Page 31 of Even Vampires Bleed (Even Ever After #2)

Cassiopé

M y head hurts.

I knew it would with the way that idiot hit me, but being prepared for something to hurt doesn’t actually make it hurt less.

There is a flutter against my cheek.

I open my eyes and I’m greeted by two beautiful blue wings.

The butterfly-shifter.

I thought it would have flown away by now.

Except I don’t remember releasing it before getting hit on the head.

Did I prevent it from escaping?

If it’s the case, I’m never going to forgive myself.

I slowly sit, and the butterfly comes to perch on my shoulder.

“I hope you’re all good,” I tell them as I rub the sleepiness out of my eyes with the pads of my fingers.

Of course, they don’t answer me.

I evaluate where we ended up.

It looks like a standard prison. Three walls, bars, a mattress, no bed sheet, and a pot that I suppose is acting as a chamber pot.

Bars only.

Surprising for a prison made for shapeshifters.

I approach the side of the room that’s made of bars and lift my hand through them.

Arghhh.

I’m zapped away with an electric discharge that reverberates through my arms.

It hurts like hell.

Way more than my head when I woke up.

Is this why the butterfly-shifter is still with me?

I can’t imagine what an electrical discharge as strong as this would do to such a small body.

The worst in all of that?

I can see the lock on the door made of bars. It’s an old rusty thing, and I would be free in just a second.

If I could get my hand out.

Because this is one of those locks that can only be worked on from one side.

The soldiers knew what they were doing when they locked me inside this cell.

It feels like this electric field between the bars has been specifically designed for someone like me.

It makes me wonder if they knew about all the missions we did with Elis and let them happen just to study me.

No, it can’t be that.

Those heists were so small there’s no way we even ended up on their radar. Right?

Seeing my cell, I’m not so sure anymore.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get out of this,” I tell the butterfly-shifter as I try to get my hands through the bars again.

I don’t scream this time, but it still hurts like hell, and I can bear the electrical field only for a few seconds.

Would it be worse in shifted form?

I shift my leg, roll up my pants and try again.

I don’t even last a second this time.

Yes, no, I’m not sure it’s doable in shifted form.

My leg shakes for almost a minute before regaining feeling.

It takes me another minute to gather my wits back and be able to shift to full human form again.

Can I pass the field in human form and only when my leg is completely on the other side, shift it so I can open that damn lock?

It’s going to have to be it.

It’s the only solution.

I can’t give up.

So, I keep trying.