Sapphire Bones

Embers

Updated: April 17, 2019

L

The brightest thing at Alpha Cole and Beta Roddy's camp was the burning fire at the heart. Six-foot flames pumped high into the sky, but not quite as tall as the two men who'd led me to their sanctuary. Once we returned, Alpha Cole took a seat by the fire and reached his hands toward the flames, close enough to feel the heat penetrate the thin layers of skin, but far enough away to not burn. Beta Roddy did the same once he knew I wouldn't run. I sat at the furthest corner of their camp and stared at both of them, waiting for the first to say something but neither offered up any of the thousands of burning questions most likely boiling over in their heads. They warmed their fingers first; a couple nudges closer to the fire – they still hadn't noticed my distance. They weren't facing me. Good. If I could properly see, had the energy, and most importantly, the will to survive I'd have run by now but my legs refused to work. That same numbing feeling from the beach came back but this time it surfaced with a vengeance. Each leg twitch felt like a saw going through my bone so painfully slow. It made me bite my lip. Sharpened canines dug into the soft, cracked flesh of my bottom lip until –

Slit.

A hole. So tiny nobody would notice but as I pulled my tooth from the crevice it formed, a drop of blood drizzled down the back of my lip and into the cup of my mouth. Sweet metallic. I swallowed, hopeful that with enough saliva the copper taste didn't linger but sure enough it did. All my teeth coated in a twinge of red. The taste of Peter. Peter's blood. The same blood that poured from his finger when I bit him through the bars of my cell. Before he blinded me. When I still had will.

"L,"

It broke through. The male voice. Three times they said my name but I couldn't help but only taste the metallic ring in my mouth as it guzzled through the remaining tasteless saliva. One more swish of my tongue over teeth did it. Cleared the blood off and purified my mouth of red bile.

"Yes," I squeaked. I didn't move but instead pulled my knees closer to my chest. The same Maine air from earlier whipped through the makeshift campgrounds. My hair acted as a flogger to my neck and face but unlike the flogger, my hair didn't leave marks. My damp clothing didn't help the constant shivering either.

"Come to the fire, please," Beta Roddy suggested. He didn't command. No – that would've been assertive. This was questioning. Like he wanted me to but if I refused there wasn't a repercussion.

Peter's voice came back.

Do as he says.

No. Decisions were mine to be made.

Do as he says, L.

I crunched my hands into a fist, tight enough to restrict blood flow. My teeth went at it again, onto the scarred flesh of my lips as Peter fought in my head. Too bad I didn't have Margette anymore to fight my battles with him. Do you want to get hurt? There it was again. His mind-shattering yells from a deep pit of my brain I locked up years ago.

I didn't want to get hurt. Not anymore. Then do as he says.

My teeth let go. Bloodied lips thanked me as I slowly lifted my canines from their respective wounds. I wiped the blood from my lips, this time allowing the metal to swish in my gums and around my teeth without disdain. After a couple tastes it wasn't so bad. Definitely better than stale bread and cheese. Much better than puddle water from a crack in the compound ceiling, collected in a chiseled-out hole at the corner of my cell.

"OK," I muttered and stretched my legs out despite the protesting pins in my skin and muscle. The bright red figures in front of me didn't move but I felt their eyes as they watched me crawl over dirt. My sheath was already dirtied by ocean water and sand – I wasn't the one to muddle over vanity when the rest of me could frighten the ugliest rogue. As I inched closer, the embers beneath the flames got brighter. White hot with a yellow and orange outline while the flames were burnt orange and red. But they all did the same thing. Warm.