The Degenerate (Mythics Book One)

6

 We reached Beverly Hills, California by midafternoon and I hadn't eaten a thing. My appetite was rather obnoxious, but I didn't want to suggest we pull over. I could wait.

My stomach rumbled loudly.

"Famished, are we?" Theo asked.

"No..."

He shot me a look and switched lanes. "I'm hungry too, you know. Just because I don't have a rabid bear in my stomach doesn't mean I don't get hungry."

"Rabid bear?" I scoffed.

He nodded. "It's a little scary."

I shook my head, grinning. It wasn't like we were in any rush to come to our destination anyway. All of the psychopaths in my past could wait a couple hours.

Soon after turning, we ran into a roadblock. Theo slowed us to a halt, one of many in a long line of traffic. We moved at a snail's pace and I soon grew restless. Theo frowned at the clogged road ahead of us and tapped his fingers on the wheel. As we inched closer, flashing red and blue lights appeared, strobing in alternating patterns.

"What is that?" I asked.

His face darkened, clouds rolling over the sun. He seemed drawn and sharp, his features cutting as a razor.

For a moment there...I had forgotten what he really was. Who he was. Chills skated up my arms at the ominous feeling in the air. I shouldn't have forgotten.

We reached the front of the line and Theo watched as an officer clad in navy tapped on his window. His other two partners stood a few feet away, hands poised over tasers and guns. Chaotic energy rolled off of them in waves, making me anxious. Our officer stared down at us and my eyes were immediately drawn to the pistol on his hip.

Theo hesitated, then rolled down the window. "Officer?" he asked with a slow smile.

Dang.

"Excuse me, sir, but this road is under inspection by the NME society. Due to reports of an unspecified supernatural in the area, I'll have to ask you to please exit the car for a thorough examination." The officer stepped back for Theo to open his car door. When he didn't oblige, the officer stepped forward again. "Exit the car, sir."

NME... National Monster Extermination. I had heard that name before. Normally it was cause enough for me to turn off the news channel and go do something productive. They were a society of prejudice crackheads, always blaming something on the supernatural around them. Things like the elections, disease, immigration laws, and even murder. Lately they seemed to be gaining more traction. Now they were working with the police department, holding up traffic for inspections? This was getting out of hand.

The way he spoke the acronym so smoothly made it sound like "enemy." Fitting, I guess.

Theo stayed put. "There's been paranormal activity around here?" His voice sounded so genuinely concerned that I would have believed him, had I not known better.

Our officer sniffed and his lips twitched downward. Everyone seemed to find Theo either hot or incredibly irritating, sometimes a mixture of both. Seemed this guy was in the second group. "You need to exit the car."

Uh-oh. He'd lost the honorary title of sir.

I leaned forward in my seat and caught the officer's eye. His breast was sewn with the name "Farfield". I plastered on a smile, because there was no way we were getting past this by acting suspicious. "We'll be right out, officer."

Wrong move.

I saw the difference right away, like Officer Farfield hadn't even noticed me sitting there a minute before. His mouth opened a little, pupils dilating visibly. He smiled. "Now, who's this lovely thing?"

My skin grew hot and Theo was suddenly very, very still. "None of your concern," he snapped.

Well, might as well get us out of this mess. I put a hand on Theo's arm and he glanced down at it, as if in disbelief. I sent him a look that said: please, shut up.

Surprisingly, he did.

I turned back to Farfield, trying to ignore the sticky, nasty feeling in my heart. Meanwhile my senses were overwhelmed with a prickly tingling feeling, like pins and needles. I was ice cold, but something in me delighted in this, the cat and mouse game. I wanted to do it more often. What was there to feel bad about? I loved being the cat. It was like a shot of pure power and pleasure, straight to the veins.

I made a show of biting my lip. "I'm just worried, officer."

Farfield blinked and said, "What's wrong?" His eyes were wide and innocent, like a kitten I was about to kick to the curb.

"My mother's in the hospital," I lied, making my voice wobble just so. Oh, how I wished it wasn't a lie. "I'm just scared she doesn't have much longer. I need to go see her."

"Oh dear," he said. He seemed to frown a little and added, "This inspection will only take a moment, sugar."

Sugar. Ew. "Can't you just make this one exception?" I asked. "For me, Officer Farfield?"

Then, I did the stupidest thing I'd ever done in my life.

I batted my lashes.

Did people really do that? Who knew, but I just did it.

Farfield heaved a great sigh and took a step back. With a sickly sweet smile he said, "Only for you." Then, he twisted and shouted at the other two officers. "They're clean!"

Without another word, Theo floored the gas pedal. We zipped past the block and into the parking lot for an IHOP. As we sat there, the engine rumbling, I let out a breath filled with all my tension. The tingling and powerful sensations were receding just as fast as they had been brought on. It left me feeling empty and frail. Like a hollow shell of a girl. The thought of everything I had felt and said and enjoyed had me absolutely disgusted with myself. I tucked my hands into my sleeves and pulled my knees to my chest, hiding my face.

"You shouldn't have done that," came Theo's voice. He cursed. "I really wish you wouldn't have done that."

I faced him. Although I hadn't shed any tears, my face still felt puffy, blotchy. "We had to get out of there. I had to, okay? I took one for the team, that's all."

His face was stony, jaw clenching and unclenching. His fists were white-knuckled on the wheel. "No," he said. "There isn't a world that exists where you should have to do that."

"I'm fine, Theo, really. What else could we have done?"

There was a beat of silence, and I knew he was genuinely considering the question. The dark look on his face told me all I needed to know.

"I wouldn't have let you do something so stupid. So monstrous." I unbuckled and the car suddenly felt way too small. "I'll go get us a table."

I opened my door and felt a hand grip my arm softly. I glanced back.

"I wouldn't have done that, Ivy. You know I wouldn't have. That's not who I am." His eyes were earnest and pleading. He looked crushed. After a beat he looked away, unable to hold my gaze.

The guilt came on so strongly that I had to swallow bile. Tears sprang to my eyes. Who was I? Who was I to insinuate such a thing? I had just doubted every single one of Theo's personal values, breached them all with a single, scathing blow. I was the monstrous one here. "I know," I whispered. "I know you're not him."

Then, because my pride and ego were too much, I turned away and shut the door, heading for the restaurant.