“Do not compare me to humans.”My voice comes like a whip.
“You.You say as if you are much different than us. Better than us.” I hear the mocking tone in her voice.
A feeling of disappointment settles in my gut, heavy. I do not regret my words since they are true. Iamdifferent. I could have stated it in a less aggressive manner.
Something trembles inside me, the emptiness snarling louder. My tongue runs over my sharp teeth. I am dreading what this change in body means. It is the price for a corporeal form, to subject myself to constant change along with the others.
This change, however, feels…distinct. Purposeful. It makes me grind my new set of teeth together.
“I apologize, but the fact still remains…”I do not know how to say it without sounding egotistical—a very human trait I despise.
“The fact still remains that you are a good brother, and you will do anything for me.” Her hand sweeps over my arm. “And what I ask is to not harm the humans.”
“You cared not for the humans before. You have changed, Sateva.”
“I have evolved, yes. You should do the same.”
I prick my thumb with my teeth, seeing it ooze with a bright violet liquid. I know because the wind tells me.“I already have.”My entrapment must have forced this body to shift.
“Not just your physical form. What good is a sound mind if it cannot comprehend alternate beliefs?”
I smile lightly and nod my head, not because I agree, but because I just want the conversation to be over.
“Where is Lin?”
It is Sateva’s human, Ingar.Lin,he calls her. He had just walked back from digging up my land and was looking for Xiaoyu. Something in my skin bristles, alert. I cannot believe she had slipped my mind. The woman is so quiet that it’s so easy to miss her absence.
“Xiaoyu,” I called out but realized she cannot hear me. Apprehension leaks through my pores as I stand and survey the clearing. I’m frustrated at my limited sight in this form, but the leaves tell me she has slipped into the woods. Night has fallen, and the dark here leaves humans vulnerable to the things in the forest.
Sateva groans as I see her shadow fall to the ground.
“Teva!” Ingar drops everything he carries to scramble toward my sister.
She is starving once again. I can hear her stomach bellow for sustenance. I feel utterly helpless to Sateva’s affliction.
“Datu, find her. Please.” She pleads.
“He’s fucking blind, Teva.”
“No, he’s not…” Hysteria makes her scream and cackle. “Please, I just want to be okay.”
She is right. I can see if I want. I cannot stand hearing my sister slowly succumbing to a madness caused by me.
“I will find her and make things better. I swear.”
Without another sound, I slip into the shadows, embracing my original form. If this form could talk, it’s a snarling beast clamoring to be fed. It has always been like this, an endless pit of insatiability. The trees become the crown of my head. I do not need eyes, I see everything in me. On me. I know them to the very atom of their being.
My mouths, millions of them, lick the air for the human. Through this distorted reality, I cannot remember her name. I only know she is the one who can end the people’s suffering.
There’s a rattle in my hair, a follicle, a nit. A gecko insane, lonely enough to mate someone who is not meant for them. My gut shudders, and I open my mouths, inhaling him before it can molest the anomaly he chased.
In my gullet, it fights its way down, but my throat constricts. It breaks the gecko like a twig, the rows of carnassials rolling over the corpse like sharp chains. It plunges into my chasm, curdling, melting as soon as it hits the acid.
The anomaly runs, but she keeps tripping over my roots. I am attempting to catch her, to keep her still before she hurts herself, but she only fights harder. She slashes my vines with a knife, falling backwards until an ankle snaps. She howls in pain but continues to evade my hold.
I am…impressed. Not even the human males acted, protected themselves as efficiently as she did. She doesn’t scream. In fact, she barely makes a sound as she fights me off in my original form.
It takes me a while to realize that she thinks of me as a threat right now. She needs a familiar form. A familiar face. As soon as I change, she falls into my arms, babbling incoherently. I cannot see her right now, but I know her eyes spill with tears. I sweep them away with my thumbs.
