However, fish-like sail fins hung loosely from the back of his arms to his elbows, covering them in a spike that dangled when it was bent. They also partially came from his spine segments, running in a dipping row that made it appear like he had six fins on his back over the top of his spine bones. The first one was shorter than the second which was the longest, before they grew smaller down his back.
Other than the white protruding bone of his spine, his lower back looked human-shaped.
He was different, very different, and it was no wonder he’d always hidden behind clothing around her and other humans when he walked to the villages.
She immediately got to work on the bite chunk on his side, shoving her hand underneath him to wrap his torso. It also helped to cover the hole she could see on his other side where the spider Demon must have stabbed him with its venom. The last wound was over his chest, blood seeping through his fur from claw marks, and she wrapped her makeshift bandages around his shoulder and chest to keep it in place.
She wiped him down as best as she could to get rid of the blood. Some of it smelled foul, but most of it smelled like him with a metallic tang to it.
Once she was done, Reia then washed her hands and left him be, wishing he wasn’t lying on the furs so she could cover him.
She was exhausted, both physically and emotionally.
Lying down in her bed, she tried her hardest to sleep. It was fitful and eventually disturbed by the scraping of claws raking across the outside of the house, followed by the thumping of footsteps over the top of it.
“We smell you in there, human.” She heard huffing near the window and clenched her eyes shut, pulling the blanket further over her head to hide. “Come out, come out, wherever you areee.”
The slurp of a tongue followed, before it scraped its claws across the outside wall again.
“You only have until the protection wears off,” a different one snickered. “How long until we have you?”
Reia tried not to be afraid, but as more came, crawling over the house and speaking to her, telling her just how tasty she smelled, how much fun they were going to have pulling out her entrails, the more she felt it seeping into her heart.
She spent the first night alone, trying her hardest to sleep and only getting a few winks. When day broke, she shakily made trinkets while hearing the laughter and threats getting more persistent. Howls, moans, wails, and the rattling of bones filled in the rest of the silence.
More were coming by the hour. She knew there must be a small swarm of them outside the timber walls.
Without removing the old ones but seeing they were starting to wither from when he’d placed them there, Reia hung two of them in the corners of the porch, but she refused to get too close to the outside. She didn’t know where he placed the others, but she had a feeling it was on the other side of the house, and she refused to go past the porch to place them there.
There had been no food inside, but she drank the little water she had remaining. Then Reia curled up in her bed, covering her head with the furs while clutching the sword she’d used to protect Orpheus outside.
“The smell of human is so fresh, so inviting. Tearing your skin will feel good. Will you scream?”
They always hovered around the room she was in, and she knew, without a doubt, that Orpheus hadn’t lied. His spell was gone, and it allowed them to smell her. If she was in her bedroom, they seemed to hover there. If she was in the kitchen or washroom, they followed.
She wanted to hide from the Demons, to feel safe. Only one solution came to mind.
Reia didn’t hesitate.
Orpheus woke with a start. His vision lightened so he could see as he lay almost flat on his stomach.
Where am I? He looked around and immediately knew he was in his sleeping room at the familiar scenery. What happened? He doubted he’d have the answer to that just by simply thinking it.
White entered his vision as his muscles tensed.
Where’s Reia?
He didn’t know how he got here, or why he was asleep. All he knew was that she’d run away before. Did she leave while I was asleep?
Something stirred underneath his arm and side, stopping him from leaping to his feet to find her. He lifted his arm to look underneath it, just as the form wiggled and turned to its back when he gave it room.
“Reia?” he asked, yellow entering his vision as confusion swept through him.
He could see she’d been clutching a sword with both hands as it lay on the bed in front of her. She had been resting with him, under him and the furs, while he’d been on top of them. He couldn’t understand why.