Chapter 62: Nourishment

Four days passed by uneventfully in the Open Furnace.

Howard let Jenny sink her teeth into his arm once a day in order to satisfy her thirst. Sitting outside on the edge of a endless mountain range, Jenny walked over to him in a blue dress.

"Today is the last day Barabin said I need to drink your blood," Jenny carefully placed herself by Howard's side, gently rubbing her head against his shoulder. "Mmm, I'm going to miss it. When I drink your blood, I feel so close to you. Howard, you you like me?"

"Sure, of course I do!" Howard said, smiling and rubbing the top of her head. "If Monica wasn't my girlfriend, I'd definitely date you! I'd-I'd sleep with you every night!"

"You-you're so bad," Jenny said with a smile, slowly lifting his arm towards her mouth as her teeth slowly started to extend outward. She had stopped craving Howard as much in the last four days and now just felt a gentle tingling sensation in her heart. Before every time she looked at Howard, it felt like something inside of her wanted to escape to pierce into every inch of his exposed flesh. However, now it felt like just a gentle whisper that had grown into a quiet calm. "I-I would be glad to date you if it wasn't for Monica. I'd love to do experiments on you too!"

"You-you remember my father?" Howard said, kicking his feet over an abyss that extended further then the eyes could see. In the Furnace, some areas seemed to have endless depths that seemed to get swallowed by darkness. Looking down at it, Howard felt the same way he did when he looked at his father. "He-he got your father in trouble, right?"

"My father's law firm lost a few million dollars, but before that we used to hang out together," Jenny gently sunk her teeth into Howard's arm, looking up at him while waiting him to reply. "I-I'll just do this quickly. S-sorry about this. I can't help it."

"It's fine." Howard brushed back her brunette hair and looked into her beautiful, brown eyes. "Heh, yeah, I remember one time when we were kids you can over and gave me a toy that blew up!"

"I-I went to the doctor and they wondered how my leg didn't get ruined! Heh, I guess it was because these horns were already growing in secret," Howard gently watched Jenny raise her face and look into his eyes with embarrassment and confusion. "Heh, I can barely remember the times before that."

"Before that," Jenny said, swallowing a final burst of energy, "Before that we used to go to the park. You'd always bring me flowers. I kept them in my room in a special jar. I thought you had a crush on me and I told all my friends in class. Do-do you remember-."

"Jenny, come with me," Barabin touched her on the shoulder. "I need to make sure you don't get engulfed in flames. Howard, we're one day away from the Ki Reservoir. Go make sure you can activate your Channeling Door. I have a feeling we won't need it, but we can't be too sure."

"We get to hit you, Howard," Reece said, tossing a ball of flames back in fourth in her hands. "Harley is looking forward to it. She says if we knock you out, she's going to kiss you."

"Have fun Howard. We can talk later," Jenny followed after Barabin and went with him behind the bus. She felt a lot more clear headed in the last four days, and finally could look up into the sky and appreciate the strange beauty of the Furnace. Taking a calming breath, she turned towards Barabin with tears in her eyes.

"Am I slowing you guys down," She said, shivering with her arms around herself. "I-I'm so sorry. I want to be useful, but I can't do much down here. All I can do is watch."

"Watching is important," Barabin gently leaned into Jenny's eyes and grabbed her arms. "However, you can do much more than that. Because of Howard's generosity, you can now make flames appear in the air."

"You mean this?" Jenny opened her hand, causing a small fire ball to appear. "This is nothing compared to you guys." Jenny tossed it into the air before it burst like a fire work. "Nothing special. Just a girl with horns. We're down here for a reason right?"

"Girl, don't cry," Barabin finally couldn't help but hug her, squeezing all the sadness out of her with his warmth. "You have an entire family down here. Your main problem is you're still thinking like we're on the surface. When you truly look at this beautiful, strange place, it's not too bad."

Barabin had spent months and months in the Furnace wandering around with Sally. He hated her when they first arrived, and craved the thrill of endless nights of bloodshed that had rivoted him on the surface.

The zombies that appeared everywhere were tasteless and died so easily under his hands that he felt almost strange. On the surface, he'd had to truly fight for victory, but down here nothing seemed to challenge him except for Sally's eyes.

She regularly forced him to improve his inner nature, forced him to work on his character, and he forced him to work on his cravings. Seeing her gently brush aside her hair all those years ago, and guide his head into her neck so he could quench his thirst, he almost felt guilty. Guilty that when he got to the Furnace he hadn't shown his love for her sooner.

"You-you look like you have a lot that you've been through," Jenny finally hugged Barabin back. "I-I'm going to try and adjust to it down here. At least, at least I have my childhood friend."

"About him," Barabin pointed at Howard, getting swallowed in flames as a small doorway appeared next to him. "He's not normal, hahaha! I don't know if you know this, but your skill with flames is actually pretty good. You grew horns a week ago and you can already make a fire ball."

'Howard-Howard is of the demon king lineage. Have you heard of it?" Barabin patted her on the head as she softly let go of his warmth. "It got that name not because he's an actual demon or a king, but because he was so feared that he practically ruled the Furnace. There was not a single Authoritarian that didn't show him respect, or an Aresoul that didn't dread his presence."

"I-I heard you mention it. What happened to him?" Jenny said, holding out her hand and causing another fire ball to appear in the air. "Did he get betrayed by someone? Did his three wives team up on him and kill him?"

"Nope, he killed himself so all of us could exist," Barabin said, crossing his arms and staring into the sky. "Hopefully, Howard won't ever have to do the same thing. Now, let's get going to the Ki Reservoir. Keep that chin up, okay?"