Chapter Nineteen

Kaeo was hesitant to walk into the room, hearing the sounds of someone’s cries. She didn’t know what she would be faced with when she saw Lea. She didn’t know what the woman would want to say to her or how she would react to any of her answers. There were too many unanswered questions and possibilities for her to process. But she had to walk forward and confront the issue born from her negligence. She put on a brave face with her eyes meeting Lea's wild gaze.

The seventeen-year-old looked awful. She was trembling, her body tired from screaming after waking up from her coma. On her pale face, you could see streaks from her tears which continued to fall down her chin. Kaeo wanted to throw up, she had lost so much weight since the day they had first met. She felt like a monster, the girl pressed herself into the wall next to her bed as she pulled on her restraints. Kaeo could see that she had pulled so hard that she started to bruise and bleed.

Venom came from her lips as they faced one another. “You bitch. You fucking bitch!”

"I didn't want it to come to this," The apologies started to pour out without even thinking. Kaeo saw the betrayal on Lea's face and she began to choke up. She didn’t know what she could ever say to earn her forgiveness."I didn't want to chain you down here but I had no choice. I'm sorry."

“You kidnapped me.” Lea sounded sick as she spoke. Kaeo could barely hear her, by how weak her voice had become from weeks of silence. “You hurt my family. You lied about who you were when we met. You found my house and chained me up in your basement. ”

“I lied to help you! I tried to help your family too but I was too late. I'm so sorry. Please, you have to listen to me, Lea.” The other teenager turned her head away, her face full of rage. Kaeo kept going despite this feeling as though it was the only thing she could do to try and share her side. “I lied to you about who I was but I’m not lying about trying to save your family. They were already dead when I found you!” Her heart hammered in her chest as she tried not to hyperventilate.

Horror flooded onto Lea’s face as Kaeo screamed at her. Quickly, she moved a hand to point at the girl as much as her chains allowed her. It looked like she was struggling to believe what the younger teen had said, shaking her head back and forth. She began to cry even harder, letting out an agonized scream.

She was trembling even harder now, her lip curling into a fearsome scowl as she spat out a disgusted scream. “Dead? You...you killed my parents. You killed my siblings and came crying to me when I woke up?!”

‘Please god no.’ Kaeo didn’t want to tell Lea the truth, she couldn’t do this. She needed to go back and get Zachary’s help. She wouldn’t be able to take control and turn her into her familiar after this. Frantically she ran towards Lea, words flying out of both of their mouths as they argued.

“Lea I didn’t kill the” She started only to be spat at, saliva landing on her face as she froze. A hand slowly rose to wipe it away as she stared wide-eyed at her attacker.

“Then who did? Momo? Did you team up with her to kill my parents as some sick and twisted game? Or was it the woman with the white hair who put you up to this?” Every accusation hit the dark-haired girl like a slap in the face. She wanted to cry but now she had just started to feel numb. She hated herself more than ever. All the guilt, all the fear, all the disappointment in herself hit her all at once.

“Momo had nothing to do with this. I tried to save them. I tried to put them back together.” Memories of that night flashed in her mind. Of crying from nightmares from the blood and carnage she had witnessed after sneaking out to see Lea. Of the days she wondered if she was to blame.

“Then who killed my family, Kaeo?! Who has their blood on their hands? Because in my mind all I saw was you.” The last word was spat out with an amount of disgust she didn’t even know was possible. She had to back out, she had to run far away But she couldn’t and Lea was going to kick and scream but she had to do it for her sake. “All I can see is you in a room full of blood. So, who killed my parents, you lying bitch?!”

This was worse than she had imagined. There was no room for her to try and explain herself. Whatever nightmare Lea had woken up from had unlocked some memories from that night. When she thought that the girl had been unconscious and safe from the carnage. And as she feared, these memories framed her as the one to blame for everything that had occurred. Deep down she felt the same but she knew it wasn’t right to dwell on that at the moment.

