He has hands on either side of me, pinning me down, and he is on his knees above me.
I hate him, more than I have ever hated anyone.
“Why did you do it?” I want to know. I need to know. “How could you?”
A horrible grin stretches his lips. Broken teeth, crooked and yellow in his mouth. “How could I not?” His voice is rough. “When Stein promised me immortality, it meant nothing. But all the victims I wanted?How could I say no?”
I narrow my eyes. “No one will miss you.”
His face smooths out. No smile. A void. “My mother,” he whispers.
I snort a laugh. “I knew you had mommy issues, you sick fuck.” But just as I apply pressure to the trigger, I hear someone say my name.
Cold. Crisp. Clipped.
Klein goes rigid once more, and he looks up, beyond me.
He is like a dog on his knees, ready to obey his owner. And I know before he speaks again who it is behind us.
“I would not, if I were you. If you want to let my mutilation of a son get his pathetic hands on you again, I would not pull that trigger.”
I lift my chin, arching back to see.
And everything feels dizzying.
Out of control.
The rage is gone.
Fear remains.
“It is better, if there aretwoto torture, Gates always said. A boy and a girl. Both parts. Two hearts. Duplicity, in the archaic sense of the word.” He has his hand on Sullen’s throat, and the gun to his head.
Sullen is staring at me.
In his father’s hands.
“Now drop the weapon, and stay on your back.” Stein flicks his gaze to Klein and jerks his chin. “Up,” he says, as one might to a dog in training.
And Klein obeys without hesitation.
He has decided Stein is a god.
Stein controls his fate.
And so, Stein controls him.
“Did you not wonder why he didn’t kill you when you fled?” Stein continues, smiling pleasantly at me as the heat from Klein leaves me and he backs away.
The gun in my hand is heavy.
I lower my arm.
I start to flip myself, but Stein clicks his tongue at the same moment he smashes the gun against Sullen’s skull.
I gasp.
Sullen does not so much as wince.
