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This World That Bleeds by LadyYashka
 
Chapter 2: Sweet Leaf
 
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"Sweet Leaf"

"ALRIGHT NOW!
Won't you listen?

When I first met you, didn't realize
I can't forget you, for your surprise
you introduced me, to my mind
And left me wanting, you and your kind

I love you, Oh you know it

My life was empty, forever on a down
Until you took me, showed me around
My life is free now, my life is clear
I love you sweet leaf, though you can't hear

Come on now, try it out

Straight people don't know, what you're about
They put you down and shut you out
you gave to me a new belief
and soon the world will love you sweet leaf" Black Sabbath (Master of Reality 1971)


Leaf focused on the conversations going on around her, all the while keeping up the appearance of a simple food server. With each day her hatred of these Commanders grew. From the snippets of conversations she had picked up, she knew that there were many more places like the Citadel in the country. She had heard news of rebellions, both demon and human alike, and also observed talk of a Council in Europe. They seemed to detest demons and half breeds but were against the humans that were being rounded up. As Leaf understood it, the Commanders were getting ready to take them on. Leaf silently wished that they would destroy each other in their fight. Luckily for Leaf , she had barely made a blip on their radar for the whole two years she’d suffered in this place. With her leaf green hair and eyes, and pale green skin, Leaf was the only Sprite in the Citadel. She was tiny, only reaching about 4’5”. The soldiers thought she was as broken as she wanted to appear. It made it easy for them to forget how hard she had fought against them .


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Two years ago

The rough shove caused the small sprite to trip on the metal grated floor of the Citadel. Her body ached, her clothes were in rags, and her heart was bleeding. She was the only surviving member of her clan. The soldiers had slaughtered them all. The sprite still didn’t know why they had captured her instead of killing her. She certainly hadn’t been easy to catch. She had fought, biting and scratching at the soldiers who tried to grab her. After a particularly nasty bite, one of the soldiers had back handed her, almost knocking her out. In a daze the tiny sprite was picked up and tossed into the back of a moving truck. She could still hear the soldiers laughing voice.

“Such a feisty little green thing. It will be fun to watch it break.”

Now she stood, cold and bloodied in a small room full of dirty, broken beings. Because she was a sprite she could sense auras, both magical and not, and they were overloading her psyche. The little sprite could tell how many demons, half breeds and humans were in the Citadel. She knew where they were, what they were doing, and if they were prisoner or soldier. Her head hurt from the over load and her sensitive hearing picked up the sounds of anguished cries from four floors down. At the time she hadn’t known that those voices would be the strength she needed to defy this place. It was when the light brown haired and green eyed man stepped forward, that her heart had leapt into her throat. His gaze had slowly swept over her and the others with her. It took in every detail, leaving all feeling raw and exposed. After his eyes briefly swept over her one more time, a soft, kind voice filled her head.

“I’m Julian. Don’t move.”

Then he began to break up the crowd into smaller groups. When he was left with just her, he’d quickly informed her of the rules and escorted her to her cell. She had been paired with a human woman who had looked at her in disgust and then quickly moved away to her side of the cell. When Julian came back with a thin pale man, she had been ordered to the front of the cell. Then the man’s black eyes, Trey she later found out, slowly looked over her. Once finished, Trey had cocked his head to the side and smiled.

“Such a sweet little leaf. Stands up to hard wind but does love to sail on gentle breeze. Pretty Sweet Leaf.” Trey had gently patted her cheek through the bars and quietly walked away. His words still rang in her mind.

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Staying beneath their notice was exactly how she had survived for so long. Leaf had kept her head down and been shown to Melly for work detail. The round little half demon had taken one look at her and promptly given her the job of food server. When Melly’s voice drifted into her head another job was given. Spy for Melly. Leaf still didn’t know all who was involved and they preferred it that way. If one was caught, the others wouldn’t be found. She had her suspicions of who else was planning the defiance, but Leaf kept that to herself. She would rather be sent to the Pit or the medical wing than destroy anyone else’s chance of bringing these bastards down. One day, they would tear this place apart. For now Leaf just scurried from one table to the next, filling her head with information to pass along.

“Did you hear about the up rising in the east?”

“Demons don’t know their place. They need to learn…”

“The reports came in. Our test run was a success. Soon that Council won’t know what hit them.”

“Did you hear? That pale little freak picked only two out of this last batch. Both woman.”

“What are we supposed to do with girls? Teach them to knit?”

With an unhurried gait, Leaf carefully filed that comment away, and went to Melly to retrieve more food.
Inside the kitchen, Leaf placed her empty tray before the small food sorter. Quickly the tray was fill. Plates piled high with delicious, hot meats and vegetables were arranged on her tray. Only the Commanders got real food. The prisoners who had to eat got a strained gray glue like protein sustenance. Each substance had been engineered to that species primary diet. Only the useful vampires got fed what they normally ingested. The Commanders had tried, and failed, to recreate the protein substance for the vampires that they kept on hand. It hadn’t worked, and they simply sent the poor starved creatures to the Pit. It was much easier to just give them blood instead of retraining a vampire to replace the one that had starved.
Lifting her grass green eyes, Leaf sent a silent message to Melly. The soldiers had brought in a new shipment and inside were the last two they needed. The slayer and the white witch.



 
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