Consume

  The majority of the people present looked human, but so did Devourers so I took no stock in that notion. I knew…just knew…they were going to have to fist fight someone. The marked square in the middle, the gleam in people's eyes as they waited anxiously, the way money was changing hands at just our entrance.

  Grrr…

  I closed my eyes and felt his hands on my face. I peeked at him and he was smirking. He leaned forward to once again put his mouth to my ear. "I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t worry. It's pouring off of you, love."

  "I don't want to watch you get pounded," I said and he raised his brow in insult, "or watch you pound someone."

  "Love," he started, but I put my fingers over his lips.

  "Will you just go do what you have to do so we can go?"

  He smiled at some private joke. Then he took me in his arms and kissed the worry right out of me. I squeaked as he leaned me back and bent me as he kissed me harder, but held me to him easily.

  The sudden cheers and claps made me blush, but he kept right on kissing me. When he asked for entrance, I couldn't help but give it to him. He swept his tongue in my mouth just once before pulling me upright. His smile was full of adoration and humor. I bit my lip to stop the smile on my own face. I was mad, wasn't I?

  He waited, grinning at me. I rolled my eyes and let the smile go. He grinned wider and patted my thigh as he moved to my other side, causing me to gasp. He grabbed my hand and moved me to stand next to a tall man who was standing behind a small desk looking thing with a glass room divider. "Stay here," Eli said. "I mean it, Clara Belle. You move and I'll," he shook his head and laughed, "I'll spank you harder."

  "That doesn't sound like punishment," I said coyly.

  He groaned and pulled me to him. He kissed the spot under my ear and said, "You are a temptress." He kissed me once more and then pointed at me as he made his way backwards. "Stay," he mouthed.

  I nodded once and smiled. Cavuto had made his way from Enoch to me and he perched on the side of the desk. I tried to ignore him.

  The man next to me held a bunch of papers in his hands and took money as people passed it over the glass. He worked frantically with the numbers in his head and on paper, his pencil flying across the pages. I looked back up just in time to see Franz take center stage. He had removed his suit jacket and the cane was gone.

  A girl came up to me and nudged my shoulder with hers. "Hey."

  "Hi," I said, but didn't look at her.

  "I'm human. You can calm down." She giggled and I looked over at her. Or down at her I should say because she was so short. "I'm Bridgette. I'm mated, too."

  "Nice to meet you, Bridgette. I’m Clara."

  "Well, Clara," she said as she took my hand. "Welcome to our world."

  She walked off without another word.

  I turned back to Franz as he swung his arms wide and turned a slow circle in the room. "Ladies," he bowed to me, "gentleman, Devourers, Weres, Elves, Trolls, Pixies, Pikes, Daywalkers, bookies, crooks, thieves, and feelers alike. Welcome!" He bowed and then straightened looking back at Eli and Enoch, who were standing off to the side, both with their arms crossed. "We have a special treat for you. The Thames brothers!"

  The applause made me feel a spike of pride for Eli, though I wasn't happy about what he was doing. I saw Eli and Enoch put their heads together as Franz went on about the rules and last chance to place bets. They smiled at each other and grasped hands as they made a decision.

  It was the first time I'd ever seen them act like real brothers.

  The crowd parted for the competitors and I gasped when I saw the ones they were fighting. They were huge in the torso, muscles and bulging sinew everywhere. They stood at least three feet taller than Eli and Enoch, and even had to duck when entering the arena so as not to hit their skulls on the molding.

  I threw my troubled gaze to Eli, but he was already watching me. He wore a smirk and I gawked. How could he not care that he was about to get his butt handed to him?

  "Last chance for bets on the Ogres!" Franz yelled and I ducked as people started barreling money and yelling over the glass.

  One of the Ogres came my way and banged his fist on the glass, making me jump and yelp. It wasn't glass, it was Plexiglas. He smiled in triumphant at my reaction. But when he turned back, Eli was practically melting him with a glare.

  I just crossed my arms and watched as Franz shhed the crowd. The silence was terrible and anticipatory. Then he threw his arm down and the Ogres charged. I covered my eyes with my fingers, but wound up peeking through them anyway. The Ogre swung at Enoch, but he ducked and cracked his elbow into the Ogre's spine. He was down for the count.

  Eli came at the one who banged on the window and smiled tauntingly. The Ogre did the same as the other and swung for Eli's head. Eli ducked back and gave him a motion to come at him again. The Ogre roared and swung, but this time Eli kicked the Ogre's feet out from under him. I winced as the bone jarring sound of his head hitting the floor carried over the room.

  The Ogre groaned, but didn't get up. That was it? That was the whole fight? The crowd erupted in curses and yells.

  I looked at Eli questioningly and he shrugged as he walked towards me. He ran around the glass and took my hand before speaking to the man beside me in another language. The man laughed and clapped Eli on the back handing him a rolled-up wad of cash. He held his arm out for Cavuto and let the bird climb up his arm to his shoulder.

