AN: To anyone still reading this, I'm so sorry it took this long to update. Honestly, I'd forgotten about the story, which sucks because I liked it so much, but I'm going to try and finish it. So if you're still interested, make sure to follow so you'll know when I do. I hope you enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Chapter Two

Amanda stared blankly at Elizabeth. The white-haired young woman could tell she was attempting to come to terms with the strangeness of the situation they were in, and the longer Izzy went without speaking, the more that confusion shifted to anger.

"What's he talking about, Izz?" she repeated, her voice taking on an almost dark tone.

When Martin spoke and mentioned her, Izzy's mind suddenly snapped into place. Everything she didn't like about the four guys made sense, but she didn't have the time to come to terms with it before being thrust into the spotlight herself. As a result, her explanation wasn't exactly forthcoming.

"I'm uh…" Izzy's voice trailed off. She didn't know how to tell Amanda the truth, so blurting it out in a cascade of words was probably her only option. "I'm not normal."

"The hell does that mean?" Amanda asked.

"I'm like them." She said, motioning to the guys around them. "I… eat… energy."

A skeptical, uncertain smile tugged at Amanda's lips. "No you're not." She said, exaggerating her words like she expected the punch line any second. Izzy did little more than nod. Amanda's smile faltered a little. "No, you're not." She repeated. Elizabeth, again, nodded. Amanda's smile was completely gone. "No." she said sternly. "You're not."

"Yeah," Izzy mumbled. "Since I was about twelve years old."

Izzy watched Amanda, waiting for some kind of change in her expression, a hint as to where the conversation would go. While Elizabeth could sense and read emotions, the ones racing through Amanda were too vast to pinpoint. Amanda felt everything, and nothing more than the other, so it didn't help Izzy in the least.

Without warning, Amanda leaned forward and punched Izzy right in the thigh, dead-legging her immediately.

"Ow!" Izzy yelled.

"What the hell, Elizabeth?" Amanda demanded before slapping Izzy in the same spot. "How could you not tell me this?" she hit her again. "You're like, my best friend, and you didn't say anything?" she hit her again, and that was enough for Elizabeth. She shot up and scuttled as far to the back of the van as she could, nearly ducking behind the tall, thin guy with the circle drawn around his eye.

"Stop hitting me!" Izzy yelled back at her.

"We've known each other for years, and you didn't say anything." Amanda snapped.

The guys had practically disappeared to them, becoming little more than decorations within the van.

"What was I supposed to say, huh? That I'm a freak?"

"You could've told me the truth." Amanda said angrily. "How about, guess what, Amanda? I'm a superhero. Anything would've worked."

Izzy opened her mouth to yell again, but the words didn't come. "A what?"

Amanda sighed heavily and rolled her eyes in the most exaggerated way Izzy had ever seen. "You're a superhero, dude." She said plainly. "You have magic powers, and you didn't tell me."

Elizabeth was left, expectantly, a bit dumbfounded. Of all the things Amanda could have called her, superhero wasn't on the list Izzy had in mind.

A smile soon spread across her friend's face, wiping away any of the fear and apprehension Elizabeth felt a moment ago. She couldn't help but smile too, even letting a small laugh escape her when she had.

They spent the day with the Rowdy 3, driving around from place to place, doing nothing and yet everything at the same time.

After destroying a cop car, Martin took them back to the Rowdy's camp in the middle of nowhere. Izzy knew she should be afraid, or at the very least skeptical, but she wasn't. She felt more at ease with the Rowdy 3, more comfortable with them than she had with anyone in a long time. As much as she loved Amanda and they got along, this was different. They were like her.

The fire raged not far away. Izzy was sitting on a bench seat from some kind of vehicle, maybe a minivan, watching the others drink and laugh, dance, too. She couldn't remove her smile. Amanda seemed so happy.

Catching sight of her, Amanda broke away from Vogul and headed towards Izzy. She picked up her bag of fries she'd set down, then plopped onto the seat beside her friend. She offered the white-haired young woman some of the fried goodness in the greasy paper bag, which Izzy accepted.

"So," Amanda said as she munched on the fries. "Can you like, survive off normal food?"

Izzy smiled crookedly to herself as she chewed on the fries she'd taken. She loved French fries, their crisp exterior, the saltiness of them, and how cheap they were. Hell, she loved a lot of different kinds of food.

"No," she replied with a shake of her head as she took some more. "This is," she held up the few golden sticks she'd taken and tried to think of the word. "These don't do anything in the ways of energy, or keeping me alive." Meeting Amanda's eye, she bit into them sloppily, shoving them into her mouth and chewing obnoxiously enough Amanda began to laugh. "But they're so good!"

