Chapter 19

UNEDITED-

Marisol POV-

"So he is alive" Jane spoke.

"Someone could have overheard me, this could just be some sick joke.. or a ploy to get me on board.." I whispered a reply as I put the note back where I found it.

"Yeah I guess you're right.. but it doesn't matter either way, you've chosen this path.. there is no going back.."

"I know"..

Somehow I managed to fall asleep.

-----

The bright lights switched on once again.. a few more minutes past before someone opened the door. A feminine looking man walked into the room with a black dufflebag in his hands. His high cheek bones, plucked eyebrows and chisled jaw made him look almost perfect.. His light brown eyes caught with mine for a moment before he looked away. I can already tell he is gay, because I am only really attracted to gay men.. which makes hardly any sense but there it is.

"Morning Lilith.. how did you sleep?". I didn't reply as he walked to the foot of my bed.. I was already sitting up, leaving a space at the bottom of the matress where he put the bag down. "Things could be worse you know..."

"I know.." I closed my eyes for a moment.. "What are you doing here?"

"Victor wanted me to come and get you to pick out some clothes.. I have a few different options" He offered a smile..

"Victor already wants to dress you up like his puppet" Jane began laughing..

"Shut up.." I replied tiredly..

"I'm sorry, I know this is difficult" The man replied frowning..

"I wasn't-" I began a reply then realised how crazy it would sound if I told him I wasn't talking to him.. "I'm not having the best time.. I apologise"

"I understand. Well I'm just here to help I swear, my name is Luca.." He tried a reassuring smile. His warm light brown eyes made me smile back for a brief moment.

"What was it before?"

"My name?" I nodded in response. "Matthew.. but don't tell anyone I told you that.."

"I won't I promise"

"What was yours?" He asked in a quiet voice as he upended the contents of the bag all over the foot of the bed.

"Marisol.." I sighed.

"Matthew and Marisol.. Luca and Lilith" He chuckled..

"I suppose it is strange coincidence"..

"Anyway, I just grabbed a random selection for you to choose from. I didn't want to assume what kind of person you would be.." So they aren't all monsters.. but they still eat people though. It's hard to think about that when this flawless man is standing right infront of me, smiling with his cute dimpled cheeks.. his loose wavy brown locks pushed over to one side.

"Thank you.." I looked down at the options.. a knee length black dress, a tan crop top, grey short shorts.. he really came with a random selection. I shuffled through the pile until I found exactly what I was looking for.. I pulled out a black leather jacket, a pair of dark blue skinny jeans and a baggy grey t shirt.

"Oh rats I forgot about underwear.. wait what size shoe are you?" I told him and he turned for the door.. "I'll be right back" With that he left.

The door opened again a few minutes later. "I'm back" He sang, his face changed when he remembered he's not supposed to be this friendly towards me. He glanced in the direction of the window but not at it.. I'm not quite sure why I smiled at this but he smiled back. "Here, these will go perfect with the outfit.." He handed me a pair of black docmartins.. "oh and underwear.." He pulled out a pair of black panties from his pocket and a bra..

"How do you know what size my tits are?" His eyebrows rose..

"So ladylike, you'll fit in with the rest of bunch perfectly.."

"Luca.. you didn't answer my question".

"I guessed, I'm good at guessing.." He smiled.

"We'll see".."Thank you, I think I needed this" My eyes traveled down as my predicament centered itself in my mind again.

"I'm glad to be of service to you Lilith.. anything you need just ask" He held my hand for a moment before leaving the room with the rest of the pile of clothes..

"Wow you're making friends already.." Jane spoke..

"I'm trying to.." I rolled my eyes as I got up out of bed. "Is there somewhere I can get dressed without being watched?" I asked whoever was on the opposite side of the window.

"No-" A man spoke. The speaker screeched and got cut off.

"Yes of course Lilith.." Nat spoke through the speaker. A minute later the door opened and she came into view.. "Get your things, let's go"..

