Playing With Fire

by Jordan Mendez

  I barbequed the wolves who were restraining Yuki. Automatically she went for the She-wolf who sat on the bed. She smiled playfully and didn’t move. I didn’t see what happened, but I did see the end result. Yuki flew back, skidding when she hit the ground, human again. The woman was no longer a human. In her place was a giant black Blood Wolf that made all the others look like puppies. The lumbering She-Wolf stalked over to the unconscious Yuki on two legs. She examined her before picking Yuki up with one massive arm. I ignited the ground to separate me from the remaining Blood Wolves.

  “Good bye, little sister,” the She-wolf said in a scruffy voice. It raised a giant clawed hand, and brought it down on the helpless girl. Reacting by pure instinct, I set the She-wolf’s massive paw aflame. The black wolf howled in pain. The she-wolf shot her enraged eyes to mine, and I completely froze in my place. With one swift flick of her hand, the She-wolf tossed Yuki aside, and began to walk towards me, making the earth shake with each step. I could have ran. I could have fought back. But I couldn’t. I was so paralyzed with fear that it felt like my heart had stopped beating. Her eyes were the same red eyes Enzio had.

  “Foolish little girl,” The black Blood Wolf growled. “I’m going to teach you not to meddle in family affairs!” Using blinding speed, the She-wolf dashed at me. In the blink of an eye, the massive wolf towered over me, blocking out the light of the moon. The only thing I could do was stare blankly.

  “Scarlet, run!” Ed yelled at me from across the clearing, busy handling all the Blood Wolves I didn’t take care of. His voice sounded more distant than it was, as if he was at the end of a far tunnel. A black furry fist was brought down on me, catching me in the shoulder, making me fly to my side. My ears rang and pain stung my shoulder, but still I couldn’t react. The she-wolf attacked me again and again, creating more and more pain, but my body just wouldn’t listen. It was those eyes, those horrible red eyes. The fight was a blur, but it ended up with me on the ground struggling to breath. Wait, I’m sorry, did I just call it a fight? It was a cruel bloody beating.

  “You’re nothing special after all,” the She-wolf said in boredom. “I’ll be doing Velkire a favor by killing you.” She raised one huge hand/paw over her head and flexed her claws. “At least don’t die right away; it would be a shame if I didn’t get to enjoy your suffering.” My entire body was shaking. I wanted desperately to move, to run away. But I couldn’t. And now I was going to die here, because I was a coward. I couldn’t stand up to those eyes. The She-wolf brought her claws down in an arch towards me, and I shut my eyes, waiting for the pain. Five seconds…Ten seconds…Fifteen seconds. I opened my eyes again in confusion, for there was no pain. I knew death couldn’t be that quick. As I opened my eyes, they grew to the size of apples.

  A drop of blood fell onto my face, but it was not mine. With wings spread out like a shield, Vaze stood over me panting, trying to keep himself as close to me as possible.

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” he said, trying to keep the pain from his voice while holding the gashes in his midsection closed. “But I can’t let you hurt Scarlet anymore.” The She-wolf cackled as she flicked the blood off of her claws.

  “I’m surprised you can still move after the beating you took from my minions,” she growled. “But it makes no difference. You will die because you tried to save this useless life.”

  “I don’t plan on dying here, or letting anyone else die here either,” he replied. Vaze drew his dagger with one hand, keeping the other on his wound. The She-wolf laughed again. She seemed to have a sick pleasure hurting people.

  “You are a fool, young prince,” she howled with sickening laughter. “You risk your life to save this one girl, when you could save more lives by staying alive.”

  “I’d rather die trying to save this one girl than live one day without her,” Vaze said softly. The black wolf scoffed.

  “I loathe feelings of kindness and love,” she spat. “It is a false feeling, and can quickly be broken. The only true feelings in life are hatred and pain. Those who embrace hatred feel no pain, and those who feel pain breed hatred. I will teach you what true pain is.” The She-wolf charged at Vaze, and I was still too shocked to do a thing.

