“Shocking,” she said with a grin, then her expression sobered. “I don’t mind answering, but no more sex questions. I don’t like answering those.”
I was relieved that she was finally giving Teo boundaries! His questions had become increasingly intrusive, and I didn’t like it. I knew better than to tell Willow that. She wasn’t one to let me put limits on her.
I couldn't blame her for wanting to decide her limits, but it bothered me to wait until she was ready to say no to Teo.
I gave her a little squeeze and pressed happiness and pride through our bond. She responded with relief and love.
“Absolutely,” Teo agreed without hesitation. “I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable. You don’t have to answer anything I ask, no matter what the topic.”
“Well, let's hear what you want to know today before I decide,” Willow said.
“When you and Vie first met, he said that…”
Vie stopped listening to Teo when he felt Willow’s attention snap to something going on outside the building. Holding up a hand to silence Teo, he felt along their bond and found that she was about to go into hunting mode.
“Willow,” he murmured. “You can hunt. It’s okay.”
When she’d first started having her hunting instincts, she’d freaked out. Caught between her human mind and wraith needs, she’d felt both guilt and confusion. After several long talks, she’d gotten better at listening to her wraith side and understanding that she wasn’t targeting these people blindly.
Wraiths never targeted innocent people.
“What do you hear?” I asked. Unlike me, she didn’t “smell” her prey, she “heard” them.
“He’s saying abusive things at her,” she said, her words quiet as she concentrated on voices. “I can’t make out words yet. Only anger.”
I knew from experience that she wouldn’t be able to find her next meal until the words were clear.
“What’s going on?” Teo whispered.
“She’s finding her prey,” I whispered back.
“There,” she said, her head whipping around to focus on something they couldn't see or hear. She went from being solid in my arms to misting and floating through a high vent to the outside.
I was quick to follow her with Teo right behind me.
Willow
At first, I moved slowly as I searched for the voice I was hearing. His words were getting clearer, and I knew he was telling his partner that they were stupid and useless. I could tell that my prey was male, and that he was close to becoming violent.
The violence wasn’t what drew me to him, it was the eagerness to hurt an intimate partner. Unlike Vie who fed on those who found joy at hurting others, I fed on those who targeted the people they should've cared for the most.
Girlfriends, boyfriends, husbands, wives, children, elderly parents, or disabled dependents, I protected them all when I ate their abuser.
The downside was that I was still learning how to be a wraith. Sometimes I couldn’t track the abuser fast enough. Once their strong emotions were over, they “disappeared” from my senses. That could mean they calmed down. It could also mean they’d finished hurting or killed their partner.
Those possibilities haunted me.
Vie explained that wraiths didn’t exist to balance the scales. There would never be enough wraiths to do that. Their job was to help alleviate the suffering that had created them. The theory was that because I’d died of partner violence, or ex-partner, I was now drawn to protect those facing similar situations.
It made sense, and I felt immense satisfaction every time I found them in time and got to eat one of those bastards!
“What were you thinking?” a man said, his voice angry but not loud yet. “Oh, that’s right, you don’t know how to think!”
Yes! That was so clear, I could get a clear picture of his location. I could even hear the person he was abusing now.
“I’m sorry, but you didn’t tell me you wanted one,” a woman said, her voice frantic as she tried to placate the man.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you,” he shot back as I misted into the lower level of a parking garage. “You should know my preferences. You always do this. I think you like to make me angry.”
