“You just did! Right in front of my eyes!” Teddy spat, still straining against the restraints.
“I offered him survival.”
“How is that survival?” he demanded. “Whatever that was, it was…unnatural.”
“If he’d been strong enough, he could have handled the change.”
“Is this really about some survival of the fittest bullshit?” Teddy asked incredulously.
Kellan nodded to the other minion, who quickly dragged the body from the room and shut the door behind him.
Kellan held the scorpion up to his eye, dangerously close, to examine it before walking over and bringing it to Teddy’s face now. Teddy couldn’t move his head back thanks to the metal rest behind it, jaw flexing with the tension he was exerting.
Kellan watched him squirm with a smile.
“He came to mebeggingto be better. They all did. They feel limited in their potential and I’m offering them a way to unlock a higher existence that Nexus would deny them.”
“Magic isn’t something you can mess with. Their body provides the amount of magic it can handle.” Teddy shook his head. “You’re subverting the natural order of things.”
“I think we both know that’s not true,” Kellan said. “You’ve seen the fruits of my labor. Your precious little bird is proof of that.”
Teddy yanked forward this time, careless of the danger. “Don’t talk about him. Don’t put his name in your fucking mouth.”
Kellan smirked and pulled back, walking back to the cage and setting the scorpion down. “I didn’t expect it to be such a success. It’s hard to get your hands on a cursebreaker and not have everyone know about it. Numbered and few as you are, Nexus are pretty protective of their investments. Casters, however, are easy. I could pluck the ripest fruit from the tree and no one would bat an eye. In fact, they only offered me more.”
“The Worthinghams,” Teddy guessed.
“They were quite disappointed to have such a common son. They were willing to finance quite a lot in regard to my research.”
Teddy snorted. “Even while he was trashing their country club under the influence of your drug?”
“That was quite vexing, I will admit. They really should have kept a tighter leash on him like I asked.” Kellan strolled around the room. “And you and Saint were like annoying little dogs with a bone, of course.”
“We were getting too close, so you set up the warehouse to stop us.”
Kellan laughed. “Close?”
Teddy stiffened hearing it, the soundtrack to his worst nightmares being played on surround sound.
“Damir, you played into my hands beautifully.”
“What are you talking about?”
Kellan came around the back of him to whisper into his ear. “You think I didn’t let you find all those clues? That every step you took wasn’t perfectly calculated to get you exactly where I wanted you?”
Teddy turned his head, searching his laughing eyes in horror.
“I told you,” Kellan said, straightening. “Grabbing a cursebreaker is hard. People notice.”
Teddy began to shake. “And you think they won’t notice when I don’t turn up at the hospital?”
“Didn’t you know? You’re in critical condition from direct contact with such a strange device. It’ll be tragic when we have to give them news of your passing.” He pouted in sympathy.
“With no body? They’re not going to believe you.”
“Oh, they’ll have one,” Kellan said. “When we’re done.”
He moved to the computer the device above was connected to and began typing. Teddy strained at his manacles uselessly, making his wrists and ankles bleed.
