Lotus stumbled back a step, her breathing heavy and ragged. Her eyes never left my arm where the cut had been. She pressed her hand against the wall to steady herself, and I noticed the strange heat points on her body glowing brighter, pulsing faster.
"What's happening to you?" I asked, watching the point between her breasts shine through her cropped top like a miniature sun. "And what's with those... lights on your body?"
She blinked rapidly, seeming to pull herself together. Her breathing slowed, and she straightened her posture. The glow dimmed slightly but didn't disappear.
"You can see them?" She touched her throat where one of the points shimmered. "That's... that shouldn't be possible."
"Yeah, well, neither should instant healing, but here we are." I pulled against the ropes again, my patience wearing thin. "Listen, are you going to tell me what's going on or not? What do you want from me?"
Lotus returned to her chair, though she sat more rigidly now, her playful demeanor replaced by something more cautious. She studied me for a long moment.
"It's simple, Isaiah Angelo. The higher-ups decided to kill you."
I stared at her, waiting for the punchline. When none came, a cold weight settled in my stomach. "You're serious."
"Very." She crossed her legs, the plaid skirt riding up her thighs. "I'm here to determine if you're worth the trouble of going against them."
"Going against who? What higher-ups? I don't even know what you're talking about!" My voice rose with each question. "I'm nobody important. I tend bar. I take classes. I have a cat. Why would anyone want to kill me?"
"Because you're an anomaly." She leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. "The attack at the club wasn't random. That demon targeted you specifically because she sensed something in your blood. Something that shouldn't exist."
I shook my head. "This is insane."
She raised an eyebrow. "You saw them at the club. The creatures with horns and claws. The ones that killed everyone else."
My stomach dropped. "Everyone else?"
"Twenty-Seven dead. Official story is a gas leak caused an explosion." She spoke matter-of-factly, as if discussing the weather. "You and my student who chased off the demon were the only survivors."
The room spun around me as fragments of memory clicked into place. The screams. The blood. The woman with horns who'd tasted my blood and looked at me with hunger.
"No," I whispered. "That can't be right. I would remember something like that."
"Trauma can cause memory loss. So can certain types of demonic energy." Lotus stood and moved behind me. I felt her fingers at the back of my neck, tracing something. "This necklace you wear. Where did you get it?"
"I've always had it. Since I was a baby." I tried to turn my head to see her, but she held me still. "My foster mother said it was the only thing I had when they found me."
"Found you where?"
"On the steps of St. Mary's. I was abandoned as an infant."
Her fingers stilled on my neck. "And no one ever came looking for you? No one claimed you?"
"No. Why would they? They left me there on purpose."
Lotus moved back into my field of vision, her expression thoughtful. "This necklace has been suppressing your energy. That's why the wards aren't reacting." She knelt in front of me, her eyes level with mine. "That's why no one found you until now."
"What energy? What are you talking about?"
"Demonic energy, Isaiah. You're not human. At least, not entirely."
I waited for the punchline but it didn't come.
She didn't laugh. Didn't even smile. Just stared at me with those strange eyes, the lotus pattern spinning slowly.
She stood again. "The higher-ups want you dead because they don't understand what you are. You register as human to most detection methods, but your blood..." She glanced at her thumb, which had touched my blood earlier. "Your blood contains demonic energy of a type I've never encountered before. Old. Powerful."
I stared down at my arm where the cut had been. Not even a scar remained. "If what you're saying is true—and I'm not saying I believe you—why would you consider going against these higher-ups for me? You don't know me."
"Because I'm curious." She smiled, and for a moment, I saw something dangerous behind her eyes. "And because I believe in collecting rare things."
"I'm not a thing to be collected."
"No? Then what are you, Isaiah Angelo?" She tilted her head. "If not human, not shaman, not demon... what?"
I had no answer for that. What was I?
"Untie me," I said instead. "If you want my cooperation, you need to stop treating me like a prisoner."
Lotus considered this for a moment, then nodded. "Fair enough." She moved behind me and began working on the knots. "But don't try anything stupid. This room is warded, and even if you could get past me—which you can't—there are safeguards in place."
The ropes fell away, and I rubbed my wrists, restoring circulation. When I stood, I realized how small the room really was—barely ten feet square. Lotus and I were now uncomfortably close.
"So what happens now?" I asked, taking a step back to create some distance.
"Now we figure out exactly what you are." She reached out and touched my necklace, her fingers brushing against my collarbone. "And to do that, we need to see what happens when this comes off."