Chapter Twelve

I take as much as I can from the smell in, filling my lungs until I could not inhale anymore, and as I close my eyes to truly savor it all coherent thoughts seem lost at the back of my mind, only images of his blood and the lingering taste of it in my mouth stayed, no logical part working as I was overtaken by a hungry desire for the denied meat.

The mere thought makes me salivate already.

That smell has taken away my desire to eat anything else, almost like an urge, a drug even, poisoning inside, brushing my lungs and taking root in my body, thesweettasteflavorsmelldriftinginwantingtoconsume I want to feast on his flesh, to taste to eat, eat him, his blood, I want to drink it.

I want to eat, eat, I need, I will have it, I will eat eat EAT!

I start walking in the direction of the smell without realizing it, compelled by my hunting instincts as, at first, no human notices my actions, all occupied with their own things or chatting with each other, but under this bright electric light I was bound to be found at some point and the first one to do so is, of course, the ones who stayed closest to me, the girl, soon followed by Bennett who reaches out and holds my arm, talking something that I didn't bother to stop and try to understand, the city-feast forgot as the grand meal stood right in front of me, waiting to be savored.

The only thing in my mind is to have that red nectar slowly descending down my throat once more. I lick my dry lips in anticipation, ignoring those around me until they were too many and obscured my vision, soldiers I did not know standing on my way, tall and burly.

I raise my lips, narrowing my now red eyes, all covered by my hair. Who dares to stand in my way? Are they tired of living? A low growl wants to make its way out, and the increasing smell of blood is making me lose my mind even more and not think of the consequences anymore, only of how much I wanted to taste the meal that had once been denied from me.

I start feeling hands on me, trying to keep me away, but increasingly annoyed I push them aside enough so that the white hall could come to view, not worried about them, not sparing them any thought as that smell overtook my mind.

And suddenly I feel a piercing pain at my brain, bringing me back from the smell only to receive an excruciating agony, the imposing hands changing to supporting ones as I close my eyes and scratch my head, but instead of receiving flashes of images, this time, as if hearing it all from a cup of glass, only darkness appears when I open my eyes, as if I'm unable to raise my eyelids, and sounds resonate close yet far.

"Scalpel." Metal sounds, fleshy sounds, a bip somewhere, breathings, a strange dizziness and cutting and-

When I finally able to open 'my' eyes I'm looking down on myself, my hands cupping my head as I stare at my still naked legs and at the tricked of blood descending down on them.

"He is hurt! Bennett, why didn't you tell me?"

"I-I, but he wasn't-!"

I can feel a wound strangely open up on my side, making a frown appear on my face amidst the pain since I did not get hurt beforehand, or ever rather, the new feeling strange for me and, before I pass out, makes me wonder if this new body of mine has, somehow, reached its limits, and if I was about to die for strange reasons, so close yet so far from the best meal I ever had in my entire life.

And without being able to taste it one more time.

~~~~

I'm startled awake, and having never passed out before I sit up and look around the moment my conscious comes back, moving too fast for someone who just woke up but prompted to search for danger by the adrenaline pumping in my veins.

I was alone, closed in a small metal room with no windows nor furniture beyond the bed fixed to the wall, only a small fan making a cracking noise from above, bringing air in, plus a strange device on the side with a blinking light and some lens.

…A cage? Who dares to put me in a cage? I'll rip their limbs apart!

Before I start moving around ripping this place apart footsteps sound outside, dry steps over a solid metal surface stopping right in front of my door, and after some time and some clicks pries it open up from the outside.

"Hi, did you sleep well? How are you feeling?" Unexpectedly the person who enters is the girl from before, wearing a smile on her face and bringing a tray in. "Sorry we had to change your clothes and clean you up while you were asleep, but there were blood and dirt all over you. So… uhm… I came to help out and brought some food too!"

I just keep looking at her as she approaches the side of my bed, eyeing the objects on the tray and making her mistake my cautious actions with eagerness for the food that I could sniff on there.

"Here you go." It was some sort of bowl with a brown thick liquid in it and something on the side. "Here is the bread, you dip it on the soup, like this." She said, demonstrating with her first then trying to bring the bread to my mouth as she chewed her piece, making me dodge her hand and fall back, and only after some attempts she puts the food on the side.

"I'll cut your hair too, so it doesn't stay in front of your eyes, ok?" At that she takes another bowl, an empty bigger one this time that has many things I do not recognize in, going for the one with a pair of blades at the opposite end, making me narrow my eyes and raise my vigilance towards her.

She clicks and clacks the thing midair and that sound, plus the motion, makes me avoid her and that thing at all costs, not trusting her with a sharp object near my eyes, even more at this form since I still did not know the limits of such body.

Plus… it would be very lame to lose my disguise by having her accidentally cut me like this right? It was already bad enough that I had passed out from that strange wound…and by the way my side feels it must have closed up already.

So let's make sure she doesn't notice nor see… from the many human meals I had I know they should not heal this fast…

As I come to that conclusion the girl keeps trying to do whatever she was up to with that thing again and again, a pout forming on her lips when she makes a mad dash for it that I dodge by standing from the bed, making her fall down on it.

"Urg! Let me cut your hair damn it!" I just stand there with my feet apart, ready to bail out of that place when she finally puts the thing down.

"Sigh, ok, can I at least comb it? Yes, no? Alright alright I won't try to touch your hair again! Geez, so touchy… But come here, sit down! Let's at least eat before you go out alright?"

She points at the seat beside her and the food while she starts eating it on her own, making me raise an eyebrow at that and sit back down but far apart so she wouldn't be able to reach me even if she tried.

"I'm sure you have many questions so let me answer them!" She seems excessive eager and happy to be talking here with me nonstop, but…

She totally forgot that I don't understand a thing, did she not?