What We Do in the Shallows

Perhaps it had been the sudden rush of a large body hurtling towards it, or the guttural snarl that had echoed across the beach. Or, perhaps it was the sense of danger that emanated from the teenage Saxe. Whatever it was, the vulture who had been picking at his prey erupted from the ground with a fast flap of its wings, trying to avoid its attacker. It managed to escape his grasp with only seconds to spare, but not unscathed. Sephiran had grabbed a mouthful of tail feathers, and he was spitting on the ground as the girl came up beside him. He didn’t care to look at her as she spoke, his eyes narrowing towards the sky as his mind conjured up nearly every nasty word he had ever learned. Sephiran hated letting his opponents escape.

Once the vulture had vanished into the horizon, he turned his attention back to the girl who was talking beside him, though he honestly had missed most of what she said. His head twisted upon his shoulders, turning towards her with narrowed eyes that continued to study her body language. He had to admit, she wasn’t bad to look at. But nothing particularly stood out about her either. She kept motioning towards the fox, explaining some sort of strategy she would have taken if she had killed it. And her words went in one ear and out the other. At least, until she stated he had opened himself up for a counterattack.

He couldn’t help but laugh again. A counterattack from a fox? How foolish she was, to think something so insignificant would even dare to cause any real damage. Of course, this thought was formed because of his arrogance and naivety. In reality, the girl was right. But Sephiran would never see it that way unless it had been his father who taught him that. “You talk a lot… for a girl.” He nearly hissed, tongue sliding across his fangs as the smell of the carcass started to make his mouth water. “And you make assumptions.” He crept back towards the fox, not hesitating to shove his way past her if she was in the way. “If I wanted to kill it quickly,” His jaws opened and he grabbed the remnants of what used to be the neck, and placed one of his paws on the shoulder to hold it down. “I would have done so.” His voice was muffled through the flesh in his mouth. With a few, powerful tugs, the last few tendons separated from the bones, splattering dark, metallic-smelling blood onto the sand. His eyes shifted towards her, holding the head in his jaws by the base, as the fox’s tongue fell from its gaping mouth. There was a darkness in the boy’s eyes as he looked at her. He was starting to wonder how loud she would scream if he did the same thing to her.


”Speech”