Always Hate Me

26. The Playground

"Why have you brought us here?" Devi questioned. Ryder had ridden Devi's bike, with Devi sat on the back – her legs extended out of the way of the peddles. It had been a tough ride, away from Gomorrah's warren streets and into the rough terrain of the Outerzone where they'd bounced over stones and potholes. Ryder came to a stop and Devi clambered off, looking around them dubiously. The sun was setting and a low fog engulfed the Chokey, so that only the tips of the grave markers were visible.

Ryder propped up the bike against a tree before leading the way.

"This was where we first me." Devi mused as they walked. Ryder nodded.

"Hmm, amongst the city's dead." He came to a stop, standing over a roughly dug hole. Devi thought back to their first meeting. She'd never be able to forget it, it would be forever vividly imprinted across her mind. She'd been running for her life through the graveyard. 

"Look at it." Ryder gestured down at the hole.

"What is it?"

"My grave."

Devi snorted but then stopped herself, realising that Ryder wasn't smiling.

"What?"

"This is where they buried me, not very deep."

Devi's jaw dropped. She looked back the way they'd come. The graves were mostly on the firmer ground – away from this boggy section. Ryder saw where she was looking. "They buried me away from the other graves. So that my body couldn't corrupt the earth around good people, I suppose." His voice was bitter.

Devi's face crumpled in sympathy.

"Oh, Crevan...." She murmured, unsure what to say. She'd known that he'd been left for dead by vampires, but she hadn't really thought about it enough. He'd been buried – alive. The idea terrified her. Ryder's morose stare fixed on the ground.

"I dug myself out."

Devi bit her lip. No wonder he'd been so strange back then. He'd probably been traumatised. She wished that she could travel back in time and take better care of him. 

"Devi," he turned sharply to face her and his wild gaze startled her. "Would you help me to have my revenge on them?"

"Who? The vampires? I thought you didn't want to report them?"

"I don't."

"But then-"

"I want to hurt them."

Devi considered this. She looked around at the swamp and a shiver snaked down her spine. The vampires that had hurt Crevan and left him for dead. They'd dumped his body here without any remorse. She felt a stirring of rage on his behalf.

"Ok." She nodded, resolutely. "But how?"

"My magic is growing." He raised his hand in demonstration and created a ball of blue fire. "It's because of you, Devi."

"Me?"

"It's all linked to you."

The fog curled around them, swallowing their feet. "I need your pain. The more I feel it," he reached out suddenly and gripped her wrist. Devi cried out and the ball of fire in Ryder's other hand burnt brighter, emitting twinkling blue embers that reflected in Devi's teary eyes. "The stronger I get."