The Last Hero (Villains & Monsters #2)

Chapter 24

More drama here hehehe. Torture, violence and abu$e are mentioned throughout this chapter. Proceed with caution.

- Early March, 2046 - (Two months ago)

"You look like you want to ask me something."

Jamie gulped. There was a sharp edge to Daija's voice. Today wasn't one of her nice days. His head spun as he looked at the blood that pooled on the ground. His blood.

His body was completely healed, but he swore that he could still feel the pain lingering like a ghost. Seeing all of the blood on the ground gave him a bit of relief, knowing that she was just finishing with him and not just starting. But the anger in her voice and the fire in her eyes made him think that today was that "eventually."

"Well?" She asked as she lifted a brow, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. The blue-violet lining of her dark suit glimmered in the faint light of the cell. Beautiful, but menacing.

Slowly, Jamie looked up and shook his head. "I-I don't have anything to ask you." His voice sounded broken, pathetic, but he didn't care. He stopped caring about that a long, long time ago.

Daija scoffed, and she slowly stepped closer to him. Jamie started shaking as she used a gloved hand to gently grab his chin and angle his head so he was looking directly at her. The look in her eyes grew darker, and Jamie was certain that today was the day she'd kill him.

"You really are a puzzle, aren't you?" She whispered almost tenderly, like she was fascinated. Suddenly, he felt nauseous.

Puzzle, puzzle, puzzle.

That's what he was to her. The longer she kept him in the cells, the more she learned about the pieces that made him, him. And ninety-five percent of the time, he revealed it to her on his own instead of her forcing it out of him with truth serum. Little dark secrets about his childhood, how he felt about the heroes, and even how much he hated himself. It was a cruel and fucked up way of getting to know him, but it was working. Parts of him that he was sharing with her, he never shared with anyone else.

"I've learned a lot about you lately," she said as she used a thumb to wipe his tears. He didn't even know that he started crying. "But there's always going to be something about you that I can't quite figure out."

"I don't know what you mean... I swear, I-"

"Shh... You don't need to know what I mean, Jamie." She gently hushed him. "Now ask your question. And don't ask if I'm going to kill you or not, because I don't want to spoil the surprise."

He felt like his heart explode out of his ribs because of how fast it was beating. He was going to die. He took a deep breath and quietly asked her, "In another world, if you were saved, would you have stayed beside me?"

Daija's brows furrowed. "What are you talking about? "If I was saved"? What do you mean?"

"If you were saved before everything went terribly," he said before swallowing hard. He was going to die anyway, so he might as well see if she'd stayed if things were different. "If you were saved from your mother before she started hurting you. If the heroes were true heroes and things were just extremely different. Would you have been a part of the team? Would you have stayed with me?"

There was a thick silence, then eventually, her tired, agitated sigh. Within seconds, he heard the familiar click of the button on her gloves, then pain bloomed across his cheek as she punched him hard with the now-sharp glove. Soon, he felt the warm blood slowly sliding down his skin. As he groaned in agony, she grabbed his face again, and his eyes averted back to hers.