Human

Twelve

My parents would never have sent me, never have let me come here had they known. As unequivocally important as our craft was to them, education was a valuable pillar of any young girl's upbringing and this place promised to deliver the best.

So I went to the institution. A school of sorts, it seemed to deliver in that sense, not that I was old enough to appreciate little things like the quality of my education.

I encountered Her. For a time I thought maybe she was one of us or at least someone special. She was intriguing. Friendly, magnetic. I was far too slow in having my suspicions about what she really was, an even then, my family saw it as a small educational challenge, something to put all my training to the test. If they had only known...

So I went up against this mysterious woman. I didn't stand a chance. A mouse challenging a tiger, and she just strung me up in her claws.

"Are the bruises any better today?" Laz snapped me out of my reverie and I jumped. It took me a moment and when I went to answer him I remembered that I wasn't supposed to be speaking. I looked across towards the door that led to the stairs, Hecate had yet to appear this morning, and gave a little nod. They weren't, really. If anything they ached more, but at least the ice had done its job on the swelling.

I put my head back down towards the floor and continued scrubbing the carpet. I had to get rid of the blood stains, and the drink stains on the wall from where Hecate threw her glass. I had chains on both my ankles now but it was long enough to not be too much of a problem.

Laz stayed stood near me. It's not like I could tell him to go away, but I really wasn't in the mood for company or whatever weird one way conversation there would be. I would do my time, face my punishment, and hopefully once Hecate had seen enough of me making it up to her she would begin to forgive me. There was something there, there had to be. We'd been friends once.

I dunked the brush back into the cold water and continued scrubbing. It was definitely coming off, it had to..

It was turning winter when I started to try and do what my family had asked. I began investigating this woman, I followed her, tracked her movements, looked for signs that she wasn't human. I guess it was exciting, the idea that I could finally be a real hunter. After all, how powerful could this creature be if she was just hiding out in this institution?

At first she played along, like a game. She let me follow her, she let me try to gather information on her, let me talk to her, all the while she was reeling me in.

Then she changed. It wasn't me following her anymore, she would take me. She took me to demonic temples. She drained my energy and if I tried to fight her...  Her power was beyond anything I had ever been taught to prepare myself for. She had power over my body, she could cause me pain without even touching me.

The weeks bled together. At night, she tortured me in the old temples where she'd taken me.

I heard footsteps coming down the stairs. I stopped what I was doing and waited. Laz was still in the living room, though he'd finally stopped hovering and sat down.

Hecate came through the door. I watched her intently but soon dropped my eyes as she came closer. I didn't expect her to speak to me, especially as presumably she had just woken up and Hecate was most definitely not a morning person, but she stopped in the middle of the room and I sensed she was looking at me. Still not looking into her eyes, I dipped my head to respectfully acknowledge her.

"Get me a coffee."

I nodded, just about managing to get up to go to the kitchen. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to answer or still meant to not speak at all, but I decided that when she'd just got up was not the time to test the waters.