Most days were the same or similar enough that they blurred together. But a few incidences stood out. There was the time it rained again. But it stopped quick enough that only the ground was damp, and not much else. Dragging the wet sticks out of the way, and under another overhang—and why hadn`t I thought of that before the rain had come again? I remembered something I had done as a child. Once in a while, mother had let me outside after the rain, and we`d drawn pictures in the mud with sticks. I missed my sketchbooks, so now that I`d thought of it, I did that. Koh watched curiously, staying nearby instead of pacing the ravine like he did most of the time. It was hard to draw details with sticks, but I attempted to draw both the cottage that I remembered, and mother. I wanted…I didn`t want to forget. And I wanted Koh to see.
When I was done, I looked at Koh. He met my eyes, then studied my drawings. He touched the edge of the first one, and looked at me. “My cottage.” I told him. He considered this for a moment, then touched the next one. “My mother.” I swallowed the tears. I had only seen mother cry once, so how could I keep crying over her like this? Koh looked at me, then came closer, and touched my arm. He never held his arms out wide like mother had for hugs, only touched my arm, or just pulled me into a hug without asking. I went to him, snuggling close. Both the cottage and mother were gone. Koh was all I had. And from what I`d seen, what I knew of him so far…maybe I was all he had too.
One time when we went to look for food, the grass next to us rustled. Koh and I both froze, and then he was suddenly between me and whatever had made the sound. He was…protecting me? The sound turned out to be only a snake, which I recognized from having seen pictures, but I knew nothing about snakes other than that some of them would bite people. So I was glad Koh was there. But I don`t know if he knew about snakes either, because after a moment, he had suddenly picked me up, and brought me back to the ravine, even though I hadn`t found enough food yet. Since I wasn`t completely sure about the snake, I let him.
I tried talking to Koh a little. He didn`t always understand, but every once in a while I noticed that when I said a word there was comprehension in Koh’s eyes, even though he didn’t respond. He understood that I was ‘cold’ when I shivered, and that when I took my jacket off, it was ‘hot’ or ‘warm’. And one night I fell asleep as I was telling him that we would need to collect onions and peppers and potatoes and berries the next day; when I woke up, I found a small pile of each beside me, and Koh waiting for my reaction.
Surprised by that, I sat up and looked at Koh. Plants. I nodded, and smiled at him. “Thank you!” Koh`s eyes were gentle, and he reached out and smoothed my hair a little. He must have made a lot of trips, because there were enough that I couldn`t carry them all to the small overhang in one trip. Koh helped though.
It was a while before it rained again. I was getting weaker…probably something to do with the fact that I’d only eaten wild vegetables since I had followed Koh out my bedroom window. Mother had always said that people needed meat too, but she`d always been the one to get meat, so I didn`t know how. I hadn`t had any meat since she`d died. I didn`t know if that was a bad thing or not… And Koh never went to find food. I assumed he drank blood, but if he did, he did it when I was asleep so I wouldn`t notice that he was gone. When I was awake, Koh rarely went where I couldn`t see him. I…I didn`t like being alone, and I think Koh realized that.
He hadn`t tried to drink my blood since that first time, hadn`t hurt me since that first time, which cemented more than anything that it had been an accident somehow. Maybe he had just been so hungry that he couldn`t think of anything else that time…? Maybe it was because I wasn`t eating meat, but as soon as the temperature dropped, even a little, I was freezing. Usually I just snuggled in Koh’s arms at night, and we built a fire to sleep next to, but the rain dropped the outside temperature enough that I couldn’t get warm. We couldn’t even make a fire with the rain coming down that hard, so I just huddled against Koh under that rock overhang.
Koh hadn’t tried to offer me blood again—nor had he drunken mine—since those first few days. But now, he bit his wrist again. I shook my head, but he was more insistent this time than he had been the other times. Drink! He insisted, holding his bleeding wrist to my nose so that I could smell it, then to my mouth, his other hand holding the back of my head so that I couldn’t pull away, or at least not easily. But I thought that I still could, because he wouldn’t hurt me. I`ve been patient, but plants are not food. You need this!