Kaeo looked down on the ground unable to look Lea in the eye. “I can’t tell you. Please, don’t make me do this to you.” She could feel her insides tearing apart as she smelled blood. She had balled her hands into fists and scratched her palms so badly that they were starting to bleed. “You were going to die if I didn’t save you.”

“How did you save me? I’d rather die than be in the presence of a murderer.” Lea hit her where it hurt and she struggled not to run out of the room. Silently, Kaeo sniffled and choked on the hot tears that fell onto her face. All she wanted to do was scream, to pull at her hair and fall to the ground.

That wouldn’t do anything for her. Her hands bled openly as she felt the numbness spread deep inside her soul and take control. Her mind was crowded with a jumble of thoughts that destroyed any bit of self-esteem she had left in her. Weakly, she finally told her the truth with it is hard to even see from how hard she was crying.

“I’m not the one here who murdered someone. You killed them and I saved you from being locked away with your face plastered on every TV in the country. You ripped your brothers apart first and ate them piece by piece before going for your mother’s throat!” By now she was able to hear Zachary asking if she was okay and to open the door but she wasn’t going to stop now. Her throat hurt from how loud she was screaming and she wondered if she’d vomit.

She began to pant as she continued, ignoring the way Lea recoiled back. “Every single night I’ve had nightmares about the pictures of your family’s corpses all over my timeline. All of your followers? All of your internet friends in the fandom? They think you were kidnapped by a pedophile that you fell in love with online. They think that some old, creepy man scooped you up and convinced you to help murder your parents by beating them into a bloody pulp!” By now she was too lost in her emotions to realize how much her words were affecting Lea.

When she would log onto her social media and check on Lea’s account the comments would make her sick. Accusations filled to the brim about her being a murderer obsessed with the occult. That she had killed her family to run away with some man she had met on the internet. Others offered their condolences and spoke as if she were dead. Lea was being used as a media cash cow by the internet. True crime podcasts had already caught wind of her case along with conspiracy theorists. In the end, nobody really cared about the people involved but the mystique of it all.

The seventeen-year-old had vanished into thin air, her family made sure of it. And now, she couldn’t let her go. If she let Lea go the authorities would arrest her the moment she was sighted and interrogate her for hours on end. They would demand answers, especially if they were police from out of the state who her family couldn’t control. Who they wouldn’t be able to bribe or threaten to keep her arrest out of the news.

Kaeo could stop Lea from being dragged through the streets to be forced to reggae through her trauma over and over for the news, her family members, her classmates, etc. Being chained to a bed to heal was better than going back lost and damaged to the human world. It made her sick knowing that she’d have to keep Lea locked away until everything quieted down. But it was for the best.

“I’m sorry.” She cried realizing what she had just said. She reached out slowly but pulled her hand back when she was met with silence. “I’m so sorry. I was angry. I'm sorry for saying that to you Lea. You’re right, I lied to you and I helped hurt you. You would have been better off dying.”

It hurt so much to say it. Imagining Lea in her bed, so frail and tiny as her family died around her. Looking down at her body and leaving her to be found by the police. For them to rush her to an emergency room where she’d slowly die, withering away until she looked like a skeleton. Her skin was yellowing and becoming necrotic as she struggled to breathe as they incubated her. A dying, ticking time bob as whatever nin human possessing her taking hold of her mind than body.

Lea wouldn’t have wanted that, even at her lowest she wouldn’t have wanted to go through that pain. To wake up in a strange place with cops interrogating her about the corpses in her house as she changed. Changed into a new form that craved human flesh and could live way past her years. She winced as she knew what would have happened next and she didn’t want to ever cause it.

“Why didn’t you leave me with them?” Lea sounded so deviated, all of her energy from earlier had disappeared. She wasn’t an angry viper anymore screaming for vengeance but a scared teenage girl huddled in a corner forced to be in chains. Kaeo knew she probably looked like a monster to her.

“Because you didn’t deserve to die like that. You have to believe me, I only wanted to help. If we had known that your transformation had started we would have contacted your parents and explained.” Her hands wrinkled together as she sniffled, she faces a wreck from how much she had been crying. She felt exhausted but she knew she had to calm Lea down and give her the full truth.

