A sharp pain panged him as she slapped his groin. The frustration ignited into unbridled fury. “I SAID STOP!”
With sudden clarity, he lunged forward and caught her arms. He spun around in a single motion, slamming the small girl into the wall. His breath came long and hard as he pressed her into the wall, his fingers gripping her tightly.
The rage slowly faded. Her eyes were wide with fear. Genuine, unabashed fear. Suddenly ashamed, he lowered her to the ground and muttered an apology.
She panted for breath and dropped to her knees. “I knew it,” she gasped. “You are strong.” She peered up to him, smiling. “What are you, exactly? Do you even know?”
He offered her a hand. “I’m not sure I should be telling you anything.” She took it and stood. “It might come back to bite me later.”
She shook her head. “If that was any indication, I’d rather not be on your bad side. Forgive me,” she added. “I needed to know.”
He waved his hand dismissively. “I get it.” He sighed. “Miss Senguine said I was a Fair-go-naut or something.”
Annika’s eyes widened in excitement. “A Ferronaught?” she whispered.
Jared nodded. “Yeah, that’s it.”
She slumped back to the floor numbly. “Awesome. That’s…” She shook her head. “I knew you were powerful, but dang.”
Jared ignored the statement. “So what are you?”
She winced. “I’d really rather not say. No offense, but I’d rather keep that information until we have a deal of some kind.”
He sank to the ground beside her and leaned against the wall, wiping some sweat from his brow. “Speaking of which, Ria mentioned something about your plan for the apocalypse. She said it was ‘political’ or something.”
Annika hesitated. “Listen, secrecy is all I’ve got going for me. If I tell you anything, I need to know you aren’t going to tell anyone.”
“I promise.” He crossed his heart. “I can keep a secret.”
She scowled. “You’re going to have to do better than that. Demons lie all the time.”
“Not this demon.” He looked her in the eyes. “I don’t lie, Annika. You can trust me.”
She held his gaze. She opened her mouth, but quickly looked away. “I can’t. It’s too risky.”
“Annika.” She looked at him again. “Please.”
After a tense moment, her resistance melted. “Fine,” she muttered, looking down. “It’s not like I have any other options.”
“You know about magic, right?” Jared nodded. “And how it works?”
“Yes.”
“Alright. My bloodline is a bit… complicated.” She wiggled her toes absently. “We’re omnivores, in the truest sense of the word. Which is convenient, sort of, but it comes at a cost.”
Jared nodded soberly. “Which is?”
She paused for a long moment, weighing her options. Finally, she spoke. “Anything I eat hardly gives me any nutrition at all.” She bowed her head. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t eat enough.”
She bit her cheek. “You see me now? This is an illusion.” She closed her eyes. “This is how I really look.”
Jared gasped as she deflated. She had been small before, lithe and short. As the illusion faded, her thinness became emaciation.
Below her sports bra, he could see her ribs. Her chest flattened out completely, her flesh hugging sickeningly onto her bones in her arms and legs.
Her face was the worst. He sucked in a breath. He had seen images of starving children that looked healthier than what he was looking at.
She looked away as the illusion returned. Jared stared on.
She sighed. “I need to get food — a lot of it. Since I’m so weak on my own, I need to find someone to help me out. Of course,” she added, “I’m not expecting charity. I can contribute plenty to my Master.”
Jared held up a hand. “Hold on. Doesn’t the illusion require energy? Are you starving yourself?”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Appearing like I do normally would be a disaster. How am I supposed to attract males to feed on like that? Not to mention, if people found out how easy of prey I am right now, I’d be dead meat.”
Jared pinched his nose. “And yet you told me.”
She shrugged. “Yep. Now you know. I’m almost completely helpless.”
“You sure didn’t seem helpless a few minutes ago.”
She scoffed. “That’s different. If I didn’t test you somehow, Jessica was going to know something was up. Speed is the most efficient method.”
This was just getting more and more complicated. “Couldn’t she help you?”
Annika snorted. “Seriously? The healthier I get, the more I’m going to need to sustain myself. They can’t help me. Heck, from what I hear, Kiara wants to be nice to humans. My needs aren’t exactly human friendly.”
“As for Jessica and Ria, they are planning on the pacifist road. My lifestyle is the high road or bust.” She straightened. “I’m not going to live through the apocalypse just squeaking by. I want to feel good, and this is the perfect opportunity.”
She glanced at him. “Provided, of course, I can get someone to help me.”
Jared sighed. “No offense, Annika, but you can see why I might be hesitant.” He thought about what Quinn said. “You don’t exactly seem trustworthy, and your only cause is yourself. How can I know you wouldn’t betray me the second you get some power?”
Annika winced. “That’s not really how I work….” She hesitated. “Look, I’m desperate. Apart from illusions and basic enhancements, I can’t really do anything for myself.”
“Meaning…?”
“How about I just show you?”
Jared frowned. “And use more of your energy? I don’t think that’s such a good-”
She leaned up and kissed him. He tensed up as his brain shut down. It only lasted a few seconds before she pulled away. He hardly registered the warm feeling flooding his chest, dismissing it as nerves.
“What was that for?!” he roared as he pulled back.
She sighed. “Go punch a dummy.” She winced as she leaned back against the wall. “Seriously.”
He stopped. The warm feeling in his chest hadn’t left. He stood and approached a training dummy. He looked back for confirmation, and she nodded weakly. He wound up and fired a punch.
With a loud bang, his fist passed straight through the dummy with little resistance. He gaped at his arm sticking out of the thick plastic and looked back at her.
She smirked. “Get it? All I can really do is boost people.” She looked down. “Makes it hard to get anywhere myself, you know?”
With a grunt, he tugged his arm out of the dummy. Any doubts about the whole demon situation went right out the window as the warm sensation trickled away. The hole was legitimate. He gave another small punch to verify the durability. It held solid.
Slowly, he returned to sit by her. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
She grinned. “How about ‘yes’? With my help, you can fly down the high road and not look back. You’ve got talent, but you sure don’t know how to use your power. You and me,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder, “We could rule the world.”
He sighed. “Can I have some time to think about it?”
She scowled and looked up at him. “I’m kind of on a time crunch. If you’re not going to be my sugar daddy, I need to start looking elsewhere.” Her gaze fell. “Then again, I’m not really in any position to rush you.”
He took a deep breath. He felt sorry for her. Then again, he wasn’t entirely sure she wasn’t lying. Maybe she was playing on his soft “human” instincts to get him on her side. She definitely struck him as the type to do something like that.