The sun blazes overhead as Nessa, and I walk down a dusty trail, and I’m trying my hardest to keep calm. We had another run-in with the NTSCU. It wouldn’t be so bad, but she had gotten some superficial cuts. Really they’re nothing, but for a Bobby who hasn’t eaten in a couple of weeks, it’s torturous. I know she is unaware, but I really need to get away. Still.

My gaze wanders to her delicate throat. I can see her vein pumping without care. Enticing me as it flows her bright red lifeblood throughout her body. A drop of sweat slowly falls and comes to rest on her collarbone. I can just imagine taking a piece out of her shoulder. It would be a little one. I’m sure she wouldn’t even notice.

My teeth are sharp as razors. It’ll be like cutting through butter on a hot day. She swings her bright red hair in front of her neck, but somehow it just adds to the appeal. I lean over. Just a bite. She won’t even notice.

“Nate, is something the matter?” Vanessa gazes up with her doe-like eyes. I jerk myself away and hastily shake my head.

“Nah it’s nothing” I close my eyes, and soon enough, the moon is shining high in the sky. I look around, but Nessa is nowhere to be seen. Something runs past me, and like a switch, my control is gone. All I can focus on is their sweet iron scent that tells me all I need to know. Blood. Where there’s blood, there’s flesh. I lick my lips, and with a tremendous lunge, my meal is knocked to the ground.

I take a second a take in the smell of flesh. I dive in, the drool dripping from my fangs in little gloops. I sink my teeth through their layers of clothes. I don’t stop even once the coppery taste floods my mouth. Red waterfalls spill out everywhere as I give one more bite and get to the bone. I tear my prize clean off and swallow it whole.

I grab them by the hood of their sweater and am about to go for the neck when I see strands of bright red hair resting on the shoulders. I rock back on my heels, and my breath comes out in ragged huffs. I pull on my locs and try to think when’s the last time I saw Nessa. I turn the body over and am greeted by the sight of Nessa unseeing cloudy green gems gazing up into nothing.

“Oh Goddess no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, not again, please not again.” I pull her onto my lap and clutch my hand over the wound. It doesn’t help a bit. The blood is still gushing out as I had bitten into the artery that I knew lay there. “Please Nessa, come on, wake up, please wake up.” I shake her with my free hand brush her hair away from her face. I lean over her body and try to drag air in my lung between gasping for breath. Goddess, why can’t I breathe.

“See Nate, this is why you have no friends.” I look up, and Jeff’s figure looms over us. He looks as pale as the last time I saw him, and small dark droplets are gravitating down his face.

“What?”

“Hush, it’ll be okay. I know how to help abominations. You remember, don’t you?” He heaves a sigh and kneels down next to me. “I wish you’d stop making friends, Nate. It always ends with you making a meal out of them.”

“No, I didn’t mean to.”

“You never mean to Nate. That’s your problem,” he sneers. He jerks up and with a wrench of his hand slashes at my throat. I hold a hand to my throat as a gooey-like substance spills out of my body. I look up, and Nessa is standing there. The knife is still dripping with my blood and staining the ground.

“Abominations should all die. Don’t you agree, Nate?” She tilts her head, and all I see is the sharp blade coming down again straight for my head.

I spring out of bed. My hand grasps my neck, and I gasp for air.

“Nate.” Nessa is reaching for me. I grab her and turn her around, patting her down for any injury. When she has none, I push her to the bed and collapse on top of her. I bury my nose in her hair and take in her scent, allowing it to calm me. “The dream?” I nod, not bothering to use my voice. “You were screaming again.”

“Well good thing I don’t sleep that often,” I grunt. She pulls me closer and starts to pat my head. Any other time I would refuse as I’m not a dog, but it helps my racing heart, so sue me. Nessa starts to push at me, and I move over she sits up before guiding me across her lap. I don’t drift off again, but I enjoy lounging there for as long as I can.

“It’ll be okay.” If only I could believe her.

“Nate, Vee, anyone alive in there?” Someone is pounding on the door, and by the disdain that that paints over Nessa’s face, I’d say they have been for some time. I gaze up and realize the room is unrecognizable. The whole place is painted that horrible white that you’d always used to see in hospitals. Windows lay on each wall; looking to my left, I see the entire left wall is just glass and panes.

