Siren's Mark

Chapter 66

𝔸𝕧𝕒

I wake up to the sound of my pulse hammering in my head. My limbs are sore and impossibly heavy and the room is spinning. I groan and bury my head under a pillow.

I should know better. If you have chronic pain and have the audacity to do anything other than lie down and sigh, you're basically asking for trouble. Ever since we returned from Utah yesterday, I've been paying the price for trying to be a normal person.

Through the pillow, I hear the familiar lull of Zane's voice but can't quite make out what he has said, so I begrudgingly lift it from over my head.

"What?" I ask. My voice is hoarser than I expected; I sound like a chicken with a sore throat.

"Are you feeling okay?" he asks.

I open my eyes to see him looking back at me with wrinkled brows and his lips pinched into a thin line.

"I'm technically alive," I grumble.

'Okay' is complicated for me. Some days I can't tell if I feel worse or I'm just not as up for coping with it all.

"Yes, love," he says, sitting beside me on the edge of the bed. "I could tell you're alive because corpses don't usually do a lot of talking. But I'm getting the distinct impression that doesn't actually mean you're feeling well."

He flashes me a sarcastic smile.

"Can you feel it?" I ask. "Is it hurting you too?"

"Sort of," he says. "The feeling isn't as strong as it was when we first did the mark, but I can still sense it. I can feel that your pain is intense, even if I don't feel it to the same degree."

"Yeah," I mumble, though it comes out as more of a groan.

"I take it you're not feeling well enough to join me today?"

"Join you for what?" I ask, rubbing my eyes as I sit up slightly. Just this small action has my head pounding.

"Remember? I got a call about a possible lead on Asmodeus. I'm leaving to meet the guy in about an hour."

"Oh, was I supposed to come for that?"

"Honestly, it's probably better that you didn't, I don't know too much about this bloke. I just didn't want to leave you alone."

"Well, I'll be fine here, anyway. I think you're being paranoid about me always needing bodyguards."

"You're going to have 'bodyguards' as you call it regardless," he says with a teasing glare. "I was going to have Finn come with us, but if you're staying home I can have him stay with you."

"Wow, only one bodyguard?" I ask, jokingly. "You really like to live dangerously."

"Nice try. I'm calling Kami too."

I sigh and flop back down onto the bed.

At least I'll get a chance to sleep.

*****

After spending most of the day lying in bed while Finn and Kami hung out in the living room, I finally dragged myself out at about 6 in the evening.

"Oh good, you're up!" Kami says, eating potato chips out of a bag. "Girl, you can really sleep."

"I wasn't sleeping so much as I was just lying there cursing life," I say.

"Okay then, sunshine," she says with a laugh. "Well, I'm glad you're here. There's only so much of listening to Finn's old-man stories that I can take."