The Life of Jezebel Firetongue

40

"I'm so sorry about that," Dr. Davis apologized. He took my hand gently squeezed it. "I don't know how he could've gotten in..."

"Dr. Davis, the cameras are down!" a guard shouted from the hall.

"Blast it! How am I supposed to get anything done around here with all these damn kids breaking everything? I bet someone from the last batch blew a fuse..." Dr. Davis turned around and started fumbling for an anesthetic shot. He turned to the guards and shouted, "Get Mac on the problem straight away! If it isn't fixed by tonight, I'll kill all of you!"

I sat down on the operating table and Dr. Davis gave me the shot. "Again, I'm so sorry, Jezebel. But this will all be down soon. Now, just lay back and relax..."

I was dreaming. It was obvious because Jake and I were in a bar, wearing cowboy boots, cowboy hats, button-down shirts, and bandannas around our necks. His outfit was beige and he wore cackys, while my outfit was red and blue and I wore skinny jeans. Jake was riding a bull, and I was beating up a clown.

"-and if you ever pinch my nose again, I will twist you like a pretzel and superglue you to a chair. Capiche?"

The clown nodded as best as he could with his swelling neck and I smiled. "Good." Then I threw him over the bar counter into the beer section.

The bartender turned to me and smiled. "What would you like?"

"Chocolate milk," I replied menacingly.

He reached under the bar and pulled out chocolate milk in a glass with whipped cream and a cherry on top. The bartender also pulled out a syrup bottle. "Use it wisely, young drinker of chocolate."

"I'll do what I wanna," I replied. With a smirk, I emptied half the bottle onto my chocolate milk. Suddenly, the crowd stopped cheering for Jake. I turned around and saw Dr. Davis, standing in front of the bull with a giant spork, screaming at Jake.

"This is MY bull! You can NOT ride MY bull!" Dr. Davis swung the giant spork at Jake and he flew off the bull and into my arms. It was a shame too, because he was about to break the house record and go for a full hour. Dr. Davis saddled up on the bull and threw a spork in our direction, cackling like the madman he was. "Loser, Jake Flyte. You are a loser!"

I rolled my eyes and sat Jake on a bar stool. "I'm about to kick your ass Dr. Davis. Get ready."

"Right, like I'm going to be beaten by the likes of you?" Dr. Davis spat in our direction and waved his arm in the air as the bull was turned on high. "Come and get me, Jezebel!"

"Oh, I'll get you alright," I muttered. With a flap of my wings, I zoomed at Dr. Davis. He held up a spork and I rammed right into it. Blood streamed from four holes in my chest. I touched them gently, hovering in midair, and they healed immediately. Dr. Davis snarled and threw the spork at my neck, nearly chopping my head off. I flew up to the ceiling and stared him down, waiting for him to let his guard down. Dr. Davis started waving his arm in the air and really having fun on the bull and I came spiraling down from the ceiling, fire braiding itself around me. "Die, Dr. Davis!" I screamed.

He looked up briefly before the explosion, and I saw the fear in his eyes. The man didn't want to go. But I had no other choice.

Boom!

Dr. Davis and I went flying in two directions. I landed softly in Jake's arms, but Dr. Davis hit his head hard on the pool table in the back corner. One man looked him over, and then turned and shouted, "He's dead!"

The bar erupted in cheers. I was lifted onto Jake's shoulders and paraded around the room. Everyone was patting me on the back and saying, "Good job, good job." But every time I saw Dr. Davis, pale and with a little bit of blood trickling down his forehead, I felt a little sickened. Until I remembered that this was what he deserved. It was karma. What he had done to my parents, I had done to him. Good riddance.

Dr. Davis revived me slowly, helping me sit up. "How do you feel?" he asked calmly.

"Alright," I whispered quietly. The operation had left me feeling weak.

"Do you feel triumphant?" Dr. Davis asked me.

I looked into his eyes and saw beyond the calm façade. I saw something that was darker and much more sinister. I saw his true evil, revealed to me in its darkest form.

Dr. Davis pointed to a video screen, playing the scene of me being carried on Jake's shoulders, looking down on the dead body of Dr. Davis. Smiling hesitantly, but still smiling. A cord led from the video screen to a pair of earphones worn by a guard. Dr. Davis looked at me, a half snarl on his face. "Answer me, Jezebel Firetongue! Do you feel triumphant?"

"Yes!" I shouted back at him. "Yes, in every possible way. I feel overjoyed, even thrilled when I see that dream, and think about that picture. Dr. Davis, you are an evil man. No matter what you do, you will always be an evil man. Until you become anything else, I will hunt you down."

"But, Jezebel, you don't understand. I created you because I loved you. I found you loving parents and beautiful genes to make you perfect. All because I loved you."

"Love? You don't know the meaning. How could you ever love anything? You wanted me to be born because I would be of use to you." I stood up, ripping off the needles and medical instruments that covered me. Dr. Davis backed up slowly. "That is not love, Dr. Davis. You would know that if you ever did truly love something."

He looked at me wistfully. "I do love you. I loved you enough to continue with the procedure, and to even add to it. I'm not sure what it is, but you have one last power. Maybe you'll use it. Jezebel, I loved you enough to do that," he pleaded.

"That's not love. That's respect."

"Then Jezebel, do you respect me?"

I gave him a long, hard look. Did I respect this man who respected me? Who created me? Did I?

"No."

I shot fire at him, unafraid of the consequences. Dr. Davis dodged it easily. "Get her!" he shouted. Guards ran at me, and I let them get me. I was forced to my knees, my arms behind my back. My hands were shackled, my mouth duct taped, and my wings were tied together. I did not scream, or struggle, or even show pain. They would never have the pleasure of making me squirm.

"I'm tired of giving you chances, Jezebel." The guards backed up into two rows, splitting down the middle. Dr. Davis stood at the end of this pathway, looking at me. "But, I respect you too much to simply kill you." He started walking down this pathway, slowly.

"Go ahead and struggle, Jezzy. Try to squirm," whispered one of the soldiers that held me.

I snorted fire onto his big toe.

"Oh, you little-"

"That's enough, Loudmouth," Dr. Davis interrupted. "Your whole sector is on laundry duty, tonight, for taunting Jezebel Firetongue when it is unnecessary."

"Way to go Larry," muttered the other guards. Larry Loudmouth flushed and ducked his head in response. The other guard rolled his eyes and sprayed water from his finger at the fire on Larry's toe, extinguishing it carefully.

"Now, how about a history lesson?" Dr. Davis asked. He started walking once more, talking slowly. "Ancient Romans had many enemies. So they also had many wars, resulting in many prisoners of war. But, how did they get rid of the prisoners of war?" Dr. Davis reached me. He leaned in close to my face and smiled. "They trained them to fight, and turned them into gladiators."

I snarled and burned the tape off. "You won't break me, Davis. You'll never break me."

Dr. Davis straightened up. "Take her to the training room," he ordered. "Lock her up in there, and guard her until further notice."

As the guards dragged me out, I started screaming with all of my might. "Go to hell Dr. Davis!"

"Not just yet," Dr. Davis called softly. He turned away from the door and walked deeper into the lab, sighing sadly. "Not just yet."