Chapter Thirty Eight

*Ariya*


“Who were you talking to?” Boss asked.
I looked at him confused, “No one.”
“Justin tells me that you eat regular food. Is that true? Or are you just trying to get out of your chains?” Boss moved on.
As if on cue, my stomach growled, “It’s true. We need to eat regular food too.”
“Really? What else?” Boss seemed intrigued.
I took a breath, “We’re not as different from you as you might think. I still need regular food to sustain myself. I still need water. I don’t burn in the sun. I can’t turn into a bat. I don’t know what other folklore there is. I know you know most of this, but none of it is really true. I’m basically the same as I was before, I just also need blood now too…and I’m harder to kill.”
“Do you know why that is?”
I looked at him confused, “The blood part? It’s to help heal me, and I guess it is part of why I don’t age. But typically as a blood born you turn by hitting your peak age. Because they don’t really die they still go on living the same as everyone else. But I did die…kind of.”
Boss just raised his eyebrow at me, “Go on.”
“I kind of died? I don’t know. I don’t really understand it all. I just know that I had catastrophic injuries. My body couldn’t sustain and Mya couldn’t heal me fast enough. Because I activated my other abilities my body went into survival mode and instead of me fully dying, I turned. Apparently when you turn after dying you keep whatever injuries you had that led to your death as scars. But I did die. But I was only dead for maybe 15 seconds…”
“So kind of dead then?” Boss said, amused.
“Yeah…” My stomach growled loudly, seemingly annoyed for being ignored.
Boss laughed, “Justin, get her something to eat. Apparently lots of it too.”
“Anything specific?” Justin asked.
“Anything you really like eating, Ariya?” Boss asked me.
I blinked at Boss, confused as to why he was asking for my opinion. Concern and fear washed over me and I hesitated to answer.
“Think of it as a peace offering. Behave and I won’t restrict food from you. Behave a lot and you might get some type of rewards. Act out and I’ll take everything from you. I need information, Ariya. You are the means to getting it. Whatever your ridiculous plan is that you had Drake lock away in your mind, I will be ready. We are seeing who the better strategist is right? If you are weak and frail, my information isn’t going to be completely accurate, now is it?” Boss cooed.
“You’re still restricting the amount of blood I take though.”
“Well yeah, that would be pretty stupid of me to give you all that you need, for one you could go rabid and that gets us nowhere. But aside from that, you honestly think I’m going to make it easy for you to escape? Absolutely not.”
My eyes grew wide and my heart began pounding in my chest, “Please don’t let that happen to me…”
Boss furrowed his eyebrows, “Ariya, the only way you’re going to go rabid is if you give in to your desires and allow yourself to become one. Though, I’ve never seen a rabid blood born. I don’t know if you guys are capable of it to be honest, but I also don’t want to find that out.”
I had never heard of a blood born going rabid before either. But there weren’t many of us. Drake would be the only one that would know if it was possible or if it had happened before. Boss sent Justin to go get me food so I could eat something.
“Why did you warn him to fix your nose first? And then you warned him again when you lost control. Why?” Boss questioned me.
I stared at Boss shocked. I didn’t realize Justin would have told him. It made sense though. Justin was loyal to Boss. It made me curious just how much Justin told him.
“I didn’t want to hurt him…” I said, looking down at the ground, ashamed.
“You already hurt him. When you chose to attack him the first time to free that boy.”
“I was scared, and hurt at that time.”
“You were also trying to get free.”
“No, I wasn’t.” I whispered.
“What was that?” Boss grabbed my face roughly, forcing me to look at him.
“I wasn’t trying to escape.”
“Explain.” He let my face go.
“I thought it was possible for me to continue working for you at first. But when Mya and Link outed me, I knew I was going to be your prisoner.” Justin walked back in, “Keothi was the only reason I ran. You gave me a reason to come back…”
Boss furrowed his eyebrows, “You knew it was a trap?”
“I suspected as much, but you mentioned Caleb by name. I had to be sure.”
Justin set the food he’d brought back down on a cart. He was watching me intensely. I could tell he was on edge. He had made me promise not to anger Boss. The route this conversation was going, I would probably end up making Boss very mad.
“Why did you need to get that boy free?”
“I didn’t. I just couldn’t bear the thought that he was here. When everything happened, I saw an opportunity. I was scared. I was hungry and Justin got close enough and I took a chance.” I looked at Justin, “I’m sorry.” I looked back at Boss, “And thank you.”
Boss stared at me, shocked, “Thank you for what?”
“For stopping me from killing him. I don’t know how to control myself. Killing him would have solidified me as a monster. I don’t want to kill someone because I’m hungry. Fighting for my life and someone dying because of that is one thing, but killing someone because I can’t control myself is different.”
Boss narrowed his eyes, “The fact that you’re a Navi makes you a monster. Don’t kid yourself.”
I looked down at the ground. Unable to say anything. I knew I wasn’t going to convince Boss that I wasn’t a monster. But I was hoping that Justin would still come around. I knew Justin was about to be angry with me though.
“Who was that boy? What was he to you, Ariya?”
I looked at Boss with fear filled eyes. Then I looked at Justin who hadn’t taken his eyes off me. He was anticipating my response. They both were. I almost had gotten food. Instead of food now, I was more than likely going to receive a beating instead. I looked at Boss straight in the eyes.
“His name is Keothi Navi.”
I took a deep breath, preparing myself for what was to come.
“Keo is my twin brother.”