“Here to punch the pinata a few more times?” I asked with apathy. If she was here to blow my head off, I was in for another shit day. I just couldn't work up the energy to give a shit.

“Not this time,” she commented, standing back up and rooting around in her god-awful pink coat. It looked like the matted hide of a rabid animal drenched in Pepto Bismal.

“I had a feeling you’d be limping back,” she commented as she continued to dig in her pockets.

“And you just so happened to be enjoying the blue waters today?” I asked.

“Yeah, funny how that works out. I also happen to have…” she finally pulled her hand back out of her coat with a bright smile. Even her fucking teeth were too bright. This woman gave me a headache.

She crouched down and slapped a paper roughly down on my chest. I grimaced in pain. Every part of me ached. When I glared at her she winked. God, I hated her. She stood back up, flipping her pale rainbow hair from her face as a breeze came in.

“Better grab that,” she said as the paper on my chest started to flutter. I lifted my hand and crumbled it in my fist. She smiled some more, which made me scowl just as much.

“What is it?” I grunted.

“The location of your black heart,” she said. I swallowed.

“What did you say?”

“I said, that's where your heart's at, pardner," she teased.

“The Council has it,” I growled through my teeth. She sent me an unimpressed look.

“Not exactly,” she said with a sigh, pulling her coat higher on her neck. I noticed her legs were bare. She was dressed with so much jewelry I hadn’t even noticed she was in a tiny bikini under that hideous coat of hers.

“Someone is keeping hold of your heart for the Council,” she said. Lacey tipped her head towards the paper in my fist. “That’s where that person is.”

“What’s the catch?”

“Fuck off, is the catch. I don’t want to see you ever again but I also don’t want to have to go through the trouble of killing you for good. I’ve found out necromancers are tedious as fuck to kill and it requires their heart. That’s when I realized what the Council had on you.” Her green glowing eyes glared down at me. “You’re terrified of death, Remi. So once the Council got your heart you became their dog.” I rolled my eyes.

“You hear me, Remington?” She said coolly. “I said fuck off and never come back. If I get the faintest whiff of your unwashed ass in Neo Atlantis I’ll change my mind about how tedious it is to kill you.”

“I thought your headless horseman could do that for you,” I grumbled. She snorted.

“You were so scared shitless you didn’t stop to realize he didn’t have your last name.”

“Christ,” I hissed. “And why are you telling me this?” I raged.