Jason Steele Eats Humans

My family kills people.

That's how it is.

Because that's what we are.

If we don't kill them.

If we don't eat them.

Eventually we will die.

But I can't accept that.

"Jason?" My mom said, as I helped her wash the dishes.

"Yeah?"

"How's school."

"Good."

"Are you sure? You've been missing a lot of your assignments recently."

Shit.

I forgot, I accidentally used my parent's email the day I made my campus account. This was back when I was eighteen.

"Ah. Well, maybe a little bit unwell, but nothing too major."

My mom set down the plate.

"You know I do not approve of the way you live your life."

I clenched my fist.

"Like you would understand my reasons, mom. What's wrong with wanting to live life as a person? You brought me here, didn't you? You let me go to school, didn't you? Dad let me hang out with these people and make friends. You both encouraged it."

My mom growled under her breath. A low, fierce, growling only something our kind could make.

"Do not mistake freedom with whatever you are doing now. In the end, you are what you are. You're not like them. Your father and I let you live your life because we understand the loneliness of living your life surrounded by humans. But eventually, you will have to give in. It is your biological need."

"I don't need this." I replied, as I ran up the steps.

"Jason!" My mom called out to me.

I panted, as I tried to get up the steps, but I ran out of breath.

My friend, Ronnie, had told me that my kind could survive till the age of twenty eight without consuming human flesh.

That was what I believed in, but he never mentioned the side effects that could happen before that.

One such side effect was my heavily reduced stamina.

It felt like I had asthma, whenever I exerted myself, my heart would feel like it was operating on overdrive. No matter how many times I went on a run, I would always be too lightheaded and dizzy to continue after fifteen minutes. Could it be I was just unfit? Maybe if I was human.

I went up the steps slowly, as I heard the door creak to my sister's room.

"Hey wimp." My sister said, as I noticed a human skull on her bed. She was nibbling at the ear. Her demonic form in plain view. She was only about five feet tall, but she was five feet of black shiny skin, spikes protruding from her back, her hair, black and wild and spiky going down her back and seating around her shoulders. Her bloodred eyes and demonic horns curling to the front of her jaws as she munched on the flesh. In the light of her room, her black, smoky aura and remnants of her demonic dark speed still in full view, making numerous mirages on her bed as if she had just used her speed to capture that poor guy that was now her late night snack.

I nearly fell on my back.

"HAHA! Pussy! What a sorry excuse for an older brother!" My sister jeered at me, as I stumbled out of the way to my room.

Allison "Ally" Steele, by the way. Aged twenty.

Ally, like me, was born looking like a human, but over time, she unlocked her demonic transformation at the age of thirteen when she was bullied by her classmates. I found it unacceptable that day when I found out my lil sis was being bullied and wanted to step in, and I actually was about to. Hiding in the trees, watching my sister get beat up by the mean girls.

But the moment I emerged, my dad appeared out of nowhere, in his demonic form; a hulking monster with bull like horns and flaming orange eye trails similar to a minotaur, slammed me into the ground. He told me that the physical bullying was what my sister needed.

And he was right. Because the moment my sister was pushed into oncoming traffic, the horror activated her defense mechanism.

And I watched my sister undergo her transformation for the first time, her hair turning wild and spiky, growing longer until it reached her waist, her demonic face complimented by fangs and curly horns similar to a goat, as she snarled at her bullies and killed them with her claws. All that training from dad, all that martial arts, suddenly awakening through a series of savage yet structured claw swipes. She then ate their corpses in front of me.

Mom and Dad were completely fine with the fact that their daughter had committed murder. They had a family friend act as the lawyer and chalk the whole thing up to a wild animal attack, obviously bullshitted, of course. But we then had her transferred to another school, where my sister would kidnap classmates and eat them.

By the time I got to my room, I collapsed on the bed.

Drama always made me feel nauseous. And every night was always drama when Mom or Dad mentioned about my lifestyle.

Every day I felt weaker and more unstable.

I knew that.

I just didn't know how it ended between the two of us. So talking to you... it made me hesitate a bit, you know?

My heart hurt as I clenched my teeth.

I heard my phone vibrate, as I rushed to it.

Was it her? I had finally mustered the courage to send her a text, but nope.

I made a disappointed face.

Yo. Jace. Wanna VC tonight?

"Ronnie..." I grumbled, as I opened my FacePage and hit him up.

"Bro... you look like shit." Ronnie said, as he chuckled.

"Shut up, dude." I replied, as I cracked open a soda and drank it.

"Bro did you ask her out already?"

"No, Ronnie. I didn't."

"DUDE. Seriously? It's your last year, hell, it's your last month in this degree. Once you graduate you're gonna be working a white collar job. Your love life is gonna be over."

"Thanks, Ronnie for being real supportive."

"I'm just trying to help you out man. It worked for me. I asked Jill out and now we're dating. On the last day of class too."

Easy for him to say. They were both living next door. She happened to be new to town. Everything was set up for them. But for me... she was already popular. Always was.

I rolled my eyes, as I glanced at the cheese sandwich I bought from the convenience store.

I took it out of the wrapper and munched on it.

It tasted terrible.

Like all foods. I always had to force it into my stomach.

But it was this... or...

I remembered watching my Dad cut apart the bodies of victims had had caught on his way home from work, extracting the meat for dinner.

A wave of nausea washed over me.

"Ronnie, you gonna help me for my final exam? It's coming up real soon."

"Ah, nah I can't bro. I have to hang out with my girlfriend."

"..."

"Bro I can't just ignore my girlfriend. That's not how relationships work."

"You said we would study together. You know I'm struggling real bad with class."

"Then just read the lecture slides."

"Dude! I've been doing that since-"

Connection Cut.

I stared at the frozen picture of Ronnie picking his nose.

"Daaaaaaaad! The connection went out! Go kill the landlord's wife or something!" I heard my sister shout from next door.

"Ally! We talked about this! Killing is for food only!" My dad bellowed from the top floor.

I sighed, as I went back and checked my phone.

Elaine had never messaged me back.

After all that talk on that last day of class about she never spoke to me because she was just unsure how it had "ended between us". So I forced the narrative that I was okay with it and that there was nothing bad between us. When I had friended her on FacePage, she had replied.

But now...

It was back on the ghost train.

I should have moved on from her, but it's hard to explain. When I have so much history with her over the past three years.

The phone vibrated again, as I checked it.

Voice call? Your internet sucks right. Ronnie texted me.

I pretended to growl at the phone screen. Pretending my demonic form was unlocked, which obviously it wasn't. Thank god.

"Yo"