BLOOD AND BONE | rewritten

19

Delphinium stared out the window to the place where Kane and Arlo's forms were like ants. Her theory about the sniper's placement was only a guess based upon personal experience. She shouldn't have said it. She'd just wanted to defy her natural inclination to keep to herself for once, to prove she could be a danger-just not too much of one. It was a fine line, and one she feared crossing when surprise flitted over Kane's face at her suggestion.

It was nearly enough to make her wish they wouldn't find anything. What kind of a person was glad to know such things? Cutting people apart was not a skill she ever wished on herself. Yet she still relied on it. Regardless of how violence made her feel, it was the way she needed to be.

It was her two-sided nature at war with itself once again. Sometimes she could actually feel it pulling the threads of her mind until they frayed.

No longer able to stomach her own polarized thoughts, Delphinium looked away. The crime scene investigator from earlier noticed her standing alone and told her, "The body is still on site. We were told to keep it here for your team's inspection. Would you like to see it?"

Though her power had nothing to do with corpses, nor did she particularly want to see a gory one, Delphinium nodded. At the investigator's beckon, she was led to a smaller, less crowded room branching off the parlor. She stopped at a gray body bag sitting upon a rich brown table. Dried blood stained through thick fabric.

As the face was uncovered, the smell of the dead washed over Delphinium. The skin was horrible in its grayness. Bending to inspect the entry wound, she found it pierced directly through the heart: a perfect shot. The kind of kill she used to chase. The kind of kill she used to be rewarded for.

Aware of a few new presences at her back, Delphinium looked over her shoulder. In the threshold stood the same investigator, gesturing for Jake and Jaxon to view the corpse too. Delphinium held in a wavering breath. Being in a room alone with the two of them, especially after what Jake had told her in their last conversation, scared her more than any sniper. Jaxon went to the end of the table. Jake remained by the exit. Blocking it. He did that on purpose, didn't he?

Jaxon yanked back the unzipped portion of the bag, unveiling the bullet wound again. He let out a low whistle. "Whoever killed her, I admire the bastard's aim."

It was an immense effort not to keep an eye on Jake, but Delphinium refused to let him break her. If he was going to attack, would Jaxon be so relaxed? And it likely wouldn't happen with three crime scene investigators in the foyer outside. But then again, Jake had nearly killed Jaxon in a room full of armed soldiers. It was a harrowing anticipation to never be sure what he might do.

You're a killer, she thought. He knows that much. Now act like it. Coward.

"This is a wild goose chase," Jaxon said, bored once more. "Traveling from crime scene to crime scene with little-to-no evidence. What did Hunt expect, for us to put on our detective caps and solve his mystery like obedient little cartoon characters?"