Amanda laughed happily, shoving her shoulder into Izzy as she did. Izzy was a little surprised Amanda waited so long to bombard her with questions, but she knew it was coming. How could it not? She figured they'd come when the group had a second to sit and calm down as much as she assumed the Rowdy 3 could calm down.

"So you actually live off energy, only." Amanda said.

"Yeah." Izzy nodded. "I mean, a little goes a long way, but I depend on it. They're probably the same. If we feed a little every couple of days, it's enough."

Amanda nodded, still chomping down on her fries. "What happens if you don't though?"

Izzy felt her gut twist and her smile instantly faded. Amanda noticed the strange, despondent expression take her friend's face. She hadn't meant to ask anything too invasive, but had apparently managed.

"What?" she asked timidly.

"I uh," Izzy mumbled a little. "I get sick, and really weak, and, well, I starve."

Amanda's jaw clenched as she swallowed, her big brown eyes peering back at Izzy nervously. "You starve." She repeated. Izzy nodded. Amanda's brows came together. "How long can you go without eating?"

"Uh," Izzy ran her fingers through her hair. "The longest I think I've gone was two weeks."

Amanda's face fell. "Two weeks? Why would you go two weeks without eating?"

"It wasn't by choice." Izzy said under her breath.

"What do you mean?"

Izzy's gut twisted. She didn't want to keep talking, but part of her felt like maybe Amanda had the right to know. She was Izzy's oldest friend, after all, and now thrust into this world, so maybe she deserved to know about the life Izzy never shared with anyone. Hell, maybe sharing would actually make Izzy feel a little better, too. Sharing is caring, that's what they say.

"Okay, so, for a few years of my life, I was hidden in a top secret government facility where they did experiments on me and my… abilities." She said, throwing all the information out at once in hopes that some of it might stick. "One of the experiments was to see how long I could go without feeding. They'd still give me water and food, but no energy. After two weeks, I couldn't even stand anymore. They said I was dying, so they brought me someone to feed off of." She looked at the young woman beside her staring back wide-eyed. "That's how I know."

"Oh," was all Amanda could muster after the barrage of information. "Wait, so every time I had an attack, you were feeding off me?"

Izzy nodded sheepishly. "Yeah," she mumbled.

"You never did that." Amanda said, pointing at the guys.

"Cause I can't do that." Izzy shot back, a little upset with Amanda's accusatory tone. Confusion took the brunette's features again. Izzy glanced to her right and saw Martin sitting on another discarded car seat. He met her stare. "You guys are Incubus, aren't you?"

He nodded languidly. "Yup," he replied. "And you're Succubus."

"Yeah," she replied in the same tone. She gave Amanda her attention again. "The doctors told me about some other energy-eaters like me, called the Project Incubus." Amanda glanced briefly out at the guys who'd stopped dancing and laughing, now all standing there listening to the conversation. "They said they fed off people's fear, panic, all that bad stuff, all the stuff people don't want to feel."

"But you don't." Amanda said slowly. Izzy shook her head. "Then," Amanda's face twisted with confusion, "what do you feed off of?"

"All the other stuff." She said, sounding a little ashamed of herself when she did.

"What else is there?"

"Joy," Martin said. His smooth, borderline silky voice traveled to them easily despite the distance. "Happiness, desire, love, all the stuff Norms like to hold onto."

Izzy nodded slowly. "That's what I take from them, everything they want to keep."

"Oh," Amanda seemed to slowly, but surely begin to realize what that meant. "So, you couldn't take all that from me when I had my attacks?"

Izzy shook her head, "No. I need that window first, that little glimpse of one of those that can get me in before I can actually siphon all energy. Best I could do was take some of it off until your meds kicked in."

Amanda was slowly nodding, an automatic reaction Izzy was fairly certain she was unaware of. Gradually, though, the information seemed to penetrate her mind, giving her further clarity on everything.

"Wow,"

"Yeah. Makes it harder to feed, though. I can only take little bits and pieces at a time unless…" Izzy quickly snapped her mouth shut.

"Unless, what?" Amanda pressed.

"Nothing." Izzy smiled. "But yeah, I don't get to feed very much."

Izzy didn't want to tell Amanda that the person she fed from had to be attracted to her. She didn't want to tell her friend that she had to physically touch the people she fed off of to open that window sometimes because it was too embarrassing. It made her feel more like a freak.