I picked up all my clothes and walked across the room to her.. a boot dropped on the floor at Nats feet and she leant down to pick it up. She smirked and took the other boot out of my hands to carry it.. "Thanks"

"No problem" she stayed looking forward as we walked.. After strolling down a long corridor and up a large winding staircase we finally came to a stop. Nat opened the door and ushered me inside..

A huge bedroom with fine oak furniture and a massive bed with a white princess canopy.. A cream fur rug spread across the grey and white tiled floor. Everything in this room looks expensive.. "Woah.." unintentially slipped out of my mouth as I looked around. There is even a window..

"It is kinda nice isn't it?. It was prepared for you the day after you arrived.. And since you've decided to join us.. It's yours now."

"Oh.. fucking hell."

"Honestly, you're worse than me" She chuckled..

"What?" I looked back at her confused.

"Your foul mouth" I forget sometimes that these words aren't everyday words. "Anyway the bathroom is through that door" She pointed.. They prepared an on-suit for me?.

"I can shower?"

"Yes, I imagine you'd want to"

"And this thing won't fry my brain?" I pointed to the collar..

"No it won't, don't worry".. Don't worry. If I ever get a tattoos that is what one will be. Just 'Don't Worry'.

"Nat?"

"Hmm?"

"Why does Victor want me so badly?" She looked to me, contemplating whether to answer my question. She stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Well, not everyone gets an ability, and even when they do there is always someone with the same gift.. but not yours.. we've only ever known of one other.."

"-Valerie"

"Where did you hear that name?" Her eyes fixed on mine until they slowly moved across.. "Never mind" She shook her head.. "You should shower and get dressed, you'll feel alot better afterwards. When you're done knock on the door." And with that she left the room and closed the door. I waited to hear it lock but it didn't.. a new room with no lock and a window? But I'm still imprisoned by this collar.

The bathroom isn't very big, but it's clean. I turned on the shower.. the water is warm. Immedietly stripping all my clothes on the spot I hopped into the shower. I prayed that the water would wash away my worries, but of course it didn't. I scrubbed at my skin, trying to clean off weeks worth of dirt and dried blood. The bandage on my arm became heavy as the water soaked into it.. I forgot to remove it.. I lifted my hand to feel my neck where the plaster was still stuck but soaked too.

I removed the bandage from my arm and dropped the soaking wet mass onto the floor beside the tub. Looking down at my arm it does still look pretty gnarly. It looks like it's rotting but I know that's just the way my skin looks when it's healing, with my black blood. Where something should be blood red it's now black as coal. Many stitches lined up my arm.. I heal quickly but I guess it isn't quick enough..

I shampood the crap out of my hair, smothered it in conditioner.. I saw a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror before I got into the shower, that's all I could stand. I really look nothing like myself.. my cheekbones are sunken, my ribs sticking out. This not eating thing is going to kill me if I don't stop.. A new toothbrush and tube of toothpaste were waiting by the sink.. I brushed the heck out of my teeth while I was in the shower, the white froth in my mouth turned black as I made my gums bleed.

After what felt like an hour scrubbing my skin and rinsing my hair over and over again, I finally turned the water off and jumped out of the shower. This time when I got dressed I just forced the spikes purtruding from my back through the clothing, I don't know why I didn't just do that before.. it was quite easy, even piercing through the leather without a hitch. I walked back over to the mirror by the sink and carefully peeled the plaster from my neck. It looks much like my arm, discoloured and filled with stitches.. Both of my wounds still hurt but they are healing fairly quickly. I washed the wound on my neck which made it look alot less gnarly. I flushed the note from my bandage down the toilet..

"Hide the evidence Marisol.. always hide the evidence." Jane spoke to me from inside the mirror.. I just ignored her and left the bathroom.

Nat was right.. now that I'm clean and clothed, I do feel much better.. *knock* *knock*

The door opened to reveal two men standing outside the room.. Both of their eyebrows raised as they saw me.. most probably surprised at how different I look when I'm not covered in dried blood and my hair doesn't look like a tumble weed.

