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She turns and takes off as I drop her arm in disbelief. Yet another bad decision, something that is going to get her hurt. With all the emotions flooding through me, and all the rage, I’m terrified of what I will do to her if I chase her and allow my predatory nature to come up to the surface after what I’ve just done.

I watch as she disappears off the gazebo, in utter disbelief of this fucking woman. She’s asking again for an evil man to play her games, but her games always get her in trouble. I don’t want to play her game, but I also don’t want her to go. She has been the light in my darkness for the past few weeks, and I don’t think I can go on without her.

Her form gets smeller as she nears the exit to the maze, her legs taking her in and out of the turns, until I lose sight of her. Shaking my head, I close the hatch to the pit and hop down, preparing to head to the house and clean myself up. If she sees I’m not following, she’ll give it up. I trust she’ll come back to the house, especially since when she had the chance to escape before, she stayed.

The barking of the dogs makes me whip my head to the front of the gardens, and my heart tries to leap out of my chest.

“The dogs. Fuck, the fucking dogs. I didn’t close the cabin after I fed them.”

Like a madman, I run through the courtyard, and into the maze, thanking all the stars above that I know it like the back of my hand. Growing up here, hiding in these corridors of hedges from my father taught me every which way to get through them in the shortest amount of time possible.

The barking grows louder and more intense as I bolt out from the exit, almost running into the serpents that guard the mouth of the maze. Their evil faces and hissing tongues sneer at me, telling me that even though I thought I was the evilest thing here, I’m nothing compared to the pack I have trained to kill in my absence.

“Lily!” I scream, stopping to spin around in circles, frantically searching for her, not seeing her anywhere.

There’s enough trees and shrubs to lose sight of her, and I don’t have the senses that the dogs have. I can’t follow my nose or my ears like they can. Surely they’ll find her before I do.

When I hear nothing from her in response the only thing I can think of as I race towards the garage is to call on my head bitch.

“Magnolia!” I holler, looking for her, or any trace of her.

I can’t hear her barks with the rest of the pack, so I hope and pray she is already taking her place protecting her new best friend from the rest, just like she guarded her from me in the house when I made her bleed for the first time. If she was brazen enough to stand up to me, she sure as shit won’t have an issue knocking back the pack she already leads.

Shit, she was in the house with Lily when I left them.

As I skid to stop in front of the garage and tap my passcode into the security box, I can finally hear her. She’s in the house and not where I’d hoped she’d be. She gets louder as the door rolls open, and before I can step inside, she darts out under the door and takes off like a bat out of hell into the yard.

“Go, Magnolia, go save her.” I tell her as she recedes into the gardens, disappearing through the hedges, her yapping and high-pitched barks ebbing into the spring breeze.

I’m still covered in filth, maggots still crawl on my skin and my clothes, but that’s nothing I can worry about now. I would never get on my bike like this, but it’s the fastest way to her. I can cover more ground on two wheels that I can on two legs.

The bike fires up with a thunderous roar inside the garage, blue and yellow flames spitting from the exhaust as I crank the throttle and warm her up for the second it takes me to put on my helmet. I can’t force her out this fast when she’s cold for concern of blowing her motor or popping her chain.

“I’m coming Lily.” I say to myself as I tap the bike into gear with my left foot and peel out into the driveway, taking the bike off the path and into the grass, following where I saw Magnolia head.

She’s running, thinking it’s all a game, but the game is going to be deadly if the pack catches her before Magnolia or I find her. I can hear the barking growing louder as I get near the east section of the gardens, then a high-pitched scream breaks through the hazy spring morning.

“Oh no.” I whisper to myself, my words blowing away on the wind that whips past my face.

In the haste I didn’t lower my visor, and it makes a loud click as I snap my head downward, locking it into place. I won’t be able to see her well if the air is slicing my eyes.

Coming around the bend towards to the cabin, I see her, and she’s disappearing back into the maze, the group of canines hot on her heels, with Magnolia not far behind. I rev the bike and kick it up into second gear, taking me faster through the grasses, my front wheel threatening to slide out from under me. I need to keep the gyroscopic momentum of the wheels, so I don’t take her down into the dewy lawn, and it’s a fucking fight to keep it upright.

Planting my foot down when I come in front of the serpents’ pillars, I crank the handlebars to the left, directing the bike into the maze on the east side. The branches and flowers brush against me as I race through the corridors between the hedges, gaining on her and the dogs with every passing second.

