Water splashes as the female jumps away from me. I had not even realized that she was seated on my lap. Displeased, I snarl and grab her, returning the female beside me.
There is a shudder in her breath as she speaks again, “Ahh, what’s his name?”
“Datu,”my name is the only sound I can make.
“Oh, he talks!” She laughs but the shrillness tells me she’s not amused at all. She is frightened.
My hand rises from the water and I feel her face. My palm swallows it. Small, delicate features. A tiny button nose. My thumb runs over her mouth. It’s terrifyingly exquisite.
The thing in me rumbles again, more insistent. It wants a taste.
Just one.
Xiaoyu
“Datu,” he repeats, his voice odd and breathy.
I can’t place a finger on it. He’s the sound of whispering leaves, slow wind. The calm that goes with the babbling brook. Watertrickles down his smooth green skin. I can tell he’s the male of his kind. His jaw squarer, features sharper and more unforgiving. His browbone is pronounced, eyebrows darker than his hair. This gives his blind milky eyes a deep-set look.
He has two legs like us, but back in his cave of twisted trees, I could have sworn he had eight. I’m simply left breathless when I look at him. There’s so much of him that demands my attention. The most prominent are the etchings on his skin. Tattoos. A duskier shade of his skin, almost black. A unique, incomprehensible mix of tribal and something older. It feels wrong staring at them too close like this. It’s like I’m uncovering some sort of ancient secret just by looking.
I suck in a breath as he buries his face on the crook of my neck. It’s alarming and I squeeze my eyes shut, expecting the worst. Instead of sharp pain, I feel his tongue licking a line up my neck.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!
When I try to jump away, he cages me in his arms. His claws run up my legs, my thighs, breathing me in like I’m his favorite meal. His wet, coarse tongue touches my neck again, tasting.
The splashing water catches Ingar’s attention and he raises a brow at me.
I swallow thickly. It doesn’t seem like I’m in imminent danger, he seemed more…curious? Yes, the tongue on my neck is definitely there out of curiosity. I give Ingar a terrified thumbs-up before he turns back to an upset Teva.
I stare mournfully at my neatly folded clothes right by them. As I’m only in my undergarments—a sports bra and panties—I feel extremely exposed to the elements. Somehow, the sunlight here hurts, and I’m starting to feel like I’m frying too.
Datu’s fingers scrape against my ass, and I get the feeling he doesn’t know I’m human. He’s blind, after all. Since he knowsIngar, heshouldknow about us, right? It won’t be a mindfuck to him like it is for us if I tell him I’m human.
“I know you can’t see me, but I’m just human. I can’t stay under the heat and on water too much lest I get sunburnt or prune up.”
He stills, and it’s so odd. It’s like every single thing surrounding us halts with him, too. The brook, the wind, even the birds chirping turn silent. I can’t help it, I stop breathing, feeling a chill run up my spine at this utter stillness.
The grass crinkles as Teva moves toward us and drops to her knees by the stream’s edge.
“Datu, please, do not do this.” She’s begging him, and I don’t understand why. “Weneedyou to be better.”
This makes me feel like an intruder. This is a family issue with them, right? I can just step away—I take it back. He grabs my waist to keep me in place and I’m there awkwardly pretending I don’t exist while Teva trembles and cries.
Datu is expressionless as the breeze slowly wafts toward us. The water runs again but the birds? They remain silent like they are under the scope of a predator.
My gaze finds my palm, wrinkly and pale. I’m not going to die being soaked this long, it’s just going to feel weird. I realize I’m talking myself into being in an uncomfortable situation just because I don’t like confrontations.
It makes me feel the way Mother makes me feel.
“Datu? I need to get off the water and sun. You can stay there and soak as much as you want, but I’m headed—”
His hand covers my mouth, and I see a hint of amusement in his gaze. Leaving Teva, he basically floats us over to the other side where a thick tree offers a very convenient shade. A beautifulriparian zone. I’m not even sure how he knew where to find this. He’s supposed to be blind.
I wave my hands over his eyes but he doesn’t react. He still can’t see but somehow he knows where everything is.
“Thank you,” I murmur as he gently props me up so I can sit on the bank.