The men escorted me back down the elegant staircase, through another corridor and into a large dining room. A table that seated twelve, yet only one person was sat down on the second seat from the end.. another man in a red waistcoat, stood waiting by a door at the other end of the room.

Nat ushered for me to sit in the seat across from her.. I glanced around the room at the framed artwork hung up on the burgundy walls. Various ornaments on shelves scattered around the room. Metal masks and wooden calvings of mostly predator animals.

I slowly walked over and took my seat.. waiting for her to talk. "Do you feel better?"

"What is this?" She rolled her eyes at my response..

"This is lunch.. now can you answer my question?"

"I feel better.."

"This is a test.." Jane put her feet up as she now sat at the head of the table. I glanced at her but didn't reply..

"Good" Nat smiled to me.. After another second past she looked over to a man in a red waistcoat and nodded. I heard the door handle turn and looked in his direction.. as the door opened I saw a flash of almost white hair as someone walked by, then it closed.

"What do you like to do?" She asked out of the blue. I'm sure I pulled a weird face, the corned of her mouth moved up into a smirk then she sat up straight in her seat with a casual expression. "We are going to be spending alot of time together we might aswell get to know eachother."..

"Wouldn't you rather be doing something else?"

"Not really, it's this or spending nine hours a day driving around, rounding people up.."

Just as I was about to reply the door opened again.. I could smell it, without even having to look I knew what it was. The man dressed in the red waistcoat walked over and placed a plate infront of each of us. A fresh slice of meat.. my eyes stayed fixed on a painting on the wall, my jaw flexed uncontrollably as I tried to contain my hunger.

"I know you're hungry.. you don't have to feel guilty about eating. It's just like before with animals." I turned my gaze to her.. how can she say that so easily? "I've never met anyone as against eating as you. Lilith how many people have you killed?"

"Two"

"That's impossible.. even with your mutation?.. surely you can't have lived this long and only killed two people.."

"Why would I lie?"

"Well what did you eat then?" Her expression was more confused than I'd ever seen her.

"I guess I was just asleep for a long time.."

"Asleep?" I can't be bothered with the whole story. I'm not even sure why I'm sharing anything with her..

I forgot our conversation. My eyes traveled back down to the plate infront of me..

"Just eat, I'm bored already." Jane swung her head back and rested it on the back of the chair. My eyes went from her straight back to the plate infront of me. Nat drew my attention picking up her knife and fork and starting eating like it was steak on her plate.

As if under the influence of someone else my hand moved out to grab the slice of flesh. I brought the whole thing up to my mouth.. as soon as it reached my lips my mouth opened wider than it ever has before.. I dropped in the chunk of meat that was bigger than my hand into my mouth. It went straight down my throat. Nat sat paused the whole time with her fork halfway to her mouth. When I was done we both just stared at eachother with a surprised expression.. "Do you want mine?" She finally broke the awkward silence. It's weird to think that she can be ripping a guys throat out one day, and the next she is this person.

"No, I'm okay.. how often do you usually eat?" I asked casually wiping my face and hands on a napkin..

"This I only have once or twice a week.. regular food just doesn't hit the spot you know?" She looked at my face and could instantly tell I didn't have a clue. "Or maybe you don't" She spoke then continued to eat another bite of her food.

"I wish I could still tolerate people food."

"You can't eat food at all?"

"I don't think so.. the last thing I had was a packet of crisps.. to be honest I think it's the only thing I actually tried.."

"We can fix that. Brandon.. can you get me a Saturday night special.." I looked over to see the man in the waistcoat go back through the door.. I saw a flash of the same person as before, a glimpse of the white hair as they moved out of view.. "Why didn't you try anything else?"

"I guess I just thought, I'm infected.. the infected eat people.."

