Thread: That Hollow Feeling (Cinderella1181 and Mim)

What. The word stuck in Jude's mind like a bad taste in her mouth. She had expected a few different sorts of reactions, but she hadn't expected suddenly being a what. She had to suppress her initial reaction to come back with anger and hurt he hadn't meant anything by it, that much was clear when she stood and he took her face in his hands. If he hunted things that went bump in the night...well, who knew what sort of experiences he'd had? Maybe he'd hunted a few Peculiars gone bad. It wasn't like they were all harmless like her. She took a step away from him and brushed the wet dirt off of her hands. Let's go inside, she suggested, taking his hand without answering his question. It isn't safe out here they hunt at night. Jude shivered, feeling as though she could feel the Hollow's eyes on the back of her neck, though she didn't know just how close it was. She imagined if it had found her it would have attacked. It was a Hollow and Dean was a Common, after all--it wasn't like he could protect her from it. Jude led the way back inside, setting her discarded shoes just inside the door and wiping her bare feet on the rug before directing Dean towards a kitchen chair. She opened the fridge, slicing up a leftover apple pie from the previous night and warming it up before topping it with vanilla ice cream. Dean's favorite was cherry, she knew, but apple was all she had for now. With a sigh she sat across from him, sliding the pie over to him. To begin with, I'm a who , not a what , Dean, she said at length, just the slightest betrayal of aggravation in her voice. The Romani people call us Syndragasti, but these days we just call ourselves Peculiar. The best anyone can figure it's a genetic mutation passed on, though it pretty reliably skips generations. Both of my grandparents on my mom's side were Peculiar, and Mom's a Common but it passed down to me. It was a 5050 shot between this and a mouthful of bees, so I count myself lucky. She smiled ruefully and shrugged. Think of us as like the X-Men. One power each, so yes growing plants is all I can do. Some are useful like this, some not so much I knew a girl once who levitated, but she didn't have a choice in it. She had to wear lead-soled shoes or else she would've floated off into the sky. My granddad had a thousand bees living in his stomach. He could command them, which was pretty cool, but still...a stomach full of bees 247. She shook her head. Anyway, there are monsters out there called Hollowghasts, or Hollows for short. They used to be Peculiar, but now...now they're less than human. Jude shuddered and rubbed her arms as though she'd suddenly gotten a chill, then her eyes darted to both the front and back doors to make sure they were locked. They'll eat anyone, but they crave Peculiars. Once they've eaten enough of us, absorbed our souls, they become wights. That's pretty much their old selves, but usually without their powers. Wights are masters of disguise, and if there's a Hollow around it's almost guaranteed there's a wight close behind trying to pick out who the Peculiar is. Those people out in the woods, most of them were Common but Jimmy Smits and Edith Arbuckle were both Peculiars. The problem with trying to avoid Hollows is that they're invisible. You can see their shadows in the daytime, but that's why they mostly just hunt at night, and you can only see them when they're feeding. She set down her fork and rubbed her face. It's probably against your instinct not to kill me Dean, and I get that, Jude admitted with a sigh. And if that's a problem then I'll stay out of your way. But Dean...I'm not the one you should be hunting. I'm prey, and I'm scared. She did in fact look pale, eyes wide with fear, hand shaking slightly.