  Eli saluted the bookie, pulled me to follow him and the people around us groaned and complained. Franz stopped us at the door. He was angry.

  "Elijah, you barely let them even put up a fight! I'm not going to have much business if that's the way fights are done here. It's all about the play out!"

  "Everyone knows Ogres are slower than slugs. I'm in a hurry, Franz. Maybe next time."

  Eli put me in front of him and pushed our way through the back door. I began to feel another headache coming, but I didn't say anything to Eli. He was worried enough as it was. So I just said, "I thought we were in a hurry? Why the pit stop?"

  "The money was too easy," Enoch explained from behind me. "And we need it to keep going."

  "We?" I asked, but he didn’t say anything else.

  "Hey," Eli muttered and jerked his head to Enoch and then towards an old wood frame house. There was a white slash of paint above the doorframe. "A rebel camp."

  "Well, we should have known there would be one if Franz is near," Enoch reasoned.

  "Rebel camp?" I asked.

  "A place where all of the rebels meet. They hide there and stay together."

  I was intrigued. "You mean there could be other Devourers and humans who have bonded in there?" I whispered.

  "Yes," Eli answered.

  "Don't get any ideas," Enoch barked. "We need to keep moving."

  When did he become the boss? As I was looking at him I saw a shadow move from the dark alcove. I narrowed my eyes at Finn, but Eli and Enoch had already seen him.

  "Where've you been?" Enoch asked harshly.

  "I've been playing, Mommy," Finn spouted. "Didn't know I had a curfew."

  "It's really funny to me that you disappear the second we get here."

  "Why's that funny," Finn asked. "You accusing me of something, Enoch?"

  "Are you guilty of something, Finn?"

  He opened his mouth to retaliate, but the door to the rebel camp opened and a young, pretty girl came out. She smiled and started to walk away, but turned. She cocked her head as she looked at me. "Clara?"

  "How do you know her name?" Eli asked and pulled me closer to him.

  "Bridgette told us all about you! She's waiting for you, you know," she explained calmly.

  "Who?"

  "You've been looking for Magenta, haven't you?"

  "How do you know that?" Eli asked and again she refused to answer.

  "She's in there," she said and motioned. "The attic." Eli and I looked at each other. Attics are way creepy, I remembered him saying.

/>   "What are you bonded with?" Eli asked her suddenly as she tried to leave again.

  She smiled and glanced at our wrist. Her smiled widened. "Ah," she said as though she understood everything now. "We don't get many Devourers who are bonded. In fact, I've only ever met one."

  "Are you deliberately refusing to answer my questions?" Eli barked.

  "Yes," she laughed and held up her wrist. There was a ring of…smoke around her wrist. "I'm bonded to an Elf. An Elf who hates for me to be late." She smiled as she turned to go and yelled back us. "Magenta hates to be kept waiting, too!"

  "Don't, Eli," Finn said immediately. "You know they'll mark you when you go in."

  "I don't care about some marking," Eli said as he stared at the door.

  "You should! It's permanent!"

  "Don't. Care." He looked at Enoch. "You don't have to come."

  "Oh, I'm coming. I didn't come this far to turn back at the good part."

  "You'll be marked," Eli threw Finn's argument at Enoch.

  "So we'll match," Enoch said and marched up the stairs. "I'll even go first."

  "Stop!" Finn barked and ran a hand through his hair. "This is your last chance, Eli."

  "For what?" Eli said suspiciously.

  "To save your soul," he growled. "We’ll find another way to get rid of the bond without marking yourself for all to see as a traitor!"

  "She is my soul," Eli said as he looked down at me. He tugged me gently and placed me in front of him, in between Enoch and himself. He whispered into my ear. "Don't be frightened. They are on our side, but it may take some getting used to."

  Enoch knocked on the door and it opened immediately to reveal another girl. She looked at them silently. When we stayed silent as well, she cocked her brow. Eli lifted his wrist to show her the barbed string. She gasped slightly and moved aside. "Come on. Quick."

  When we crossed the threshold, I felt a slice of pain in my palm. Eli and Enoch hissed, too, and we all looked down to see blood on our palms. Eli glared at her.

  She sighed long and loud. "You know there's a marking to enter. The house will take its sacrifice. You are one of us now, for better or worse. Come."

  We entered and I tried to ignore the stares of the people as we walked through the old house. My headache was getting worse by the second, and Eli started to notice my squint. "Love?"

  "I'm ok," I answered and rubbed my forehead. There was a couple giggling near the fireplace, who stopped once they saw us. Three Devourers were watching with heated interest from the back wall, one with a girl in his lap. Another couple coming down the hall moved out of the way. The kitchen table had several people there eating what looked to be turkey sandwiches. The girl I'd spoken to at the arena, Bridgette, was there with her…Devourer! He put his arm around her protectively and watched us go cautiously.

  The girl who answered the door spoke to us again. "I assume you're here to see Magenta?"

