“I’m not gonna trust anything coming out of your mouth. So, open the fucking gate.”
Veronica leaned in close to Molly and whispered, “I remember him being a lot better looking.”
Molly snickered. “Dating trash rubs off on you.”
“Look who’s talking,” Priscilla spoke up. Molly’s eyes slowly, unwillingly drew toward Priscilla who stood next to me. She didn’t want to look away from me, but couldn’t deny the chance to fight someone. Priscilla was bundled up in her big, black coat and stood defiantly. If she was afraid of facing off with Molly, she didn’t show it. “You’re not looking too fresh these days either, Molly,” she finished.
Molly shook her head and moved a few steps closer to the gate. “Well, look who it is. It’s the miserable bitch cashier. Whose brilliant idea was it to invite such a black hole of a human being?”
“Nobody had to invite me.”
Through a laugh, she said, “Oh, right, because you’re so needed. You gonna give a big speech about friendship now? I guarantee you they’re only condoning you. Nobody likes you, Priscilla. Nobody ever has.”
Priscilla was unaffected. “Shouldn’t you be someplace rotting?”
Molly stumbled back a step, her mouth twisted with fury. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
“Duh. I just fucking said it.”
“I’d be careful with what you say, Priscilla. I’m not the same girl you once knew.”
“You practically had your liver pulled out through your asshole and was left to die, and you’re worried about who Max is dating. You’re the same thirteen-year-old I remember.”
“No. I’m stronger and faster than you’ll ever be. So shut your mouth, or I’ll pull out your tongue.”
Melanie extended her arm out in front of Priscilla and acted as a shield. Even with the fence between us, she felt it was necessary. “We don’t have to get hostile. Master and I already talked this over and I’m here, as he requested. So, bring him to us.”
“Beg,” Veronica purred.
“That won’t be necessary,” a voice echoed from the darkness. In the blink of an eye, The Master came strolling through the snow. I don’t know what I expected him to look like, but I know it wasn’t a tall, thin, gangly looking motherfucker who could probably be the frontman to a poser black metal band. His left hand coiled around Cora’s arm as he dragged her along with him like she were a ragdoll, coming closer to me quickly. Cora could barely keep up with his speed and kept slipping and sliding across the ground. She looked pale and exhausted, and I wanted so badly to bend the steel that divided us and fuck him up for whatever he did to make her look that way.
Goddamn…the feeling, though…the way my chest felt lighter when she appeared and I knew she was alive. It was indescribable.
“What a pleasant surprise to see you all congregated here,” he said as he tossed Cora forward. Her body bounced against the fence, and she winced in response. Between the bars of steel that she gripped, she looked right at me and our eyes met. I could feel her relief that I was there, but also the fear of what was to come afterward.
She mouthed the words “I’m sorry” to me, as though her being snatched up in the middle of the night was somehow her fault. It was mine. I never should have left her out of my sight with all of this shit going on. I failed her. I fucking failed her.
The Master continued. “I knew Melanie wasn’t the type to keep her word, so I’m appreciative that you are. Max, is it?”
“That’s me,” I said dryly, with a clenched jaw. I didn’t want to make small talk with this asshole.
“Well, Max, I’m glad you’re here. And no cavalry on top of it.”
“It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” I seethed.
“I never specified, but any human with half a brain would know such a thing would displease me. So much so I might have to hurt someone. I guess that puts you in the top tier of your kind. It’s a small victory, but a victory nonetheless.”
My eyes flickered over at Melanie and hoped she remembered our plan, and when she gave me a small nod, I knew she understood. We just had to get them to open the gate first.
“Enough with the chit-chat. Let’s just get this over with,” I said.
The Master smirked. “I forget how precious every minute is to a human. Everything is a rush, rush, rush.”
“Yeah, we’re all kinds of obnoxious like that. Let’s get on with it.”
His black eyes left me and landed onto Melanie. “Hop on over,” he ordered. He wanted her to climb over the gate without ever opening it. That wasn’t gonna fly.
“No,” I said. “I may seem young in comparison to you, but I wasn’t born fucking yesterday. We do the trade when I have Cora next to me.”
“You seem to be under the impression this is your trade to control.”
“You seem to forget that if you want to go through with your asinine plot, you need what we have.”
“And I have what you love,” he replied and then wrapped his hand around Cora’s throat and yanked her back several feet and close against his chest. “I’ve been more than magnanimous with her, but if you’re going to unnecessarily drag this process out, I can find ways to kill time.” He slipped his tongue out and dragged it across her cheek and down to her neck. It was only then that I realized she had cuts running across her skin. “I assume she tastes sweet everywhere,” he finished and then smirked.
I clenched my fists so hard I could feel the skin breaking.
He was dead. He was fucking dead.
“Please don’t,” Melanie cried. “Open the gate and you can have
