The Blood God

Chapter 4

The town burned, and people screamed. He tried to save them, but every time he tried to run to someone in need, his legs dragged, weighed down by an unseen force.

People he knew and loved burn in the fires that raged all around him. The flames rose higher and the heat built until his skin sizzled. Cut off from his friends, he could only watch as the fires consumed them. A burning sensation on his neck started like a hot itch and grew into another fire that crept through his veins. He tore at his neck, trying to reach the fire inside and make it stop.

Josith awoke as a pained scream escaped his lips. A burning sensation radiated throughout his body and deep into his bones. He curled into a fetal position as the pain continued. When it finally subsided, he uncurled and opened his eyes. His vision blurry, he could make out nothing more than nondescript shapes, most of them fuzzy and dark on dark. The stone floor was damp. Something stank like...like...he furled his nose. Something smelled like sewage.

He touched his neck where he felt the source of the pain. At first his fingertips grazed the normal smoothness of his skin, but then they brushed across raised indentations surrounding what felt like holes, sore to the touch. He tried to sit up, but there was something awkward in the motion, something different. He felt nearly weightless, like something besides his muscles was the power behind the push. His head swam and he lay back down, needing to collect himself before trying again.  

Fear brimmed in his heart. Where was he? What was going to happen to him? Josith closed his eyes. His thoughts were only making it worse. For now, he had to focus on retaining his sanity. And later, when he felt better, he would try to find a way to get out of here.

            A few minutes later, a metal door creaked open. Peering in that direction, Josith saw the faint outline of a man several feet away. He rubbed his eyes and his vision began to clear. As the figure approached, Josith saw he was in a cell with three stone walls. The fourth was made of iron bars. Why was he imprisoned? His chest grew heavy with worry. The last thing he remembered was pain, being held down as someone fed on him, and his vision fading to black. His mind had shut down, separating from his body. He was sure he had died.

On unsteady limbs, he managed to prop himself into a sitting position. The movement was sluggish and he nearly collapsed from the effort. He fought the desire to lie back down, and struggled to keep his breathing slow and even.

Keys jingled as the man unlocked the door to his cell. The man approached him with an easy grace to his walk, and an unmistakable air of command in his posture. His skin was the shade of a dark olive, his eyes an unmistakable hazel. He smiled at Josith as if greeting a dear friend, then the man knelt in front of him.

“How are you feeling?” His pointed teeth flashed and his voice had a rough edge to it, worn like an old man’s, even though he appeared relatively young.

            Josith knew those teeth. He managed to scramble back against the wall as he remembered them in his flesh. The two top canines weren’t extended as they had been when they’d pierced his neck, but they were still visible, still a little longer and a little more pointed than any human’s.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me,” the man said calmly.

“Who are you?” Josith wished he could press himself into the wall and out of this room. His body still shook, but his senses were now alert, focused on his captor.

The man grinned wryly. “My name is Distomis and you are in my home. You belong to me now.”

Josith creased his brow. “Belong to you?”

            Distomis grabbed his chin, turning Josith’s head from side to side as he inspected him like an object. Josith was too weak to resist.