Chapter Eleven

“You’re such a buzzkill, Momo. I thought you were going to fuck me or something not preach to me like my nana.” The red-haired woman snickered at the other woman’s irritated face, taking another drag from her cigarette with a smirk.

She laid sprawled on her bed, laying upside down to let the smoke burn her lungs. The two were in the redhead’s bedroom with loud music booming from the party going on outside of it. It was as lavish as the bedroom itself, cups of alcohol on the ground by their feet along with some tiny jello shots. An ashtray became smudged with the woman putting it out with one quick flick.

The bedroom was incredibly messy, due to people constantly going in and out. The house had changed a lot since the last time the other woman had been there. More people lived within its walls, sleeping everywhere from the couch to the living room floor. Still, everyone knew Momo well enough to move out of her way when she arrived.

“Fuck you, Sonya. I’d rather keel over and die.” Momo countered, paying attention to her phone rather than her friend. She glared when the other woman stuck her tongue out at her.

“Well, you have in the past so excuse me for assuming.” Sonya flipped over so she was laying on her stomach, throwing a pillow which the other easily dodged. “Anyway weirdo, care to explain why exactly you decided to crash my house party?”

Momo stared blankly at her for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. Her shoulders and chest had been bombed in body glitter by the other woman earlier. Surprisingly, she hadn’t bothered to wipe it off or show her anger from it, simply walking past her with a growl. The glitter glowed in the dimly lit room, clashing with her neon sweater dress.

“Can’t I just want to see you?” Momo asked, moving some of her hair away from the front of her face. She looked exhausted, having gone on a drinking binge the entire car ride over. Afterward, she had decided to forgo any weed offered to her and continued to get drunk.

Frowning at the tone of her friend’s voice, Sonya leaned forward to try and pull her into her arms. “Yes, you can but you aren't a very social person. You haven’t bothered to visit me in how many years and suddenly you show up, in my house clearly out of it, threatening my friends.” She succeeded in getting the woman up, only for her hands to be batted away. Glumly, the redhead gave up and sighed, sitting back down with more toned-down energy emitting off of her body.

“I wasn’t threatening them,” Her eyes were dark with an unreadable expression coming onto her face. She wondered whether or not coming to visit the woman was such a good idea. But she didn’t have anyone else to go to at the moment or that she could open up to. “I’m not in the greatest mood right now. My family’s pissing me off.

Pissing her off was an understatement. She wanted to pummel the bastard who dared to threaten her so openly, but she decided to just leave. She wasn't interested in playing a hand in his sick game. Zachary was someone she disliked for multiple reasons but had respected him as a kid. And seeing the weird behavior he had towards Kaeo irritated her.

He could pretend to her little cousin's face blatantly with no problem, but she wasn't like that naive brat. And speaking of her cousin, Momo felt a little surprised hearing from the maids what she had done. It was odd that the fifteen-year-old was meddling with human affairs, but it wasn’t her problem anymore. Downing another shot, she felt her body loosen up despite how angry she still felt.

"My uncle has decided to fixate on Kaeo and it's fucking weird. He tried to scare me off from confronting her about going behind my back." Momo left that hellhole as soon as possible, not wanting to deal with whatever Kaeo had done to get such protection from her.

It couldn’t just be the fact that the girl had tried to interfere with Momo’s prey. Zachary would never give a damn for something so meager to the immortal man. But, she didn’t bother to think about it too much especially after he interrupted her meal. Plus she was so drunk that it was getting hard to focus on anything too complicated to try and figure out.

"Fixated how? Like, he's training her for her parents all of sudden?" Sonya asked, looking confused by Momo's disgust at the subject.

"No. He won't leave her alone, he's following her like a puppy and got my aunt to make him her mentor." Momo deadpanned.

"Why the hell do you think he threatened me? Normally, he'd shrug it off and let me scare her every once and a while. This time he acted overprotective towards her."

“That’s disturbing. Isn’t Kaeo like, thirteen now?” Sonya grimaced her buzz disappearing completely from the conversation.

“She’s about to turn sixteen and he’s married to my aunt. There's no way in hell he’s interested in her for that. Or else my aunts would rip his balls off and my uncle would be rolling in his grave.” The nonhuman woman said with a monotone tone of voice.

"Still, you aren't close to her. I remember how you treated her when we were kids so you really wouldn't know if that's what he wanted. We do live for hundreds of years meaning he might have some sick, fucked up idea about aging." She groaned, looking grossed out by her assumptions. "Okay, yeah sorry I think I'm just projecting my childhood trauma because I'm drunk as fuck."

"I'm not your therapist, Sonya." Momo rolled her eyes and fell back on the piles of pillows she was sitting on. She wanted to fall asleep for a century or two, but her body hated resting.

"I'm well aware. I know you don't like your family for obvious reasons, but you shouldn't just let whatever's happening to Kaeo happen. It isn't right." Damnit. Mono recognized that far away look in her eyes and she despised it.

"That brat isn't my problem. Her parents made that clear to me years ago," Thinking about her childhood made her feel nothing but repulsive. Her teeth hurt as she felt her human form struggle with her emotional state. "If she gets hurt by Zachary, she's to blame."

Sonya didn't bother to look shocked by her cruel, dismissive words. "And if whatever happens causes her to go nuclear and threaten your life? Your aunt's life? Your father's?"

Momo knew what she meant but she couldn't bring herself to care. When they went berserk, it wasn't very pretty. She didn't see Kaeo being much different than any other member of their kind losing their shit over something. The fifteen-year-old would have a tantrum and stomp her feet, maybe eat a person or two before calming down.

And she doubted she'd even get that far before getting all insecure like she always did. Anytime the teenager came close to blowing a gasket, her conscience would kick in. Then she would be a blubbering mess that looked anything but a bloodthirsty, unhinged beast. She waved dismissively at the worries the woman voiced, knowing they were ridiculous.

"Momo, I'm serious."

"And I don't care." She shrugged.

Sonya may be a bleeding heart now, but she wasn't. In this house, she was a predator prowling in a cage. She didn't give a damn about anyone who she could recognize as prey. If she had known she'd be getting preached to, she wouldn't have bothered visiting. The waste coast had plenty of communities of their kind who shared her point of view.

"Fine. Let's just cuddle, okay?" It was odd to hear her so raw, so weak. If Momo didn't know her so well, she'd slash her face into pieces for even trying to play the victim.

"No." Touching one another was the least of her worries. Her head was aching from how loud the music was along with a hangover.

"Did you come over to just ignore my concerns and act like a psychopath?" The redhead hissed, holding her face in her hands momentarily with a loud sigh. She moved her hands showing bloodshot eyes with heavy bags under them. "Seriously, I'll shut up about your family but you need to at least try to act as if you want to see me."

Momo stared back at her glaringly, wanting the conversation to end already. "I'm not a psychopath." It was infantile to even think of her as something so blatantly rude.

The nineteen-year-old hated the sympathetic way Sonya looked at her. It made her want to attack, to pounce on her and sink her teeth into her neck. She wasn't a pity party or a little kid led astray by some big bad man. She was someone who just didn't give a damn about humans and their stupid morals. Morals that made them weaker than a dog and landed them on her dinner plate. If she was a psychopath for that, then she'd proudly bear the name.

"Sorry...let's just sleep." Sonya didn't get an answer as Momo became silent.

Soon enough they both went to sleep, with Sonya getting up to turn off the lights once everyone went home. The house was finally quiet as the windows were locked along with the doors. While the two women slept in the room, someone peered up at them from down below with malice.