Page 73 of Venomous Lies
“Bats, how you feeling?”
“Like shit,” I managed with a groan, desperately hoping to focus on something other than what had just occurred. “I feel like I got runover.”
“You look like it too,” Demir deadpanned followed by a grunt. “Wait, is that?—?”
“Z, you’re here!” I laughed, but the sound quickly turned into a pained cough.
No one but Zhara would have hit Demir. It made me like her even more than I already did.
“Still can’t see?” Hellsing asked, concern in his voice, as his fingers ghosted across my face. Despite the concern present, I could almost hear the professional coolness in his tone.Glad he could gather himself together faster than I could.
‘A horrible habit of his, beastie,’Cas informed me roughly. I could feel his pain and shakiness in my mind.
‘Cas—’
‘Later. Right now, let’s get through this.’
‘One day, I’m going to banlaterfrom your vocabulary.’
He gave a rough laugh that made me smile—or at least try to. A pained hiss slipped past my lips instead.
“Isla?”
“No,” I answered as I groaned at pain and soreness radiating throughout me. “My whole body hurts. Wait, am I on the floor?”
“It’s the only place you would settle,” Zhara answered with a snort. “Wait a second… your eyes!”
Hellsing slowly moved away from me, letting someone else get close to check me out.
Familiar iciness brushed along my skin, and I immediately leaned into Bones, humming softly as I settled into the comfort his presence brought me. Long fingers felt along my body as he quietly rumbled, likely reacting to the bruises he was inspecting. Gently, he nudged my chin upward.
“You look like someone tried to scratch your eyes out.”
“She was having some kind of nightmare and starteddoing that to herself,” Hellsing explained stiffly from farther away in the room. “I was holding her hands away from her face to keep the damage to a minimum.”
“Your eyes are two different colors,” Echo added from somewhere else in the room. There was an odd note in his voice that I couldn’t place without seeing the expression that accompanied it.
Was that a dream earlier? Him and Cassius in my mind.
The odd note in his voice made me think it wasn’t made up, but where the hell did that put things?
Wait… Did he say my eyes are two different colors?
“They’re what?!”
I reached up and hissed. My face stung with the contact, likely caused by where I’d presumably scratched up my own face.
“Look, I know a lot has happened in a very short amount of time,” Hellsing started, his voice firm and controlled, “but before we get into all these new developments, we need you to tell us what happened in the dorm during your attack. Every little detail.”
Cas popped into my head again, his voice rough.‘Like I said before, same old Julian. Always sticking to the facts and business when things get complicated.’
‘Cas, I didn’t?—’
‘I know, beastie. I think I can confidently say none of the three of us expected what just happened.’
‘Do you know what they’re talking about with my eyes?’I asked after a beat of heavy silence.
‘You have… One of your eyes is the same color as mine,’he finally answered, stumbling over the words.‘The other is your usual hazel.’
