Page 266 of Psycho Beasts

Dick’s complexion was ruddy with anger. “I see you’re as incompetent as ever. Really, you got your fucking finger cut off by an idiotic alpha?”

“I see you’re as homicidal as ever. Where’s the belt? I know you’re just dying to beat me,” I mocked.

“Also, didn’t that dude”—I pointed at the cloaked man who still stood beside him with his hood up—“take me from the sacred lake while you chased after him like a crazy man? Now you’re working together? Must be awkward.”

Dick’s face reddened another shade.

He was so easy to wind up.

Dick’s lips puckered like he tasted something sour. “We had a minor disagreement on the best way to raise you. I wanted to give you more time to come into your powers. He wanted to throw you into training. I was trying to protect you.”

I burned with anger.

“You did a great job of protecting me.” I gestured at the scars littering my body. “Parent of the fucking year.”

Dick’s spittle rained down, like it always did when he lost control of his rage.

“Do you not have fucking blood powers? Did I not beat you with a belt till you bled? Can you still not see that everything I did was for your benefit? Or are you still the same ignorant little girl?”

I blinked.

Then I blinked again.

Grabbing my head in my bloody hand, I scrambled to my feet until I was face-to-face with Dick.

“You’re telling me you TORTURED ME EVERY DAY OF MY FUCKING LIFE BECAUSE YOU WERE TRYING TO HELP ME UNCOVER MY BLOOD POWERS?”

My voice was rough and ragged, a result of his handiwork.

“YES!” he screamed back.

We stood chest to chest, snarling in each other’s faces.

Under the glass ceiling of an opulent ballroom, in a cruel realm filled with guns and monsters, the evils of my past slanted and twisted into something different.

Still nightmares, but maybe less evil?

I’d always thought it was weird how Dick had beaten me like it was a routine.

A chore he had to do.

He’d always get so mad at me, like he wanted me to do something but I wasn’t doing it.

I’d always thought it was strange how he didn’t have a motive.

He’d just given me a motive.

I covered my mouth in horror, and I took a step away from him.

“Why?” I rasped out, my blood splattering both of us as I gestured at him with my bleeding wound. “Wings?” I added weakly, not even sure what I was asking.

He understood.

Dick spoke quietly so only I could hear. “War has come to the realms as it does every eon.”

He paused.

The soft splat of my blood dripping onto the ground echoed between us.

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