Infernal SoulBond

5, Skeletons

⟡ Ember ⟡
⟡

I didn't realize I fell asleep until the front door shut, startling me from my slumber. I shot up, blinking the blur from my vision. "Bleed me dry." Warren curses, looking at me with a sheepish expression. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd be sleeping."

"An apology?" Zoya mocks. "The first i've heard such a thing come from you." He ignores her, kicking off his boots and taking long strides over to me. I didn't feel fear or anything similar, yet the air around me suddenly turned thick making it hard to breathe properly. My chest tightened with anticipation, for what..I didn't know. I felt the buzz around us as the space between us shortened. His hair was raven black, and disheveled unlike how it was earlier. I didn't miss the fresh cut across his cheek bone.

"How did you sleep?" He asked softly, crouching beside me. I couldn't find the words to answer him right away, looking over his face when I also noticed the already dark bruise along his jaw. Something twisted inside me. "I'm okay, they'll heal in a couple hours. Has Zoya treated you well?"

"I've been a wonderful-"

"I didn't ask you." He cut her off. "I'm actually wondering why you're still here." She rolls her eyes, standing from where she sat when we first arrived. How long ago was that? She waves him off, annoyed.

"Thank you for keeping her safe, Zoya. Thank you for watching out for her, Zoya. Oh! Why you're welcome, Warren. Anything for you." She blabs sarcastically, opening the front dood. "Next time you think about asking me to do something, don't." She shuts the door behind her, no more parting words or a goodbye. Did they always bicker like this? So far it's all i've seen between them.

He doesn't bat an eye, only focusing on me. "Did she feed you? Give you anything to drink?" As if on cue, my stomach growls, bubbling with hunger. He smiles, standing to his full height and rounding the couch. Noise followed shortly after, rustling bags and cabinet doors shutting. I slowly sit up, Pebbles leaped off the couch and padded into the kitchen with a soft meow.

"How did you get those injuries?" I peer over the back of the furniture, just barely catching the sight of Pebble jumping onto the counter and nudging Warren's arm. "Was it the Kyters? What are they?"

He slices into bread, glancing up at me. "You've seen MoMo?" I nod. "Imagine wings like that but on a human body..a very mangled human body. Except they have no hair..have you ever seen a bat?" I shake my head, trying to think back on any stories i've heard with bats. "Well, they're like human bats. They don't talk, at least not like us. They screech, and it's not the most pleasant sound when they're just two feet away." He drops the knife when Pebbles brushes along him again, he picks her up. Pebbles rubs her head along his bruised jaw, and even from across the room I could hear her purring.

"Are they scary?"

His gaze averts back to me. "They're skin creatures that fly at you, teeth as sharp as razor blades and claws the size of your fingers..so if that scares you." He shrugs nonchalantly, as if there were scarier things. Were there? "But don't let that startle you, little necromancer. I'd never let one close enough to hurt you."

"Stop calling me that."

"Necromancer?"

I nod stiffly. "I don't like being reminded of what I am."

He sets Pebbles down, tossing a piece of bread on the floor which she gladly eats. "Why are you ashamed of what you are? I think it's quite badass that you're the one and only necromancer alive, after the massacre..no one thought another one would be born, but centuries later, here you are." All I could imagine was my mother's cries, her face when she had seen what i'd done. The blood on the ground, the sound of it - drip drip drip. I swallow, turning away. "Ember?"