Cambion (Complete)

13 - The Spheres of Alchemy

I came back to consciousness in my own bed. I was wearing clothes made of silk and there was a platter of steaming food to my right. However, I hadn't woken up by normal terms although I wish I had. Sadly, things never happened the way they were supposed to in this strange world they called the Refuge.

My lustful dream from before had come true. Deborah was in bed with me, only she wasn't in bed with me the way I would have liked it. Sure she was on top of me and sure we were close enough to kiss but I doubted that was why she was here.

In her right hand was a cold dagger that she had placed on my neck. The blade had a sharp curve to it rather than being perfectly straight. It also looked nothing like the weapons that were forged around here. It looked... dirty.

"How did you know?" she snarled, her white canines showing through her rose pink lips.

"How did I know what?" I asked, my voice a bit raspy from lack of talk.

The blade pushed deeper into my skin. Not enough to draw blood, not yet, but enough that I could feel the sharpness and the potential of the blade.

"Don't you play with me, Ira. I don't like you and I don't trust you. I know you had something to do with this. I just know it."

I pulled my hands out of the sheets and held them out in a very innocent way, "Listen, Deborah, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about. If you could just-"

"You tried to kill Lord Nagheed. Or at least, you had a part in it. Otherwise, how else would you have known? But why go back on your own plan? Why?"

This was the first time I had hoped for Gauss or even Judge Samuel to budge themselves into my room without permission. I never thought I'd see the day in which I actually wished to see either of those men. Perhaps they could talk some sense into this crazy girl. My dreams of wanting her ever to be in my bed again were tossed right out the window... If I had a window that was.

"I swear by the grace of the Almighty I do not know what you're talking about."

"Pray," she demanded.

"What?"

"I said pray!" she yelled. "Pray to the Almighty that you're innocent and maybe I'll believe you."

Praying didn't seem like a bad idea at all, not with the circumstance I was in at the moment. Part of me wanted to tell her that bad guys didn't care about lying through prayer to the Almighty but that would only make my situation worse. And so I started to pray.

My prayer was genuine. I asked to not be killed, there on my bed by the dirty dagger. I thanked him for the life he had given me. I thanked him for an amazing father and for sustaining my life up until this point. I asked him for guidance. I asked him for wisdom. And... I asked him for answers.

Slowly, Deborah's blade was pulled back from my throat. Oddly, I had forgotten about the dagger, losing myself completely in my prayer. I went from my own words to those verses my father had taught me so long ago. I found peace in them. For once, I'd forgotten about the horns. I'd forgotten about the severed body part that had fallen by my face the night before. And I'd forgotten about Gauss and the torture he'd put me through.

"You can stop now," she said, now standing by the door. She tossed the dagger on top of the bed. "I don't know how you knew..." Her eyes peered at me through tight lids. "But you saved Nagheed from assassination."

She slammed the door behind her leaving me as I often felt in this place of Refuge. Confused. Lonely. A bit scared.

A knocking came a few minutes later.