They kept talking. I put my non-committal attitude up front like a wall. Deborah at least managed to let Stacy close to her. I had no one, and nothing.

It bothered me. Not enough to do anything. I missed having someone to rely on, not a friend like Daniel or Julianne, but someone who had a physical connection.

And, as screwed up as it was, I missed Kahina. It didn’t matter that I’d chosen to leave her, twice, in a terribly fucked up manner. It’d been around a year since we separated. It wasn’t her, exactly, that I missed, it was the connection.

Or more specifically, I actually felt comfortable talking to her. None of these people near me fit into the extremely narrow circle of trust. None of them. Julianne had, but her girlfriend and potential life partner, Stacy, didn’t. Daniel had, but Daniel had to distance himself to make this stupid plan work.

Beware love, for love of others becomes sacrifice.

I’d given up years of my life in order to stay hidden. By doing so, those I cared for were able to survive longer. The problem with our entire game, the Order, Western Sector, us Hidden, is we were trying to stay out of the news.

What you claim defines you.

I’d claimed a lot of people. It wasn’t that a perceived ownership directly fueled my powers. They formed connections. Those links, the cords of energy my other side pulled on, changed us both.

What I claimed, became altered. That’s why so few people or items were brought close. Instinct let me know there were fine lines between an outer circle of belongings, and those directly attached to me.

Worse, the change wasn’t one way. It went both directions, especially with people. I’d never be the same as they could never be the same. Keeper, Kahina’s vampire sponsor, had talked about purity. Kahina had been able to kill Night Shades by reaching into a wall. The memory had almost faded, but her pillar and a few others had a thread of scales through them. Had that been tied to me having scales in the other form?

I’d changed her. Even if our time together was done, she’d also left a mark on me. Much different than the life I’d been living before her.

I’d changed Tal and Roy as well. They knew more of their tribe than ever. They’d started forming a group instead of being scattered. Had their true natures been altered as well? Were they less bestial than their forefathers because of me, or because of the modern times?

And what the hell was an Ogray whatever?

I glanced across the fire pit at Deborah. She cupped her hands in front of her and faced the moon. What that position helped her do, I didn’t know. The sight certainly distracted me, not from an attraction point of view, but from admiration of form.

Deborah, wherever she’d been before Atlas, had clearly worked her ass off to get muscles which popped in such a fashion. It wasn’t even like I cared about her specifically. She represented hope for Leo’s race, not mine. She didn’t look like the type to be wooed by any man. I assumed she’d need to be bested in one on one combat over and over to even get on board.

There were examples of my personal belongings changing their nature too. They were stronger. Such as the sword which cut through thick armor with ease. Or the shield deflecting bullets.

Daniel and I had been really close, could he have changed to? Would he be a super hunter? Could he have been brainwashed to support me?

My lips quirked. At least Daniel, Leo, and Stacy, had others to guide them and shape their expectations. Even Agent Brand had lived with her condition and had it passed down from a relative. She knew what to expect.

I had voices in my head. They were mildly useful and I could finally focus on specific problems to sort out. At least out here my head could almost think clearly. It was the air. It didn’t feel recycled. They were talking, but not aggressively at me. Even Agent Brand looked downright relaxed.

So, I started through a long list of questions that had been building up.

Did every one of my race have gifts of the elements? I believed we did. Did we all have memories passed down from our fathers? Mine had come from a long chain of them, passed back at least four generations. Were there memories from a mother? None I could recall. Females weren’t mentioned much in any of the mantras of flashes of a past that didn’t fit.

Then a question stumped me. Were there any others of my kind in this version of reality? Was I alone? Daniel stated the last of my race had been killed by Hunters nearly seven hundred years ago, by a knight named George. They’d had a name, but it had been burned to cinders in the ongoing Shadow War. Apparently keeping records had been a pain in the ass before the internet.

It was getting easier to sort through specific bits of knowledge. Making the night better. I had to pretend we were friends on a campout under the stars.

“So what are we going to do?” Leo asked.

I jumped because I hadn’t realized the young man had gotten so close. My tactile senses and general awareness were messed up after arranging memories.

