My fingers closed around his collar and pressed down hard enough for his mouth to open and close, gasping for air. “Every time you idiots mentionhim,I grow bored. If he’s sending you as scouts, then he’s already losing.”
His whole face started to shake as he truly realized that he wasn’t going to live past this night. I squeezed harder, savoring the panic building under my palm.
“I don’t give a damn about your shadow puppet master.” My voice dropped to a growl. “He’s sending pawns. Pawns who keep dying at our feet.”
His eyes bulged as he rasped, “Pawns….”
A hollowed acceptance settled in his gaze as he nodded. “Yes… we’re all pawns in his game. You and your siblings… you’re the final pieces. His summit. His endgame. And once he’s on top…”
A deranged smile split his lips.
“…revolution begins.”
He was just as crazy as that fairy girl upstairs. I wasn't going to get anything out of him, not in the way I wanted, so at least I still had this lab and that book.
I ran my claws down, scoring the side of his face. His screams matched the excited thumps in my chest. His blood splattered onthe table and floor, and I finally found a small amount of release from that well of anger.
“I’ll destroy your little lab here and take all your notes so we can make sure this never happens again.”
This time, he laughed. Blood bubbled out of his mouth as his one crazy eye looked to the ceiling. “You can do that. I’ve already sent it to him. He has all my notes, including the step-by-step procedure, and he will make them perfect. He will finish what I started.”
He became lost in manic giggles as my mind raced. How did he send those files? His computer was in the other room.
I looked around, my eyes catching on the corner where he had scooted. On the ground was a black square object, his phone. As I was staring over there, it lit up and beeped. He must’ve sent it via his phone.Fuck!
That rage inside of me decided this was the moment. All I saw was red, and I didn’t hesitate.
I drove my hand straight into his chest, shattering bones with a wet crack. His scream ripped through the room, raw, guttural, desperate.Good.
Twisting my fingers, I snapped his ribs one by one like brittle twigs, carving a brutal path to the hot, slick muscle of his heart. It beat against my palm, steady, arrogant, and I squeezed.
His breath hitched, a choked silence replacing his defiance. In that silence, I finally saw it. Real fear.
“I won’t be the last,” he whispered, his one eye glazed. “More will come. Morte doesn’t let us go… not until everything burns, and we begin again.”
Of course. He wasn’t just unhinged. A mindless worshipper kneeling to his false god was useless to me.
I ripped my hand free, and he sucked in air again, choking on relief. I ignored him entirely, scanning the room for something better. Something fitting to be his end.
My gaze locked on a briefcase by the dead air mage.
“Conrad,” I said, smiling down at the doctor as I pointed to it, “bring me that.”
He vanished and reappeared in the span of a single exhale. The case was already open, the four vials of neon green toxin inside gleaming like wicked little stars.
The doctor laughed when he saw them, a broken, giddy sound. “Go on,” he taunted. “Bet you don’t know what it does to human bodies.”
His joy scraped against my nerves, but I swallowed the urge to tear his throat out. I forced a smirk instead, the kind that made monsters nervous.
“Oh, I knowexactlywhat it does.”
I plunged the needle into his arm and pushed the poison in, watching his eyes widen, locked on the glowing liquid disappearing under his skin. His pulse hammered under my fingers, frantic.
“I wanted to test a theory,” I murmured. “Thought you might… help me with that. Be an experiment for the cause.”
Terror flickered, sweet and sharp. Leaning down, I dragged my blood-soaked fingers across his cheek, making him shiver as I left behind a streak of crimson.
“You stole those magic eyes,” I whispered. “And that got me thinking.”
