40. XL
XL
Echo
A n endless cavern of possibilities yearned open before me, the irresistible appeal of an unburdened future with my past buried and finally laid to rest. I just had to get rid of the one obstacle that stood in my way, then I would have it all. I could practically smell it—so sickly sweet that, just like my girl, there was no way I could ever resist.
Chaos reigned indeed, the colosseum vibrating with terror and confusion as Khaos hounds swarmed while errant bombs imploded the area. With the enclosed space and the deafening booms, there was no way I could regulate my Variant enough to reach my intended target. The sound waves and noise of the place made it impossible.
Which meant I’d have to kill her with my bare hands.
My eyes didn’t segway from Camilla’s cunt face, my focus so in-tune with every minute detail. She was the number-one target that I couldn’t let out of my kill zone. There was no escape.
Then she called to me—that sugar-filled voice I now lived for.
“You promised, Echo. You promised.” Her words felt so distant, but not in any way less powerful. Only she could bring me back from the brink.
“ Ghost ,” I said, with all the reverence and devotion I could imbed into one word.
Spencer was right. I didn’t have to go at this alone anymore. I had a whole arsenal behind me and it was time I utilised those options.
Despite my fucked up history, all my fighting and pathetic reservations by pushing her away, my walls had finally crumbled. I trusted her. I was ruined for any other.
And as I went to turn to my forever love—the one woman who deserved all my attention—that green-haired mutt revealed her last play.
I had gained Camilla’s attention. Through all the havoc, her eyes had gravitated towards me and bitter disgust slithered over my skin, making me feel slimy. Fucking violated.
Upon clocking my position, Camilla barely spared a glimpse of surprise before her mouth moulded into an impressive sneer—the same arrogant expression she wore when she pranced out of my apartment alongside my former best friend.
My resilience cracked, and then cracked some more until I was awash and drowning in betrayal and memory.
The utter need for retribution shot through my nervous system like wildfire, overtaking my faculties, my very senses. My sole awareness was fixated on annihilating that which I had been searching for years.
A poisonous obsession I had to eradicate.
And that’s how I got lost and inevitably was taken over.
“Forgive me ?—"
I dodged the panicked crowd and vaulted on top of the narrow stone railing that circled the top of the arena. It was the only clear path and most direct avenue to the main podium to get to that conniving hag.
Despite the barrier of smoke, anarchic atmosphere and high risk of falling, vengeance was so close, my body was moving without a thought. Thus, I took advantage of the opening and pushed ahead, sparing one last thought for what I left behind.
Spencer. My heart. My fucking soul.
Her wounded mask flashed in my condemning mind before I shoved the image down, so fucking low that no one could touch it. To the box where I kept everything that I held precious. Now the total shape and size of my Ghost.
Her. Only her. No one else.
She had to understand, had to forgive me. Please, let her forgive me.
It was for her, for us.
She wanted to conquer her past. I needed to erase mine.
With the last piece of poison gone, we could begin the rest of our lives with a clean slate. My former life buried six feet under, carving the way for an untarnished future.
As I balanced on the narrow beam, I vowed it would be the last time. The last time I’d break a promise. The last fucking time I’d ever willingly leave her side.
Speeding forward with renewed focus, I sprinted towards my inevitable fate.
The outline of Camilla blurred with the thick plumes of vapour fogging my vision. As if that would ever stop me.
I had picked up enough momentum that if I stopped, I’d surely lose my bearing and careen down into the fighting pit. So, instead, I sped up, letting her hear my approach. And as she turned, I hurtled off the bannister and landed a solid flying fist into her gut.
A resounding thump sounded alongside a shrieking scream of agony. Mm . The sound almost made me hard, but I’d rather cut off my dick than have it in any way associated with her. Pain-induced or not.
Camilla managed not to crumble to her knees, instead falling back against the barrier, cradling her middle. I wanted so badly to aim for her head, but knew that would likely result in knocking her out clean—which I couldn’t let happen.
On my little trip over, I had resigned myself to the fact that I’d have to get information out of her. Which meant I couldn’t kill her on sight.
That’s the least I could give to Spencer when I returned to her indefinitely. And hopefully, that was enough of a peace offering that she didn’t cut off my balls.
Instead, my gaze clocked Camilla’s nose ring, and without hesitation, I advanced. “Hate the new addition,” I said, before ripping the piercing clean from her flesh.
A witchy wale screeched from her mouth as a red fountain poured down her chin. Her stance and expression turned from hurt to aggression as she tried to grab me. No doubt to drain me of my Variant.
Skirting out of reach, my top lip pulled in disgust. “You look like a monster,” I said, the thought frank and unfiltered.
Her crazed eyes bugged out of their sockets as she palmed the gun at her waist.
Oops . I was too wound up in my own fun. I’d failed to realise she had a lethal weapon on hand.
Before she could find purchase and withdraw, I jump-tackled her, the careless motion tipping us over the rail to drop to the battlefield below.
I landed on top of Camilla, my heavy weight knocking the breath out of her. My fingers grasped for the gun that was missing from her hip—most likely lost from the fall.
With the weapon gone, my body immediately rejected the feel of her beneath me. Shuddering with revulsion, I rolled and jumped to my feet.
“What the fuckkkkkk?” Camilla managed to gurgle-shriek. She stumbled upright, a visible limp in one teetering leg.
Ignoring the madness and war rampaging around us, I cocked my head and took the time to assess the blast from the past. Camilla had changed, and not for the better.
