There was a faint, mottled bruise just above her left eye. She'd tried to cover it with make-up and by styling her hair slightly differently than usual, and maybe others couldn't see it, but I could. I'd spent too much time looking at her face, every perfect feature, smooth perfect skin, to not notice the bruise. Maybe others did see it, but had chosen to ignore it. People did that, I found. Turned a blind eye. Pretended. Glossed over the shit they didn't want to see.

But I saw it. I always did.

'He did it again.' I clenched my fists on the table, my lunch tray untouched in front of me.

Alice shook her head, not to deny it, but to shake her hair down to hide her bruised skin. 'Not here,' she hissed, throwing surreptitious glances around the school dining hall. No one was paying attention. No one cared. Only me.

'I'm going to kill him,' I said. 'I swear, I'm going to smash his bloody head in.'

'Don't be stupid,' she shot back, rolling her eyes. I hated it when she did that. Hated it when she dismissed me like I was a little kid not capable of protecting her.

'It's getting worse,' I insisted. 'You can't keep having days off pretending to be sick, just to cover for him.' She'd been off for a whole week. A whole week without seeing her face. Without seeing her smile. It had been torture and every day she hadn't come out, I'd wanted to storm right in to her house and kill him. Tear him apart. Pummel his face with my fists until they were bloodied and raw. How could he even think to hurt her?

Alice looked down at the plate of shepherd's pie on her lunch tray, toying with the lumpy mash potato and the oily, grey meat with her fork. 'Leave it, Kris, there's nothing you can do. There's nothing anyone can do.'

I leant forward, desperate to touch her hand or her face, but knowing that I couldn't. Not here. Not where everyone could see us.

'There is,' I said, stubbornly. 'I told you there is. Please, Alice, think about it. We can do it. We can go where they'd never find us. They can't search a whole city for us, it'll be impossible. We can leave and never, ever come back. Just you and me.'

I looked at her, hopefully, expectantly, watching the idea of the life we could have sparking in her eyes, the life we could have together. Just us. It would be perfect. Really, truly bloody perfect.

'Alice? Oh, my God, what's going on?'

I rolled my eyes inwardly at the nasal tone of Alice's supposed best mate, Vanessa. Standing by her side, as always, was the other one, Kayla, both carbon copies of each other with hair harshly scraped back into a high bun, enough eyeliner to rival any store cosmetics counter and eyebrows plucked into thin, arched lines. God, I hated them. Always sticking their noses in, but not where it really counted.

'I've been sick,' mumbled Alice. 'Stomach bug.'

Vanessa screwed up her face like she'd smelt something bad. 'Not that, babe. I mean, why are you sitting with him?'

Oh, right, yeah. Me. God forbid, she should be sitting with me. The one who holds her and kisses her and tells her everything's going to be okay. The one who gives a shit about what's happening at home. The one who would do anything – literally anything – to keep her happy.

Alice glanced at me, but wouldn't meet my eyes. 'Well, you know, he's my neighbour. We're just having lunch that's all.'

'Yeah, but with a tenth-year kid?' Vanessa sneered. 'Come on, Alice, you look lame sitting with the baby. You can sit with us now.'

Without another word, Alice stood up, collecting her bag and her lunch tray and mouthing sorry to me as she followed them to another table, leaving me to sit on my own.

The air rushed into the empty space where she'd been, tasting stale and rancid on my tongue as I tried to steady my breathing. Picking at my lunch, I raged silently at them, at her dad, at everyone who stood between us. Pretty soon, they'd all know the truth. When we were gone and hundreds of miles away from here, they'd know that she'd chosen me, they'd know that we loved each other and there would be nothing – nothing – any of the stupid bastards could do about it.

I stared across the dining hall to where Alice was sitting and watched her eat.

***

I didn't want to watch her do it.

In my head, a voice was screaming, telling me not to watch, literally begging me not to, maybe because I knew that if I watched her do it, then that might be it. That one sight of her tearing and ripping and chewing, and my love for her would die as horrifically as Gilly had. Pummelled and smashed and beaten into nothing but a bloodied pulp that was once real and alive.

