The Superiors

Chapter 2

Aspen sat silent in the car, her mind flitting like a busy butterfly here and there. Where was this strange Superior man taking her? He'd said back to the Confinement, but her mama always told her you couldn't trust a Superior any more than you could trust a dog with rabies. Aspen wasn't actually sure what rabies were, but she figured they were something pretty bad.

"Please don't kill me," she said. She clamped her mouth shut to keep her desire to beg locked up tight.

"I'm not going to kill you," the Superior said. He was smiling at the window, laughing at her, actually. That made her mad. When he reached over and stroked her hair, she wanted to slap his hand away. Her sisters were all jealous of her hair. They all had dull hair the color of dirt, and her mama said hers was the color of the sun. She didn't think all that was true. It was more the color of sand.

"Here is what we'll say," the Superior said. She noticed that he had good hair, too—the darkest brown, almost black, and it looked so soft she wanted to touch it back. But she was way too scared. "We'll tell them that you were in a group being selected for restaurant work, and that you got lost. You're only a child, they'll understand. I know the lady in charge, so I'll make sure you don't get sent back to the blood bank, yes? You only have to remember to say what I told you. Can you remember that?"

"Of course I can. I was being inspected and I ran off. I'm not stupid, you know."

He smiled again, and his eyes were so warm when he looked at her that she almost forgot how his touch had chilled her. It hadn't been so bad when he bit her, not like she'd expected. Sometimes, at the Confinement, she'd hear people screaming at night, and crying after the Superiors left. It had hurt, but no worse than the donation she had to make at the Confinement every night. Well, maybe a little more, when he sucked. She'd thought it would be a lot worse and a lot scarier.

She kept expecting him to stop the car and kill her, even though he didn't look scary enough to be a bloodsucker. In fact, when he wasn't smiling, he looked just like anybody else. Pretty even, if he'd been a real person. He was small, not quite skinny, with these big warm eyes the color of his hair and his pale brown skin, like dust. She'd always imagined being bit by a huge scary man with bushy eyebrows and no hair and bulging muscles, that he'd take a big bite out of her. Of course that was just her fear-fantasy. She'd seen lots of bites, and they didn't look so bad. Her sisters had all been bitten, some of them lots of times.

The Superior with the soft-looking hair pulled into the lot in front of the Confinement. She hadn't taken a lot of time to look at it before she ran, and it had been years since she'd seen the outside. It looked so normal, not like somewhere scary, or happy, or in any way noticeable. It didn't look alive, like hundreds of living people carried on their busy living inside the walls. And the walls outside hid all the prettiness of the gardens, so it looked strange and bare, not like the place she'd lived her whole life.

"Are you ready?" the Superior asked.

"I guess."

"Very well. Remember, I didn't bite you, yes? Don't tell anyone, and I will make sure you don't go to the blood bank."

"I know, you told me."

"I know you're only a child, but do not speak to Superiors in that manner. Someone might take offense and punish you."

"You're right. Thank you, Master. I'm sorry for offensing you." She had a hard time keeping her manners sometimes. She didn't have to act any certain way with people, and she'd hardly had contact with Superiors before. Doctors and a few buyers had looked at her, and a lady had bought her once. But Aspen had never talked to one like this. It was strange, almost like he should speak a different language. It didn't make sense that they could communicate like two people, like they were the same. This Superior sounded so polite and formal all the time, stiff. Even when he was sucking her blood, he'd seemed somehow dignified.

Now he was smiling at her again with that look like he wanted to laugh. She couldn't imagine a Superior laughing.

"What?" she asked.

"Offending," he said. "You're sorry for offending me."

"Yeah. I mean, yes, sir. Master."

He smiled and shook his head and led her inside, his hand on the back of her neck again. His fingers were cool against her skin. It felt nice. She'd gotten all covered in sweat and dirt from running in the streets half the night.

The man Superior talked to a lady Superior over near the front desk for a few minutes, and then the lady came to take Aspen away. She'd seen the lady a few times, but only the Superior guards inside the fence were familiar.

The man Superior bent down in front of Aspen so his face was right in hers and his curly hair almost touched her forehead. "It was a pleasure to meet you," he said, that amused smile still on his face. She knew he was smirking at her, thinking he was so much better. So Superior. "Now promise me you'll avoid trouble, little sapling. We can't have you wandering the streets, getting sapnapped by criminals. You know some Superiors would bite you if they found you out there." He smiled at her, and winked, and stood up.

She fought the urge to giggle as she walked back towards the door that led out to her home in the Confinement. She couldn't wait to tell her sisters all about her adventure. She'd run away, been brave, and gotten caught. But she hadn't been punished. She'd been bitten, and she had a secret with a Superior. And he'd winked at her. A Superior had really, honestly winked at her. Who knew they could be so snarky?