“I see you,” he said. The prisoner’s voice made her think of a talking serpent. “I know what you’ve done. You belong here, with us. You’d like it in here. We’re like you. You wouldn’t feel so alone.”
“I am nothing like you,” Myanin spat at the man, if that’s what he was. The evil radiating from him made her wonder if she was actually parlaying with a demon.
He chuckled and leaned closer. “Keep telling yourself that. Maybe you’ll actually believe it. But I doubt it. They won’t let you forget.”
“Who?” Myanin asked before she could remind herself she shouldn’t talk to lunatics.
“Your victims. They stay with you. They have no peace.” He didn’t sound like the idea bothered him. He actually sounded gleeful about it. “They all want to know the same thing. Why?”
Myanin took a step back, and her lungs tightened. Why, Myanin? Lyra’s voice returned. Why did you do this? She noticed again that the tone of Lyra’s voice had changed. It was less condemning and more understanding which only gutted Myanin more.
“What do you tell them?” Myanin asked the prisoner. Why the hell can’t I keep my mouth shut?
Impossibly, his eyes seemed to grow even darker. “Because I could. Because they were weak, and I was not. Because I wanted to. Because, because, because,” he said, spittle flying from his lips. “Does the reason even matter?” Madness danced in his eyes as he laughed. His chuckle was gone in a flash, and he moved quickly, standing nose to nose with her. “Why did you do it?” he whispered. “Did someone make you feel weak? Did someone think they were better than you? Or did you just like the way it felt to know you had that power? The power to take life from another.”
Myanin pushed the repulsive man away. He stumbled back, the smile returning to his face. Tenia stepped in front of him. “Join the others in line. You want to come with us.”
“I do want to come with you,” he said, his voice rising a bit higher as he danced from foot to foot. “We’re going to have fun.” It wasn’t expressionless or monotone as the others had been.
Tenia narrowed her eyes on him, but when he fell in line with the others, she turned to Myanin. “You okay?”
Myanin swallowed down the bile. “Yes. Let’s just get these back to the Order and be done with it. I need some sleep.” She couldn’t help but wonder if she would find any rest in sleep. Maybe if she would just answer Lyra, if she’d just be honest with herself, then rest would come. The problem was being honest meant accepting what she truly was: a murderer.
“And cotton candy,” Tenia said, her eyes crinkling at the sides as she smiled.
Myanin snorted. “Definitely.”
Myanin stood with Tenia outside the Order compound. It had taken much longer than Myanin had expected. Tenia couldn’t hypnotize everyone that worked at the prison. Someone would inevitably notice missing prisoners. They’d learned after the first removal that, apparently, the escape of prisoners is an uncommon event among the humans, and it greatly disturbs them. Myanin marveled at this, since the security in those places was so pathetic. Still, they soon realized they would need to spread out their efforts, taking small groups of prisoners from different facilities here and there, rather than gathering them all at once. This made their job much slower, which annoyed her greatly.
“It’s all over the human news.” Ludcarab growled at the two females. They stood watching the other fae lead the soon-to-be-vamped humans into the complex. “Prisoners escaping without a trace. The theories being espoused are laughable. Alien abduction is the current consensus.”
“We left no evidence behind,” Tenia assured him. “Myanin took out all the video surveillance before we went in.”
“Why did it take so long?” Alston asked.
Myanin glanced at Tenia and then looked back at the two males attempting to intimidate them. “Because unlike you two, we don’t foolishly rush in without a plan. We researched our targets before we began and captured only the people the humans had classified as highly dangerous. We picked out those among them that would be easier to control. Not to mention there was only Tenia there to flash them.”
Tenia had worked her magic on every person they came in contact with, and when they’d made it to the warden, they’d requested permission to look at the files, which was quickly granted. Some crimes were disgusting, so disgusting Myanin had wanted to immediately find those prisoners and melt their brains inside their heads. She’d even managed to convince herself that their crimes were worse than her own, and weren’t they? Myanin hadn’t hurt a helpless child. That had to count for something. The darkness inside of her nodded relentlessly, agreeing with her, demanding that she was so much better than the likes of those who’d done more than simply poison a person. But Myanin had done more than poison a person. She’d taken a part of Lyra. Her mind was suddenly flashing back to that moment when she’d stared down at Lyra’s frozen form. No longer was she standing in the Order compound. Though she knew she wasn’t really gone. Her body was very much there, but her mind? Her mind was firmly planted in the past. A past she so desperately didn’t want to be her own.
Myanin had taken Lyra’s magic, something that was as much a part of the woman as her own blood and bones. Was that akin to
