"Don't move another inch, or I'll carve that smug look right off your face," Vivian hissed, the tip of her obsidian blade pressing into the soft skin just beneath Silas's jaw.
Silas didn't blink. He didn't even breathe. He just stood there, frozen in that arrogant, statue-like pose he always used to intimidate people. But inside? Inside his skull, I was screaming my head off.
*Move, you idiot!* I yelled, throwing my entire consciousness against the wall of his mind. *She’s not bluffing! Look at her grip—she’s ready to slice!*
Silas’s eyes remained cold, staring back at Vivian with a bored intensity. He didn't answer her. He couldn't. Because for a split second, the parasite—me—had jammed the gears of his motor functions. I was fighting for the steering wheel of this body, and we were both stuck in a deadlock while a lethal assassin held a knife to our throat.
Vivian leaned in closer. I could feel the heat radiating off her, smell the faint scent of crushed ozone and rain clinging to her leather gear. Her eyes weren't looking at Silas’s face. They were searching. She was looking *through* him.
"You're not alone in there, are you?" she whispered. Her voice was a low vibration that seemed to rattle my very soul. "There's something... wrong. A flicker. A second heartbeat where there should only be one."
*Holy shit,* I thought. *She can feel me.*
I tried to shrink back, to pull my presence into the deepest corner of Silas's subconscious, but the system pinged in my vision with a mocking chime.
[Host Stability: 42%. Parasitic Resonance: High.]
*Great. Just great. I'm glowing like a neon sign,* I cursed.
Vivian’s blade shifted, just a fraction of a millimeter, drawing a tiny bead of blood that smeared across Silas's pale skin. The pain spiked through the connection, making me gasp internally.
"Who are you?" Vivian demanded, her voice dropping to a dangerous, intimate level. She wasn't talking to the Tyrant anymore. She was talking to me. "I know you're hiding in the cracks of his mind. Tell me what you are, or I'll just kill him and hope you burn with him."
I panicked. If she killed Silas, I’d be a ghost without a house. I’d be erased.
*Listen to me!* I projected the thought with everything I had, focusing on the resonance Vivian had picked up. *I'm not him! I'm a prisoner here!*
Vivian stiffened. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilating as she felt the raw, desperate energy of my voice hitting her like a physical wave. She didn't pull the knife away, but she stopped pressing.
"A prisoner?" she murmured. "Silas doesn't have prisoners in his head. He barely has a conscience."
*I'm a hunter!* I shot back, the words coming out jagged and frantic. *I was the best in my field before... before this mess. I don't know how I got here, but I can't control this body. He's the one in charge, and he's a monster!*
Vivian let out a short, sharp laugh, though her expression remained lethal. "A hunter? That's rich. You're a parasite. A little glitch in the system. But you're a glitch that can talk."
She shifted her weight, her body pressing against Silas's chest. The proximity was suffocating. I could feel the friction of her tactical vest against his silk shirt, the way her breath hitched. The tension between them was a live wire, sparking with a mixture of hatred and a strange, twisted curiosity.
"Here's the deal, little ghost," Vivian whispered, her lips almost touching Silas's ear. "I was hired to put a blade through his heart. But if you can give me something—information, a weakness, a way to break his shields—I might just let you keep breathing inside him for a while."
*What do you want?* I asked, my mind racing.
"The vault codes," she replied. "And the name of the one who betrayed him to the Council. Give me that, and I'll make sure my blade misses the vital organs next time I decide to play."
*I don't have them!* I yelled. *I only get fragments! I'm still leveling up!*
"Then you're useless," she said, her voice turning cold again. She stepped back abruptly, the sudden loss of warmth leaving a void. She didn't sheath the knife. Instead, she held it up, the blade catching the dim light of the corridor. "But you're an interesting variable. I'll give you twenty-four hours to find those codes. After that, I stop caring if you're a prisoner or a parasite. I'll just burn the whole house down with both of you inside."
She turned on her heel, her boots clicking sharply against the marble floor.
*Wait!* I tried to call out, but the connection was fraying. *Vivian!*
She didn't look back. She vanished into the shadows of the hallway, leaving a silence so heavy it felt like it was crushing me.
For a long minute, everything was still. Silas remained frozen, his body a rigid shell. I felt the adrenaline receding, replaced by a cold, gnawing dread. I had just made a deal with the woman sent to kill us, and I had no idea if I could actually deliver.
Then, the deadlock broke.
Silas moved.
He didn't gasp or stumble. He simply exhaled a long, slow breath and raised a hand to touch the small cut on his neck. He looked at the blood on his fingertips with a look of profound amusement.
And then, for the first time, I didn't just feel his emotions—I heard him.
Not as a vague impulse or a surge of anger, but as a clear, distinct voice echoing in the void of our shared consciousness. It was a low, melodic drawl, dripping with a cruelty that made my skin crawl.
*"Well, well,"* Silas chuckled, the sound vibrating through my very essence. *"You certainly have a way with people, little parasite."*
I froze. *You... you could hear?*
*"Hear?"* His laughter intensified, a dark, mocking sound that filled every corner of my mind. *"Darling, I heard every single word. Every desperate plea, every little secret you spilled to that lovely assassin. You really thought you were whispering in the dark?"*
He turned toward the mirror at the end of the hall, staring at his own reflection with a predatory glint in his eyes.
*"Tell me,"* Silas whispered, and I could feel the sheer power of his will pressing down on me, threatening to flatten my consciousness into nothingness. *"Did she actually believe you were a 'hunter'? Or did she just enjoy watching you squirm?"*
I tried to pull away, to scream, to fight, but he had me. He had always had me. I wasn't the one stealing his power—he was the one letting me think I could.
*"I think,"* Silas murmured, his reflection smiling back at him, *"that it's time we discussed the terms of your stay. Because right now? You're making this far too entertaining for me to actually kill you."