Alone
Light peeked out from between the curtains, bathing the room in a sickening illumination. Hanging before some of the windows were cheap looking crystals, casting rainbows along the dull green walls of the apartment.
Opening one beady eye, a beam of light spiked her and the blob of an imp hissed, rolling off of the brown leather sofa now coated in a thick puddle of slime. Quickly squishing her body beneath the couch, into the darkness, her body relaxed and Kael let out a sigh. She could not recall just when she had finished eating the night before but it was most certainly before dawn.
Rolling out from her hiding place, the imp took care not to tread in the heavily illuminated sections of the room and found her way down a hall that her human took when going to bed. Exploration was not particularly interesting to Kael but since her human appeared not to be awake, and thus unable to feed her, the situation required such.
The human’s dwelling was marked with a crude drawing of a kiwi bird, which made Kael give a sneering chuckle. However, the door was shut and Kael’s vertical mouth quickly snapped out of its grin to turn to a grit of frustration. Closing her mouth and bracing her jaws, Kael rolled back to the opposite side of the hall and clunked herself against the door, succeeding in opening it with a gentle click; so it wasn’t shut tight, but it had appeared so.
It seemed her human wasn’t completely inept. She could have her privacy, what did Kael care?, but as long as she could get her whenever she needed then things would continue fine.
Slithering into the carpeted room, as green as any other, she passed over a few crumpled articles of clothing dotting the floor and balled up pieces of paper, probably more crude drawings of the brown twiggy bird she seemed to be so fond of. Passing over the mess, she grappled up to the lumpy mess that was her human’s bed and sat atop the corner, giving a high pitched shriek to jostle her awake.
There was no reaction.
Perplexed, Kael repeated the sound, leaning forward and opening her mouth wider. Again, her contractor didn’t stir. A low growl seeped from her core, then, and her jaws grasped the green blanket covering her body, pulling it every which way until she accidentally rolled backwards off of the bed and was covered, submerged in darkness. Frustration turning to anger, her teeth ripped into the soft fabric and bore a hole big enough for her body to seep through. She rose back to the bed, only to find it unoccupied and the form she had mistaken for her human actually being a pillow.
Well, that explained a lot. She must have already been awake and in the imp’s bleary eyed state of awakening hadn’t noticed.
Grumbling wordless insults, she tumbled down from the bed and journeyed back out into the illuminated living room, taking a quick right turn and entering the completely dark kitchen. Various plates lined the perimeter of the walls, some empty, some stacked with meat. Kael’s jaws quivered with hunger and she promptly closed the distance between the filled plates, devouring their contents with great relish. Each slice of ham, turkey and chicken hit the spot most important to her, the effect instantaneous and full of rapture.
If a deeper sort of pondering were possible for her current form, Kael might have wondered if humans felt a similar feeling. There was no way for her to know, but her entire form tingled with each swallow and she lost herself in the act of feeding. Nothing would compare, in her mind, to the consumption of food, succulent and juicy meat.
Meal complete, Kael ran her long black tongue across her jowls, still salivating heavily from the quick change of hunger to satiated. At least, where ever her human was in the apartment, she had the decency to feed her without having to be asked. Indeed, the contract with this one had been a good choice on her part, a decision she could live with, unchained from the push of a group or a masked demon.
Pride and stomach swelled, Kael continued on her search, passing through the living room once more and peeking into the bathroom, the closet, and any other room she could open the door too. With such a small living space, there were only so many areas to explore, and she quickly found herself in one of the most compromising positions she had since that fateful night.
Her contractor was not present.
She was alone.
The very idea sent shivering pangs all throughout her tiny form, toothy maw raised in a silent snarl, beady eyes alight with burning embers.
A terrible sound shot through the apartment, the shrill shriek of a woman echoing with a monstrous strike like nails on a chalkboard. Shouts were heard from the neighboring rooms but were muted beneath her horrible wail.
All reason disappeared and Kael flung herself at the nearest piece of furniture, the sofa that had been her bed. Sharp rows of fangs dug into the leather upholstery, shredding what was once considered flesh. The taste made her gag as cotton rose up from beneath the leather, only fueling her rage and causing her to rip and tear at more sections of the couch. Unsatisfied, she rushed to the next best thing, the wooden coffee table just beside it, and bore jagged scrapes along the fine glossy finish.
Her destruction continued all through the living room, ending only when a pang struck her at her center. So much energy wasted in anger, so much energy from her most recent meal, now wasted. The next wail to pass her monstrous lips was comparably pitiful and all else was dropped as she fumbled her way into the dim kitchen. Tongue wrapping around the handle, she pulled the refrigerator door open and herself into the frigid center, biting down on the meat drawer and pulling it out. The both of them collided with the floor just before it slammed shut and packages of meat, cheese and other deli snacks dotted the floor.
Desperation taken over, Kael snarled and nipped at the plastic covering what was left of her precious meat supply, mewling whines occasionally passing from her lips with each passing second she was not putting food to her lips.
This was what happened when her human left her and she felt rightly pathetic, but whenever she returned, as she inwardly hoped and pleaded, she would be as ferocious to her as possible without breaking their contract.
She needed this contract.
She needed this human.
Being alone was horrible.