As before, when the blood touched my tongue, I liked the taste. I didn`t know how I could like the taste of blood, since blood wasn`t food, though Koh seemed to think it was. But…his blood did make me warmer. Last time it had made me warmer. Being warm ranked above having to drink blood, so I gave in and did drink the sweet fluid. Koh relaxed a little when I had. Good girl…
But I hadn`t drunk very much when we both heard a sound. A thump sound, as if something had fallen into the ravine. What…? Nothing else had come into the ravine the entire time we`d been here, not even that snake or the birds I saw overhead sometimes. Koh froze and quickly pulled his arm away and licked his wrist to heal it. I wiped the blood from my mouth, and we were both quiet. Anything that could got here, in this rain…what...what could… I had seen nothing else living in the area at all during our forages for berries and potatoes, other than that snake, and a few birds. And a couple of times little critters on trees and in tall grass, but those stayed away from us. And none of those would make a thump that big.
Koh and I had already been sitting, but now Koh pulled me off his lap and pushed me slightly towards the rock wall behind us, sliding in front of me so that he was between me and whatever was out there. We both peered out into the rain, to see what was coming. A lightning flash lit the sky, and I grabbed onto Koh`s arm, scared. Both because the lightning had been so close, and because in the flash of light had been the figure of a person. And other than Koh and mother, I had never seen another person. What if this person was one of the bad ones?
Koh didn`t look at me, and instead growled at the figure walking towards us. An actual, out loud growl when he hadn`t ever said anything out loud. Mine! The figure froze, just close enough for us to see without lightning. It was still daytime, even though it was so dark from the rain and clouds. “Calm down, Kohriko.” Kohriko! He knew Koh? How…what…I clung tighter to Koh as the voice continued. “I’m not here to take…” the figure—the man paused took one step forward, looked at me, then back to Kohriko. A hint of a frown appeared on his face, as he continued, “…your…” he paused again, frown deepening, then finished. “…mate. Your mate, I know.”
Koh was silent then, even when the man took a few more steps forward. Koh was studying him, and as long as Koh was between me and the man, I studied him as well. He…looked a little like Koh. He had the same long silvery blonde hair anyway. His eyes though, were a bottomless black. He seemed the same as Koh had when he had hurt me—dangerous. I made sure I was completely behind Koh, and only peeking out. Koh wouldn`t let him hurt me, just as mother had never let people come so that they could hurt me. Koh relaxed a little, but not all the way, a slight recognition sparking in his eyes as he studied the man. Did Koh really…really know him?
The man came closer, close enough to duck under the overhang with us. I didn`t like that, but Koh didn`t protest, only automatically moving back, so that now my back was against the wall, and I was still behind him, protected. He wasn`t going to hurt me or Koh, was he? Was he a good person or a bad person? There were a lot of us under this overhang now…was he a bad person? Was he going to hurt us? Why was he here…? Mother had said that if people knew about me, they would look for me. Why…had…had he been looking for me…? But…but he had said `Kohriko`. Had…had he been looking for Koh…? Did Koh really know him?
Koh quietly studied the man for a long couple of minutes as the man sat down, back to the rain as he faced us, sitting as far away as the ledge would allow. He was very wet. It was raining hard. I stayed put behind Koh, glad the man only glanced at me before turning his complete attention to Koh. “Do you…remember me?” the man asked Koh. There was no reply, so the man continued. “My name is Hoshiko.” Hoshi for star, and ko for child. Their names were related…who was this person? Was he a demon too, and that`s why I was scared of him? Mother had said that demons in person were scarier than they seemed in books. Koh was different, but another demon would be scary. And…he wasn`t acting like mother or like Koh right now, so I didn’t know what he would do.