"You knew I was–" Lea started to say only to be interrupted by a solemn-looking Kaeo.

"My cousin could see it on you. And you smelled really strong apparently." The seventeen-year-old looked tired so she didn't have to worry about anymore screaming. Still, she hesitated with whatever she said in case it triggered her.

"Momo is your cousin...that means those tattoos were on me too?" Lea seemed to be overwhelmed by the revelation. Her face crumbled as new tears poured down her cheeks.

"Tattoos?" Kaeo realized she must have been talking about the markings on their skin. "Yeah, you could call them that, though they're more like birthmarks in my case. Since I was born this way."

Lea's facial expression turned sour at Kaeo's comment. "You were born like what? A monster?" Her anger was still evident but the fifteen-year-old could tell she was too fragile to fight with her.

"I don't blame you for calling me that," The fifteen-year-old had called herself that daily since she saw those bodies. "To humans, we are horrible creatures that go bump in the night. But not all of us are bloodthirsty murderers."

"My mother raised me to respect humans as we look the same and we can feel the same. I've gone to school with your kind and I try not to eat human flesh as it disgusts me." She felt like her excuses weren't good enough but she kept trying to explain her mindset.

"So, your family eats people but you don't because you have human friends?" Kaeo winced at how dumb she must sound to the girl.

She sighs in defeat and nods her head. "Yes."

“What are you going to do with me?” The question was simple enough but Kaeo found herself struggling to come up with an answer.

Hearing how defeated and beaten down Lea was made her trip over her own thoughts. She wanted to give her some time to breathe and process everything she had been told. But she wasn't allowed to leave without making Lea her familiar. She had learned just enough about the process to know once she started, there was no stopping it. She might even have to pin Lea down throughout the entire process to keep her from getting hurt.

She couldn't run out and say no either. That was the deal she had made to save Lea’s life. It was the only reason she was standing in front of Lea in the first place. If she didn’t hurry, Zachary might have to intervene and take matters into his own hands. She was scared of what might happen if she didn't. She had no other choice in the troublesome matter but still, it made her feel disgusted.

"I have to help your transition finish. It won’t hurt, it might be uncomfortable but it will all make sense once we’re done. Then you can get something to eat, a warm shower, and maybe even watch tv.” Kaeo knew that her lies weren’t enough to convince the seventeen-year-old but she wanted to do this the right way. So she forced a smile and started to move even closer to her.

Lea stared at her with a feral look coming into her eyes. Underneath them, her eyebags looked bruised along with having already gotten puffy from crying and straining her body to try and break free. “And what if I don’t want you to help me? Will you stop whatever you are going to do?”

“I don't really have a choice.`` She started walking closer, biting the bottom of her lip anxiously. “Even if I want to stop, I can’t.”

“What do you mean, you don’t have a choice?” Lea whispered, pushing herself back as Kaeo came closer to her. It was beginning to set in that something was about to happen whether or not Lea consented to it. The chains clinked together as she tried to move further away from the non-human girl.

“I had to make a deal, to save you. And this deal requires me to take control over you.” Kaoe came closer, bending downward until she was on her knees next to Lea. She swallowed thickly, feeling the atmosphere shift. The hair on her arms stood as she felt something within herself change. Her cuts burned as she shed a bit of her human shell. She wished there was some other way. “Please, don’t scream, Lea.”

She stared at the teenager with empty black eyes, grabbing her arms forcefully. It wasn’t hard to pin them down as Lea began trying to fight her off. The fifteen-year-old felt sick as she watched the sheer terror on the other girl’s face grow. She wanted to stop but she had no other choice. Lea had to bond with her or else they would hurt her. She thought back to her training sessions, to the girl on the news who had been tortured to death. She had to show she was strong by making the girl her’s. If she couldn’t protect her properly, no one would.

