine she was back home with her parents. That she would open her eyes and see her mother cooking her breakfast before she headed to an international school. She’d hear Korean music on, from her stepmother as a byproduct of the Hallyu wave. When she got back they would gather in the living room and rewatch horror movies from the nineties.

 

  Did they even miss her? She hoped that they did, but she knew that they were still angry. Her parents were in shambles when she walked away from the airport. She could remember her mother’s words perfectly and the way she held herself. The tightness of their final hug as her mother promised softly that her stay would only be temporary.

 

  And when she got back, they would let her go back to school and continue to pursue her dreams as a human. Not a monster who ate humans to survive, not a predator who had to hide her true nature constantly. As a fifteen-year-old girl who liked sweets, skipping school, and going out to the movies. But now, she was scared that she would never be able to go back to that life.

 

  Entering her bedroom, she locked the door and fell against it. She stared down at her feet, shaking as she tried to contain and pull herself together. Tomorrow, she could visit Lea and see how her health was improving. Tomorrow, she would be able to go into town with Zachary watching over in case anything happens. No one would be talking about her involvement or romanticizing it to her face. It would just be her, alone, free from the pressure suddenly being put on her.

 

  The textbook Zachary had given to her was pulled from beneath her bed as she got down on her knees to retrieve it. The book had been her solace for the past few days, telling her what to do now that everything was happening. She was in a horrible situation, her family wasn’t getting how much this was affecting her. They thought she was overjoyed and that her tears were that of joy.

 

  She had proclaimed out loud that she was worthy to be their blood. But that wasn’t what she wanted and now she was suffering. Kaeo held the book close to her chest as she let out a silent scream. Everything burned, she was being destroyed from deep within her soul. She wanted to run away from this house, this town. Seeing Lea, connected to machinery as the town searched for her furiously was like a slap in the face.

 

  And the book itself was no help. The answers it did give were basic enough but offered no substance to her current predicament. She was truly on her own until Lea woke up from the comatose state she was in. The isolation and the memories were beginning to drive her mad with guilt. She was a monster and helped commit a cold-blooded massacre.

 

  “Kaeo are you alright?” A knock or two followed, Zachary appearing out of nowhere startling her out of her troublesome thoughts. “You ran into your room while I was calling for you to stop.”

 

  What? Kaeo tried to remember if anyone had called out for her, but she hadn’t heard anything. Had she been sucked so deeply into her thoughts she hadn’t heard him? It sounded plausible and only served to make her anxiety worse. She was fearful that maybe, she had attacked worse than she thought when running off from dinner.

 

  Throwing the book back under her bed, she tried to compose herself before answering. If he heard a single whimper in her voice or crack she knew he’d demand to come in. The older man was taking his job very seriously now that they had gotten Lea under the authorities' noses. He tried to watch the fifteen-year-old twenty-four-seven, but she needed to be alone right now.

 

  “Sorry, I didn’t hear you. I’m not hungry right now.” The child responded, her voice soft as possible to avoid giving her true feelings away.

 

  “That’s alright, I’m just worried about you and so is your aunt.” Her palms began to sweat at the mention of the woman. “She wants to talk to you about your parents and how this is affecting you, Kaeo. She cares about you even if she can’t show it right now.”

 

  She took a breath, feeling the urge to run straight to the toilet and hurl what little food she ate into the porcelain toilet bowl. She was so tired of everyone saying they cared about her but never bothering to show it openly in front of others. “Can I talk to her later? I have to help garden tomorrow and we have to go early.”

 

  “You should get some rest. I’ll send her your way when you get back.” It wasn’t hard for her to hear the disappointment in his voice as he walked away. It rang deep within her mind, filling her with a whirlpool of despair she was scared to try and handle.

 

  Talking with her aunt face to face was impossible. The woman favored those who were outwardly strong and calculated with their actions. The type of person who would say everything they disliked about you to your face. Who would take down their enemy even if it meant dying a horrible, gruesome death? Kaeo was the opposite of all of those things.

 

  She felt like a mouse stuck between a cat’s paws when interacting with the woman. Her feelings were never taken into account when her aunt spoke about her. Instead, she’d lay games with how she spun her words and it hurt to be their target. Over the years, it had gotten worse despite Kaeo trying her best to stay out of the woman’s way.

 

  ‘If it wasn’t for dad she’d probably eaten me by now.’ The only reason she accepted her was because of her dad, the woman’s baby brother. Thinking about her dad brought back pain she thought was gone. Her father had died after centuries and it tore her aunt apart.

 

  No one had seen his death coming, the man was virtually immortal. Her mother had lost her husband while her aunt lost a twin. So, she put up with his daughter. She saw him sometimes with her way of speaking and her hobbies, so she sucked up her displeasure with the arrangement and treated Kaeo like she mattered. When in reality, Kaeo had a hard time feeling loved by her.

