The Venom In You

Part 4: The Ring

I was dreaming again. Dreaming about that girl.

I knelt in front of her, soaked in a sea of black, like the ocean reflecting the night sky. It stained my skin like ink but was thick like blood.

"Who are you?" She asked again, but I still couldn't speak. And even if I could, I wouldn't know what to say.

I tried to avoid her stone eyes as she knelt in front of me, but she took my face in her hand, caressing my cheek with her metal claw. We looked at each other. Her silver hair framed her golden skin, swimming around her like liquid moonlight. As I took in her flawless visage I could tell she was a sander, like me.

Slowly, she lifted up my hand and observed it thoroughly. That's when I noticed I was wearing my mother's ring, the one I no longer had. The silver band glistened and the star engraved in the middle seemed to flicker as if it was alive.

The girl's eyes suddenly flashed with anger and her metal nails dug into my flesh. The ring's spark grew brighter the more the girl dug her metal nail into my hand. Blood began to drip to the floor, thick and black.

"Stop!" I gasped, trying to pull my hand away, but her claws had already sunk into my skin like a bloody seal.

Her black pupils slowly stretched out into the whites of her eyes like black ink in water. The only brightness left in them was that which reflected the glowing star on my finger. It became increasingly radiant as the girl's raven eyes tried to swallow the star's blaze, like the light and dark competing for every inch of the empty room.

Blackness manifested from within her, an evil I'd never seen before. Till suddenly, her darkness swallowed the star and there was nothing left but black.

I woke up with a fright, gasping for breath. My heart was beating so fast I could feel the pulse throughout my body, cutting my breaths short.

It's just a dream, I reminded myself. It wasn't real.

And that's what I saw my hand soaked with blood. It was thick, thicker than usual and for a split second, it looked like it was dancing around my hand, defying gravity.

"Shit." I hissed, wrapping my hand up in a clean part of the quilt to try stop the bleeding.

What the hell was happening to me?

Wincing in pain, I gently lifted the quilt off my hand to examine it, trying to convince myself that my eyes were deceiving me. I rubbed my eyes with my other hand, hoping to see something that made more sense. Nail marks were etched into the palm of my hand, the hand the girl had ripped into in my dream. The hand I had always wore my mother's ring on. The ring was gone, courtesy of Dicer, but I couldn't shake the feeling that without the ring, this was going to be a common occurrence.

I wanted to brush it off as I'd scratched myself in my sleep, dug my nails into my hand whilst I was dreaming. It had to be that. Right? The only other possible explanation was that the girl was a sorcerer, perhaps her venom allowed her to enter people's dreams? She certainly looked like she could be a sorcerer, but I'd never heard of that kind of venom before. I wanted to ask Miles, tell him everything but he'd only worry and telling Baba was out of the question, she'd have a heart attack on the spot.

All I knew was the ring had something to do with that girl and I needed to get it back. Today.

I sprang into action, tying up my hair and scrubbing my face before getting changed. This time I left my orange racing suit behind, replacing it with my leather jacket. There weren't many people going round on a Triumph bike in an orange racing suit that were wanted for stealing, and even if they were looking for a boy, it was better to be safe than sorry.

I opened the door quietly, trying not to wake Baba as I left and stepped outside. The air was cold and the sun had yet to rise. It mustn't have been later than five in the morning.

Good, I wanted to find my mother's ring as soon as possible and do it without bumping into Dicer or his bodyguard. That boy was fast. I just hoped neither of them were morning people.

"Jesus!" I shouted, almost stepping on a dead pigeon, lying lifeless just outside the door. Then, the stray ginger cat emerged from the shadows, nudging the dead pigeon close to my feet.

"You scared me there." I said, kneeling down to scratch its head while it gave a pur of approval. "That for me?"

She purred, nudging the pigeon closer to me again. I guess it was a meal, and I had just lost all my savings to Dicer. Pigeons had be scarce lately, too. I was surprised the cat had managed to find one.

"You got a name?" I asked, as if the stray would reply. "What about Kitty, hm?" I smiled, watching her weave between my legs. "It's original, right?"

I picked up the lifeless pigeon, frowning at its floppy neck. There was something not quite right about it, the way its neck had been snapped was quick, clean. Human.

I looked down at the cat again, trying to imagine the cat snapping its neck without drawing blood. It was pretty much impossible, but a meal was a meal, so I put it in my bag and carried on down the stairs to the bike storage.

Pursing my lips, I stared at my bike with the Triumph sticker on. With no time to try take it off, I mounted Miles's bike instead. I didn't want to take any chances if people were on the lookout for a Triumph-riding thief, and Miles's wouldn't mind. Much.

I got to the alleyway in record time, praying the ring would still be in the dingy pub, and praying even more so that Dicer and his guard weren't.

Taking in a deep breath, I revised the plan in my head: pick the lock, sneak in, find the ring, sneak out. Simple.

This time I went without my helmet. Wearing it was going to draw attention, considering the fiasco with Dicer and the wanted poster. No helmet at all leaves me with zero mercy from anyone catching me picking a lock or stealing. A sander's punishment was always ten times worse.

After glancing both way to make sure no one was watching, I took out a hair pin and began feeling for the ridges in the lock.

"Dammit..." I groaned, unable to get the angle I needed to unlock the damn thing. "Stupid thing, just open for the love of-"

The door swung open, but to my dismay, it wasn't because I'd hacked the lock.

I swallowed a lump in my throat as I looked up to see Dicer's bodyguard in front of me. His eyes were still kind, and his face a little childish. Yet I still flinched thinking about the lethal kick he delivered to my stomach, knowing there wasn't a day in hell I'd match up to him.

"It's Wynn, right?" I gave an awkward grin and lifted my hand up to him from on the floor. "Lovely to see you again."

Author's Note:

First of all I want to thank anyone still reading, commenting and voting. It means so much.

Secondly, I just want to say I know there's a lot of terminology in my chapters that probably don't make much sense, like sander and venom. I promise they DO get explained if you haven't guessed what they are yet.

Thirdly, I know the names of characters can be slightly confusing so I'm in the process of making a character page with a list of nicknames to refer to if that'll be easier.

Thank you again.

Much love,

Maddy.