Stars of Blood

Eight 𖤓 Diah

She was gone. Asleep inside my mind. I was grateful for silence.

This place was loud, just like my head usually was. I heard the noises from outside in the hallway every time a healer walked through the infirmary doors. Inside here, it was dead silent. I heard every shuffle from the girl on the bed across the room.

The girl was beautiful, even with the scars that wrecked her body. New scars.

I could tell the healer cleaning all the bloodied utensils and wrappings around the room was disturbed by presence. She even watched my eyes roam to the girl in the corner and growled at me, as if the cage keeping me stuck wouldn't stop me from eating her.

That's what everyone thought about kumis. They thought us dangerous, cannibals. That was true in some cases. It was true for the other me, the female me. I wanted to tell the young healer not to be scarred but I knew that if I said anything she would think I'm trying to trick her. Kumis were also known for our trickery and I hated it.

The thought made me slightly sick.

The only reputation I had was the one the other me gave, almost as if it was a cruel gift.

She woke sometime later, the healer now gone, and after the girl had fallen back asleep and someone else had slipped through the doors of the infirmary, I thought the healer had told on me for staring. Instead of actively taking part in the crime, I kept my head where it was, just on top of my paws, my eyelids drifting with a heaviness I didn't want to consume me.

I did my best to keep my ears still, slightly drooped as if I was truly sleeping, as the sound of footsteps got closer. And then they stopped, the sound of a shifting body as it leaned against the metal table just across from my cage.

Silence lingered, our mixing breaths, and the ones of the girl sleeping in the corner, the only indication that there were any living creatures in the room.

"Which one?" the voice of the newcomer asked, a voice I knew but only in memories that weren't really mine. When I tilted my head, catching the face of the pyuwa before me, I knew I was right. It was the pyuwa that had let us live.

When I didn't snarl at him, like she would have done, he bent his head and chuckled. "Do you have a name?" he asked. Instead of sounding painfully serious like when he asked the first question, his voice had turned light and somewhat airy. He knew the kinder side of a kumi's personality had taken over.

He tilted his head like I did mine. She was right, his hair did sparkle, extending down almost over his dark eyes that looked like they stretched on for eternity. They were hard to look at but so enchanting I couldn't turn away. He smiled lightly, his face looking even more taunting than before.

"Or should I give you one?"

His smile was bigger now. It shined like the sun.

I blinked slowly, glancing at the girl in the corner before turning back to him. "I have one," I said.

"May I ask what it is?" His head was still tilted, curious.

"Why would you want to know?"

He chuckled slightly, resting his palms against the table as he leaned back against it. She was right about another thing. By his smell, I could definitely tell he was old, still young for a pyuwa though, but he was also quite handsome.

"I'm Destrine," he said. "My little sister calls me Trini... but only her."

I couldn't help but smile. "Then why did you tell me?"

Destrine shrugged before looking me dead in the eye. There was a playful smile on his lips, the look in his eyes the complete opposite. "Because I trust you."