The Change: Episode one (10 page)

That was what the Den Mothers had tried to
convince us of, but I’d learned it wasn’t true of any of those I’d
met. We were sexually abused, slaved out to the Changeling masses
with death as our only alternative. Did the outside world know how
awful it was to impregnate a stranger and then never get to see
that child or even know if it lived? Did this brutal woman? Did
those things matter to her?

The heavenly scent of eggs overwhelmed the
soap and dirt of our bodies as the tension thickened. I loved eggs.
They were my favorite and always on my list when I received a meal
of choice. How had she known that? I stared back, trying to puzzle
it out. Did she research the bachelors? Was that how she’d picked
me?

This violent female was exciting… and
terrifying. Those gentle hands that could break an egg without
shattering the shell could snap my neck. I respected her for it,
for the lethal strength in her slender body, and I wondered at her
control, her reasons for even playing. From the reports, she was
rich. Why hadn’t she just bought a mate?

C

The second batch of eggs was done and I got
a clean plate from the wall. Daniel had scraped every morsel from
the one in front of him as he watched me.

He tensed when I turned, but stayed put as I
carefully removed the old one and replaced it with a larger plate.
His face wrinkled in suspicion and then confusion, before his mouth
opened.

“
Thank you…”

I nodded, but didn’t
respond. I went back to my sawdust-tasting food with need flaring
hotly in my gut.
His
voice
! It was the sound of angels and
devils in perfect harmony, tempting me…

He abruptly shoved the plate away,
grimacing, and I looked toward the untouched cup. “The milk will
help settle it.”

He didn’t notice the too-sweet taste and I
watched him gulp it down with flat, black eyes. A very mild
sedative, it would keep him from jumping so much and maybe let him
sleep.

“
You’ll be on the couch
tonight.”

The words brought instant relief, and in
it’s wake, confusion. I could see that he wanted to ask why we
wouldn’t share a bed, and I both longed for him to and wished he
wouldn’t. It might all be over if I had to explain it.

He didn’t question me, and I gestured at the
steamy room I’d come from. “Clean up if you like. There’s a robe
hanging on the back of the door.” My voice lowered into an edge of
anger. “And a medical kit in the cabinet.”

He immediately moved off to do what I’d
suggested, and I watched him until he was out of sight, thinking of
all the times I’d envisioned this moment, this feeling. Reality was
a patch over a small part of the gaping wound in my heart.

Knowing he wouldn’t disobey me, I left the
mess for the Network cleaners and crawled onto the room’s only
couch-bed. I slid back to lie along the seam of the cushions,
making it clear where I wanted him, and fell into a light doze
almost immediately. It had been a long week.

D

She was on the couch. I’d assumed too much.
Covered in only a silken blue robe, I felt very unprotected and
stayed in the doorway. After seeing her matches, I held little hope
she wouldn’t wake up when I climbed onto the secondary bed.

I tried to be reasonable.
It wasn’t as if I hadn’t done this before… or been hurt before. I
just didn’t like the fear and the pain, and the
dirtiness
that I knew were waiting
for me afterward. Under it all, the familiar longing to know why
I’d been given to the Network, why I was forced to live this way,
burned hotly.

It was too quiet. I realized it with a start
and understood she was awake. A shudder went through my legs, and I
made them move. Better to get it over with. If I had real courage,
I’d drop the robe before I got there and push her over the edge,
make her use the drugs when I couldn’t satisfy her. I’d done it a
couple times with Changelings who’d rented me, when I wasn’t able
to stand what they wanted to dish out, but I sensed it might
backfire with this one. In the two minutes it took the drugs to
work, she might snap.

It happened sometimes, new Changelings who
bought or won a mate and accidentally killed them during the
claiming. Would she be one of those? Candice was easily the most
violent contestant I’d ever seen. It was why I held such fear.

Looking down at her relaxed face, I felt
something other than the usual terror of what was about to come,
but the sound of her voice stopped me from examining it.

“
Daniel.”

Her tone said I was wasting her patience,
and I slid onto the couch without waiting any longer.

C

He stayed on the edge, as
far from me as he could get. The milky drops would start working
soon… only I wasn’t going to wait, I
couldn’t
. Being careful of his
now-bandaged arm, I placed a hand on his damp skin and pulled him
closer as gently as I could manage. The feel of his tense hip
against mine began to make it final. I had what I’d come for, and
it hadn’t cost my life or even a limb.

Only some more of my
humanity
, I thought, rolling over to enfold
his terrified frame into my arms. Daniel would help keep back the
fiery darkness that threatened to consume me, and I would return
his identity to him. Together, we might even find some measure of
peace.

He never really thawed against me, just went
out all at once, and I allowed myself to stare then. In a few days,
we would head for the Pruett homestead, but due to the mandatory
verification period, we couldn’t leave as soon as I would have
liked. Not that it would have mattered. He wasn’t ready to be in
public with me yet.

I drifted off wondering about his reaction
to my home. It was his now, too, but it had been before, as well.
Would he recognize the neighborhood or the evil people who’d sold
him into the Games? I was asleep before I could venture a
guess.

Chapter Seven

C

He flinched away from my heat the instant
his eyes opened, then stilled as he realized I was
awake…watching.

