Embrace Your Fears

Lifesteal

"What's going on here?" Billie asked me and I honestly did not know what to say. I had no explanation to give him on why I was down here. The only way he could understand was if I told him the truth and I was not sure if I wanted to do that yet.

"Billie...you know my abilities, right?" He nodded and gave me a worried look. "Well, I'm finally finding a use for the them. Sort of."

"Brea..." he started to say. He took a single step back and I took a step forward. "I-I hope you're not putting yourself in danger." I gave him an apologetic look and tried to walk up to him. He quickly jogged up to me and hugged me tightly.

"I'm sorry, Billie." I said to him and he began rubbing my back.

"It's okay." He sighed. We both let go of the hug and I saw him wipe his eyes. "I can't control you, but I can tell you to be careful. For both of our sake." I nodded and watched as he turned around and began to walk away.

"Billie-"

"It's okay. I'll only be in town." I stood there, not knowing what just happened and watching as my boyfriend walked away.

I wasn't sure which was worse; knowing that he knows that I might die; or knowing that he may leave me because of this. I shrugged off the thought and walked toward the computer. When I looked at the monitor, Azia was doing some computer thing that was too complicated for me. It looked like she was hacking into some software, but as far as I knew, that is what everything she does looks like.

"I'm trying hard, believe me, but I can't find anything that even hints to the reason why all this stuff is down here," I was disappointed, but not in her. I sighed and shook my head. "Don't worry. We'll find a way." She clicked the "X" button in the corner and closed the tab.

"Take a break, Azia. You've been working your ass off since you've been here," she took a step away from the computer and after turning it off. "Staring at a screen hours on end can't be too good."

"But-"

"Take a break," I said and began to laugh. "You deserve it." She nodded and began to walk away. "Oh, and Bethany said she wanted to talk to you about something, might want to check it out." She stopped and walked in the opposite direction to where Bethany was working.

I slept until sundown and went to talk to Azia. She looked as if she was having trouble with something. I walked up to her and asked what was wrong. She only sniffled and kept working on what was on the computer screen. After asking her once more, she stopped working and stepped away from the computer and gestured for me to follow her.

"I intercepted some police comms a few minutes ago...and it sounds bad. She's former Rebellion." At that, I was ready to go after this person, maybe find out what was going on. "Her name is Chel, and her alternate identity is Lifesteal."

"I'm going to guess that there's a reason for that." There obviously was, and I needed to know if I was going to find this person.

"Yeah. Whoever she touches, she drains the life force from them. If you're fighting her, and she even gets a little tap of the finger, she'll drain your energy, any longer and she could kill you." Azia explained, and I got extremely worried. "Only on open skin though. If you do go after her, be careful, and please don't hurt her too much if she fights back. We know each other."

I nodded and walked back into the cave to get Bethany and Dae ready. Bethany was tinkering with some parts and Dae was working out. I watched her as she bench pressed more and more weight. Finally, she stopped and saw me watching her.

"How much was that?" She looked at the bar and examined the weights.

"Hundred-fifty." My eyes widened as she stood and walked toward me. For a woman her size, she should have only been able to lift between seventy and a hundred pounds. I was also surprised because she had absolutely no built biceps.