A/N: Sorry for the wait, guys. My period causes me to have severe anxiety and depression for weeks at a time making it hard to write. Don't worry though, I'll be going on the pill for it after this cycle. Don't know why I'm sharing all this personal info; I have no filter. Let's just get into the chapter already before I say something worse.

Taker had felt it for a while now. He hadn't noticed it growing in intensity at first, so focused was he on exploring this new environment with his companions. Having a third member of their group would take some getting used to as he had grown used to only traveling with Zoe, but he knew better than to object. That would be worse than signing a demon's contract, he would know, he'd signed one with Ron and regretted it every day.

Speaking of which, Esmie was quite the peculiar little demon. Peculiar in how pure she was; had she never consumed a soul in her life?

Souls. So diverse in their flavors and power. Taker's craving for them never went away, no matter how many he ate or how much he restrained himself. He supposed it made sense given he was designed to take souls, but it was quite inconvenient. Did it really have to surge now, with Zoe and the demon girl here? Did the universe truly despise him that much?

Normally he would shut himself away until it behaved itself, but that wasn't an option right now. So he tried to let off some steam by destroying the generator.

It didn't work. If anything, he was even hungrier than before. Worse was that Zoe seemed to be frustrated with him; could she sense that something was off?

Then they found him. Standing motionless, blocking the way forward. Arms deformed and swollen, drenched in blood. His blood, so thick and rich, oozing slowly through his tender veins. Surely his soul must be a thousand times more so. "Would it really hurt? Just this once? To indulge yourself just this once? Just a little taste… just a liiiiiiiiitle taste…"

And before he knew it he was moving, and—OH! The pleasure! The flavor! Incredible! Heavenly paradise! This is it. This was him. This was what he was made for. "Yes! Yes! This is the way!"

The guard screamed as he was consumed, but it was only yet another voice in the chorus of bliss within Taker's mind. Someone else was yelling too, but that hardly mattered. Why had he tried so hard to resist this, again? This was fantastic. Full of power and energy, he turns around.

Zoe is standing motionless, staring at him with a horrified expression. Oh yeah, that's why. She knows. Why had he let himself slip up like that? She saw.

But maybe she won't make a big deal out of it? Maybe she'd forget about it. Unlikely.

Sure enough, she sent Esmie away and then turned back to face him. Oh boy…

You know how things aren't truly real to you until you've experienced them yourself? Take history class for example. You can study every war, every tragedy, every murder all you want, but they'll be little more than facts on a page—sets of data floating around in your brain. But the people who actually fought in those wars, witnessed those tragedies, committed those murders, those experiences will live in their minds forever, realer than everything else.

That's the sort of thing I was going through right now. I had known that Taker ate souls, but I never thought I'd see him do it. I never would have imagined it would be so horrific, and gruesome, and raw. There was no denying what had happened—what Taker had just done. And he had done this to over three hundred people, and he would have done it to me had I not gotten extremely lucky with my strategy.

Where were we supposed to go from here? What's one meant to do when their friend up and eats someone in front of them? The obvious answer wouldn't work here, as proven by the hundreds that had come before me, so I guess I'll have to resort to my usual methods. I'd have to try and talk this out. So i take a deep breath, and say the first thing that comes to mind.

"You said it wasn't painful." Suddenly, with those words, I can feel myself starting to become angry. The cold fear melting away, replaced by burning rage.

Taker doesn't respond, so I keep going. "You said they didn't feel any pain when you took them-you lied to me!"

"I…"

"Oh what, do you expect me to believe that you didn't know that it was painful? Right, because people scream like that when things are painless. Sounds totally legit."

"He was corrupted beyond belief," Taker rumbled. "His quality of life was—"

But I was having none of it. I was done listening to Taker trying to justify this. "Oh yeah, because of his deformities right? So we should go ahead and take all the disabled: the blind, the def, the neural divergent and toss 'em in the meat grinder, yeah?"

"That isn't at all what I meant, and you know that's!"

"No, Taker! I don't! not anymore…"

"What…" For once, Taker was lost for words. This made me calm down considerably as it gave me hope that the situation wasn't completely lost.

I take a deep breath. "Okay, look it's like this. With humans, each an every relationship we have is based off of trust. I trusted you, I believed everything you told me. So when it's revealed that you were lying about something, well how am I supposed to know that that was the only thing you lied about?"

At once, all the fight leaves Taker, and he suddenly looks a lot less intimidating. "What do you want from me?" He asks softly, seeming to find the floor a super fascinating object all of a sudden. "I cannot reverse the damage."

I wasn't sure if he was talking about the guard, or our friendship. I decide to answer for the latter. "You can answer a few questions for me, honestly. Even if I don't like the answers, i need to hear them. Now."

"And how will you know I am being honest?"

I barely stop myself from wincing. "I'm… going to trust you. One more time because I don't want to give up on this, not yet."

"…Very well. What do you wish to know?"

I decide to cut right to the chase. "What just happened… do you personally see anything wrong with it? Like do you feel bad about it at all? I know you're outlook is much different than mine but I don't think you're completely amoral, not anymore anyway I hope."

It takes a long time for Taker to respond. "It's complicated. Taking souls is what I was created to do, it is an instinct that I have had for as long as I can remember. No matter how many I take or how much I restrain myself, the hunger is always there."

To be honest, I sort of expected that answer. Though as for the 'made to do this' part, I was a bit skeptical. It seemed to me more like Taker had an addiction, as this sounded similar to my long relationship with caffeinated beverages. Could Taker be… a souloholic?

"So… it feels good when you eat one? It… tastes good?"

"Oh, yes. The flavor differs depending on species and other factors, but it is never not pleasurable."

Yeah, definitely an addiction. "You never really answered my question, though. You kinda dodged it, and I don't much appreciate that."

If Taker could sigh, he probably would have. "I can acknowledge that many lives have been cut short by my hand… and that that is not something to be proud of."

Maybe Taker doesn't know the answer to that question himself. "Thank you for that, Taker. I appreciate you being honest with me. Now regarding what just happened… I get that you had a really strong temptation there, but was really hard for you to resist, but I believe that if you really put your mind to it, you could. You're more than a mindless animal, y'know? You're not like a cat that has to pounce on every mouse it sees. You're smart, and you can be much better than that. Do you agree?"

"…Yes."

"Good." I sigh in relief, feeling a huge weight lift off my shoulders. "and next time, please let me know if that temptation starts getting strong again so we can find a way to deal with it together."

"Alright."