Page 17 of Daemonium

Outside, another tap came from the other side of the tram. If we were surrounded and time ran out, it would be a bloodbath in here. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Ky suddenly stood. "If you can't choose, I will."

Roger stumbled to the furthest corner of the tram. "Now, just wait a minute."

Ky kept advancing, the man understandably terrified, but that wasn't who he was going for. He grabbed hold of the older man by his shirt and lifted him from his seat.

"Ky!" I yelled as the others in the man's group demanded that he release him. Even Carol politely asked for him to be spared.

"No way did we almost die saving that guy for you to toss him overboard," Lana declared.

"That's precisely the problem," Brody pointed out.

Ky dragged the man closer until his mask was nearly touching his face, staring down at him. "You're weak." He tightened his grip. "And your weakness almost took Sunshine away."

I only then realized he was still pissed that I had helped him. The older man stammered an apology, but Ky continued to drag him up the aisle to the door. As if sensing his approach, it slid open. I jumped up, calling out, “Please! Let him go. I'm fine. I'm here right now. I want him alive."

Ky kept walking, not replying. Mel and Lana tried their luck as well, getting the same result.

“You could help,” Lana griped at Ciaran.

He shrugged nonchalantly. “He needs to do this. Just be glad he didn’t start slicing and dicing everyone on board.”

“Yo, Vetis!” The masked figure, a guy, with the hook appeared in the doorway and greeted Ky like they were old friends.

"How does it feel being on the other side?”

"I've got the toll for you.”

“I see that.” The man said, stepping closer.

With no warning, Ky shoved the older man back down the aisle and grabbed the guy who’d come to collect, dragging him on board.

“What the fuck are you doing, Vetis?” he bellowed.

They struggled, but the element of surprise had given Ky the upper hand. He took the hook away from him and flipped it around, hooking the curved tip through the bottom of the guy’s jaw. He screamed in pain, grabbing at the hook as if to dislodge it.

“Oh, oh, what the fuck,” Roger rasped, sounding as if he were about to vomit.

Ky grunted and lifted the guy up, forcing the hook deeper.

It tore through flesh and bone until the tip emerged where the man’s nose was, splitting it apart. I grimaced and looked away as blood poured from the wound and he began to make the same sound someone did when they used mouthwash.

Roger lost the battle with his stomach and began to retch in the back corner, the stench of his vomit immediately making me want to gag.

“Oof, that’s gross,” Mel muttered.

"There's your toll," Ky stated with a calmness that belied what he’d just done, shoving the man back into the woods. The door closed again, the ticking stopped, and the tram began to move. Ky turned and came back to where I was sitting, reclaiming his spot beside me.

The older man was the one to break the silence first, his eyes still wide and his nostrils flaring from how heavy he was breathing. "How did you know that would work?"

"Simple. I turned the stakes around."

"Sometimes you can use the ultimatums to your advantage,” Brody elaborated. "In this case, a life is a life. That's all we had to pay."

"She really made this one easy,” Carol commented.

“It’s not her controlling the games, but she does have a soft spot for her family, those of her blood and not,” Maverick replied.

Ky turned to me, his voice low. "I kept him alive.”

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