Free The Syndicate by Shelena Shorts

think about it, she’s just naturally pretty. I blink away thoughts of the kind of nice things I want to do for her, and not just for her, but with her.
    Get a grip, Vasi.
    She steps aside, and my eyes drop to the floor in an awkward attempt to avoid further eye contact. There I notice her feet, covered in pink, fuzzy slipper-boot things that an Eskimo might wear trekking through the snow. Again I smile, having no clue why this girl makes me feel soft on the inside.
    “Thanks for coming,” she says. “I mean, I think, anyway.”
    Toughening my mojo, I turn, more abruptly than intended. Whatever this is needs to stop, so business is business.
    “You said you saw Hybrids. Where?”
    Shutting the door, she nods and walks past me into her living room. It’s pretty sparse. There’s not much here, but it looks homey. Warm colors, blues and browns and lots of fluffy pillows. It’s a girl’s apartment, for sure, but with a hint of maturity.
    She sits down Indian style and pulls one of the throw pillows onto her lap. Her arms wrap around it like it’s providing her comfort. In a way, I feel for her. It seems like she’s a lonely girl with no one to turn to. No wonder she came to me, even at the worst possible time and to the worst possible place.
    Finally, I’m inclined to sit. With the awkwardness from my last visit still hovering, I find a chair in the corner, farthest away from her.
    “Um,” she begins, her gaze locked on the pattern of her rug. “I had a dream of being in some forest, and I fell down. Then, the sound of what seemed like bears began to home in on me. I was terrified and alone, but knew to lie there and play dead, so I did. But then, one started sniffing at my legs, and, no matter how hard I tried to be still, I couldn’t. I had to open my eyes, and that’s when I saw them. They were
not
bears, but men. Salivating and sniffing and finally growling. I screamed my head off and woke up.”
    “That’s interesting,” I say, still taking it all in. “But I’m not surprised.”
    She looks up at me. “No?”
    “No. You’ve been through a lot. I attacked you last night and told you that monsters exist. You’re probably freaked out. Anyone would be. A nightmare wouldn’t be unheard of after…after what I did.”
    I’m not looking for her forgiveness, and she doesn’t give it to me. Her mind is too focused on her nightmare.
    “No,” she says shaking her head. “That’s what I thought too. But when I got home this afternoon, there were a couple of guys hanging out on the front steps of my building. They were laughing and drinking. My gut told me to keep one hand on my pepper spray, but my keys fell in the process of reaching for it, and then one of them lunged at me. I nearly had a heart attack until I saw it was the guy who lives upstairs.
    “Anyway, he bent down to pick them up, and I swear, his spine was like…protruding under his shirt—”
    I put up my hand, feeling an intense interest to know specifics.
    “What did he do after that?”
    “He handed me the keys and smiled. With big, yellow teeth.”
    “What about his friends?”
    “I don’t know. I said thanks and bolted past them. But they were all looking at me with these strange smirks. So, I waited until I heard them go upstairs, and then I went to your house.”
    “What makes you think I’d be able to help you?”
    “I just remembered you saying you guys fight them. It just seemed right.”
    “How do you know I’m not one of them? What makes you think I’m the good guy?”
    I want to know what’s going on inside her brain. She’s studying me with a look of hesitation. Like she wants to say something, but doesn’t.
    I don’t let up. “Well?”
    She sighs, looks directly at me, and, after studying me closely, says, “Because you have nice teeth.”
    I laugh. No one’s ever said that to me, but then I’ve never been compared to a Hybrid, either.
    “What?” she says, finally cracking a smile.
    “Nothing. I just