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It was often said that love made you do crazy things and Amber had come to learn just how true that statement was. Once upon time she was just a girl who liked reading, putting on shows for her parents and volunteering at the community centre.
Now she was a girl, who stalked, killed and cooked for her alien boyfriend who just happened to have a growing taste for cannibalism.
Did it really count as Cannibalism if he was an alien?
Amber sighed to herself. Of course it did, no matter how much she denied it. His mother had been human making him half human, so it would always be cannibalism.
Cannibalism she enabled because she loved him.
She wondered if hell would be hotter for her than most?
She didn't supply victims for his dinner because the unsacred act gave her joy. It was out of preservation not only for herself but for him too.
She scoffed.
Some superhero she was.
If her parents were still alive what would they say to her?
'Yes Amber, of course you're doing the right thing by killing criminals and feeding them to him so he doesn't kill innocents himself. That's totally normal behavior and they're bad guys. They deserve it.'
She was seven years old when she watched them get murdered.
If they could see her now maybe they'd think she should've been murdered instead.
She shook her head.
She kept telling herself that it was taming his darkness. Keeping innocents safe.
It wasn't tame by any means.
She had seen his hunger in action. He had even tasted her once.
The day he saved her life from her.
Sometimes she still felt the hand grip around her neck but even with all the fear she felt, it was nothing compared the shock from finally seeing him.
Seeing his true colors.
The anger shifting to violence before shifting to pleasure as he ripped her throat out with his teeth. He kept going long after she was dead and Amber had just sat there and watched.
When he had finally broken free from his haze, he had turned to her with an almost blank expression.
"I never wanted you to see me like this but... it's what I am. I can't change that! I don't even know if I want to. Ever since my parents.... I've tried fighting it but I can't. I can be normal when I want to but it plagues me. I've come close to killing you before but... you make me feel things. I think it's the only reason it hasn't happened yet but it's only a matter of time."
If Amber had been sound of mind, she would've run away then. Perhaps turn to the other heroes but she hadn't.
They were both orphans. Her grandfather had raised her long enough to reach fifteen before he had left her too. Mark and friends were all she had left in this world.
Mark had been in her life longer than her parents had been and whilst she had always known something was wrong with him, she supposed learning that her friend turned boyfriend having powers was enough to ignore the underlying issue.
Maybe it was that or the near death experience that had made her ignore the truth and kiss him like he would fade away if she didn't hold on tight enough.
When they had made love that same night she had understood his words then, that it was only a matter time before what semblance of feelings he had for her wouldn't matter, not when biting into her flesh made him feel so good.
The pain should've been enough to wake her up but it didn't.
She wondered exactly the moment when she had lost her agency around him. If she ever had any at tall.
She scoffed again.
She had it all right.
After all she had made the choice to make the first kill, when he had come to her, blood staining his clothes and dripping down his chin. His body shaking and tears streaming down his face.
A rare sight.
He hadn't meant to do it, not to William. A dispute gotten out of hand.
Another sign to run.
Yet she had stayed by his side and comforted him. She knew it would darken him further and sooner or later it would be her turn.
Although William was alive.
Hideously disfigured but still alive and yet Mark had been so hurt at what he'd done. William the only other person in his life of any meaning even if he'd never say so.
He was scared, enough to show her what he considered weakness and she had seized the moment as an opportunity to... she wasn't sure exactly what. Fix him? Save herself? Save others?
She didn't know but that's when she had finally made her choice.
To fully step foot into the darkness.
She told herself it would be easy. He was sex offender for christ sake! She followed and studied the guy for a week and when she realized he had acquired a target, she made her move.
She had almost died the first time. Hesitated for just a second too long and he had almost strangled her to death. When the knife had gone through his eye, it wasn't about Marks hunger or her inability to escape his hold over her.
Her survival was at stake and she had felt the fear of a Viltrumite hand on her neck before. She refused for a human hand to finish the job.
It took hours to contemplate what she'd done. A cold numbness settling in her bones. She couldn't remember the exact details of what she did to get him into that pie but when she had shown Mark the result of her choices he had looked at her like she was made of gold and she hated how good that felt to her.
But she knew that love made you do crazy things.