Leo sat next to me, with his gaze fixated on Deborah’s rear. Stacy stood and intercepted the line of sight. I smiled weakly and shook my head. Stacy wasn’t any better, since she’d been fixated on Agent Brand. Brand was asleep next to the fire. A few stray sparks would catch her shirt on fire.

“We can’t stay here forever. Those two have broken more than a few people’s arms, and the vampires spend more time finding places to hide than hunting. From what I can tell they’re terrified wolves will find them during the day. Even the burnouts.”

Leo had practically exploded about me earlier, but here he sat, babbling away like feeding me information would somehow result in a magic answer.

“We could too. It’s not hard. Vampire scent sticks around like bleach.” Stacy sniffed, then yawned.

I felt tired too. Sleep could be fought off by accessing other energies. Hiding my abilities wouldn’t matter out here. What would Hunters do, storm out here and chase me instead of the giant ugly sea serpent sanctioned to eat people? That’d be fantastic.

The word fantastic triggered thoughts of Boss Wylde. She loved the phrase with an abnormal fascination. Her first name wasn’t Boss, of course. That’d be silly. Her proper name was Lacey Wylde.

I stared into the fire between us all. Only it wasn’t fire anymore. It was her. Red hair, freckles, and a body dancing like flame. If flames had a human body that danced and enticed the eye, it would be Wylde. Fire incarnate. She made Brand’s transformation look like a part time job.

“Do you know how hard it is to find a man who can take the heat?” she asked me.

My toes burned pleasantly as they dug into embers. Someone far away grunted in confusion. Fire didn’t bother me. I loved it. To me, the heat was an expression of all the primal emotions.

“No,” I answered honestly.

It wasn’t that I felt clueless. It was Wylde, which was a name far more suitable for her than Lacey, slowly removed her top while asking me the question. Thinking coherently went right out the window.

My eyebrows bunched as the impossibility registered. She wasn’t here. Not in the woods. That bit of dancing flame wore less than any modest woman might, belonged to an illusion of flame.

Or did it?

“Jay,” the fire whispered. It grew a solid foot in height and the color deep inside changed.

I tilted my head and wrinkled my forehead. Nothing else happened. I sat there huffing at the fire pit. Stacy dropped in a new piece of wood and the fire slowly engulfed its new fuel. She checked the pit’s edges and shoved back in some ash and pulled out other clumps.

“Would you believe being a wolf is really useful out here? We have to know how to camp when we’re working with new pack members. I kind of miss those days.” Stacy walked to the edge of the pit and sat. “Julianne and I used to talk about finding a reservation and going out. Just the two of us.”

“You are very talkative,” Deborah said.

Stacy bunched tightly and cast her eyes down. For a moment she reminded me of the mousy clothed woman she used to be. Then she righted her shoulders and stared straight ahead.

“I haven’t had a chance to just… talk about it. With anyone. Not those counselors they had at the jail. Not my pack. Not even Thomas.”

That made sense.

Who had I talked to about my problems? Stacy at least had the bravery to talk aloud about her problems. I simply bottled mine and pretended they didn’t exist. Liquor had only done so much. Having false memories gave me time but never actually addressed the problem.

That guard had said I could try to put in hours with counselors as part of the rehabilitation process. I hadn’t. Leo had said I never told anyone about my past. I had, and Daniel was missing in action, Kahina had her memories removed to keep her safe, and Julianne was dead.

Talking about my past fucked people up. There was no kinder way to state it. I resolved to keep my new memories secret, even from those who knew parts of it. Even if Muni and Daniel knew too much, I’d be extra careful.

Stacy talked softly of the things she wished she had done with Julianne. She complained about Julianne never taking breaks to go on weekend getaways. There was some resentment. Stacy implied, in words I didn’t fully register, that Julianne had been keeping ownership of the bar for me.

I cast my eyes back to the fire and stopped looking across its haze to the other people. Once again my choices had screwed up others.

“And all he says is that everything has a price,” Stacy finished with a snort.

“He’s not wrong,” Deborah said.

