“Go to hell, Cobon.”
“Oh, why so squeamish? You’ll destroy her sooner or later, why not just get it over with?”
Fin pushed his jaw out. “Listen, Oprah, I have no intention of hurting her. Ever. And this interview is over.”
“…fuck them and bounce. Isn’t that your modus operandi?”
“That was a long time ago.”
“That was last year, Pádraig, have you forgotten?”
“That had nothing to do with me,” Fin said, his voice rising as he turned away from Cobon.
“Really? Quite a coincidence, then, didn’t she hang herself in your room?”
“It wasn’t my room.”
“Oh right, it was your lab, wasn’t it? That was a nice touch, don’t you think? I remember it well,I was there. Oh, Adalwolf and I go way back. He never could get you to take a life, though, could he? Well, not one that mattered anyway, but he did eventually figure out how to make you kill.”
Cobon paced the room with his hands folded behind his back, looking thoughtful and hopeful and completely deranged. “And all he had to do was leverage your God-given talent!”
Cobon leaned toward Fin and raised his hand to the side of his mouth as if he were divulging a great secret. “…and maybe whisper a few words of encouragement into the heads of your concubines,” he hissed.
Fin squeezed his eyes shut.
“Adalwolf showed me all of his little tricks and all of his little games he played with you. How many women have you sent to Hell for him? More than a dozen, I think. What’s one more? We could make quite a homicidal team, you and I.”
“Forget it, Cobon. I’m not your slave.”
“We never forget,” Cobon whispered through clenched teeth as he lurched forward. “She would let you, you know—she trusts you. You could very easily destroy her—drive her into despair and madness—just as you’ve done it before—drive her to…suicide?”
Fin bowed his head.
“You say, ‘no,’ but your wickedness says yes,” Cobon continued. “You dream of her. You dream of the things you’d do to her, I’ve seen it.”
“You little pervert,” Fin said feigning incredulity. “Did you enjoy the show?”
Cobon grabbed Fin by the neck.
“You will obey us, Pádraig, whether you wish to or not.”
“We’ve been here before, Cobon,” Fin grunted, rolling his eyes. “I am not your slave.”
Cobon’s eyes flashed, and he set Fin back down on the floor.
“Besides,” Fin coughed, “she’s in love with Asher.”
Cobon spun around and crushed Fin’s face with a powerful back fist.
Staggering back, Fin held his mouth and nose with both hands as a torrent of blood spilled out.
“No human could ever love an Envoy.”
Fin grabbed a towel on his dresser and pressed it against his face.
“The sooner she rejects him the better. For everyone. He favors her, you know, his love for her grows—he may well make her immortal, and then what?” he asked, throwing both hands up. “We’d all be trapped here…she becomes his slave…you live an eternity without her…without love… She was made foryou, I’ve seen it—I’ve seen her soul—you two are mates.”
Fin raised his head slightly.
