Greys IV - Chains

Chapter 37 - Deny Me

I forced my lips to lift, to smile, attempting to look serene as I willed my heart to slow down. He had already given me what I wanted, needed. And that little slip would now dictate my act from here on out. Bold, confident, unafraid. I prayed it would work.

"Hm, smiling as you sit vulnerable before a Fallen. Is she brave or stupid?" He mused like he was curious, his tone teasing. Though his voice still made a shiver fight down my spine despite his playful words.

"You said I will turn away when you face Ambriel next...which means you have no plans to kill me. Smart move, considering you need me to defeat your father - who was the one pulling Ambriel's strings all along. The one who has done so much worse to you for so much longer." My smile widened, though I hoped it looked less forced than it was. "It seems we have a common goal."

He raised one dark eyebrow, a corner of his lips curving as well, before that rumbling noise came from his chest again, making everything in me tense like stone.

"Mmh, better, a common enemy. Yes, it seems you and I are bound once more."

"You remember?" The question slipped past my tongue.

He flicked his wrist lazily like it didn't matter as he replied.

"Vaguely. Bits and pieces. I know who you are, how we are connected, that it will take two...no, three, to win. Where is our little third anyway? Malachi's pet ghost boy?" His voice held disgust in it, both at Malachi's name and when he spoke of Ailech.

I had to swallow the growl that climbed my own throat now, and though my anger didn't surprise me - the feral feelings James brought out in me did. I stuffed them down and pushed my reply out past bared teeth.

"Let me make this clear from the beginning. You want revenge more than me, you need it more than I do. So if you want to pay them both back, to win back the pride taken from you by tearing the ones who used and controlled you apart - then you need me, not the other way around. So you will play by my rules. And that means you will not harm anyone here: not Malachi or Ailech or Abby, your old Clan, the charges - no one. Understood?"

His head cocked to the side like it used to, and I wished I felt more from it, like I used to. But this wasn't James, it was just a lookalike, an imposter, a monster wearing his face. I repeated that in my mind over and over again as I watched him evenly, blankly, even as my heart galloped and my spine tingled.

"Making demands of Felle? Again, I'll ask - is she brave or stupid?"

"I'm negotiating. Do we have a deal?" I replied in a clipped tone.

He paused, his tongue running over his teeth beneath his lips, pondering, or maybe just enjoying the moment, the suspense.

"I seem to remember that you want revenge just as much as I do, that a transgression against me cuts you twice as deep. I can give greater detail to what Ambriel did with me - so much more than you know - and see if we can't get you on my side without these tedious Human rules. Hm?"

"For James? Yes, I would burn it all down and splinter every rule I've kept. But you overestimate what I feel for...you."

I tried to place as much disdain in that last word as he had for Malachi and Ailech. And though I told myself I was bluffing, I wasn't actually sure. The words came easily, maybe because they were the truth.

He cocked his head again, that damn tongue working at his cheek now in thought.

"So I don't kill anyone here in your soft and fluffy home, and we continue our crusade against my father and Ambriel...what's to say this time is any better than the last?"