We turn the corner and pass the praised room as Laura steps out. “Holy fucking—” She jumps, letting out a strangled gasp and covering her mouth with a hand.
Despite my weariness, a vibrant energy stirs within me at her shock, and I give her a thumbs-up and smile. The nightwalker was dead.
More dead than dead.
Ash.
As I step into the bathroom, heads turn. Some eyes widen, while others narrow. Holly drops her soap, and whispers float into my sensitive ears.
I turn on the shower next to Emily, who shrieks, “You’re alive!”
“You alright?” Manni asks as I strip off my ruined clothes. She moves in closer and grabs the dress from me, only to let out a sharp breath. “What the fuck is that?”
Emily leans over as I step beneath the water to start washing away the blood. I’ve only got three minutes. “Is that a tattoo?”
“Moonflowers,” I say flatly, dragging a cloth down my chest. “You’ve seen it before.”
“No,” Manni insists, gently touching my back. “There’s a new one here. A snake.”
What?
Looking over my shoulder, I reach over and tug at my skin, catching a glimpse of a snake’s head amongst the moonflowers. I can’t see much, but it’s clear that a black snake now weaves through the petals, along with thorns and vines.
“It goes all the way down to your waistline!” Manni says, her fingers brushing lower.
I lift my arm and draw my skin closer to try to examine the length of the tattoo. There really is a scaled serpent twisting and coiling all down my back.What the fuck?
Emily wipes the water from her eyes and cocks her head to the side. “Did the nightwalker ink ya?”
The nightwalkerbitme. Could that be connected? Can a bite create a fully healed tattoo? Jax might know, but do I really want to tell him about this?
Considering everyone in here is gawking at me like the newest toy in Darkovish, I might have to.
“What happened in there?” Manni asks when we finish washing and get dressed. I slip on a long-sleeved shirt and button it up to the collar. “Did the nightwalker just bite you and bail?”
“Yes,” I lie. “I did what Jax said.”
And if it weren’t for the second nightwalker, I would be dead.
My mind is in disarray. The last thing I want to tell them is that a nightwalker assaulted me, only for another one to show up and kill him.
Not only that, but he asked me strange questions that I’m still trying to understand, bit me, and then lured me to bed to sleep in a venom-drunk stupor.
Odd. More odd than strange.
Also, I kissed him. I kissed a dead creature that crawled out of the ground after Mother left us, and the last thing I want to do is tell my friends when I don’t even want to remember it.
And if Jax found out, he would not understand.
I wasn’t myself. It was the venom.
“Times up,” the Bleeder announces.
We leave the bathroom, but a Bleeder abruptly steps in front of me. “You don’t have to bleed today. A god chose you last night.” He spins on his heel and calls over his shoulder, “Follow me into the mess, Feeder zero-zero-eight.”
Manni flashes a grin and nudges me while Emily gives me a thumbs-up and says, “You’ve earned this, babe!”
“Areyoumy situationship now, Em?” I say flatly.
