Page 47 of Out for Blood
Reminding her I’m here.
She doesn’t react.
That alone is what gets me, since I’ve seen her furious.
I’ve seen her lose control and take it back twice as hard.
I’ve watched her turn into something deadly in a heartbeat.
But this, this still, locked down version of her.
Something inside her absorbed all of this.
Filed it away, kept it.
And deep down, I know without having to ask, this one didn’t just hit her.
It sank in, and it’s not going anywhere.
Cassidy finally acts, lowering the bodies by herself from the tables with care, as if this final act of dignity belongs to her alone.
“Ghost, help me shift the tables so that they are facing each other.” Cassidy directs me.
We both grab the first table as metal shrieks across the floor while hauling it into place.
She’s already turning back to them.
“Have a seat.” She gestures to them with her hand outstretched.
The doctor shakes his head and retreats a step. “We didn’t do anything wrong, you don’t understand.”
Cassidy laughs but there’s no humor in it, only grief and madness colliding.
“Sit,” she grinds out through clenched teeth.
Neither seems inclined to move.
The knife she’s holding in her hand moves so fast I’m only able to see the metal flashing as she slams it onto the tray table between them.
“Now.” The word flies from her lips.
The nurse collapses into the chair. The doctor fumbles after her; his hands jitter uncontrollably, and he misses the seat the first time.
After they are seated, Cassidy paces back and forth with her hands folded behind her back, deciding what to do with them.
“You know what I hate?” she bites out, still pacing with restless energy. “People like you always think there’s a version of this where you walk out.”
She stops behind the nurse.
The woman goes stiff.
Cassidy hovers near her ear, her presence impossible to ignore.
“There isn’t.”
Cassidy pauses, then gently reassures, “But you can make this easier on yourselves.”
She lifts her head and meets my eyes. Then she looks away, her attention settling on them with renewed purpose.
