Katie's Hellion

"You slaughter a party of Girl Scouts last night?" she asked, unnerved.

"Brave little mortal," came the growl. "Don't know the size of the storm about to hit you, do you."

She hated how he spoke to her, like he knew exactly what to say to terrify her. She was normally good at covering emotions she didn't want to display, but he read them all and threw them back in her face.

"What's it to you?" she groused.

"Need a mortal blood monkey. You owe me. Easy blood."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. She'd like to think she was saving poor souls every day she spent with him donating her blood, but she couldn't help thinking she really wouldn't care what he did to get blood if she was gone.

"I owe you?" she echoed. "Who wrestled the crazy guy in a robe for the key? You wouldn't be free if not for me."

"You'd be in a thousand pieces if not for me."

"Like being a mortal blood monkey is soooooooo far above lunchmeat!"

"You're alive, you're fed, and you're free."

"I am deep in your debt, my most gracious lord and master."

"Fuck you."

She skulked and imagined him doing the same in the back of the cave. He rustled around, and she wondered what he was doing so close to her precious rope. She feared asking him, not wanting to tip him off that she was plotting.

"And I'm not free," she added under her breath.

He stalked past her, his anger palpable. He dived off the ledge, and she scampered forward. The pterodactyl dropped and caught itself, coasting in the sea breeze.

She watched him until he disappeared, then freed the fish. She tied the lengths of rope together and hunted for and found the perfect boulder in the cave: a loose, rounded rock the size of both her fists that was light enough for her to throw. Tying her chosen anchor to one end of the rope, she sat to eat her sugary cube, checked again for the monster, and leaned out of the cave.

The cliff edge was around ten feet from the cave. She looked down, stomach unsettled by the distance. This was worse than ledge walking in the hotel; there was no balcony to catch her!

She swung the boulder up, ducking as it slapped the side of the cliff just short of the ledge and fell back to her. She tried again, releasing more rope this time. It clattered along the top of the cliff and fell. She continued to throw it until it stuck. She pulled hard on the rope, feeling some give, then tautness as the anchor lodged itself between unmovable objects.