The two eel-like creatures continued their way through the old lab. Lee helped Rose with her conditions by feeding her the humans he had knocked unconscious earlier. Not only did it help maintain her physical strength, it helped hide her gills and webbed hands. The absorption of live human skin made her eel-like features disappear. However, since she was so young, she needed to feed constantly in order to maintain her human appearance. This required a live human being because live skin cells were absorbed more quickly, thus the human would be swallowed whole, alive.

Lee remembered the first human he devoured. His victim was an arrogant, middle-aged scientist that had constantly tormented him as a young eel. So when the young fledgling got his chance, he attacked the lone scientist, dragged him into his tank and swallowed him whole. That was when he discovered his regenerative power and his love for human flesh. However, as time passed, he found that he only needed to eat one or two humans to maintain his human appearance. He became more disciplined and mature, only lashing out at the man who had abducted him occasionally. The humans he had eaten over the years gave him the physical strength to break out of his bleak prison.

(How do you feel, Rose?)

"Full."

Rose touched her flat stomach and licked her lips in satisfaction. They had powerful digestive systems as well and Lee had noticed that the first time he ate a human. The male eel took a moment to observe his female companion. She was slender and petite with pale blond, almost white, hair. Her eyes were red, much like his, due to the genetic experimentation performed on them, but she still maintained her simple beauty, gills or no gills. He enjoyed watching her feed on humans. The predatory look in her eyes reminded him of just how dangerous she really was..

Lee was suddenly startled by a pair of sharp teeth digging into his skin. He saw Rose on his left shoulder, looking rather dazed. He realized that she had just marked him as her mate. He knew this because another female, before she was killed, did the same. He had returned the gesture and tried mating with her. The male briefly wondered if she had been killed due to her inability to produce offspring.

"You taste good." Rose purred.

The male immediately returned the gesture, instincts kicking in. He pulled Rose into an abandoned cell with a tank and into the tank itself. The two slipped into a black, gooey, substance and disappeared below the surface, their mating ritual unknown to the dark figure watching them.

"Will she produce?" He asked himself.

(I don't want to kill her just because she's useless and infertile.)