Between Scylla and Charybdis

Chapter 18.

There was something...different about Diz. Scylla couldn't quite put her finger on it. Alluring wasn't the right word. Diz could be plenty alluring when he wanted to be. This was something else. Entrancing was more like it. Intriguing? Terrifying.

Her skin rippled as he approached.

'There you are.' she sighed as she pretended to catch her breath. This way, she hoped it looked like finding him had left her winded, but really she'd been holding her breath ever since she swam into the tunnel. The sight of him stopping her dead in her tracks. The walls closed in on her, enclosing her until all she could still see was him.

'Here I am.' he groaned in return. A low tremor colored his voice and it made the fins in her neck stand upright. This was dangerous. She didn't know why, she just knew it was. Like a creeping feeling tickling the back of her tail. Perhaps if her mind wasn't as clouded by Ambrosia? If her heart wasn't racing out of her chest? Maybe then she could have guessed.

But no. Her gaze was transfixed on the male before her. Diz wasn't the largest male ever, but he was built. Defined muscles underneath glistening black and white scales. Then there were his eyes. Yellow and piercing. They reminded her of lightning and they were looking right at her.

Why was she seeing all of this now? They'd spent several days together at this point. She knew what he looked like, almost by heart. But this time was different.

A fog, she realized. There had been a fog obscuring Diz. Dulling him. Hiding him. Even through that fog, Scylla had seen him.

But that fog wasn't there anymore.

'What do you want?'

What did she want? Scylla swallowed. Her senses heightened.

He was brilliant.

'I came looking for you, who else?'

He didn't respond, but a glint in his eye told Scylla that she caught his attention.

'Talk to me, Diz.'

The male rolled his shoulders, his head swayed from one side to the other and Scylla could swear she heard his neck crack.

In a heartbeat, he was on her. Claws poked uncomfortably into the flesh of her cheeks as he raised her chin up to look at him. The whites of his eyes were gone. In their stead were black voids that threatened to suck her in with each passing second.

Scylla froze. Before, her first instinct would have been to claw and scream at him. To try and tear him to shreds until she was far, far away.

Now that just seemed like a plain horrible idea. As if she could ever get away from him? The thought sounded ridiculous. So she stayed very still, unblinking. Locked in a suffocating embrace while the rest of the world ceased to exist.

'You did this.' His voice was raspy. Flashes of a mangled body burned into her retina. as real and as lifelike as if she was looking right at it. Lifeless empty eyes stared back at her. Red scales and once graceful features sunk to a cavern floor.

The horror of it should have rattled Scylla to her core. She'd never seen a body before after all, but all it did was leave her only mildly upset. Flustered. More uncomfortable than anything. What was he talking about? How was 'that' her fault?

Then it dawned. She knew that cavern. Knew it's twists and turns like the back of her hand. It wasn't that far from where they were right now. Scylla tried to shake her head, but his grip on her neck was too tight.

'You pushed too far, Scylla.' He continued with a pained, almost guilt ridden expression. Could Diz really be capable of something like that? To kill his own kind? Yes. The way he was now, without a doubt.