15
Adan
—
Just as I suspected, the monster still exists. In fact, it has company.
Due to Xia’s ingenious plan with the lights keeping them at bay, it seems the monsters have become desperate for blood. As Figor and I travel through the tunnels from a return trip to one of Seca’s provinces, four of them appear before us, screeching.
Figor and I barely have time to withdraw our weapons before they’re upon us. This is the first I’ve encountered one and I remember Xia’s description of them. No faces, just a hole for them to latch on and suck the blood out of one’s body.
They are slimy and cold to the touch, hunched but incredibly quick. We are not afforded a chance to create a safur so that it might ward them off. Instead Figor and I fight them off with our bare hands. Yet they are resilient to our attacks, taking our punches and kicks with ease.
Pushing them back, I’m given a chance to grab my knife. I race forward and stab one in the chest, but the sensation is as if I’ve sunk my blade into thick liquid. There’s no impact, no sense of flesh being torn. The creature makes no sounds of pain. It pushes forward into my blade, its blunt fingertips scrabbling desperately for my face in preparation to steal my blood.
This is enough. I shift into my dragon, the fire rising from my belly and out of my mouth to burn these monsters. I destroy three of them immediately, the fourth acknowledges that I am far stronger now and takes flight.
I follow after it as quick as I can but the space is cramped. When I am too large to fit I return to my primary form and give chase on foot. If anything, I will let the creature lead me to where more of its kind are located so I can rid Seca of their presence once and for all.
Figor races after me too as we follow the skittering monster through the serpentine tunnels. We hit a fork and Figor and I each take a path hurrying forward. However the creature is too fast. Despite our pursuit and lengthy searching, it escapes.
Figor and I head back to where we first encountered them but there is nothing there.
I return to my den in a dark mood, angered that I was unable to learn these monsters’ hiding place.
As I’m preparing to undress, Xia enters my den. The sight of her washes away my anger immediately. It both amazes and disturbs me the kind of power this small, delicate human female has over me.
A few nights ago, I gave her the claiming bite, sealing her as mine forever. She also knows what I did to Dwen and she still accepted me, still held me in her arms and gave herself to me. Perhaps it is time I tell her the truth of what she is to me.
But her impassive features and stiff shoulders give me pause. I frown as I approach her. Something isn’t right. The morning after our very first intimate encounter, she behaved similarly. This wall of indifference as she tried to push me away and leave.
“I’m leaving,” she says with no preamble.
Those words have as much power as a physical strike, stunning me into momentary speechlessness.
“Tess is still healing from her injuries,” I say, recovering. “A new journey might hinder the process.”
“She’s better now. Medic Olhun said so. She can use her arm and leg without much pain.” She shrugs. “So it’s time for us to go.”
“Your decision seems sudden.” I say tightly. “What occurred that has made you choose to leave?”
“It isn’t safe here. There’s a bloodsucking monster hidden away in Vyaka.”
“There hasn’t been an attack since you constructed the lights.” I don’t mention that I just returned from battling four of them. I don’t want to give credence to her argument. “It is still winter. It will not be safe for you and Tess outside of Vyaka when you are not accustomed to the cold.”
“I made some friends during my stay here. I managed to hitch a ride for me and Tess. We’re leaving tomorrow morning.” She opens her mouth, shuts it, then shakes her head. “I just thought it would be polite to let you know, ta Konai. Thanks for your generosity.”
She turns to leave but I grab her arm so she is forced to remain still.
“I don’t want your gratitude, Xia. I want the truth.”
“I told you, it isn’t safe here.” But she doesn’t face me when she speaks.
“And you decide to show this concern for your safety now? You have never once disclosed your fear to me during your stay.” I pull her toward me, forcing her to face me. “Furthermore, even if I had wanted to believe you, I cannot. The scent of your lie is too strong to ignore.”
We hold each other’s gazes in the tense silence. I wish I could pull her into me completely. Hold her and kiss her until she loses all these thoughts of leaving me, until she accepts that I am what she wants just as I have accepted that she is all I’ll ever need until my dying breath.
When my father was alive, I bent to his will at every turn. He gave me no choices. I never complained, I accepted my fate and his decisions even when they went against what I desired. I used to believe this was strength, but on the day that I was forced to kill my own brother because my father required us to fight, I acknowledged that to blindly follow another without one’s own thought is weakness. To force another to one’s will is selfish.
But I don’t want Xia to leave.
I can’t let her.
I can’t stand idly by and let her walk out of my life without fighting for her.
“I can’t stay, Adan. I’m not brave enough.”
Her dark-brown eyes are shiny with tears and I release her arm in favour of pulling her close to me. My initial anger disappears and in its place is desperation. Desperation to show her how right this could be if she gave it a chance.
I touch her neck where the mark of the bite still lives. She lets out a little gasp because that is the mark’s power. To be hypersensitive to my touch alone because she is mine as much as I am hers.
“This isn’t just a bite I gave you, Xia. This is my claim on you because you are the one my dragon chose as my asafura. My fire’s half. Two halves of a fire made whole and stronger.” She shakes her head, her tears falling, but I persist. “I lost an important part of myself for years until the night I found you. My dragon woke up for you because you are fated to be mine and I am fated to be yours.”
“Your dragon didn’t choose me. It’s too smart for that. It would chose someone who’s strong and isn’t plagued by tragedy.” She wrenches away out of my embrace. “You don’t get it. Everybody who’s ever mattered to me is dead. My mother committed suicide after giving birth to me. My father died to protect me because I tried to escape slavery. The male I was with died too, and his sister, Tess, almost died trying look for me. Zavi almost died trying to help me. Kahafura knows if it’s not because of me why these monsters are here. Why would you want someone like me around, Adan?”
“Those are all unfortunate coincidences, Xia. You cannot blame yourself for things that aren’t in your control.”
“Well, I can at least control this.” She indicates the both us. “I am in control enough to know that this is just another setup for heartbreak, and I don’t want to experience it. Not again. I’m not brave, Adan. I’m not.” She dashes her hands across her face angrily to wipe away her tears as she backs away toward my den’s entrance. I take a few steps in pursuit, but she scuttles away faster out of my reach. “You deserve better, and better isn’t me.”