"As much as you're right, they don't all have to eat people.. in fact almost all of us can go without it.. I think there is only one other person here that can't." I kinda knew we didn't all have to eat people already since Betty and August never did.. but why the fuck do I? Perhaps it has something to do with how much I've mutated? or how infected I am? I don't even know.

"What will I have to do here?" I had to ask while I have the chance and she's in a chatty mood.

"Honestly there are alot of possibilities, I can't say I'm not looking forward to it."..

"If you're looking forward to it then it can't be good."..

"Do you want them to trust you or not?" Jane spoke, I looked to her again.. it's strange how I've come to get so used to her presence.

"Victor is not going to waste your abilities, you'll mostly be in the air so you have almost nothing to worry about.." My face said the opposite.. "I think I understand why this is difficult for you, but it doesn't have to be.. just stop thinking and start doing.." As if it was that simple.. I spend most of my time inside my head, always have.

"I'm here, I'm trying."

"I know.. this is a big step, Victor will be so pleased.."

Nat talked a little more about Victor while we waited for whatever concoction she'd ordered earlier, it's certainly obvious that she cares about him. Soon enough the door went and in Brandon strutted in with a platter full of food.. Two cheese burgers, a pepperoni pizza, onion rings, fries, macaroni cheese, fried chicken strips, pork chops and a bowl of nachos..

"Where did this all come from?"

"We grow most of it, the cooks here are the best in the city.. they use whatever we have and create this masterpiece.."

"Chicken? Beef? Pork?"

"There are a few farms still standing on the out skirts of the city.. It's funny, the dead will attack the animals but they don't eat them.. they try to and they just spit it out.."..

"Yeah.. bizarre.."

"Are you going to try something?"

"What if I'm sick everywhere?"

"Brandon could you bring the bin over please?" Nat tried not to laugh as she asked. "There you go." She ushered her hand towards the bin.. "Now try something.."

I looked over my options and picked up an onion ring.. I bit it and chewed, swallowed, nothing. Plopped the rest of it into my mouth and did the same, still nothing.. I looked to Nat who grinned in victory. Until I grabbed the bin and projectile vomited into it.. "Well that's a clear no.. try something else.."

"You're kidding me?"

"I'm not.. try a pork chop or something.." I glared at her before finally giving in.. slowly reaching over and picking it up at she sat there munching on nachos I took a bite. Just like before it was going well until I got three bites in.. then my head was back in the bin. This time I watched the whole chunk of human meat go shooting into the bin with a thud..

"Well that's my lunch gone.." I casually sat up straight wiping my mouth on my sleeve.

"Have the rest of mine.. I've got this now anyway.." She slid the plate with three quarters of the dish left.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I can always get more if I want.." What she said sent a shiver down my spine.. I remember how easily she savagely ended a mans life. And now I'm sitting here accepting a piece of human flesh from her..

As the plate is now infront of me and I have already accepted, I suppose I have to eat it.. that and I'm going to have to eat at some point. I'd rather this than have more memories of tearing someone apart.

I reached my hand out and grabbed a hold of it shoving the whole thing down my throat.. I'm not even sure why I did it like that, again. It's almost like muscle memory or instinct. "How are you doing that?" Nat asked with a fascinated expression as she took a bite from a pork chop. I guess I was internally asking the same question.

"I don't know.. it just happens." Like everything else in my life I have little control over it.

"Weird.."

"What? why? I'm sure many others eat like this.."

"They don't."

"How do you know?"

"Okay.. as far as I know. Is that better?"

"Much better" She laughed at me and I didn't like it.

"Anyway if we're done here Victor wants to see us."

"Okay." I nodded.

I followed Nat through the large building, back up the stairs and down a different corridor. We passed quite a few men along the way, each one nodded or verbally greeted Nat. I can tell she is well respected here. Perhaps it would be a good idea to get close to her.. she seems to be pretty open and honest with me so far. She stopped and knocked on a large wooden double door. With two men stood guard eitherside.. each one welcomed her.

