Playing With Fire by Jordan Mendez Page B

tinged my tongue, but I refused to release his
hands from my jaw. Velkire spat a curse uncharacteristically and hit me over
the head. A trickle of blood ran down my forehead but still I would not let go.
I would have held on until I passed out if not for Enzio.
    Reacting
to his master’s cries, Enzio snatched me up by the back of my neck and rose me
off the floor, chair and all. He squeezed so hard I thought he might break my
spine. Instantly my jaw released as an involuntary action, and Velkire pulled
back and clutched a bleeding hand.
    Enzio
released me and my chair hit the floor. The second it landed he back-handed my head
with his metal hand. I didn’t react beyond jerking forward. I didn’t want to
give either of them the satisfaction of seeing me yelp in pain. I looked at Velkire,
who seemed to be surrounded by stars until they cleared within a few seconds. His
expression and mood changed from relatively happy to dark and evil. I smiled
cockily. I enjoyed pissing off people I didn’t like. That may get me killed one
of these days.
    “You
really are dull witted like Enzio said, aren’t you?” Velkire’s voice sounded
especially hollow. “Now we’re going to have to do this the hard way.”
    He
motioned with his good hand to the darkness and a young girl walked into the
light. She was beautiful, yet terrifying at the same time. Her hair was pure
white and her features where soft and gentle. She wasn’t human though. Like
Enzio, her eyes were red. But unlike him, instead of normal eyes with red
color, they were completely red, with no pupil or iris. Her skin was grey like
stone, yet it had the look of youth and vigor. Her ears were slightly pointed
at the end, like a gargoyle’s.
    “Yes
master?” she said to Velkire. Her voice was sweet and high, but at the same
time was steely and low, as if two people were talking at once.
    “This
is the girl,” he said. “You know what to do.” The girl smiled sweetly.
    “Indeed
master,” she said in response and then walked over to my chair. She lifted up a
hand, but unlike Velkire, she didn’t have any designs on her hands. However,
she had something a lot worse. Instantly, her nails turned into black claws
like the Shadows’.
    “Please
sit still,” she said politely in a sick cheery attitude. “This will only hurt
more if you struggle.”
    Yeah,
right—as if I was going to listen. She put a hand on my shoulder and leaned
down to eye level. I tried swaying back and forth, in hopes that I would fall
and break the chair to give myself a shot at freedom, but she forced me to be
still. Before I had the chance to brace myself she jabbed her clawed hand into
my lower torso, and began to slice the same design as on Velkire’s hand onto my
stomach. I screamed in agonizing pain. It was unlike any I had experienced
before. I kept begging my body to let my mind pass out, but it never happened.
The girl’s claws continued to etch the design onto my stomach, seeming to cut
my insides up in the process. I coughed blood onto the girl’s hands and onto my
pants. She didn’t seem to care.
    Finally,
she stopped. She rose up from me and returned to Velkire with my blood dripping
from her fingers. Unfortunately, the pain didn’t leave with her. It felt as if
she was still tearing through my flesh.
    “Anything
else, Master?” she asked in her cheery little demonic voice.
    “No,
that will be all,” he said cheerily, as if it were contagious. Enzio stared at
me with a smugly. Velkire slinked toward me like a cat to a trapped mouse.
    “Don’t
worry child,” He said in an exaggerated insincere tone. “In time this may prove
to be a gift, if you use it well.” He cocked one foot up onto the top of my
chair and stooped his face down to mine until we were staring eye to eye. I then
knew what was underneath the fake tenderness. It was bloodlust. “Who knows?
Maybe you’ll like this power so much, you’ll decide to come and join me.”
    As
the last words slithered off of