Read Online The Change: Episode one by Angela White - Free Book Online Page B

met her
attack with enough force to drive her back.
    Using the power of my thicker legs, I
slammed her into the corner. Her arm popped loudly as it broke, and
I pinned her with the weight of my Changeling body, driving blows
repeatedly into her chest and gut, claws digging into her skin with
every hit.
    Her blade sliced into my leg in a desperate
attempt at survival, and my hands grabbed hers, twisted
viciously.
    Snap! "AAhhh!"
    I spun, delivering alternating, repeated
punches. When she sagged against the bloody chains, I barely
noticed.
    "Match to Pruett! She's won it all!”
     
    6
    "Bring out the bachelors! Bring out the
males!"
    It was the chanting roar of
the crowd that made me pause; their lusty shouts for the prize to
be awarded that returned my fragile control. Daniel!
    My heart thumped as I stepped from the cage
and moved up the stone steps to The Block, blood dripping from my
Changeling fists. I’d earned my slot. I'd won him back. Who cared
that it had been too easy, or that I'd never felt less human?
Daniel was mine!
    The dazed bachelors, who hadn't been
expecting to put in an appearance for another night, were herded
into the arena in only their underclothes. Pale and terrified, the
cowering slaves were slapped and pinched by the unruly crowd as
they were hustled up the steps by twitchy guards in a crew of twice
the normal size.
    I spotted him right away, his horrified
stare as he saw who'd won. My face was as pale as his, I’d shared
my own food for years before my parents discovered my obsession,
but I appeared indifferent to his terror.
    They lined the males up in front of me now,
even pushing them to kneel at my feet, and I struggled to complete
the plan. The Network couldn't ever know I'd come for just him.
    I opened my mouth… "No black hair!"
    At my call, the crowd screamed and brunettes
were led away through the caged walkway I’d come down to start the
match.
    I waved a hand, fighting against the Change
as the mob shoved closer to us. "No green!"
    Another group was cut from the herd, removed
among the laughter and drunken shouts. Blue eyes begged me for
mercy, pleaded to be left.
    "That one!"
    His face crumpled in terrified dismay as I
pointed, and the crowd bellowed its approval at my choice.
Flickering crimson and onyx, I gave them what they wanted one last
time.
    I grinned.
    The loudspeakers drowned out the mob.
    "And that concludes this episode of the
Bachelor Battles! Tune in next week for another..."
     
    7
    Suddenly without the need for my departing
guards, I made my way into the hall as the guard tried to hold back
the crowd that was congratulating me and each other on gaining the
prize, winning the bet. My patience was only a threadbare blanket
around me. The Change was impossible to keep caged the way I'd been
doing, and I went to my new rooms with quick feet, sure he'd
already be there.
    The private areas for winners were a
complete contrast to the deliberate, camera-ready décor of the
games halls. These walls were a blank gray slate that my Changeling
eyes wanted to splash blood across.
    No carpets softened the steps of my boots,
and they drew instant notice from the guards at each intersection.
I didn’t need to flash my ID, they knew who I was, and I ignored
their hulking forms and lethal eyes. I had my own fire hidden
behind these identical doors and glassy floors. The farthest
apartment would be ours while the Network verified the win, and I
swung the door open as if in a dream.
    He stood near the couch,
face pale, bruised. His clothes were filthy, his scent
overpowering, and yet, there was only need as I moved closer. The door
closed and locked automatically behind me, throwing us into
dimness.
    Daniel had been on the edge of manhood when
sold, body finally starting to recover with the extra food I’d been
able to provide. His thin face had haunted my dreams, but that
image shattered now. The young boy I’d been so attached to was
gone, I realized, stunned for a moment by the