Chapter 14:

Long Stories

The God Eater


Ten drinks later, our meal gone, and I had laughed more than I had ever laughed in my whole life. We got plenty of stares, but the empty mugs and the giant bodyguard kept them short, and no one ever complained. The whole place was noisy so I wasn’t that much of a standout.

“You’ve,” I choked a little, “your not…” I burst out laughing again. I couldn’t even tell her how ridiculous it sounded. She had spent over an hour telling me this elaborate tale. The mistress of chaos, her creation that became the king of all beasts. His ascent and defeat of the mistress’ champion, Death, she had named him.

This was totally a children’s fantasy story. I had sat drinking the brew. Each time my mug came close to empty, the bubbly waitress had come over to bring another.

And at the end, Charlotte had asked what my thoughts were.

I just laughed.

And laughed.

..and laughed.

“Ok. That’s enough. She’s drunk. Just bring her to her bed and forget you told her that tale.” Mathis said. My laughter still barking out.

The waitress came back over, and for some reason, I reached out and put my arm around her.

“Hey! Check it out, my friend here tells the greatest stories ever. You should hear her. I swear she could sell them and make a fortune!” I laughed some more. The waitress giggled along with me. She had put one leg up on the booth next to me. Sitting half way on, half way off. I scooted slightly, letting her sit fully on the bench next to me.

“It sure sounds like she told a good one.” She was all smiles and cheery voice.

Charlotte looked at me, her face loosing the happy attitude she had told her story with. Now she looked like she had eaten sour grapes instead of a steak.

“Oh you should of heard it!” I barked. My laugh still uncontainable. “Epic fights with dragons. Becoming immortal by defeating ‘Death’. Going from planet to planet to impregnate the native species. Oh wow. It was great.”

Her story indeed had all of that, however her details and dramaticism were on the scale of a galactic fairy tale. It was so much to take in. And I didn’t think I could believe much of it.

It made my father out to be some sort of god like creature. One that had been around since almost the start of the universe. His conquering had been known to reach almost every planet, according to her story.

“Sounds like it was a thrilling adventure.” The yellow waitress beamed at me again. Her touch against my skin made my hair stand up slightly. I reacted by squeezing my hand a little on her side. The flesh was solid, not cold, but not exactly warm. I hadn’t realized just how skinny she really was until now.

Then I noticed something else about her, the tattoos were seamless. They traced all the way around her back and front. And when my fingers slid over what I thought was clothing, there was no bump. No lip to say I had moved over the fabric line.

I snapped out of my laughter finally. Holy shit, was I holding a naked girl?

I blinked a couple times, looking around the table. Mathis was still focused on other tables. His eyes closed. Charlotte though, she was staring pointedly at the spot where my body connected with the waitress.

I looked at the girl, her yellow skin glowing just as much her personality. Our eyes locked for a heartbeat. As my heart skipped, she dropped her arm into my lap and leaned her head over onto my shoulder.

“Is your friend gonna tell more stories? I’d love to stick around and hear one or two.” She cooed.

What was in that drink? It had been good, a little bitter at first, but good. Now my head was fuzzy and I was doing things without thinking about it.

“I’m sure Fenrir has heard enough stories for tonight. Maybe we’ll come back tomorrow after our day is over and tell some more.” Charlotte sounded like a pissed off mom.

What was her problem? Was she mad that I didn’t believe her story? Without thinking I pulled back my hood to look at her better.

“But I wanted to hear more.” I protested to her.

A soft gasp from my other side.

Oh shit. The waitress. We weren’t supposed to let other people know what we were. Wow, I must be the most terrible person at blending in, ever.

“I love your ears! And that’s such a rich blue color, it makes your eyes pop out with radiance.” Her soft voice was full of excitement.

Wait, did she really think I looked cool? Or was this some trick to get me to show more, only so she could tease me later. Maybe get a whole group of friends to surround me and laugh. All while they pointed fingers and hurled insults. Maybe a rock or two would be thrown at me.

I knew I looked like a rabbit startled out of its hole, I just wasn’t sure what to think, and my head was starting to spin. I had never had someone actually tell me they liked the way I looked before.

For all the different creatures here, I bet I was the weirdest looking one yet. The girl just stared at me though. Big round eyes, scanning up and down my face.

“Sorry, Fenrir. But it’s late and we need to get some rest. There’s a lot of work to do tomorrow.” Charlotte was trying to get us to leave. Maybe I should listen to her, my head was pulsing with each spin now.

“I guess your right. You’ll tell me more tomorrow though?” I wasn’t about to let her off the hook for answering more questions.

