the blood in our future

Tied

Her swing had been brutal, and the blood came fast.

Everything had happened in the blink of an eye for Lucy. Lockwood and her running alongside each other, Colby jumping out from behind that corner and attacking him - there had been no time to think. No time to reconsider.

Reaching for the knife in her pocket had been instinctual, and the blade had whizzed through the air before she'd ever really noticed.

Unbeknownst to her, it was the only reason why she'd succeeded. Why her fingers had carried out the motion without protest.

There hadn't been anything else that could've stopped her.

Colby had been too focused on enjoying the pain on Lockwood's face. He hadn't even glanced at her as she'd moved. For some reason, he must have thought that she would not harm him. He must have thought that she still believed that letter he'd sent her and would not defend Lockwood. But this could not have been further from the truth. She would give heaven and hell for him.

And she certainly had no issue with giving Colby a wound to remember her by.

He dropped the taser onto the floor the second her knife struck true.

The blood came fast, and the expression on his face changed with it.

He looked to his hand first. Disbelieving at the blade stuck in it. Surprised at the blood dripping from where it carved through his flesh.

And then, his eyes latched onto hers. The joy, the glint of pleasure she'd seen in them only seconds ago was traded for something barbaric. Something merciless.

And all at once, Lucy knew that this man in front of her was no human. He was nothing she could ever relate to. Nothing she could ever comprehend.

That thing in front of her was a mocking abomination of everything good, everything compassionate.

Colby was regarding her with the soulless, piercing gaze of a crocodile. His eyes were ruthless. Unforgiving. He was looking at her as if she could cut him open and would find nothing familiar. Only coldness. Only blood-thirst.

He looked at her as if she were feed. As if he'd taken the lives of hundreds already and thousands more would still follow. Not because he needed to eat, but because he needed to kill.

And then, in no more than a heartbeat, everything about him changed.

That unfeeling viciousness vanished from him. The stony-eyed stare disappeared, and a smile took its place. A smile Lucy was sure would have seemed warm to her, had she not seen what had come before.

Lucy hated him, with every fibre of her being.

But something inside of her did not seem to agree.

Because there was something inside of her. Something alien, yet familiar. Something not her own, and yet bound to her. Lucy felt it now. She couldn't help but feel it with how different the emotions it held towards Colby were.

Something inside of her reared up at the sight of him. It came alive again. It felt tenderness at sensing him near. There was yearning and longing. Home-sickness. Guilt. So much guilt. Regret. Loss. The unconditional, all-forgiving love of family.

And then, as it must have seen the blood on his hand and the knife that had caused it: Horror. Fear. Utter betrayal, utter hurt directed towards Lucy, towards the pain she'd caused him. It was almost as if it did not think she'd only defended Lockwood. Almost as if it thought she'd been the aggressor here.

Lucy felt another headache come on, another strong blow to her mind, brokenhearted, disciplining, warning, threatening, but she ignored it, pushed it far away. She felt all of it, yes, and it confused her to no end, but right now, it didn't matter to her.