“I didn’t say he’s wrong. I’ve come to terms with Jay’s fuckups. Even Thomas agrees. But it’s like vampires with mental patients. Or wolves with their wilder pack members, it’s a soft spot. We love them, but they’re dangerous.”

Despite looking away, my other senses still picked up too much. Stacy’s lips tightened and Deborah shifted. Leo stood, facing the woods. His head cocked to one side so he could hear us as he kept watch.

“I don’t like it either,” I abruptly said. The others stilled for a moment, even the normally steady Deborah. I swallowed and continued, skirting my past but at least trying to air some feelings, “Brand said it. I’m not normal. You saw me flying overhead, right?” I didn’t look up but felt Stacy roll her eyes and Leo nod. Brand snored by the fire.

“So, imagine being that. I don’t even have a name for it. There’s no one else like me that I’ve found, and I’ve looked. The only other person I knew of is gone. I can’t find her—” I clammed up for a second and took a deep breath. Despite my earlier resolution and keeping my past quiet, I’d almost slipped.

They were lucky I’d recently transformed. Doing so often left me calmer after the fact. Almost like the sedation they’d used on me during the first day.

“But everything I’ve done, has been for the peace. Just like a sector agent. Unofficially. A hidden monster to fight others. Leo could tell you what I’ve done. Daniel could too. Julianne could have, maybe she did. I don’t know what you two talked about while I was gone.” In truth, I didn’t care. Julianne couldn’t have explained everything to Stacy, or else her entire pack would know.

They didn’t. Julianne’s grandfather might. I didn’t have time to search out those memories and triggering them in a rush was getting thankfully harder.

“Brand, wake up.” I toed her lightly. She grumbled, swatted my foot, and stayed sleeping.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

I could shout and shake her violently, but the thin girl had already proven violent and unstable. Letting her sleep might be better.

“So, all this heartwarming talking is good. I’m sure it helps.” I frowned and sniffed. “But we can’t afford to do this. Right now there are ten people over there waiting to ambush us. They’re muttering to each other about Leo and how weak he looks.”

“There’s always people out there,” Stacy said. Her scalp pulled back and tightened.

“There’s a pocket of vampires that way, about half a mile. They think they’ve found the perfect place to hide at night. One where the wolves won’t find them. There, they can ride out the day, and at night they’ll attack the humans for fresh blood.”

I’d been doing more than thinking this entire time. Lots of people were all over the island and with a small bit of focus I could hear their words as if we were standing next to each other.

“It’s only going to get worse.” I shook my head. “And I can’t think of a safe way off this island for everyone, without stopping the sacrifices, removing the reason for this side of the island, and getting everyone back to a more normal prison.”

“How would you stop the sacrifices? I mean, everyone is only getting food because they’re taking the weakest, or loners off to the cliff.”

Daniel said it best. If we went public, it would need to be with a decisive victory for the status quo on our side. To be a recognized race by the Accord of Caesar, and not be killed upon public reveal, we needed to have enough people rooting for us.

“I kill the monster,” I said.

“You are nowhere near its size,” Stacy said. “I don’t think you could kill King Calamari back there.”

“Closer to an eel,” Leo corrected.

I wanted to cheer the kid on for being right, and at the same time I wanted to punch them both. It wasn’t anger talking, more of an idle urge to see them go flying for a few minutes. Stacy would heal, and Leo might break something but he could tough through it.

The idea made me smile. It beat talking in circles and sharing my feelings. If I could drive out my thoughts with some brief cathartic violence it would be even better. I mean, I was trained for it. That was all.

Deborah narrowed her eyes and looked me over. I felt her neck muscles tense and bulge, which rippled through her back. Maybe I’d given off a subtle signal of impending violence, or maybe she felt the other people creeping closer. They were there, but it was like being aware of ants crawling across my skin. Annoying, not dangerous.

And, as much as it bothered me, I needed to fight someone. My people were out. These other guys were strangers. Worse still, they were perfectly willing to form gangs and catch stragglers. They were sending people to their deaths.

