dot.

52: Playing the Good Guy

a/n: this chapter swears quite a bit. it is also the second to last chapter. thank you for sticking with this book all the way through :D. after the next chapter there will be an afterword and maybe some short stories/an epilogue if i feel up to it.

  "Hell."

  When Nimue woke up again, the sight of the same four dull walls that had encased her son for so many years caused her to sit up with a start.

  Shit.

  They were really back here. After all she'd done to try and finally get up the courage to flee from Digorn at long last, she was back where she had begun, all because Felix didn't feel like listening.

  And now, his parents and brother (the only safe people that lived close enough to potentially help), were locked in with them too.

  "You..." She stormed towards Felix and seized him by his collar, resisting the urge to slap him in the face with all her strength. "Look what you've done! If you hadn't made Dot leave the place where we were before... if we hadn't tried to stay at your house..." The woman gave into her desires and raised a furious arm, wanting nothing more than to smack his irritating face off.

  But before that could happen, Nsia ran up behind her and grabbed the back of her arm to prevent any harm coming to her son. "Listen, calm down- hurting him won't solve anything- no, seriously, listen-!" She continued trying to convince Nimue to release Felix as the man in question attempted to tell her how he 'had no idea this was going to happen!', in a voice that was becoming increasingly more and more panic-stricken by the second.

  Dot was still passed out on the ground; clearly his smaller body was taking longer to fight off the sedative than his mother. Tiro and Leander were sat near him, the former stationed there by his girlfriend to make sure her son was okay when he woke up, and the latter looking scared out of his mind, pale and uncomfortable as he gently shook Dot to try and wake him. Perhaps the teen thought having the one being in this room armed with sharp claws would bring him some comfort- not that the hybrid had ever mustered up the courage to properly use them against his captors before. Besides, what Leander had yet to notice was that while they were all passed out, someone- probably Crita- had shaved them down again.

  Only James was awake and doing nothing, sitting near Leander with an expression plastered over his face that could only be described as guilt as he recalled picking up when Digorn had called last night.

  Had he traced the call?

  Is that why he was able to find them?

  Was this all his fault?

  He had to tell them. If this truly was his fault, then he couldn't let his son get beat up over something he had no part in.

  "Hey, uh-"

  "What." Nimue turned towards him, tone laced with venom.

  Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

  "You got a call... last night... from Digorn..." James found himself trailing off as he tried to tell the story, and lost even more of his confidence when Nimue abandoned Felix in favour of taking out her frustrations on him instead, leaving a raw pink handprint across his face. "And you choose to tell us this now?"

  "I thought- I thought it would be useful-"

  "To tell me once we've already been screwed over? Yeah! Thank you so much! Very useful."

  "Well maybe he traced the call, okay?! I didn't want you to be pissed off at Felix over something I did!"

  The woman he was yelling at sighed, brushing her hair out of her face before turning her attention back to him. "He wouldn't have needed to trace the call. Your address was saved on my computer, so once he got into that he was sorted. I keep all my passwords and usernames written down like some sort of bloody acorn as well, so. It wouldn't have been a difficult hacking experience or anything like that."

  "So it's your  fault!" Yelled Felix from behind them, face bathed in glee. "Ha!"

  "The address wouldn't have meant anything if we weren't fucking there  though, would it?" She spat back. "What did Digorn say to you during the call?" Nimue abruptly changed the conversation, clearly not wanting anyone else to comment on her hand in the incident.

  "Not much. Just looking for y-"

  James never got to finish telling her what happened though, as at that moment the door swung open and hit the opposing wall with a sharp bang, making Dot finally wake up as he winced and covered his hears while the sound echoed around the space.

  Upon seeing he was back in his room, he let out a soft hiss and sort of slumped back into himself, defeated.

  Although, he didn't get to be blissfully unnoticed for long.

  "You. Here."

  Digorn told Crita to hold the door open as he waved his hand in Dot's direction. "We're not wasting any more time. Get over here- now- and be quick about it."

  When Dot remained glued to the spot, dark eyes full of terror fixed on the tall pair of intruders, the boss sent Crita out to fetch him instead. The order was met with a short, sharp hiss from Dot as he delicately shuffled backwards and away from her.

  Nimue ran in front of Crita and grabbed her arm, not letting her go any closer. Felix, Nsia, Tiro and James all moved in front of Dot- although the latter with more hesitation than his counterparts. Leander remained where he was, already close to the hybrid.

  "Look- he's done enough-"

  "So? Orders are orders."

  Crita ignored Nimue's feeble complaints, the standoff between them gaining more tension by the second.

  "No- please, I swear-"

  "You've grown a conscience, haven't you? Trying to play the good guy? You're not the good guy. Stopping me from taking him won't change that."

  "I know." Nimue took a deep breath and moved herself directly in front of Crita, moving the other woman's arms so that they clung to her wrists. "So take me instead."