Deus
I smelt her fear. A waft of bitterness which I could also taste.
I did not like it.
Not one bit.
She is so tiny. I don’t know what to do with her. Is she going to run again? Swift but not so swift I could not catch her. Is she going to close her eyes and not wake no matter what I do?
I don’t want either to happen. Although the chasing might be fun. It made parts of me hard which have not been hard for a long time.
But this little female is not for anything other than leverage. I harden my heart.
“Do not go any further,” I growl. “This is my domain. The others call it the forbidden sector, but it is not forbidden for me.”
She looks at me. Her eyes are an incredible color, a green I don’t think I’ve seen outside of an aquium. Surrounded by her pale skin, her dark eyelashes, and the ruby red of her lips, she is a jewel all on her own.
“Deus?”
My name is a mere whisper on her lips, but I never want to hear it from any other, not now, not in the future.
I harden my heart.
“That’s my name,” I rasp. “But you are to call me Lord Deus.”
“I am?”
“Yes. And you are to tell me your name.”
“I am not.”
“You’re not?”
“No.”
The scent of her defiance is as sweet as any flower, and I prefer it greatly to her fear.
“And why not?”
“Because if you don’t already know it, you don’t deserve to know it,” she says. “If you want to know, you’ll have to prove you’re worthy of it.”
“You are my captive,” I growl, and I get a whiff of her fear again. “You are to tell me.”
“I won’t tell you anything. Not while I’m your captive.”
She walks away from me, towards the sanitary area, which she enters and, with a glare in my direction, closes the door.
“Leave it open. I need to see you at all times.”
“No you don’t.” Her voice is muffled.
I flex my hands. I should tear it down, then she would always be in my sight.
But I do not want her to fear me. Not if it means I have to scent it. I want more of her defiance. I want more of her without the fear.
Except she is my captive. She is in my control. She is my shield against the others.
And I need to know her name.
“You can call me Deus,” I call out.
There is no response.
Could she be trying to use the sanitary facility to escape? How would that be possible?
Ice grips my limbs. She is small. She is so small she can get out of places no Sarkarnii ever could. In two strides, I am at the door, my claws reaching for it, ready to rip, ready to rend, ready to tear.
The door slides open. She jumps in alarm at my proximity. For a moment, her eyelids flutter. I think she is going to go limp again, and I stick out an arm. She ducks under it, and in a flash, she is behind me.
“What do you think you are doing?”
“I thought you might be trying to escape,” I growl. “There is no escape from me.”
“I was doing my business, not trying to escape. I can’t slip through pipework,” she says, her eyes not on me but on the outside.
“How do I know?”
“I’m here, aren’t I?” she says.
“You cannot escape,” I snarl.
Her eyes snap back to me, but this time I’m not sure there is fear in them. This time maybe there is defiance instead.
“This is my sector. I know every inch of it. I will find you,” I say, with slightly less growl. “Unless the vegetation takes you first.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think all of this is for show? I brought some of it back from the second continent, and it seems to have established itself very well.” I look out over the valley. “All deadly, of course.”
“Of course. I’d expect nothing less.”
I look back at my little female. She is sitting on one of the seats my mate used to like in her biped form. But this creature has her legs curled up under her. She looks like she has always been here.
A rumble rips through my chest.
“What are you doing?” She’s on her feet, eyes darting from left to right before alighting on me.
“Nothing.”
“That noise…the one you’re making.” She glares at me. “What is it?”
“I am not making any noise, little female, or you would know about it.” My chest rumbles again.
“Perhaps you’re hungry?” she says.
I hadn’t actually thought about food for a while. In fact I hadn’t thought about food at all since I took her from the Sarkarnii fortress and brought her here.
My little ember slept a long time.
“Maybe I am.”
“Then perhaps you should eat something?” she suggests.
I look at her and then around us.
“Like what?”
“The food dispenser.” She points to the wall nearest me.
I shake my head and then thump my fist to the side of it.
“Food dispenser,” I snarl. “Make food.”