I stood back and watched the purple flames burst through the windows. It took everything in me to let Annabelle hold onto my hand.

This wasn’t good.

This was a direct attack on my worst fears and most painful scars, and only one person could have done it.

I leaned down toward Annabelle, my eyes never leaving the fire, and whispered, “She’s watching.” Flames licked at roof, and it came down with a crash.

Creepy as fuck, I know. Probably not something I should have told a child, but I wasn’t very skilled at dealing with young ones and I was making no effort to improve.

“Who?” she whispered back, scooting closer to me.

I didn’t respond. It didn’t matter. She controlled my life, and that’s all there was to it.

I pulled my hand out of Annabelle’s, walking away from yet another disaster. “Let’s go find a new place to stay.”

Thankfully, she didn’t talk much. If she was one of those kids who asked a thousand questions, I probably wouldn’t have let her stick around.

Even so, she still had to mumble, “I’ve never seen purple fire.”

I glanced down at her and sighed. She was scared. She was scared and I was an asshole. What else was new.

With a deep breath, I forced myself to reach out and grab her shaking hand, pulling on her arm a bit as we turned a corner away from a group of homeless men on the street. Homeless men were guard bait, and they wouldn’t be around when morning came. We couldn't risk getting anywhere near them, not with my luck.

“Purple fire is unnatural,” I agreed, feeling some strange urge to comfort her, “but I’ve seen it before, so don’t worry,” I looked down at her, offering what I hoped was a reassuring smile. My movements, like my words, felt stunted. “Hey, I have an idea. Let’s go someplace really safe. Someplace she’ll never get us.”

I’m glad she was young and naive enough to believe that a place on this world could be safe because I was fresh out of ideas. Purple flames had tattooed themselves onto the insides of my eyelids, haunting me every time I closed my eyes.

My fingers tightened their grip around Annabelle's hand.

Fuck purple.