Alternatively

Divine

    His chest heaved as he stared at the body crumpled on the floor. Blood dripped from his mouth, parted as not to taste the tang coating his fangs, and his ears flickered back as the footsteps calmly approached in uniform. The cheers of the crowd roared dully in his head as he allowed his arms to be seized, tied tightly in bands of burning energy he didn't bother to struggle against.

And down the familiar path he trod, harsh light of high noon vanishing the further they walked into the dank corridor. The blood was chilly on his skin and he didn't acknowledge the casual conversation of his guards.

Something about a child's birthday coming up.

The briefest snarl rumbled in his throat when they shoved him to his knees beside the basin, shins smacking the stone lip painfully, but it was drowned out when water was dumped unceremoniously over his head. Frigid water, forcing his shoulders down as it stung over the cut the guilty had managed to get in, and he gasped helplessly. Dark crimson flooded the basin, circling down the drain with each bucket. He was forced to swallow the bitter blood as his mouth gaped, struggling to breathe.

"-reeks, someone needs to clean it's cage."

"Are you volunteering?"

"As if."

Water streamed into his eyes, hair stuck to his forehead and clinging to his face. He waited for them to yank him back up, to start the trek back to his cell where he could sleep away the feeling of ripping out that man's jugular.

A door slammed and his ears perked, listening as the healer confidently strode down the hall. Beneath the smell of carnage and mold, he smelled her lemon soap.

"You're late."

"You've got no where better to be," her cool voice ran over his bare back, and rough hands grabbed his shoulders to spin him to face the girl.

Her face was wiped of any emotion as she neared, rubbing her palms together as calculating eyes drifted over his body. The cut across his chest stung, as though calling to the healer for attention, and he took steady breaths as he watched her hands glow white. She gestured simply, warmth zipping over the wound as it sealed shut.

She met his eye, lips pursing ever so slightly before she sharply turned away.

"-why she bothers."

"Wasn't like it was going to kill it anyway."

One of the men snorted and yanked Percy to his feet. "Yeah, why don't you tell the warrior what she can and can't do."

"Wasting my time," the other grumbled, and the binds burned around his wrists.

He could smell fresh air as they walked, tensing as metal grated on stone when his cell door was flung open. Light stretched across the hall and he walked in before he could be shoved, arms finally unbound as the door slammed shut behind him. As much as he loathed the cold darkness of the hall, he stuck to the wall of bars lining the corridor, tail curling around him as he hunched in the corner. He could see the men walk on through the bars, but he shrank further on himself and squinted against the scorching light.

There was no privacy, because why would he need privacy?

Though, while those passing through the courtyard could look at him, none so much as glanced at the cage.

Because why would they?

He watched the daily foot traffic through narrowed eyes, just as he had for years. The troops of holy warriors, the escorted classes of children in training, the trios of clergy; he knew them all.