Weirdly though, it didn't die. Even as I watched her plunge her hands into the warmth of the open cavity in his body and pull out his kidney, even as she raised it to her lips and bit into it, juices and blood bursting down her chin, even then, I still loved her. Pausing partway through her feast, she looked over at me, eyes sparkling in the moonlight and she smiled. It was the same smile she used to shoot me whenever no one was looking, sometimes when we passed each other in the school hallways, sometimes when I walked her home from school and it was a smile that told me everything. She loved me too. She loved me then and she still loved me now, because she knew I'd kept my promise. She knew I would never let her down.

I kept hold of that thought as I looked down at my hands in my lap. Bloodied and sore, they trembled slightly. Small lumps of wet, grey tissue stuck to the cuffs of my coat and I scraped them off by wiping my sleeves on the hard ground. My arms and back ached from the force of the blows. I was tall and stocky for my age, always had been, but killing Gilly had been surprisingly more difficult than I imagined it would be. He'd been a small, sinewy scrap of a bloke, and the first strike had caught him hard, but despite life giving up on him, it seemed Gilly hadn't quite given up on life just yet. He'd struggled, fought back with whatever strength he'd had left in him, but in the end, it hadn't been enough as his skull fractured and collapsed, the brick I'd used now embedded where his face had been.

It was sort of easier to look at him now, than when he was alive. Now, he was just a thing, a piece of meat, no more significant than the rodents or the cat. And at least I no longer had to look in to his eyes, knowing what I was going to do.

'Alice?' I looked over to where she knelt, bent over Gilly's body, scooping out whatever she could, lips slapping together as she chewed. 'Alice, we need to go soon. We should go to the shelter and take a shower.'

She nodded vigorously, but didn't stop. What else could there be left inside?

Scrambling to my feet, I stumbled over to where Gilly's bag lay discarded by his feet and as I moved closer, her head shot up, eyes wide and alert. Her hand froze in mid-air, a small piece of dark tissue clutched tight, blood dripping freely from between her fingers. She hissed as I reached down to get the bag, baring her teeth in a scarlet grimace and my heart beat a little harder to see it, a glimmer of fear sending goose-bumps over my skin. We stared at each other, eyes locked for a few awful, terror-drenched seconds and then, without a word, Alice blinked and was gone again, lost in the rapture of her feeding. Lifting her hand to her lips, she shoved the wet morsel into her waiting, hungry mouth, giggling softly as she chewed.

Slowly, I snagged hold of the strap and pulled the bag away, watching her the whole time as I retreated. Gilly didn't have much, not that I'd expected him to, but what he did have was good enough. A couple of t-shirts, a sweater that looked too big for him, a small bottle of water. I shoved the water and one of the t-shirts into my own bag, and retrieved the last of the wet-wipes we'd snagged from the shelter the last time we were there. Wiping my own hands and face with one, I kept the rest for Alice, knowing that she'd need more of a clean-up than me if we were to get into the shelter without arousing suspicion.The faint perfumed scent of the wipes gave me a momentary reprieve from the stench of blood and raw meat that hung heavy in the air, but it didn't last long. Even the stench of damp from under the bridge couldn't banish the death-smell of Gilly.

I waited until I was sure she was done, when she slumped back onto her heels, head rolling onto her shoulders, mouth partly open in ecstasy, like she'd just shoved a needle in her arm and filled her veins, instead of filling her stomach with human organs.

'Alice,' I said again, more softly this time. 'Come on, let's get you cleaned up.'

She stared at me through glazed, half-closed eyes, long lashes against smooth, perfect, blood-splattered skin. Gently, I wiped at her face, her neck, her ears, hairline. I spent more time on her hands, those beautiful delicate fingers of hers – beautiful, monstrous fingers – that I adored so much. Taking off her hoodie and t-shirt, I replaced them both with Gilly's spare t-shirt and sweater, taking a moment to rake my fingers through her hair, smoothing it back from her face.

'I love you,' I whispered, kissing her forehead. 'I love you. Everything's going to be okay, I told you it would, didn't I? I'll keep you safe, I'll always keep you safe.'

'Ah, well, isn't this just a love story made in...'

The voice burst from the alley, the sudden noise making me jump. I hadn't heard him coming. No footsteps. Nothing. I'd been so focused on Alice that the rest of the world had faded into silence.

Tommy 'Sniper' Rose – self-named because he claimed he was ex-military which was an outright fucking lie – stood just beyond the mouth of the alley, his own mouth hanging open as he stared at Gilly's decimated body.