I stood abruptly and realized what I had to do. I needed to go punch them all in the face. It would solve my brooding, give the scavengers someone else to be distracted by, buy us time to figure out how to murder a giant sea monster, and help me resync my abilities with the labyrinth of memories I’d been experiencing. The risk, that’d I’d be stabbed by someone using a tree branch as a weapon.

Somehow I couldn’t find it in myself to worry.

“Stay here. I’m going to punch people until I feel better,” I said.

Behind me they whispered to each other.

“Is that smart?” Stacy asked.

What a stupid question. I could turn into a giant lizard and murder people with droves of fire. A few vampires and wolves would be vicious but easily handled. Even if they got a bite out of me, I had nothing to fear.

They couldn’t turn me into one of them. Unless I drained enough of my own personal reserves to fall asleep, it would be a one-sided face stomp.

Deborah answered, “It’s foolish to go against overwhelming odds. We only hold a position because we displayed strength and can weaken them, even in defeat.”

A dozen people ahead of me shuffled. They found spots to hide behind trees. Some got into position, likely to act as decoys. They were stupid. I could feel them all moving with ease.

“If you’re part of a tribe, like me, you should know he has another name. At least, one my grandpa used during the last warrior trials,” Leo said. He spoke weird words uniquely tied to his race’s historical practices.

“You still hold trials?” Deborah asked.

Leo stayed silent as I leapt over the small stream. It was only ten feet, so clearing the distance took no effort.

“We started again once there were ten of us. My grandpa was our Teller, and my dad’s the Chief.”

Deborah’s muscles flexed and loosened repeatedly while Leo continued talking. “Uncle Jay says he doesn’t know what his kind is called, but we have a name for them. My grandpa said he was The Great Beast. And if what he said is right, he’s the last one. The last true monster.”

They were silent, save for Brand, whose soft snores could be felt as she shivered near the fire.

“I don’t know, that sea serpent is pretty big,” Stacy said.

“If the stories are true, his form that flew overhead is nothing compared to what Jay can really do.”

I didn’t know what stories he meant.

That made me angry. Roy and Tal had spoken about me, of my kind, and not told me all the tales. That really pissed me off.

The Tribe keeps secrets. From me.

Had I grown so distant from them during these last few years? Five years where we didn’t communicate by anything more than postcards? Brief meetings at Bottom Pit and the visitor’s center didn’t do anything to build a bridge between where we were and where we’d ended up.

Two people were in the nearby trees. They stayed quiet, and I grabbed one from behind. He screamed as his arm jerked out of its socket and kneecap shattered under a kick. I shoved his broken form to the side, smiled, and walked to the next tree.

I moved faster than they expected, almost as quick as a vampire, but not quite. The bush rustled when the human hiding there realized what was going on.

They shouted now, their screams of budding worry and terror a joy to hear. All that anger and potential panic were pushed aside as I handled the simplest task in the world.

I broke anyone I could. The group of humans scattered, while a few remained, unconscious or attempting to crawl to safety. There were a few parties of wolves roaming. From their words, they seemed to be searching for a safe place to rest for the night.

It wasn’t even hard. Three wolves tore away from me at high speeds. Their lack of connection to each other was obvious by the fact that they went in different directions. Those still in human form struggled to fight me off, but most were self-centered.

A fourth wolf lunged for me. The attacker, larger than a huskie with splotchy fur, breathed heavily. His bulk hit me. I twisted to one side and rejoiced at the sudden crunch; its spine snapped in two different directions. It yelped then fell limp.

I’d done this before, fought an entire pack of wolves who were in a shared bond. They gave me more challenge than this band of unbound rabble.

For a moment I almost felt pity. The wolf stayed in its current form, but I could feel the age of bones under my arms. Malnutrition and fleas. Maybe he didn’t care that death had welcomed him with open arms.

I was sure this small band didn’t care about each other.

Two human shaped wolves ran for me. They yelled. I couldn’t hear their words under the mess of sensations flooding me. Leaves rustled in the distance. A bird fluffed in its sleep. Agent Brand shivered near the fire as the others looked on.

The one on my left swung wildly, with a half-shifted fist, his face a mangled mess of wolf and human features. His body was either stuck halfway, or he didn’t have the self-control to keep his form stable.

