Page 19 of Pride

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“I’m not a bitch. I’m the killer you made me.”

His face contorted with rage. “I’ll kill you for this. I’ll make you suffer.”

For the past two months, he’d done exactly that. He’d made her suffer beyond imagining, and once he was done sucking the hope out of her physical form, he moved to her mind. He’d flown her around the world, to each of their seven Syndicate bases, and showed her the lengths they would go to rule the world. From sin-serums to mech-bots to plant monsters to rabid sin-hunting dogs to replicate versions of her saviors. He’d shown her how futile it was to even dream of defeating him.

Futile.

Now he was putting the final pieces of his new plan into place. They all thought they could mess with him. Despair thought swallowing the last remaining DNA sample of his wife and daughter would somehow stop him. But it only made him realize something. The absence of hope is the most dangerous enemy of all, for now, without the possibility of reuniting with his loved ones… he simply didn’t care about anyone.

“Mr. Allcott.” Levi Van Jansen, their lead scientist, waited at Julius’s side. “Are you ready for your next treatment?”

The stodgy geneticist had white hair growing out of his ears and appeared quite mad. They made a good team.

Julius rolled up his sleeve to the elbow and presented it to Van Jansen, then continued to study Despair through the window. A pin prick, followed by the rush of foreign fluid injecting into his vein made him wince and, out of habit, he reached for the locket around his neck only to find it gone. The emptiness inside his chest grew to the width of a canyon, and he took a deep breath to steady himself. When he returned his gaze through the window, he found Despair looking directly at him.

Impossible. She wouldn’t be able to see through the mirror.

But she would sense his despair.

Van Jansen swabbed the injection site and covered it up.

“You are done for now, ja?” When Julius failed to respond, Van Jansen added, “Have you had a chance to look at my report, sir?”

“Report?”

“Ja, the one about uncontrolled replicate behavior.”

Julius sighed laboriously. “I don’t really care about what happens to them after our control is ceded. Don’t waste your time.”

“But…” Van Jansen paused. He pulled a piece of paper from his lab coat pocket and squinted at it, his bushy eyebrows moving like caterpillars. “The woman we learned this from is working with the… let me see if I get this right… the Hilde-gard Sister-hood. You know them, ja? They are saying there is a place the replicates are trying to go. Like dogs with bone.”

The Hildegard Sisterhood.

Fury reddened Julius’s vision. Van Jansen continued to speak, but all he could hear was blood rushing in his ears. He tapped his hair-tied finger on his chest.My darlings.Oh, my loves.This all started with the Sisterhood’s retaliation.That queen bitch Sinner, Mary Lazarus, stole them from me.

Now more of the Sinners were in town, threatening to destroy everything.

Hate and venom and body shaking rage rattled Julius’s bones.

“Send in the Faithful,” he said to Van Jansen. “You are dismissed.”

Van Jansen shoved the paper back into his pocket and made a clicking sound with his teeth. Julius waved him off. No doubt the man would continue his line of investigation himself.

Julius caught sight of his hand after he waved Van Jansen off. That would not do. The strands of hair he’d tied around his finger had almost all fallen off. He dug into his pocket and pulled out the small manicure scissors, then snipped another lock of his hair off and tied it on his finger.

Better.

I’m coming for you, my loves.

He tapped the finger to his chest, over his heart, where the locket used to be. Then he glared at Despair only to see a glimmer of hope flickering in her gaze like a candle in the dark. But her family wouldn’t save her. He would soon make sure of it. First, he had to eliminate any support they might have.

A male cleared his throat.

Julius looked to his right, where a tall, fit brunette stood. A glance down to the navy shirt pointed out a logo. Cardinal City Fire Department. Interesting.

This man had no clear signs of deformity or disability—as was the norm for the sycophants who devoted themselves to the service of the Syndicate in exchange for being cloned and coming back perfect with all their memories. This man appeared to be the picture of health. Strong broad shoulders, muscular, athletic. But Faithful pledged for all sorts of reasons. Julius cared not how they came into his employ, simply that they did a good job, and word was that this man had.

“Your name?” Julius clipped.