I let the flame die and slipped the lighter in my pocket. We both froze as Vixen rolled over and mumbled something.
“You’re stupid, it’s not an alien,”she repeated, barely intelligible.“The bad guy’s in a machine‘cause you’re all fucking stupid.”
“She’s so vulgar.”Sean laughed.“What does that even mean? Do you know?”
“She’s still dreaming about cartoons.”
Sean smiled as she sleep-giggled.
“You’resmart. You figured it out.”She snuggled an arm before rolling over again, this time ontoher stomach.
“Does she always do this?”
“Sleep talk? All the time.” Ipaused to listen to her heartbeat. It was almost where it should be. She would probably wake up within the hour.
“How do you always hear thoughts that aren’t about you? I can’t do that.”
“Ican hear her almost all the time, but I know I shouldn’t. So far the bipolar disorder is the best theory I’ve come up with. Her mind is always vulnerable.”
“So she’s usually not mentally stable?”
“She’s never mentally stable.”I laughed at how wrong he was. If only he knew.“With the way her mind is, it’s like she’s always off-guard or sleeping. Her defenses are always down. It’s abnormal.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it,”Sean’s voice was sarcastic.
“It’s the technical term. And it’s not like I ever cause it.” I took in his slightly disapproving look. For some reason it almost bothered me. I pressed a hand against the grass and stood.“Should we take her back now, or wait until she wakes up?”
“Let’s wait. I wanna see how much damage she did to that tree and your chains.”Sean stood and headed for the tree.
“Ihave to get new chains,”I muttered, following close behind.
Fully Awake
I opened my eyes and sat up—the whole thing happened in an instant.
“Hey, you’re awake.” Sean was smiling at me from one side while Dennis was a little way off messing with a tree.
“Yeah.” I made a face, then tested my voice again.“Yeah. Ew.” I touched my throat, which had never been so sore but soothed at the same time.“Why do I sound like a toad? This is disgusting.”
“You don’t sound like a toad.” Dennis chuckled as he walked over.“You’re hoarse. You were screaming bloody murder for almost an hour.”
“Really?” I licked my lips, not at all surprised when they tasted like blood. Everything was so clear. I looked at my wrists and grimaced.“What’s all this on me?” I pulled the beaded bracelets off.
“It didn’t work. You have no faith at all.” Dennis watched as I removed a rosary from around my neck.
“I told you guys I’m an atheist. Do you want these?” I held out the mini collection.
“No.”
I laughed at Dennis’quick response and tossed them aside. I felt the side of my neck, which had no trace of bite marks. My fingers ran across a chain and I realized it was another necklace. I took it off and tossed it aside with everything else, then froze when I saw what it landed on.“What is that…?” I stood and took a couple of steps to peer at the crumpled thing.
“A body,” Dennis said.“That’s the first guy you killed. He was a murderer, so it’s okay.”
“And I drugged them like you asked,” Sean said. “All three were unconscious.”
“Wait, I did that?” I stopped a few feet away but that didn’t keep me from seeing it. The man—thecorpse—was mangled. His clothes were torn. Flesh was ripped. Drops of blood stained his shirt, but none was on his skin.“I did that?” I repeated, turning to them in shock.
“Yeah. And that.” Dennis pointed in another direction.“And that one.” He pointed to a third body, which was missing its throat entirely.
