Essence Extracted

Chapter 7

© ItalRT4u, 2012

     Half an hour later, I was in bed – alone.  Cane had respectfully pulled away as things began to get quite heated.  Something made me want to simply let myself get lost in him but not in the same way as with Gage.  He was different somehow.  As I lay here in bed, thoughts of him being something other than human began to roam through my head.  After all, how could I stand to kiss him on the mouth and it didn't seem to faze him one bit?  How do you approach a subject like that without ousting yourself?  I can't simply say “Hey!  By the way, how come you didn't suffocate to death while we made out last night?” or “By the way, I'm an empathic succubus, what are you?”  Just when I thought I would be able to handle this new lifestyleof mine, Cane changed the playing field all over again for me.  Overwhelmed by all thoughts Cane, I drifted off to sleep.

     The following morning, I had decided to give contacting Carly another try.  She hadn't returned my calls all week long and my continuing hypothesis that something was amiss was only getting stronger.  Instead of giving her a call, I decided to head over to her house and see if I could find any trace of her.  At least I'd be able to let myself in and make sure everything is as it should be.

     Nothing was out of place.  The dishes were washed, her fridge was fully stocked, her bed was made as though someone was still here yet, everything seemed like it was left untouched somehow.  I was pondering why my aunt would leave me high and dry and without a word when I heard some movement above my head. 

     The attic? 

     Being ever so quiet, I find the release for the access hatch and slowly climb up.  I never expected to find Carly so easily, nor did I expect to find her in the state that she was in.

     Deep into some kind of delirium, Carly was hunched, shaking in a cowering position in the far corner of the attic, storage boxes surrounding her.

     “You can't have her!”  She shouted, her voice not holding any power.

     “Have who, Carly?”  I asked her softly.

     “She's gone.”  Carly states firmly.

     “Gone where?”

     The conversation went back and forth for the next few minutes until I realized that the she Carly was referring to was me.

     “Carly, it's me.”  I attempted to crawl my way to her and stopped as she pushed herself further into her corner, seemingly wanting to melt into its walls.  “It's Payton.”

     “Payton?”  She said in a removed tone, making it seem like she was in some faraway world.  Her body relaxed ever so slightly but I could tell she was still petrified.

     “That's right Auntie Carly.  It's me.”  I told her softly and finally started seeing more obvious signs that she was starting to lull even more; calming that internal panic that had struck her, who knows how long ago.

     I will kill those bastards! 

     I was screaming inside my head as I left Carly's house.  She had insisted that she'd be fine now that she was back out from her proverbial dark mental place.  It turns out that my attempts at letting her know I was being followed last week, however valiant they might have been, had come too little, too late.  Hunters had come to her house, looking for information; they wanted confirmation on if I had come into my powers.  Carly had managed to make them think that she had escaped and run away from the house when she indeed only made her way up to her attic and hid there; fearing that if she didn't do that and at least try and get away from them, that she'd lose me like she had my mother and father.  The hunters had come back later that first night and the next few days following her disappearance but when they hadn't seen any sign of life within the house, they had enough of an answer to keep them away suspecting that she'd run off on them.  I knew that this would only work temporarily.