Page 14 of Body Tox

Goddamnit, I am not strong enough to resist this…

Walking over to the woman, I stared at the blade in my hand. She was open…easy, and quite ready to die.

I could end this task right now.

I raised the knife over her heart, intent on giving her a quick end. But then her icy eyes slowly met mine, her mouth forming one word: ‘No.’

A single tear fell from her unblinking eyes, sliding down her porcelain cheek.

I cursed, sighing and staring at the unmoving dagger in my hand and those haunting eyes of hers.

With a growl of frustration and annoyance at my own idiotic self, I pocketed the dagger and scooped her up from the ground, cradling her floppy body in my arms.

I was…protecting my target.

I kept walking, not understanding that or the weird hum in my body at the feel of her skin on mine.

“Not today, Little Wraith. But you will bleed for me. Soon. I won’t hunt the weak anymore, but I am no hero. I will take your life. It is mine now.”

Groaning…my body felt like an anvil decided to fuck me.

What the hell had I gotten myself into?

I blinked. My crusted-over eyes made everything blurry. I couldn’t see past a few inches in front of me, like a radio channel I couldn’t reach without it fuzzing out and going static. I was freezing, but I could tell a blanket was draped over me.

I tested my fingers, wiggling them underneath the blanket.

Fucking hell, I hurt.

My hair was crusted to my forehead, and my back felt like a cheese grater ran over it. I moved my shoulders, trying to fight the stiffness sticking to my body like glue. Finally, the room I was in started to come into view.

I was in a run-down shack. There were posters of some old-school band and woman’s tits on the walls. A guitar was against the dull wallpaper, but the rest of the space was mostly filled with empty surfaces.

I gasped and tried to scoot back when I saw a man sitting as still as a statue in a chair across from the bed I was on.

“What the fuck!” I smacked at the air.

He chuckled and sat forward, the light of the lamp beside the bedside table illuminating his face.

Son of a bitch! It’s the man from the restaurant.

“What are you doing here? Where the fuck am I, you creep?”

The stranger stood up, a hood falling from his head. His short hair was brown, but the wetness made it appear darker. He was wearing a mask, a smiling skull across his lips. He was toying with that damned flower petal in his fingers, sliding it over his knuckles and under with an expertise that promised he knew what to do with his hands.

“I am your bodyguard, after all, Little Wraith. Consider me your shadow, always watching you, always ready to protect you.”

I scoffed at him, my head feeling like it was vibrating in my skull.

Protecting me? Protecting me from what?

I thought back to last night. The bar, the fucking asshole…the drink.

Oh fuck I had been drugged.

“What did you do to me?” I accused, realizing I was naked under this blanket. My stomach felt sick, and nausea made my lips tingle.

“Definitely not what that man in the alley was about to do,” he said, his tone too casual as he walked toward me.

---