Hoshiko…?...! …Shi? Koh knew him? I looked up again, studying the man again. Koh didn’t seem as nervous anymore. He searched Hoshiko’s face for a long time, and then his shoulders relaxed, and he half turned to look at me. No danger. That was his opinion. I kept hold of his arm, and whispered, “Koh? Do you know him?” Koh pet my hair for a second, then tried to pull me back onto his lap. But that other man, Hoshiko, was right there, and I didn`t want to go closer to him. I didn`t know him, or if he was good or bad, and to me, he was still scary. And he was another person.
I shook my head, and resisted Koh`s tugging with difficulty, because he was stronger than me. Seeming confused, maybe because I hadn`t fought him since the first time, once I had figured out that he wasn`t scary?--he turned all the way around so that he could see me. I gave him a hug, for warmth and because this was still scary for me, and I wanted a hug. I didn`t know this other man, and I didn`t want to go close to him. Koh put his arms around me as well. He half glanced behind him at Hoshiko, and paused a minute, thinking. Hoshiko stayed quiet. Then Koh turned, arms staying around me, but made sure that his back was all the way against the wall, so that even though I was on his lap now, I was no closer to Hoshiko than I had been before. That still meant that Koh was no longer between me and Hoshiko…I didn`t think I liked that. But…but…Koh`s arms were tight around me, and…and he knew Hoshiko…so maybe…maybe it was ok…?
I peeked over at Hoshiko, who was watching us. The frown was gone from his face, and instead he was as expressionless as Koh. Why were men expressionless? Were all men expressionless, or just demons? But when he spoke, his voice was gentle, and this time he talked to me, not Koh. “May I know your name, little one? You know mine.” Little one? I wasn`t little…I wasn`t grown up yet, but I wasn`t little anymore either…I looked up at Koh, who was looking down at me. I trust Shi. He assured me. He trusted him? The same way I had trusted mother? The same way that I trusted Koh? I thought about that for a moment. I had always trusted mother not to hurt me. And I did trust Koh wouldn`t hurt me again. So if I trusted Koh…and he trusted Shi…maybe…
I looked back at Shi, and hesitantly answered his question, still clinging to Koh. Koh trusted him. Koh wouldn`t hurt me…maybe…then maybe Shi wouldn`t hurt me…? “…My name is Jaylin.” Shi nodded. “Thank you for finding Kohriko.” He surprised me by saying. Finding him? I looked from Koh, who wasn`t saying anything, then back to Shi. Should I correct him and tell him that Koh had found me? Mother had always said that untruths were not a good thing… If…if Koh hadn`t found me…if he had never come in the window…never come in the window…my cottage might not be old now…I might have still had a home…but…I would be alone, and I never would have met Koh. And…I…I liked Koh. I liked not being alone anymore.
I leaned against Koh and kept an eye on Shi. If Koh trusted him so much, maybe he wasn`t bad. But I`d have to watch and see. Mother had said that sometimes bad people first pretended to be good. I shivered when a gust of wind blew a little rain under the overhang, then looked up when both Koh and Shi remarked on it. Koh I expected, a little, but why Shi too? …! Cold? “Are you cold, little one?”
Koh bit his wrist. You need more. Drink. Shi was watching. It was weird enough to drink blood at all, never mind when someone I didn`t know was watching! So I shook my head, but Koh held his wrist in front of me, where I could smell the blood. The sweet scent. And my stomach growled when I smelled it.
It was a tempting scent. But this time, when I drank, my stomach started to hurt. Hurt and twisted, and burned a little. I immediately pulled away. What…Mother had been right. My eyes smarted and my ears burned a little, like they had the few times I`d gotten sick. I didn`t like this! Koh`s blood had made me sick, and it was painful. It hadn`t before…why had it made me sick…?
I wrapped an arm around my stomach, trying to make it stop hurting. Koh pulled my head gently so that I was leaning on his chest. He put one hand over the ear that was still exposed to the cold, and rocked me gently. I didn`t like being sick… “You should sleep, little one.” I heard Shi say gently, even as my eyes got heavy and closed. And maybe sleep would make the pain go away? Koh would protect me while I was asleep…he had never hurt me while I was asleep.
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