the other two joined forces with the remaining three shooters that had not been caught by Darryl yet.
It had been the moral choice, but a deadly one.
One after the other, the Nightmare syphoned the people held in his shadowy grip, discarding the corpse only to grab another victim, all the while feeding on one of those he still held. The last two shooters made a run for it once they finally understood there was no hope. When he had finished the slaughter, Darryl gathered the bodies, lining them up against the wall then standing between them. He placed his arm around the desiccated shoulders of one of the two female victims before taking a selfie. He then turned to the camera, winked, then waved with the tip of his fingers before walking out, his tendrils resorbing into his body.
“Smug bastard,” Zain whispered with a chuckle.
I recoiled and gave him a horrified look. Zain’s head jerked towards me. He must have sensed my repulsion at his statement. His smile faded, and he gave me an assessing look.
“I am what you made me,” he said in a neutral tone, although his expression was slightly reproving.
I swallowed hard and averted my eyes. He was indeed the result of my fears. I couldn't fault him for liking what he did. But that further underlined what a powder keg I held in my hand.
“You are indeed,” Thomson conceded. “However, I would ask you to make every reasonable effort not to display your pleasure at the sight of violence against humans, especially in front of the agents. The victims you just witnessed were police officers in training. This was retaliation because agents had prevented him from slaughtering the resident of a retirement home. One of the officers happened to be visiting his mother and recognized Darryl coming in from the APBs.”
I shuddered again and hugged myself, my right hand rubbing my upper arm in search of some comfort.
“I see,” Zain said in a non-committal tone. “I will try to remember.”
Thomson clenched his jaw but didn't argue, understanding as I did that this was the most honest answer—and the extent of the commitment—that Zain could give him on this front.
“How did he resist the bullets?” Zain asked.
“By protecting himself with an ethereal shield,” Thomson said, standing to face us. “It is the next training we are considering giving you.”
Thomson sat on the backrest of the seat in front of him in the auditorium. Zain leaned back in his seat, his long body appearing almost to be lying on an inclined bed.
“Only considering?” Zain challenged, raising an eyebrow.
“I have no intentions of training someone that might go out there and do more of the same,” Thomson said in a firm, but non-threatening voice. “We plan on using every means to help you succeed in defeating that monster and any other that might rise from the Mist. But for that, I require a commitment from you.”
“I’m here, aren't I?” Zain said with an insolence that made me want to smack him a good one.
“First and foremost, you're here because you want Naima,” Thomson retorted, his voice hardening slightly. “You're also here because we gave you a safe rebirth location and an easy start for a first time Transient. You're here because you hunger for power and dominance over a new world as yours has grown stale for you. You are not here to save humans. I want this to become your top priority, and for you to commit to see it through.”
Zain's face closed, and my stomach dropped at the sight of the hard glimmer in his green eyes.
“That will never happen,” my Nightmare replied in a tone that brooked no argument. “I do not give two shits about the lives of humans. I will not hunt them, because my bride does not wish it. Your cause will never be my priority. My female is, and always will be. I do not need your aid or blessing to achieve the power I seek.”
“Zain, what are you saying?” I asked, my voice slightly shaking with fear and disbelief.
My Nightmare turned to look at me with an unreadable expression. He examined my features as if attempting to read my mind.
“Merely what I just said,” Zain said matter-of-factly. “I want you above all else. I do not care about this cause. I will take it on because it pleases you, my mate, and because I will derive great pleasure from the hunt, not to mention the power. But my commitment, as he