FANGS: The Monster They Made

"KAEL!!!"

Hunger branded Kael like a red hot iron. He wanted more. He needed more. It felt like he was going to die. Like he would fall right there to his death. But he could not let himself look towards Elara.

He didn’t even let himself speak to her, afraid of what could happen if the wrong though or movement triggered him.

Kael sat with his back against a rock, his knees pulled up, blood drying on his fingers like war paint. His heart had slowed, but the taste was still there, on his tongue, behind his teeth, in his head.

He wanted to vomit. But more than that, he wanted more.

He hated that.

Elara was across from him, crouched by a nearby stream running shallow over roots. She was washing her hands. He wondered if it was her blood or his. Or the boy’s.

Kael’s voice cracked the silence. He decided that he needed to hear her voice. It would ground hi.. Keep him tethered to reality. “Do you think I’m one of them now?” She didn’t turn.

"Like that boy?” he said again, quieter.

Elara looked up, drying her hands on her jeans. “You’re not.”

He let out a breath. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because you stopped. Even with the guard. You did not want to. You did it to protect me. And this time, with the boy, you stopped"

“That doesn’t mean I wanted to.” Kael said in between deep breaths. God, she smelt so damn good.

“You still made the choice.” Elara continued.

He shook his head, jaw tight. “I felt like I was floating. Like I wasn’t even in control anymore.”

Elara walked over, slow, cautious. She knelt beside him, studying the dried blood on his hands. Her voice dropped low.

“Do you remember what you said? When I found you in the lab?”

Kael stared at her. “I said a lot of things.”

“You said you didn’t want to hurt anyone.”

He flinched.

“And you still haven’t,” she added. “Not really.”

He looked at her then, eyes dark and haunted. “You think I didn’t want to tear them apart?”

“Maybe you did,” she said. “But you didn’t tear me apart. And I’ve been alone with you in those times. Twice. That means something.”

Kael closed his eyes. “You’re not afraid of me. You should be.”

She smirked. “I am. But I’m afraid of other things more.”

He glanced sideways. “Like what?”

“Like going back. Like him finding you and finishing what he started.”

Kael didn’t answer.

Elara exhaled. “We can’t stay here. You’re still bleeding. And I think that kid was just the first.”

Kael looked at his hands. The claws were gone, mostly, but the fingers still didn’t look right. His nails were too dark. His veins too thick. His knuckles looked like they’d break through the skin.

He didn’t feel human anymore.

“Where are we even going?” he asked.

“There’s a place. About an hour west. It’s not safe—but it’s safer.”

“A place?”

She nodded. “A kid I knew. He used to run from placement homes all the time. Said he had a trailer in the woods past Crossbend. Might still be there.”

“That’s not a plan.”

“It’s the only one we’ve got.”

Kael’s eyes scanned the trees. His stomach clenched. “I can’t walk like this.”

“You won’t have to.”

Elara moved to his side, looped his arm over her shoulders. He didn’t stop her this time. Every inch of contact burned—not from pain, but from heat. Her pulse echoed in his head. Her warmth. Her scent. Her blood.

He squeezed his eyes shut. Focused on breathing.

She didn’t let him fall.

They moved slowly through the forest.

Kael leaned heavily on her, every step grinding pain into his legs. His skin felt stretched too tight. His heartbeat didn’t sound right. His bones were sore, like they were trying to rearrange themselves again.

He was burning up inside.

At some point, his vision blurred. Not from blood loss, but something else.

A fever?

A surge?

He stopped.

“Wait,” he gasped, falling to one knee. “Something’s happening.”

Elara dropped beside him, eyes wide. “What? What is it?”

“I don’t—” He winced. His chest felt like it was being crushed. His ribs shifted under his skin. He clutched at the earth, panting. “I think it’s... It's getting worse.”

“Kael!”

“I can hear your heartbeat,” he choked out. “I can feel your blood moving in your veins.”

He looked up at her, and his eyes weren’t human anymore.

They burned.

Violet.

Glowing faintly under his lashes.

“Elara,” he whispered. “You need to leave.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“You’re not going to hurt me.”

“You don’t know that!” he roared.

The sound sent birds flying from the trees.

Elara didn’t move.

She reached forward. Touched his face.

And for the first time, Kael didn’t flinch.

He went still.

Her touch didn’t feed the hunger, it silenced it.

Like her fingers were the only thing tethering him to reality.

He closed his eyes, breathing deep. Her scent still filled his head—but it wasn’t overwhelming anymore.

It was grounding.

He swallowed. “What are you doing to me?”

“Saving you,” she said quietly.

They made it another mile before dusk.

When the old shack came into view, Kael almost cried from relief, not because it was a real shelter, but because his body was close to giving out. His legs had stopped listening. His vision blurred again. The heat under his skin felt like fire now.

Elara helped him inside, laid him on a broken cot. She dug through old cabinets until she found a box of rags and half-used antiseptic.

Kael didn’t fight it when she started wiping blood from his skin.

“I don’t want to sleep,” he muttered.

“I know.” Elara responded

“Every time I do… I see things.”

“Then I’ll stay awake.” She added

He looked up at her. Her hands were steady. Her eyes tired.

“You should hate me.”

She didn’t answer for a long time.

Then finally, she said, “I don’t.”

And he believed her.

They were so close to the little shack, Kael could smell the dead, rotting wood underneath it. It brought him relief.

Then everything started tilting.

“Elara...” His knees buckled.

“Kael?” She caught him, but he was too heavy. “Kael, stay with me.” He hit the ground, gasping.

His chest convulsed like something was punching from inside. His throat clenched. The heat returned, worse this time, like fire in his bloodstream.

“Elara, run, I don't know what's happening,” he choked.

“No.”

His back arched. Kael screamed a blood curdling scream.

Bones cracked under skin. Veins bulged. His eyes rolled back.

Elara grabbed his face. “KAEL...!!”

The world exploded into darkness around him.