The chloridamide I injected lasted for a good twenty hours and forgetting my dose, which I had last night, was the only way I ever saw them like this. And then, it was only ever one of them. Ironically , it was the one of them I couldn’t stand and would never have voluntarily chosen to share my brain with, not in a million billion years.
They’re coming for you, little doll.
“This I’ve heard,” I told him, far more casual than I felt. “You want to tell me why?”
Don’t know, he said, his voice a rasp. I could feel his eyes using mine to study my curves. Letting him do what he was doing now was my ultimate show of disdain for him. I could feel the disgust somewhere deep inside, but I couldn’t tell if it originated from him or me. Wolfe went where Wolfe was told, didn’t ask questions when it came to playing with little dolls like you.
“Well, I bet they were all just as charmed by you as I was,” I said to the mirror, to my image and the one deep behind it. “It’s a shame none of them ever had the ability to kill you before I came along, because it would have been worlds better than having you stuck in my head—”
They’re coming for you, Wolfe’s voice came again, urgent. Janus isn’t like the others they’ve sent. Vampires? Henderschott? Even that delicate little morsel Fries...they are insignificant compared to the Wolfe. But Janus... There was almost the sound of a hiss inside my head, as though Wolfe were drawing away at the thought of the name.
“You’re afraid of him. He frightens you.” I felt the umbrage at my words, the hiss of anger. “Why? Why does he scare you?”
Wolfe fears no man, the words came, no man and no beast, either. But Janus...is strong. Powerful of body and mind. And he has the ear of those at the top of Omega, he is the loudest voice of their old guard, still at odds with the new regime . The others fail. Henderschott failed, constantly. Wolfe owned a piece of his face after one of his failures. Janus does not fail. Not ever.
“So now we’ve progressed from the unkillable man,” I said, pointing at Wolfe’s image behind mine in the mirror, “to Iron Man, to a guy who tried to get in my pants before smooth talking me into joining Omega, to vamps and a traitor, and more recently the three stooges.” I took a deep breath, drawing confidence from the lineup I’d just listed. “Now they’re sending me a man who won’t fail. Got it. I bet they didn’t think any of the others were failures, either.”
You’ve gotten the dregs since me because they’re dealing with bigger matters, Wolfe said in a low hiss. You were always in the back of their minds, always at the side of their focus. Now they turn all their attention on you, and you will feel the strength of Omega descend on you, the power of the gods of old will rain down hell upon your life.
I tugged the little leather kit from of the drawer by the sink and pulled a needle free from the stock I had, then drew a few milliliters of chloridamide into the syringe and pressed it into my vein, the same one I used every day, because it healed to perfection between doses thanks to my meta powers.
You will break, little doll. The eyes stared at me from behind mine as I looked up to the mirror, those black, soulless eyes, pools of nothing but darkness. You will look back on this moment and wish that you’d listened to the Wolfe...
I pushed the plunger and felt the rush of the narcotic as it hit home; it was always a curious sensation, as though the world went slightly muted when I injected, a little feeling of drowsy satisfaction. “I don’t think I’ll ever be sorry that I don’t have to listen to you, Wolfe.” I didn’t hear a response from him, his voice quieted, and I smiled, my own smile, all the way up to my eyes, visible in the mirror. Nothing of him remained with me now, not even the faintest trace.
I saw movement in the mirror and the door opened as Zack stepped inside, his naked body visible under the thin mesh of the suit he still wore. “Good morning,” he said as he wrapped his arms around me and I