I can see her in front of me, her legs taking her as fast as she can go, weaving in and out of the aisles, dodging the dogs, taking her steps around and even through the walls of greenery. When she turns and looks at me before she disappears through the final row of bushes, I know she’s made it to the courtyard and thinks she’s made it to safety. But she hasn’t. The center of the fountain in the marble square isn’t high enough for the dogs to not reach her. She’ll be boxed in and cornered.

I blow through the last corridor, coming out at the top of the stairs that lead down to the center square, the branches smacking my helmet and bare arms. She’s at the bottom, climbing into the water, the dogs surrounding the basin, barking and lunging. When the first one makes her attempt to jump into the pool, Magnolia bursts through the greenery on the other side, her fangs bared, her ears forward in challenge.

I’ve seen her hunt and feed, she’s vicious, but I’ve never seen her attack in anger before, and it’s an amazing sight that makes me stop for just a moment. She charges forward, her jaws snapping, her front feet kicking as she backs down the younger bitch. The sounds coming from her are pure rage, she’s protecting her new friend as aggressively as she would me, but they’re not backing down, they’re all slowly advancing as she fights off the one.

Their bloodlust is high. It’s my fault, I haven’t given them a fresh kill in a couple weeks, they’re thirsty for the blood and hungry for the meat they’ve become accustomed to, and now I fear that her place as leader is being challenged over the pure desire to kill.

Twisting the throttle again, I launch the bike forward, careening towards the steps, holding my breath when I come to the top of them and the front wheel leaves the ground. It’s not the type of bike to be jumping. A dirt bike, sure, but a super sport bike, no way.

Lifting my ass off the seat as I fly through the air, I pull up on the front in an attempt to save the fairings from a direct hit. The back tire hits the smooth stone floor, jamming the bike up into my crotch, and smacking my balls hard enough the air leaves my chest, but the bike itself comes back down to two wheels with minimal damage, and she keeps going as I catch my breath.

“Достаточно!” I scream, hopping off the bike and tossing it down. “Enough!”

The pack halts, all except the female fighting with Magnolia as Lily climbs the column of the fountain, her hands slipping on the shiny gold painted snake’s scales, her grunts coming out harsh and terrified.

“Я сказал достаточно! Пятка!” I scream, almost face planting as I kick the bike in my haste to get to the girls. “I said enough! Heel!” I call out again in English.

They’re not stopping as the rest of the dogs lay down, respecting my authority. The fight continues, their bodies falling into the water, their teeth clashing together, the water turning pink with the blood from their wounds.

“Magnolia!” Lily cries out, starting to slide back down the twisted serpents.

She’s going to sacrifice herself for the fucking dog!

“Lily, stay!” I bark at her, as I jump into the basin, wading through the water, leaping at the dogs when I get in arms reach.

“H, save her!” She screams at me her hand reaching out uselessly, just like mine would for mother when father had her in his grasp.

The younger bitch squeals when I grab her by the back legs. I’ve been around dogs all my life and I know better than to touch anywhere near their faces during a fight. It won’t break them up, and will only get me bitten, badly. She has Magnolia by the face, jerking and twisting her thick neck in the death shake.

My pull on her releases her bite just long enough for my best girl to get her bearings, and when she grabs her by the neck and takes her under the water I let go, and let my girl do her thing.

“Покончите с ней!” I command her to end her, to finish it so I can regain order and get my flower down off that pillar.

I’m out of breath, my balls fucking ache, and I’m soaked but all I can think about is getting Lily down from there before she falls and hurts herself. The goop and insects still on me wash into the basin as I dunk myself under the water, scrubbing myself quickly. She doesn’t deserve for my filth to rub off on her.

The water swirls around me, the current from the fountain spouts and jets underneath the surface washing my grime away, and when I’m clean, I burst out of the water like a new man born. He is gone, the remnants of my father washed away. The bugs are off me, and the decomp floats away, being sucked into the filters.

I’m standing in my usually pristine place, the one spot I come to relax and reflect, looking down at it all red and frothy around my legs, but all I can think about is my flower, the beautiful thing that is my biggest stressor, and now my solace too. Her quiet sobs and fear fill my ears, drowning out the sounds of death while Magnolia accomplishes her task, and I wade towards her as the fight ends and the water falls still.

“Come on princess, come down.” I say, reaching up for her, offering her my hand to take. “It’s okay now.”

She shimmies down the twisted column, taking my hand in hers, looking over her shoulder as Magnolia pulls the carcass of her opponent from the pool, dragging it away, with the rest of the pack following her.

We’re alone as she climbs into my arms, and I take her down the rest of the way. The sounds of the fight are over, and the yapping barks disappear into the wind as they retreat back to their places. The only things I can hear are the sounds of my heart pounding in my ears and Lily’s ragged breathing.