“Please stop!” Lea screamed hoarsely as Kaeo straddled her body. The seventeen-year-old was forced to see the younger girl’s mouth open to rows of teeth. The sight nearly made her pass out from how terrified she was. “Stop, stop, STOP!”

“PLEASE NO!” With every cry Lea made, Kaeo sobbed harder. She was a monster. “NO!”

Everything after this started to become a blur to Kaeo. Her nails dug into Lea’s arms and they began to bleed from beneath her hold. It revolted the fifteen-year-old to do such a thing to someone she cared for. The girl screamed so loud Kaeo thought her eardrums would explode. It was guttural, sounding more like an animal than a teenage girl’s. Lea screamed as if she was being murdered with her face becoming red and her eyes wider than she thought was possible.

“HELP ME!” Legs kicking usually, Lea fought with everything she had. Kaeo felt her heartbreak and tears drip down her face. It was tearing her apart to do this but she couldn't stop. Instead of stopping, she forced herself to bite into the girl’s naked neck. Her teeth dug into her like positioned barbs as Kaeo tasted her fresh blood. “AHHHH!”

Sweaty hands pushed against Kaeo’s head as Lea tried to get her away. The chains holding her down banged loudly as she moved feverishly, screaming out in agony. Her flesh was being ripped apart as Kaeo drank from her ferally. Unintelligible moans that resembled begging left the older girl’s mouth as she cried loudly. Kaeo had read that to her lea this would feel like sheer torture. Her insides would be burning and her skin would feel like it was on fire.

“NGH!” Lea coughed up blood, droplets falling onto her chest as her eyes glazed over. Her hands robotically pushed against the girl on top of her. If she had been human still she would have died from the amount of blood she was losing. Instead, she was helpless to the changes Kaeo was making to her body, unable to die even if she was begging silently.

The teenager began to seize from how overwhelmed her body was. Her screams continued even if the girl was losing her awareness of what was happening to her. Kaeo slowly ripped herself away from the girl's neck as she gurgled a bit. A large gash that had already started to heal itself was left, blood dripping onto the sheets under their bodies. Knowing she had no time to waste, she grabbed Lea’s chin and forced their lips together. Not only was Lea tasting her own blood but her own flesh mixed with Kaeo’s raw lips. The fifteen-year-old felt extremely uncomfortable doing something so intimate.

The non-human girl felt filthy forcing her tongue down the other girl’s mouth. She pushed her tongue in so forcefully Lea nearly choked on it. To make Lea her familiar she needed to feast from her and vice versa. Lea was fed her blood mixed with bits of skin and meat being shoved down her throat with every kiss given to her. The girl tasted sweeter than Kaeo had ever imagined, but the thought of enjoying what was happening made her ill. She knew what she was doing wasn’t consensual and that she was assaulting the older girl. But if saving her meant doing this, she’d suck up to her disgust and see it through.

Drool dripped down Lea’s chin as the girl completely zoned out from the assault. Kaeo figured this was for the better, she was going to have nightmares from the girl's panicked screams. Pulling back from their kiss left a bloody spring of saliva which Kaeo wiped away. The girl trembled beneath her with glazed eyes as her mouth moved in a silent plea. There was a wet patch showing the smaller girl that she had peed sometime during it all. Kaeo covered her mouth quickly but it was too late and she threw up onto both of their bodies.

It was all too much, Kaeo thought as she quickly finished vomiting onto the floor. She was disgusted in herself, every bit of self-hate she ever felt hitting her full force. She’d have to clean them both off later as the ritual wasn’t done yet. There was one more stop they would have to complete and then it would be over. Cautiously, she bit into her own arm and pulled her head back quickly, yanking out a sizable chunk of flesh. Doing this left her dizzy as she panted loudly and struggled to remain calm. Everything in her wanted to give up and cry but she couldn’t stop.

Weakly, she held the flesh to Lea’s mouth. Forcing it open she slowly put it in and forced the girl to swallow it. Now, both of them had ingested a piece of one another and were bound as one. Master and familiar, Kaeo thought with tears pooling down her face as she held herself and cried.