meeting up with her, needing that contact of her hot skin against mine, the feeling of our bodies coming together. And if anything, the more distant I seemed, the rougher I was and the flatter the tone I used with her when taking part in her Dragon roleplay bullshit, the harder she screamed for me. So I guessed she was getting something out of this beyond a sucky boyfriend. I just wished I could have been a better one to her.
My Atlas pinged and I pulled it from my pocket, finding an email from Lorenzo waiting for me, begging me to meet him and telling me that we needed each other, that we were practically family and that I couldn't keep holding out on him. The dude sounded like he was trying to get me to meet up because he actually wanted my company. But I knew better. He was just after more Killblaze.
Months of supposedly weaning him off of the stuff with the Kiplings' weakened doses of the shit didn't seem to be doing anything to lessen his cravings for the drug. If anything, he was more desperate for it than ever, no doubt aching to get a stronger dose like he'd been used to before my meddling.
I shot him a message back, telling him I'd be there soon, and I pushed myself to my feet and crossed the room. I had a secret hiding place concealed behind a Solarian Pitball League poster on the wall and I quickly opened it up, disbanding the illusion hiding it as I reached inside to grab the little vials of Killblaze within it before pocketing them and heading out to meet Lorenzo.
I walked along the corridor and started down the stairs just as my Atlas buzzed again, this time with a text. My mouth felt dry as I saw it was from King and I quickly opened it to read what he had to say.
King:
The full moon is tonight, don’t be late.
As if I could forget the full moon. My whole world revolved around bringing victims to his monthly suicide gatherings and I was in a constant state of feeling sick and guilty for the part I was forced to play in bringing poor, hopeless Fae to his fucked up little cult meetings.
On the plus side, the last two Fae I'd brought him hadn't chosen to take their lives and had been sent back to their miserable existence with their memories wiped with dark magic. I was hoping that I'd managed to help give them enough to want to live for because I'd been making it my fucking mission to do so with them whenever I was sent a new target. But of course, tonight there was another victim all lined up.
Marnye Tabolt was a sad and desperate soul, but I'd been working hard to try and save her too. The problem was that I wasn't confident my efforts had made any difference with her, and I had the sick and desperate feeling that if she came out into the woods tonight to meet with King, she wouldn't be walking back out of those trees.
I licked my lips as I tapped out a reply, wondering if there was even the slightest chance that I could stop this from happening just by telling King that in my opinion she wasn't a good candidate. My heart pounded with fear at the lie I was about to tell, but fuck it, how would he ever find out? And even if he did, he'd think I was dead by then so I didn’t need to worry about it and this might be the one chance I had to save that girl.
Gareth:
I’m not sure she’s ready. Shouldn’t we wait?
My heart raced as I lingered on the stairs, terrified and excited all at once as I waited to see what he would say in reply to that. He clearly trusted me now, the binds he'd placed on me were so loose that I knew my thoughts were all my own these days. He bought the idea that I was all in with the Black Card, so surely that would have earned me a bit of respect? At least enough for him to listen to my opinion on something like this.
King:
I don’t have another month to spare as you should know by now. Meet me at midnight as usual or you’ll pay in her place.
Shit on it. A whinny of fear escaped me as I leaned back against the