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And I remembered that creature on his face. Remembered thinking it was half the size it had originally looked.
Horror filled me, boiling through my body until it felt like my stomach was going to leap up into my throat.
Misha was being eaten from the inside out. When that spider creature had leapt onto his face, it hadn't only eaten his flesh. It had also poured part of itself into his body and somewhere inside re-formed to continue its bloody task.
His hand caught mine, dragging it to his mutilated lips, pressing a kiss I couldn't really feel against my fingertips. "End it, Riley. If you feel anything at - " He stopped again, and this time the rush of water that accompanied the cough was thicker. I shuddered, the bitter taste of bile heavy in my throat, the urge to run battling with the urge to scream and rage against the wiles of fate.
"End it, Riley," he pleaded. "Please."
I closed my eyes for the briefest of moments, then took a deep breath and said, "Tell me who your boss is, Misha. Please, just give me that."
"I can't."
"Not even a hint?"
"Not even... Not dead." He coughed, bringing up more flesh and blood. "Please. Stop."
I leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against his battered lips.
"May you find what you're looking for in your next life, Misha."
He raised a hand to my cheek, cupping it gently, his skin like ice against mine and his eyes gentle. I'd been wrong before. A lab-born creature could feel love. It was there, right now, in his eyes.
"But I have already found what I want. We could have been good together. Real good."
The tears blurring my eyes fell down my cheeks. "Yes," I whispered, and raised the laser.
He caught a tear on his fingertip, raising it a little, a touch of wonder briefly lifting the pain from his gaze. Then he closed his eyes and smiled, and I knew in that moment that he was thinking of us together, thinking of a future he could never have had.
I fired the laser, ending his pain, and his dreams.
It was only after I'd run from the building and his body, when I knew I was safe from the spiders and the creatures, that I let myself cry for the man I didn't love. ;So much for certainty," I muttered, blinking to switch to infrared vision.
"There must be a problem with the power," he said, walking across to the window.
Why, I have no idea. It was pretty much obvious by the rainbow beams of light invading the office that this building was the only one who'd lost light. "Yeah, it's been cut. There's no hum coming from the fridge, Misha."
He shrugged, and turned around to face me. "Whoever or whatever it is still has to get through the Fravardin."
I glanced toward the metal door. "What kills them?"
"White ash."
And I was betting the mastermind behind this operation knew that. "Warn them, then contact the guards downstairs, see if they've been taken out."
He stared at me for a moment, his body a mass of pulsing red against the bright backdrop of city lights. Then he nodded, and moved across to the desk. "T¨¹mu, be prepared for an attack. They may have white ash, so tell everyone to be wary." He flicked another button, then added, "Security?"
No answer came. His gaze met mine. "They've been taken."
"Obviously." I slid the pack from my shoulder and took out the gun. "You have anything resembling a weapon in this office?"
"Besides teeth?" he said, baring them.
I shoved the extra rounds of bullets into my pockets, then ditched the pack. "I've got a feeling whatever is coming at us isn't going to be particularly fazed by a sharp pair of canines."
He grinned, and even from this distance I could smell his excitement. But then, he was a wolf, and when the male of our species was threatened, common sense usually flew out the window.
He pressed a button on the small console, then moved the bookcase behind him and pushed. It retracted into the wall, revealing a veritable arsenal. "I would suggest you take a laser - runt rifles are not good for close-in fighting. They take too long to reload."
