Aeress

"Ma'am?"

Aeress blinked against the bright lights from above and focused on the doctor. "I'm sorry?"

He was a shorter man, closer to an even five feet, with thin hair and kind eyes wrinkled from too much smiling. "No pain where I press?" He was gently pressing his fingers all around her middle section.

"No. Nothing."

He nodded. "Not ticklish are we? Most of my patients are embarrassed by now because of it."

"No, it does, I guess I'm just distracted."

"Ah, I see." He pressed in a couple more places to study her physical reaction, but he seemed appeased by her lack of reaction instead. "Okay, it looks like no major damage was done, though it could be due to your supernatural ability of healing."

Aeress gaped at him. "Am I a werewolf?"

He chuckled and quickly stopped when he registered the pure anxiety on her face. "You wouldn't be on this island if you were simply a werewolf, ma'am"

"But I'm not just human anymore, am I?" She knew better, but wanted to hear it from an expert.

He sat down on the stool near him, fixing his sleeves. "From all my years of research, I can positively conclude that you have another entity in your body, but without proper evidence, the nature of this creature cannot be successfully determined."

"Isn't that what the Candor Trials are for, to see what I'm made of?"

He looked around dubiously. "Yes, in theory..." He then stopped himself as though he thought better of it. "Excuse my blunt tongue, as Premier's mate, I should be more respectful. I'm sorry-"

She was tired of having to comfort people for being themselves around her, but after spending time with people like Warrick, she couldn't blame them for their fear. "How could I help with finding proper evidence?"

"Well..." folded his arms in thought. "We could start with your blood. A vile of it to study, if only I had your blood prior to the awakening."

She held out her arm. "Prick me."

____________________________________________

When she got to her bedroom door, she found it off-putting that there were no guards present, but knew it wasn't serious.



She was sweaty after a four hour session with Klein. He liked working her to the bone, until her limbs felt like jelly and her lungs were of fire. But each time, it got easier and easier to push herself just a little farther each time.

"Klein has done well with you."

Aeress hesitated right as she was about to enter her room. It took a few seconds for her to gather her thoughts and realize it was who she thought it was. When she finally turned around, she was greeted by her supposed mate.

So handsome and stern, it should have been a crime. How he could so simply stand there in all black, an outline of night against the brighter walls. His luxurious locks was the only detail on his body with life. Even his eyes were dull, without the flame she thought she had evoked.

She didn't know what to feel, having not seen him in over a week. "Well, unlike you, he stuck around." She folded her arms. Whatever he had to say, she was pretty sure it would piss her off.

He breathed in deeply. "Aeress, you're angry-"

"Damn right I'm angry-actually, no-I'm pissed! You said we couldn't have sex. Okay, it may not make sense, but no means no. We can't be intimate, I get it! But you never said anything about abandoning me-"

"I never-"

"In some alien place where I know not a single soul except Mikya-who has also gone MIA by the way!" She shoved him. "Did you know I was attacked? Huh?" She was just so angry that he was so damn composed. "I killed a woman. Not Godhead. I did. I stabbed her right in the heart. And you weren't there! I needed you, and you didn't even come after to see if I was okay!" She shoved him again.

There was silence. "Don't lie to me," she begged, "and don't keep shit from me, because that is just as bad! Tell me why you left, make me understand! Please, just stop me from going crazy."

For a moment she saw that fire in him again. It was slow-burning, but just as violent. But again it was smothered by something much stronger than Aeress. "You're my mate, and it is my duty to ensure your safety. Clearly you are capable of maintaining it." He attempted to walk away.

Aeress had an iron grip on his bicep. He turned those ocean eyes on her, practically burning her alive. She felt helpless and desperate. "You're leaving again? At least tell me where?"

He pulled from her grasp. "I will be back."

"Sure!" she called after him, fed up with being left alone. "Whatever you say."

____________________________________________

Aeress looked over her shoulder again, feeling like she was committing a crime.

Well, technically she was breaking into Warrick's room.

The light was off, but the room was vast, though not as large as hers. A lot of dark colors were present and it lacked any kind of warmth.

It barely smelled like him-it'd been over a week since their last little confrontation-which meant he really hadn't slept in the room recently. She felt hollow when she realized he really had left to someplace other than there.

Putting her feelings away, she focused on her purpose of coming in to the room to begin with.

"I know you're in here somewhere," she muttered, rummaging through every inch of area she could think of. She began to get frustrated when minutes passed of nothing. "C'mon, C'mon!"

"Yes!" she whispered frantically when she found a cellphone behind the toilet, of all places.

It was fully charged and clearly not touched for a while. It must have been an emergency cell phone.

Well now it was hers.

She sat on the floor and dialed her best friend immediately.