If not for the dirt and grime, I’m sure it would make a beautiful visual. Through the grime, I can just make out trees in the distance. Going by the table nearby overflowing with gaze and bandages, I can safely assume I was fixed up here. Unless that was a dream too. I gaze up at Nessa, and by the thunderstorm brewing on her face, I’d bet that wasn’t a dream, Oh this is gonna get good.

“Come in.” She sounds all light and airy. For most, they’d think she’s calm now, but she’s anything but. Dewitt comes through the door and relaxes his shoulders once he sees us. Poor bastard.

“Samuel didn’t have the time to come by, but he wanted me to make sure Nate was okay.

“Sure, Nate’s okay,” she edges me off and glides over to the man “and he would be better if he was never shot in the chest.”

“Vee-” Dewitt’s draw up in a tight line.

“With an arrow. Do you know how hard bullet wounds are?”

“We never meant for him to get hurt-”

“But you did.”

“And thanks to you owning fancy drugs, he could have died.”

“But-”

“And he’s been asleep for days. Nate barely sleeps for a couple of hours, and you all think you have the right to be worried. Who do you think you are?”

“He was going to kill you,” Dewitt proclaims. There’s total silence before Nessa slaps him across the face. He looks up. His eyes are constricted, and his pupils barely there; his face is drawn into a snarl. He’s lifted through the air and thrown out the door before he has a chance to react.

Vanessa paces the floor, and mini balls of fire appear and start to follow her body. I climb to the edge of the bed. I don’t get far before it feels as though a sludge hammer went through my chest. I wheeze slightly, and when I look up, Nessa it there. The flames have grown, but the glow of the embers has dimmed. Somehow I think that’s worse.

“Are you okay?” Nessa guides me to lean against her frame. She gently rubs at my chest, and each movement sends phantom nails digging further into my skin.

“Whatcha think?” I sass although it comes out more breathless than I would like. I sigh as Nessa starts chewing on her lip “What the hell happened?”

“What do you remember?”

“I-I attacked you again, didn’t I?” I stare down, but her hands come up and guide my face up.

“You got a little feral, but,” she puts a finger against my lips when I try to interrupt her, “you didn’t go through with it. Those idiots shot you for no reason.” A glower spreads across her face. All of Vanessa’s faces look good, but there’s something about her being mad that grabs my attention. Her pupils will practically disappear, leaving her with only her bright emeralds darkening with her mood. When her hair isn’t braided down, it’s like the strands have a mind of their own, lifting up with no wind.

Maybe it’s because her anger increases her scent, or perhaps it’s her magic I’m smelling. Either way, it’s addictive, and I can’t help myself when I put my nose against her throat. Of course, it’s at that moment when the door slams open. Dewitt and Samuel stalk inside but pause once they catch sight of us. I feel as Nessa tenses and the fireballs edge closer to the entrance.

“Vee, we’re trying to keep you safe, but that can’t happen if you won’t trust us.” Samuel comes closer, but as I tilt my head towards him, I see the look in his eye. It’s cold and calculating with some suspicion mixed in but no fear. “He’s dangerous, and if we want to keep you both safe, you need to be separated.”

“Why because he’s a Bobby.” Nessa shoots to her feet, and the balls of fire grow into pillars. I grab her hand and rub at her wrist with my thumb. She looks back, and the fire all but disappears. A few stay by the men, but I’ll count that as a victory. Ah, I knew she liked me.

“No, because he’s hungry and you’re counted as food,” Samuel bluntly remarks. His tone is flat, and if not for the topic, you’d think he’s talking about the weather.

“Then why would you hurt him.”

“Vee, he was going to bite you. Trust me even if he stops you don’t want that.”

“Too late.”

“What?”

“I’ve been traveling with Nate for a while. After our first couple of weeks, he bit me.”

“And you still trust him?”

“Yeah.”

“He could have affected you.” Samuel says each word slowly as if Nessa would miss the point if spoken too fast. He’s running a hand through his wavy hair, and by the way, it’s tasseled I’d say he’s been doing it all morning or is it afternoon? Poor man must be so stressed out.

“I’m aware.” Nessa doesn’t move quickly, and these guys definitely won’t be pushing her opinion. I already tried. I bring my hand to the spot on her back. Right on her shoulder blade. If I had been a little less feral and more in the more right mind, I would have gone for the artery. She’d have bled out, and my dream would have been real. Can nightmares that actually occurred be called dreams? Nessa leans into my hand and brings me out of my head.

“Trust me, no one is more aware than him.” She eases herself back on the bed with me. “Now state your purpose or begone. I rather not deal with any of you today.”