Her face card game still remained strong, I gave her that (blanking out the gaping hole that her nose piercing used to rest). However, she was always lost when it came to anything else—style, fashion, elegance. She never had a fucking clue. Tacky and crass till the end.
Camilla must have mistook my perusal for approval as she gave me a considering look. Delusional bitch. “We’ve come a long way, haven’t we, Noah? Power, security, money. We have it all.”
Angry heat bit at my flesh at the calling of my old name. “Unfortunately, money can’t buy you class, Camilla,” I said, turning up my nose like the snob I was. “Something you didn’t learn, obviously. Seems like you never outgrew the ghetto.”
Camilla had the audacity to appear embarrassed underneath her bruised dishevelled state. If only I cared.
Slipping Spencer's long, thin knife from the inside of my jacket, I twirled it between my fingers as I began to circle her like a vulture. “You know, you’re not fooling anyone.”
“I fooled you,” she gloated.
“When I was a teenager? Yeah, be super proud.”
“And you’re still obsessed with me. Just like you were back then,” she snarked with all the confidence in the world.
All I could think about was her death, so in a way, she was correct. Lightning-fast, I attacked her from behind, cutting a lengthy slice down her spine. “Mm, a different type of obsession now, I’d say. One much more appealing.”
Camilla sank down to one knee from the impact, her wound angry, red and saturating her dress with blood.
Still, she didn’t learn her lesson. “Either way you look at it, you still want me,” she boasted. “And now, I’m willing to try again, Noah. I must admit, I regret choosing Gordon over you. He always was a moron, but I thought he would be easy to control. Instead, that glimpse of power over you made his big fat head even fatter.”
Coming around to her front, I placed the tip of my blade beneath her chin, lifting her head until her gaze hit mine. I was careful not to touch her in any way, knowing she would siphon my Variant and leave me empty.
Camilla’s mask softened, then she sighed as if she had overcome a hard-won battle. “I had him killed not long after we left you, you know. He was extra baggage I had to cut loose before he ruined my prospects. And lucky I did, cause look where I am now. A part of one of the most monumental takeovers of this century. Come with me, Noah. Join me on this quest for greatness. Join Khaos, and we can rule together.”
I almost laughed at her audacity. The request was entirely bizarre and delusional. What got me was she actually sounded sincere. As if she believed in that bullshit, in the premise of an untouchable organisation.
Camilla had a certain gleam in her eye, slightly unhinged. All Khaos members had it—the way they talked about Khaos with such blind reverence. It was as if they had joined a cult. Sure, Vice wasn’t a democracy. We answered to one. But that was on a whole other level. Khaos acted like they were worshipping a god.
Who the fuck is their leader? They must be a formidable individual to harbour such devotion from their followers. Including Maximus.
“Funny, how you describe Gordon. You sound just like him,” I said. “Foolhardy, ignorant, impressionable.”
Camilla went to press up from the ground. Before she could raise higher, I kicked her feet out from beneath her. Her knees buckling hard, grazing raw across the rough surface.
She cursed and cussed me out, yet didn’t attempt to fight back, knowing there was no escape.
Sliding the tip of my blade over her cheek, I whispered my demands. “You’re going to tell us everything about your precious Khaos. And with your knowledge, we are going to tear it apart, piece by fucking piece.”
Camilla hissed as if that was the most offensive thing I’d said to her so far. Then, without preamble, she leapt upwards with her claws out. In reply, I slashed my knife upward, the blade slicing across her fingers, which she retracted immediately.
She sobbed before me, blood and tears staining my feet. “Please, Noah. We could be great together.” Hiccup. Cry. Begging. Pleading. “Who’s that woman you were with? She’s nothing compared to what we have. Our past, our ambitions. You want me. You’ve always wanted me. That bitch has nothi?—”
Her rant flipped to outward screams as I carved slice after slice into her superficial mask—her most prized possession. Appropriate marks to beautify her fucked up face.
“ Don’t. Ever. Speak. Of. Her,” I said, my Variant hitting Camilla’s flesh with painful pressure, ultimately taking a toll on my throat that tore from the strain of manipulating those five words. The disordered soundwaves from the stadium echoed and ebbed, making control difficult and the use of my Variant practically impossible.
However, my threat was already enough.
Camilla scuttled backward, as far away as her damaged form could carry. I let her, giving that inkling of perceived escape before I carved up her body next.
Lifting my blade to align with her ugly, beat up face, I made my demands. “Who do you work for?”
Camilla spat at my feet and retreated back even further.
“You are dead either way, Camilla. Now, how fast or slow that happens entirely depends on you. A name. One name, and it will be over quickly.”
Camilla collapsed in hysterical laughter like the psychotic cunt she was. Bloodthirst and brutality saturated my body. Answer or no, Camilla was going to die, and long-awaited retribution would finally be reached. The mere revelation made me giddy, the high near-euphoric.
However, the snake had one last trick up her sleeve. Camilla’s red-stained mouth lifted into a certifiable grin of arrogance that had my high dropping so fast, it gave me whiplash.
Camilla desperately scooped something up from the ground and sprang upright. Dread filtered into my system as she raised and shifted the gun to point—not at me—but to my right.
As if out of a fucking movie, white smoke cleared to display my biggest weakness, my undying infatuation, my greatest love.
Spencer had her back to us, unaware of the perilous danger I had thrust her in.