Shaya answered on the fourth ring. The poor woman must have been sleeping from how raspy her voice was. "This better be Jesus," she muttered, "hello?"

Aeress wiped at her face as tears instantly began to fall at the sound of her voice. "No, not Jesus, just me."

"Aeress!? Holy shit, I'm going to faint. I thought, I thought, oh boy, I'm gonna cry-" and she immediately began to sob, here and there telling Aeress just how much she had been missed.

"I'm sorry, Shaya for not calling sooner!"

"I thought I would never hear from you again girl, and it's all my fault," she finally finished. Her breath was uneven from the heavy crying.

"I should have called sooner. I'm such a terrible friend, I wasn't sure how to contact you or even if I could, but it doesn't excuse the fact that I'm the shittiest friend in the universe-"

"Aeress, shut the fuck up and listen to me. Where are you?"

Aeress took a deep breath. "I don't know."

She too mimicked a heavy breath. "Listen. You don't have to fear them, or fear betraying them. Just tell me where you are and I swear on everything that I'll get you the fuck out of there!"

Aeress wanted to tell her everything, but wasn't sure how. "This shit is deeper than I thought, Shaya. I'm in something way bigger than that incident at the nightclub."

"I know." Her forlorn tone was heartbreaking.

Aeress laughed and rubbed her forehead. "No, I don't think you do, Shaya. Hell, I don't think I do either!"

"They're not going to let you go?"

She shook her head. "No, I can't leave. I'm not a hostage, but I can't leave."

"This is bullshit. Maybe I can figure out how to track your phone-"

"Impossible, Warrick would never have a phone that's traceable in his possession."

"Who did you say?" she demanded. "No, you're-"

"Shaya, it's time for you to listen now." She took a few seconds to calm down and to make sure that her best friend was listening. "I'm not coming back. Not for a while. I keep telling myself I will, and even when I got on the phone, that's what I thought I was going to say, but I know better now. I've stepped into this world I can't step out of. It's been months, Shaya, and I think we both knew I wasn't coming back the moment we were separated. I've got to stop acting like this is a dream, I've got to stop giving you hope. Even I'm not that cruel..."

Shaya sounded devastated. "This is all my fault-"

"I don't want you to think that anymore. Please, for me, stop feeling guilty!"

"You're talking like it's goodbye," she stuttered. "You're going to be fine, you'll be back by my side, just like before. Like nothing happened."

"Shaya, some things are going to happen soon, they're gonna test me. These trials-"

"Aeress you didn't just say you're going to fucking trial, did you? No, fuck that. There's no fucking way, they've got the wrong girl! You've gotta get the fuck outta there, I don't give a shit who they are!"

"Shaya, please just breathe for me, okay? I'm gonna be fine, you're going to be fine, we're all going to be fine."

"How do you know that?" she shouted, and it broke Aeress to hear her best friend cry so violently. "What if you die? What would I do without you? All for what? This is such bullshit!" She could hear crashing in the background and could only imagine the crashing dishes, the fallen chairs, and the flipped table. "Aeress, I just want you home!"

Aeress wiped away the tears. "I know, and I'm sorry."

She sounded a little more calm. "You're right, this isn't a dream, it's a fucking nightmare. And I know you haven't told me everything, and that's what kills me, Aeress. Not knowing what the fuck they're doing to you."

Aeress thought about when she died, when she was resurrected and went on to murder countless men and women, and when her airplane crashed, being possessed by a god and so much other shit that kept her up at night. "Don't worry about that. I just... I don't know, I'm just scared, and I'm trying to be strong for you. I've got to be strong so that I can maybe come back one day."

"Aeress... If you're asking me to forget about you, to move on... Now that is cruel. You're my sister, better than blood, better than anything in this world. I won't let you go, I won't! Please, please, listen-"

Aeress gasped when she heard the doorknob twist. She snapped the phone closed and ran straight to the bathroom.

Her heart went from calm to racing in seconds, making her so incredibly dizzy. She was shaking, looking for an escape. There was a small window, where the moonlight crept in to illuminate the dark room, casting eery shadows.

She had no desire to have a run-in with him and opted to fit her chunky ass through the window.

Having not thought it through-as usual-she went tumbling down, crashing her side into thick, thorny rose bushes. She couldn't hold in her shout when she felt something in her hand snap.

Dazed, she laid there, looking up at the night sky. She held up her pulsing hand and saw that two of her fingers were bent inward. Before she could chicken out, she used her less messed up hand to crack the fingers back in place. "Fuck," she gritted out, seeing stars momentarily.

After a few more minutes, she rolled out of the bushes, adding more and more scratches and nicks to her worn out body.

"Fuck!" she muttered, "can this night get anymore worse?"

"The answer is yes."

Aeress froze.

Just great.