Taken Over

   “For the hunt, for the thrill. Humans are the most dangerous game after all. Type O is the most popular blood type, but there wouldn’t be enough left to be a serious threat, or at least that’s what theybelieve. They’re murderers; they enjoy the fear, the pleasure of hunting and torturing their kill. However, the human population outnumbered theirs. They couldn’t take the risk that your kind could cause severe damage, and massive casualties to them. They wanted the hunt, but they also wanted the assurance that they could win. It was decided to leave that number of the population mobile, while being able to easily capture and use the others for food and pleasure. Not everyone will be killed during the reaping process though.”

   “They’ll be left behind for a later time.” I was finding it more and more difficult to breathe. The neck of my shirt suddenly felt too tight as it squeezed my windpipe. I slid my finger into it and tugged anxiously at it. I needed to breathe, I couldn’t breathe. “For breeding,” I choked. “For their children to restock Earth, maybe even mychildren.” I shuddered, I was going to throw up, no I would not have kids; I would never allow them to go through this misery. Never let them experience this terror, loss, sadness. And I most certainly would notlose them to the monsters hunting us now. “No children.”

   His eyes were sad, he leaned closer to me. “Bethany…”

   I shook my head, devastated by what he was telling me. I’d never really thought about children before, I’d assumed that one day I’d have them but they were never a real thought or plan in my life. I was stu

   “You don’t have to give that up Bethany. Your dreams…”

   “Are changing every day. I’m not even sure I have them anymore Cade, there’s no guarantee past today. I simply want to enjoy every day that I get from here on out. Besides, could we… um is it even possible?”

   Red crept up my cheeks as my hands closed around his. “I don’t know if conception is possible, but sex is.”

   My face was on fire as I managed a small nod. “But if it is, our child, what would it be?”

   He shook his head. “There’s no way to know Bethany, our breeding period is different than a humans. Our gestation is six months, the labor is not as intense, but our babies are larger. There is no way to know what would happen to you, what it would do to you, and it’s not a chance I am willing to take. Not with you.” He took a deep breath, something dark flickered through his eyes. “It doesn’t have to be me Bethany.”

   I was stu

   His hands tightened on mine, he leaned closer, his eyes narrowed intently. “It’s not something I want Bethany. The idea of it...” He shuddered; his entire eye became completely black again. “It would shred me, but if you want a child…”

   “No!” I cried, aghast at his words. “Cade that’s not what I want. That’s not what I meant.”

   “You deserve to have as much of a normal life as you can have under these circumstances. You deserve to have everything that you want in this life. You could even come back to me; I would take you back always.”

   “No! Stop it Cade! Stop it!” I was infuriated at his words, shaken by the fact that he thought I would do such a thing. “How could you think I would do that? What do you think of me?”

   “I think you’re amazing. I also think that you deserve everything that this world has left to offer you, things I can’t offer you. I think I would do anything to see you happy even if it destroyed me. That’s what I think of you Bethany, that’s what I think of us. If one day you decide you want to have a child I will support you any way I can.”

   “I don’t want a child Cade, not in this world, not to be hunted, afraid and hungry…”

   “It may not always be like that.”

   Anger flared hotly through me. “And I most certainly would not want another man’s child Cade. If we ca

   He sighed softly as he nodded slowly. “If that’s what you want.”

  Though he said it, I knew he did not agree with it, or even consider the matter completely dropped as his eyes remained entirely black. I wasn’t willing to continue with the conversation, not when there were other more important things. “Why do you think I’m not completely human? What did you do Cade?”

   He took hold of my hands, but they still felt eerily cold within his warm grip. “You’re not one of the Frozen Ones because of me love.” I stared at him, but I was having a hard time focusing on him. Here was my answer, finally, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hear it anymore. “Because I was able to change you.”

   I struggled to see him, struggled to make out the face I loved so much through my suddenly blurred vision. “I don’t understand; how is that possible?”

   He rubbed his hands over mine, his eyes distant as they slowly returned to the eyes I knew so well. “Don’t hate me.”

   I swallowed the tight lump in my throat heavily. “Cade, what did you do?” I whispered.

   “When they told me that they were going to start to release the gas soon, and who they intended to effect with it, I was determined to find out what your blood type was. I had to know what would become of you and if there was some way that I could stop it. I was able to get a hold of your medical records.” I didn’t ask how, I was certain he could do anything he put his mind to. Hell for all I knew my doctor was one of them too. “I considered allowing you to freeze and trying to keep you safe after that, but I knew there was no way I could guarantee your safety, or any certainty that I would be able to wake you up again. There was no way to know if they would kill you immediately if I brought you to one of the holding cells. To move you…”

   I shook my head at him. I knew how hard it would have been to move me, to keep me safe in that state. We had lost my mom, and Peter, soon after The Freezing had occurred. It had been so difficult to keep my mother alive, so hard to even get her even that far into our journey. I didn’t need to hear it from him now, not when I already knew how hard it was.

   “There was only one thing I could do, no matter how dangerous it would be for you. I gave you some of my blood.” My eyes shot up, my mouth dropped. I could only sit there and gape at him stupidly. “It was a risk, the biggest risk I have ever taken. My kind has performed many experiments on humans over the centuries; giving them our blood has been given to humans in the past. Few have survived.”

   My insides were curdling up, but they were no longer the same insides that I had been born with. I recalled Bishop’s words about my abnormal cells and I wanted to cry. That hunger, that craving .Iron deficiency my ass, I thought derisively. I wanted to scream, I wanted to rip out my hair as I fled headlong into the woods, ru

   “I hadto take the chance that you would survive the infusion of my blood into your system. You wouldn’t have kept moving after The Freezing if I didn’t take the chance. I hoped that my intense reaction to you, and the way that you affected me meant that you were special, that you would be able to handle my blood when most wouldn’t. That there was a reason I had met you; that you would survive whatever it did to you. After I gave it to you I monitored you carefully, watched you constantly. I searched for any sign that something might go drastically wrong. But you seemed to be doing well with it, thankfully. I didn’t know what I was going to do if it went the other way, it wasn’t a possibility I wanted to consider. If you had died...”

   He broke off, anguish twisted his features. His hands tightened on my face, he leaned even closer. His onyx eyes filled my vision; I could feel his desperate need for my forgiveness, my understanding. I was still too shocked to offer him anything more than numbed silence at the moment. “My blood inside of you was how I was able to find you again; it was also how I was able to enter your dream. My blood linked us permanently; I’ll always be able to find you anywhere as long as you want me to. It’s how I found you the day of The Freezing, how I was able to save you.”