Page 35 of Remnants: Disruption
The darkness recedes and she startles, standing quickly. She begins to check under the seat cushion before turning towards the sound the faucet.
“Anything!” she almost screams out. “You could have fucking said anything!”
The glass in my hand shatters, sending fragments into the farthest corners of my living room. Shadows lick at the ceiling as my rage boils over.
“And you’d have me killed,” I growl, pointing my bloodied finger at her. The cuts mend almost immediately, but not before a droplet of blood splashes against the sink. “You’d have me Contained. I know how you think, De Luca.”
Percy flinches again, her own fists clenching and unclenching.
“They’ll kill me,” I feel my own anxiety ratchet up a notch. “I’m already dead.”
I place both hands against the counter and lean my throbbing head over the sink.
“Who’s they?” Percy’s voice is quiet, and the sudden shift in tone almost derails my anger.
“Who fucking knows, Percy,” I spit, squeezing my eyes tightly as the pain throbs. The spirits vibrate behind my eyes—their anger rivaling my own. “RISE, the NCPD, the Guild. They’ll know who I am, now.”
The creak of the wooden floor pulls my attention back up. She’s closer now—her body language that of someone approaching a wild animal.
“Don’t,” I say, glaring at her. “I know what you think of me. I know what you called me.”
She freezes, face paling perceptibly. “I—”
“Oh, fucking save it,” I grunt, dropping my head again. “I don’t need apologies. I don’t want your reasoning.”
She’s silent for several long seconds.
“Are you going to let me go?”
The words take a few moments to register.
Let her go?
“You really think I’d attack you?” I whisper, staring back at her. “After everything, you think I’m some freak, don’t you?”
Stupid, hated tears sting at the corners of my eyes. All of these years. All of the murders solved. The criminals caught. The victims avenged.
And she still thinks I’m a feral beast to be put down.
“Leave,” I grit out. “Get the fuck out.”
Percy’s eyes don’t well with tears. Her gaze doesn’t drop. Instead, she takes another step closer. The shadows shiver and undulate. Their screaming only heard by me, their voices matching my pitch in anxiety.
“You know how I lost my arm?” Percy finally asks, voice solid despite the darkness shifting around her.
“Omen,” I say, ice in my tone.
“There was nothing I could do to stop them,” Percy’s voice finally chokes. “No weapons or tactics. Nothing could put a dent in their armor. Nothing could counteract their powers.”
I feel my fingers digging into the sink. They’re going to leave a mark that’ll be difficult to explain to my renter.
“And I never felt so fucking helpless in my life,” her voice drops to something unbelievably soft. “That’s not something you’d understand.”
I blink, almost scoffing at her presumptuousness.
“You’ll never understand what it’s like to see something happening and never be able to stop it,” she gestures at her bionic arm, “and then losing so badly.”
“Never understand?” I ask, feeling my veins blaze with anger I didn’t know I had left in me. “I see ghosts every fucking moment of my life. Even with the lights on, they’re in the reflection in the mirror. They’re in the windows. They’re behind my goddamned eyelids!”
