Page 45 of Inhuman Natures #1

DJ

When DJ woke, his gut was gnawing. His stomach cried out in a hunger so extreme and all-consuming that it eclipsed all other sensations.

DJ had a complicated relationship with food. He loved it, but he also hated how much he loved it.

Over the years, DJ had tried many methods to reduce his consumption.

Throwing his lunch away in the school cafeteria after a few bites.

Skipping breakfast, only to feel faint during morning classes at uni.

Ordering a side instead of a main when he and Rake went out for dinner, then spending the rest of the meal guilty about Rake feeding him from his own plate.

It didn’t help when people bombarded him with advice, ranging from calorie-counting and meal-prepping to personal training and weight-loss boot camps.

But DJ had never had a more complicated relationship with food than he did now. Because DJ was hungry, and it wasn’t for food.

It would horrify his mum. Every time she cooked for him and his dad, it was her way of demonstrating her love for them.

A son who couldn’t enjoy his mother’s cooking wasn’t a son worth having.

She would forgive him for anything else, but refusing to eat the food she’d make for him would be an offence she wouldn’t be able to stomach.

Not only could he never eat again, but his body would be like this forever. Stretch marks on his skin. A protruding belly. Thighs that would always touch. His slight double chin. Pecs that were neither firm nor flat.

All immortalised in flesh.

Rake had helped DJ grow more confident in his body through kink, but on a normal day, DJ remained self-conscious.

Every time David tried to take a selfie with him, he’d focus on how to tilt his chin to avoid looking jowly.

When he played the occasional five-a-side football with the guys from uni, he’d keep his hoodie on even in the summer.

And the looks he got from some of the hyper-masc gym bro types at gay bars made him want to drown himself in layers.

That wouldn’t disappear. If anything, it would all be worse. The biggest difference was that now DJ wouldn’t be able to beat himself up over not being skinnier. He would remain unchanged, no matter what.

“Are you quite done moping?” Lawrence’s voice was so unexpected that DJ jumped into the air like he was doing an impression of Regan from The Exorcist . He crashed back down when the chains between the manacles caught on the headboard, leaving him in a crumpled heap on the bed.

“Christ,” DJ said. “Lucky you already murdered me, as I suspect I might have just died from shock.”

“I killed someone from shock before,” Lawrence said. “Or perhaps it was fright. Either way, the man screamed when he saw me and had a heart attack. Waste of good blood, as well. ”

Maybe DJ didn’t have an appetite anymore after all.

Lawrence came over and removed the cuffs. At DJ’s shocked expression, he lifted one shoulder. “I’m faster than you. These were so I wouldn’t need to bother chasing you.”

“So,” DJ said, drawing out the word. “What stage are we at in your evil plan for taking over Brighton?”

Lawrence narrowed his eyes. “It’s not an evil plan.”

DJ gave Lawrence a flat look. “Step one, try to kill a human Lynette cares about—and fail. Step two, try to kill Shaun—and fail. Step three, recreate me as a vampire in some twisted form of revenge—success! Step four, create an army of vampire minions to do your bidding—success?” DJ paused, scrutinising Lawrence before continuing.

“We must be about to approach step five, which I predict is to use said minions to finish steps one and two. All in all, pretty evil stuff.”

“It’s—”

“If you’re going to tell me it’s for the greater good, then I’m going to stop you right there. It’s a terrible cliche, as well as being utter bullshit.”

“I was not . I was going to say that this is just how things work,” Lawrence said snootily. “Murder, insurrections, war. It’s our way. It’s not evil. That’s a human concept.”

“You were human once,” DJ pointed out.

“Long enough ago that I don’t remember it.”

“I imagine there are plenty of vamps much older than you.”

Lawrence raised an eyebrow at him. “There aren’t. I’m one of the oldest. Shaun won’t have told you, because he knows so little of our kind, but most vampires around these days haven’t even seen two centuries. ”

DJ rubbed at his wrists. “Why is that? Did you kill them all?”

