Xander rolled his eyes, then leaned in close to the glass. He forced a cruel grin onto his face and whispered into the phone. “The itsy bitsy Spider went up the water spout...”
Now Genblade clutched the phone, clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. “You never did answer my question,” he said after a second’s pause, changing the topic with only the slightest trace of frustration. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“Some weird shit happened last night,” he answered finally, leaning back against his chair and doing his best to appear casual. “The cops say we’re looking at a copycat killer, but I wasn’t as sure. Came to make sure the man I put behind bars was still there.”
Genblade harked out an honest laugh, slapping himself against the knee and making his chains rattle. “Ha! I wish I were out. Man, that’d be a good time.” He leaned in close to the glass just as Xander had a moment ago. “First I’d go up to good-old Coral Beach Square and paint the town red with your blood. Really see how good that healing power of yours is. Then I’d finally off that loser friend of yours. And Cathy... well, it’d be fun, lemme tell ya. I am a widower now, after all. I think she could provide hours of comfort... days even.”
Xander felt hot blood rush to his face even as he tried to block out the visuals Genblade was making for him. “So you had absolutely nothing to do with last night?”
“Sorry, pal,” he remarked slyly. “Wish I could tell you different.”
“Thanks,” Xander snapped sarcastically, rolling his eyes.
“Hey,” Genblade cut in, his tone deadly serious for the first time since the call began. “Don’t take that tone here. You think you’re better than me because I’m a killer? That’s rich, from you.”
“Not the same.”
“Everyone’s a killer, kid. Every person on this planet, their first act of life is to out swim ten thousand other sperm, all for a fucking woman. Just living means you’ve already killed thousands. So don’t act like you’re better than me.”
Xander looked as though he were about to respond, then stopped, unable to think of anything to say that would combat Genblade’s warped logic. Frowning, he took the phone away from his ear and started to place it on the receiver.
“Hey!” Genblade screamed, his voice ringing out over the line. “Don’t worry about me, buddy! I’ll be out of here in no time!”
Eyes wide with shock, Xander slowly brought the phone back to his face. “What do you mean? They can’t let you out.”
“Sure can. Pretty soon I’ll never have to see this place again. Ain’tcha heard? I’ve been given the death penalty for ‘my’ crimes,” he spat harshly, his voice thick with sarcasm as he hung up the line.
The glass door slammed shut behind Xander, its dull thud echoing around his head as he stepped out into the fall air. The sun shone directly onto his face as a cool breeze ripped at him. He barely noticed either. His eyes were wide and unblinking as he started to walk down the gravel trail to the main drag, feeling each step resonate through his body like a shockwave. Everything felt harder, sharper... more real than it had before he’d gone in. For the first few feet he was completely devoid of any thought at all, his brain refusing to do anything else until it processed what it had just heard.
Genblade is going to die, he thought as soon as he was able to. He was almost in the parking lot now and already his legs ached from the movement. Just the act of filing the information away had exhausted him, body and soul.
“Genblade - - is going to die,” he said aloud, shifting the emphasis of the sentence around to try and force it to make sense. It didn’t work well.
He spun around suddenly on the asphalt of the lot, slamming his fist down on the hood of a nearby car before even he knew what he was doing. The white metal hood of the police cruiser compacted in under the weight of his fist. He stared at it for a moment, his eyes singeing with fury, before he finally blinked and let sanity return to his face. Looking around to make sure nobody had seen him, he turned and walked quickly toward Laird Street.
Goddamn it, he cursed inwardly, his train of thought finally beginning to chug down the tracks again. God fucking damn it!
His hand still throbbed violently and he ground his teeth together to steel against the pain.
Genblade was the one thing I still have to cling to in all this mess. As long as he’s alive I can say that I didn’t kill him back at Engen. That I still had some small touch of humanity, whatever that meant. He paused, gazing down at his open-palmed hand. Slits slowly appeared on the tips of each finger, dribbling blood trails as dark talons poked their way out. I can say that I’m not a monster.
Now that’s changed, he thought bitterly, shoving his hand back into his pocket. If Genblade’s killed for my crimes, then I may as well have done the deed myself. It’ll be another death on my hands.
I can’t have that.
The worst part is Genblade probably doesn’t even deserve the death penalty. Locked away forever, maybe, but not death. I should probably be the one getting the chair. I’m the one with the double-digit death count.
He paused and waited for a large truck to pass, then started walking down Laird Street. Genblade’s words still rang in
