Taken Over

  Cade spent the next three years at our home nearly every weekend, and at least a few days a week after school, he would come over. If Aiden went to his house, I would also be invited along, though I wasn’t allowed to spend the night when Aiden did. Cade had stopped coming over immediately after his parents were killed in a botched home robbery. He had pretty much faded from my life after that. Though he was placed into foster care, we had continued to go to the same school, but where he had once been a constant presence in my life, a steady friend, he barely spoke to me again. I had been hurt by his abrupt dismissal of me, but I had been a child, and I had moved on. Until the night of my father’s funeral, when Cade had come back to me, comforted me and allowed me to cry when I would not cry in front of the others. And then he had disappeared from my life again afterward.

   Cade had gone out of his way to avoid me until the attack began, though I’d often caught him watching me in the halls or in class. I hadn’t known how to approach him again, hadn’t known what to say to him. The older he got the more intimidated I became by his good looks, and the aloof air that set him aside from a lot of the other boys in school. And then there had been Bret, and though I had been acutely aware of Cade still watching me, I had tried to move on with a life that had not included him in almost ten years.

   Then The Freezing had occurred, and he hadn’t left my side until they had taken him from me. I’d thought they’d killed him, that they were torturing him. Instead they had just brought him home. They had just taken him back to where he belonged, and it was not here, it was not amongst us. It was not with me.

   “Lies. All of it, everything. It’s all been lies.” My voice was choked, hoarse. I could barely think straight let alone speak well as my head spun with the implications. “Oh shit,” I moaned, closing my eyes as waves of anguish washed over me. “Oh hell.”

   “Not all lies,” he said softly. “Not everything Bethany. I couldn’t fake my love for you.”

   A single tear slipped free. It left a cool streak on my heated flesh as it ran down my cheek. I didn’t know what to believe, what to think. I didn’t know which way was north and which way was south. Didn’t know if up was down or down was up. The world lurched sickeningly, my hands clutched at the bark of a tree as I struggled to keep from passing out.

   Pressing my forehead against the rough bark of the trunk, I clung to it for a long moment as I inhaled deeply and repeatedly. It took a few moments but eventually I was able to regain control of my body, I was not so lucky with my mind or heart. I didn’t think I would ever regain control of those.

   Finally, I was able to lift my head and look at him again. He had retreated to the other side of the clearing. His arms were folded over his chest, his face and posture defensive as he watched me wearily. I was surprised, and slightly angered, by the hurt I sensed radiating from him. Hewas angry and hurt? He wasn’t the one who had been liedto this entire time. He wasn’t the one who had just realized their boyfriend was some kind of monster that fed on blood and whatever else that black thing that oozed from Ian had been seeking when it penetrated me.

   His eyes were hooded, distant. “Do you want me to leave?”

   “No!” The word popped out of my mouth before I could stop it, out of my mouth before I even had time to consider a response. I wanted to scream in rage and frustration, wanted to pull my hair and stomp around the clearing like a two year old throwing a tantrum. I wanted to tell him yes, that of course I wanted him to leave! He had lied to me. He had been deceiving me for years; my pride and trust were bruised. They were demanding to be salvaged somehow. The word stuck in my throat though. I could only stand there and stare at him, wounded, hurt, confused by everything rapidly unfolding around me.

   But the last thing I wanted was for him to leave. The thought of it was even worse than living with my kicked ego. I couldn’t lose him again. Not again. But how could I trust him? I knew nothing about him. Or did I?

   I watched him as he moved with lithe grace away from the edge of the woods. The shadows played over his hard, enticing features. There was no sign of the blackness, no sign of whatever it was that lurked within him; something that I had never even suspected lurked there until recently. He could have killed me years ago. He hadn’t. He could have killed us all; he could have allowed Ian to kill me. Instead, he had killed for us, he had helped us to escape the Cape, and he had exposed himself to me tonight. He had killed for metonight. One of his own apparently.

   I was hurt and I was angry, but I had to listen to him. I owed him that, owed him more in fact, but right now all I could give him was my ear.

   I swallowed heavily as he continued to move slowly. He stayed a good distance away from me, but I did not kid myself into thinking he couldn’t grab hold of me in an instant. That there wasn’t far more power and strength in him than I had ever thought possible. “I’ll tell you anything that you want to know.”

   I took a deep breath. “I want to know it all.”

   He was silent for a long moment, his shoulders stiffened briefly as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “There are some things you aren’t going to wantto know.”

   I was certain that there were. I was just as certain that I had to hear them; that I neededto hear them. “I know.” His gaze slid to me. “But I have to know Cade. No more secrets.” He quirked an eyebrow at me, his head tilted slightly as he watched me. His slow nod encouraged me to go on. I didn’t know where to start, but I thought perhaps the begi

   He sighed softly, his arms folded over his chest. “We’ve always been here.”

   I sputtered; something icy ran through my entire body. I had thought that there was nothing more that could shock me, I knew now I was wrong. I had a feeling that by the time he was done I was going to be shocked a few more times. I braced myself for that eventuality. “Excuse me?” I breathed.

   “Over the years, throughout history, we have always been here. Monitoring, watching, keeping track of your developments, and your technologies. We’ve even aided in some of your own advancements. We’ve also come in search of food before.”

   I shuddered. We both knew that when he said food he didn’t mean steak. “I’m not sure I understand.”

   He nodded, took a deep breath, and then plunged in. “Our planet, from what I’ve heard of it, is similar to earth. Hence our similar appearances. My people raped it, nearly took everything they could from it, drained it of life, blood, and nourishment. When they realized what they had done they began to make trips to find other planets to harvest from. There were fifteen in total.”

   My eyebrows flew up, my mouth parted on a soft gasp. “Fifteen?”

   “There are three left, including Earth that they haven’t harvested yet and pushed to the brink of extinction. For now. They’ve raided those planets, took what they could, and left them behind. There were few survivors left but I’m sure those numbers have increased by now.”

   My mouth opened, it took me a moment but I finally managed to form a question. “Why would they do that?”

   “They destroyed their own planet; do you honestly think they care about others? The survivors were left…”

   “For a later time. Another harvest.” I felt ill, but the words escaped me before I could stop them. I somehow managed to keep my composure even though I was rapidly unraveling.

   “At first, it wasn’t that way. At first they just went on missions to collect supplies…”