Page 38 of Repossess My Heart

He stalks closer and a strange sound leaves me for the first time… I’m truly scared. When he motions the drone to follow I half lunge back, shrieking when I flop over the edge of the roof. His hands are on me next as I fight, “I would rather hit the pavement!” I yell, slapping and kicking him anywhere I can.

He lets go of me long enough for me to kick him in the gut, right where I stabbed him before. A pained grunt leaves him as he rips off his mask, grasping my face in his hands before he half headbutts me. My own grunt follows as pain erupts in my forehead, making me clutch him back for a second instead of fight him off, “Nine!”

“I need to carry you to the safe house, for fuck's sake relax.”

I’m panting, my breath displacing a few strands of his unmottled hair. “No injections.”

The alarm alerts him to my heart rate again as he lifts me to my feet. We’re quiet for a moment as he adjusts my robe. Another yelp cuts through the wah-wah sound in my head and my labored breathing as he jerks me up, helping me adjust on his back. I wrap my hands around his neck, leaning back enough to allow him to tug his mask back in place, breathing-hyperventilatingthrough the constricting pain in my chest. I barely feel the following jolt from where he leapt off the rooftop landing in the alleyway as I cling to his back.

My body tenses when his drone zips to hover at my side. The effects of the mist nearly gone, “Where are we going?”

“My home away from home.”

“Where is it?”

He doesn’t answer as the alarm sounds more. I bite back a whimper as pain flares from so many places. All the places, wondering how I’d wanted to fuck him just minutes ago. How I hadn’t felt all this.

“You don’t trust me enough to tell me, do you?” I’m not sure if he can hear the hurt in my voice, or if I want him to. I don’t even understand why my feelings are hurt by that. We’re strangers, after all. His jaw clenches as his grip tightens on me. No longer is he holding me up. He’s holding me captive, my eyes dart to his drone still hovering beside me.

“I’m too close to what I want for trust.” His words needle at my chest, another edge only he seems to provide, this one I could do without.

Why does it fucking matter-

“For fuck's sake, give her Nitroglycerin.” Nine snaps as we clear the alley.

“Stores are depleted.” The drone responds and Nine’s hold becomes punishing… brutal.

The drone slips out of sight, off to get more I’m sure, and for a moment I breathe deeper.

A very short moment.

The all too familiar prick of a needle hits my neck making me cry out, the pressure behind my eyes building stronger than before. A nasty feeling creeping up my throat as the effects of whatever he gave me filter in. “I trusted you.”

“Then be smarter next time.”

I let the sense of betrayal choke me, allowing myself to feel it as fully as I can. The way things like this are meant to be felt. Hoping I never open my eyes again. Hoping for many things, only one I choose to voice out loud. Aiming for any damage at all as I start to slip, my arms and legs not responding.

“I hope he kills you.” I whisper as Nine tugs me off his back, cradling me in his arms instead. I’m grateful I can’t see his stupid face.

12

A Safe Place

Nine

Every time I come down here, it strikes me how different the air is. Dirtier, more… putrid but even then, it manages to feel something like a home. The only place in our fucked up little world I’m not overtly worried about being tortured or dismembered. Familiar faces pass in the halls of the sect, all looking far more aged than they were when I was a child. His booming steps hit the hall before I make it to the residential wing, making me clasp Reverie harder to me. “Thought you could slip by without saying hi? You know I see everything in the down Na-“

“Nine. Call me Nine.”

He huffs, blocking the hall like the sentient being he is, ashy mahogany hair and all tied up high on his head, “She would’ve hated that.”

“She’s dead.” I snap, grasping Reverie harder. Ready to end this conversation. Every time I descend it’s the same shit, that’s why I haven’t done it in years. Like he isn’t every bit as responsible as I am for what I’ve become.

“Cynical as always.”

“You trained me to be a killer, not a-“

“I gave you what you asked for, a new life. I gave you a purpose.” He calls as I head forward, “One that’s been derailed it seems, as you’re down here. With a woman in your arms. One with no registration and bot tech lodged in her-“

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