Page 69 of Waste
“No, he is a bitten vampire. He’s not a Legend.”
“Huh?”
“A Legendary Shifter is what I am. Some might name us Apexes or the Firstborn. We call ourselves legendary because that’s what we are after all. Some of us found ways to infect the guilty without realising it. My blood mixed with someone else’s in an open wound and started a line of weaker ghouls. Vampire and Wolf Man both bit a victim and created races from infected bites.”
“Do all your Legends have descendants?” Shelley asked, intrigued.
“No, Phantom and Phantom of the Opera don’t. Nor does Frankenstein. Witches descend from Lilith, and hags from BabaYaga. Loch Ness and Rumpelstiltskin don’t have descendants, but Scylla, Yeti, and Sphinx do.”
“Do?” Shelley exclaimed.
“Yes. Some still exist but are able to shift and therefore live openly. Yetis and Big Foots, however, can’t shift, so they hide in dense forests and snowcapped mountain ranges where they blend in.”
“Damn. The paranormal is really real?”
“Yes, it is, Shelley. I’ll tell you everything you wish to know!”
Shelley beamed at him before her face fell, and she changed direction. “What do we do, Drew? We can’t stay here forever,” Shelley asked as she sipped her coffee.
“That’s a damn good question. I’d like to keep you down here for eternity, but I agree, it’s not feasible. We need to discover who’s behind this. I asked my siblings to investigate; one of them might have discovered something.”
“But you said they’re unaware this exists.”
“No, which means we’d have to leave. And you require clothes too.”
“Will we be safe?” Shelley asked, worried.
“Yes. Whoever this is can’t track you quickly. He’d have believed you died in that explosion. He won’t have searched for you straight away, and you’ve no links to London. I reckon he’s watching your family to see if you turn up there,” Drew surmised.
That was not quite what Shelley had been asking, but she didn’t want to start an argument. She was more concerned about his siblings. They’d already mentioned killing her once. She bit her lip as she tried to find a polite way to voice her doubts.
“As for my family, we’ve bonded; they can’t touch you,” Drew said, and Shelley glanced at him.
“No?”
“No, we’re mates, Shelley. I explained that to you. Harming you would hurt me, and we wouldn’t do that to each other.”
“They threatened to kill me, Drew, if I remembered anything,” Shelley whispered.
“And I would die to save you. I love you, Shelley; that means something to me. There’s no future without you. Can you not sense the bond between us?” Drew asked, concerned.
“I can feel a sensation,” Shelley admitted. It was a rather strange experience. She’d been unsure what to expect, but there was a place inside her where Drew was. Shelley could sense his emotions and his desires. She could tell how he was feeling, and it was curious. There was also a weird pressure in her head, and if she closed her eyes, Shelley had the sense she’d be able to find Drew anywhere.
“It will grow stronger. From what I’ve seen, the others can communicate in their thoughts,” Drew said.
“I don’t know if I like that idea,” Shelley confessed, and Drew nodded.
“I don’t think it’s a case of being inside each other’s heads. More like if we wanted to talk privately in company, we could. We can reach out and check on one another. But our bond is newly formed, and over time it will strengthen. But believe me, Shelley, I love you more than anything.”
“Drew, I feel the same. You grew on me. And I love Ghoul, too.”
Drew/Ghoul
Drew stiffened as he finished plating their food. “What?” he whispered.
Shelley’s words stunned him.
“How could I not? Ghoul is a part of you. I might not like your Sin, which I liken to a parasite, but Ghoul was you in a different shape.”
