Page 39 of Hunt the Dusk
But it houses two cells, so dungeon seems more apt.
The studded door is closed, but I’m too pissed off to do the polite thing and knock, and considering I’ve already broken into her home, politeness seems redundant.
I shove the door open, calling out her name as I enter her workroom.
She stands by her workbench, lined with glass orbs and tubes, where liquid bubbles and drips to create goodness only knows what. She has her back to us, swirling some purple concoction in a test tube.
“I was wondering how long it would take for you to come knocking,” she says. “Although I would have thought you’d have the courtesy to wait to be let in.” She turns to us, and I take an involuntary step back at the sight of her face, all sharp angles and bone. And her eyes…Yellowing eye whites and slitted pupils.
Edwin draws his blade, falling into a defensive stance, but I hold up my hand to stall him because this woman is responsible for saving my life.
I need her. “What’s wrong with you?”
She makes an awful grating sound, and it takes a beat to recognize it as laughter. “I could ask you the same thing.” She downs the liquid in the tube and doubles over for a moment, coughing violently.
“Padma…?” Edwin inches closer to me, his tone filled with warning, and also a question.
I shake my head slightly, hand moving to the hilt of my blade, then relax as she looks up at us. The awful visage is gone. She’s herself once more.
She smooths back her dark hair, tucking tendrils that have come loose from her bun behind her ears. “I apologize about that. I wasn’t planning on sharing this part of my life with you so soon.” She pulls a pack of smokes from her pocket but doesn’t draw a cigarette. Instead, she places it on the counter, tapping it with her fingernails, and I realize she’s waiting for a reaction.
“What are you?”
“I’m human, like you, but I’m afflicted. Infected. Tainted, whatever you’d like to call it, just like you.”
My pulse leaps. “You survived a mullo attack too?”
“Mullo? Oh goodness, no.” She lets out a breathy laugh which dies quickly. “My sickness is something else. Something…ancient, and I’m afraid there is no cure, only methods of control.”
“That stuff you drank?”
Her smile is wry and jaded. “Yes. Although it has become less effective of late. I’m working on modifying it. Your friend’s donation has helped.”
My friend? Wait… “Orina’s blood?”
She nods. “Potent stuff.”
“What? Why?” Edwin asks. “Orina is human. There’s nothing special about her blood.”
Harriet stares at us for a long beat and then lets out a surprised laugh. “Oh, she’s more than human. But it’s obvious to me now that you don’t know that.”
My scalp prickles. “Why don’t you tell us.”
“There’s not much to tell. Her blood is potent and brimming with latent power waiting to be accessed. I’m not sure how,or what she is, but I’m surprised the Order sent her to this godforsaken place when…” Her mouth makes an ‘o’. “Unless they don’t know what she is either…” She throws back her head and laughs. “Oh my, this is entertaining.”
I’ve had enough of her speculation. “Forget Orina. I want my books back.”
She rolls her eyes. “There is nothing in the books that can help you.” She crosses the room to a shelf and grabs three slender volumes. “I read them through, twice.” She hands them to me. “But please, be my guest.”
“Why did you take them?”
A shadow passes over her eyes. “Honestly, I planned on destroying any evidence that might save you.”
“What?”
“Theotherin me was strong at the time, but don’t worry, I changed my mind.”
Her tone is light, as if the fact that she planned to fuck me over doesn’t matter, and I’m about to unleash on her when I notice the dead look in her eyes. It’s a flash, barely there really, but it resonates with me because I’ve seen it before. Many times over the past week.
