“Good morning to you too,sweetheart,” I said with false glee, jabbing my finger in his chest. I turned to a confused Caspian who wasstilltouching me. He clocked the all-black eyes and his lip peeled back from his blunt, human teeth. It would have been more impressive with his real teeth.
“Hands to ourselves,” I said like he was a child.
“It’s not your body,” he snapped, still clutching me.
“That’s an arguable point I’ll take into consideration but for now… Hands off the merchandise,” I growled loudly. A black tentacle shot out, wrapped around his waist, and flung him off the bed. I heard him tumble and grunt. I looked over at Mothman beside me, he was giving me an unimpressed look.
“What?” I asked innocently. He sighed and rolled his eyes, picking himself off the bed. I sat up. Yep, something questionable definitely ached.
“What the fuck did you two do to her? I’m scared to reach into her memory and recall.” I stood up and massaged between my legs. Caspian picked himself off the floor.
“Does it hurt?” He asked in concern.
“Still not Ava,” I sighed, rolling my eyes.
“It’s Ava’s body,” he snapped. “Fucking asshole,” he hissed under his breath.
“Good mornings all around,” I said apathetically.
“We’ll find a way to exorcise you,” Caspian threatened.
“Good luck with that. Ava and I have a contract, signed in blood so to speak. Would offend the cosmic rules of the universe to try and rip that deal to shreds. Break the deal, spin the wheel.” With that, the door opened and Ben arrived at the party. My gaze zipped to the bastard standing in the doorway, his weasley little frame begging to get ripped apart.
“Perfect timing,” I said, jumping off the rumpled bed with glee, a smile stretched over my face. Murder was an excellent way to start the day.
“Good morning,” I bit out with vicious mania, dark tentacles bursting from my back and curling around my body, ready to strike. His light eyes widened in shock and he backpedaled. A laugh tore from my throat. Yes, be scared. Be very scared.
He backed up another step as I burst from the room into the daylight-filled foyer. The sun hit the tentacles and they sizzled with pain and began to dissipate. I was caught off-guard, not used to anything but a sun absent cave deep in the mountain.
There was also the joy of having a handful of salt tossed at me. Ben had a pouch attached to his belt, which he shoved his hand in. He brought out a handful of salt he threw at me. It smacked my tentacle limbs before they’d completely gone away.
“Motherfucker!” I growled as my body collided with Ben, my sludgy soul hissing in pain as salt grated against it. We fell from the building, flopping outside to the ground.
“Interesting,” Ben said from his back in the dirt, seeing the tentacles disappear.
“Very interesting,” I spat back before trying to claw out his eyes. Why weren’t those other two helping me? Did no one care about murder these days? What about freedom? I mean come on, even if you didn’t savor the thrill of a kill they must at least want to get the fuck out of here.
Ava was unfortunately not all that strong and with daylight all over me, I was limited to her body’s abilities. Ben quickly flung me down in the dirt, shackles going around my wrists. I flailed, and panic started to take over. Not again, never again. I couldn’t let them put me back in that box. Anything but that.
“Stop!” I cried with a hint of panic in my voice I couldn’t control. I felt Ava in my head rising, her warm, golden presence brushing against me in comfort. Tension leaked from my body and I came back to myself, the panic sifting away. I could understand why Ben called her a goddess, she felt like one.
“Do you need to rest?” she asked in our head.
“Don’t you dare confine me,” I hissed, calming myself down completely as Ben backed away and watched as I caught my breath. I didn’t want to be shoved deep inside her head at the moment.Especiallyafter that. Shoved away in the dark was the opposite of what I needed.
“It’s okay, Makwa. I won’t take over,” she assured and I blew out a breath. She’d seen my memories and felt my panic. She was coddling me now. My lips twitched, a smile trying to force its way out. Her pity was misguided but I would gladly take it. Debasing myself was hardly something I gave a shit about as long as I got my way in the end.
“You should really save your pity for someone else,” I huffed, at least attempting to be honest with her. We did share a head after all. I managed to get myself upright and off the ground. The fresh mountain air was a nice reprieve from the cloistered scents of bodies held in captivity with piss buckets and orgies.
I saw Caspian and Mothman in similar shackles to mine, a chain attaching them together. Well, that explained the lack of help. They were herded in front of the prison cabin with a whole crowd of people surrounding them.
Apparently, others had rushed in and got them. Though it didn’t look like they put up much of a fight by the looks of our healthy captors. No one even looked slightly mangled, which ruined my morning.
“Who are you?” Ben asked.
“I’m your worst nightmare. Those two pacifists have a bondage kink but I, on the other hand, am not one to be chained,” I growled, approaching him. I leaned in close, stretching up in an attempt to push my face in his. My nose twitched when the faint scent of damp earth wafted from him.
This time Ben didn’t back up, instead he stared into my eyes. All-black… pure evil. I smiled wide at his lack of self-preservation. He felt safe. He thought me all bark, no bite with his little bag of salt. That was good. Underestimating your enemies was often a fatal mistake.
