The smile fell from her face, replaced with hard lines that the girl Satina inhabited hadn’t lived long enough to earn. “Are you willing to bet your life on that, Supplicant? Because that’s exactly what you’re doing.” Her eyes flickered to the door and then back to me. “I was just like you back then. A little less thick around the waist, but we shared other qualities. I, too, was kind and na?ve. I gave people more credit than they were due, and lent my trust to the wrong men.”
“Sweetie, you don’t know anything about me.” Now I stepped closer to her, a little bit of my hard-earned edge creeping in. “I cut my teeth on the mean streets of New York City. And I realize that, since you’re about as relevant as socks with sandals, that doesn’t mean much to you. But suffice it to say, it chews up and spits out scarier people than you on a daily basis.” I sneered at her, leaning in even closer to her. “But it didn’t get me, and you won’t either. You see, you might have been some stupid little girl who couldn’t get past the fact that the guy who screwed you didn’t love you, but that’s not me. I’m a grown ass woman, bitch, and you don’t scare me.”
She lunged at me with a growl, the chains clanking as she pulled at them to get her face closer to mine, but I held steady, not letting my body or expression reveal my lingering fear.
When I didn’t flinch, she flopped back against the wall, sighing. “I’m tired of this.”
Good. So am I.
But I was wrong to think she was done trying to intimidate me.
She pulled against her chains again, this time so hard that one of them snapped. Before I could react, she flicked her hand, throwing the loose chain at me. It struck me, wrapping around my neck like a noose. I grappled at it, but she jerked with more strength than I’d have ever imagined that body to be capable of.
I fell to the ground as she pulled me closer. I tried to scream, but the chain cut off my airway. I couldn’t breathe. Panic shot through me, electric and terrifying. My heart thundered in my chest as I struggled against the witch.
Clawing at the floor, I tried to slow my journey toward Satina, but it was no use. She jerked the chain again, and with each pull, the chain got tighter around my neck. Pressure pounded in my head. I could feel the blood settling there, all my brain cells dying. Spots started to ping at my field of vision, and the edges of the world blurred. Somehow, from the corner of my eye, I spied a shard of something.
A piece of glass from the broken picture frame. Abram hadn’t cleaned it up yet.
Using a tiny bit of my quickly dwindling energy, I swiped it up, hiding it inside my clenched fist. Now all I had to do was wait until she pulled me toward her, and I would slash the bitch.
If I didn’t suffocate first.
I felt her behind me, pulling up the last bit of the chain's slack. I sprung (or rather, inched) into action. Opening my hand, I drove the shard toward her neck.
She grabbed my arm, stopping me in my tracks. I wasn’t giving up now. Since she had to use one hand to grab me, that meant she let go of her vice grip on the chain.
Instinctively, I whipped the chain off my neck, gasping as a rush of cool air replenished my dry and sore throat.
The relief was short lived. I was still in danger. Looking up, I saw Satina had swiped the shard from my hand. I looked at my feet. Stupid shoes. If I had been wearing my heels, I could have flicked one off and drove a red-heeled point into this witch’s ugly eye.
My agent was right. Women shouldn’t wear sneakers. And to think I had thought he was just being sexist. However, he also said that no woman who cared about proper nail care should ever throw a punch. Unfortunately, I was going to have to prove him wrong on that one.
I swung at her. A bit of me felt guilty and squicked out as I realized it was a dead girl’s head I was connecting with. She pulled back as I clocked her across the face, but she didn’t let go of my hand.
“You stupid cow!” she spit out. “I’m just trying to show you the truth.”
She sliced the shard down my arm, breaking the skin. My eyes widened as a thick red mark appeared along my forearm.
Abram’s words rang out in my head.
There’s magic in your blood.
Uh-oh.
“Abram!” I screamed as the Conduit ran her finger along my arm, soaking up the blood.
She shuddered as a faint golden glimmer danced its way through her eyes.
“You truly are special.” She sighed. “Now sit back and enjoy the show.”
She slapped her palm hard against my forehead. I shook as I felt it—sparks and electricity running through my body. I tried to scream again, but my voice was gone. Then my eyes were gone.
Then everything was gone.
Chapter 19
Suddenly, I wasn’t lying on the floor in Abram’s upstairs dungeon anymore. I was in a different house, standing in the corner of a bedroom lit by candles and hanging lanterns.
It was dark outside, and as I tried to move toward the open window to better gauge my new surroundings, I realized I couldn’t move. I was, once again, not in control of my body.
How refreshing.