Page 81 of Primal Hunger
“You’re old enough to remember those days. How long has it been since…” I hesitate to finish my question.
“I am much older than your kind. The life expectancy of the Grims extends for centuries.”
So not only am I fucking a monster, but one old enough to be my great great-great-what-have-you many times over. Syros is not the kind of partner you’d take home to meet your parents, although a strange voice in my head thinks my father might have liked him.
I must be starving. I’m lightheaded and going crazy.
Drawing in a deep breath, I hold it in my lungs, the quality of the air around us slightly sweet.
Yes, this is a special place, even though it’s dying. And this is a special kind of creature walking next to me with his oddly graceful stride. Syros draws me to the left, the path beneath our feet soft and spongy.
The babble of a brook grows louder until the path splits, and ahead of us, a small sandy beach leads straight down to the water.
“I have my garden over here,” Syros says, pointing. “It is not the correct sort of food to sustain my kind over long periods of time, but it does help in the interim between the solstices. Everything you see here is edible, I’d imagine, for human consumption.”
I straighten, my shoulders thrown back. “You mean the stuff you’ve been feeding me might have killed me?”
“Erin, I told you the only way you were dying was by my hand, and I meant it literally. I would not waste your death by poisoning you.”
I slap the side of his furry arm. “Stop joking.”
Although he laughs again, he is definitely not joking.
The more time we spend outside, with the wilderness around us and the conversation flowing easily, the less concerned I am with the plan. Midnight is hours away from us.
I drink from Syros’ cupped hands, the water clear and pure tasting. This is the kind of stuff companies would charge an arm and a leg for back home. How is it possible for this world to decline and yet the resources, like water, are still better quality than what I’m going back to?
The worry is a niggling sensation at the back of my brain through the rest of the day. Syros keeps our walk in the woods short, as promised, and hustles me back into the cabin to resume work once my stomach is full and I’ve done my business.
Away from his prying eyes, of course.
My pussy throbs and aches in the most delicious way from all our lovemaking. I’ll definitely miss the way he makes me feel.
Not just my body, but the closeness when we’re together and the way we talk. It’s strange to think I had to survive everything I did in order to get to this place, and stranger yet to know this is one of the most genuine and real connections I’ve ever had.
I always thought there was something wrong with me. The relationships I’ve had with men in the past either never get off the ground or they end after a few months. I always claim I’m too busy to settle down, or that I get bored easily and they lack the capacity to stimulate me mentally.
Or maybe I’ve been waiting for something of this magnitude. This caliber. Maybe my entire life and every situation I’ve lived through has given me the perspective to appreciate what’s right in front of me.And I’m willing to give it up.
I shut down that rain of thought.
Otherwise, I’ll break my own heart, and I’m not willing to stop and look at it in those terms.
I twist the final wire and stare at the product. The handheld device, when tuned into the frequency of the radio, should boost the signal to the point where the static solidifies into an honest to goodness rift.
Not so much a bridge as a way of penetrating through the walls of this world and mine. Hopefully the connection will be wide enough for a person to step through.
“You look pleased,” Syros admires.
“I’ve done everything I can and this is the final product.” I rear back proudly. “It’s one of my cleaner works, too. Compact and light and packs a punch.”
“Shall we test it?”
“What time is it?” I fire back.
“We do not keep track of those things here, but judging from the slant of the sun in the sky, then I’d say it is approaching twilight,” Syros says.
Twilight. That means we still have several hours until the main event. AKA the biggest win of my career if this machine actually works the way I want it to.
