Page 44 of V for Vindictive

But I clung onto something he said. Grams, she’d escaped somehow. She was still alive, as far as they knew, had even burned down one of their stupid archives like the fucking badass lady she was, and it was like breathing fresh air after suffocating for so long. Grams wasn’t dead. She was out there being the same badass bitch who raised me.

Something in my core throbbed, but before I could figure out what it might be, it died away to nothing.

The woman beside me made a small sound in her throat, but a door nearby creaked and footsteps resounded on the floor, coming closer.

“We haven’t been able to locate them, sir,” a man’s voice said, a baritone that vibrated in the ears and cut through the clacks of a keyboard and the mechanical sounds of equipment. “But we’ll double-down efforts with our best.”

I didn’t breathe, and from the sounds of the woman near me, no one registered my awakened state. But whatever drugs they had me on made it impossible to do much else but listen.

Figures he’d have me drugged up and powerless, but it was an unbelievable relief to hear my two had gotten away, even if I hadn’t.

“You and your team had better, Grey, or it’s your head I’m serving to the leaders for this ridiculous ineptitude. How hard is it to find and neutralize two Hunters?”

Lux must have a real thing for serving the heads of others to these so-called leaders.

The other man grunted, and then I heard shuffling, likely shifting from one foot to the other—an agitated movement that suggested whoever Grey was, he didn’t care for the way Lux talked to him. “We think they may know where the girl is, so relocating might be necessary.”

That’s promising…

Scoffing, Lux seemed to take a moment to ponder what was said. “We won’t be long. Right, Donna?”

Spoke too soon.

Donna’s small breath was full of resignation, and something about her hesitation suggested she wasn’t there because she wanted to be. “V’s body—”

“I see what this is,” Lux commented, his tone sinister. “You think you can somehow make amends to the friend you got killed? Like that’s going to make her daughter forgive you for what you did.”

Wait…what?

Donna made another sound in her throat, clearly reacting. “I didn’t know they’d be killed,” she argued helplessly. “And you said they wouldn’t be hurt, just given a warning. They didn’t even know anything, Lux. She…Mariam didn’t know anything.” Her voice cut off into a small sob. “She would’ve told me, and I would’ve seen it in her thoughts.” Without seeing her, I knew she was crying. “She was a capable Hunter, and she would’ve listened—”

“Bullshit. They were clearly sticking their noses where they shouldn’t, and it was only a matter of time. How else did you expect it to end, Donna? Her daughter was a genetic monster created to help us cross over to the other realms, and she would’ve done everything to get her away from us. Three hundred years’ worth of research done by trial and error would’ve been gone, vanished, ended.” Lux laughed again, his mocking tone carrying through the air.

I was still digesting the bastard’s previous accusation, but the way Donna responded was telling all on its own. Her voice quivered. Their deaths weighed heavily on her. Either she was coaxed into giving the information, or she genuinely hadn’t expected it to lead to their deaths.

Grams taught me how to detect deception and outright lies in what others said, and while I couldn’t use my sight to confirm, I was confident that Donna hadn’t wanted them hurt. She cared about my mother. It was clear in the way she said her name and how her voice softened. My mother, even now, was someone she viewed fondly.

“Make no mistake,” Lux went on officiously, “it was your information that got her parents killed. Only a handful of us knew its location. And for the same reason you ratted those two out, you’ll put an end to this girl when the time comes. Don’t lose sight of all you’ve done here to advance the Organization’s goals. The girl is a liability. Prophecy or no, she has the power to destroy our entire operation, and that means you and the ones you care about.”

“Brother—”

Brother?

Hissing, Lux cut her off. “I told you never to call me that in public, you stupid cow. Run another magic panel,” Lux commanded, his voice razor-sharp.

“Isaidshe needs to rest,” Donna stated in a powerful voice, finding her courage despite her earlier hesitation. The tremor was still there, still in the undercurrent of her tone, but I could almost see the faceless woman lifting her head, eyes trained to the bastard near her, ready to fight should she need to.

I didn’t know what to make out of this weird sibling situation, where one was clearly evil and the other was…conflicted? But what I did know was it meant there was a vulnerability there that I could exploit. I might be able to appeal to Donna’s affection for my mother and guilt over getting her killed. It could get me out of this shithole.

Lux tutted Donna, his voice dropping so deep it was nearly a growl. “Did I ask for your opinion? That’s an order. Run another test and call me when its finished. I have to put out a few fires, so I don’t have time to deal with another one of your existential crises, Donna. We need to access her power. Now. Whether you go home to your family or not lies solely with us being able to do so.”

It’d take someone incredibly ignorant not to read between the lines of Lux’s ominous statement. If she didn’t do what she was told, Donna was as good as dead. And maybe her family, too. Quite frankly, it was startling to think that Lux would even sell out his own sister to get what he wanted. His own blood.

Donna’s information might’ve been what led the Organization to kill my parents, but it was painfully clear she hadn’t expected it to end that way. She likely didn’t have any other choice but to do what they said. Shewas as much a prisoner to this place as the rest of us. I couldn’t hate her for it, even as she continued to take blood from my arm.

This was the Organization Phillip often described—out for themselves and willing to do whatever it took. It reaffirmed my desire to take them down and burn it all to the fucking ground. We were simply a means to further their agenda, and our lives were obsolete the second we stopped doing as we were told.

For a moment, I thought about Grams, hoping she was still out there kicking ass and we’d one day be reunited; that one day I’d get to wrap my arms around her and tell the wily old fox how much I loved her. But until then, I’d fight for all I was worth. That was how she’d want it.

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