Sin of Fury by Avery Duncan Page A

see them
again... Jamie’s hands curled into fists.
If she was ever given the chance, she was going to kill them.
Forget that she hated violence, what they had forced her into, what
they were , was
enough to make her want to rip them apart.
    Jamie knew she should be
more worried about them being otherworldly, not human in any way.
But something inside her, from the day she had been old enough to
write and read, had shouted at her that there was something more to
the world. Something that she had been missing, something that
was waiting for
her. Whatever it was, she guessed that her father had hated her and
her mother solely for that reason.
    Ages ago, when she had been in fifth
grade, feeling all big and tough, Jamie had been taken by her
mother. It had been an adventure, her mother had whispered
fearfully, picking her up that day from the school. Teachers had
let her mother rush her out. Jamie had been following behind
quickly, scared of her mother’s tears. Something similar had only
happened one other time. The third time...had been the
last.
    The events after that would
always be in her mind. Would always set her against her father. And
would always make her believe that there were things other than humans. As a
child, she had figured that everyone knew, that this could happen
to anyone. Until she had seen something that had changed her life
forever.
    She remembered with regret, knowing
that the innocence of her childhood had been stripped from her that
day. Chris...Chris had been an outlet, the one thing in her life
besides her mother that she had believed she could rely
on.
    A sound, something close to a whimper,
escaped her throat. She flung a stiff hand over her mouth, averting
her mind from thoughts of the past. She had found ways to suppress
them, and didn’t plan on recalling them any time soon.
    The stir of air. A sound of rustling.
Jamie jerked, scrambling to the other side of the room. She was
just pressing herself against the wall, closer to the door than she
would like to be, when she felt something sticky under her
fingers...
    She lifted her hand slowly, eyes
widening in horror as she realized what it was... Jamie screamed,
trying to wipe the blood on anything but herself. The harsh sound
echoed through the room, and didn’t end for several minutes. She
panted, drawing her knees to her chest, back carefully away from
the wall.
    Jamie heard a groan come from the
corner, and then, in the dim light, saw large arms move, lifting.
She swallowed largely. Was he going to attack her, as Auro had said
he would? Was he going to force himself on her, beat her, use her
for his pleasures? Bile rose in her throat.
    Another scream came quickly as the
figure rose to its feet. The keening pitch bounced along the walls,
had his giant form flinching. The sound of a snarl mixed with her
scream.
    Talon almost lashed out at the crying
female. Did she even realize the tears trailing down her cheeks? A
breath of air left his chest as the screams faded, replaced by the
scrape of a plate is it formed before him. He bent down, directly
into the light, letting the woman take her fill. He knew that scars
covered his form, blood smeared his back, chest and arms. Knew that
the gashes were sickening, repulsive, terrifying for a weak female
like she was. Instead of the scream he expected, when he took the
plate into his hand, there was nothing but a soft gasp. The sobs
cut off.
    The smell of her salty tears in the
air almost had him throwing the plate at her. The familiar smell,
the soft scent of the weak woman, sent his mind whirling. Just
because of that, he hated her. He hated her because she was ruining
everything, because she was a pawn for Auro. Did the man honestly
expect a woman like her to accept a bastard like Talon, with blood
and wounds covering every part of his body?
    He hadn’t had a bath in what seemed
like years, only a small damp rag to wash up every week or so. He
smelled as bad as the room did, and probably worse. How