With Teeth

With Teeth13

This is my favourite chapter so far XD ^_^ Enjoy!!!

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Chapter Thirteen

I drifted slowly towards sleep, the light of the fire playing on the insides of my eyelids, the sound of crackling flames both comforting and disturbing me as I thought of Josh Harte and his men and the night I had left my home. I could hear Salem as his patrol of the camp took him past my resting place, and suddenly felt happier than I had for a long time. I was safe, protected; among friends. I smiled sleepily as I heard muffled footsteps draw close again; Salem on his rounds.

I felt a tickle on my throat, and bent my chin, irritated by whatever small fly or bug had landed there. It tickled again, and I lifted a hand this time to brush at it, only to find myself touching cold steel. My eyes flew open, and I stared at the figure crouching above me. The face I was looking into was hard; young, yet worn by the events it had endured. It was a young man, wearing a ripped up, short-sleeved black top and fingerless tattered leather gloves, with holsters crisscrossed over jeans which were a dusty no colour. Inside each of the holsters was a well cared for .45. The thing which had been tickling my neck was a black handled knife, the blade of which was so sharp that simply tickling my throat had slit the skin, and now a thin trickle of blood ran down my neck as I stared into this mysterious assailant's storm grey eyes.

The hand not holding the knife snaked around my face, tracing my lips with stone cold fingertips, gently brushing hair off my eyes. I felt frozen, but managed to gather enough courage to open my mouth and try call for help.

"Per-" Before I could finish the word, his hand sprang like lightening onto my mouth, muffling all sounds. His expression hadn't changed, but the speed at which his hand had travelled had frightened me badly, ridding me of any courage I had managed to gather. I simply stared into his eyes again, and felt as though I was being hypnotised by the stormy grey colour. A scar travelling vertically down one cheek, beside an eye, didn't take away from their raptness.

"Hush," He whispered in a husky, silken voice. "Not a sound..." He moved, shifting his weight, but kept his eyes fixed on mine. "What is such a beautiful young girl as you doing travelling with a band like this, hmm?" His eyes glittered wickedly. "Are you here for George's pleasure? A concubine, plundered from some forgotten place on their journeys? Or are you simply bait, here to call to the creatures? Shall they split your skin far worse than I have done, release the wine of your blood, all to call and kill a few creatures?" The knife he was holding dug deeper into my skin as he grinned widely, and I felt tears of pain well up in my eyes. Managing to tear my gaze from his, I blinked the tears away, not wanting to allow him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

"Hey!" There was a shout from the opposite side of the camp, and I felt my heart leap with hope and joy. The man by me stood, the knife held loosely in one hand, the other resting casually on the right holster, an easy smile on his scarred face. Running footsteps thudded across the needle strewn ground, and Salem arrived, panting, sword held out. The tip, I could see, was shaking.

"George! Perpetua! Don't you move, buddy! Don't you move!" Salem looked down at me, staring up at him. "It's ok, Lady Blue."

George and Perpetua, neither of whom seemed to ever sleep below a doze, had arrived on the scene. Instead of looking angry or irritated, they looked almost relieved - Perpetua especially. She glanced at me, at the scab beginning to form on my neck, to the knife the stranger was holding.

"Kane, what the hell are you doing here?" My eyes widened in surprise, and I stood up, hand sneaking to my neck.

"I saw the firelight," The stranger - who wasn't a stranger to George and Perpetua, but someone called Kane - said, still wearing that grin. "I came to stop for the night."