Page 61 of Gluttony
“No,” she answered, once again surprising him. “Once I hated you for leaving. Then I hated you for not coming back. Then I hated you for forgetting. Now, I feel nothing.”
“I’m sorry. We all are. Especially Mary. You have to know that. We all thought you were dead.”
“If you are asking for forgiveness, it won’t come. I am beyond the hopes and dreams of a child.”
She wouldn’t forgivethem?
Fuck that.
She’d tried to murder them on more than one occasion! She’d hanged Mary from the rafters of a nightclub. She’d set rabid beasts after them. She’d purposefully kidnapped and tortured Max to prove that the mating bond could be manipulated to bring about the deadly berserker state. He clenched his fists, and his blue light flickered.
Tony stopped and gathered his patience. They were at a split in the tunnel and the culvert was deeper. The water came up to his knees. Scanning Daisy, he considered his words butscrew it. Honesty was the best policy.
“Just because we want you back, doesn’t mean we’ve forgiven you, either. You still have a long way to go before you can redeem yourself, but you’re family, Daisy. You get a chance, and so do we. We’ve only just learned you are alive. We want you back. We want to make it right, and we hope you do too.”
“There is no coming back from what I am, from what I have done.”
“Yes, there is. You have to see that life with the Syndicate is no life at all.”
Daisy stopped and stared at him. “I told you, I feel nothing.”
“That’s not true,” Bailey interrupted. “You warned us about the plant’s neurotoxin.”
Tony’s eyes turned sharp as understanding flowed through him. “She’s right. You didn’t want Bailey hurt. And for whatever reason, you gave us the clue on how to heal Max. You do feel.”
Daisy shook her head and turned away. She stared long and hard at the glistening domed brick walls covered with mildew. “All I have left are empty memories and false promises. Don’t think there is something here when there isn’t.”
“Does Julius know you’re with us?”
“Enough conversation.” She peeked into another tunnel and shone her torch down its length. “I sense nothing. Do you?”
He shook his head. “I haven’t sensed the creature’s sin since we were face to face with it, and it was feeding on your Faithful.”
“Then this is pointless.” She threw Bailey’s gun into the contaminated water. The gun landed with a splash and promptly disappeared into the murk. “You can go.”
Daisy took off down one of the tunnels, leaving Bailey and Tony stunned and on their own. Daisy’s torchlight dimmed the further she went, so Tony flared his power and held it steady, giving them blue illumination to guide their way back. Fatigue ached in his arms. He didn’t know how long he could hold his power. The long overuse of it to light his way was taxing. He gave his retreating sister one last look and shook his head.
“I saw a ladder to a manhole not far back.” He gestured for Bailey to go in front of him. “Go first and I’ll hold up the rear.”
Regrettably, he didn’t trust Daisy to keep going and not return to stab them in the back.
“I want to say let’s collect my gun, but I don’t want to stick my hands in that murk.” Lines formed in Bailey’s forehead and she eyed the water like it was poison.
“Just leave it,” he replied. “I don’t like the vibe down here. Let’s get out.”
“No complaints here.”
Bailey continued to trudge. She took two steps ahead of him, and then it came out the water. In an explosion of watery action, tentacles shot out, wrapped around Bailey. She aquaplaned and fell face first, splashing loudly.
It’s here.
Adrenaline surged through him. He dove for Bailey, aiming for where her body submerged. He gripped her as she thrashed. Blue light glowed in the murky water, casting a cloudy bloom. He heaved, but the creature was everywhere, latching onto her and pulling her down. How had he not sensed it? Because it hadn’t been feeding. It was smart. It knew how to hide from him. His fingers lost the battle with the vines and slipped.
“No!” he roared. This can’t be happening.
Thousands of tendrils, roots and vines slid and slithered, gathering purchase on her body and trying to grip him. He felt it on his side, around his ankles,everywhere.
A burning sensation sliced his arm. The toxin. If any of that got onto Bailey. Maybe it already had.
