29. XXIX
XXIX
Spencer
C overed in glowing paint, Remi pulled me into one of the side passageways, the dimmed lights barely providing enough illumination.
It was quiet, the thumping EDM music lingering behind. Then, Remi came to a stop in a small, shadowed alcove, enough room to catch our breath.
We were laughing—more like cackling, falling over each other in joint amusement. We were drunk, loaded and everything in between, a potent high pumping through our veins.
Lost in thought, I hadn’t noticed that Remi and I were completely aligned, in the same position we were caught dancing in earlier. As if on instinct, my best friend placed his hands on my waist like it was the most natural thing in the world. To be that close, to be touching me…
I wet my dry lips, his dilated pupils following the motion. I knew that look.
“Rem, this isn’t a good idea,” I said, my fingers dancing to the nape of his neck as we swayed to non-existent music.
“Just one… One kiss. Let me feel those lips. Just once, Spence.” His sweet breath fanned over my mouth before his lips lowered to press against mine. He barely made contact—whether pausing for permission or forgiveness, I wasn’t sure. But with his touch, all my troubles just seemed to drift away. So, I gave in.
I pressed into his embrace, lining the outline of his lips with a quick swipe of my tongue before capturing his mouth with mine.
We parried and savoured, enhancing the caress with drunken licks and bites that had a cascade effect to the rest of my buzzed body. Remi pressed the advantage by utilising every facet of his expertise to turn a simple kiss into a symbolic gesture.
Only one problem… He wasn’t him.
No matter Remi’s prowess, he was a friend, nothing more. The fleeting thought enraged me… Why couldn’t I have fallen in love with him?
Our kiss naturally ended, our faces parting only an inch where his silver eyes examined my features.
“Tell me you don’t feel that, too,” he whispered.
I nodded. “I do, I won’t deny it.” I let my hands unravel and lowered them to the middle of his chest. “But I’m toxic, Remi. I’ll eventually burn you out.”
“Then let me burn.”
“And destroy you in the process? Because I will. I’ll continue to raze everything in my path until there’s nothing left, including the ones I desperately want to protect.”
His expression softened into contemplation as he detangled our position until all contact was lost. “It’s him, isn’t it?”
And, true to my nature, I told him the truth. “And always will be… He is my person, Remi. Even though he’s too stubborn to admit it. He will always be my person.”
Remi nodded respectfully. “If he hurts you again, I will kill him.”
I smirked. “Oh, honey, as if I’d need your help.”
He interlaced our fingers. “Give me a promise. God, if somehow, he does manage to fuck it up again, you’ll give me a proper chance?”
“Don’t act like your fickle heart would wait for me, player boy. We both know you’ll be breaking a line of hearts within a week or so.” He scoffed, and I tsked. “Instead, you promise me …that one day, you’ll give one of them a chance.”
He smiled then—one of his raw, genuine smiles. And we were interrupted by a resounding scream.
“ SPENCER!! ”
Before I could turn, an explosion detonated next to me with a distinctive pop, leaving me drenched in blood and brain matter.
ECHO
Ludus Maximus had infiltrated Vice.
They weren’t even subtle about it. Those hulking fuckers rocked up as if it was a given that they simply invade and conquer.
As fast as it took to process their presence, we were already moving at high speed. We all vaulted over the railing, beelining to the sisters, who continued to unknowingly dance and writhe to the music.
We didn’t even make the outskirts as Psycho launched a solid fist into one soldier’s head and moved on to the next before the former had fully lost consciousness. I had no idea where Ace had gone.
Tanner made better progress, a shining machete wielding back and forth as he chopped through bulk and muscle like a damn butcher. Where the fuck did that come from?
With the heavy base and a darkened room, partying patrons hadn’t caught on to the carnage yet. Glowing fake blood from the DJ mixed with the real crimson river flowing beneath their feet.
Like the trained professionals they were, Micah and Emerson soon clocked on to the scenario which made me yell. “WHERE’S SPENCER!?”
Micah pitched a hand to one of the side hallways before jumping into the fray, too.
I didn’t waste time, bolting for the doorway that Spencer had disappeared. And when I turned the corner, my nerves fucking short-circuited as my brain tried to compute what my eyes were seeing.
Remi kissed Spencer, and his advance wasn’t unwanted. Spencer kissed him back, the caress accepted and returned in kind. My legs buckled for half a second, my hand grasping the wall to prevent my knees from hitting the floor entirely.
Then, I noticed the silhouette of a bulky Ludus male creeping up behind them, gleaming knife in hand. They were too engrossed in intimate conversation to notice the danger approaching their backs.
Without enough time to alert them, I shouted, letting my Variant take care of the encroaching hazard.
“ SPENCER!! ”
I blew the head off that Ludus fucker, his brain matter splattering over every available surface.
Remi and Spencer catalogued the disaster, heads bouncing from the goliath carcass laying at their feet, then to me, standing dumbstruck down the hallway.
I swiped a hand at Remi while addressing Spencer. “Get him out of here.” Although Remi was a part of Vice, he was a lover, not a fighter. If he remained, he’d just get in the way. I also used that excuse hoping she’d leave with him, far away from the unfolding shitshow.
I didn’t have the capacity to process the compromising position I’d found them. I’d lose my shit, and we’d all be dead. So, instead, I beat that envious fucker down and left them behind.
Without another glance, I sprinted back into the main party room, which was absolute fucking bedlam. EDM music continued to play and multi-colored laser lights scored the walls, making the scene fantastical and outright crazy.
Patrons ran frantic, stampeding to the exits as the massacre ensued.
Now, these are the scenarios where I wish I could use my Variant. However, I knew my limitations well. Over the years, I had stretched and tested my ability. I could tally the risks with a quick perusal.
