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I flicked her IV fluids and then stood to announce my departure. As my mouth opened to spew my parting words, Casey turned to me, her face stricken with despair and fear. “He’s going to take everything you love.”
“Say that one more time because I’m pretty sure you just fucking threatened me.”
She shook her head hastily, more tears falling down her cheeks. Her voice was soft, “No… no. Finn, was it? Yes, Finn thinks he’s helping you. He will remove all the obstacles he thinks are keeping you from your work. Jason… I don’t approve of your lifestyle. You know that. I’ve tried to help in my own way.” I scowled at that but let her continue, “But Finn? He’s not like me. Nothing is safe.”
I stared at her, wondering what the fuck she was insinuating. Until it dawned on me. We hadn’t carried out a kill, a good one, in weeks. We were all too busy fucking our Kitten and keeping him alive and safe that we had neglected our own dark urges until we began falling apart at the seams. This new monster – Finn – was trying to help by removing what he thought was keeping us from acting out our regularly scheduled kills.
He had taken down Jenny.
He had taken down Talia.
Casey would be next – not that I fucking cared.
But the one person after that?
Killian.
Like fuck would I let Finn touch my Kitten.
SAMAEL
I slipped into my office, tail between my legs, not that I’d let any of my guys know that. But Brent knew like he fucking knew everything. Brent followed me to my office in silence as I spewed the most recent updates, knowing full well that I would not let this go. Someone was after Killian, and I was determined to get to him first.
Aeron had tried to calm the raging storm in my mind, but our fucking threesome hadn’t done much to clear my head.
“Where are you off to, boss?”
I jerked my head up, forgetting that Brent was still standing across from me, waiting for further direction. “I’m going dark. I won’t be home for a while. Keep things in check. Don’t fucking contact me unless the world’s ending.”
He nodded as I grabbed a bag specially packed for missions like this that required absolute stealth. No one else was going to best me at my own game. Should I have called Slash or Aeron to let them know what was going on? Absolutely. Was I going to? No.
Not yet.
I strapped a few extra weapons into my holster, ignoring the tension in the room.
“Boss, shouldn’t you—”
“If you’re that worried, you call them.” And I knew Brent would. I only went dark when things were bad. But I wasn’t planning to be gone long. Just a day or two at most. I just needed some answers, answers I couldn’t get babysitting Killian or pretending to catch The Three Terrors. I stalked to the front door, Brent once again at my heels. I threw him one last glare before slipping outside. “The world better be on fucking fire and everything I love in flames before you dial that number.”
Brent nodded, his eyes wide at the darkness flowing through me. Protecting my loved ones was one thing. Ensuring that an unhinged killer couldn’t control us was an entirely different thing – one that I was going to make sure went away.
KILLIAN
I knew Samael got pissy when I didn’t tell him when I was leaving, but I needed a breath of fresh air before making it to work to clear my head of all the craziness. I found myself wandering through Tyrone’s café, the man asking an obscene number of questions about Phoenix. I chose to ignore them, mostly because I was too tired after the rough romp with Aeron. They thought I had been sleeping, but my subconscious, or maybe it was Dark and Daemon, constantly cataloged information I didn’t even know I was hearing – about Talia’s death… and everything else with this Finn.
I grabbed my coffee, intent on chugging the thing in the back booth before heading out, when my mother’s psychiatrist slipped in across from me. “How are you? I haven’t seen you since the funeral, Killian.”
I glared at him, wondering what gave him the right to ruin my morning, but I had questions that only someone like him could answer. I unloaded them on him, the doctor looking perturbed as he investigated my expressions.
“Are you having symptoms, Killian?”
I should have known that this man would ask that. “No. I just wanted to understand my mother more.”
The man chuckled. “You were always a little inquisitive.” He launched into an explanation about the psyche and how my mother’s voices were just her brain trying to reason with her. They were all a part of her, embodying different emotions as needed to protect herself from the world's hurt.
I continued to sip my coffee until it was gone, excusing myself so I wouldn’t be late for work. The problem was that I only exhibited about two of the symptoms he had listed. Whatever I had and whatever my mother had were two very different things.
The possibility that I had something other than HMD—Hyzophrenic Manic Disorder—was terrifying because that meant that I had no idea what I was up against. My mother spiraled into insanity, fighting with multiple alters for dominance. My problems were similar and yet so fucking different at the same time. Speaking with a specialist would only land me in special care and I didn’t want that.
