Daughter of a Sabretooth

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

  I followed him through the deathly quiet woods. The only noise was the sound of our footsteps crunching in the snow. I had no idea where we were going or what his intentions were. He could just be taking me deep in the woods so no one would hear me scream when he murdered me. But I was taking a leap of faith here. My mother was dead, and I had no other family that I knew of so what did I have to lose? My life didn't mean that much to me now that my mum was dead.

     "We're here." My dad stated, coming to a sudden stop and causing me to run right into him. I peeked around his tall figure and was barely able to make out the dark shape of the small cabin, even with my advanced eye sight. He started walking again, and I followed close behind him. His legs were so long that I almost had to jog to keep up with him.   It was pitch black and freezing cold inside the cabin, and the first this Victor—er, my dad did was light a fire. Once it was roaring and crackling, he pulled a chair over to the fire place and sat down in it, though not before grabbing a bottle of beer from the fridge. He didn't say anything to me at all. He didn't even acknowledge my presence. It's as if I was invisible. 

    I slowly lowered my back to the floor and grabbed a chair of my own to sit across from him. I studied his face in the dim firelight, taking in ever feature and comparing it to my own. Maybe we looked a little bit alike. I guess I favored my mom more. I had dark brown hair, almost black and sea green eyes with some flecks of brown and blue.

    "So, are you a mutant too?" my dad asked after what seemed like an eternity, breaking the silence and causing me to jump a little bit. I shrugged and slowly nodded, before letting my nails grow into long cat-like claws. He snorted.

    "Must run in the family." He stated, taking another sip of his beer.

    "Didn't you have enough at the bar?" I asked quietly. He raised an eyebrow and laughed.

    "One can never have too much my dear." He said, his eyes roaming over my body, looking me up and down, taking in my every feature. I felt my face grow hot with embarrassment. I never liked drawing attention to myself, especially because I was suspicious of people discovering that I was a mutant.

    "Smile." Victor said flatly.

    "What?" I asked, my mouth tweaking into a small half-smile. His lips turned to a thin line and he nodded. "What?" I asked him again.

    "You look just like her when you smile." He said matter-of-factly. I just nodded my head.

    "Yeah. That's what people say—"

    "Look, why did you come here? I don't even know your name, let alone why you're here. So before you get too attached how about you just scram. Have a nice life." I was taken aback by his harsh tone of voice and his cruel words.

    "B-b-but...I came because...because I have nowhere else to go." I said quietly, afraid of upsetting him.

    "You're a pretty girl, I'm sure you can find a way to make money." Confused, and not quite sure how to take that statement I just sat there, opening and closing my mouth like a fish out of water. Actually that is pretty much how I felt. Like a fish out of water. Victor heaved a big sigh and tipped his bottle back one last time before standing up and walking over to the small bed in the corner of the little cabin. His boots made  a loud clunking noise on the woods floors. He sat down hard on the bed and kicked off his shoes.

    "You'd better be gone by the time I wake up." He said, his words slurring ever so slightly. My lip wobbled and tears threatened to fall as he laid down, turning his back to me. Two minutes later, he was snoring loudly, sound asleep. There was no way I would be able to leave with it snowing so hard. I would probably freeze to death. Where would I go anyway? There was no way I could go back to my old home. The government would drag me away...again. Just the thought of it made me shudder. No. I would have to convince Victor to let me stay.

                                                        ~*~*~

 I awoke to sharp pain in my leg. Victor was kicking me.

    "I thought I told you to be gone when I woke up?" Victor said coldly.

    "You did but—"

    "Get out."

    "Please just—" He grabbed me by the hood of my jacket and threw me out into the snow.

    "Leave!" He shouted, chucking my backpack at me. It hit my right in the head, making me momentarily dizzy.

    "Wait!" He slammed the door in my face. I was sitting in about two feet of snow. There was no way I could get anywhere with this much snow on the ground. I'd freeze to death before I made it twenty miles.

    "Please listen to me." I cried, pounding my fists on the door. Silence. I turned and let my body slide down the door. "Please listen. Victor—dad...I have nowhere else to go. I don't have any other family except for you. I'm only fifteen and if I go back to where I came from..." I swallowed and squeezed my eyes shut. "If I go back they'll drag me away and no one will ever see or hear from me again." My pleas for help were still met with nothing but complete silence.

    "Please Victor. Don't let them take me again. I don't think I could bear it."I cried, close to hysteria. I stood up quickly, anger burning in my chest. I punched the door as hard as I could and swiped at it with my claws, leaving four deep scratches in the nice wooden door.

    "Look if you're not going to help me at least have the decency to kill me quickly! Don't just leave me out here to freeze to death!" I screamed at him, kicking the door for good measure. I huffed and let my head clunk against the door with a groan. "Please." I whispered. The door swung open and I lost my balance, falling into his chest. I quickly backed away from him and out of arms reach so he couldn't take a swipe at me with his claws.

    "Look kid, why are you even here?" He snapped, taking a step forward. I took a step back and tried not to look too defensive. "It's clear you're afraid of me. I can tell you're terrified." He kept advancing toward me and I kept backing up until he had me backed against a huge tree truck. Heplaced his hands on either sides of my shoulders, making it impossible for me to slink away now.

    "Please Victor. I have nowhere else to go." I said quietly. He leaned down, his face inches from mine, his eyes seeming to bore into my soul. In the blink of an eye he had grabbed my throat with his huge hands and was holding me off the ground. He was going to strangle me! My heart thumped in my chest, going a mile a minute as I felt his sharp claws pricking the skin on my neck. I grabbed his hands with mine and tried to pull them off. Please! I'll do anything for you, please! I pleaded, using my telepathic powers. His eyes narrowed and his eyebrows knit together in anger. He grip tightened briefly, causing purple and black dots to dance in front of my eyes, right before he let me go. I landed hard on the ground, the icy snow cutting and stinging my hands, gasping for air. Having your throat crushed and not being able to breathe had to be one of the worst feelings in the world.

    "What's your name?" He asked coldly.

    "Scarlett." I managed to croak. It hurt to swallow and no doubt I would probably have some bruises on my neck.

    "You can stay on one condition Scarlett." He spat my name out like it left a bad taste in his mouth. I nodded slowly and looked at him with desperate eyes. "You have to do everything I tell you. No questions asked, just do it. If you fail to do that than you're out of here, got it?"

    "Yes." I whispered. He stood up and walked away, his footsteps crunching in the snow. I rose slowly, still feeling a little lightheaded and tried to step in his deep footprints so I didn't have to keep dragging my feet through the snow. It was hard because his legs were so much longer than mine, making the footprints very far apart. I tentatively followed him back into the cabin that was still very dark inside. There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I was too afraid to speak. I felt like if I reminded him of my presence he would come to his senses and kick me back out into the snow. So I just stayed silent and did whatever I was told. I was so naive, so trusting. I'm not quite sure why. With a history like mine, you would think that I would just try and make it on my own for a while. I guess I was just so desperate for love, the love of a father, that I would trick myself into believing anything. Trick myself into thinking that he actually cared. But I think deep down, I knew. I knew that I was fooling myself and it was all an illusion.