  She attacked without mercy, cutting him up even more and adding broken bones. Vaze countered, but his blade seemed to do no damage. The beating I took from the She-wolf was nothing compared to this. Slash after relentless slash, the She-wolf was cutting Vaze like meat. Each was shallow enough to avoid vital organs, but he was still losing a lot of blood.

  And yet he wouldn’t give up. He kept trying to attack her, and only managed to make three shallow wounds. Panting and bleeding, Vaze held his stance. The She-wolf snickered and cut deep into his arm and he collapsed with a cry of pain as he dropped his dagger. He grabbed onto his wounded arm with his good hand and winced in pain. His face got paler and paler as his breathing became shallow.

  “You’re just as boring as my little sister,” she said emotionlessly. “Scum like you doesn’t deserve life.” The She-wolf raised her claws over her head, and I snapped out of my trance with anger and desperation. I wasn’t going to let him die. Fire began to engulf the ground around me as I stood up. I tossed my dagger, embedding it into her paw that was about to kill Vaze. The She-wolf whined in pain and whipped her head around to me as she cradled her paw.

  I dashed towards her, being fueled on the thought that we would all die if I didn’t do something. Geysers of fire burst from the ground, separating her from Vaze. The She-wolf swiped a mighty paw at me, but I ducked underneath it. I stabbed her chest with my second dagger, but I knew it didn’t go deep enough. She swiped at me again, but I dodged.

  “Arrgh!” she growled, trying to remove the dagger from her chest, but her clumsy paws couldn’t grasp its nimble hilt. “Why do humans try so aimlessly to save one another? It’s pointless. You all just die eventually!”

  “A heartless beast like you wouldn’t understand,” I fumed. “When somebody hurts my friends, I get angry. And in this case, when I’m angry, creeps like you die.” I shot out one hand towards the dagger, and strip of flame pointed like a sword appeared out of the other side of the She-wolfs back. She looked at me in disbelief as her eyes glazed over.

  “I-Impossible!” she stuttered as she took a lumbering step towards me. “A mere child like you can’t defeat me!”

  “And yet I just did,” I hissed while closing my fist tight, and the She-wolf shrieked as she burst into flames. Fleeting images of her changing from a wolf to a woman and back to a wolf again could be seen as her body turned to ash. Soon the only thing left of her were her black ashes. I didn’t stop to admire my handiwork. I dashed over to Vaze.

  “Vaze, can you hear me?” I pleaded frantically as I ripped a sleeve of my shirt off and tied it tightly around the wound on his arm. Vaze nodded his head as he panted, but his eyes focused on nothing. They were wide and in shock. His good hand grabbed mine.

  “Don’t leave me,” he whispered. “Please, don’t.”

  “I won’t,” I said, trying desperately to cover the wound on his stomach. “You’re an idiot.” Vaze laughed, but quickly stopped by coughing up a little bit of blood.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “Of course I am!” I replied, not believing he could even think about that when he was so close to death.

  “Then it was worth it.” He smiled and his eyes slowly drifted close.

  “Vaze?” I said shaking him a little. “Vaze, this isn’t funny.” Still he did not move and I began to panic. I screamed his name and for him to wake up while shaking him frequently. Tears fell down my face the longer I tried. A hand fell onto my shoulder, and I turned my blurry eyes to find Kyra standing over me with Ed supporting her. The wolf girl Yuki was slung over Ed’s other shoulder. Kyra examined Vaze.

  “He’s alive,” she said finally. “But just barely. If we can get him to the camp soon he might survive.” I nodded and took hold of Ed’s leg, but didn’t let go of Vaze. We melded
into the shadows and an instant later we were by the cart and horse we used to get there. Ed looked exhausted, but helped put Yuki and Vaze in the back of the cart. I held onto Vaze, refusing to let go. I cradled his head in my lap as Kyra drove faster than usual. His soft hair bushed my hand lightly and I cursed at myself. It wouldn’t have happened if I had just fought right away. I acted like a coward and then Vaze was near death. I hugged him close and wept.

  “Don’t die,” I whispered. “Don’t die, please don’t die.”

  Chapter Ten

  We reached the camp shortly due to Kyra’s insane driving, but it felt like an eternity. Vaze’s shallow breathing and rapid heartbeats kept me on the edge of insanity. He stirred slightly a few times, but every time he winced in pain. His eyes opened at times, but they were unfocused and glazed over. The only thing that could go through my mind was I did this to him.