“Of course.” Her reply was short and lacking the politeness she usually had.

“Well if you guys come back here, I’d love to come sit and listen. Im sure I could get some free drinks for us as well.” The waitress offered.

I couldn’t tell if she was genuinely interested in seeing us again. Or if she was just putting on a face to make us want to come back and spend more money.

Mathis stood and started walking towards the door. The place was still crowded with people. Charlotte waved a small device over a bump in the table. It beeped and her device flashed a small green light.

“We’ll see.” She said, as she too stood and began walking away.

The girl I still had my arm around seemed to pout a little.

“I’ll bring them back tomorrow. They owe me answers for a lot more questions than just the one I asked tonight. Plus, that drink was fantastic.” I tried to placate her a little.

I grew suddenly nervous, my cheeks warming, but I wanted to say something nice back to her. “And… and, I like your markings, it makes your body really exotic.”

“Awesome!” She returned to her bubbly self again. Standing to let me out. “And thanks!”

Before I could hardly get a step away from the booth, she wrapped both arms around me.

“I’ll be here waiting to see you again.”

The walk back to the warehouse was quiet, and tense, Charlotte was practically stomping the whole way. We had barely even gotten through the door to the building we set up in, when Charlotte shouted,

“What is wrong with you!” Her temper exploded like a teakettle left to burn. “You can’t go blowing our cover the instant we get somewhere!”

She was more than just upset. Her amber eyes glowed and seemed to pulse with power. The ripples in the color forming waves, rushing out from the center.

“What did I do? Your the one who told me some make believe story instead of the truth.”

Fine, if it was gonna be a match of who could shout and be more upset, I’d play that game.

I’d win too.

Mathis just stalked out of the way and into the side room where he had set up the pods.

“If you wanna go have a night with some bimbo, fine, but don’t do it so openly. And definitely not in front of us. I helped you escape the biggest threats to my existence.”

“While I thank you for getting me out of that situation. Had you not let my father know where I was, I would’ve killed J and been done with you all. So don’t act the righteous hero just because you intervened.”

“It’s not self righteousness that compels me to deal with you so harshly. It’s your ignorance of the galaxy around you. This isn’t some safe little place where we can just hang out. This place isn’t going to keep us a secret if someone asks about us. Sooner or later someone will ask questions about the half a ship we abandoned. And when they do, we’ll have to run.”

Her words were lashing. Each time she said something about the next danger, I felt a bit more shame.

“Mathis was right. I think your capable of being scarier than J…”

The lights had all been flickering. Her eyes the brightest points in the room now. I could feel tightness in my chest. Mathis had gone out of the room, but his soft breathing was still audible after she had finished speaking.

Charlotte was so tense, that her fur had risen. Silver-grey hairs flowing around her head. Her arms had started to shift.

Fuck. I really pissed her off. And damn was she scary.

“Is this really because I showed myself to that girl?”

“No…. Not entirely. But you can not, I mean absolutely can not, reveal who you are. To anyone.”

“Why then?”

“Because they’ll find us.”

“No. I know that. Why did this make you so angry. I’ve never seen you as anything but kind. Well, except when you stood up to J. But never have I seen you even shift so much as a single hair on your body. You are almost half shifted….”

Charlotte relaxed back to her human form again. The hair on her head settling back down to cup her face.

“That, for me, is fully shifted….”

That was… sadness, hurt, feeling of failure?

“Your sure? Cause as scared as I was, you still looked mostly human.” I was trying to be consoling, but it backfired.

“I’ve been sure of that my whole life.” There was a definite bite in her words. “Everyone makes sure I’m fully aware of how inadequate I am as a shifter.”

Oh…. So she was seen as a failure too then.

A freak.

Outcasted and labeled as too different to matter.

“I know how that feels.”

I dropped my gaze to the floor. I could feel the depressing memory’s of my past coming back. I never could run far enough away from them to make them disappear. Even how many thousands of light years, or what ever they measured galaxies in, that I had just traveled.

Distance didn’t change emotion. 

Charlotte’s hand touched my chin. She lifted my head till I looked at her.

“I know. I’m sorry as well. But I only know harsh truth and consequences.”

Her eyes were soft now. The amber in them had dimmed to a soft pale cream color.

“You must be tired, go rest. And don’t leave unless one of the two of us knows. I was serious about not revealing who you are. We can’t afford to have J, or your father find us yet.”

J, my father. Either one, right now, I’d fight them.

If I could, I’d kill J. My father was still an unknown. Charlotte had told me that story about him. But how much of it was true?

“That story..”

“Truth. All of it. I’ll not have you questioning my knowledge.” Her snapping remark cut me off.

