Serpent's Touch (Serpent's Touch 1)

AMIRA

“Amira!” Vuk’s deep voice boomed from inside the tents after dinner. “Where the fuck is she?”

Somehow, I was always expected to be right there the moment someone needed me.

I closed the gate of the enclosure with the fog turtles and shook the dusty remnants of their feed off my hands. The creatures didn’t like loud noises, especially while eating their dinner. So, I rushed out of the room before raising my voice. “I’m here!”

Vuk stormed out from one of the passages nearby, a gun in his hand. “Have you fed the fucking voukalak yet? We need to pack him in the shipping crate.”

Panic speared through me. I completely forgot about the beast.

“Oh no.” I gasped. “I… I was just about to feed him.”

Unlike the rest of the animals in the menagerie, the beast that bracks called voukalak wasn’t my usual responsibility. Dez had been taking care of him. But Dez left for England, and he’d ordered me to take over his duties for the next few days.

He’d chosen me over a brack because he’d reasoned if I made a mistake, Madame would kill me. In his opinion, it was a strong enough motivation for me to follow his instructions precisely.

He wasn’t wrong, except that with the sudden disappearance of Kyllen’s cage that morning, I forgot all about my added duties.

The poor beast had missed the morning feeding. Night was approaching. He must be starving. That upset me even more than any potential punishment.

Vuk rolled his eyes, like he wouldn’t have expected anything better from me, anyway.

“Great.” He tucked the gun into his belt. “Now we won’t be able to pack him until after the tents are down.”

Dez had mentioned that it’d be easier to shoot the beast in the head before packing him in the crate. Apparently, like bracks, the beast couldn’t be killed with human weapons, but it would incapacitate him for a while, making him easier to handle.

Vuk glared at me. “What are you standing there for? Go, feed him, you idiot!”

I rushed to the kitchen for the meat that Dez had prepped for the beast by sprinkling some yellow substance from Nerifir over it. In addition to feeding the beast, I was also to smear some smelly stuff from a jar on his neck.

As simple as these tasks sounded, they seemed nearly impossible when I faced the creature.

The animal was huge, chained to a thick metal frame in the upright position. Covered in thick black fur in some places, he had patches of skin visible in the others. His front paws looked almost like hands, his fingers tipped with long, black claws.

Madame had displayed him in a round metal cage to her VIP clients. But the cage was now gone. Nothing would protect me if the beast were to attack but the restraints attached to the frame. Even chained, he was dangerous. If just a drop of the poison from his teeth touched my skin, I’d die.

Another reason Dez assigned the care of the voukalak to memust be because he didn’t want to risk a brack’s life. If the beast bit and killed someone, Dez would obviously prefer it’d be me.

In one hand, I squeezed the key to the beast’s collar that Dez had given me. In the other, I held a leather noose that he’d told me to put over the animal’s maw to keep him from biting me.

The creature looked fairly docile at that moment. His head leaning toward one shoulder, he appeared to be asleep.

I carefully slid the leather strap over his elongated nose and jaw, then removed his collar. The metal band Dez had put around the beast’s neck had long spikes, pointed inwards. They had pierced the animal’s neck, causing rivulets of blood to trickle out when I removed it.

The design of the collar could only have one purpose—to torture. Except that I couldn’t understand why. As depraved as bracks often acted, they didn’t torture without a reason.

The beast opened his crimson-red eyes and watched me as I gently washed the wounds on his neck. It wasn’t just mindless following the movement on his part. There was something human in his gaze, despite the inhuman color of his irises.

And it wasn’t just in his eyes, either.

I stepped back, taking him in. He looked very much like the beast he was, but the humanlike part of him appeared more prominent tonight than it was the last time I saw him. His front paws looked even more like hands. Even his snout didn’t seem as long as it had been, like the bones in his nose and jaw had shrunk somehow.

Holding his collar in one hand, I took the plastic-wrapped meat out of my pocket.

The beast roared through the noose around his snout, lunging for the meat. The restraints threw him back. But I jumped in shock, dropping the meat into the bucket of water I’d used to wash his neck.

“Amira!” Madame’s sharp voice terrified me even more than the beast ever could. Startled, I accidentally dropped his collar into the bucket, too.

“Where is that girl when I need her?” Madame barged in. “Oh, there you are.”

I snatched the beast’s collar from the bucket, and she thrust Yenric, her two-headed pet pig, into my hands.

“Take him,” she ordered. “He needs a bath.”

With my hands occupied, I couldn’t grab the piglet fast enough. The little rascal twisted out of her arms, making her drop him.

Pour Yenric landed on his side with a piercing squeal. Scurrying to its hooves, he dashed to me to hide behind my legs.

“Get him, you useless human!” Madame screeched. She yanked the heavily beaded leather belt off her waist, then lashed with it at me.

The blow landed on my shoulder as I bent over to pick up the piglet. The next one came right after. It hurt, but my hoodie absorbed some of the sting. Hiding the piglet in my arms, I took another lash.

I clenched my teeth, bracing for more. Madame’s temper often cooled off as quickly as it flared up. I just had to wait it out.

The next lashing whipped around my elbow. The end of the belt nipped at my chin with a sharp sting of pain.

I bit my lip. I could take it. Sooner or later, she’d calm down, and it’d be over.

The fabric flap over the entrance flew open, and Radax stormed in. “What’s going on here?” His thick brows furrowed into a frown, his teeth bared in a scowl, he looked furious.

Oh no. Nothing good would come out of Radax getting angry with Madame.

I groaned inside when she whipped around to face him. Raising her free hand, she slapped him across his cheek.

“This stray runt you’ve found will not live long enough to die of old age!” she raged. Tossing her belt at me, she spun on her heel and stormed out of the room.

I crouched on the floor, my arms around Yenric, my chin buried in my scarf. I was shaking from head to toe. I hated it, hated how half-paralyzed with horror Madame’s rage always left me.

“Amira.” Radax went down on his knees at my side. “Let me see.” He gently lifted my face out of the scarf.

The scratch on my chin burned, but the pain in my chest was much more agonizing. There was no reason for Madame to lash out at me tonight. No reason at all.

Unable to hold back a sob, I closed my eyes.