The Bad Guys in Blood Moon

Haunted

Before you start reading, I should probably warn you that what one character does to another in this chapter is, while I attempted to keep it tame, extremely creepy.

BTW, Gabi's a demisexual biromantic, in case anyone was wondering. Enjoy!

While the Bad Guys slept soundly, Gabi felt completely restless. She hoped that Piranha, who slept beside her, wouldn't awake to find her in this state.

"You should've told him."

Gabi flinched, but didn't turn. She knew whose voice that was. The voice of someone who wasn't there physically.

"Why are you here?" she asked the voice.

"You know why I'm here. Try as you might, but you can never escape me. Whether I'm alive or dead."

"When will you be done with me?" Gabi asked, carefully getting out of bed. "All you do is hurt me. You've kept me locked up for three years..."

"You chose that."

"You lied to me about everything..." Gabi continued. Piranha woke up just as she left the room.

"You're lying to your husband. How's that different?"

"You tortured me..." Gabi sobbed quietly. "I had a miscarriage because of you."

"If you had listened to me, it may not have happened."

"Get out of my head!" Gabi pleaded. "I just want you gone!"

"Then, why'd you stop taking your medicine?"

knock! knock! knock!

The voice vanished once Gabi heard the door to the apartment. She opened it and found a lizard standing at the door wearing a shirt with the number DT-768 stitched into it.

"Can I help you?" she asked the lizard.

"Um, the Mother wishes to speak to you," they replied.

"Oh, um, okay," Gabi said, pulling the robe off the coat rack and slipping it on. Once she was gone, Piranha discreetly followed them all the way to Minerva's headquarters, but the lizard closed the door once Gabi went inside. The lizard began to walk away, but turned back around when they heard Piranha attempting to open the door.

"No one's allowed in there without the Mother's permission," DT-768 informed him.

"I knew that," Piranha lied. "But that's my wife in there, and I wanna know what your 'Mother's' doin' to her."

"I hate to say it, but I, too, am a little skeptic of her," the lizard admitted. Piranha raised an eyebrow. "I mean, just three months ago, I lost my job, could no longer pay my rent, people kept misgendering me. Then, out of the blue, this red wolf appeared, wearing a shirt like this one, and told me a change was coming and I was welcome to be a part of it? I don't know if it was a coincidence or if I was being watched."

"But you joined anyways?" Piranha asked.

"Where else was I supposed to go?" they replied. "Besides, I had been meaning to change my name for a while."

"No offense, pal," Piranha said, "but DT-768 ain't a very good name."

"I know," said the lizard. "Even though it won't happen, I would like my name to be... Zyon."

"Now, that's a good name," Piranha agreed. "But, uh, what makes you think it won't happen?"

"Over the last three months, I've noticed Mother Minerva names fully fledged Flock members after figures in Greek and Roman mythology and literature," Zyon explained. "Minerva is the Roman goddess of justice. And there were no Zyons in Greece or Rome. Yeah, I'm kind of an ancient history nerd."