afflicted

31: 3 days captured...

It was the next day before Callie's eyes creaked back open. She blinked up at the harsh light, eyes watering from the sting. She could barely see. She had to squint her eyes to see anything, still seeing flashes in her vision. Her tongue was stuck to the roof of her mouth and the air smelled like antiseptic. She lifted her neck, wincing at the soreness she felt there.

    Leitch was toying around with some concoction he'd made. He seemed entirely unaware that Callie had woken up. The glass containers he was using clinked as he mixed one compound with another, making the liquid steam and sizzle. Whatever he was making, Callie knew it wouldn't be good.

    "Ah, well, hello, Abaddon," Maeve cooed from somewhere behind her head. Understanding the gravity of the situation, Callie was careful to keep her emotions off her face. Whatever Maeve had tried to do had clearly failed, but she seemed to be unaware of that fact.

    "Why am I bound?" She said with a commanding voice, deciding to play along and risk it. Maeve smiled a slow, sadistic flashing of teeth.

    "The girl was a fighter," Maeve spoke. "Apologies for not finding you a male body. For now, this one will have to suffice until we have won the war. This girl's body has access to the High Lord's estate." Callie thought about it for a moment, remembering Maeve's plan to send her to kill her family.

    Callie looked down at her body, lip curling as though disgusted.

    "She's quite weak," she said.

    "But she's trusted," Maeve added. Callie mulled this over before nodding. "We have utilized the collar until more permanent arrangements are made."

    "Release me," she demanded, and to her utter dismay, Maeve quickly rushed to unbind her arms and legs from the table. She sat up, rolling her neck, wrists, and ankles as she stretched, attempting to get her blood flowing again. She'd been tied to the table for over a day.

    It was clear by then that Maeve had attempted to body-jack Callie to implant some other being inside of her body. She remembered hearing Azriel talk about the collars wrapped around the necks of Maeve's soldiers. He'd guessed that they were somehow used to control the host, but hadn't figured out how. Callie was willing to bet it had something to do with the glowing green stone at the center of the leather band. The collar squeezed her neck, the rubbing her skin raw. A horrible itching clawed at the back of her mind, like whatever was in her wanted out. Or, perhaps, wanted her out. She winced, but quickly schooled her features back to indifference.

    "Tonight, you will enter the High Lord's dwelling to infiltrate their last large dose of power. Kill everyone. I don't care how you do it, but no one makes it out of that house alive." Maeve's words were grave, her stare intense. Callie was trying to decipher Maeve's relationship with whatever creature was in her body, but it was risky.

    "You've brought me here to work for you?" Callie spat.

    "Be grateful I brought you back at all, dearest," Maeve chided. "Particularly after your episode in the last Realm. This test will prove you are worthy of the next strong male body we encounter." Callie's gut churned. Maeve was zombifying the people of Prythian, implanting her minions inside of them to do her dirty work for her. No wonder she'd been as successful as she had. All she had to do was snap a collar around the necks of anyone who dare oppose her.

    Maeve and her people were parasitic. They inhabited the body of their host and took full control. Callie was unsure why it hadn't worked on her. Maybe the proximity to the stone? She could feel the metal still pressed against her skin inside of her clothes. Maeve wasn't very smart to not have had her body searched. She was clearly overconfident in her station here. She was not the slightest bit worried that she could be in danger. Perhaps she thought Callie was no threat. Callie was overjoyed for the opporotunity to prove the smug bitch wrong.

    "Very well," Callie said dismissively. "Am I to strangle them with my bare hands?"

    Maeve grinned again.

    "Leitch has concocted a tincture for your use. Once a blade is dipped in its chemicals, it is a fast acting neurotoxin. I had figured it would be easier to kill all of them as quickly as possible if all it took was a nick of the blade and the poison caused their entire nervous system to fail." Callie's brows raised. She couldn't fathom the kind of evil it took to dream up such a thing. Leitch pulled on large rubber gloves and poured the poison onto the blade he was holding. The metal seemed to absorb the liquid upon impact. It was so strange to watch.

    Once he finished, he passed the blade to Maeve, who transferred it into Callie's palm. She gripped the hilt tightly. Part of her wanted to test out Maeve's poison and stab her right here and now. She knew, however, that if the poison would not work on her, which it likely wouldn't, she would have blown her cover and would never make it back to Rhysand with the stone. That was what was most important. As long as she made it to him in time with the stone, she could trust him to find a way to use it to kill Maeve or banish her. Whatever it took, she knew Rhys would do it.

    "When shall I leave?" She asked, attempting to make her voice sound haughty and unbothered.

    "Now," Maeve smiled, and Callie's heart dropped. She fought the urge to clear her throat. "You'll reach the House by nightfall. That is when they will be the most vulnerable."

    Callie nodded.

    "Show me the way," she said, gesturing toward the door as she hopped off of the table to follow, limping through the stiffness in her legs until it became bearable. Maeve wound her through hallway after hallway and for a moment, Callie began to panic, fearing Maeve had known she was lying and was delivering her back to the dungeons if not somewhere much worse.

    But then finally, she saw the exit. Maeve led her to the door, opening it. She pointed with a black claw to the looming House that sat on top of the furthest hill she could see. Maeve was foolish. She was so confident in her abilities that she'd forgotten any fail safes and measures to ensure things would go according to plan.

    "Return here once it is done," she ordered, narrowing her eyes. "Do not make me come looking for you." Callie narrowed her eyes back at Maeve before jogging toward the House, feeling Maeve's eyes on her back the entire time, staring until she was entirely out of view.