“Me? No.” Lawrence waved a hand. “I killed some, but it was the witches that most fell to. So, you see, it is not just us who understand how the hierarchy works. At least I don’t pretend to be something I’m not, like Shaun.”

DJ wanted to find out more about the witches, but he couldn’t let the insult slide. “Unlike you, Shaun’s a good person.”

“He still eats people.”

DJ couldn’t argue with that. “So, who’s your creator?”

“That’s an irrelevant question. Be quiet or I’ll gag you again.”

“Touchy subject, eh?”

“If I didn’t need you for the next stage of my plan, I’d rip your tongue from your mouth.”

“See? Evil plan. Clocked it,” DJ said with far more confidence than he truly contained.

“Fine,” Lawrence said with a put-upon sigh.

“If you must know, Lynette owes me my city. Just because I wasn’t around when they divided the territories doesn’t mean they should have given it to her .

Brighton is mine by right. Lynette’s so young she hadn’t even heard of me.

I should have ripped her throat out for that alone. ”

DJ reeled with the amount of information he’d received, working through it all in his head. “Hasn’t Lynette been in charge for a while?” he asked, trying to think of any way to use his newfound knowledge to his advantage.

“Less than two hundred years. I was busy.”

“Wow. You make me feel better about my own procrastination.”

“Sit there and shut up.” Lawrence’s order held a slight compulsion, so DJ couldn’t fight it. He moved to the edge of the bed, making a show of patience.

Lawrence side-eyed him, but said nothing else until he had his phone at his ear. “Good evening, Lynette. I see your people have been trying to get in touch with me. I’m afraid I’ve been indisposed.”

DJ mouthed a mocking ‘indisposed’ at Lawrence, along with his most judgemental look. Lawrence, to no surprise, ignored him.

DJ didn’t need to have supernatural hearing to catch Lynette’s response, as she screamed it down the phone. “How dare you make such a mockery of our laws? Spin me stories full of bare-faced lies and attack the humans in the city I’m sworn to protect!”

“Oh. Well, I was hoping to do a big reveal after you executed Shaun for his role in the whole thing, but it appears he’s convinced you of his innocence. No matter. Is my pet there?”

DJ went rigid. If Shaun knew what DJ had done…

“Shaun is here. I don’t know what I’ll gain from letting him speak to you, however.”

“It’s more about what he can gain from speaking to me . I have something of his that I imagine he might want back.”

“Deej?” That wasn’t the voice DJ had been expecting.

“Rake!” he shouted, frantic, trying to grab at the phone before getting batted back by Lawrence.

The next few seconds descended into a farcical display.

DJ tried to get at the phone as Rake yelled down it from the other end, and Lawrence attempted to keep the phone out of DJ’s reach whilst holding onto his dignity when being climbed by a chunky six-foot vampire.

It didn’t quite work for either of them.

Lawrence muted their side of the call before chucking the phone onto the bed, DJ scrabbling after it. Which, of course, was Lawrence’s intention. He pounced on DJ, holding him down hard. “Stop fighting. Stay quiet and don’t leave the bed,” Lawrence hissed, before taking the phone and standing up.

DJ turned around from where he was lying, watching as Lawrence unmuted. “Rakesh, I’m surprised you survived. You looked rather worse for wear when we left you. Not to worry, though, I’ve been taking excellent care of your boy.”

“If you’ve hurt him—” That time, it wasn’t Rake who spoke.

“Oh, there you are, pet,” Lawrence crooned down the phone to Shaun. “Are you regretting refusing my orders yet?”

“Enough!” Lynette said. “Weston, you will report to the club to face the accusations made against you.”

“No. I come bearing demands.”

“Of course you do,” Lynette said. “And before you bother to tell me what they are, I’m going to let you know I won’t be capitulating to any of them.”

“Hand yourself over, Lynette. Shaun, you too. We’ll have a lovely reunion. Or I kill DJ. It’s that simple.”