Many factors affected my Variant and how efficiently I could weld it. Proximity to a specific target helped, hence why I could flaunt it easily if whispering in someone’s ear. A quiet, calm environment worked best, and gave me the most control. And the scene before me was not that—instead, a bloodbath of magnifying proportions. Which was extremely risky.
With the combined music, screams and sounds of combat, I wouldn’t be able to fully control the soundwaves in a safe and manageable way.
Sure, I could use it anyway, but at what cost? If the frequencies staggered out of control—which was highly likely in this type of environment—my Variant was as lethal as a wayward bullet. Which could potentially hurt someone I cared about.
With that option unavailable, I slipped Spencer’s knife from my chest holster and entered the panicked crowd.
A gargantuan he-man stepped up to me with a mocking sneer. As if his size was all that mattered in a fight.
I held back from rolling my eyes, and when he came within range, I kicked out, hitting him right in the balls. With a pansy whimper, he buckled to his knees, and I followed through with a clean knee to the face. Yanking on his hair to position at the right angle, I slit his throat.
Unfortunately, it was too easy. Sure, Ludus soldiers were trained in specialised martial arts and all manner of combat. However, they were restricted in their way of thinking. Their regimented lifestyle and misplaced honour ultimately a weakness against spontaneity and underhanded tactics—in which I was an expert.
I continued on, my eyes narrowing with tunnel vision as I sliced and stabbed through a long line of firm flesh. The onslaught never ceased to slow.
When the next darted forward, I slid to my knees, cutting deep across his inner thigh to pierce his femoral artery. Before all the blood had drained from his body, another was already there to replace him.
With the same momentum, I vaulted upward, spinning in an elaborate twist as my blade made contact with his neck, severing his carotid artery with pointed precision.
More continued in the same fashion as I tried to utilise the least amount of energy possible.
It was a grotesque dance, one I was willing to continue all night. Until I had a lapse in contenders, giving me half a second to check the area.
Disbelief shook my foundations as I took in the scene.
Emerson was behind the bar, clearly inebriated—as shown by her swaying form—yet not any less dangerous. She utilised everything she could get her hands on, bottles and glasses flying, her aim surprisingly sure as many Ludus soldiers lay unconscious without ever touching her.
Ace was on the far side of the room, brandishing a makeshift flamethrower from a gas cylinder and his handy lighter, burning idiots alive if they came within range.
Micah fought alongside her lover, doing some acrobatics bullshit that had those burly men twisted in knots. And Psycho lived up to his name, truly psychotic in his deliverance of violence.
Tanner, on the other hand, was a different being altogether. I knew he was hiding his true form, but it was fucking mental. A legitimate hellion metamorphosed from his dark skin, the machete hacking flesh and bone until corpses riddled the dance floor—if they could even be classified as such. They were unrecognisable, carved up so thoroughly, they resembled a mangled carcass after being processed through a grinder.
But that’s not what had my lungs seizing up in my chest as my heart rate spiked faster.
Spencer fought like a lioness, protecting Remi, who was huddled against the wall behind her.
I couldn’t believe what the fuck I was seeing. I fucking told her! I should have known better than to think she’d listen.
That’s when I processed the sheer volume of Ludus Maximus soldiers present. I don’t know how long we had been fighting for, but the amount of casualties already was evidence enough.
The Kings were elite killing machines, proven by the Ultraviolet skull tattoos glowing from the underside of their chins, identifying them as a powerful force with all manner of control over life and death—but even they could not go on forever.
We were severely outnumbered. We wouldn’t survive.
That revelation caused terror to infect my senses, fucking contaminating all my faculties. I couldn’t live without her. Hell, I refused for that to even be a possibility.
Although I fucking loathed the thought of her lips on Remi’s, her choosing another man over me, at that moment it didn’t matter.
As long as she was alive and breathing, no one else mattered.
That one binding promise caused a frenzy in my system that wouldn’t abate. So, before we could be overrun, I accepted the risk of surviving the Ludus vs surviving me.
Inhaling deeply, I let my Variant saturate every last cell, and highlighted the victims who would receive my gift. Then, I unleashed on those fools.
“ LUDUS SCUMMMM!!! ”
An invisible tidal wave of infrasound washed over our enemies with unrelenting force, causing their very blood vessels to quiver and burst, their hearts giving out before their bodies even hit the floor.
An unnatural stillness took over the entire room, our team a little beaten, but alive.
In that moment, I would have given anything to crush Spencer to me, ensuring she was unharmed and well. Instead, she was in Remi’s arms, consoling his whimpering state as they professed their love to one another. God, if only I could bring myself to kill him, too.
Despite my countless injuries and wounds, I’d received…that was the worst. She had chosen. I was too late, my ruthless actions too much for her to bear.
All the fucked up things I’d done to her played out in fast forward, and I really couldn’t blame her. So, just one time, I decided to not be a selfish asshole and ruin their moment by committing homicide on sight. Despite the acute piercing pain rattling in my chest, I would let her take what she wanted—even if what she wanted didn’t include me.
Folding forward, I placed my hands on my knees, breathing slow and hard, needing that extra oxygen to restabilise my Variant.
“Why didn’t you do that from the beginning?” Emerson piped from behind the bar, sounding all the way pissed off.
“You’re welcome,” I replied, my voice croaky from the assault.
Music cut out and ugly lights switched on, drenching the room in blinding illumination.
Red… So much red.
Only one Ludus soldier remained conscious, on his knees, panting. With no qualms, Tanner inaudibly approached his back, raised his machete and decapitated him with one blow. Fucking savage. I want to be him when I grow up.