As I stare at my hands, their color like a winter twilight, I see flashes of the cage. Everything floods back at once. The kidnapping, the zombies, the fight…
And me, turned into a necromancer.
After I emerge from the bathroom and go back to the bedroom, I try to put the pillows into some semblance of a nest, feeling strangely ashamed of its state.
Voices drift up from downstairs, then fade, and I hear footsteps. The voices seem vaguely familiar, but I can’t pinpoint whose they are.
Soon, Bay walks into the room.
He looks completely normal, wearing a dark green tank top and black jeans, his eyes focusing on my face with calm clarity.
On his brow bone, there’s a tiny bruise, and that’s the only reminder of what happened in the cage.
As he approaches, I sit on the bed, squeezing a pillow tight in my arms.
His eyes move over my face searchingly, obviously concerned.
A sound of despair escapes my chest.
"Will I be like this forever?"
Bay sits next to me.
There is a moment of silence, then he slowly places his hand on the surface of the sheet and turns it palm up.
He moves it toward me, and when it is close enough, I lift my gray necrotic hand toward his, and our fingers slowly lace together. The blackened veins look creepy.
The moment our skin comes into contact, a sweet shiver runs through me, so strong it nearly pushes the despairing moan out of my lungs and replaces it with a moan of pleasure.
"You’re not disgusted to touch me?" I whisper. "I’m a monster."
"And who isn’t."
I fall onto the pillow, landing flat on my back and lifting my gaze to the ceiling.
"Moon Ferro called me a ‘revenant’. I guess I finally look the part…"
Our fingers stay linked, and Bay’s thumb drifts over my wrist, tracing slow circles along my forearm.
"You know, that’s how I look on the inside, so we match," he says, and a smirk curves his mouth.
Almost against my will, but not entirely, I return the smile.
"Did you kill all of them?"
"Of course. But in this case it’s hard to say if all the loose ends are tied up, because I don’t know how they got us there. If we’re on any city cameras, someone might want to ask us a few questions."
Bay’s finger drifts higher along my forearm and over my shoulder.
He tilts his head slightly, his eyes strangely devilish.
"You look kinda sexy in this dark, eerie way, I totally dig it," he says, smirking again.
I bite my lip. "Seriously?"
His fingers brush the side of my neck, my gland, sending sparks racing across my skin.
"Yeah," and wow, that is a sexy voice, no doubt. "Those dark lines on your veins, almost artistic."