'What the fuck...'

I couldn't move. Couldn't speak. I'd promised to protect her, to keep her safe, and down here, with the city revolving above us, I thought we were safe. It had been like our little cocoon, our bubble, our haven away from all those who would be against us, from all those that wanted to tear us apart, like Alice's friends, her dad, and blokes like Sniper who just wanted Alice for himself. I'd been stupid to think we could hide forever from him and now he was here, he'd found us, only from the look on his face, he didn't look like he'd hit the jackpot at all.

'S-Sniper... Tommy... please,' I began.

But he wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Alice.

Alice, whose eyes were now wide open and staring right back at him.

Alice, whose head had jerked to one side at the sound of his voice.

Alice, who was baring her teeth at him. Teeth that were still stained with blood.

With a strangled cry, Sniper took off back down the alley and before I could grab her, Alice darted after him.

'No! Alice, wait!' I took off after them both, crashing into the thorny jungle of bushes, the branches scratching at my face and hands as I fought my way through the narrow tunnel. Screams echoed back at me, high-pitched frantic wails that froze my blood and made every step feel like I was wading through icy water.

Breaking free from the alley into the warehouse yard, I stopped dead, staring in horror at the scene, the security light illuminating every terrifying detail. Alice was now clinging to Sniper's back, her legs wrapped around his waist, as he desperately tried to beat her off him, his arms flailing wildly. He was the one screaming, ear-splitting, gargled screams of sheer terror. 

Alice was biting his face, teeth embedded in the flesh of his cheek as she shook her head like a rabid dog, refusing to let go. Blood was already pouring out, dripping down his chin and neck. His hand was in her hair, pulling, ripping, but still she didn't release her hold of him, instead trying to claw at his eyes with her tiny, monstrous hands.

I was already running towards them, screaming with him, screaming at her to stop.

I grabbed her, but she just held on tighter – fuck, she was strong - a low, rage-filled growl emanating from her throat as she gnawed at his face.

'Stop, Alice!' I cried. 'Fucking Hell, just stop!' Wrapping one arm tightly around her waist, the other linked around her neck, I yanked hard, finally feeling her hold weaken. I heard the soft rip of flesh, a wet, sickening sound that could only have been one thing.

Sniper stumbled away, clutching at his torn face, shrieking in pain and shock, as blood pulsed in violent spurts from a large gaping hole in his cheek, raw flesh exposed. His eyes bulged, tears streaming down his face. Alice, raged and bucked in my arms, her hands outstretched, clawing at the air, desperate to reach him. If I let her go, I knew she'd finish what she'd started. She'd do to him what she did to Gilly, only Sniper wouldn't be so lucky. Sniper would be alive when she ate him.

'Oh my God, my face! My fucking face! She bit me, the bitch fucking bit me!'

He staggered back, falling in a tangle of limbs, then scrambled up again, the large flap of torn flesh still hanging from the wound. He was sobbing now, blood and snot dribbling from his nose, damp patches spreading down his jeans as his bladder lost control.

'She's insane. She's a fucking animal! I'm gonna tell. I'm gonna tell the cops what you did. They're gonna cart her off to the fucking loony bin!'

He turned and ran, still stumbling, still shrieking as he disappeared, swallowed up by the darkness, his screams fading into the distance. His escape only seemed to enrage Alice more and she continued to kick and jerk, growling and spitting with fury, her tiny frame like hardened steel in my arms.

'Please, Alice,' I begged. 'He's gone, please stop, okay? Just stop.'

Her knees buckled and I went with her, dropping to the ground, with her still locked in my embrace and I pulled her to me, wrapping my arms tightly around her waist and chest. She was moaning now, her struggles easing but her chest still heaving in and out with laboured breaths. Pressing my face into her neck, I planted small kisses there to soothe her. To soothe me maybe. I could smell the blood and stench of meat on her breath, but her skin still smelt of her.

The itch never goes away, whispered Gilly. It's inside. It's inside.

No. I wouldn't believe that. I couldn't. She was still here; I knew she was. She was here with me. My Alice. Mine.

The security light went out, plunging the yard into darkness, but I didn't care.

As long as we were together, everything would be okay.

As long as we were together, everything would be perfect.

I knew it would.