The woman stood over Anioa, a broad smile on her white face. She had done her job well, and pride oozed out of her. She swung her hips slowly to face Alex, sashaying up to him, close.
"Well, after all these years," she said, snapping her bloody hair forward. "Coming to see me at last," she traced her soiled fingers down his sculpted arms, picking lightly at his wrapped wrists. "Tch, tch tch, such a shame," she sighed. "When I gave you that favour, I was hoping to see you sooner." She pressed in closer, raising her arms to rest on his shoulders.
"Didn't need it until now."
"Oh," she grimaced, "I see." She puckered, tilting her head down, tucking it under his neck. "I'm sure there could have been something," she whispered.
"There probably was," she grunted at this. Seeing she wouldn't get much more out of him, the woman took a small reluctant step back.
"Well if that's all you need," the woman turned back to face Anioa, "don't forget your pet." She looked down at the girl, she looked so young, so. . . . weak. She laid there, writhing and moaning, her skin around the wax dark and agitated. It hadn't taken much to cut her flesh, a slight twitch. It was so soft.
"Yeah." He walked up to the girl and scooped up the little shivering mound, gently, like a porcelain doll. The woman bit her lip and turned to her coven, to the bloody mess. She began to pick up the melted candles, rubbing the wax into the stone, picking up the bowls as Alex walked out with his prize.
* ━━━━ ❈ ━━━━ *
When she woke up, she nearly screamed out in pain, but her mouth wouldn't move. They hurt, they hurt so bad. Her arms throbbed, bringing tears to her eyes. Her skin felt hot, it hurt every time she moved, every time the fabric scrapped across the burns. She wanted to pick the wax off but was scared to. It stuck to her, stuck to the tender cuts.
A stiff paper was wrapped around her middle, like a plant or dried leaf, making it hard to breathe. Pulsing pain, pure pain. . . .pain. She opened her eyes reluctantly, first one eye, then the other, slowly.
"Hey there, you finally woke up." She winced at his touch. "Oh, I'm sorry," he wisped his hand away from the papyrus. "The burns," he grunted. "I'm so sorry."
'Sorry? He said he's sorry?' She looked down at the wax.
"The wax? Don't pick at that, it looks bad, huh. Might scar if you take it off yourself, not to mention it'll hurt an awful lot." His dark brown eyes studied her, rubbing her shoulder softly. "The moon finally sank all the way down, so I think I can call in my doctor to get those off." He fingered as close to her lips as he dared without hurting her again, his face flushing red when she twisted away.
"Awe babe, don't be like that!" She felt something in her chest, her muscles released without her consent. "That's it," he smiled, "just relax." Her limbs loosed, swaying to his light touch as he adjusted her. "Vieni dal dottore."
A tall lean man opened the door and made his way to the bed. She watched as the doctor sat, opening a black case pulling out a scalpel. Her eyes widened, sinking into her bed. He began to carefully chip away the wax, applying a gel to the remaining before moving on to the next burn on the other wrist. She squeezed her eyes shut.
"Hang in there, babe."
'Babe? Hang in there? As if!'
She shivered as the doctor pressed slightly against her burned lips, applying cool gel to her burns. He then began removing the gel, encasing individual wax slivers, and replacing with another gel before wrapping them and leaving again.
"Better?" She swallowed hard and turned away. "Come on, hon," He lifted her from her pillow, pushing it aside to slide between her and the headboard. He pulled her carefully up against his chest, wrapping her gently in his arms. She twitched her mouth to say something, but it hurt too much. She motioned to the papyrus, but he shook his head. "In a minute, just give it a minute. I'll ask him back, but it was hard to see you like that," he moved a piece of hair behind her ear.
'What is going on?'