Page 101 of Babalon

“You chose the wrong inmate to fuck with, Lucien. He isMINEand I will not hesitate to break every bone in your body if you so much as try this shit again,” she growls out. “I have an unmarked grave with your fucking name on it. So, test me, inmate.”

God—she’s perfect.

“Someone get the meat wagon in here, and get him out of my fucking sight!” Nadia barks as inmates disperse. She doesn’t know it, but she just sealed his death sentence.

Colossians 3:8 - But now you must also rid yourself of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Chained to a stretcher, I was wheeled out of Darkwater for imaging that resulted in a fractured skull and slight bleeding along with contusions on my arms and a few broken ribs. She dished me a good one and I don’t think she knows how proud that makes me. I knew there was a darkness inside of her, I saw it when we were kids. When she would get in fights during grade school, the way she wailed on the other kids and took hits. Like she was striving for pain so she could feel something physical rather than the emotional kind.

My empty little Nadia, I cannot begin to explain how much you continue to impress me. Now to break you even more.

It took a few days to get back to the prison, the hospitalists wanting to keep me for observation. Unsure if the bleeding was going to stop but when it did, they processed my discharge expeditiously. Did they want to get rid of little ol’ me already?

They wound me.

“Welcome back, Lucien. Let’s keep your antics to a minimum, alright? You’re restricted to your cell until Nurse Cindy has determined you are free to return to gen pop based upon your injuries. Anything else and you will go to solitary, understood?”

Zurita, he’s been quiet lately but ever the observationalist. With a silent nod, I answer him as my cell door is closed but not enough for it to lock.

Interesting.

Taking a look around, I drop down on my dead cell mate’s bunk and sprawl out. One leg hangs over the side, as the other bends and my foot braces against the thin mattress. Lifting an arm, I prop it under my head where the opposite drapes along my torso. I have rested enough over the past few days yet here I lay, glaring at the cinder-block ceiling like it was the one who wronged me.

I simply needed the day to pass, the day light was too much for the pain throbbing in my skull— once the night fell though? I’ll emerge from my cell like the wraith my Lord fashioned me to be.

Kace

The brutality Nadia displayed shocked me. When she hit Lucien the first time, it didn’t bother me that much. It was the ones that followed that had me on edge. She kept swinging her baton until Lucien conceded, the cracking sound of his bones accompanying each swipe of her weapon. My eyes were blown wide, calling for her even as she seemingly blocked me out, yet it was all over in the blink of an eye.

Medical staff came to scrape Lucien off the floor before she made any attempt to look at me. I should be shaken to my core but I’m not, having a shank threatening to take out my eye was one thing, but seeing her in all her violent glory had me on edge.

Gen pop was cleared out, inmates ushered back to their cells, then I was restrained and pulled into an interrogation room to ask me if I knew what encouraged Lucien’s violent attack. When I didn’t have any answers for them, explaining I was sitting there talking to Matias when he put his hands on me, they let me go.

Catching her outside of the checkpoint leading to the administration office the next day, all I can do is make eye contact with her. When she looks back, her lovely smile leaves me speechless— what is going on in that pretty head of hers? Tilting my head, I motion for her to follow.

Taking post outside of the cafeteria, I wait for her and the second I see her body round the corner, my hand reaches out and grabs her elbow. With a firm grip, I drag her along with me, away from where I was standing ‘til we are far enough down the corridor I can speak freely with her.

“Jesus, are you okay?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You nearly beat Lucien into a coma yesterday.”

“I know.”

Her smile disarms me, the demon's hands reach and brush along my waist when her gaze drops then rakes back up my body. Along with her perusal comes a chill. In that moment, I actually feel scared of her.

“He needed to learn that he couldn’t go around doing shit to you like that and if he does, he will be punished.”

“Baby…” I start but stall.

A piece of me is flattered that she would go so far to keep me safe, but at the same time there are limits we have to be cautious of. Just another thing that could get her locked up.

“Yeah?” she asks breathlessly, those smoky eyes softening when she peers up at me through her lashes.

“You can’t go around beating the fuck out of people.”

“My reaction wasn’t abnormal, Kace. The other officers have seen me do worse.”

---