The Dark Ones

Chapter Five: All These Choices

"Tell me what?" Rue cried.

A blunt pain ached across her body. She clenched fast to a wooden shelf in her room, dug her fingers deep in the wood, trying to hold back her urge to indulge in Ajax's ritual.

The need to satiate the fiery hunger raging within her was too strong and her eyes were upon whatever remained of her unconscious housekeeper.

In her mind, there was nothing more disgusting.

Yet it was not the urge to feed, to satisfy the hunger deep down within that bothered her, it was the fact that she wanted it and could taste the sweetness on her lips.

"Let go, Rue," Ajax said, "this is what we are. Nothing comes for free and feeding on the lifeforce of wretched mortals is a small price to pay for the potency of our Familiar."

"I can't," Rue cried, "I won't."

Ajax stood up. "Well it's not up to you." He grasped tight to her arm and dragged her towards Dorothy's body. "If you don't feed, your Familiar would grow weaker and weaker until it dies. And if it dies, you die. You are only as strong as it is. Feed. You have done it once; you can do it again."

"What?" Rue's voice cracked and her eyes lifted to behold his proud face.

"The death of a sibling is an awful loss to bear, especially if you're responsible for said sibling's demise. We all know your story, Rue Baker. What do you think happened that day?"

"It was an accident. I didn't know . . ." Rue shook her head, "I didn't know it was going to happen."

"You don't believe that do you? Not after all you've seen." Ajax moved around the unconscious body of her housekeeper. "It's okay Rue. I understand. There's a lot you don't know. I can teach you to give in and experience the raw strength of your Familiar."

Ajax stretched his right arm forward, opening his hand.

"You will never feel alone in this world. You will never have to hide who you are or apologise for surviving. Your Familiar is strong. I can sense its struggle within. Come with me and I will make you the best version of yourself."

There was something about Ajax that seduced her broken spirit. He was everything she secretly desired to be. Confident. Proud. Never worrying about who liked him, and who doesn't. Everything was happening too fast. Her head grew light. It felt like the walls in the room were rushing towards her.

Rue closed her eyes. She took deep breaths and then opened them.

"Take your time," Ajax dropped his hand, "but know this, Rue, you will come to me. You will be mine. Let the ages pass if it has too, you will come to me. A hundred years is but a blink in our lives. You and I, we are shattered fragments of an inescapable desire. Your Familiar will lead you to me when you're ready."

He moved so quick to the window, making the distance in a split second. Ajax glanced at Dorothy's unconscious body. "Don't worry I didn't drain her completely. A few months in the hospital and she would regain her bodily fluids, not much can be done for her ageing."

A devilish grin formed on his face. He leapt over the window, dropping down from two stories with the ease of coming down a bus. He exchanged one more glance with her, eyes bright like tiny stars in the night sky, and then he disappeared into the darkness.

Ajax was gone.

Rue sat at a corner. Her knees were folded to touch her chest, arms wrapped around them. All these choices. She never wanted any of them. Being a monster, what teenage girl would wish for that? For long, all she had to worry about was her parent's coldness towards her, new boys in her school to crush on, best friends who had distanced themselves since the incident with her brother.