  "You assume correctly," Enoch answered. "What is Magenta doing at a rebel camp?"

  "There's only one reason I can think of why a bonded Devourer would need a Soothsayer," she said casually and turned to us at the bottom of the stairs. She reached out for my hand. I looked at Eli and he nodded reluctantly. She looked closely at my hand in the dimly lit house and nodded. "How long have you been sick?"

  My eyes went wide. Eli jerked me behind him keeping an arm around me. "What do you know? You better start talking!"

  "I know nothing, but I have eyes and she looks terrible, no offense. And your blood on your hand…"

  I lifted my hand to look at it. My palm was stained with streaks of red and steaks of blue. I jerked my hand behind me. I leaned my head against Eli's back. I felt my blood rushing and pounding behind my eyes. I was getting worse and there was nothing to stop it. Eli turned and scooped me up in his arms.

  "Take us to Magenta," he ordered.

  She nodded once and lifted her arm to the stairs as she moved aside. Eli made quick work of the steps and went to the only door that there was. Enoch opened it and it led to another set of stairs. He took them two at a time. Eli followed at a steadier pace for my benefit. He kissed my hair and said it would be ok.

  "Magenta?" Enoch called out. "We need a word, madam."

  "That you do," a grave and crackled voice called out. Eli set my feet down gently, but held me to him.

  "Madam," he said gently. "We come offering anything you wish, if you'll tell us what we need to do. My bond mate is sick."

  "The kind of sick that can't be fixed just-like-that, I'm afraid," she answered. She was sitting on a couch, the middle sunken in and dingy. Her dress was old fashioned and the blue faded. She was old and her fingers were crippled by arthritis. I wasn't sure how, but I could tell she'd once been very beautiful.

  She gestured for us to sit across from her and turned the lamp on next to her with a wave of her fingers. I tried not to gawk as we settled on the opposite couch. Cavuto perched himself on the lamp top, basking in the fake UV rays.

  The walls were lined with old desks and bookcases, with bottles of herbs and…things.

  "Now," she started and smiled a toothless smile. "You bonded him to you, did ya now, girl?"

  "Yes, ma'am…uh, madam."

  She laughed and then turned serious. "That's strike one."

  Eli leaned forward. "What do you mean?"

  "I get to ask the questions, not you," she muttered and turned back to me. Her gaze roamed me and she settled on my eyes. "One bonded green, one Devourer purple." She tsked. "Quite a pickle you got yo'selves in."

  I nodded as she continued to stare at me.

  "And just what is it you think I can do for you?"

  Eli answered. "We want a cure."

  "Or the bond to be removed," Enoch supplied. "Whatever releases her from the sickness."

  She laughed. "Now you know I can't be removing no bonds. You know better 'an that."

  "There has to be something-"

  "There's nothing," she barked and glared at him. "And if you came here just to free yo'self from the bond, you wasted a perfectly good Witch's stone to get here."

  "No, madam," Eli placated. "We came just to see what could be done for Clara. She's been sick ever since…"

  "Ever since she took your blood," Magenta supplied and smirked, her wrinkled face lifting.

  Nineteen

  "How would you know that?" Eli asked as I got up. I could no longer sit there on that couch so still. I walked to the bookcase and found a picture of her. The dress looked the same to me. I eyed her.

  "She's got poisoned blood. Your blood, however she got it in her, is fighting her human blood to rule."

  "We know all that," Eli said and growled in frustration. "We determined all that already. I want to know how to fix it."

  "Can't be fixed." She smiled. "But have a nice trip back."

  "You were very pretty, if I can say that," I told her as I examined the photo. Right next to it was a little clear box labeled 'Goblin's Teeth', but the teeth were huge and long. I felt myself frown.

  "You may say it," she spouted, "but flattery will get you nowhere. Strike two." I felt my eyes widen in surprise. She apparently didn't like compliments. I went back to my seat beside Eli as he went on talking to her.

  "Madam, I know you know something," he accused.

  "You don't deserve a cure!" she accused back.

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Tell her," she said and looked at me. "Tell her the real reason you want to save her."

  The breath stilled in my lungs. What did she mean? I looked at Eli. He seemed at a loss as he said, "I love her."

  "That's not good enough."

  "I love her!" he roared. "She bound herself to me and I want to save her."

  "Tell her the truth!" she said just as loudly and waited.

  He gulped and looked at me again. His eyes held something… It made me feel funny as I waited for something he obviously had to say. And then his guilt hit me and I held my sob back. Oh, no…

&nb
sp; "I want to save her because…" Even though he was speaking to her, he never took his eyes off mine. "Because I'm a better man with her. Because I can't imagine going back to being who I was before I met her. Because I'm afraid…that I could be that monster again without her here loving me." He touched my cheek with the backs of his fingers. "I'm sorry, love, for being so selfish."

  Selfish? I turned my glare to Magenta. She seemed amused, which put some fuel into my pissed-off meter. "How dare you?"