She gasped as her eyes widened.
Good. It was about time she got the message that not everyone was going to ask “how high?” whenever she said “jump.” Only…shouldn’t she look more angry or offended? Instead, she looked–
“Your eyes,” she breathed.
Shocked. She looked completely and utterly shocked.
My eye color must have darkened. They did that on occasion, usually when we were very angry or very turned on. To us, it was normal, so why…?
I searched her face for any other emotion, but only saw wide eyes and a frozen, gaping expression. Like a deer caught in the headlights.
This didn’t make sense. She was a Healer. She should be accustomed to our changing eye color, not reacting like she’d never seen it before. So why did she react like…a human?
I’d vaguely noticed people staring, but hadn’t realized we’d caused such a scene until some guy walked up to her. He wrapped his arm around the girl’s shoulders and stared me down, asking, “Everything okay, Emily?”
Emily?
The tension left me as I stared at the girl. Could this be...the Emily? She had the same dark hair, pale skin, hazel eyes, and this was the town I’d met her in, after all. How old should she be now?
I quickly tried to do the math in my head.
That was, what...thirteen years ago? And the little girl had been...
Shit, I had no clue. For all I knew, she could’ve been anywhere from five to nine–
The birthmark!
My eyes darted to the spot on her neck, just under her ear, as my head tilted, trying to see around the guy’s inconveniently placed arm.
Jesus Christ.
There it was–a small, light brown heart dotting her otherwise porcelain skin. I breathed her name with the remaining air in my lungs.
Her eyes narrowed, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. “Yeah…?”
It had occurred to me that she could still be here, but I thought the chances of running into her were too astronomical. She’d grown up beautifully. And I was a dirty, dirty bastard for my lewd thoughts earlier.
Shit…
I looked at the ground, rubbing the back of my neck as I stepped back. “I have to go.” My voice came out quiet, having lost most of my gusto. I didn’t wait for her to say anything, I just turned and started in the opposite direction.
This would explain the faint scent of the female I’d come across that day in the woods. Healer children always had very faint scents. It intensified the closer they got to maturing, and if Emily’s scent was any indication, hers was right around the corner.
I thought back to that day, to the child that had such an impact on my life. It was my encounter with her that made me realize how lonely I’d really been, and I’d decided that night to end my self-imposed exile and return to humanity.
But why had she been in a human suburb, with a human grandmother? And why didn’t she seem to remember me?
Chapter Four
THOMAS
The sound of my shotgun reloading echoed around me. It was the only sound in the quiet streets. I aimed it in front of me and took a tentative step, rounding a corner into a dark alley. My feet scraped against pavement as I moved forward, rats scurrying in the dumpsters as I passed. My tiny flashlight was ineffectual and blackness was all I saw at the end of the alley.
A low, inhuman growl rumbled ahead of me.
There.
I fired a shot in its direction, lighting the dark alley for a split second, like lightning. It was long enough to see there was nothing there. The growl rumbled again, to my right–
The zombie pounced on me before I even had a chance to turn. He mauled me as I struggled to fight him off, tearing flesh from me and spraying my blood everywhere.
“Brian!” No response. “Brian, I’m down!” Still nothing.
Damn it, where is he?
My health bar rapidly decreased on the screen, flashing red as it got lower. I was gonna die. Brian couldn’t save me at this point. I’d lost too much health.
“Son of a–” I squeezed the controller in my hands, cracking the thick plastic as I watched my avatar die on my television screen.
Rustling movements filled my earpiece, followed by crunching. “You died,” Brian said around a mouthful of food. “That’s like the millionth time tonight.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and pinched the bridge of my nose. “I know.”
More crunching. “You’re playing really shitty tonight, Thomas.”
“I know.”
He swallowed. “How come? You usually kick my ass.”
I frowned and leaned back against my couch. “I’m just having an off day, all right? And where the fuck were you? I wouldn’t have died if you’d been there.”
“I told you I was gonna make nachos. You should’ve paused the game.”