"Why are you feeding off my friends, Lob?" he asked releasing her wrist as she turned to look at him.
"Well this one just had so much negativity boiling beneath the skin. It would be a waste to just let him stew," she replied and I cried, "I do not! I am a happy, positive person!" She scoffed and replied, "Of course you are, darling. Your denial tastes almost as good as your hatred."
"I don't have hatred!" I exclaimed and she laughed shaking her head and saying, "Everyone has hatred, dear. Even your pretty little Amphithere friend, I'm sure."
She glanced at Quetz looking him up and down and she murmured, "Let's see what you have hiding in the black depths of your soul." She stared into his eyes and touched his naked arm.
"Chase, are you alright?" Quetz asked ignoring the woman and I crossed my arms moodily over my chest muttering, "I'm fine. Why do you care?" The woman frowned and prodded at Quetz looking for some sour emotion to feed off of.
"Are you sure? Lobs can have a pretty nasty effect on people. They make you feel bad inside and say mean things to people you care about," Quetz said staring at me with those stupidly innocent golden eyes, pupils narrowed into vertical slits against the harsh light in the ballroom. How could someone who ate people be so goddamn innocent?
"I'm fine, Quetz! Buzz off!" I snapped and he frowned at me before brushing away the very confused Lob and taking a step toward me. Before I could run or push him away he grabbed onto me bending down to my height and pressing his lips gently against mine.
His life force burned away the hatred and the self-loathing and filled me with light. After a moment he pulled away and I blinked. What happened? Why was I angry? I looked around and saw Sissy and Barapha screaming at each other surrounded by a curious crowd of onlookers half intoxicated by Sissy's power and half freezing from Barapha's.
Individuals in the crowd were shouting nasty things as well against Barapha, against Sissy, against each other and in the middle of it all was that woman. Her aura filthy and grey spreading through the air like dark smoke as people raged...as they hated each other.
"Why are they...?" I murmured staring uncomprehendingly at the shout-fest going on when there should have been a great party.
"The Lob," Quetz replied pointing at the woman. "They feed on conflict and the emotions that cause it. They sense these emotions and they...their touch brings it out."
I turned to him and asked, "So she doesn't make you angry she just..."
"Let's out what is already there. People can seem so happy and yet be filled with badness," Quetz murmured and I looked at him trying to decipher the expression on his face.
"It didn't work on you," I said and he shrugged with a small smile. Was that an answer? He sighed and said, "We should probably try to help. I thought this was supposed to be a party."
"How do we do that?" I asked and he shook his head saying, "We don't. You do."
"Me? You're the one who fixed me. What am I supposed to do?" I shrieked wringing my hands nervously.
"You can make people feel happy just by touching them, Chase. Figure it out," he said pushing me into the middle of the crowd. Before I could be affected by the Lobs' aura I grabbed onto Barapha and passed as much Heat into him as I could cutting him off mid-insult.
He looked down at me his face filling with purplish blush and he snapped, "I thought I was disgusting!" I shook my head and muttered, "Shut up!"
Somehow Saturday night I had enamored Barapha and thus a dozen odd humans...doing the same thing on a larger scale shouldn't be too difficult...though I was much hungrier then and now we were talking about over a hundred angry Mythics...right, should be cake.