"Was coming all the way out here really necessary?" Yujin asked, eyeing the woods ahead of him. The trees blended in with the night, and the faint noises of critters echoed through the air.
Chrissy wrapped her favorite turquoise cloak tighter around her, the autumn wind biting at her skin. "Did you feel like breaking into someone's house at twelve a.m?"
Yujin made no comment.
"Exactly."
It had been two weeks since Chrissy had given Yujin the love potion. She could see the effects of malnutrition— his already slim frame had grown sickly, his bones showing prominently through his skin. It was time to show him how to feed off love: any later and he might die.
"I'm not saying we needed to do a whole home invasion. We could've just found someone on the outskirts of town-"
"Yujin, sweetie, you can't just go up to someone and say "Excuse me, can you stand still while we suck the love out of your body"?"
"We could if we offered to pay their taxes," Yujin muttered. "Inflation is crazy these days."
Chrissy reached up to ruffle his hair affectionately. "Oh, you're funny."
He smiled, but it quickly melted into a look of worry.
"What's wrong?"
"It just doesn't feel right. Taking something from someone like that."
"Yujin. This is the only way for us to live," she said, laying a hand on his arm. "You mean a lot to me. I know you don't want to do this. But will you? For me?"
She looked up at him, and he smiled a little. "Well...I'd do anything for you," he admitted.
She smirked. "Great. Now be quiet. I see him," Chrissy whispered, creeping behind a bush. Yujin nodded and moved silently from tree to tree like they had planned, getting closer to the target. Yujin was about five feet away from the target when he stopped, looking at Chrissy for a signal.
Chrissy took a step forward to get a closer look, but she accidentally tripped over a tree root and hit the ground loudly.
The target whirled around. He saw a fallen Chrissy sprawled on the ground, accompanied by Yujin, who had rushed to her side. When the target saw the daggers they both held, he broke into a run.
"Are you ok?" Yujin asked her.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me."
"But-"
"Just go get him, Yujin! I'll be with you in a minute."
He immediately sprinted off after the target. He was so cute when he was obedient, Chrissy thought, it made everything so much easier.
She rose to her feet. Further in the distance, Yujin tackled the target, pinning him to the ground. They wrestled through the mud. But even with all the adrenaline, in his weakened state, Yujin was having trouble subduing him.
With an elegant flick of her hand, Chrissy's changeling slime effectively enveloped the man in its sticky solution, rendering him immobile. She stalked over to him, dagger still in hand. Watching him struggle was almost hypnotic. It reminded her who was in control.
"Let me go now!" The man roared, straining against the changeling slime.
Chrissy refastened her grip on the knife and pressed it against his neck. "If you try to scream again," she pushed it in deeper, drawing blood, "I'll cut your throat."
He nodded, eyes widened in fear.
"Yujin, I think it's time for your first lesson in feeding off love," she said. "You'll do great, don't worry. Besides," she cast a quick glance at the man. "It's not difficult. You'll pick it up immediately."
Yujin was visibly shaking. "But-the last time.... we-what will happen-"
"The last time was a mistake," she snapped. "I didn't know what I was doing. But it's different this time. You have me. All you have to do is follow my instructions, ok?"
He thought it over, shaking his head. "I-I can't do it. I can't. What if it all goes wrong? What if I end up ruining his life?"
"Are you saying I ruined your life?" She demanded.
"That's not what I'm saying!" he said. "I just...it was different, because you loved me and that's why it all worked out! We don't know him! What if I turn him into a changeling? At least I have you, but what about him?"
"If you don't do it, you'll die!" Chrissy almost pleaded. She couldn't lose him. She was the only person she had left.
He covered his face. "I can't, I can't, I can't," he muttered over and over again.
"Yujin, look at me," she said softly.
He didn't move.
"Yujin," she tried again. "Look at me."
He slowly raised his head, and she wiped away a tear from his cheek. She wished that he wouldn't flinch when she touched him. They would have to work on that later.
"Do you love me?" She asked.
"O-of course," he stammered "Of course I love you."
She smiled. It always worked. "Then let's begin."
*****
"I'll demonstrate first," Chrissy said. She closed her eyes, searching for the imaginary string that connected the target's body to hers, and pulled.
Yujin watched in awe as a green line connected from the man's heart to Chrissy's. The magic easily transferred into Chrissy's body, its effects giving her a radiant glow. The man looked a bit drowsy, but showed no signs of becoming a changeling.
"See? Nothing to worry about. Now, you try," she coaxed.
Yujin was still worried, but the demonstration soothed him a little. How bad could it be?
