Separian - Book 1

Chapter 30

I've got fifty that says he makes contact on the first swing.

A hundred says he can't land a single shot.

You two are ridiculous. The voice of a woman. A sensible woman. Two hundred says he doesn't even try. Never mind.

"Come on," Marissa said suddenly and tapped her cheek, "Right here. I want you to knock some teeth loose." I referred back to my earlier analysis of Marissa as the mother figure and revised it, ever so slightly. Psychotic. Nowhere close to Ana and Casey's level, but if pushed, I was certain she could pull it off.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this now," I said. "I'd prefer to watch for a bit longer. Or at the very least call Amy."

"Taken care of," Mike said, waving us off. He was still paying attention to another group of people with his back to us. "You can be angry about it later."

"How did you even get her number- My memory..." I sighed. It was already getting old. "I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I would still prefer to do this not now."

"Why? Are you still channeling some residual anger?" As a matter of fact, yes. But I wasn't going to verbalize that fact any more than it already had been. Her footing shifted toward me. "Did bringing Samuel so close to death feel good?"

She was trying to provoke me into an attack. But it wouldn't work. I wasn't angry beyond my own control, or any other emotion for that matter. Something told me that voice I'd heard before killing Samuel had something to do with it. I didn't see a more suitable explanation.

"The reality is, you shouldn't be angry with him. After all, he didn't drag an innocent family into a world that even he didn't want to be a part of." She turned her back to me. And this Amanda-"

"Amy." I said flatly, refusing to give in to her taunts.

"So this Amy girl; you care about her, but rather than try and protect her from the world you forced her to be a part of, you're going to just wait for another Deseparian to come along and pick your history apart, starting with her?"

Marissa's going to die.

I'm changing my previous bet. Five hundred says he breaks a bone.'

I don't think you'll lose that bet, mate.

Neither do I.

The three voices from before were now all on the same page. I heard someone else say they were afraid I would accidentally kill her, but I was still contained. Even with Marissa's provocation.

"So you agree. She's eventually going to die." I was contained... but getting mighty warm. "Goodness that sounds horrible. I wonder what your real mother would think if she knew you were the reason an entire family was killed because of your negligence."

The image before me changed instantly. It was like waking when I'd realized Samuel had killed Casey. The muscles in my arms and legs relaxed from an agitated state.

I didn't remember moving at all. However, I was now standing over a bleeding Quinn, a fist shaped shiner still molding into her cheek. "Oh..." What had I done? Where was Marissa? "I am so sorry." I knelt down to her level and tried to help her up and received an uppercut that forced my teeth to snap against one another.

I was knocked back over 5 yards from where she now stood, wiping a trail of blood from her chin. "You hit like a girl." Why had I hit Quinn? When did she enter the scene?

"What's going on?" I asked, looking around us. The picture surrounding us had changed as well as my attacker. "Where did everyone go?"

"A safe distance away," Quinn said, readying for another pass, whether I was consenting to it or not. "Brace yourself."