 

  So, for her to want to talk about everything that was happening made her feel terrified. She didn’t think the woman would harm her knowing both her mother and stepmother were involved. And with Momo being gone, her older cousin couldn’t influence the woman with her dislike for the fifteen-year-old.

 

  'Maybe I can wait it out.' If she came home late, then the woman might be asleep and the conversation could be avoided. But still, it was a risk she doubted would work. Sighing, she fell onto her bed and tried to go to sleep before she upset herself.

 

***

 

  Momo was uncomfortable with showing her skin in the eyes of humans. The nineteen-year-old brushed her hair, with her curls falling onto her collarbone. She was going to have to show her breasts to catch the eye of the individuals who’d give her decent information. She disliked doing Zachary this one last favor, but if she got what she needed then she could return home.

 

  They had only called her to live with them for this one thing, finding out what entity from their kind was polluting humanity. By humanity, she supposed they meant the humans who lived near and around them in the hundreds. If too many humans became possessed then who knew what would happen to their family. Once she gave that bastard the crumbs leading to the person doing this, she would leave.

 

  Her home was on the road. She wanted to be free from everyone’s watchful eyes for once in her life and just let loose. To eat every human she wanted to eat when wanted to eat them and how. She desired to rip off her human skin and finally take on her natural form in public. Momo grabbed a tube of lipstick, banishing her thoughts back into her subconscious mind.

 

  “I’m going with you,” Sonya said from the bathroom as the nonhuman put on a layer-on lipstick, her discomfort evident as they both got ready to leave. “I’ve gone to this club before so if you’re with me they’ll trust you.”

 

  Momo raised an eyebrow at her words, finding that the redhead had a point. “How often do you go clubbing?”

 

  “Every weekend when I’m not working or studying for an exam,” Coming into her bedroom, Sonya was met with a rather blank-faced looking teenager staring back at her. “What?’

 

  She shrugged. “You drink a lot more than you used to.”

 

  Sonya looked confused by what she said, opening her mouth to respond only to close it right after. She was at a loss for words, choosing to walk away from Momo to avoid any further conflict. Watching her walk away made the nineteen-year-old feel something she struggled to identify, her face falling. The entire time she had been staying with her former friend she felt like something was off between the two.

 

  At first, she thought it was due to the time they spent apart. Neither woman was the greatest deep down, but Momo felt like she was being treated like a criminal. Over the years she had become less patient with humans and grew to despise everything about them. A lion didn't play with zebras or act like they were one of them. That would be insulting to even suggest for the lion to do. Instead, the lion stabbed the zebras in the back and tore their children to shreds before their dying eyes.

 

  She wasn't here to pretend to be a good person for Sonya's human friends. It was weird to even ask her to do, playing nice wasn't her thing. Every word they spoke to each other felt like an attack and it was making her increasingly unnerved. Her stomach rumbled as she rubbed at her temples, her hunger growing. When they got to the club she'd have to remind herself to grab a snack.

 

  Despite hating fashion, Momo looked good with what she had. Their kind already had a natural allure that drew humans to them at times, but her appearance strengthened it. She did however feel that she added a bit too much makeup, but it would do. Her shirt showed her nipples which bothered her but she knew that she needed to come off a certain way.

 

  The place they were going to was an underground type of establishment. Humans mainly went there to fuck around with the no humans who ran it. She found it disgusting and demeaning to reveal her true form for a couple of dollars to a bunch of crackheads and losers. But, some people were so desperate for money they were willing to risk their lives. And who would believe a crack whore saying she had seen a winged creature stripping on a pole?

 

  Playing with these fetishes made her feel gross, but she had to get this over with. So looking like a whore and shedding some of her skin for a few scummy humans for information was a necessary sacrifice. She gathered her things and dropped them into her bag before heading into the living room where Sonya waited for her to finish. The woman had her hair done nicely in a long braid with hair clips in it and her makeup looked breathtaking. Her heart-shaped smile blossomed as she saw the younger woman come over to her.

 

  "Oh, you're done!" Sonya stood up and looked Momo over nodding her head in approval. "You look great, my massacre makes your eyes pop."

 

  "Thanks," Momo replied unsure how to take the compliment.

 

  "Anyway, we gotta get going soon. They'll probably pat you down to make sure you aren't hiding any weapons or phones?" Sonya said as they left the house, heading to her car.

 

  "They have to make sure no one records anyone out of their human form right?" The nineteen-year-old theorized. It made sense to her, they had to be extra careful mixing so closely with humans in an intimate manner. If someone managed to sneak in a phone and snapped a picture, it wouldn't end well for them.

 

  "Exactly! We'll get our phones back when we leave," She unlocked her car seeing Momo's fallen expression from the news. "Don't worry, I know a guy who can sneak us our phones when we get to the bar."

 

  "Clubbing got you some connections." Momo wondered aloud as the two women looked at one another, her companion rolling her eyes with a small huff. The redhead waved her hand dismissively at the comment, finding it ridiculous.

