“What about the part when you became corrupted? You remember that little part, sweet?”
“It was only a little. I could have come back from it.”
“There is no coming ‘back from it,’” I said, glaring at her, then, for being so naive.
“You came back.” She raised her hands, motioning to me. “You have your entire soul now. Aiden said that there has to be a way.” She stopped herself and turned around.
With that revelation, we were finally getting somewhere. I needed to know more about Aiden’s motives.
“Yes, I have noticed that you and Aiden are good friends. How good of friends are you two?”
“It doesn't matter. We are the only two competent soulless here, now—it makes sense that we would become close.”
“How close is ‘close’?” I turned my head to the side, studying her responses more intently. “My dear, I am not buying it—you knew him from before—but oddly enough, Aiden isn't a soulless.”
She turned around, worry in her eyes.
“Free of any corruption at all, to be exact; nice melody, that one has.”
“Don't you dare take his soul—”
I cut her off.
“Oh, come now. I have my standards. I do not take clean souls; that would be a waste of my time.” I waved a hand at her large, worried, black, soulless eyes. She did seem to have quite a bit of time left, as she could still hold to a conversation. A stronger soulless, perhaps? No, probably just more stubborn.
“Don’t hurt him. He only did it to help me. He is such an idiot, and he never listens to me, ever.” She paced back and forth, her speech too fast to fully understand. If she had a melody, I could have read her emotions and intentions and could have understood her—but she was a soulless. I reached out my hands towards her and took her shoulders in my grasp.
“Hurt him? That I cannot promise, but I do promise that I could be persuadednotto hurt him if the two choices presented themselves, if—you do me a favor.”
“What does that mean?” she said, stepping back so that my arms fell from her shoulders.
Maybe my words are too complicated for her soulless state,I wondered for a split second, for that is all I allowed. I wondered what she had been like with a soul, but before I could dwell on the compassion running through me, I pushed it away.
“Tell me who he is to you, and why he is here, and I promise to try ever so hard not to hurt him.”
“You are scum,” she spat at me.
I wiped off her spit from my cheek. Emotions rolled from within me, and I tried to tame them back, but I really wanted to hurt her—because she had hurt me and my pride. Spitting on someone was the biggest insult.Does she not know that?
I pulled out the information from my brain about Kara: when and why I had turned her into a soulless. As I remembered, I smiled.
“You are going to die soon, Kara. Do you want to know why? Not because I stole your soul—no, you are going to die soon because, you, dear girl—” I reached out to cup her face in my hands.
She tried to move away, but I held her firm in my grip. If I just turned only slightly, I could’ve put her in a chokehold, and she would have been dead within seconds. Maybe I should have done it—from the look on her face, the fear in her eyes, she wanted it.
“You—what was it again? Oh yes—you killed your own sister.” I could see the tears brimming behind her eyes. Her body was shaking. I pushed her back, and she fell against the wall and onto the floor.
“I didn't kill her.”
“Your melody reeked of death. Does Aiden know what you did? Does he know that you murdered your own sister?” She leaned her head against the wall, and silence stood between us.
“Aiden can't know, please?”
“Tell me then, who is he to you?” I leaned over, crouching down to meet her black, soulless eyes, offering her one last chance.
“Aiden is my brother—and he is trying to find a way to restore my soul.”
“I see, so family—you killed his sister, too, then.”