“Ok. Then I have a lot to think on. I won’t be able to sleep while I’m so lost in thought.”

And that was an understatement. If my father truly was immortal. Had been born from the chaos goddess, and even beaten death. What was I truly supposed to think?

None of it sounded like something that could be possible to me. I had grown up on a world where magic and crazy things didn’t happen.

Other than my being a wolf shifter, nothing in my life had ever been anything but bland. To learn of space travel, worlds with sentient life, and even beings that truly were as powerful as gods. That was almost too much.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you, I just…”

“Never thought it possible?”

Her question perfectly reflected my thoughts.

“Yea..”

“There is still so much more for you to learn. And I hope you let me teach you. As my Alpha, I owe you everything I am.”

“Whoaaah! Wait, wait, wait. Alpha? No. No way.”

“But you beat J. Your the only one to ever have beaten him. And twice to make it even more undeniable.”

No way. I couldn’t be an alpha. What was she thinking? They had kidnapped me. No, not her personally. And Mathis seemed to follow Charlotte. So I doubted he had anything to do with it.

How could I be their leader? What had I done to merit that responsibility? I had killed J. Well, his body anyway. Twice?

So when he had me in his personal room, that hadn’t been an illusion!

“Your telling me that, I really did beat him?”

I had to ask. She would know. Being in control of life force, she would notice. Wouldn’t she?

“Yes. In that room, you gutted him. But his spare bodies are numerous. And he jumped into one that was in the room with you.”

“How? What makes that possible?”

That was going to be my next question at dinner before we left. Charlotte had done the same thing. Died, then come back moments later in another body. Identical to the old one.

“Our immortality. Granted to us by your father. And continued by the use of galactic resources.”

Huh? What?

“I don’t get it.” That didn’t really answer anything.

“Your father beat death. And through resources we siphon away from the galactic federation, we can create new bodies to inhabit when our old ones die.”

“That still doesn’t make it easier for me to understand. And how am I your alpha now?”

“Another creation of the Mistress of Chaos, your father stole a piece of the technology that allows souls to be bound to new bodies. With it, we were able to create a facsimile of immortality.” 

I just blinked a few times. I think the spinning in my head stopped just long enough to hear the words, and then began rushing like rapids down a waterfall as I tried to understand them.

Charlotte took my blank stare as invitation to keep talking. She waved a hand, motioning for me to lead her into the makeshift bedroom, the continued talking.

“You beat J. That makes your the strongest. And in his society, the strongest is alpha. So now it is yours to remake as you see fit. Regardless of if anyone else saw it, or knows it yet, I will make sure you have the opportunity to make all of them know it.”

Well, by that logic, I couldn’t say she was wrong.

“But what do I know about leading you? I don’t even know you.”

“Well, then by all means ask anything of me you wish to know, Master Fenrir.”

I stumbled back. That was too much. Master, why would she call me that? If she considered me alpha that was one thing, but I couldn’t ever be a master of someone. It felt too much like she thought I owned her now.

The weight of what she was saying crushed down upon me. She truly expected me to lead the three of us. And I had made such a simple, idiotic mistake. I had revealed who I was to some random bar maid.

I couldn’t even focus myself anymore. The feelings of shame and regret, caught with my passion to prove I was good enough.

Adrenaline suddenly spiked within me, my mind cleared and I saw the terrible truth of what could be the worst case scenario from letting that girl see me.

I saw my father’s faceless visage, the darkness I expected to radiate from him swallowing up another demon in front of him. J, reaching out from my father’s shadow, reaching for me. His snarling teeth showing his brutality for one last flash as everything imploded.

I saw as they both arrived at the space dock above, killing indiscriminately. It would be my fault.

“Will that waitress give us away?” My heart still raced, but I came back to the present and felt much more clear than beforehand.

“I don’t know. I would hope not, it’s too soon for word of our betrayal to have reached this post. But if she knows and someone comes asking later on, that could be a different story.”

She was being serious. Her words cleared my head though. I forgot all about the fantasy of my fathers story. If I had just sold us out on accident, I would never forgive myself.

Right here, right now, I need to make sure that I keep a promise. To never give away any information that I don’t have to. I will keep my identity, Charlotte, Mathis, this whole thing, a secret.

I had to.

“Well I can promise that I will do everything to make sure it’s not my fault anymore.”

What else could I say. I felt like they expected so much from me. I had to live up to their expectations.

Charlotte smiled. It looked amazing on her.

“Ok.” Was all she said. Then she turned and walked to her bunk. 