"Come in!" Victor ordered from behind the door. Nat opened it and I entered after her.. one of the men closed the door behind me. Victor looked up from where he sat at a large wooden desk with a few clipboards scattered over it.. a couple of filing cabinets a set of drawers and more art littered the room. "Wow, you look stunning Lilith.. show me your wings" He caught me off guard with his trick and my wings shot out either side of me.. nearly knocking Nat backwards with a gush of air. "Beautiful.." He whispered..

"We've just finished lunch." Nat spoke, gaining Victor's attention. I regained control of my mind and got the wing situation under control.

"Excellent.. we'll have you out and about in no time." He grinned.. Something in his smile is still so familiar but I can never quite place it. Maybe he just has one of those faces. "How do you like your new room?"

"It's very nice, thank you."

"It's nothing really, just somewhere to stay until I know you can be trusted.. but Nat is going to take care of you till then. Show you how we run things.. right Nat?"

"Right" She nodded.

"Good, well.. I've got work to do. Nat will escort you back to your room.. as always it's been a pleasure Lilith." I nodded with a polite smile.. trying to be as respectful as I can without having to open my mouth again. I think I stood there for a little too long, Nat grabbed my forearm and guided me out of the room..

I don't think she knows how strong she is.. I'm sure her grip is crushing my arm. As soon as the doors were closed behind us she let go of me.. I stopped where I was as she carried on walking. A tickling sensation ran down my arm and I knew from that she had opened my wound back up. The blood had just began to drip onto the floor from my hand until I pulled my arm up to my chest, already feeling the blood pooling into the elbow of my jacket. "Are you alright?" It's so strange, she sounds genuinly worried..

"I'm fine, it's just my arm.."

"You're bleeding?" My hand is covered in it?.."Oh I'm sorry." Her face dropped once she realised what had happened.. "I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't, really don't worry about it."

"Take your jacket off."

"What no? then I'd get blood all over the floor.."

"It doesn't matter, someone's always cleaning, it will give them something to do.. just take it off please.." I reluctantly followed her orders and took the jacket off, a small puddle of blood dropped out of my sleeve. As soon as I lifted my arm to look at it you could see that almost half of the stitches had been split open. "Change of plans.. we're going to the infirmary.." I looked up to Nat who actually looked like she was feeling guilty for the first time in her life.

I followed her back down the stairs, through another maze of corridors.. "Here we are." Nat opened the door and ushered me into a big room lit up with bright lights dangling from the ceiling. A few hospital beds lined one side of the room, some of them with curtains going across. I heard a muffled conversation being had in another room at the end of this one.. the door is slightly ajar. "I don't know anything else.. I just did my job." That seems to be the running excuse. Nat made me sit down on one of the beds as we waited. The curtain was drawn so I could no longer see the door.

"Shh.. someone needs you.." A woman spoke in a hushed voice.. I almost didn't hear her.

The door opened and closed.. an elderly man wearing a white doctors coat emerged..

"Daniel.. I need you to fix Lilith's arm".. So she has a way with words too..

"What happened?" He asked holding my arm out.

"I guess I grabbed it too hard.." As Nat answered his question the door the doctor came out of flung open.

I heard the footsteps of someone walking over with conviction.. "What did you do to her?!" Alex asked. Wait.. Alex? She's still out of my view but I know it's her.. She's here.. and she knows I'm here. I bet she knew I was here the whole time.. I feel sick..

"I didn't mean to Khan.. it was an accident" Nat bit back.. Hold on.. Alex is Khan?

"Oh Fuck.." I guess Alex just realised she blew her cover for no reason.. 'oh fuck' is definetly right Alex.

________

NOTES-

Thank you everyone for reading.

I don't know if I'm telling the story very well honestly.. And I'm fully unaware of how it's gonna go, it's become nothing like I imagined it would be.

Thank you so much for your support!! You really have no idea how happy it makes me to see that you're still reading, because it means I must be doing at least one thing right. Anyway I really hope you enjoyed reading this chapter. Take care, Peace.