Page 95 of How to Entice a Fiend

“I can kill him before he reaches the transport vehicle,” Marcus says quietly.

“You’re going to kill a man while we’re standing in a prison?” Finn asks. “Honey… honey bunny… what part of that sounds like a good idea? Please, delight me with this knowledge.”

“All… of it?” he asks, and I’m not going to lie, I agree with Marcus on this one.

Finn sighs. “Let’s follow the vehicle. We can potentially fend off attacks and hopefully get him to the transfer location safely.”

I glance over at Mads who is uncharacteristically quiet on the way out to the vehicle, but I don’t even have to question why. Grady basically admitted that the reason Mads’s family is dead is because of Mads… because of what he could make.

“I should have just popped his head off a while ago,” Marcus says.

Finn pats his arm. “When we walk by the warden, it’s really best to not say the words ‘popped his head off,’ mkay?”

“No,” Marcus grumbles.

“I think it’s totally acceptable,” Alexei says.

“Of course you do! You’re both evil! I bet Ender thinks it’s acceptable as well! Why am I surrounded by evil?”

“I was feeling a bit more dismemberment first,” I joke.

Finn looks over at me. “Weirdly not better. So weird.”

“You sure? Think of how many limbs you’d have if you suddenly had to fight someone.”

Finn is shaking his head wildly. “Why the fuck would I be fighting them with their limbs? Claude… Mads… are you the only two normal ones?”

Mads has a far-off stare as he goes, “I would likely go with acetonitrile. Just need a lighter. Whoosh.”

“Never mind. Claude, it’s just you and me.”

Claude sighs. “Yeah, but now I feel left out! I want to think of a way to murder someone. Um… well… let’s see… I would…”

“Just dress them up and send them out into the world. He’d die of embarrassment,” Marcus teases.

Claude elbows his brother. “You are unreasonably jealous of my ability to dress since you head off looking like you’re going to a funeral.”

“If the day goes in my favor, it’ll be fitting,” Marcus says as he gives his black jacket a tug.

“Oddly, I think we’re supposed to arrest people, not murder them. I mean… I could probably check my VRC handbook, but I feel like I just really don’t need to,” Finn says.

“Strange,” Alexei comments as we get into the SUV. “You must have read a different handbook than I did.”

Once in the SUV, we wait for the transport vehicle to move out before we start to follow. They at least permitted us this much since they refused to stop the transport or change it to a different time where there’d be more security in place.

“Are you alright?” I ask Mads. The other four are still talking about VRC regulations and how murdering without first trying to arrest the person isprobablynot permitted but there should be occasions where it’s preferred… like this one.

Mads looks over at me and smiles. “I sure am.”

“You know, you’re constantly getting on me for avoidance but you’re ten times worse.”

“Not ten times. Maybe eight or nine,” he says with a grin. “Really, I’m okay. I just… it’s been a day, you know? Or a few days… I don’t even know how many days it’s been. It’s been a while. And I’m absolutely exhausted, as well as tired of feeling like I’m a huge fuckup. Why would I have ever trusted Grady? Was I so desperate to have someone feel the same way as me that I was willing to just… do everything they wanted? Why would I ever create something so powerful and not keep it to myself? Whatever. As long as he doesn’t end up in Abel’s hands, it’ll be okay.”

I really don’t know what to say.

“I can make you feel better, Mads,” Finn declares. “If Marcus wasn’t driving, I would have him read you a bedtime story like he did to make Rylee feel better because hot damn, it was… uh… really good. He should be an actor.”

Marcus slowly looks over at the man he loves. “Funny.”

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