February 20th.

  The outdoor cafeteria was quiet for once. The shade provided from the two storey buildings on either side of the courtyard made it one of the hangout spots we frequented the most, especially on days I wasn't fed well.

  The breeze helped counteract the hot summer wind, but I had to take further measures. I hadn't fed on Victoria since she asked me to wait until after the carnival, and I wasn't going to break that promise, but even a temporary animal diet sucked. I was so fragile, so exhausted, and so much more susceptible to my weaknesses. I'd laid down on the fake grass, my knees up to control my blood flow, and put a cold water bottle on my forehead, but it still sucked.

  "Tori, I love you, but that pasta is burning my nose." I mumbled, my eyes shut from the ambient brightness of the daylight. "Can you please just face the other way?"

  "It's fine." She spoke quietly. "I was done anyway."

  As she stood and was about to carry her container to the nearest bin, I peaked an eye open. The thing was full. I could hear her stomach growling. So why was she..?

  "Don't even think about it." I glared, sitting right up.

  She jumped and bit her lip.

  "I-I was just–"

  "Eat it." I huffed. "I know you're hungry."

  She looked around for a way out of the conversation.

  "Sit down." I sighed.

  Victoria slumped down beside me in defeat, dropping the container on the grass.

  "I lost my appetite." She tried.

  "I can hear your stomach–"

  "I still lost my appetite." She shot back. "Not in the mood."

  "What's up?" My gaze softened, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Is it stress?"

  "I'm not avoiding food. I swear." Tori winced. "I just haven't been feeling hungry much lately. I feel nauseous if I think about food. I try to eat, but it's like my stomach's the size of a coin, y'know?"

  "I know." I nodded.

  "I feel sick." Victoria hugged her knees. "Like, really sick. I don't know if I'll be able to compete at the carnival."

  My attention fell to her wrists, and I just knew.

  She wasn't wearing the bracelets she usually wore to hide the countless bite scars on her wrists. Instead, they were on full display. My healing could only do so much for others. If it had been myself who got those wounds, they'd have been healed over in seconds and left zero trace. But for other people, it depended on their general health. And Victoria? Her wrists were hauntingly thin.

  We both knew that was my fault.

  "I think you should see a doctor." I blurted. "Take some vitamins at the very least."

  "I don't think I can recover in time if I tried." She shrugged. "Unless I had an infusion or something, but that's a bit extreme."

  "I should've realised." I cursed under my breath. "I've been draining you for years, I should've known it would have permanent effects."

  "Please don't blame yourself when I do it willingly." She whispered, her guilt palpable. "It's not that big of a problem. I'll be fine after a little while, just not before the carnival. It's in three days."

  "Vic, you look half dead." I held her face in my palms. "Look at yourself. I'm killing you."

  She tried to smile.

  "I don't mind."

  I wanted to scream. How could she believe that?

  "No. This isn't you. I wont let you zombify yourself for me." I shook my head. "We can work something out. I can find other people to feed from. I-I'd rather live on pig's blood than hurt you."

  "You don't have to do that for me, but the thought's sweet." Victoria gently removed my hands. "I'll get better. I promise."

  I sighed.

  "Swear to me that you won't turn zombie on me!"

  She chuckled faintly.

  "I promise I won't die on you."

  -

  I'd dealt with hunger constantly. In terms of how to feed, I had backup plans for my backup plans at this point. One thing I'd never had to account for before? Sharing.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "MOVE!" Autumn barked.

  "STOP!" I yelled back.

  Autumn squirmed out of my grasp and climbed across the mattress. I quickly grabbed her leg, dug my claws in, and yanked her back. She hissed at the pain and kicked my chest.

  "PISS OFF!"

  "FUCK OFF!"

  The blankets tore. The pillows were thrown. The springs of the mattress worked on overdrive. Footprints ended up on the headboard. Blood dripped onto the sheets. Two wild animals wound up in a cage fight the second they woke up, and the cage didn't even have bars.

  "You don't even know how to feed from them!" I snapped.

  I bit down hard on her shoulder for extra grip in the fight. She shrieked and slashed the side of my face.

  Ow.

  "They'll get over it!" Autumn snarled.

  She once again slithered free, this time falling off the edge and hitting the floor with a huff. I pounced at her, wrapping my fingers around her throat while my knee pinned her thigh down. Blood dripped from the wounds on my cheek and pattered down onto her own.

  "Find your own food!"

  "You don't get to claim them!"

  "Yes I do!"

  "There's two of them! One each!"

  "No!"

  Autumn roared and threw me off of her. The back of my head hit the corner of the bedside table, sending my brain spinning for a few moments. She took the opportunity to sprint to the door and run out into the rest of the house.

  "HEY!" I took off after her.

  But when we entered the living area, it was dead empty. Cleaned, even. The scent human was long gone. The two of us came to a halt in the entrance, the fight long forgotten.

  "Did they leave?" Autumn muttered, wandering the room. "Without telling us?"

  "That's so rude!" I scoffed.

  "Why wouldn't they stay here?" Autumn pouted. "Don't they know we're hungry?"

  "Well, maybe they ran away because they knew you'd try to kill them!"

  "Me?" She snapped her head around to me. "You're the one who can't control himself!"