 

  "I used to work as a bartender for a month and the bouncers took a liking to me," Sonya gasped at the way Momo reacted to the comment, the nineteen-year-old sucking her teeth in distaste. "He didn't sleep with me, you asshole."

 

  It wasn't like she was trying to be a bitch, the older woman had a wild love life in the past. She couldn't help the fact that she thought she was having sex with everything that walked. Sonya appeared to catch her assumption and it pissed her off quite a bit. Her body language was closed off and aggressive. For now, she would drop the subject to avoid losing her ride and pass into the club.

 

  This continued for the majority of the car ride. Sonya kept her eyes on the road, looking down once or twice to change the song from her playlist they were listening to. The calmness of the silence was unnatural, Momo knew her comment had hurt the woman deeply. She found it hard to feel bad for what she had said, it was the truth. Everyone knew the redhead was a loose person when it came to sex, partying and the people she hangs out with.

 

  And it had gotten worse from what Momo had seen at the house party. Random men, Sonya would take the woman to bed, sometimes with multiple others. This forced Momo to leave the room and interact with a bunch of gross humans. It felt a bit disappointing to see someone she had considered an ally in the dislike for humans bowing to them like a dog.

 

  Thankfully, she was smart enough not to voice any of these feelings. She needed to use Sonya and her remaining skills to get this information. Then, she’d deliver it to Zachary and tell the bastard to kiss her ass on her way to a five-star hotel with her allowance. Thinking of the man’s failed threat made her heated, he had some nerve speaking to her that way.

 

  She had no problem slamming him against a wall and strangling what little humanity he had out of him. It had been a while since she was able to engage in a difficult fight and the man should offer a decent opponent. Imagining his screams of pain when her teeth made contact with his bloody skin, tearing into it and sinking deep enough for her to rip out a chunk. Her mouth began to water, her body tingling with pleasure as she envisioned smelling his fear.

 

  By the time she awoke from her pleasurable thoughts, they had arrived at the house that contained the club. It was a normal-looking townhouse in a low-income area that made it appear fancier than it normally would, with the houses near it being rundown or ancient. They got out and were met with a small pathway that was paved by dull red brick and a flimsy metal gate. Sonya pushed the gate open easily, the metal lock falling to the side from how rusty it had become.

 

  “It’s here?” Momo asked as they walked onto the house’s porch which had potted plants and wind chimes hanging above their heads. It didn’t look very club-like and stood out instead of blending in with the rest of the neighborhood.

 

  “Yup! All we have to do is knock and wait.” She replied grabbing the knocker connected to the front door and slammed it against the wood beneath it.

 

  They waited for a second before someone came to the door. She was surprised by how fast they were, opening the door to meet the two women face-first. Not bothering to check for who they were or ask for their names. It screamed amateur to her, whoever was running this club hadn't been doing it very long. This left her less than impressed when they were met by the wide gaze of a human man. He was dingy in appearance, reminding the nineteen-year-old of a wet rat.

 

  "Sonya, I'm surprised you're back." He sounded high to both women as he looked behind them too obviously. Suddenly, he focused on Momo and looked confused. "Who are you?"

 

  "She's my friend from school. Don't worry she won't snitch on you guys for running this place." Sonya said, nudging her with her foot.

 

  Momo stared straight at the man watching as he was intimidated by her. Which was unusual for someone who spent hours a day with her kind. He was terrified of her and wilted under her judging gaze. This meant there was no way he ran the place to the girl. He was probably just the person who greeted guests. The owner had hired a coward to keep monsters out, it was idiotic.

 

  This made it more fun. The man was trying to figure out what she was if she was human or not. Before they went to the club she would play around with him for a bit. Twist and squeeze his neck for some fun. That way, he'd shrivel beneath her feet and scamper out of her way. Momo licked her lips feeling her hunger grow from the smell of fear.

 

  She grinned, making sure to show all of her teeth. Her voice was soft and fragile despite this blatant display of bloodlust. "I'm a bit new to partying. That won't be a problem, right?"

 

  He flinched when he saw how many rows of teeth she had, her mouth resembling a shark’s if you looked close enough. Momo was unimpressed by his subdued reaction, but it would do for now. She still had plenty of time to feast at the party. Quickly, the man shook his head feverishly ushering the women in. "Not at all, if Sonya trusts you, we trust you."

 

  “Good.” She replied nonchalantly as they walked into the house. It was mundane looking but as they went further in she could see that it was pretty empty. Everything was a mask for the club that was beneath their feet.

 

  Eventually, they rounded a corner and her nose was hit with an array of smells. There was an old laptop on the ground that lingered with the smell of someone nonhuman. These smells only grew stronger as they came closer to the basement door. Any other doors they passed were nailed shut which piqued her interest but she’d have to ask about them later. Her senses tingled as the basement door came into view. There were non-humans behind it, she could smell all of them at once. It nearly overwhelmed her completely but years of training kept that from happening.

 

  “Here we are.” The man said dully, turning to look at them one last time. “Are you ready ladies?”