Poppy patted my shoulder, moving to my single bed and picking up the blade that lay on a black cushion. My room was basic. Wooden walls, a small sink near the end of my bed, and a toilet hidden behind a curtain at the back. Beside the bed was my standing closet, where dark robes hung and other casual clothes remained folded at the bottom. I didn’t wear other clothes. None of us did. There was a constant smell that clung to the ratty curtains that covered the high windows above my bed, and aside from the shitty plumbing and the squeaky bed, I couldn’t be bothered with anything else. I knew that with time, with hard work, I’d move up in the ranks. I’d be able to do more civilian work and help Skully with what he needed.

“Here!” Poppy handed me the blade, and my fingers closed around the base of the knife. “You’re going to probably need this a lot more now.” There was a silence that split between the two of us, and I knew that Poppy wanted to ask questions, but the truth was, she already knew too much. I had overshared with her too often and I wouldn’t do it anymore. “Can you promise me one thing?”

I nodded, even though I knew I wouldn’t be able to promise her shit.

“We get out of this?”

A brick wall fell down between us, but I lifted my hand to her chin, circling the tip. “Sure thing, Pop.” I pulled her into my lips and kissed the top of her head the way I’d done so many times before. “Sure thing.”

Present

Picking up my phone, I shove it into my back pocket, pausing as I take in my old room. Haven’t been back here in years, since I initiated into becoming not just any Dragon, but Skully’s Dragon. Because to slay a Dragon, one must become one.

I run my finger over the old tiled sink, where I’d cut myself open on multiple occasions just to feel something. Anything other than the aching feeling of loss. I didn’t want to feel anything. I wanted so fucking badly to be just like Skully that I trained my dumb ass self to not feel.

It worked.

Until Ruby La Rosa.

Now I have to be hers.

I pick up the bone mask, throwing my robe over my clothes and sliding the mask over my face. Little Ruby La Rosa doesn’t know what the fuck is coming for her, and the worst part about that is… she’s going to fucking wish it wasn’t me.

Chapter Nine