  "I haven't killed anyone in over a week!" I huffed proudly. "What about you?"

  She hesitated.

  "Seriously?" My tone fell along with my expression. "I was joking."

  "It wasn't on purpose!" She growled.

  "Then clearly I'm right!" I snapped back.

  My phone's ringtone shut us both up immediately. I shot Autumn a warning glare before taking it out from my pocket and answering Malachi's call. Autumn ran over to peek over my shoulder.

  "Morning, lovebirds!" Malachi beamed.

  "Where are you?!" Autumn and I yelled I unison.

  "Safe and sound." He smiled. "Far away from you."

  "What are we supposed to do?" Autumn snatched my phone. "I'm not eating meat the whole day!"

  "You'll be fine after some steaks, I'm sure." Malachi mused. "Once you've calmed down, then Hunter and I will gladly–"

  "I am NOT getting bitten." Hunter interrupted from somewhere out of frame.

  Malachi deadpanned.

  "Okay, well the girls and I will gladly come and offer a wrist or two."

  "You couldn't have given us a heads up?" I growled, retrieving my phone.

  "Woah! Jesus, are you alright?" Malachi grimaced at the sight of the slash on my cheek.

  "It'll heal." My eyes rolled. "Are you stupid? Locking us in here alone together like this?"

  "You're welcome to leave at any time." Malachi grinned.

  Autumn and I both glanced to one of the closed curtains, where the faint glow of sunlight tried to escape from the borders.

  "You picked the one sunny day of the month?" I whined. "We burn when we're hungry, idiot!"

  "I can't control the weather. I ain't Zeus."

  "I'm gonna lose my mind." Autumn began to pace in a panic. "I-I need blood. I need it right now. I can't stay here."

  "You'll come feed us once we calm down?" I asked Malachi.

  He nodded.

  "Fine." I hissed. "But I'm expecting at least a litre."

  I hung up the call and roared my anger out, my fist kissing the brick wall.

  "SHUT UP!" Autumn yelled. "Some of us have sensitive hearing!"

  "Some of us are fucking mad!"

  "Clearly! Almost all the meat you buy is pork, you psycho!"

  "As if you haven't eaten flesh before!"

  "At least I don't specially choose my animal meat to replicate the feeling!"

  This was going to be a long, long day.

  -

  Diego had hung up his vest and shelved his badge years ago, but today he was glad he'd kept them.

  Pretending to be a detective was an indictable offence, sure, but it was also annoying. He didn't know the current layout of his old station, didn't have recent information on anything, and if someone were to actually read his identification, it would clearly tell them it was expired. So he had to lean on his abilities – both from spending decades in the field, and from being a supernatural creature designed to prey on the human species.

  At least he wasn't alone anymore.

  "This place is a wreck." Apple scoffed quietly.

  The house before them had definitely seen better days. The garden was overgrown, one of the windows was bordered up, there were dead plants in pots by the door, the mailbox was overfilled, and there were decorations from completely different holidays left to decay on the lawn.

  Who knew Santa liked to party with skeletons?

  "We won't stay long." Diego spoke under his breath.

  "You're unusually tense." Apple smirked, nudging him. "There a reason your heart's racing?"

  Diego sighed.

  "I testified against the man who owns this lot." He replied. "Maybe twenty years ago now, my team took him to trial. Double homicide. Two drug dealers shot up in a garage. The whole trial, his heartbeat was dead steady. The guy's a nut job."

  "How'd he escape jail time?" Apple bit back her amusement. "Sounds pretty direct."

  "No prints, no weapon found, fussy technicalities. Case fell apart." Diego shrugged. "Here's to hoping that he's so grateful for getting to raise his kids that he doesn't recognise me."

  After knocking on the door, every second of silence only stretched further and further. Diego cleared his throat and tried again, but no one came to answer.

  "There's a lot of kids in there." Apple strained her hearing. "My god, there's at least four."

  Diego was about to knock again when the door was yanked open. The sound of children screaming at one another became much more apparent. Standing on the other side of the doorway was a woman in her late 40's, with fatigued eyes and a toddler on her hip. She forced a smile.

  "Can I help you?"

  "Detective Vance, homicide." Diego flipped his identification just quickly enough for the woman to not be able to read it properly. "We're looking for Isabella Evans?"

  "Yes, that would be me." The mother sighed, putting the toddler on the floor. The kid raced off to another room. "Is this about Veronica?"

  "Victoria." Apple corrected.

  "Yeah." The woman muttered. "Look, I've already talked to you cops a million times. Told you everything I know. Can't help ya, sorry."

  "With all due respect, ma'am," Diego held the fly-screen door open, "There's been some new evidence brought to our attention, and we'd like to revisit our sources. I'm sure you understand–"

  "They said the case was closed." The mother scoffed, taking out a cigarette from her pocket. "What evidence is there? She ran off with that Zach boy into the damn sunset."

  Apple shot Diego an uncertain look. He chose to ignore it.

  "I'd really appreciate just a few minutes of your time." He stated firmly.

  The woman fell silent. The look in the detective's eyes made her heart skip a beat, her pulse quicken. She grumbled and marched back inside, lighting the cigarette as she walked.

  Diego gave Apple a smirk and stepped inside.

  "Just like old times?"

  "Just like old times." She sighed.