[ Glow ] ~ Anthony Lockwood x OC

XVII - Just Listen

"Lockwood!" Daniel groaned as she stayed just behind him, he was heading toward the front of the house again. The sun was setting,  encasing the house in darkness. 

"What is it, Dani?" Lockwood spun around, stopping in his spot and shooting her a careful smile. 

"Why won't you just listen?" Daniel huffed, crossing her arms against her chest. "That girl, Ellie?" 

"What about her?" 

"She's the person who- I- I recognized her voice and she-" Daniel sputtered over her words. 

Lockwood sighed, "Dani, I've gotta go do something. Can we talk about this later?" 

"Lockwood no, it's-" 

"Daniel, I really have to go grab something. I promise we can talk about this later." Lockwood gave her a dismissive smile before walking away. 

"It's important. . ." Daniel frowned, drawing in a tight breath. She turned, returning to the room that George and Lucy were waiting in. Fine, Lockwood didn't have to listen. She could hold in the information all to herself. They were clearly not meant to leave this case, but Daniel would be damned if she watched anyone of them die in front of her. She'd draw her rapier through her own chest, just like Blythe had, before she saw anyone die. "Find anything?" Daniel's words were hard, her face blank as she entered the room. Lucy was in the center of the large room, George off to the side with a thermometer in hand. Daniel walked right past the two of them when she didn't get an answer, her hand finding the wall. Her eyes fell shut, letting the sensations of joy lift her chest. They only lasted for a moment as she trailed the perimeter of the room, the feeling quickly being overpowered by an all encompassing darkness. Her chest felt heavy and her entire body slumped in on itself, that wasn't good. It was all so negative, a faint screaming sounding through her ears and ricocheting off her skull. In an instant, Daniel let out a scream to rival the one in her head. Her arm felt like it'd been sliced off, pain shooting through her body. With a heaved gasp, Daniel pulled her hand from the wall. Letting out pants of breath as she looked down to find that her limb was in fact still there. She swallowed hard, turning away from the wall and walking further toward George who was now staring at her. 

"This whole place is freezing up." George determined, his tone shaken but still strong. "And it's hard to map a source because the rooms don't fit together properly. I think there's something old that's hidden away." 

"It's strong, I can feel it below us. The struggle is just getting there." Daniel's tone was airy, her heart still hammering and lungs burning. A faint tapping sound started to ring through the room.

"It feels like we're going in blind." George finalized, his tone definite. "Are we sure we wanna do this?" 

"I'm not." Lucy said, shaky. "Lockwood?" She called over her shoulder.

"I tried telling him, it's a shit idea. He wouldn't listen." Daniel murmured, crossing her arms to her chest. Putting the pressure of her arm up against her body helped remind her that the pain of loosing it was all in her head.  

"Lockwood, what are you doing?" George yelled as well, he looked tense as he shifted his body weight against his feet. 

Clicking and whirring could be heard down the hall where their boss remained, it sounded akin to a fishing rod reeling in. Daniel huffed, shaking her head and walking over to the closest table. A similar warmth filled her chest only to be snuffed out by the same darkened feeling. Her concentration was broken by the sound of metal clattering. "Just a spot of fishing." So it was a fishing rod? "Hopefully, this will relax you all a bit." He walked into the room, his footsteps clamoring against the hard wood floors. 

"I came here yesterday after Satchell's to do a bit of recon and stashed this outside." George and Daniel made way closer to him, Lucy already right there in front of Anthony. "It was obvious, Fairfax being who he is, he was gonna search our bags. And, me being me, I was gonna smuggle flares in." He unwrapped an industrial grade bomb flare, the shiny metal glowing slightly under the light of the moon. "We don't have our usual kit, but we do have this bomb flare. Industrial strength. Better be. Cost enough." 

"So the flare in your bag was just decoy contraband." George smiled.

"All part of the dance." Lockwood agreed.

"I've got these too." Daniel hummed out, a frown still on her face as her hands moved to her back to pull the magnesium flare from her leggings. She handed it off to George, not taking his glare of protest, before leaning down to grab the bomb flare in her right shoe. 

"Dans, I knew you were a psychopath."

"How is this abnormally violent?" 

"They're basically bombs and you were caring them around strapped tight to your body, that's not normal aggression." George frowned, his brows pinching as he looked over the flares. 

Daniel only shrugged, tossing the flare up before catching it into her hand. 

"Why didn't you tell us?" Lucy questioned, her voice small.

"What, and deny us all this beautiful moment?" A small smirk played at Lockwood's features, "Come on, Luce. I'm not a monster. Right. Shall we?" 

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Word Count - 909

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Published - July 15, 2023

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