I exchanged blows. My forehead to his malformed arm. My fist to his stomach. He doubled into a ball as the wind evacuated his body. The misshapen monster clutched a broken hand.

His friend barked, like a broken toy poodle. I laughed snidely and spun over the deflated form of his companion. My foot caught the poodle man in the face.

I curled fingers into a transformed claw. They tore across the kneeling man’s form and I turned to the second one and gutted his stomach.

They weren’t even remotely close to each other. I could tell because the minute two of them were heavily wounded, the rest ran. No one even bothered shifting to a partially human form. They fled as blood oozed from the dead one’s eyes.

I frowned. They wouldn’t be attacking Leo or Stacy tonight. They wouldn’t be attacking anyone in the near future.

It kind of annoyed me. I stomped toward the third gathering I’d felt. Vampires might give me more of a fight. They were always good for a dose of arrogance and aggression.

On the way I rolled my arms and flexed my fingers. Every muscle felt more limber and relaxed than it had been in years. They were stretched and honed by months in the jail cell and reliving my younger life. Age, however, had added on muscle and miles more strength to them compared to being a teenager.

I vaguely recalled punching through a reinforced granite wall with a single drive. My body hadn’t even leaned into the blow. The damage it left was noticeable, but now that I remembered how to partially shift myself the scales should prevent surface scars and remove the need for healing.

There’d been a reason I could fight monsters and win. I kept circling around it because the part of me that had wandered for four years couldn’t reconcile everything. If I’d had this strength, saving Julianne would have been easy.

Keeping her alive twenty-four seven was much harder. There were prices. Once I ran out of energy I’d pass out. While asleep I’d be defenseless prey.

I wasn’t a math guy. I knew breathing fire cost energy in direct relation to how long I used it. My other senses cost next to nothing. Communicating over miles like the time I’d slammed on Roy’s car hood drained a lot out of me. Turning my arm into a weird mix between human and scaled lizard took a few drops.

The vampires. That’s where I’d been running to. I stopped as one of them popped into my face. She quickly shifted from hissing open mouthed anger to surprise as I led the way with a punch.

The tree behind her cracked as her body catapulted in the other direction. My arm hurt from the sudden impact but it would heal. Healing took another tiny burst of energy.

“Who are you?” she asked, rubbing surely broken ribs.

I actually paid enough attention to understand these guys.

“An angry sober asshole out for blood,” I said. This one had stuck around to ask questions. I mean, being honest and accepting who I was had to be a step somewhere on the rehabilitation process.

“Where did you come from? You’re not a vampire!”

Such stupid statements resulted in punching people. I nodded to myself then walked calmly toward her.

She hissed. Two bodies sped from the bushes nearby with arms stretched out like lances.

I’d known they were there. My body swayed back even before they’d fully committed to the attack. Vampires were stupid like that, slingshots with no ability to stop mid strike. They constantly telegraphed their moves and over extended.

The fight continued. There were more than three vampires. By the time I’d disabled one, more attacked. I felt each thump of feet, vibrating the ground as they stepped around throughout woods. Their fingers curled into fists, folding loose skin with no muscles. Vampires, even partials, only breathed scents from the air.

Each action served as a tell. I’d sensed hundreds, maybe even thousands of vampires over the years. None of them surprising. Human fighters were more creative. Wolves were faster and more lethal. Vampires were like small razor-sharp cockroaches.

Ticks.

I corrected myself as two more attacked. They smelled blood from the wolves, or those battered humans, or my own bruised body. It’d heal. I’d heal. By the end of the night, no one would dare come near us.

Claim is made. Word will spread. Lesser gnats will fear our wrath.

Miles away stood the four people I’d left behind. Like lemmings, standing sentinel against the darkness while watching for predators. They might be smart enough to realize what I fought against.

Did they hate me because I simply waded into all these people out here without a care? Did they worry? I couldn’t hear their voices anymore and that made me happy.

“Arghghh!” a man screamed as something in his body snapped. It didn’t matter what. I hadn’t even realized there’d been pathetic challengers in front of me. People who thought they could bully and bluster their way into claiming my island.