We’d moved closer during the night, so much
that I could feel his erratic breath on the arm I had curled over
his wide chest. The couch under us trembled as he waited
fearfully.

“
I won’t hurt you.” Calm,
even tones that didn’t hint at the hunger beneath, as I saw him
fresh from my bed. “You’ll figure that out in time.”

I put my head down, closed my eyes…
reluctantly withdrew my arm. His indecision was clear, and it took
a long moment before he gathered the courage to move from my
side.

Thud!
“Sorry!”

His fast apology had me
trying not to frown. I would have to shove some spine back down his
throat. Males had that base urge torn from them by the Network, but
the true instinct of a man could never be erased.
My
Daniel was still in
there. I just had to let him out.

Slam!
“Sorry.”

Need, sharp and sweet flooded me, and I
forced myself back into sleep. He was mine. There was time.

D

I listened to her heavy snore with a slight
smile that surprised me. She was so quiet when she moved and during
her matches, that her noise had made me jump and duck for cover
before I’d realized what it was.

Snorttt…

I flinched again and shook my head. It was
easy to tell I hadn’t been around women much recently, and I
straightened my shoulders as I moved toward the washroom. While I
showered, I went over my rules for surviving a Changeling.

One
: Don’t make eye contact…except she wanted me to. I struck
that one from the list.

Two
: Be careful of smells. Changelings were drawn to good scents
and I moved my hand away from the sweet-smelling soap to use the
plain bar on the rack. She’d left a hair on it from her own wash,
and I quickly picked it off and rinsed it down the drain.
Gross
.

Okay, where was I?

Three
: Keep all exposed skin covered. I’d broken that one last
night with the robe, but I didn’t have any other clothes, and there
was no way I was putting my jumper back on until it was clean. I
frowned, moving on.

Four
: Keep them well fed and in comfortable temperatures.
Five
: Never refuse…
anything.
Six
: Try
to distract them when their eyes flicker.
Seven
: Attack them before they can
attack you.

That one had me blushing as I rinsed off.
I’d taken the lead like that twice, and it had worked well.
Changelings had a very short fuse. If you could get it to burn down
quickly, they were blasted with relief and not such a danger
anymore. I’d even once seen a Changeling cry, but the easiest way
to cool the fire was through physical contact.

My body stirred at the
thought. Candice was familiar to me for some reason, and she had
amazing control. As long as I followed my own rules, I would
probably be fine.
Back to
it
, I thought, stepping out to grab my
jumper and toss it into the suds for a wash.

Eight
: If the pain gets too bad, make them snap and get it over
with by responding as if willing. The medics are very
skilled.
Nine
…

C

I woke hours later to find the room softly
lit against the darkness, fragrant with smells of cooking meat, and
a genuine smile came to my face. Our lives could begin soon… That
second, familiar grin curved my lips into the merciless expression
I was known for. Right after I took care of one little thing.

“
Would you like to eat
now?”

Tremors shook his stunningly enticing voice,
and I shook my head, looking around alertly as I stood up. “I’ll
wash first.”

“
I ordered a new robe for
you.”

“
Have you
bathed?”

His nod was quick; worried I’d be upset at
his waste of water by showering twice.

“
Good. I like
cleanliness.”

At my words, there was a relieved edge to
his face that I wasn’t sure about. I placed it as I scrubbed off
another layer of the week’s battles. I’d bothered to tell him
something personal, something he could use to please me. Did he
want that for his survival, or did he long for the life everyone
now thought we would lead? There were other questions I needed
answers to as well, and I would have them before long, but for
today, I wanted to see what he knew about the Ring. The one the
Network paid so well to keep a fresh supply of males flowing
through the Games… the ones who had taken what was mine.

That thought had me angry as I stepped from
the room, but the sight of Daniel in that robe replaced it with a
flare of hunger that I knew was terrifying. It had him stumbling
back into a corner of the room, but I couldn’t help the need. He
was so beautiful! His bare feet were big and noisy, ankles covered
in hair, as were his forearms. Arms that were trembling. Anger
rushed through me again, as violent as any I’d felt during my
matches. I controlled it even as I fed it. Someone would pay, blood
would spill for what had been done to him.

“
There are clothes for you
in my kit!” I heard myself snap and winced inwardly, but didn’t
pull it back. The anger would keep me steady and allow me time
to
reach
him
before I took him.

I spun back into the washroom at that
thought, my eyes no longer flat black. The Change was a torment
dealt with daily for the last five years, and as a level two, I had
more control than many of my family and neighbors. The Change had
five stages, but only three of them were common. First was the
start, the uncontrollable need to spill blood. After that, learning
to master the violence as it intensified. Few got to this point
because of how strong the Change was once it started. The third
stage was where my Mother was – burned-out. I shoved the image away
in revulsion. That, I would never be!

The fourth stage was burn-up and usually
included snapping and killing whoever happened to be around. I
almost liked that one. It was infinitely better than having no fire
left at all, but there was also a fifth, legendary stage that no
one I knew had ever achieved. The disease went into remission. No
one knew for sure what combination of environment, diet, and daily
life might accomplish it, but that was the goal for my future, not
the sparkless female calling herself my parent. But for our bounty
runs, I would have no use for her at all.