"Well, come on, then." Martin suddenly boomed, gliding to his feet so fluidly it'd make a feline jealous.

"What?" Izzy asked with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Take your pick." He held his arms out wide, motioning to him and the boys.

Izzy's face fell. "What?" she snapped. "No. I could hurt one of you guys."

They all began to chuckle and laugh boisterously. Martin moved towards her, squatting down in front of the white-haired young woman with his elbows resting on his knees.

"It don't hurt to feed off one of our own kind." He told her.

"I… I couldn't." she stammered.

"You boys don't mind, do ya?!" Martin called back over his shoulder. He was met with a chorus of hell no's from the guys before turning his attention back to her. "Now, I'm sure you can see which one of us is the tastiest, so just take your pick."

And with a small bounce, he stood upright again, backing away to stand with his guys, all of them staring back at her patiently.

"What does he mean by see which is tastiest?" Amanda asked.

"We can see auras." Martin answered.

"Yeah," Vogul grinned manically. "All the pretty, pretty colors people feel."

"Seriously?" she looked at Izzy with a bit of surprise, but Elizabeth could do little more than offer a weak shrug and a halfhearted smile. "Whoa." Amanda mumbled.

"So, come on, then." Again, Martin held out his arms wide, "Take your pick."

Izzy couldn't put into words how grateful and blown away she was by their offer to feed her. It was selfless and incredibly sweet, and honestly, made her mouth water just a little bit.

As her eyes danced over the four, she could see their auras, just like Martin explained they could. A thin, wispy, translucent smoke radiated off of them, and everyone else Izzy saw on a regular basis. It was delicate and soft, like the steam that flowed off warm water in the cold air. But, there were colors. Martin was white, with hints of lavender, and pink. It meant he was happy, content, but also a little –not worried- but something similar. He was distracted, at least.

Vogel and Grips were brilliant, almost blinding white, the color of pure happiness. Having spent time with the two throughout the day, it made sense. They never seemed to let a single thing bother them, so of course they were happy.

Cross was bright white as well, but with a little pink or red mixed in. It surprised her a little to see and made her blush. Those two colors had very specific meanings that people who have ever lived through a Valentine's Day knew. Though, she doubted it was anything. Without being rude, Cross and the others (Martin excluded) didn't seem the types to develop relationships with people the same way Norms might. It was a hard thing to explain, but Izzy just couldn't see the three of them wanting to settle down, or even having that part of their brain that wanted anything physical with anyone. They were, in a lot of ways, as carefree and casual as children. So, to see some pink and red flashes around Cross when he looked at her, while flattering, meant nothing in the end. Maybe he just thought she was kind of pretty?

Then again, he burned a little brighter than the others. He had more energy coming from him, which she assumed had to do with him feeding off Amanda earlier. If there was one she was going to feed off tonight, it'd be him.

Pushing herself to her feet, Izzy pointed tentatively at Cross. "I think he has enough to spare." She said, somehow feeling like she had to explain herself.

Cross stepped forward while the others fell back a little to give them room. Izzy had never fed off someone when they knew it was coming, but she was hungry. She'd never had a full meal before, not once in her life for fear of hurting someone, but she assumed she'd get as close to that as possible with Cross.

He stared down at her with his crazy hair draped over his eyes, waiting. Izzy knew her way of feeding was going to look a little strange to those on the outside, but she was so hungry now, suddenly ravenous with the prospect of a meal.

She reached up and cradled his jaw, tenderly bringing him down to her level. He complied. Izzy leaned forward, closing the distance between them. She brought her lips close to his, but never quite touched them before she drew the energy out. It flowed from Cross, through his mouth and into her hungry one. Izzy's eyes drifted shut as she drew back just a bit, still absorbing everything she could.

Amanda rose to her feet. She couldn't see with Izzy's back to her and she wanted to watch. She walked around to the side until she could see them in profile. White and blue energy poured out of Cross's mouth and into hers. It was surreal, and weird, and hypnotic. She couldn't look away.

A minute passed, maybe two, before Izzy released Cross. The two stumbled back from each other, staring at one another with wide, surprised eyes. Both were breathing heavily, as though they'd run a marathon despite standing completely still.

"What a rush!" Cross suddenly yelled, followed shortly by laughter. The rest of the Rowdy 3 laughed, a whooped, and hollered.

Izzy couldn't help but laugh. Her body was vibrating, ignited with energy. She stared at her hands, flexing her fingers before looking up at Amanda with an almost crazy expression.

"Holy shit." She giggled. "That was awesome!"