Soulless (Book #2 of Hunted)

Fujoshi

Anton had drained the second and third bags to withered husks and I made to hand Keegan the fourth bag, but he stood up and I stumbled back.

"This one's for me," he said taking the bag from my hands and plunking down on the bottom step. Phoebe grimaced as he lifted the bag to his face and nipped the corner off drinking down the contents like it was a glass of frozen lemonade on a hot day.

Anton glared at Keegan eyeing the blood that was disappearing before him, his eyes black, rimmed with red. I heard him growl softly but it sounded more like he was admitting defeat than begging for more.

Keegan finished his snack and set the empty bag aside with a sigh. Phoebe wiggled her fingers and all the bags disappeared with a pop. Keegan leaned back against the step behind him and crossed his arms over his chest watching Anton.

"You feel better?" he asked after a few moments of awkward silence in which Phoebe and I just sort of stood around trying to not look completely out of place.

Anton sat back on his heels bracing his hands against his knees and closing his eyes. He tilted his head back and exhaled slowly before rubbing his face quite forcefully and opening his eyes. The darkness had receded leaving only his irises black with just a splash of red around them if you looked real close.

"Yes," he mumbled after another bout of silence and he looked at Keegan asking, "You didn't hurt anyone, did you?" Keegan scoffed and stood up saying, "No! I didn't! Why does every keep asking that? Next time I'll take video as evidence!" Phoebe and I stifled laughs and he shot us a look that instantly shut us up.

He turned back to Anton, taking a few steps closer and pointing at him muttering, "Don't see why you'd care either way. You were the one who wanted a bloody massacre." Anton made a face and stood up as well hugging his arms around himself and muttering, "Well that was then and this is now and now I'm thinking that the idea of a massacre makes my head hurt and my chest feel all tight and panicky and I'm glad you didn't hurt anyone."

Keegan groaned dramatically and snapped, "No! No, you should be angry at me for not letting you kill again. You should be begging for a slaughter and then I should be telling you that once you're well enough to be unchained we'll head to Europe or-or maybe Southeast Asia and have a party the likes of which the world hasn't seen in centuries."

Anton made a face that nearly caused me physical pain. It was a tormented expression of indecision. Finally he shook his head and replied, "Mmm...no...that sounds...wrong in my head. We shouldn't do that. I don't want to do that." He was shaking his head so forcefully his chains rattled.

Keegan smiled and took another step forward asking, "Are you sure?" Zane shuffled a few feet backwards and replied, "Y-yes, I'm sure." Keegan's smile widened and he said, "You don't sound sure." He moved closer and Zane backed up further hitting the wall.

"I-I am very sure that I do n-not want to go anywhere and have an-any sort of party. I want to stay here and get better," he said nodding his head in accordance, his hands twisting nervously around his chains as Keegan stepped even closer.

"You won't get better here. You know that," Keegan murmured. "You just need to regain enough control so that you can spend a few hours on a plane without eating the pilot and then, when we land, we can drink for days. Doesn't that sound like fun?"

Zane made a strange little whimpering sound and his eyes flashed to me. My heart leaped in my chest. They saw me. His eyes saw me and they knew me and he was...asking for help.

"Keegan--" I started but suddenly he had his hand around Zane's jaw forcing him to tear his gaze away from me and turn it back to him. Keegan was so close to Zane their chests were nearly touching and he leaned forward his mouth at Zane's ear.

I strained to hear what he was saying, but even with my Hunter hearing I couldn't catch more than a subtle low buzzing like he was speaking too fast and too quietly for me to understand. Whatever he said made Zane squeeze his eyes shut and bite down on his bottom lip. His hands came up to clutch at the front of Keegan's shirt and Keegan's own hands moved to cover Zane's.

I was beginning to get this funny feeling...like maybe at some point Zane and Keegan (or Anton and Keegan, whatever) had been more than best friends...more than 'brothers from different mothers.' I shook my head. It was probably nothing. Just a fujoshi's over-active imagination.