"You want to close your eyes and imagine your position relative to the man. Think of his energy connecting to yours."
A green line appeared from the man's chest, which connected to Yujin's.
"Open your eyes."
Yujin did, and was stunned to see what he had created. He was doing it! And nothing bad was happening to the man! What was he so worried about?
"The next step is to take the love. I like to think of the energy as a string. Pull on that string, but start slowly," she instructed.
He followed, and the magic pulsed steadily out of the man's body and into Yujin's.
So far, so good.
It started flowing faster. Chrissy bit her lip. "Yujin, be careful. Not too much."
He gritted his teeth, trying to stop the flow. "I-it's not working! It won't stop!" He even tried physically pulling at the string, but that was futile at best.
"What?" She gasped. "What did you-"
The love was draining out of the man's body at an alarming rate, and rushing straight towards Yujin.
Chrissy tried to break the connection, but as soon as her magic hit the beam of light, it ricocheted off, and she went flying backwards.
Yujin barely seemed phased, all his attention focused on the energy beam. Chrissy had experienced that feeling first hand. When you first felt the love, you didn't want it to stop. Even if you told yourself you did, the magic knew you were lying. You wanted as much of it as you could get. In that moment, you wouldn't stop until you had all of it.
"Yujin, no!" She screamed.
A dangerous look flashed in his eyes as he gazed up at her. It was a look of daring, a look of challenge. Something she hadn't seen in two weeks, and something she felt she couldn't control.
She scrambled to her feet, running towards him. She knew she couldn't physically pull Yujin away from the man. That wouldn't stop the magic from flowing towards him. Instead, she leapt directly in between the two of them, directly into the path of the energy beam.
Stars danced across her vision as the magic hit her body at full force. Fortunately, she managed to break the connection, which created an explosion of green sparks. Yujin's eyes widened as the energy beam died, causing Chrissy to fall to the ground as a brilliant flash of green light washed over them, then dissipated.
The man gave an agonized gasp before his body seemed to wither, and a last wisp of light entered Yujin.
Neither spoke for a moment.
"I'm a murderer," he stated.
"Don't say that-"
"What did I just do?! What the hell did I just do?!" He screamed.
"Yujin, calm down-" She grabbed his upper arms.
"Get off of me!" He pushed her off of him, and she stumbled back. "Do you understand what I just did?! I killed somebody!"
"It wasn't your fault!"
"You promised me!" He yelled at her. "You promised me everything would be fine!"
"Well I didn't know you could die from a transformation!" She raised her hand in anger. Nothing she ever did seemed to be enough. She thought she knew everything about her new powers. But then why did they seem to be screwing her over now?
He saw her hand, which was almost spilling over with changeling slime, and inched back slowly, before he took off into a run. It was very dark, and he, now in his new strengthened state, easily outran her and blended into the woods. She laughed. Hide and seek at midnight. How romantic.
"Yujin," She said. "I know you're hiding over here." She prowled through the woods, trying to control her rising temper. Anger only made things worse with Yujin. But she wasn't in the mood for playing games right now.
A twig snapped. She sent a glob of slime flying at the general area of the noise, and it splattered across a tree. She heard a surprised gasp, but Yujin had yet to reveal himself.
He had narrowly avoided her that time. He crouched behind a bush, muscles cramping. He wanted to go back to the times when he didn't have to hide himself, when he didn't have to do horrible things to survive.
"I won't hurt you. If you come out now, there won't be consequences. We'll go home, we can have a drink, relax. Yujin, you love me, don't you?"
He slowly emerged from behind a tree. Being home with Chrissy was an infinitely better choice than being alone in the woods. He hated her for what he made her do. Because of her, he had killed a man. But he also loved her in a way he couldn't explain. He needed Chrissy. Without her, he had no one. He was no one.
He fell to his knees, panting.
Chrissy walked over slowly, kneeling down beside him and placing a delicate hand on his back. "Just breathe. Follow me. Breathe in, 1, 2, 3, 4. Breathe out, 1, 2, 3, 4."
Yujin followed her, his breathing eventually returning back to normal.
"I'm sorry," she said, running a finger through his hair.
"How did that happen? Isn't he supposed to become a changeling. Why did he die?" Yujin demanded.
Chrissy sighed. "I don't know. Turns out, we have a lot to learn."
The two of them sat in silence for a moment, before voices resounded in the distance. "We should go," Chrissy said.
He nodded, and the two of them took off into the night.
Hey guys! I know this chapter was a little shorter than usual- that's because it's really half the chapter. The next part wasn't quite ready, but I really wanted to give you something to read while I work on it.
I'm happy to be back! I hope you enjoyed this!