Greys III - Revelations

Chapter 45 - L'appel du vide

We found Ailech with Malachi, drunk and uproariously laughing in an empty mess hall in the middle of the night. I hadn't heard Malachi laugh, really laugh, for the better part of two decades, and it made my stomach twist with unease and my chest tighten with sadness in an unnatural sequence. Malachi wiped at his eyes dramatically as we approached, leaning back in his chair as he drained a wine glass. And from the bottles surrounding the legs of the table, it seemed it wasn't his first, or even fifteenth.

He leveled his near-glowing eyes on Jordan as we approached, a slow-spreading smile stretching his face. And somehow, I knew he knew what had happened after he left us in the gym. His words moments later confirmed it and mortified me.

"I see you finally let out all that pent-up frustration. Good for you, Mors. And Gabby, I didn't think you had it in you, quite literally."

I hated the old nickname he called me, and Jordan didn't seem to appreciate hers either, as she glared at Ailech, who must have told of her moniker. He pretended not to notice though, sipping at his own wine glass like it was an incredibly intricate process. When Jordan didn't answer, I spoke in her stead.

"Ailech, sober up, we know where to find my father."

Both Ailech and Malachi's eyes widened, and though I enjoyed seeing Malachi so transparent, something about the way his jaw set right after put me on edge. Jordan must have seen it too, as she was watching Malachi with her brow furrowed, like she was trying to see into him. But I had been trying that, trying to search his soul ever since his arrival, and all to very little end.

She continued to watch him anyway, determination etched onto her face as he placidly, perhaps drunkenly, looked back at her, tapping his collar to some unknown beat, one corner of his mouth quirked up into a sinister grin.

"You can't get into my hea-"

He started in a sing-song voice, surprisingly smooth for how deep and rough it usually was. But then Malachi snapped his mouth shut, concentration lining his face as well.

"You. Can't." He ground out, his voice back to a feral growl.

"Actually, I can. For one, you're drunk which makes you an easy target. But more than that, you shared blood with me, forged a connection, and whether you like it or not, we are connected beyond that too, even before the blood. I knew when the Collector was torturing you in your dream, I know how to get you to talk, and...I've seen under your anger, seen under your emotions when I strip them away. So, I. Can. Get. In. Your. Head. Because I know you, somehow."

There was strain in Jordan's voice by the end, as they were clearly battling in a way neither Ailech nor I could see. And it seemed Jordan was winning. I didn't like that she had some unknown connection to Malachi, but I couldn't deny that it was true. And his heal and blood sharing had only solidified it more.

"Why did you choose tonight to get drunk? Why did you react like you did in the gym - what is it about today? What do you know?"

Jordan asked each question as she stepped forward, one step per statement, getting closer to Malachi and answers with each. He shook his head like he thought he could fling her from his mind. His hair briefly hid his face as he fisted his hands on the table. I saw Jordan's pupils warring with their storm-gray, and I knew she was pulling even more power to break through his wine-soaked defenses.

"Tell me," her voice sounded different and before I looked I knew she had fully Shifted.

I hadn't thought about why now, why Malachi was suddenly acting so strange. I figured it was merely because he was changing, because he was away from my father's influence, because today had been straining, reminding him of years of trauma and torture, psychological and physical. But that hadn't been it at all. I had been fooled by him. My greatest blindspot always had been my past. But he hadn't fooled Jordan, she saw it, sensed it, recognized that something was off. I thanked the ceiling for her for what seemed the tenth time in the last day. I truly didn't deserve her.