qazyfiction

Chapter 22

Silver tore into the bathroom like a wild animal. He pulled aside the curtain and grabbed Sam by the scruff of the neck, pulling him away from Lilith, only to slam him against the wall beside her.

Sam’s mouth was an ‘o’ of surprise as his head knocked against the wall. He seemed a little unfocused, his pupils still an all-encompassing black that made Lilith feel queasy. But she was still off-balance and weak, and she couldn’t look away.

“What’s the problem?” Sam managed to say, only to find himself slammed against the wall a second time. When his back made contact with the tiles, the water stopped running. It took Lilith a few seconds to realize why: the runes were painted on that wall. They were skin-sensitive, clearly.

Silver brought Sam’s face close to his. “She is mine,” he said, his voice a low growl, and though Lilith knew she should react to the words, she couldn’t.

Sam kept his arms by his sides, looking entirely unconcerned. “I sense no claim between the two of you.”

“I saved her life.”

Sam shrugged. “That just makes her your responsibility, not yours. Protect her from harm however much you want, but don’t protect her from what she needs.”

He trailed the tips of his fingers down Lilith’s arm, and she couldn’t help but shudder in response. “I’m just doing you a favour, really. In this state, she’s likely to attract every incubus in town.” Sam smiled. “All two of us.”

Silver didn’t even look at her. He shook Sam warningly. “Don’t touch her.”

Sam held up his hands, his eyes slowly returning to normal. “Fine, fine, I won’t. But if I don’t, somewhere else will.” With that, he winked at Lilith and stepped out of the shower. Silver’s scowl only deepened when Sam brushed past him.

Now that Sam was gone, Lilith felt her senses return, and with them, her embarrassment over the situation. Silver was staring at her now, and the silence between them seemed to stretch on forever.

She tried to withstand his scrutiny, she really did. But there was something about his darkening gaze that made her feel small and shameful. She looked down at her toes, itching to raise her arms and cover her body. But he’d already seen her; what was the point?

Silver let out a heavy sigh. “Get some clothes on.” He sounded annoyed.

She waited for him to scold her, to say something—anything—else, but all she heard was silence. When Lilith looked up, the room was empty, and the door was closed. On the floor right by the door was a pile of new clothes.

Lilith let out a sigh, and stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around her. She rubbed herself down slowly, her limbs still feeling a little sluggish. What had Sam done to her? What had he wanted? She didn’t want to think about the answers too hard.

She forced herself to concentrate on getting dressed. The clothes weren’t very different from what she’d been wearing earlier: plain, dark trousers, and an off-white top, although this one was tighter, and had sleeves that reached her elbows. The deep v-neck was also something she’d have to get used to, but all in all she couldn’t complain.

Amber had chosen the clothes, she remembered. Maybe the were had tried to pick things she’d be comfortable in. Or maybe she was reading too much into things.

Lilith stared at herself in the mirror, trying to set her face into a hard frown. The girl staring back at her looked more indecisive than anything else. She sighed, leaned closer towards the mirror to poke at her red-tinged cheeks.

She almost poked herself in the eye when someone knocked on the bathroom door.

“Come on Lilith!” It was Amber. “You’re the last one ready.”

Lilith gave herself one last look in the mirror and then opened the bathroom door.

Amber took her hand and pulled her into the room. “You clean up pretty, don’t you?” She seemed cheerful—too cheerful—enough to make Lilith suspicious.

She half-shrugged. “Thanks for the clothes.” Then she took in Amber’s new clothes: a deep blue long-sleeved top with a loose neckline that exposed the top of her cleavage, and light blue trousers. Were those jeans? She’d thought only slaves wore jeans. “You look nice,” she managed to say.

Amber hardly seemed to hear her. “Come on, let’s go. Silver’s waiting.” She tugged Lilith out of the room and back down the stairs, not giving her a chance to respond.

They met Silver outside. He was leaning against one of the wooden pillars of the porch, staring up at the sky with studious disdain.

Amber walked right up to him and latched on to his arm. “I’m starving,” Amber said, trying to tug him away from the porch. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

He gave Amber a pointed look and she let go of his arm, not looking the least bit repentant. When she turned and began to march down the road, Silver caught up with her, not even glancing in Lilith’s direction.

Lilith sighed and fell into step behind them. She couldn’t help but wonder why Amber had brought her along, if all she was going to do was trail after them.

She was taken entirely by surprise when Amber glanced over her shoulder and said, “Come on, Lilith! Didn’t you hear me say I’m starving? Hurry up a little!”

Amber stared at her, as if she was supposed to be doing something. It took Lilith a few seconds to realize what. She picked up her pace, until she was walking side-by-side with Amber.

Amber seemed satisfied, and resumed scouring the streets, for what, Lilith couldn’t quite determine. Silver was staring off into the distance. He had something in his mouth, some kind of white stick, the length of her finger. She wanted to ask what it was, but the look on his face didn’t invite questions, and Amber was too busy looking at the small shops they were passing.

A sudden change in the direction of the wind brought with it an appetizing smell. Lilith felt her stomach clench—she hadn’t eaten since breakfast, way back at the campsite—and she looked around for the source of the smell.

On the corner of a crossroad, just ahead of them, was a two-floor building with double doors, both propped open. The building had an appealing, stone-washed exterior, and across the doors was a name she couldn’t quite make out, made out of a thick, familiar lettering Lilith associated with pubs. As they approached, Lilith noticed a small chalkboard just outside, with a menu.

Amber wasn’t looking at the pub; she was staring at a jewellery stand across the road.

Lilith dithered internally as they drew closer, then finally brought herself to point. “What about in there?”

Silver didn’t even pause. Amber stopped long enough to shake her head and point at the door, where there was a large white sign with the words no weres, no squama, no cesailia.

Lilith looked up from reading the sign, only to realize the other two had continued without her. She hurried after them. “What’s that all about?”

Amber shrugged. “Apparently, we’re too aggressive, the squama too untrustworthy, and the cesailia… Well, the cesailia are pretty odd-looking, I guess.”

Odd-looking? If the infected considered them odd-looking, Lilith was pretty sure she didn’t want to meet these cesailia, whatever they were.

“So where are we going to eat?”

Amber laughed. “Don’t worry, there’s a place for us, too.” She stopped walking, and nodded to one side of the road. “Right here, in fact.”

They’d stopped outside of some kind of tavern. There were two doors: the one on the left had a sign saying ‘restaurant’, the one on the right said ‘bar’. Across the top of the doors was a large scrolling sign: The Where’s Inn.

But Lilith didn’t have much time to take in the details. For standing in front of the bar, smiling at them rather warmly, was a broad-shouldered woman wearing a utilitarian blue shirt and a matching long skirt.

And Silver—Silver, who never said a word to anyone, who’d ignored her for most of the day—dipped his head in greeting at the woman, the corner of his mouth twitching upwards.

The woman’s smile widened into a playful smirk. “Hello, Silver. Long time no see.”