Rex
One second,I’m fighting for oxygen while Ted taunts me, and the next, I’m showered with his blood.
A short, helmeted figure steps into the dark space.“He wasn’t wearing body armor,” a feminine voice says, observing Ted’s body.“That was a mistake.”
Gun drawn, she scopes out each corner of the room.“Clear,” she calls, and whoever was backing her up rushes in to help me while she covers them.
I blink back a sense of deja vu.It feels like I’m back in the Abyss with Jaeger and Kaiser.Only this time, I’m in the victim’s place.Ted’s place.
The woman steps in front of me, and my grasp on reality shifts.Maybe I’m imagining this, but I’ve seen the way I look when I’m in my body armor, and the small figure looks a lot like a mini-me.
I have to be hallucinating this.
The cords binding me loosen and fall away.The men on either side of me continue to work to free me, but I have eyes only for her.
Someone hands her a water bottle, and she holsters her weapon so she can hold it to my lips.An angel.She’s an angel.
I tip my head back and let the water relieve my parched throat.I shake my head when she offers me more.
“You okay?”she asks.I don’t recognize her voice until she pulls off her helmet.
“Inara,” I snarl.This is real.This is happening.She’s here.I can’t believe she put herself in danger again.
There are still remnants of the knock-out drug in my system that make the edges of my vision foggy, but fresh adrenaline pumps through me, clearing the cobwebs away.
“I’m here.”She moves to put a gloved hand on my shoulder but stops when she notices the blood covering my torso.
I’m lightheaded with relief and rage.“You shouldn’t be here!”I left her sleeping in our bed while I went out chasing monsters.I wouldn’t have left her if I wasn’t sure that she’d be safe.
“You left me,” she retorts.“You went to the morgue and then went missing.”
I gnash my teeth.I hate that Ted got the jump on me, but I refuse to let her shift the focus to me.“I left you at home, where you were safe.Who gave you that suit?”
“Hamish.He said this was a prototype.We had to retrofit it to my frame a bit, but it works.”She sees me seething and lays a hand on her chest.“Rex, I was perfectly safe.”
I can’t look at her, so I glare at the men beside me inside.Jaeger, Kaiser, and Victor.
I’m going to kill them.They were meant to keep Inara safe, not let her go gallivanting around the city in body armor.“You,” I snarl at Victor.“You let her come here?—”
“They couldn’t stop me,” she says.
Now that I’m not tied to the bed, I should be able to rise.But I’m still feeling weak, like my limbs aren’t mine to control.I should be familiar with this from watching my victims struggle with this partial paralysis enough times.
“Rex.”Inara stoops so I have to look at her.“It’s okay.It’s over, and it’s going to be okay.”
“You shouldn’t have come.”
“What, you can save me, but I can’t save you?I only did what you would do.”
She has a point, but I hate it.I’m too disoriented to argue my position, so I’m reduced to threats.“There aren’t enough whips in the world,” I grind out and stop when Victor’s head snaps in our direction.
“Don’t mind me,” he says with glee.“Please continue.”
“Later,” I grumble to Inara.Victor is kinky as hell.I’m pretty sure he tied his bride up in his own private dungeon and tortured her as part of their courtship.He doesn’t need any ideas, and I don’t want to hash this out in front of a would-be voyeur.
I try to rise, but my legs don’t hold me.I stagger.Luckily, Jaeger and Kaiser are on either side of me to prop me up, and I allow them so we get out of here faster.
Inara spins in a slow circle in the middle of the darkroom.There’s a sink in the corner and photographs papering the wall.“Exactly as I envisioned,” she murmurs.“He took pictures of his victims as trophies.”She heads to the freezer chest beside the sink and opens it.“And here are the dead birds.”
