Chapter 10 Dane

The red-haired creature jumped back in surprise as she flung herself off the table. The gash on her wing felt like fire was burning itself into her very bones. When the pain started to fade, she found herself underneath something, breathing hard, staring at his feet.

His face soon appeared and she tried to scoot further away from him.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! I told you it would sting a little," he crooned at her.

"Hurt a little!" she exclaimed in anger. "It felt like you were trying to burn off my wing!!"

Gnashing her teeth as his face disappeared, she turned to check out her wing. It was still attached, but the area where he had placed the nasty stuff looked red and swollen. Tears streamed down her face as she turned back towards the light.

"You can talk?"

She realized he had been muttering to himself before he finally asked her the question, and it puzzled her.

"Of course, I can talk. My momma taught me, just like your momma taught you," she said, rolling her eyes. Maybe she had been wrong about not fighting this guy. He didn't seem very bright.

She saw the guy get up and walk back to the table. He was cleaning up a mess she must have made in her pain induced frenzy. He was muttering to himself and he glanced over to the wall several times. She was just curious enough to crawl to the edge of the cabinet she was hiding under, to see if she could hear what he was saying.

"-the man mentioned something about a lab experiment. Thought it might be dangerous…but he said he found the specimen. Wonder if they knew it was pregnant?"

At the word 'man' she knew she had to get away from this guy. Her mom had been very clear on how evil and bad they were. But as she looked around, she couldn't see how to get out.

Spying her coming out from her hiding spot, he stopped what he was doing, and sat down on his chair.

They looked at each other for a while before he cleared his throat.

"I really am sorry about hurting you. I had no idea it would hurt that bad. Normally that stuff doesn't bother animals. Though I suppose you're a special case." He paused as if lost in thought.

"I want to leave." She looked over at the doorway they had come in, but a large piece of wood blocked the way. There wasn't a prayer of her moving it.

"You won't be able to fly until that wing heals. Why not stay here so nothing tries to hurt you?"

It was a good idea, except he had mentioned a man.

"Momma said man was dangerous. I won't have anything to do with you if you associate with man." She sat and put her nose in the air, to let him know she meant business.

Glancing at him, she saw that he had a perplexed look on his face.

"What? You don't think I'm serious?" She puffed up to twice her size and growled at him.

"I agree with your mother, so calm down little girl." He rubbed his hairy chin as she lay her fur down.

Just because she wasn't puffed up and growling, didn't mean she forgave him. Glaring was the next best thing.

"Man is very dangerous, but let me ask you a question. Are you dangerous?"

She looked at him confused. "I can be when I'm mad."

He looked at the ceiling for a moment. "Okay, I'll give you that if someone or something is angry, they can be dangerous, but are you dangerous all the time?"

"Of course not!" she exclaimed. Was this guy crazy?

"Well, what about your mom? Was she dangerous all the time?"

"My momma was dangerous to the things we ate, and to the things that tried to eat us," she said carefully, thinking about the day her momma died.

"So, if you met a man, do you think he would always be dangerous?"

She thought about what he said, then shook her head. "Momma said man was dangerous! That was the number one thing she wanted to make sure my sisters and I knew. She taught us that before we could even open our eyes."

He thought about that for a while, so she stretched out to make herself more comfortable.

"Do you think we could be friends?" he asked quietly.

She glanced over at him. He wasn't so bad, after having talked with him for a while. He understood her momma so well. "Maybe, I don't know you very well yet, but you've been kind of nice. Except for my wing."

"I am sorry about that. I really didn't know it would hurt so bad. How can I make it up to you? How about a snack?"

Her ears perked up at that. She hadn't had anything fresh in a while and the water she had drank was long gone from her tummy.

He laughed softly and moved over to the fire. She was tempted to jump up and see what he was doing, but this spot was so comfy she didn't really want to move. After only a short while, a heavenly smell drifted to her nose.

"What is that? I've never smelled anything that good before, in my whole life!"

"That is my secret. I'm curious to know if you would like it. Here, let me pick you up and put you on the table so I can see how you like it."

"Alright, but be careful of my back leg, it's still sore where I jumped off earlier."

He gently picked her up. She could tell he was used to handling creatures smaller than himself.

As she sniffed the bowl, she could see that there were chunks of meat mixed in the thick liquid, along with chunks of other things. Picking at a piece of meat with her fingers, she jerked back as the heat from the liquid almost burned her. He chuckled as she licked them clean.

"Hold on, let me get you a spoon."

"What's a spoon?" she asked as he stood and fished for something in a drawer. He soon returned with a small metal spoon just right to fit in her hand.

"You hold it like this," he said, holding it in his giant hand and slowly scooping up a chunk of something. Dropping the chunk back into the bowl, he handed her the spoon.

She took it, and looked at the thick brown liquid. It smelled really good, so she licked it.

"Mmmmm," she murmured, making sure to lick every last drop off the spoon. It took her forever to figure out how to hold the spoon just right to scoop out a chunk of anything, because every time she failed to get something, she had to lick it clean before trying again.

By the time she had eaten half the bowl, the spoon lay forgotten, and her stomach was so full she thought she might pop.

The creature, whose name was Dane, lay her softly by the fire, then put the rest of the stew and a cup of water beside her. She watched through half-closed eyes as he left to go to sleep. What a nice creature, he was.