Just as I’m about to look away from my one chance at reprieve, I notice black smoke uncurling along the floor and easing into the room like a poisonous gas. I open my mouth to speak, to warn Ziv, but before I can utter a syllable, he’s standing in front of me, blocking my view and rearranging my thoughts again. It’s sad that I notice he smells good.
“Demon,” Ziv grates out slowly. I’m not certain, but I think he’s addressing the smoke. When the inky black tendrils reach his feet, Ziv snaps down to grab the smoke but comes up empty.
I inch along the wall, trying to get away from both entities, just as Ziv produces a black blade and slices through the smoky shadow like butter as it attempts to coil around his leg. The sound the creature makes has me ducking my head and covering my ears to hide from the strangled wail.
“Try that again, and I’ll kill you, novice or not,” Ziv threatens.
The smoke starts to retreat but changes course quickly and heads straight for me. I don’t even get the chance to release a scream before someone stands in front of me again, only this time, it’s not Ziv. This is going from bad to worse really quickly.
“We need to talk.” The male in front of me nearly snarls at Ziv. I’m more than happy to let this play out between them and get the hell out of this room, the only problem is, I don’t want to draw attention to myself by trying to escape or asking them to take their issues somewhere else. I start inching along the wall again, but my heel hits something on the floor, causing a pain filled gasp to escape me. I slam both of my hands over my mouth, like that could somehow erase the sound, but it doesn’t. The male in front of me turns his head to look over his shoulder at the same time Ziv leans to the side to get a better view of me. Neither of them looks happy, but both of their eyes are trained on my foot—the source of the pain. I don’t dare look down, even though I can feel blood dripping from my foot. I should havekept my boots on, but I wanted to let the blisters breathe and dry up.
“Sorry,” I say again, because I have no idea what else to say.
“Your foot is bleeding,” the male with the blue skin states distractedly. I don’t think quickly enough to assess his teeth, but I happen to know Ziv’s teeth are very sharp—perfect for blood drinking. I probably just made things worse. Let’s hope neither of them go into a frenzy.
Without looking away from them, I bring my knee up and cup my hand over the cut on my heel. I wince a little from the pressure, but I need to stop the bleeding. “Sorry.” I sound like a parrot.
“Stop apologizing.” Ziv angles closer, barely paying the other male any attention now. Great, they stopped acting like they are going to kill each other, but now the focus is on me again. I really suck at getting myself out of danger. “Sit down…on the bed.” He adds the second part quickly, as if he knew I was planning on lowering myself to the floor.
I’m not comfortable taking my eyes off either of them, but I really need to watch where I’m walking if I don’t want to get cut again. I dart my eyes down and see the plate I left on the bed next to me last night. It must have broken when Ziv flipped the mattress, and I just happened to be lucky enough to step on a thick shard. Glancing up again, I note neither of the males have moved. They seem to be waiting for me. I’m going to have to drop my foot if I want to get to the bed frame, but I’m reluctant. What if that’s all it takes for one of them to pounce? I don’t think I would like Ziv taking a bite out of me the way he bit the meat last night, but there was something intriguing about…
I shake my head to get rid of those useless thoughts and release my foot at the same time. My hand is smeared with bright red blood, but neither of them attack, so I take it as a good sign. With measured movements, I shuffle sideways, not pickingup my feet so if there’s still glass, I’m less likely to actually step on it.
Once I reach the bed, I lower myself gingerly to balance on the side rail. The throb in my foot intensifies, but it’s nothing I can’t manage.
“Are you going to check her foot?” the blue-skinned male asks.
Ziv spares him a quick glance, then kneels before me. “It’s fine,” I tell him before he can get a look at my foot. His silvery eyes meet mine, swirling fast enough that I feel a little dizzy after staring for a heartbeat. When I break the connection, I agree, “Okay,” without him needing to say a word.
“Why don’t you make yourself useful and get a binding?” Ziv barks over his shoulder.
“If you didn’t toss her room like a prison guard, it never would have happened in the first place. Why don’t you fetch a healer?”
“That won’t work, you know…” Ziv trails off, then makes a point of looking at the male he called a demon.
“Why not?” the demon questions suspiciously.
“Never mind, grab me that.” Ziv nods toward some of the fabric he brought with him when he came into the room. It’s hard to believe that was only a few minutes ago.
The other male snaps his arm out to do as instructed, then he tosses it toward us. Ziv reaches out and snags it out of the air without even having to look. Using his teeth to hold the fabric, he rips it into a long strip before I even have a chance to see what it was.
He looks up at me with what could be sympathy and offers, “Make sure to tell me if I get it too tight.”
I nod, and he very carefully begins wrapping my foot, covering my heel, and looping the material around my ankle several times in the same pattern. The pressure is uncomfortablebut not unbearable, so I keep my mouth shut while he works, tucking the end of the fabric into the binding when he’s finally done. I watch as he plants his hands on the tops of his thighs, then looks around the ruined room. His lips twist in a strange way I can’t quite read before he lets out a huff and rises to his full height.
“Kage and I have some business. I’ll return with some salve to make sure your foot doesn’t get infected, and then…I’ll clean up this mess.” The last part is spoken softly, as if he is reluctant to say it out loud.
I suspected the demon was the male from my memory and the hall, but hearing his name confirms it. It’s on the tip of my tongue to say something to him, maybe thank him for taking me to the school when I wasn’t able to get there on my own, but I flounder for words. It feels weird to make this more about me when they clearly have a history, or at the very least business between them, like Ziv said.
Both of them are out the door before I muster up the courage to utter a word, and I sag in relief.
BRIAR
It only takes me a few minutes to get the room put back together. Lugging around the mattress by myself was the only real challenge, but I was able to get it sorted. The binding on my foot helped me walk with only a slight limp.
I have the clothing Ziv brought and the broken plate with remnants of food separated into two neat piles—one on the floor and the other folded on the bed. I’ll admit to being a little enamored by the soft textiles he brought and marveling at the idea that they seem to be for me, but with that thought came the price of such goods. Surely he expects repayment, and I have nothing to give in return, so there’s no way I can accept them.
As the moments tick by without Ziv’s return, I begin to relax and analyze what happened this morning and, more importantly, what set him off and why he thought I had company. The way he flipped the bed is almost like he thought there would be someone hiding underneath it, but I have no idea why he would think that.