  The second we stopped in the camp Kyra jumped off of the driver’s seat and slung Vaze over her shoulder. Without missing a beat she dashed to the medical tent as fast as possible, even though she was injured as well. Ed jumped out and I helped him carry the wolf girl Yuki. Despite the fact that Kyra had just gotten Vaze into the tent, people were already frantically trying to save him. We handed Yuki to one of the doctors to check if she had any broken bones, and I rushed over to Vaze. Doctors were taking the crappy bandages off that I had applied and began to sew his wounds shut. He winced in pain and tried to flail in his sleep as if to escape. Some of the doctors had to restrain him. I had to avert my eyes. I didn’t want to see him in any more pain. The king rushed into the tent and looked around rapidly with fear.

  “Where is he?” he asked urgently. I shied into a corner. I really didn’t want him to know I was responsible. His eyes spotted Vaze. His stitches were done but he still looked like a dead man. The king rushed over to his son as his eyes began to tear up. “Who did this?” No one answered.

  “Who did this?” he bellowed. “I swear when I get my hands on them I’ll rip them limb from limb and feed the pieces to Shadows! Tell me who did this to my son!” My entire body stiffened, as if I had turned into a tree. Kyra walked up to him, looking a little afraid.

  “Sir, I take full responsibility for what had happened, I should have assessed the situation better,” Kyra said trying to hide her fear. The king looked like he was going to explode, making me feel horrible for Kyra. It was my fault for not fighting back, and she knew it. “And I apologize in advance, sir.” Kyra slapped the king across the face, causing everyone in the tent to gasp.

  “Your son is breathing and alive, as a father the best thing you can do is be by your son’s side right now, not scare everyone to death!” Kyra scolded. “What you’re doing will only cause chaos and confusion!” The king blinked in disbelief. Kyra dropped to her knees.

  “I am sorry, your majesty,” she apologized with a shaky voice. “I accept any punishment you wish to give me.” The king rubbed his face were Kyra slapped him.

  “Don’t punish anybody,” a groggy voice said. Our eyes turned to find Vaze staring at the top of the tent with his eyes hardly cracked open. “I did this so my team wouldn’t die, and if it weren’t for Scarlet, I would be dead. Just be glad this was the worst that happened.” The king’s eyes softened a tad, but hardened up again. He turned back to Kyra.

  “I’ll overlook your behavior this one time, but only because you brought back my son,” he said in a stern voice, and the room had a chorus of silent relieved sighs. He turned and left the room, and I dared to breathe. I hadn’t noticed I had been holding my breath until my lungs started to scream. Kyra looked as if she had seen a ghost.

  “Thanks Vaze,” she said. “You really saved my hide there.”

  “No problem,” he replied. He turned his head slightly and winced in pain. A doctor hurriedly asked if he needed help. Vaze shook his head.

  “Scarlet, can I talk to you?” Vaze asked hesitantly. He looked at Kyra, Ed and the doctors. “Alone?” Kyra nodded and dragged out a very confused Ed. The doctors were a little more resistant but eventually left, leaving me kneeling awkwardly at the side of Vaze’s cot. Vaze opened his mouth to say something, but closed it. I decided to speak first, in the most comforting way I knew.

  “Dude, you look like crap,” I said with a half-smile. Vaze laughed hoarsely.

  “You don’t look much better,” he replied and I smiled. He sighed and tried to move, only to cringe in pain again. I put a hand on his shoulder to keep him down.

  “You’re an idiot, you’ll reopen your wounds if you do that,” I said sternly. Vaze scoffed.

  “I don’t care if I do, they’ll just sew them shut again,” he said back, and I rolled my eyes. He could be almost as stubborn as I was. “I wanted to tell you something.”

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t lying about what I said,” he said slowly, trying not to make eye contact with me. I looked at him, confused.

  “What weren’t you lying about?” I asked curiously. Vaze’s eyes took a sudden interest in the fire pit.

