Heart Pangs

Chapter 40 - First Consuming

Lux stands unmoving as Lenora rises and crosses over to him. The light from the window falls on her as she does so. She raises one of her hands to eye level and between her fingers is a bottle of neutralizers.

"Is this what you were looking for?" she asks. She turns the bottle so the pills rattle within. "They're expired. They won't help very much."

Shakily, Lux snatches them from her. "They're better than nothing."

Lenora only frowns.

Lux gives her a scrutinizing look, his heart still racing. She had been waiting for him, that much is clear. He just can't discern why.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

"Waiting for you."

"I can see that. But why?"

"Bakula sent me."

Lux stiffens. So she had come to arrest him.

He does a quick mental calculation of his odds on fighting her off. He's not willing to severely injure her, which puts him at a disadvantage, especially if she doesn't have any such reservations. And then there's Benji. He'll surely overhear the commotion and come to see what's going on, and then Lux will have to protect him as well. And then there's the possibility of Lenora calling for back-up...

But then she continues speaking.

"Or rather, I convinced him to let me come."

Lux feels a glimmer of hope, though it's marred by uncertainty. On what grounds would Lenora want to see him so badly?

He remains silent as she continues explaining.

"I told him you probably hadn't changed your security codes since we'd been together, so I could easily get inside. You really should update them, by the way." Lenora rolls her eyes. "And then I told him that, of anyone at the Facility, I would be the one most likely to gain your trust and bring you in with little to no resistance. So he gave me the job. I've been waiting all morning, and I was starting to hope that maybe you weren't stupid enough to come back here after all." She shrugs. "Looks like I got my hopes up for nothing, though."

For a long moment, Lux can only stare at her, trying to figure out where she stands.

"So," he starts slowly, "are you taking me in or...?"

Lenora's nose scrunches in distaste. "No, of course not. Who knows what the Supervisor would do to you. The whole Facility is in an uproar because you left with a live prey. No one can believe you risked disposal just so you could digest at home."

Lux blinks. "So I can digest at home?" he says slowly.

Lenora narrows her eyes. "That is why you did it, right? That's what the security guard confessed anyway, right before Bakula disposed of him." She lets out a small shiver. "The Supervisor is in a rage about it and wants to know what about your prey made her good enough to break the rules for. He keeps going on about how you deserve execution, but no one believes he'll do it. Not to you. He's too proud of you to get rid of you for such a small offense."

Lux hardly registers her words. "So everyone believes I left with live prey just so I could digest at home?" he repeats. His thoughts are in a whirl but his mind feels like it's leaden with molasses. If what Lenora is saying is true then, had he stayed, he might have been able to talk himself out of the situation. Lux knows it's true what the other Facility workers think of him, that Supervisor Bakula is too proud to get rid of him so easily. He could have used that to his advantage. He could have avoided so much trouble. But instead he had ran. And he looks far more guilty because of it.