“Will do,” I promise, knowing damn well I won’t.
Too many things have happened.
Too many things have changed.
Kugi nods and limps away down the busy street.
I glance around the street full of vendors, thugs, and other lowlifes. This used to be a place as close to home as I ever had.
Not anymore, it appears.
I feel just as distant standing here, surrounded by the past, as ever.
I put a pause on this law only until I’m back,Noire. Nix’s voice floats through my mind.
Even across a distance, I feel her just as deeply as if I were right next to her.
She’s trying hard to shield her thoughts from me, but some still slip through. I’m keenly aware of her heartbeat, her feelings, and her being.
It’s as if we’re one.
It’s odd and uncomfortable. But also…there’s some appeal in it.
Before my thoughts spiral dangerously, I roll my shoulders and head for the entrance to the nearby run-down building. The heavy wood door barely holds on the hinges as I push it open.
My senses are assaulted by the most foul of scents. Bare earthen walls are covered in dried blood, fresh piss, and other…types of bodily liquids.
Avoiding sticky puddles on the wooden stairs, I make my way to the second floor where I rent a small room for fifty frade a month.
Thank the spirits of the gods I paid for a year in advance before I went missing.
The scent of opioids is thick in the air on this floor. Nothing new.
I approach the door down the narrow corridor and reach for the wooden sign next to it with my name on it.
After removing it from the wall, I find the copper key right where I left it—pushed between two crumbling bricks.
So, neither Daegel nor his Caligos bastards came looking for me here.
The door unlocks after some fumbling with the lock, and the familiar view emerges in front of me.
The walls are bare, wearing the marks of long years of nasty tenants who lived here before me. A thin single mattress is shoved in the corner against the wall, with a ragged wool blanket on top of it and a pillow.
Most nights I spent here were with someone else.
Sometimes just because I was haunted by the need to satisfy my urges.
But more often than not, it was because I couldn’t bear the thought of spending the night alone.
Sleeping alone meant getting lost in my own head, with nothing but my thoughts.
It’s never something I enjoy.
If you hear anything new about what the Caligos are planning or Vera’s whereabouts, send the messenger hawk. Nix’s voice in my mind snaps me out of the daze.
From now on, I’ll never have to be alone in my head with my thoughts.
I shake my head and approach the chest of drawers that’s the only piece of furniture in this room and open the first drawer.
