"Speech"
"Others"
"Others"
He told her he was real, but Ssanya had seen enough of Alvadas to know that there were illusions that virtually begged to be believed, then disappeared in a shimmer of air, or vanished down into the earth, or fell back into a wall and became forever part of the furniture. Allister seemed real enough to the touch, warm and softly solid under her quavering fingertips, but what could she trust of reality in the city of illusions? She kept her eyes on him, tracking his every little movement and mannerism warily as he looked back in return, trying to figure him out. Most people knew some small measure of sanity, but this man, this tattooed man, barely seemed to understand what normality was. Ssanya tried to stop her hand from shaking, and to keep the grin from her face. She picked up and then put down a bottle of Sunshine, figuring it wasn't wise to imbibe the glittering liquid when it affected her so.
When he leaned in and whispered the sweet, devilish words, she tensed and froze. Something like anxiety arrived in a sinuous coil in her stomach, curling up her back like a cold shiver. She and him already knew the unspoken answer, but although her hand reached to hold on tight to the bench she sat upon, she did not allow the answer to escape her lips. She was beginning to sober up, in as much as she could, considering the heady atmosphere they had brewed between them. She was aware of the urge to accept his offering, and his neck was exposed delightfully. She closed her eyes and breathed carefully, choosing each breath as it passed in and out of her lungs.
"I would hurt you... Yet you do not ssseem to mind." She spoke with her eyes still firmly fastened closed, reasoning out loud. "I might even kill you, sstrange Usseless. Then what? I eat your body, take care of corpsse. I try not to feel anger or worry. I try not to care about the life I sssstole. The people who care about you find I kill you and lock me up or worssse."
Yet, she thought grimly, I still want to. If they were back in Ahnatep or even the nest, she would not be filled with as much hesitation, but she was not. Disappointment clouded her, irrational and unwanted. Instead of relief and rejection, she felt bitter, as if a prize had been snatched from her. It was then she realised just how hungry she felt, deep in her core. It was not the kind of hunger that could be satisfied by the cooked meals of humanity, but the hunger of a larger predator with slit eyes, waiting to pounce. An animal hunger. She grappled with it, and snapped open her eyes to stare into Allister's own.
"No, Allisster. Pleassse leave, for me and for you. I could eat you in a few chimess, use the teeth that Sssiku gave me and eat to sssatissfy my hunger, that I have. I don't know why I tell you thisss. Why you don't run from the monsster I am. Pleassse, go."
Abruptly, Ssanya stood, shaking the clinging Kelvic from her and striding a few steps away, her hands running through her hair. Her hands still shook, and her teeth were gritted tight as she tried not to feel the burning heat inside her, the venom welling and the body's natural shifting as it ached to stretch into her predator's form. She looked away for a few moments, and then turned back to Allister, hoping he was no longer there so that the temptation would be gone also.
