Page 12 of The Death Striker's Partner
“…monster?” Rerasha whispers, wounded, but I don’t give a damn. He’s scaring the crap out of me and I’m surprised I haven’t wet myself. I’ve stopped fighting and I can’t stop shaking. “I’m not…I’mnota monster. I was just trying to stop you from hurting me. Y-you were tyring to bite me. You’ve already clawed at me. Howdareyou callmea monster!” His hurt turned to anger and he swung my body in the air to face him.
Oh, that was the wrong move.
Face to face with the thing with his tail around my throat wasnotthe right thing to do if he wanted me to sympathise or apologise. Instead, I screamed and lashed out with my hands towards his face. He ducked his head back to avoid my nails in his eyes, but my right foot swung forward and connected with something less tough than I was expecting. He wheezed and we both landed in a heap on the floor. My head bounced off the yellow rock and white-hot mind-shattering pain rattled through my head. My vision blurred out of existence for a moment and I gasped to breathe now my throat wasn’t restricted. Rerasha cradled whatever he had behind his skirt and curled up into a protective ball.
Later I would be impressed that I managed to kick him in his snake-man parts.
Right now I only had on thing on my mind.
Billie.
I ignored how Alaric showed his true colours and rushed to try and pry his way into the orange ball of pain on the floor. I dragged myself up onto my feet and held my bruised ribs. In response to my kick, the bugger had squeezed me and my headhurt like hell. I tasted blood in my mouth and I could feel it trickling slowly down my cheek and to my jaw.
I approached the King Cobra once more and spat out some of my own blood as I panted up at him.
“Give…me…my…sister…” I blink and sway on my feet. Crap it’s getting hard to stay upright or see straight. Just how far did I fall?
“I don’t like your smell…but I respect your display of spirit.” He dared to chuckle at me. I gripped my fists by my sides and narrowed at him from beneath my fringe.
“Listen you mother f-” Movement caught my fuzzy vision. Billie peered out from a three-tier high coil of his massive brown tail. “Billie.” I tried to step towards her but the King Cobra hissed angrily at me. “Billie I’m right here.”
“You need medical attention.” She stood up and held her biceps timidly. “Prince Izule says I have to have a sponsor. It’s in my contract. He’s going to take care of me. You need medical attention.”
“Billie?! You can’t be serious?!”
“I am.” She didn’t look at my face. Probably because of the blood. She’s always hated blood. “All the others were loud. He isn’t. He’s promised not to touch me if he can help it. And his scales don’t hurt my eyes. He’s easy to look at. He says where he lives we’d be alone so I wouldn’t have to worry about other people. I can work quietly.”
“And once she and you have passed your sponsorship periods, you can see each other as often as you like.” I didn’t look away from Billie. She was pale and I could see her picking at her sleeve, but she was calm.
“You have no idea how to take care of her.” I challenged ‘Prince Izule’ and licked more blood off my lips. “Look how easily one of yourpoliticianshurt me? He is nowhere near as big as you, and Billie has specific needs.”
“I will learn.” The nerve of this guy?! I wanted to take hold of his hood and wring the scales out whilst screaming.
“Learn? You’relearn?Billie isn’t a book or a new toy you can read an instruction manual for. You can’t justlearnhow to take care of her.”
“Of course I can. You did, didn’t you?” Yes, but it took me years! Lots of patience and my love for her taught me how to care for her, and even then I’m not right all the time.
“No, you can’t do this.” I stomp my foot and ignore how dizzy it makes me. “I am her older sister, her next of kin, and I do not give my consent for her to be transferred into your custody.”
“Yes you do.” Alaric walked up to my side and put his hand on my back, but I shoved him back two steps angrily. “Hannah, you and Billie both signed a contract to follow the rules agreed to in the event an alliance was made with an indigenous race. As long as Billie agrees, you can’t stop her from becoming sponsored by Prince Izule.”
“No.” I seeth and sway, but I catch myself. I take a moment to push through the fog of pain and huff at him. “Billie is a special case. You can’t give her to this m-”
“Prince Izule is a high profile member of Ucfeni society, and therefore, is under a lot of scrutiny.” Alaric held his hands up, worried I might keel over. I must look as bad as I feel. The wet sound of blood spattering on the floor from my cut forehead drilled home how badly I hit my head when I fell to the floor. “It would be in his best interests to treat Billieverywell.”
“You need medical attention.” Billie called out again and stole my focus. “I-Ineedyou to have medical attention.” I stare at her and smile through the blood. I hate making her worry.
“You can talk to her through the Communication Gems you are wearing.” Alaric tries to coax me down the stairs, but I shrug him off.
“…every day?” Billie timidly asks, and I melt.
“Yes.” I sob. My heard hurts almost as much as my breaking heart does. I’ve never been apart from Billie. How is she taking this so well? I’m a wreck. It occurs to me that I needher,not the other way around. Or at least, more than I thought I did. My baby sister. “You call me whenever you want to. As often as you want to.”
“You need medical attention.” I sniffle and nod at her.
“I do Bumblebee. I do, but are yousureyou’re okay with this?” I dart my straining vision up to look at the prince snake and have to admit he isn’t much of a talker. His colours are plain. Brown and cream. Block dull colours. I see what she means about being easy for her to look at. So far he doesn’t seem to have physically touched her at all. He’s treating her better than Rerasha has treated me, at least. I don’t like how big and ‘deadly’ he is, but…I don’t seem to have a choice. Especially as my vision is getting more and more blurred.
“Yes. You need medical attention.”