A shadow moved, it was on the far bunk. It seemed to be where Mathis had been silently snoring. He seemed to have calmed down and dozed off after we had stopped arguing.

I followed Charlotte. She sat down on one bunk. I found a spot on the one opposite from her. We faced each other for a moment.

“Good night Alpha. We have a lot to do tomorrow. And if I’m going to be of much use to you, I’ll need my sleep now.”

“Goodnight.”

I wasn’t going to sleep. I had too much to think about now. Charlotte curled up on her bunk. The lights were dim in here. All I could see of her was a shadowy outline. Within moments she too snored softly.

Alpha….. How was I supposed to be an alpha? I sat restlessly trying to answer that question. My nerves started to make my legs bounce. 

I needed to go for a walk before I started making too much noise and woke the others. I tiptoed as quietly as I could out of the bunk room. I gazed out of the front door for a moment, then walked back to the computers in the back room. The warmth flooding over me.

The soft hum and embracing heat seemed to wash the tension from my shoulders. I hunched over, wondering what they would say if they woke up and found me sleeping in here.

“You don’t have to believe the story. But it’s true that your father is a very dangerous being.”

I jumped, twisting around to face the voice that came from behind me.

Mathis stood there. Calm and looking down at the floor. My hackles had risen and my blood had started pumping harder.

How could such a giant man be so silent?

“She has your best interests in mind. Despite the past, she always looks to the future.” He slowly turned away. “She always knew, someone would become strong enough to put J down. I’m just glad I believed her.”

He silently stalked away again.

My heart was still racing. Mathis was even more confusing than Charlotte. And way stealthier.

I took a few deep breaths to calm my breathing. I wonder what made him decide to come say that too me? I closed my eyes and let my other senses focus in on him more.

A small pat, pat, pat. His footsteps as he reached the room. It sounded like he had gone to the room with the pods. I still hadn’t gotten a good look at those.

Maybe I should go check them out. I could ask Mathis more about Charlotte while I was in there.

I slowly walked towards the room. The dim light not showing me anything. Inside the room it was all dark except a few dull flashing lights coming from some electronics.

“Mathis?” I whispered. “Can I come in?”

“Of course.” Came the quiet and quick reply.

I stepped through the doorway. Not knowing what was in here I started looking at everything.

Small boxes hung from the walls, wires hung from them. Not in a tangled mess like the computer room. The neatly tied up wires clung to the walls and ran all around the room.

The two large pods were against the back wall. A soft blue glow emanated from both of them. In front of them, Mathis lay on a cot that looked way to small for him.

“How is that comfortable?”

“It’s better then what I had on the ship.”

Well that sounded awful. It actually sounded like what I had gone through for most of my life.

“There’s plenty of room in the other room with us, did you not like hearing us talk?”

“I like my privacy, I, prefer to sleep in a room alone.”

“I guess I can understand that. I’ve never had much for comfort my whole life.”

“You and I share a similar fate in all of that.”

“Oh yea? How so?” I was curious now. I always thought he was J’s number two man or something. Turns out he was more of a slave.

“J abducted me when I was three. I never knew my real home. Any memories I had of it were wiped, the first time I died.”

“Your memories are wiped when you die?”

“Not usually. Just when Alpha… uh, I mean, J, decides to do so.”

He had to catch himself from calling his old master alpha.

“How old are you now?”

A small growl, that quickly stopped as he coughed and began,

“Sorry. I’m not entirely sure though. The only thing I know for certain, is that it’s been roughly eighty years, since the last time I was killed.”

Eighty years!? And that was just since his last reincarnation.

“That sounds like a long time to live such a subservient life.”

“It was. Charlotte, was around before I can remember being on that ship, but, I also only know being there. The only reason I know anything from before, is because either J, Charlotte, or others, would tell me things. Little bits of information that I’ve had to piece together.”

“And I thought eighteen years was hard.”

I was truly feeling sorry for this shifter. His life had been nothing but serving that monster J.

I had gotten extremely lucky to have escaped after only a month.

“Life, is about perspective. Everyone thinks their hardships are the worst, until they see something that dwarfs their sorrows. Something that is much worse.” His words made me think more about that.

“Can I sit with you for awhile?”

“Your my Alpha. You can do as you please.”

It made me uncomfortable to have these two so readily accept me as their superior. I sat anyway.

“I don’t know how J ran his crew. Other than what Charlotte told me, and the little I saw when I was on the ship, not locked away. But I refuse to become someone who treats others so callously. You are way more experienced in life than I. And I’m going to need you and Charlotte to guide me. If I didn’t have you two, I’d probably be killed or get sold into slavery again.”

