In my bed every night.
At my side during meetings.
Wearing my collar like a queen wears a crown.
Fuck.
The coffee tastes bitter, or maybe that's just my mood.
Through the window, I watch normal people living their normal lives.
A woman walks by with her daughter, maybe fifteen, same age Selene was when I destroyed her life.
The girl is laughing at something on her phone, innocent, unaware that monsters like me exist in broad daylight.
Selene isn't innocent anymore.
Hasn't been since that night.
But last night, trying to save David, she showed she still has pieces of that girl inside her.
The girl who tried to save her parents.
Who pressed her hands against bullet wounds, trying to stop the inevitable.
That girl has no place in my world.
My phone buzzes. Peter.
She's awake. Hasn't left the guest room.
Of course, she hasn't.
She's waiting for me to come to her, to tell her she's forgiven, that she can stay.
She's waiting for me to be weak.
I signal the waitress. "Two orders of the breakfast special. One black coffee, one green tea. To go."
She nods, scurries away. Everyone here scurries around me. Everyone except Selene, who stood between me and her ex like she could protect him. From me. The memory makes my jaw clench.
The audacity of it. The stupidity.
The bravery.
She knew what I was capable of.
She’s seen me order violence as casually as ordering coffee.
She’s watched me destroy the Covenant members without blinking.
And still, she stood there, chin raised, and told me no.
No one tells me no.
No one except her, apparently.
Vincent was right. This is dangerous.
