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He’d saved me.
Then carried me. Held me. Taken care of me.
“Doesn’t that go against your nature? To save, to take care of people?”
“Yes.”
Yes?
That was it?
“I need more information than that,” I said.
“You’re asking me about shit that, at the time, I didn’t understand either. You’ve gotta get this. I don’t have any love for humankind. Ace and the others who have been here longer, they’ve developed a sort of fondness, or at least respect for you. Me? Not so much. All I see is the evil shit you all do to each other, and the petty shit. The selfish shit.”
“That’s fair,” I agreed. “But humans do good things too. Sometimes it takes really terrible things to happen for them to remember that is what we’re supposed to do. Like with all these ‘natural disasters’ going on. All you see is people rescuing others, offering services, opening up their homes even to them. There’s good people. People worth saving.”
“Maybe,” he said, shrugging, unconvinced. “But that wasn’t really the point. I didn’t save you because I heard a random woman screaming. I saved you because I heardyouscreaming.”
“Because you needed me,” I concluded.
“Not in the way you’re thinking. Not to burst your ego, babe, but you’re not the only expert on the myths in the world.”
“That’s true,” I agreed. “Then I don’t get it.”
“Alright. To understand it, you have to understand that, fundamentally, we are different creatures.”
A vision of wings flash across my mind.
“Yeah, I think I understand that.”
“I don’t just mean physically. Or our immortality. I mean that we experience things different. We don’t need to eat or rest. We do it, but we don’t have to. We don’t feel shit like your humanguilt or empathy. And we sure as fuck don’t feel affection or love like humans do.”
I didn’t understand why, but it felt like he’d knocked the wind out of me by admitting that last little bit.
“So, I didn’t know what the fuck was going on when I felt the need to protect you, then take care of you. That’s not in my nature. That’s not how my brain works.”
“I can understand that,” I said, nodding.
“I didn’t see the signs of it then.”
“The signs of what?” I asked.
“The Claiming.”
“Claiming? What does that mean?” I asked, but he seemed lost in his own thoughts.
“That was why it happened when I fucked you. It sort of… made it all complete, I guess.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You didn’t see it the first time,” he went on.
“Bael,” I snapped, making his head whip over at my sharp tone. “Talk to me, not yourself,” I invited.
“The way I Changed when I fucked you. The talons, the horns, the wings. It happened the first time too, but you weren’t looking at me. But it was an even stronger Change the second time. That was what you saw. The Change, my true form. Coming out because I’d Claimed you.”
“Claimed me as what?” I asked.
