The Lost Girls || Bbangsaz

II

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     Danielle and Haerin lived in an apartment above a meat market. Other than the vague smell of raw beef lingering in the walls, it was charming.

     Nothing like my dark and dusty lair, otherwise known as the Gas-and-Go Economy Lodge. Hand-sewn curtains with a cheery sunflower print covered the windows, which matched the tablecloth of a round dining table that had two wicker chairs. A squishy couch with a light-blue cover, nearly the same shade as my shirt, and a chair in the same fabric sat in the living room.

     The apartment had two bedrooms, a small open kitchen, and a bathroom with a claw-foot tub. It was the nicest room I'd stood in since I fed on a traveling insurance salesman in his Marriott suite two months ago. I nearly cried at the sight of clean towels on the linen rack.

     "You're welcome to stay with us for now," Danielle said. "We can go with you to get your things from the motel tomorrow. Once Elton finds out you're with us, it'll probably be best if we all stick together, anyway."

     "How do you know where I'm staying?" The amount of information they knew unnerved me. Especially because I'd never seen them before, and if Elton really had made them, they would've been somewhere in the various cities where we'd resided. They would've had no choice but to be around if they had the same draw to him that I had.

     I couldn't entirely explain it. I hadn't even discovered it existed until Tulsa. It started a few hours after he drove away, a pounding inside my head, an overwhelming need to follow him, stronger than any hunger I'd faced. It wasn't love, or missing him, or attached to any emotion I could recognize. It felt like dying all over again, but worse. Permanent.

     So I hitchhiked, then fed on the person who picked me up and drove their car until it ran out of gas, and then started the process over again until I crossed the state line into Michigan. Once I made it to Glen River, the city I'd called home while I'd been living, the clawing need subsided. I settled into my new routine of working at Taco Bell, hiding out during the day in my cheap motel room, and barely getting by while I waited for Elton to move on to someplace warmer.

     Haerin sunk into the couch and clunked her feet onto the coffee table, mud flaking off her heavy boots. "We've been following you for a while now."

     "Why?" What could the two of them possibly want from me? "If you're planning on selling my organs on the dark web, joke is on you. They'll just grow back."

     "We know." Haerin flashed her fangs. "We'd just keep you on ice and do it again. How else do you think we can afford this nice apartment?" My muscles tensed, but before I could run for the door, Danielle patted my shoulder. "Haerin is messing with you. She's old, and being an asshole is the only thing that brings her joy."

     Haerin mimicked shaking a cane at me. "Get off my lawn."

     Annoyed but curious, I slowly lowered myself to the edge of the chair, nearest to the balcony in case I needed to get out of there quickly. I had so many questions, but I didn't know where to begin.

     How long ago had they been with Elton? When did they find each other? Why did they want to help me? Elton peeked in her room, then shut the door again and took a seat on the couch and crossed her legs at the ankles. Her 1950s polka-dot dress and proper-lady manners made me feel like I'd just crawled out of the swamp.

     "I'd offer you some of the guy I have in my room, but seeing as you just ate, I'm assuming you're not hungry at the moment," Danielle said.

     My jaw dropped. "You bring your kills home?"