I knew as much, and I knew I needed to have help. I was on an alien planet. Well, a structure above an alien planet. What was I supposed to do if they left me on my own?

“You will never have to worry about my loyalty. I left J, but that was because I could not respect his authority. His power held me in his grasp. Yours freed me.”

“What about Charlotte? She seemed capable of destroying J, if she wanted too. Why did she wait for someone else?”

“She is strong. And if she had been able to take his life, I’m sure she would have. But, it seemed there was some sort of block on her power, whenever she tried to use it on him. Only once did I see her try. And it didn’t turn out very well.”

So J’s life force was untouchable. Even to someone who could command and control that force.

What was he?

“Who is J? Who is he really?”

“A shifter, that split away from the main family. Broke his pact with your father. He stole away many who wanted to see a change in the way things were handled in the galaxy. Our race is a dominant force, outside of the galactic federations control. We don’t follow their laws, and J, wanted to conquer them. He thinks that if we use the strength that your father has, or gives to his offspring, we could rule everything.”

Mathis heaved a heavy sigh. His giant body slumping slightly. He seemed tired.

“That’s….a lot to take in. I don’t know what to say really. I don’t know enough to understand it fully.”

I stood. Letting Mathis have his cot back to himself.

“Well, I’d be more than happy to explain anything else I can, Alpha. I’m sure Charlotte would as well. Really, she has much more knowledge about the universe, and it’s going ons, than I do.”

“Thank you, Mathis. Truly, but get some rest. You look exhausted. I’m gonna go find a place to lay down too.”

I walked towards the door. The room wasn’t that big, half a dozen steps had me at the door way.

I paused when I got to it, resting my hand on the frame.

“One last question… who’s the bigger monster? J, or my father?” I couldn’t help but ask.

There was a pause as Mathis took in, and released several breaths.

“J, is an apple that didn’t fall away from the tree. Just hit all the worst branches on the way down, and none of the good ones. Their both monsters, as far as I know. But, I’ve never actually met your father. Not to my recollection, anyway.”

The answer didn’t help me any. Maybe it told me a little of what to expect when I finally did face my father though.

If J’s bad traits all came from him, then nothing good could be expected of my father.

I left it at that and walked on. Going back into the room Charlotte was snoozing in. Her soft and steady breathing the only sound I could hear.

I stepped as lightly as I could, coming up next to the bunk she was laying in.

Suddenly I felt bad for getting upset with her. I may not have known her long, but she had seen her savior in me. Truth or not, I had come along and filled the role.

That weight settled on me, adding on to the pile I had already begun to accumulate.

Daughter of what was basically the god of wolf shifters.

An outcast who grew up without the slightest clue of that heritage.

I was strong enough to beat someone whom every one else had written off as unbeatable. Immortal even.

I was now an Alpha. The leader of a pack that I didn’t choose.

And I didn’t know what faced me in the future.

Just that two extremely powerful and dangerous leaders were out to get me. One for sure had nothing but malicious intent for me. Both of them probably wanted to use me to similar ends.

And yet, these two here in this warehouse, wanted nothing but to serve and protect me. They didn’t even know me that well. Charlotte just saw me as someone who could set her free. Mathis just followed her lead so that he could be set free.

Freedom.

Something I thought I was going to find. So long ago now it seemed. And here I was, still running. This life on the run might as well be another locked room to keep me in.

I knew I could leave at any time. They didn’t actually lock me in. But, would that be right?Could I really sacrifice their trust and loyalty just to be free?

And would I truly be free?

No. Not really. I’d just be a fugitive on the run from monsters that would most likely catch me before I got anywhere. I silently took the two steps over to the next bunk, the blankets already unfolded over it.

Had Charlotte made the bed for me? I’m beginning to think I might actually enjoy being here with them.

I settle into the bed, it’s about as comfy as the attic room I had in one of the orphan homes I had stayed in. The pillows soft at least. The peaceful lavender scent makes me think of Charlottes room on the ship.

I wonder if she had thought to bring these from her old room? She must’ve had this escape planned out pretty well then.

She had just been waiting for me. Or someone like me anyway.

I let my mind bounce from one idea to the next. Everything I had learned over the last few days now. All of the things I had been forced into doing. The pup that was killed because I tried to protect it…

A family that was killed for nothing more than giving me a house to live in.

The countless others like me; the pup, Charlotte, and Mathis.

My fathers sudden appearance and attack.

Was it to get me back? Or to kill me and J. 

Memories of blackness and hatred swirled in my mind’s eye, pushing out all my other thoughts. That imposing image of my father, his darkness swallowing everything, chased me into my dreams.