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Denton pursed his lips. “I hate to break it to you, but your bloodwork suggests otherwise.”
My head snapped in his direction as he scrawled notes on his tablet with a stylus. “What the hell does that mean?”
“It means your blood is that of a shifter.” He tapped his stylus as he moved through the screens. “It also contains a few other components due to the source of the bite.”
My jaw clenched. “You mean I’m even more of a freakshow because of Fane?”
He shrugged. “I would use the word anomaly.”
“Well, I would use freakshow.” My fingers curled into fists, my nails digging into my palms.
Fucking Fane Maverick.
My life was wrecked the moment our eyes met across the club. He should have killed me that night in the alley. It would have been more merciful than this screwed-up existence. The prick cursed me with his bite so I would survive and keep the Infernal Sol from being destroyed.
The demon amulet remained within me, stirring to life every now and then, slithering below the surface like a slippery eel in a murky lake. I rubbed my abdomen where the sun tattoo branded my skin. The ominous presence bubbled inside, and more than once, the power tempted me. My thoughts had blackened, and I’d imagined slowly killing every demon in this place, Ruin included, laughing while they screamed.
I choked back the acid oozing up my esophagus and shook the horrible images off. The Infernal Sol wanted to control me, and if I let it, I’d become worse than the monsters I was supposed to kill as a raven.
I flipped my palms up and traced the scars digging into my flesh as memories of the night I received them tore through my mind. The sounds of Fane’s brother sucking Jayla’s life out played in my ears on a loop, the soundtrack to many of my nightmares. His soulless black eyes eclipsed everything else in my vision and chilled me to the bone.
Why did I survive that night? Things would have been so much easier if I hadn’t.
Fane wouldn’t have hunted me down for revenge, and I never would have met him that night.
But nothing was ever easy in life, especially mine.
After what happened to Jayla, maybe the universe decided this was a more befitting punishment than serving out my days as a raven saving the innocent. Hopefully, Hawk and the rest of them were able to do some good.
My lungs constricted, shrinking my airways. I missed Hawk so much. Did Coltrane finally come clean to him about my secret mission? Had she sent any ravens into the Underworld to search for me?
Doubtful. I knew the risks going on that mission. Of course, I couldn’t have predicted running into Fane Maverick.
When I got out of this lab, I’d find that asshole and cut off his head.
The demon shifter’s presence had poked at my mind a few times since he sold me to Ruin, but I’d concentrated so hard to shove him out my nose bled. Maybe now that we were separated, this stupid link would disappear.
A ringing echoed through the room, and Denton reached into his lab coat pocket to retrieve his phone. As he did, the keys to my restraints lifted in his pocket, the chain dangling within my reach.
Stupid move, Dr. Frankenstein.
While Denton was preoccupied with the conversation, I carefully reached forward, hooked my finger around the metal loop, and plucked it off. Feeling the light tug, he turned to me, but I hid the keys in my fist and stared at him with a bored expression.
After a few moments, he shrugged and angled his back to me as he walked toward a counter on the left.
Big mistake.
As fast and quietly as possible, I used the small key to unlock the cuffs around my wrists while keeping an eye on Denton. The chains rattled as I unlatched the hoops from around my ankles, sweat turning my grip slippery. Thankfully, I wore sneakers, leggings, and a tank top instead of the disgusting hospital gown they tried to put me in. That demon alchemist had received a broken horn for his efforts.
Denton ended the phone call, and I shot back into a reclined position, my heart hammering and beads of sweat collecting on my brow.
“Everything okay?” I asked, keeping my voice even. “Did someone forget to order your electrodes for tonight's lightning storm?”
Denton pinched the bridge of his nose with his long, almost delicate fingers. He could still break necks and rip throats out with those digits. “Your jokes are not amusing. I am not a fictional scientist created by an eighteen-year-old child.”
“Just let me hear it one time.” I grinned, showing my teeth. “Say the line, and I’ll stop makingFrankensteinjokes.”
The alchemist huffed and crossed his arms, his lap coat straining against his shoulders. “It’s alive.”
