Frost Fire

Chapter Four

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                                                                                Chapter Four 

Allai tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. Her mind felt the same way as her tongue: dry and thick, like something was restricting it from working properly.

Drake Rhaize. He was the something.

The thought of him threw off her footsteps, and she nearly missed the next step of the staircase. She slammed her foot down to regain balance. Her bad foot, of course. Because wasn’t that just her luck? Pain ricocheted through her ankle, almost tearing a scream from her. But she held it back, biting her lip and letting out only a tiny whimper. Luke was going to have to look at her ankle and make sure it was only sprained and not broken.

As if on cue, he appeared at the top of the steps, his arms crossed and his expression turned down in a scowl. It wasn’t just his lips that scowled. His entire face did; lips, cheeks, eyebrows, forehead. Allai read his expression and gulped to keep her pounding heart in place. How could he have found out about Drake so quickly?

Allai gripped the banister, her nails digging into the smooth varnish. She had to tell him. She had to just blurt it out, and pretend she’d had no intention of keeping Drake’s predicament a secret.

“Allai,” Luke said quietly.

She hobbled up a few more steps and didn’t reply. She just focused on the plush carpet covering the steps, trying to dig her good foot into it to keep from slipping. All she had to do was open her mouth and say some simple words: Drake Rhaize is out by the border. Go catch him. It should have been easy. It wasn’t.

“I know you’re there,” Luke muttered. “I’m blind, not deaf.”

She glanced up and said, “Yeah, I know, you can hear me.”

“So, then you’re ignoring me?” He rolled his shoulders in a gesture that was almost a threat, but not quite. A little growl slipped from him.

Allai froze and snapped, “What? Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed or something?”

That wasn’t what she wanted to say, was it? She just wanted to admit everything that had happened to her in the past hour, to just tell him and get it over with. Her dad would send a Sentinel Warrior out, and the Warrior would finish off Drake. It’d all be over.

Luke’s scowl deepened, but it was the only evidence he’d heard her challenging words. He dug into his right pocket and pulled out an envelope, the top already ripped open. He wagged it at her. “Your high school exam results. Shieldak passed them along to me.”

Allai almost laughed.  She managed to stifle it, throwing a hand to her mouth and looking to the ceiling so she didn’t have to see Luke’s stormy eyes. She couldn’t look at them, because they were so entirely pissed off, and she knew her eyes looked relieved. She managed to get herself together and mutter in a dejected voice, “Oh. I… didn’t pass?”

“No,” Luke growled. He paced back and forth along the top of the stairs, like a prowling lion ready to pounce. “No, you didn’t pass. You got a fourteen percent.” His blind eyes bored into her. “Did you even try?”

“Yes. I wanted to pass.”

He scoffed. “Bullshit. This is state testing! For high school, not for bloody university. A third grader could pass it!”

She crossed her arms. But that only threw off her balance and forced her to put pressure on her ankle. She winced, trying not to let her pain show through as she growled, “I did my best.”

“Really? So your best is now randomly picking a, b, or c? You’re bloody smart, Allai. Too smart for this crap. And your dad might not give a shit about your grades, or care if you—“

“He cares!” Allai snapped.

Luke waved a scarred hand, as if flicking her protest right out of the air. But then he froze in his pacing. “Is that what this is all about?” he demanded. “Are you failing just to see if you can get your dad to care about something you do?”

Allai blushed and looked away. She didn’t really know why, since he couldn’t even see her flushed cheeks. But she didn’t want to look straight at him. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Luke laughed, the sound harsh and cynical. “Allai, darling, why in the bloody hell do you think I take care of you? It’s because your ‘dad’ doesn’t. Shieldak has never bothered to try to raise you properly.”

Something dripped onto her hand. She looked down at it, and it took her a moment to realize what it was. A tear. She squeezed her eyes shut, wishing she could also just shut out Luke’s words.

“My dad loves me,” she whispered.

“Maybe he does,” Luke said. “Just not enough to act like a father to you.”

Allai gulped back more tears and opened her eyes. She glanced down, finding her hand gripping at the banister like it was clinging to life. And maybe it was. She’d heard the whisperings all her life, the ones her dad didn’t bother to stop. She was just a Nox, not a Demon or a Hunter. She didn’t belong in the Sentinel. Most people wanted her expelled. She’d have to cling to her home here in the Manor with everything she had.

“I hurt my ankle,” she whispered, desperately trying to change the subject. “While I was running, I tripped, and…” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Drake Rhaize. I got attacked, and he was there. He’s still out there, I think. He has a Persequor bite.”

There. She’d said it. She opened her eyes and waited for Luke’s reaction. His jaw tightened and his shoulders straightened, like he was preparing for an attack right then and there. “I’ll tell Shieldak,” he said. “We’ll take care of him, Allai. Don’t worry. You’re safe.”

Her stomach twisted. Of course she was safe, with a mansion full of Demon Warriors on her side. Drake, on the other hand…

“You hurt your ankle?” Luke asked gently, pulling her from her thoughts.

She nodded. “Yeah. I stumbled.”

Luke sighed and stepped down to her. His delicate hand grasped hers, while his other arm moved to support her shoulders. After a lifetime of using his fingertips to recognize his surroundings, Luke’s touch had grown gentle and almost tender. It was something Allai knew she’d only ever feel from him, if she continued to live in the warrior-culture of the Manor.

Luke allowed Allai to lean her weight on him, and then gave her a comforting little hug. She accepted it, leaning into him a little more than she probably had to.

She was doing the right thing. Drake was better off dead. He wasn’t old enough to be mature or to have a natural immunity to persequor venom. If he wasn’t killed, he’d wake up in a few days to find himself as an emotionless monster. Not that he’d care.

“Come on, Allai-bird,” Luke said. “Let’s take a look at this ankle of yours.”