Heart Pangs

Chapter 58 - 'My Old Friend'

There's a pred car waiting just around the bend, exactly as Camille had said. Even though it is night now, Lux is still conscious of his engorged middle as he walks down the darkened street. It's exposed and unfamiliar. Things are made especially difficult as the leader still insists on fighting back. Lux wonders how a prey so old can still have the energy. He tightens his abdominals, attempting both to better hide the old man and to keep him still.

Lux breathes a sigh of relief when he safely slides into the waiting vehicle. It's a fairly nice rental, and he wonders how Camille managed to get ahold of it. Better yet, he wonders how she managed to get it here. He'll have to wait to ask.

He feels a strange sense of de ja vu as he adjusts the driver's seat to make room for his prey. Then he checks his mirror and stops when he catches a look at his face. He grimaces. He hadn't realized how awful he looked. He takes a moment to try and wipe the dried blood away with his sleeve. It doesn't take long before he gives up and pushes the mirror back into place. His appearance isn't what's important now.

He twists the key in the ignition, the engine roars to life, and he speeds off.

The drive to the Facility is tedious. Not only is Lux exhausted from his imprisonment, but the occupant in his stomach is a continual distraction. It takes a good twenty minutes for the leader to settle down. When he's finally still, Lux concentrates until he can feel the steady expansion and deflation of his prey's breathing against his stomach lining. It feels like he's panting heavily after struggling for so long. At least he's still alive. Lux thinks that, by now, the prey is probably wondering why that still is.

Holding him for this long but not digesting him is a strange sensation. Not because of the neutralizers or from holding back, he's done that plenty of times. But it's the fact that Lux feels so wonderfully full yet still feels so completely starved. His body needs sustenance. His stomach needs to break something down.

Lux grits his teeth and concentrates on the road. He just needs to get to the Facility, give Bakula what he wants, then take Benji home. And then he'll find something to eat. Anything to eat.

He doesn't think he's ever felt so relieved to see the Facility.

Lux parks in his usual spot, which appears to have been kept empty in his absence. Epomis' leader begins to stir as soon as Lux exits the vehicle. Lux absentmindedly flexes his middle to keep him still. Meanwhile, Lux's heart feels like it's about to beat out of his chest. The entrance to the Facility looms before him. It's only been two weeks since the last time he'd been here, but it feels like ages.

"Lux!" the guard at the door gasps.

Lux stops mid-stride. It's the same guard that had been stationed the night he'd gone on the run. Franklin. Lux would have forgotten if not for the name tag the guard still bears.

Franklin's eyes linger on Lux's bruised and beaten face then flick down to rest on his middle.

"I need to see Supervisor Bakula," Lux speaks to distract the guard. "I have something for him."

Franklin immediately straightens and meets Lux's eye. "Yes, sir!"

Lux watches with intrigue as the guard scrambles back to his desk and picks up a phone. Just a few days ago he had been a fugitive from the Facility. Now he's being called, "sir," and having workers jump to meet his requests. He can't decide if it's a sign that things are already going back to normal or if it's just residual respect that's coming back at the sight of him.

He waits patiently while Franklin murmurs something into the phone, pauses, then answers. Less than a minute later he's hanging up the phone and turning back to Lux.