Breeder

Second Partner (2)

Erica Pov

I trailed after Isabella with a smile on my face, greeting and giving hugs to whichever small human asked for some. I could sense her well-hidden malice as she led me to her office on the second floor. I'm surprised it took her this long for her to enact a confrontation. I've been provoking her since the moment I arrived, after all.

My plan, like Ray's, was to escape this hell of a place. Towards freedom.

I wanted to live a life where I could live in peace- one where I wouldn't have to teach humans in order to delay the inevitable. I wanted to live a life that didn't have a sealed fate.

I could do so much more than just repopulating their world.

And if the option wasn't given to me, then all I had to do was make the chance for myself.

Isabella's office door clicked closed behind us, her violet eyes glowing with fury in the dim light. The only source of light was a small, lit lamp on her desk that illuminated the two of us in an ominous way. Black and grey shadows stretched in various angles throughout the room.

After glancing at the hidden room where the telephone would probably be hidden, I moved my attention back to Isabella. Her face looked nothing short of serious and angry.

And at the intent of malice rolling off of her in waves, the edges of my hands started to itch.

Absentmindedly scratching the twin scars on the blades of my hands, I faced Isabella with a straight face.

"Why them?" She began, her voice firm and interrogating.

"First Norman, then Ray. Both are my top-quality children. Now that you've chosen for them to become your Partners, I can't have them shipped."

Incorrect. The high nobles working just under "The One" are able to choose whoever they want to eat. Becoming a Partner makes it quite a bit less likely for a human male to be shipped; but it doesn't mean that they are completely safe. Plus, they're still shipped to the Breeding Den at the age of eighteen anyway.

Not that she needs to know that.

"I rather like the two of them, you see. They're rather rambunctious. Smart, too. Norman's innocent and smart, while Ray has a sly and cunning side to him. I hate to admit it, but they are growing on me. Emma, too." I confessed, taking a seat in the chair behind her desk.

Isabella only glared harder, as though she was trying to poke a hole through my head with her stare.

I grabbed a few pieces of paper sitting on her desk, skimming through the familiar information about Breeders. While it didn't contain much useful information, it was better than nothing.

"I see that you've been doing your research. Although, with your rank, there's going to be a very big limit to the information that you can access." I commented, smirking.

"You know, I really don't like humans. They speak and chant of morals, societal expectations, dreams... but they're selfish and self-centred. Demons do things for survival. They don't have room or care for morals and dreams. So which one is worse?" I began, looking up to the ceiling stained with softly moving shadows.

"The father who abandoned his child that he didn't want? Or the demon mother who raped him to ensure her and her blood's survival?"

Isabella scrunched up her eyebrows in confusion.

"In the first Farm I went to, the kids sought to use me to better their lives. A girl about their age that seemed to have a strange power over the staff. Knowledgeable and pretty. But after finding out what I was, well... let's just say the entire Farm had to be refilled with humans that didn't stink of fear. So I burnt it down to be rebuilt."

"In the second Farm, some of the older kids accepted me as their own. We lived a relatively happy life together until some of them learned of their true lives and future. They're nothing but livestock- not orphaned children being shipped out for a better life."

Isabella gulped. I knew that she knew of me burning down many plants before, their inhabitants killed. Now she was hearing the story behind them.

"Their fragile little minds snapped like a twig. Some blamed me and sought to take me out while some wallowed in desperation and hopelessness before ending their miserable little lives. So I did them a favour and put them all to eternal rest." Crumpling and twisting the sheets of paper into a long rope-like fashion, I lit them on fire from the lamp and threw them in the tin wastebucket.

The familiar, flickering flames filled my sight.

"The Premium Plants that survived... why do you think they were allowed to live?"

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Thoughts? Opinions?

3/9/2022

2.5 pages, 818 words