Notorious
I noticed at that moment that the man hanging from the ceiling was lookin at her. He dropped from the rafter, flipping over and landing on his feet.
"Hey," he said. I got the feeling that the guy was a creep. His eyes were wild, and he kept moving his eyebrows.
"Hello. I guess you're the guy who saved me."
"Well, you're lucky. A few seconds more, you'd have been...pardon my saying so...fucked."
Creep. I figured as much.
"Why did you take me here?"
"Well, first, don't think my rescue was in anyway an act of altruism on my part. Those guys were just to assholes I picked to drain because they certainly won't be missed-least of all, by you."
"You said 'drain'...you some kind of vampire or what?"
"My particular mutation means that I can't produce hemoglobin, requiring that I take it...from humans. My eyes are light-sensitive, and my skin cells are destroyed by ultra-violet rays. So, I sleep by day, drink the blood of the living by night...I'm even allergic to silver and to garlic. So, I might as well be."
"You still haven't told me why I'm here."
"Well, I'd have left you there myself...or killed you if I was hungry enough. Goose was with me, so he did the only thing he felt was right: pick you up and carry you someplace safe. Of course, for Goose, that was here."
"And...what are you planning on doing with me now?"
"You can stay, or go home if you want. 'Cate just thought you'd like to stay with your own kind."
"My...my own...?"
"Even in this feeble form, you are still the notorious Mystique."
For the first time in months, I heard my true name.