When the creature finally lets me go, my body is thrown onto the ground like I'm an object. I push up on my hands, slowly rising to my feet. We're standing on a pebbled path that leads up to the biggest palace I have ever seen. I'm not sure how long we've been flying for, but I get the feeling that I am very far from the nannery. The fields are so green here, full of pretty flowers and blooming small trees. The palace reflects the beauty, the stone is so shiny that it looks blue. I stare at the highest towers that are several hundred feet in the air, for a moment I catch the sight of large wings fluttering around them and I gasp.

"Walk," the creature commands.

"Is this your home?" I ask as I begin walking up the path.

"No."

No? How can it not be his home? If I am that rare, and valuable, then why would he bring me somewhere else where we can be exposed? It doesn't make any sense. I don't question it, I can't. We walk the extremely long path and we are met with a small army at the front entrance. The creatures fall out of the sky to form a barricade between us and the door, a male creature with white hair steps forwards.

"What is your business here?" he demands.

"I request an audience with the King," my owner says.

"Why?"

"Because I have something of importance to him."

The creature stares at me. "What of the girl?"

"A stray, I picked her up outside the kingdom."

"Impossible, there are no strays."

"Which is why I require the King's attention. There might be other strays nearby."

"Very well," he sighs, gesturing with his hand for the barricade to step aside. "Follow me."

I have no idea what's happening. Why is he lying? I know he can't just tell them what I am but why does he want to bring me to the King? He owns a completed soul, I am his, so why is he jeopardizing that?

The inside of the palace shocks me. It's so clean and shiny. Everything is white, from the carpets to the soft couches. We walk through a large room and I try not to focus on the creatures that are feeding from humans in every direction. The ages of the humans vary, some look as young as sixteen while others are my age. They are mainly females being fed on by male creatures. There is a sexual component to their feeding that most of them don't even realize. I watch as one creature pins a girl to the wall, his large hand trailing up her leg and beneath her dress. It's like he's trying to sooth her pain by offering her pleasure and I can see her body moving in response. I've never seen or heard of that before. They always paralyze their victims when they feed so they don't hear the screams, but maybe it's always been a choice.

I climb the very big staircase, the creatures are on top of it in seconds, they wait for me, staring down impatiently. I try to hurry myself because their stares are becoming dangerous.

They turn and continue walking and I rush to catch up with them, almost knocking into a creature as he drags a human girl by her wrist around the corner. I step to the side before he has the chance to touch me, his gaze meets mine and he steps closer curiously.

"Not her," my owner hisses.

The creature scowls and continues dragging the girl towards the staircase. All the way through the passageways, I am having to stick close to the wall to avoid all of the creatures either pacing towards me or standing guard at posts. These passageways are endless but finally the end is in sight and I don't know how to feel about that. There is only one door at the end of this hallway, a brown oak door, and no other exit. One creature stands outside of it, a guard.

"The King is feeding," he tells them.

"This is important. Move."

The creature knocks on the door three times and then waits to be called inside. He opens it wide and my owner follows closely behind him.

"What is the meaning of this?" a voice says angrily from somewhere within.

"Forgive the intrusion, I bring you some important matters."

"Very well."

I make my way into the room slowly. It looks like a bedroom, the biggest bedroom I've ever seen. It's so nice, and that's a strange first impression to have, but it is. The deep-brown oak furniture compliments the hazel painted walls. The carpet is soft and fluffy and I feel guilt that I'm treading my shoes all over it. The bed, however, is the smallest thing in the room. It is tucked away to the right wall, and the creature that this room belongs to is lying upon it, shirtless, with a human girl beside him. My arrival turns his head and he stares at me curiously. As I walk closer, I meet his lime green eyes. I have never met a creature before that hasn't had red eyes. They all have red eyes.

"Leave us, Bella," he says to the girl.

She nods and slides out from the sheets. She scurries past me fully clothed, almost tripping over her feet to get out of here.

"You may leave also," my owner says to the guard. "This is private."

The guard looks to the King for confirmation and he nods his head. The guard walks towards me angrily and I step back fearfully as he slams the door behind him. The King bends down to the floor and picks up a black shirt, pulling it over his head as he lifts himself up.

"It's been a long time, Zander. Why are you in my bedroom?"

"I brought you a gift," my owner says, looking back to me.

The King laughs as he straightens his clothes and then keeps his head high in such an intimidating way that Zander takes a step back. "I already have humans. Lots of them."

"You don't have a human like this," he says. "I currently own her. I will give her to you on one condition, that you release Saffron from imprisonment."

"Three hundred years and you're still mooning over that traitor?" The King says. "I told you, I will not release her."

"You might just change your mind," Zander says, his smile widening. "The girl is completed."

The King stares at me, harder than before. He blinks his thick eyelashes, the green in his eyes begins to sparkle as he takes me in. The King is incredibly handsome, and so much larger than all the other creatures, probably because of all the souls he's consumed. His dark hair is cut to just above his ears, it matches his dark stubble. It takes him a moment before he walks towards me.

"This girl is completed?" he says.

"I have touched her, I recognize it."

"I'll be the judge of that."