There was only silence on the other end of the line. DJ assumed they’d muted, because there was no way Rake and Shaun didn’t have an opinion on Lawrence’s words. DJ himself only felt numb at the threat.

Lawrence looked at DJ triumphantly. “I’ll own this city by sundown tomorrow. ”

At DJ’s mutinous glare and unsuccessful attempt at a response, Lawrence granted him one small favour. “You can speak.”

“You’re still of the belief that this isn’t an evil plan?”

Lawrence harrumphed. “I will accept that it is, perhaps, nefarious.”

“That’s just evil with extra syllables.”

Lawrence flounced out of the room like a moody teenager, phone in hand. DJ hoped he might have got away with the marginal freedom of being uncuffed, but Lawrence called back, “Put one of those cuffs on and attach the other to the headboard, or I’ll think of a suitable punishment for you!”

DJ sighed as he did what Lawrence asked. He knew he shouldn’t have projected his thoughts so loudly. Shit. Could Lawrence hear his thoughts? He stared intently at the door. Lawrence is a fucking bastard, he thought, then waited.

Nothing.

DJ tried again. Lawrence should throw himself out of the top-floor window. Still nothing.

Lawrence moved around downstairs, continuing what sounded like a very one-sided conversation over the phone for a few seconds before going quiet.

DJ entertained himself for the next half hour by projecting very horrible things very hard at Lawrence. It improved his mood somewhat. But when he grew tired of that, he had to face the reality of his dire situation. He wished he’d been able to speak to Rake.

Who was alive .

DJ wondered if Rake would ever forgive him for hurting him.

Whilst a rational part of DJ knew he’d been unable to resist Lawrence’s compulsion, it had been the most devastating moment of his life.

So far , that insidious little voice at the back of his head whispered.

He told it to shut up, both mentally and out loud, just to be safe.

“I see it only took a day for you to descend into madness,” came Lawrence’s voice from the doorway. DJ whipped around, seeing Lawrence’s smug face with his amused expression. “It takes most of my captives longer than that. It was weeks before Shaun had his first proper breakdown.”

“Keep his name out of your mouth,” DJ said, though a lot more tiredly and with less venom than he was aiming for.

“You’ll be reunited soon enough.”

Because, of course, Shaun would offer to sacrifice himself for DJ. He was just that kind of person. Not only would Shaun put DJ and Rake’s needs above his own, but he wouldn’t think twice about giving up his life to save theirs.

DJ’s emotions were all in flux, but one thing occurred to him at that moment. He loved Shaun, and he had no intention of letting him hand himself over to Lawrence without doing everything in his power to prevent it.

The compulsion for him to not attack Lawrence had worn off, and so he lunged. Lawrence stood in the doorway, unfazed, as DJ almost snapped his wrist again whilst trying to get at him. In his rage, he’d forgotten about the cuffs.

“Did you get all the anger out of your system?” Lawrence asked.

DJ growled at him. And then cringed, because it sounded ridiculous and not at all as intimidating as he thought it might.

It was even worse when Lawrence laughed. “Woof, woof, little puppy.” He then pulled out a small case from his back pocket, opened it, and withdrew a nasty-looking syringe that was filled with red liquid.

Blood, DJ’s brain helpfully supplied. “What’s that?” he asked anyway.

“It’s for you.”

DJ didn’t want blood from a syringe. He didn’t want blood at all, but especially not from an implement like that. He shook his head. “No thanks,” he said. There was nothing to lose at that point from using his manners if it stopped Lawrence from sticking him with that thing.

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. Lie still.”

DJ was helpless to resist doing just that, eyeing Lawrence as he walked over, brandishing the syringe. He shut his eyes when Lawrence leaned closer, unable to watch any further. He barely felt a sting when the needle pricked the skin of his elbow, but then pain twisted through his entire body.

DJ screamed. It felt like his veins were burning up from the inside.

And then there was nothing at all.