“Don’t touch me.”
“Look at what you’ve done to yourself.” He motioned to my wrists. “Let me help you.”
“Don’t act like you give a shit.”
“Of course I do.”
“Just like you really loved Levi, huh?”
“I did.”
“You fuck,” I said with a laugh.
He was delusional in a way that couldn’t be explained easily. Looking in his eyes, I could see he genuinely believed he’d loved Levi. That he gave a shit about me. But he’d always make the decision that gave him the results he wanted. Power, success, and progress. Stuff I’m sure he called the bigger picture.
I lunged at him while my fangs came out.
“Fuck,” he snapped. He grabbed my wrists and attempted to fling me off, but I buried my teeth into his neck. Venom slid into his body, and he relaxed. Some of his blood pooled in my mouth. There was something far too pleasing about the whole process, urging me closer to him, so I didn’t linger. I pulled away, grabbed his face, and spat his own blood on him.
Through speckles of red, he wore a lazy smile. He laughed at my confused expression.
“You don’t even know what that does,” he chuckled. His words were thick, and he leaned against the wall, struggling to stand. The doors opened, and he stumbled when I pushed him. We went around the hall, past my room, and into his.
First, I found his speciality gloves. The ones all the people wore when handling me. My blood kept getting everywhere and it was becoming a problem—burnt holes in clothes, deteriorating door handles.
After I got those on, I grabbed his phone from his pocket and pushed him away. He fell into his desk. I held the phone to his face, and it unlocked. Watch a person every day, and you figure out everything about them. Even how their phone works.
Stumbling over to the couch, I tried to find the right controls. I quickly put this room on lockdown. No one would be able to open it without this app. I flopped down and found the detox button. A pop-up appeared, asking if I was sure I wanted to perform a detox on the whole building. The moment I clicked yes, the vents kicked on again. A progress bar popped up, and it estimated 5 minutes to completion.
How close were they? I didn’t think I could exit this app and find the one where he saw Bree and them, so I didn’t try.
“Shit,” I sighed, leaning back on the couch. The phone slid from my hands.
“I’m the only one who can get near you. Really, it wasn’t a bad use of Levi’s coat because now I have you.” Damien was shakingout his arm to get blood flowing. He wasn’t laughing anymore, but his words still held some thickness to them.
“Haveme? Don’t make me laugh.”
“You were right,” Damien said. Any moment now, I was going to find the strength to get back off this couch. “We aren’t the same. You kept saying that, but it didn’t click right away. You see, we do have some vital differences.”
“Such as?” I asked. Any minute now.
“You’re a basilisk. Untouchable. That certainly affects someone.”
“Wow, how’d you figure that out?”
“The moment you find a few people you can touch, you’re willing to give everything up for them.”
I looked at him in disgust. “You think that’s what this is about? Because they’re the only people I can touch?”
“Well, not anymore, they’re not.” Damien smiled. Right, time to move again. I wheeled myself up from the couch and slowly stomped towards him.
“You can’t kill me, Baz.” Damien looked so pleased with himself.
“The fuck I can’t.” I laughed, pulling back and punching him in the face. Damien was dazed; he blinked at me in shock. I shook out my hand. Red blood trickled from Damien’s nose. He reached up to touch it.
“You hit me,” he said. I punched him again, sending him sprawling. I stepped over him and looked down.
“I can sure as shit still kill you.”