Mine. All is mine. I whelped here. This is home.

The word pounded. I hadn’t grown up on this island, but in a sense, I had. That very idea had me muddled beyond sense. In order to banish the confusion, I hunted more enemies.

I fought more fools who weren’t fast enough. Part of me, the one who had been in control for five years, worried about fighting alone. These people were banished here for harming other races. They weren’t saints or good boys and girls. They were, most likely, murderers without remorse.

I prayed one of them might inject me with a sedative. I wondered if that creature was tough on the inside. How much energy would it take to transform inside its belly? No, that was stupid. Western Sector must have tried to blow that thing up with a bomb. Unless they liked having a garbage disposal for all the world’s worst assholes.

The vampires still attacked. Clearly my mind had time to wander, which meant they weren’t doing a very good job. Even if I got distracted, their blows were weak. They were malnourished, like the wolves. All tooth and nail with no strength.

Off shore, where the giant creature writhed slowly, lay my real fight. All this would buy the small gathering of family members time to escape. Agent Brand wouldn’t simply give them a free pass, unless Leo somehow offered up Muni.

My inattentions finally caused me problems. The stupid vampires nabbed me. Two held me. Four lay on the ground, disabled. One was missing his heart and the hole sizzled.

I laughed at my own stupidity. Even ticks carried diseases. Even bugs could be deadly.

The ones holding me screamed. Their feet shuffled. My muscles strained to drag them along. I felt warm, heated. Thoughts boiled with annoyance; transforming into rage.

Kill them all. Lay claim to this territory. Will call for the fire. Bring it forth.

It wasn’t as simple as breathing flames. There were other sources of fire. In the end, there was one main source, as powerful as me in its own way.

Mistress of Flame. Fire of the Heart.

Oh Hell. I paused my footsteps for only a moment. One of the vampires who had been holding me hung limply on the ground. His body didn’t have the strength or purchase to keep me in place.

The other vampire latched its teeth into my arm. The sudden pain drove all worry about poor decision making away. I yelled. The other voice in my head screamed in anger and delight. The pieces of my mind were finally unlocking, settling in place, and I felt nearly whole.

COME!

My mind ordered. A foggy memory clicked. I could finally remember who those warm red nails had belonged to. I stood at the top of Bottom Pit’s offices, glaring down at fighters. In my office.

Behind me stood Lacey Wylde. Those flames had been saying my name. No, not the actual fire, but her. The closest connection my mind could make was a woman who could transform into a fire elemental. A being made of flame.

COME!

The fire pit, miles away, streaked through the air, creating a wave of heat behind it. And I screamed at the stupid bloodsucker in front of me. A burnout doomed to die. Their worn body cracked from misuse and an ill paired virus.

They’d die soon. I swung on the one biting my arm, and as I did, the fire arrived and latched itself on my fist. We punched straight through the nibbler’s head.

Flame engulfed the screaming vampire, and his body shriveled to ash almost instantly. I reached back and slapped the one who had lost purchase and hung limply on my other side. They too turned into ash.

I stared at my hand. Flame licked along fingertips and tickled.

“Jay,” the fire said in a crackling voice. There was a question tied to female undertones.

Annoyance. Too many roaming. Ticks. Furry Things. Pink Meat. Savages to be put in their place.

“We’ll talk later,” I dismissed her.

The fire flared and stung briefly, then cooled to a near caress.

People were dead people.

I stared at the murdered vampires and wondered if I’d gone overboard. Had rage so consumed me I wantonly destroyed them? My footsteps faltered again as the sour memory of killing those young children hit me.

Rachel would be upset. I couldn’t remember if she’d ever found out. It bothered me, but only for a moment. Worry over the little den mother’s feelings, along with moral implications over the recently killed vampires, went out the window.

I had not been their judges or sent them here. I had not been their jury or found them guilty. But I would be their executioner, if they did not flee before me.

It was all I knew how to be. On I went, into the night, one dangerous monster among droves of humanity’s violent offenders. I simply had to convince myself that only Nathan was here for justifiable reasons.