“You’re weak,” she continued, “which is probably why you’re assisting a black witch. Tell me, are you out on loan from your Master? Because you’re not strong enough to be your own.”
Levi hissed, fangs elongated until he struggled to close his jaws. “Fuck you!”
Kyra sucked in a breath as nausea bubbled. “Eva, you okay?”
Eva hovered by the door to the shop floor, arms wrapped around herself. “Fine once we get out of this shit hole.” Her expression tightened, anger creasing her face.
“You wanted it, don’t give me that shit!” Levi snapped.
“I bet you’ve never met anyone like me,” Kyra said, stepping forward until Eva stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. She tried to strangle this part of her power, using the siphon crystal to dampen the connection. But if she concentrated she would still be able to feel the blood pump through his body, force his heart to beat faster. Vamps could survive without breathing for much longer than others, and their hearts did in fact beat at a very slow pace, almost silent. Kyra could make it beat so fast blood would bleed from his eyes.
“She’s just a blood whore.”
Kyra couldn’t help herself. Ignoring the growing queasiness she focused on him, able to feel his blood as if it were a pulsating stream across her fingertips. Ever so slightly she increased the pressure, just enough that Levi clutched his chest in panic.
“Stop!” he gasped. “Stop! What are you doing!?”
Kyra increased the pressure just a little more, nothing that would leave him with any long affects, but enough to give just a taste of what she could do. He didn’t know she would never have taken it further.
“Please, I’m sorry, okay? She’s been marked as a blood junkie, so I thought she was fair game.”
Kyra released the pressure. “Blood junkie?”
Levi collapsed onto the sofa. “She must have been bitten recently,” he choked out. “Someone old marked her with a special venom. It gives a scent, marking her as easy and willing prey.”
Eva touched her throat, the bite hidden beneath the turtle neck she wore. “How do you stop it?” she asked.
Levi heaved in a breath. “It will disappear once it’s out of your bloodstream, as long as the owner doesn’t top it up.”
Eva stormed through the shop, Kyra following quickly behind. Bane stood by the front window, looking out into the street at the passing walkers. He turned just as they arrived, his smirk suddenly knocked when Eva lifted her fist and punched him in the face. She said nothing, only moving towards her car to open the driver side door.
Bane touched his lip, blood a pearl on his fingertip.
“We’re done here,” Kyra said, stepping in between Bane and the car. “I have the details.”
Anger radiated off him in waves, wild magic teasing her skin with little pricks of power.
Kyra choked down the bile that threatened, her body repelling the Grimm and black magic before it settled into her cells. She pushed the page against his chest. “You don’t want to keep Frederick waiting, do you?”
* * *
The fresh evening air helped with the sickness, even if the wind was like being kissed with death at that height. Kyra wrapped her arms around her legs, watching the sun as it set in the distance between the towering skyscrapers. It was possible from the flat design amongst the slope of the roof it was indeed a communal garden for which she sat. Not that she had ever asked the landlord to confirm or not. It didn’t really matter, not when she could watch the sunset and the city dance with lights whenever she pleased.
It was a shame, the space must have once been taken care of, once loved if she went by the rusty and broken garden equipment scattered around. But they were now long forgotten, the plants withered to almost dust and the pots cracked beyond repair.
No one else seemed to enjoy the view, the fence eroded enough she doubted it would survive much weight if tested.
It was a space to relax beneath the sky, to remind her she was alive, no longer locked away. It was a space to be alone, to think, to cry and sulk without having to be anyone she didn’t want to be.
The door squeaked open, the light from the hall bleeding onto the concrete.
Kyra shot to her feet, her arm held up in warning. Her heart raced, a thump, thump, thump in her chest that told her she wasn’t alone.
“Hello?” she asked the air between her. “Is anyone there?”
There was no warning, nothing as she felt icy fingers wrap around her throat. She flung herself backwards, knocking against something hard, something so cold it made the air around her a blistering summers day. She clawed at the fingers and still there was no noise, no footsteps of breathing other than her own ragged breaths as she fought the constriction that slowly tightened.
She stopped attacking the restraint, sagging in the grip, relaxing until those fingers let up just a little.
