Page 49 of Adam
He thought I’d freeze. Thought I’d beg or piss myself, maybe, or that I’d hesitate. He wanted to taste my fear.
But when he saw I didn’t have any, when he realized I looked at him and saw nothing worth sparing, he panicked and lunged.
Smug little insect.
I split him open and left the fear in him instead.
“Where’s Ben?” Alaric had asked, voice calm and cold as ever.
Besides, he was the one who’d sent that roach after me, so I could only imagine what was running through his head when he saw me walk in instead.
“Dead,” I said, bored.
No shock or anger.
I heard some asshole storming up behind me. “You fucking bastard?—”
I didn’t even think. I turned around and hurled the knife straight into his skull, burying it between the eyes.
He blinked like he was confused, then hit the ground like dead weight.Good fucking riddance.
I turned back, and Alaric was frozen, trying not to look shocked—or scared.
Casually, I dusted off my shoulder and grinned a little. “Now he’s dead, too.”
He just smiled. Ah, that slow, twisted smile of his, like he’d been waiting to see if I had it in me.
Looks like I passed his little sickness test. Proved I wasn’t just some scared little shit like the rest.
“Ben wasyourtest,” he’d said, clapping once. “Congratulations. You passed.”
Seriously?
I gave him a slow, blood-slick salute, eyes locked on his.
“Name,” he says flatly.
Yeah, he never asked before.It didn’t seem like the kind of thing he thought was necessary. Or just not worth the effort.
I looked him dead in the eye, and a smirk cut across my face like a scar.
“Bane.”
“Bane,” he repeated, tasting the word. “Fitting.” Then he’d nodded, satisfied. “Welcome, Bane. Let the name speak for you.”
And that’s exactly what I did. I let the bane in me spread through every sane cell I had left, like a voracious parasite feeding on what remained.
And thus, Bane was born.
By sunrise, everyone in the order knew my name.
They knew what I’d done.
How easily I’d turned on my own with no hesitation, guilt, or second thoughts. I’d had nothing left to lose, and fear hadn’t lived in me anymore.
The name had spread like fire.
People kept repeating it, over and over, until it wasn’t just a name anymore.