  “If you don’t remember, then that’s fine,” he said quickly. His eyes would look anywhere but at me.

  “You can tell me Vaze,” I said truthfully. “Trust me.” Vaze’s blue eyes slowly made their way to mine. I had never really noticed before, but they were beautiful. I suddenly felt vulnerable. Slowly, Vaze pushed himself up with his arms. He cringed as his arms strained, but he didn’t stop. I got up and put my hands on his shoulder to ease him back down.

  “Vaze don’t, you’re going to hurt yourself,” I scolded, but Vaze took my hands and shook his head. He sat up and pulled me down onto the cot and I sat next to him. He held my hand close to his chest, and the warmth of his skin heated up my hand. I felt the rapid beating of his heart as he inched closer to me.

  “When I said that I’d rather die than let you die, I wasn’t lying,” he answered. He took one of his hands and stroked my dark hair out from my face. “I’d rather die trying to save you, than live one day without you.” His eyes softened and he slipped his warm hand into my hair. He moved his head closer to mine, but I couldn’t move. It was like I was in a trance.

  “Vaze?” I whispered and he hushed me affectionately as his lips found mine. Warmth flooded into my body as he kissed me, and I began to have a giddy feeling along with a light head. He squeezed my hand gently as he retreated. My eyes fluttered open as my cheeks turned red. Vaze smiled at me dreamily and stroked my hair softly. A million thoughts rushed through my head, but I was speechless.

  “The truth is that I love you,” Vaze whispered as he moved back in for another kiss. I snatched away my hand and stood up quickly. Vaze blinked at me, with a puzzled look on his face.

  “Are you alright?” he asked as I started pacing and mumbling to myself. I rubbed my temples with my fingers. My mind was panicking. What Vaze had done was sudden, way too sudden. I didn’t respond to him. Vaze looked to the ground.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized like a sad puppy. “I shouldn’t have done that.” I didn’t reply. Instead, I ran out of the tent as fast as I could, past a group of eavesdroppers consisting of Kyra, Ed, and my brothers. I didn’t stop to scold them, I just kept running. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I kept running until I found myself deep in the forest that bordered the camp. Darkness was everywhere, and only the faint silver light of the moon poking through the leaves allowed me to see. I turned my gaze back to the camp. I could still see the faint orange glow of the torches, so I turned and ran farther into the forest, until I couldn’t see them anymore. With burning muscles and screaming lungs, I finally stopped at a small spring that I had never seen before.

  It gave off faint white light as the moonlight touched it. I collapsed by the pool taking in as much sweet air as my lungs would allow. I dipped my hand into the cool water of the spring and tossed it on my face. The splash of cold water sent shivers down my spine. I looked up at the cracks in the roof of the forest, to the dark blue starry sky. When I started the
mission today, I didn’t think Vaze would almost die, but I could handle that much better than him kissing me or him telling me he loved me. Honestly, I’d rather go up against Enzio a thousand times than go back and face Vaze.

  I didn’t know what I felt when he kissed me, and it was a complete out of body experience. What he said didn’t just freak me out, it also made me think. As my mind began to wander, thoughts popped up…

  I cursed myself for even suggesting it. It was stupid, absolutely stupid. I’d never love anyone like that, especially not Vaze. I loved my brothers, but in a family way. I sat up and stared at the spring, trying to think about anything other than Vaze. My reflection stared back up at me. My grey eyes were so light, they were almost white. My hair was so dark, it was almost black. My skin was pale like snow. I had no idea why Vaze would have any feelings for me. I wasn’t pretty like Kyra, or smart like Seth, or even girly. My head started pounding as my brain stressed more and more over it.

  “Ugh.” I moaned when my migraine got worse. I fell back onto my back and looked back up at the stars. Seeing the twinkling lights made my mind slow down a bit. I yawned like a bear preparing for hibernation, and slowly, my eyes grew heavy. When they finally fluttered closed, I slowly drifted into a dreamless sleep.

  ~

  Vaze collapsed back onto the cot and cringed in pain. Thoughts raging through his head scolded him, but his composure remained that of indifference. His mind continued its scolding until Kyra walked in. He lay still, trying to look as casual as an injured person should be.