After the first deep breath Iggy took of sleep, Baine darted out of his office. He raced through the lobby, scoping each face there. "Have you seen Nansen?" he interrogated. "Where did he go? Where's Nansen?"
A woman pointed to the entertainment room on the other side of the lobby. "He went that way," she said.
Baine sped through the group and barged into the entertainment room to find Nansen there on the couch with one leg crossed and one hand pressed into his lips. Even though Nansen knew that Baine came, he didn't turn his cheek to look at him. Instead, he peered aimlessly at the floor in front of him. So, Baine stood right before him. His eyes were large and his mouth was open, stunned. "Did you see that?" he blurted. "Did you see his eyes?"
Nansen flicked his nail. "I warned you." He glared up at him. "I warned you that we'd get something that we won't be able to handle. Well, we got it. So, what do we do now?"
"I've never seen eyes like that before. I didn't think that many colors were possible."
"The more colors: the stronger the thirst reflex."
Emi came to the lobby, she saw the backs of many people eavesdropping on the conversation coming from the entertainment room, and while they were distracted, she ventured down the hall into Baine's quiet office with the sole intent to snoop. A curious young lady, and mischievous in heart, she anticipated finding some journals with secrets or pictures of embarrassing faces, but there, she found even better.
She ventured inside undetected and came to the couch. Hovering over Iggy, she noticed right away that his body was much larger than it had been, especially in his shoulders and arms, but he was still a bit scrawny in comparison to his brother Baine, which for her was somewhat of a letdown, because Baine was significantly attractive in the physique department. Iggy's hands covered his nose and most of his mouth, and thankfully it was obvious that his ugly deformity was gone, but driven by uncontrollable curiosity, Emi dared to touch his hand and pull it away from his face.
The motion teased him out of rest. He tilted his chin, moaned under his breath, and opened his eyes. Emi knelt right before him, with bright blonde hair that shone in the darkness like a halo of light all around her heart shaped face, enhancing her pink pearly complexion and giving her a gentle essence similar to that of a white rose petal. She smelled flowery, as well. Her eyes studied him and they were starlessly black. The darkest black imaginable. Motionlessly empty.
Iggy pushed himself up onto an elbow and peered down at her chest. Since she had collected a good amount of fat in her growing breasts and hips, the clothes granted to her were no longer her size, and they were stretched to their limit in those places. Of course, he didn't mind that, even though sex was the last thing on his virgin mind...
Her slender arms hung along the edge of the couch. "Iggy," she whispered. His skin tingled at the sound of his name being said in her smooth womanly voice. "Is it really you? You look much older, now." Her palm laid along his cheek and she gazed into his eyes. "Your eyes make me think of the deep blue ocean at sunset."
Iggy lifted his hand and dropped it onto her shoulder. She looked down at it as he caressed the wrinkles in her nightgown down her arm. Just before her elbow, he tucked his hand into the curve of her waist and wrapped it around her back. He pulled her in closer until she came lying next to him on the couch, then he tucked his cheek into the front of her shoulder and held her in his arms.
He continued to hold her. All of her. All of her warmth. All of her softness.
She relaxed along the curves of his body, unresisting to the temptation. Then, she yawned. She pressed her arm against his chest and she fell asleep just like that. Almost instantly, after her eyes closed, so did his. The need for practically continuous sleep was overwhelming, but even in dreams, they were aware of absolutely every smell, noise, and vibration with the exception of time. Their awareness of time was greatly limited. They could have slept an entire day or more and wouldn't have had any idea of it.
All Iggy knew about their timeline was that he was still asleep when the hunger pains began. Hunger pains were indeed describable. All visceral. It all started as an ache in the stomach. An ache that felt like the stomach had been twisted into a knot. Then, with time, his throat burned as if he had drank battery acid or something else just as damaging. When he shifted, his stomach felt like it was a bag full of shattered glass, sharp pieces that sliced and splintered his insides. Persistent with every hour, it only grew stronger in intensity.
Emi laid unconscious in his arms, still. Her face was only inches away and her breathing was soft and slow. Through her arms, Iggy felt her heart beating and the warmth inside of her... and he wanted it. He wanted all of the heat that she could give. He wanted to drink it like hot coffee.
His arm draped over her middle back and he pulled her even closer so that their hips pressed into one another. He turned his chin down into the groove of her neck and clenched his jaw. He wanted her… but he knew that it wasn't true. It couldn't be. It was disgusting that he wanted such a thing, but the voice in his head chanted, "you want to bite her, and drink."
Three years or so before, when Iggy was just a fourteen year old asshole, he was inside Baine's office, head to head with him in a power struggle. Baine's massively strong body blocked the door to his office, and his demanding crow-like roar hollered, "I said, 'read it!'" A hardcover book came flying across the room right at Iggy's head.
Since his eyesight hadn't been so shitty then, Iggy smacked the book right out of the air and onto the floor. "No! I'm sick of your fucking books!" he retaliated. He hacked up loogie and spit on the open pages. "I'm not reading it, so leave me the hell alone!" He proceeded to kick the book across the room with the heel of his rugged shoe.
Baine's head boiled red hot. Iggy didn't think that Baine would hit first, but he did. His fist slammed into Iggy's nose, and his head whipped back, and he fell back onto his ass, and cradled his bowled hand around his nostrils. His eyes ran with tears even before he felt angry. Then, Baine snagged him by the shirt collar and slapped the side of his head. The commotion lasted a good two minutes, until Nansen blasted through the doors and dove in between them.
Given a moment of rescue, Iggy bolted to the nearest bathroom. Behind the locked door, he washed his face frantically, but no matter how fast or hard he washed, the blood wouldn't stop running from his nose. In the sink bowl, splotches formed a little river towards the drain. Drip. Drip. Drip.
He could see it so clearly and he wanted it so badly. It had been wasted. He could feel the throbbing pulse against his lips. Then, he could taste it. The warm blood was just like the first time he had tried it. It was thick, hot, and satisfying the ache in his stomach. He gulped.
The Red.
His eyes shot open and he saw Emi lying beneath him. Her bright blonde hair glowed in the dark and her black eyes were open spheres with no end. His tight fingers squeezed around her left wrist, holding her to his lips. His teeth were inside of her, biting down hard, and the blood was flooding into his mouth. He swallowed and swallowed. He bit harder, eagerly, and her scream pierced his ears.
He stretched her arm upwards, sucking at her wrist, and clamped his other hand around her throat to strangle the voice out of her. He was at peace, yet it was still somehow unnatural. The thoughts in his head were silent while his body did as it wanted without any instruction.