Distorted Affliction

Chapter Nineteen

My face gave away my sudden shock, though I could only imagine what he must have seen. His laughter rang out once again, but I pulled my hand back from his and glanced around as if I thought Lazarus and his Mouri would suddenly spring from the corners of the room to snatch me up again. It occurred to me that my body was still bare, but it seemed the least of my concerns, though the more I came back to myself, the colder my skin felt.

"Oh don't worry," he said cheerfully, standing from his seat and glancing around the room as if noticing it for the first time. "Lazarus is...preoccupied, and his Mouri don't have two brain cells to rub together without his direction."

"Then what do you want?" I asked hesitantly, watching as he circled the large desk in the center of the room. It was covered in blood--my own, though I would have thought the Mouri would have done more to savor it to avoid wasting so much of it. Though it hadn't crossed my mind before, I suddenly came to the stark realization that they weren't feeding on me because they needed to, it was simply to enjoy my torture. Their own personal payback to my bloodline, spilling it across the deep stain of the hardwood.

"You asked me what I had done to earn your family's trust," the Mouri answered, a frown etched into his face as he reached out to touch the dark red blood in front of him. "The past doesn't matter, but this moment does."

I waited for him to continue, but he seemed too busy studying my bodily fluids to explain any further. With a deep sigh, he turned from the desk, taking several slow strides toward the covered window. His fingers reached out to play with the newspaper slapped together to create a makeshift block from the sunlight beyond it, though I had no concept of time to tell me if it would be the sun or the moon that greeted us at that very moment.

With one swift motion, he tore the paper from the glass, allowing a flood of light to fill the room. My breath caught, and I wanted to run to it, to feel its warmth and bask in the security it offered, but I wasn't certain I could stand, let alone walk the distance to the window.

"I'm here to set you free," he said, satisfaction painted in his tone as he turned back to me. "But we have to be swift. I have it on good authority that when my brother wakes up, he's going to be very displeased, to say the least."

I wanted to ask him why, or how, but I couldn't focus on forming the words to convey my hesitance. He seemed to understand that I had my doubts, or maybe he just took my lack of motion as a sign that I still didn't have the energy to stand. Coming to my side, he offered me his hand, though I wavered for a moment before taking it again.

"What, no clothes involved in this escape?" I teased as he guided me to the window, and when I glanced outside I realized that we were on the second floor of the grand house surrounded by nothing but Montana forest. Panic set in. I couldn't make that sort of trek, not in my current situation.

"I'm working miracles with what I have, little Bishop," he teased before his smile softened. "Don't look so stressed, you only have to make it to the treeline before the others can find you. Though, I wouldn't stop for too long once you get there. Your witch friend has the house under a spell, to keep the rest of your coven from being able to track you. Her reach only goes so far, but once you're outside of her barrier, they'll sense you like a lighthouse in a storm. Keep moving until they find you. It's still only early midday, but we're several hours from any city, so while you have plenty of time before the sun goes down, you'll want to put as much distance between you and this house as you can before then."

"You're not coming," I said flatly, despising myself for sounding slightly deflated at the idea. He gave me a lopsided grin, pushing the window open for me.

"I'm not," he confirmed softly, touching his fingertips to my cheek lightly. "But you're a Bishop, you survive and you're going to survive this too. I know you've lost a lot of blood over the last four days, and this isn't going to be fun by any means but...there's a set of rose bushes just below this window, they'll break your fall. Once you get to the other side of the barrier, your magic will return and your body will start fixing itself again. I'm sorry for what's about to happen, but please do one favor for me?"