Page 29 of The Bonds of Indigo

Though, strange as it sounds I was looking right at her, and I didn’t see her lips move when the word came out.

Yet another thing about her that makes no damn sense.

Rinsing the last of the soap from my body, I let the water run a little longer before stepping out. There’s blood everywhere; the trash cans already full of pieces of flesh found in my hair, and what didn’t go down the drain will have to be dumped at the wasteyard tomorrow.

After brushing my teeth, I throw on a pair of boxers and sweatpants.

Catching my reflection in the mirror, I see a bare streak of skin now cutting across my right pec, straight through one of the three heads of my Cerberus tattoo.

I’ll need to get this touched up.

That damn warden surprised me—quicker than a Mundane should’ve been.

That’s what I get for checking the dead.

Or not so dead.

He’d gone for my neck. Good attempt on his part, and I can’t even call it stupid because it got him a swift death; zero suffering.

Stepping back from the mirror, I leave the bathroom. The TV’s still playing the white noise I’d left on just in case the little Witch decided to wake up and start screaming while I was in the shower.

I’m not caught off guard often. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I was. So the fact I am right now is an incredible feat. I hadn’t heard her wake. Not a breath. Not even a mere shuffling of her feet.

She’s quiet. Too quiet.

One second, I’m stepping out of the bathroom.

The next, her lithe body slams into me.

Smart move, honestly. She times it perfectly, catching me mid-step. I try to brace, but her momentum’s got me, and the both of us tumble.

My hip slams into the floor as her body crashes down on top of mine.

“Oof—” I grunt, reaching for her waist.

Her hand swats away my wrist, sharp and fast. I snarl—not from pain, but from the sheer inconvenience of it.

Then something cold presses against the side of my neck.

Shifting my gaze, I follow the line of her arm until it disappears from view, right at the point where I can feel the object digging into my throat.

In this moment, I realize that she’s also no longer bound. I’m both curious and furious about how the Beyond that happened.

“This is real cute, Witch,” I mutter, keeping my voice low. “But you won’t be able to decapitate me with that… Is that a butter knife?”

“Fuck you,” she seethes.

I look up at her. Her long white hair falls forward, framing her face, and those piercing violet eyes burn straight through me.

“Why did you knock me out?!”

“How’d you get the cuffs off?” I shoot back.

She tuts with a sharp, bitter edge. “I came with you! I promised to give you what you wanted! Why, Vampire?!”

Alright, enough of this.

The moment I reach for her, she rolls back fast.