Chapter 2

Zeah backed up against the alley wall, shivering. Why did this weird crap always happen to her?! She held her money behind her protectively. The two thugs before her were still advancing, and she was out of room to move.

“Just go away!” she yelled, glaring at them. “This is all the money I have left!! I need to live off of this!”

One of the men grinned as they came closer. “Don’t worry, Hun. I’m sure with a rack like that, you could get a sweet job with all the benefits.”

Tet slithered quietly around the corner and analyzed the situation. The one man had a small switchblade in his hand. The other guy had a pistol in his boot, the handle sticking out for easy access. Tet smirked. The larger guy was carrying the gun. Perhaps it was to make up for something below the belt? He couldn’t help but snicker.

The men both heard it and spun around, only to be met by scaly fists attached to the monstrous wall of muscle that was Tethebi.

Zeah looked up and saw the tall, dark shadow begin to rip her attackers to shreds. There were no screams, no gunshots, only the sounds of flesh tearing and bones breaking. Blood splattered all around her, and she knew she should run. Whoever was taking care of her pursuers would most likely come after her next. Even with that knowledge, Zeah could not shake herself into moving.

Tet could feel the adrenaline coursing through his body, and it had him feeling like it was the old days again. He could almost feel the sensation of ripping flesh right through his scales. He kept tearing and slicing until there was barely anything left to shred. Tet felt his muscles twitching excitedly, and he knew he had to calm himself down, or he would keep right on ripping, right through his new charge. He picked up the one man’s jacket and wiped his blood-covered hands off on it, trying to breathe slower, calmer. After about a minute, he had gained enough control over himself to attempt a greeting. He looked over at Zeah and slithered toward her.

As the gruesome sounds ceased, Zeah shivered. She wouldn’t take her eyes off of the dark shadow within the lighter shadows. She gasped when it began to move in her direction. Her eyes widened as Tethebi finally came into view. Her rescuer was, essentially, an oversized cobra. He was a black and yellow, monstrous reptile, with bright green eyes that seemed to tear at Zeah’s soul. Besides his size, the only difference between him and a real snake was his almost human torso, including hands, arms, shoulders and a neck. She let out a scream and dropped to her knees, her eyes squeezed shut.

Tet jumped a little at the sudden sound and looked around. Damn, if someone heard her and came running-! In an instant, he had wrapped himself around Zeah, covering her mouth with a huge, deformed hand.

“Relax, would you?” he growled, a little frustration leaking into his rough, deep voice.

It could talk, too?? Zeah emitted another scream, muffled by Tet’s scaly hand. She couldn’t move at all! The coils wrapped around her from the shoulders down had her in a solid grip. This was all too familiar for her, and she was scared. Big snakes were her worst fear, and as far as she was concerned, there was no difference between a snake with arms and a regular snake. If it was big, hissed, and had scales, it scared her. Tet spun her around to face him and took his hand away.

“Pay attention for a sec. I’m not from around here-” Tet began.

“W-w-w-well, obviously!!”

“- and I really don’t want to be seen, so could you chill out?! All this noise is going to attract people -”

“That’s the point!! S-SOMEBODY, PLEASE, HELP ME!”

Tet put his hand back over her mouth with an annoyed hiss. He gently pulled her close to him and lowered his gaze to match hers. He noticed that she was crying.

“Listen to me. I know you’re scared. I know I’m freaky to normal people, and I can see that you have a phobia of scaly individuals, but I need you to calm down. All I ask is that you let me talk to you. If you promise to keep your mouth shut and stay still for a little while, I’ll back off to the other side of the alley while we speak.”

Zeah took a second to consider the snake-man’s offer. She decided that anything was better than her current situation. She nodded anxiously and tried to push him away.

Tethebi let Zeah go and slithered over to a corner, where he curled up and “sat” on his coils. This was proving to be quite difficult in comparison to his previous experiences.

“Okay, w-what do you want?” Zeah asked, rubbing her tears away.

Tet considered the best way to tell her his purpose, and it took him a few seconds to dumb it down enough from the Council’s technical version.

“My name is Tethebi. I’m your guardian, Zeah.” He sighed and scratched under his hood ineffectively. “I have to keep you safe until your time comes.”

Zeah blinked. “Huh? How do you know my name?”

Of course. The girl hadn’t even listened to the part about him, and it irked him a bit. He growled and folded his arms.

“I’m your guardian until you die, got it? I have to know your name if I’m gonna be taking care of you for your whole life.”  

Zeah still didn’t understand, or, more accurately, didn’t want to understand. This was all sounding very farfetched, and she didn’t like it one bit, truth or not.