"Nora, my little sun…"
My mother's smile had always been that gentle. Whether I had accidentally filled the bedroom with foam after mixing baking soda with vinegar and soap, or when I told her about the malignant cancer eating its way through me. Even when I chose to enter the cryogenic chamber for the sake of science, she still held me with that same soft smile, though her eyes were rimmed with tears. She supported every decision I ever made.
Even now, when regret and guilt swallowed me whole even in my sleep, she remained vivid in my mind, smiling that tender smile as she folded me into her embrace like when I was a child.
I sobbed into her arms, choking on silent cries even though there was no warmth to feel. Deep down I knew it was only a dream I had built for myself to soften the terror of reality. For a moment, I wanted to remain in that illusion forever. Because the world I had awakened into was the true nightmare.
I did not want to wake up. I did not want to face that brutal world again.
But then something rough traced along my cheek. A calloused fingertip. Cold enough to jolt me awake.
I opened my eyes in a start.
Duncan crouched in front of me, gazing at me with amber eyes glowing beneath the moonlight, filled with something between curiosity and suspicion.
"You were crying?" He asked. Then casually wiped another warm tear rolling down my cheek.
Instinct snapped through my body. I slapped his hand away and scrambled back, fear tightening every muscle.
Duncan did not seem angered. He simply drew his hand back and examined the tear glistening on his finger, his expression contemplative.
"Strange. This is the first time I've seen a human cry."
I pressed my lips together and curled into myself, refusing to make a sound.
He wiped his fingers on his shirt, then tossed something into the cage. A slab of raw meat, still dripping dark blood.
"Eat. It's the one that attacked you this morning." His lips curled into a mocking smile, as if waiting for me to pounce and tear it apart.
My stomach cramped with hunger, but the knowledge that it came from another human twisted my gut. Bile flooded my throat.
I clapped a hand over my mouth, retching soundlessly. Not a morsel came up.
Duncan watched with a deepening look, a glint forming behind his eyes."Oh? So you understood what I said."
A tremor ran through me, and I nearly looked up at him out of shock. I stopped myself just in time, lowering my head until my hair curtained my face. My hand stayed clamped over my mouth.
"You're not like the others, are you?"
I kept silent, feigning ignorance as best as I could. I could not see his expression, but I felt his stare pressing through the strands of my hair, weighing me, dissecting me.
"How dull." His sigh drifted down, tinged with boredom. "If you're not special, I suppose I'll just sell you to a breeding farm."
My nails dug into my cheek to keep myself from reacting. He was baiting me. If I flinched, if I revealed fear, things would not end with just a breeding farm.
My stubborn quietness seemed to amuse him. A low chuckle rumbled from his chest, dark and entertained, echoing beneath the night canopy.
"So you do have a mind." He murmured.
I peeked through strands of my hair. Duncan squatted beside the cage, elbows resting on his knees, chin propped lazily against his knuckles, that wicked smile revealing the sharp gleam of his fangs.
A cunning beast.
A predator wearing a man's shape.
I lowered my gaze quickly, smothering the flicker of hatred that strained at my eyes.
But Duncan was far from done. His voice dipped into a tone that hovered between a threat and an invitation.
"If you show me your value, I'll find you a better home. Better than a farm or a circus."
I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in them, letting silence answer for me.
Something small and hard struck the top of my head, like a pebble.
Duncan's voice followed, lazy and coaxing. "Don't be stubborn. You're not the only human with a mind I've met."
I could not tell whether he spoke truth or whether he was setting another trap. And even if it were true, intellect in his world likely meant something very different. Curiosity gnawed at me, but not enough to make me take the bait.
Seeing me unresponsive, Duncan clicked his tongue, sounding bored again. I heard him shift, heard the rustle of grass as he stood.
"A mistake?" He murmured, almost to himself. "I thought I'd caught something far more interesting."
His footsteps drifted away, crushing the damp grass beneath his boots.
I waited.
And waited.
Only when the silence stretched long enough for me to believe he was gone did I dare raise my head.
Nothing but darkness met my eyes. The rustle of wind through branches whispered faintly in the quiet.
"You're not ordinary at all."
His voice slipped right behind me.
Cold. Silky. Delighted.
My heart lurched violently. I screamed.
I jerked with a shrill cry, scrambling forward on my hands and knees until I collapsed near the opposite corner of the cage. My heart pounded violently against my ribs as I stared at Duncan's figure framed between the wooden bars.
He smiled that chilling smile again, amber eyes glinting like twin shards of moonlit glass.
His gaze pierced straight through me, stripping away whatever defenses I thought I had.
How could I have forgotten?
Black panthers stalk silently. They wait in the shadows. They strike when you turn your back.
They are hunters born of the night.
***