Page 10 of Nightshades

“Oh no,” Jake exhales the weight of the world from his chest.

“Here we go,” Zig groans.

“You’re about to meet the bane of Jake’s existence,” Jenkins whispers into my ear.

“Oh, stop it guys. He isn’t so bad.” Demi winks at me as if I’m supposed to know what that means.

“What’s going on?” I finally ask.

Waylon juts his chin out. “He is what is going on.”

I follow everyone’s line of sight, and my breath catches. I can’t remember how to breathe. My heart begins to race. My palms become sweaty. The excitement and thrill take over my body.

I have a gift that not many have. This ability is passed down to all the women in the Sanchez family. My mami, my mamita, and so on and so forth have all possessed this. It first manifested inside me when I was just a child. I must have been around four or five years old.

At first, I thought I had imaginary friends, and when I asked my mami about it, she explained that all the women in our Colombian familia had this gift.

I’ll never forget when she sat me on her lap. She began to comb my hair to relax me. I was scared by what I saw.

She said,“Mi Corazón, el mundo se verá diferente ahora. Verás y experimentarás rostros que nunca entenderás, pero que aún así amarás. Nos acercan a lo desconocido, y lo que no conocemos, debemos explorarlo.”

Which translates to, “My heart, the world is going to look different now. You’ll see and experience faces you will never understand, but love them anyway. They bring us closer to the unknown, and what we don’t know, we must explore.”

Jake sighs again, gesturing his arm out lazily before it falls to his side with a hard slap. “Meet Creed. Demi’s husband.”

Creed possessively wraps his arm around Demi. He curls his lip at me, flashing his fang. “Who are you?”

“I’m the new detective in town. It’s nice to meet you.”

“I don’t care.” Creed presses a kiss to Demi’s cheek, whispering words into her hair that cause her to blush.

My gift?

I’m able to see the truth that creatures try to hide so they can blend in.

I can see the unknown.

And I see Creed for exactly who he is.

A monster.

Surviving in a world where I am unstoppable is a dream.

I’ve gotten to feed on so much fear that my nightmare has gotten stronger. Controlling the darkest parts of me is easy in a world that thrives on greed. No one is innocent, and it has made hunting that much more thrilling.

Vowing to haunt people who have no ethics or morals has worked to my benefit. What’s that human saying that I used to hear all the time? There are plenty of fish in the sea?

Only for me, there’s plenty of sin.

And so many people need to pay the price.

For instance, I’ve been following a delicious scent since escaping the institute. It’s warm and comforting, a blanket that wraps around the wickedness of my soul to keep the darkness from escaping.

I’m addicted to how this aroma is acting like a lullaby, easing the rage of the evil swarming in my veins. I want to learn more about why this perfume causes the monsters inside me to become drowsy and at peace.

I don’t want peace.

I want destruction. I want hatred. I want blood on my hands and in my stomach. I want to pluck flesh from between my teeth with the bones of my victims.