With a sigh, she discarded the book she wasn’t reading onto the round, oak table in front of her. She threw on a pair of black cargo pants, combat boots, and a green cutoff, thinking she might be able to hit the nearest Embunuh-owned gym and find a sparring partner. It was still pretty early, though, so chances of that were slim. Or, Vesper thought with a smirk, she could go to The Downstairs and use up her energy in a much more fun way. Then, she remembered the reason she hadn’t done that was because she didn’t have any money to spend on a whore. Her mood soured.
Probably Bellamy’s fault they hadn’t gotten another assignment. Maybe she should find her…Nope.Vesper banished the idea immediately. Nothing good would come of that. Besides, she’d promised herself in the trolley that it would be the last time.
Same shit she said every time.
Vesper closed her hand around the doorknob, but before she got a chance to turn it, a loud thud came from the other side followed by grunting. Someone was trying to force their way in. She couldn’t help but smile. Looks like she wouldn’t need to go find trouble today. It was going to bang on her own door.
Vesper yanked the door open and froze, just for a second. The scene in front of her was the last thing she’d expected. Bellamy was crumpled against the wall, hand falling from the door she’d been trying to force open. A tangy, rich copper scent assaulted Vesper’snose. Then, she noticed the growing red spot on Bellamy’s white shirt.
“Fuck, Bel. What the…” Vesper wasn’t given time to finish her thought before a blow struck hard against the side of her face. Her vision swam and she blinked rapidly, belatedly realizing Bellamy was not alone. A masked attacker raised their bloodied knife, ready to attack again.
“I didn’t sign up for this shit,” Vesper complained, ducking the blow. She sent her magic crackling into the attacker, loose sparks cutting through their skin like broken glass. They staggered and stumbled, and Vesper was on them, twisting their wrist and slicing open their throat with their own dagger. The body dropped to the carpeted floor.
Fucking amateur.
Vesper looked at the body with disdain before turning her glare to Bellamy. “You piece of shit,” she grumbled. But Bellamy had fallen fully unconscious. She fucking hated clean up, and Bellamy had brought this shit right to Vesper’s door.
Bellamy would clean it up when she stopped being so damn dramatic and woke up. Vesper was absolutely not dealing with that shit. She unceremoniously hefted Bellamy up, dragged her inside, and kicked the door shut with her boot.
That bitch would bring her fight to Vesper’s apartment. Typical. Let Vesper do the real work while Bellamy bled out on the floor. Fucking typical. This was payback for the note Vesper destroyed—it had to be. Bellamywouldbe that petty.
Jokes on her though. She wasnotcleaning up Bellamy’s mess.
She did have to admit, begrudgingly, that this was already a much less boring day than she’d been having previously. And probably way more exciting than what she’d been planning. At least, in this moment. The downside was that now she had to deal with Bellamy, and Bellamy was always worse after they fucked.
Vesper sighed, stalking over to her closet and grabbing the med kit off the top shelf. Returning to Bellamy, she dropped it on the hardwood beside her and then ruined one of her towelscleaning up the blood. At least Bel was unconscious so Vesper didn’t have to deal with her bitching about how rough she was being as she propped her up to reach the cut on the side of her back.
What had she even done? What kind of an asshole do you have to be to literally get stabbed in the back? Hopefully they’d missed her organs. Vesper wasnotcarrying her to a healer.
She peeled back the shirt clinging to Bellamy’s slick skin. The blood had congealed, revealing traces of black worming through her veins. She cringed. Not only was the cut sloppy and longer than it needed to be, the blade had also been poisoned.
Of. Course.
Bellamy decided to get stabbed in front of Vesper’s door—sure, whatever—butof courseit had to be a poisoned blade too. At least it didn’t look like it’d gotten her organs—hopefully.
Bellamy had probably lured the attacker there so Vesper would get stabbed right alongside her. Or because she wanted to waste Vesper’s antidote instead of her own. Or because, for once in her miserable life, Bellamy had considered what would happen to Vesper if she’d died.
Their damn contract essentially tied their lives together, so she suspected Bellamy had done it because she’d known Vesper would be forced to save her. If Bellamy died under any circumstances, Vesper would be labeled a rogue. And her employers didn’t like rogues—they’re loose ends.
A hit would be put out on Vesper the second they found out about Bellamy’s death. Therefore, Vesperhadto waste her antidote and her sutures to save Bellamy’s worthless life.
Grumbling and stewing in her resentment, she finished wiping the blood away and dug through her med pack for the antidote. She would have said Bellamy was lucky that she even had it, but Bellamy knew she kept it around. This wasn’t luck, this was Bellamy being an asshole and wasting Vesper’s money instead of her own. She counted herself lucky that Bel had picked a fight with a magickless.
If she’d gotten nicked by a blade coated in magic-laced poison, Vesper would already be a rogue—not that she wanted to think about that. Lucky for both of them, she supposed.
Once the antidote had slid down Bellamy’s throat and the black veins began to recede, Vesper picked up her sutures, hergoodsutures—fucking bullshit—and went to work. One nice thing about Bellamy being unconscious was that she didn’t have to waste any numbing cream. Bellamy’s side would hurt like a bitch when she woke up, but honestly, it’s what she deserved. Showing up like this and making Vesper waste her fucking supplies on her, making Vesper save her.
Fine. Vesper might have also still been pissed about the note Bellamy had stolen.
Whatever.
She left Bellamy lying on the floor when everything was fixed up, and returned her kit to the closet. Then, she stalked around her rooms. She made herself some tea in the cramped kitchen, got a water bottle to either throw at Bellamy or set beside her for when she woke—to be determined.
Bellamy was still passed out when Vesper returned to her main room. She didn’t have a large apartment, but it worked just fine. Her bedroom served as the main room, the small closet and bathroom off to one side and the kitchen to the other. Her small circular dining table sat under a window near the kitchen, out of the way and right beside where she’d left Bellamy’s unconscious body.
Vesper flicked her gaze around the room, surveying and looking for anything that Bellamy might target for petty thievery or snarky comments. Because the last thing she wanted when Bel woke up was to deal with her bullshit comments about Vesper’s living space. It didn’t look any different than when Bellamy had last seen it. Her built-in bookshelves were full and tidy, her bed was made, the floor was cleared. She’d recently done a deep clean—that was how bored she’d been the past few days.
The only thing that might catch Bellamy’s eye was a littleplant in the windowsill beside the table. That hadn’t been there last time, and Vesper knew for a fact Bellamy would connect it immediately to the person who’d gifted it to her. That was a fight waiting to happen. She’d make sure to kick Bellamy out before she got a chance to snoop.