“Of course.” Samuel nods his head and steps forward a little. “Normally we wouldn’t have a problem hosting a visitor, Bobby or not.” Vanessa closes her mouth on his last words. “That being said, a lot of people are aware of the mishap that happened and would feel better if until further notice Nate is placed in our special holding at night.”

“Show me,” I propose. It’s the first time I’ve spoken in this whole confrontation. Samuel simply jerks his head and starts to head out. Vanessa and I quickly throw on our shoes and follow. Dewitt stays in the rear, but I know it’s to watch me rather than to keep us company by the way his fingers twitch to his waist ever so often. We walk past several shops and stands on our way. One holds many shoes and whatnot.

I eye the boots next to the shopkeeper once more. They remind me of the NTSCU standards. They look heavy and thick; they’re all leather except for the toes, which I can tell has a metal tip. We stop in Samuel’s shop, and we’re led to a basement with a thick barred cage. It’s like the bars I used to see in the police station on the occasion that one of my siblings got into trouble. But these are way thicker.

There are at least three separate chains hooked up to the wall. I push one with my feet and shudder when I see the steel muzzle. In the far corner, I can hear the constant drip, drip of water hitting the stone floor. I gaze up, and by the steel look in Nessa’s eyes, I know what we’re doing tonight.

“This works?” I question. I jog to the opposite wall of the cage. A cage they want to put me in a cage.

“Yeah it’s not like Bobbies have a lot of strength. For the most part, they just hurt themselves.” I must not cover up my contempt enough as Dewitt tries to placate my worries. “Most don’t stay down here. It’s just a precaution for a week or so until we know you’re not dangerous.”

“Right, of course.”

“Look, just come here a little after sundown I promise it won’t be so bad.” Samuel stops to pat my shoulder before walking away. Vanessa leads me up and away from there. We go by the shops, and she takes me straight to the shoes we passed earlier.

“He needs a new pair.” The shopkeep is a little surprised at her abruptness but quickly assists us. Not to waste any time, I shove the shoes I want into his face.

“Those are pricey.”

“Goods, right?”

“That’s right.” He narrows his eyes at me but doesn’t step away once I move my mouth to his ear. He’s practically putty in my hands once I inform him of what I’m willing to trade. “Make it two, and you got yourself a deal.”

“I’ll make it three if you have some leather clothes we’d fit.” He claps my shoulder, and we shake on it. After looking through his bins, we found several pieces of clothing that would be worth the cost. He walks with us to exchange the goods in our room, and at the edge of the trees, I see our getaway sitting. “Excuse sir but is that anybody’s”

“No,” he scoffs, “that thing hasn’t run in years.”

“Good to know.” I look at Nessa and have to work not to laugh out loud from the Cheshire grin spreading across her lips. “That’s really good to know.”

“I can’t believe he just wanted a sip of the liquor. It makes no sense,” Nessa laments.

“Sure it does. Most places no longer have true alcohol, or the factories are in ruins. Before I left, it was all goin’ to the rich and whatnot. Real shame how they jacked those prices up, but it is what it is.” I admire the car for a sec. It’s all dusty, and I have to grab my dirty tee to clean the windshield, but it’s in good shape. It’s all black, and it will be good for our night rides.

Walking to the steel door, I look around before jerking it open. It groans a bit, but thankfully it wasn’t locked. Nessa is still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Yeah, but still…”

“You remember how to do this?”

“Sure, just like the giving rituals.”

“The what?”

“Nothing, I’ll explain later.”

“I’m sure you will.” I throw all our bags in the back seats. “I always wanted one of this growin’ up.”

“Really what’s this one.”

“A Jeep Wrangler.” I slam the door shut and get comfortable. The moon can just be seen in the twilight. We’ll have a good half an hour, if not more, before they start to look for us. If they bother. Most wouldn’t, but I’d seen how Samuel looked at me, plus he knew my name. Nessa knows my name, and out here, that should be the end of that. I just know we’ll see him again. “C’mon Witchy, let’s hit the road.”

“Don’t rush me, you know I hate that.” Warmth fills the atmosphere as she touches the wheel and powers up our ride. The engine groans before calming down to a purr. I pull a leg up and lay my chin on top, watching the trees break past us. In the side-view mirror, a figure jumps out from behind the car. I lean my head out and only see an animal with steel-blue eyes looking at us while standing in the middle of the road.

“What is it, Nate?”

“Nothin’,” I assure her and pull my body back inside, “just a dog.”