He stands so close to me, hovering above me like a mighty shadow. I extract my hand on instinct, but he isn't interested in that. He does something that none of the others have ever done, he places his hand against my chest, his fingertips searching my skin for my heart beat. Absolutely nothing happens, which confuses me. My body doesn't paralyse like the other times, I can still feel everything, I can feel his warm hand resting above my heart. He narrows his eyes in wonder, inhaling a deep breath of my scent.

He still touches me as he turns to Zander. "Who else knows about this?"

"Only her watcher at the nannery. Raven is his name."

"How old are you?" he asks me.

"Twenty, sir."

"He kept her a secret for all these years." The King takes back his hand and I swear I see his body tremble but it's so fast that I'm not sure. "Do you have any idea how long I've waited to find something like you?" He smiles at me, his finger reaching for my chin, he pushes my face up gently. "You must have drove them all crazy when they touched you. Don't be afraid, there is only pain at the beginning, over time it lessens." The King leans in closer and I hold my breath as I realize he's going to taste me right now.

Zander clears his throat and the King halters. "She is still mine. By your own law, you cannot taste her until I surrender her to you."

The King retracts from me completely and rubs his chin as he starts to pace to the window. "You want Saffron?"

"Yes," Zander says. "We will leave immediately. I will not tell any of our species what she is or that you've found her. I will not compromise her safety."

My safety? What does he mean by that? So as long as he doesn't tell anyone what I am then I am safe? The King watches my reaction to that, as though he's reading my mind.

"It's not as though I can disagree to your terms," he says bitterly. "There is no way this girl is walking out of that door."

"I thought as much."

"Saffron will be returned to you. Wait downstairs."

Zander bends his head in a respectful way. "Thank you, my King."

"Sit down," the King tells me, eyeing the chair just behind me. I sit. Zander begins making his way to the door and I see the King reach behind him, taking something from his pocket. "One last thing, Zander."

"Yes?"

It happens so quick that I am confused to what I've just witnessed. Something flies out of the King's hand, something thin and sharp, and it pierces the air so fast that I don't even see it land on Zander before his entire body disappears into bubbles of bright lights. I've never seen a creature die; I didn't know they could die. The King ignores my reaction and he walks over to the place Zander stood, he reaches down and picks up the thin blade then begins to slide it down his inner left arm. I watch as he makes a long cut along his skin, but he doesn't bleed.

"You are wondering what I'm doing," he says, turning to me with a smirk. "I am collecting his souls. By the look on your face, I take it you've never seen one of my kind die."

"No," I say.

"This is the only weapon that can kill us," he says, holding it in the air. "And I am the only one that can end their immortality. It makes forcing them to fall in line a lot easier." He turns his attention and calls a name that I don't hear because I'm hyperventilating with what I've just seen.

"Yes?" the guard that escorted us into the palace says.

"Take this," the King says, handing him the blade. "Go to the east nannery, kill Raven. Do it discreetly. Send for another watcher to fill the position."

"As you wish."

When the guard leaves, the King grins at me. "Looks like I'll be consuming two completed souls today."

He's talking about the soul that Raven confessed to consuming. Another innocent lifeform from another innocent planet. How many souls are writhing inside of the King's body? I stare at it, wondering why he isn't affected by it. He must have killed millions of creatures to be the King, he must feel something about his own morality. But I will send myself crazy with asking why they are the way that they are. Being human and having these emotions is what separates us.

"I asked you to sit so you didn't faint at the sight of watching that," he says. "It has happened before. You are welcome to look around."

"I'm okay here," I whisper, keeping my gaze on the window.

"Isn't there anything you want to ask me? The other humans have hundreds of questions."

I shake my head.

"Nothing at all?"

I look back to him, becoming suddenly breathless as I look into those confusing eyes. "Why are your eyes green?"

"Not the question I assumed," he says curiously. "I thought the fact I didn't paralyze you would have been the first."

"And that," I say.

"I'm different to the rest of my species, as you've probably gathered. My eyes are green because I've collected the souls of my own kind. Those that defy me, that deserve it. And I, and many others here in the palace, tend not to paralyze when we touch or feed from humans because the process is better when we can feel your body reacting."

"Like a connection?" I say.

"Something like that. What is your name?"

"Aurora."

"It's nice to meet you, Aurora. My name is Cain." He approaches me and places his hand out; I take it and he pulls me gently to my feet. "Well, that's the human version of my name."

"Is this your true form?" I say. I've always been terrified of asking that question, but he actually makes me feel at ease by asking them.

"I think if you, or any human, saw my true form you'd die of shock. We blend into the smartest creatures of the planets; we morph into their bodies. This body is just a loan, just like the languages in our heads and the memories of all those we feed from, though we intend to be here a while."

"How long?" I swallow.

I know that they're already breeding us at the centres so they intend to be here for a long time, but I still have a burning desire to try and understand what they're actually doing here.

"We usually stay for a century or so," he states. "Our previous planet was destroyed by a solar flare so we had to leave quickly. The journey between planets is always the hardest, we become unbearably hungry."

"So it was you?" I say, keeping my eyes down. "That brought them here?"

"Unfortunately, your planet was the closest. We are just higher beings; your kind didn't stand a chance." He steps away from me and studies me for a moment before looking at the door. He has been kind so far so maybe he's going to allow me to leave, or at least show me to another bedroom so that I can rest, but instead he takes a deep breath and points his eyes towards the wall. "Lay down on the bed."