Nilla was invisible. The cold bit her with renewed force but the pain melted away. She looked down at her hands with eyes closed and saw nothing'no dark energy, just nothing. She stared at the bear and knew the animal couldn't sense her at all. It wasn't over, though. Nilla had to end this or eventually she would run out of strength and become visible again'she had a span of time measured in seconds, maybe'and then the bear would be on her with rending claws and vicious teeth. Nilla had to defend herself if she wanted to walk away.
She reached over and grabbed a handful of loose flesh at the back of the bear's neck and squeezed through the fur, squeezed as hard as her fingers allowed, digging her nails into the pliant skin beneath. The bear made a noise then, a titanic, warbling yell that almost sounded like human language.
Nilla's teeth entered the bear's neck. She could see the artery throbbing there. She could smell the blood. When she broke the skin it coursed out and over her, a red flood to carry her away. What happened next didn't involve thinking at all. She bit and tore and gouged as the bear screamed. A chunk of meat came loose in her mouth and she swallowed it effortlessly. The skin tore open and she thrust her face deep into the bear's body, into its hidden recesses. She bit and chewed and swallowed and bit, desperate to steal the bear's energy before it ran out. The bear couldn't resist her'shocked by the suddenness and the pain of her attack it could only scream and try to run but she had it, she had it down, down for the count.
Its life flowed into her, through her. Warm as blood, rich and sweet as the bear's flesh it thrilled in every cell of her body. It felt like being on fire. It felt like being alive again'there she was, all dressed in white bopping down the street, shaking her hips in the sunshine because it felt so damned good to be alive and healthy and beautiful. It was almost too much.
She fell to the ground on her knees and swayed with it for a while with her eyes closed, watching the bear's golden energy degrade. When she opened her eyes again she saw the bear looking back at her with that same expression of recognition she'd been so startled by before. Then she did a double take. Her benefactor was sitting on the bear's back as if he planned to ride off into the sunset.
'You'' Nilla looked up at the naked man. His beard looked newly-trimmed and the blue tattoos that covered his skin glowed with their own light. 'Who''
'Mael Mag Och,' he said, thumping his chest. He looked down at his mount, at the expression on her face. 'She knows you. She knows what it is to be gruaim air le acras.'
'What are you doing here?' Nilla demanded.
He ignored her. Slipping down the bear's furred flank he stepped onto the slickrock and looked straight upward at the stars. 'In salmon moon, she wakes from winter and eats, and does not stop. She swallows a river if she can, a cliath bhradan. In summer she takes moths'forty thousand every day.'
'How do you know that?' Nilla demanded. The bear's life energy was flickering out. She felt a pang of guilt like a rippling in her stomach muscles but'hey. Stomach muscles. She look down and saw the four deep gashes there where the bear hit her first.
'I know many things. I know some English, now. Before, chan fhaigh mi lorg air na facail!' He grinned sheepishly. 'Sometimes I slip back. I know you. I understand hunger, but do not know it. I talk to dead, you see. I learn.'
Nilla frowned. 'What are you? I know you're not really here. I thought before you were a hallucination. You aren't though. You're real.'
He ignored her. 'I know what you are. You are shadow, like so many shadows. Different, though. Like fires in a longhouse, except' this one, it goes out. Covered fire. Then it comes back. Know it is you. Sometimes no fire is better signal than fire, yes? You are stronger, and you are smarter than the rest. I must use you.'
'What are you talking about?'
'A job, for you. A cam-borraig. Work. Purpose. You want something more than that?'
'What kind of job?' She brushed hair out of her eyes.
He smiled. 'Be yourself.'
She opened her mouth to speak then closed it again with a click. 'Be myself.'