51. Vesper
VESPER
I immediately go after him. I shoot into the crowd and try to follow, but the sidewalks are thick with people who hide Locke in their depths so fast, I can’t even track his dark hair.
The streets are packed with mechanical boxes honking and screaming, preventing me from crossing it.
I don’t know which direction he’s gone, and he clearly intends not to be followed.
“Locke!” I scream, jumping up to try and see over the crowd. “Stevie, can you see him?”
“I don’t see him, Girl,” he says, lifting higher. “Not a whiff of bone on the wind either. Come back, Lockey Poo! We need you!”
“Fuck!” I snarl, shoving people out of the way. The NPCs don’t react, but the players mixed in do, shouting profanities at me and threatening to stab me for my rudeness. I don’t give a fuck. When one man actually pulls a blade, I drop my own into my hand and stare at him.
“You really wanna try that, motherfucker?” I ask, staring at him. “I need the XP and I’m really fucking pissed off.”
The man studies me and then tucks his blade back away before disappearing back into the crowd.
“That’s what I thought,” I growl. “Locke! Locke, where are you!”
Someone grabs my arm and jerks me to a stop when I would have kept chasing after Locke. I turn with a growl to find Havoc holding tight to my forearm.
“Let me go,” I threaten.
“Don’t bother looking for him,” Havoc says. “He’s a Tier Two. He’s faster than you.”
I jerk out his hold and whirl on him, my blade in my hand. His eyes fall to the blade and then trail slowly back up, as if enjoying the show.
“I don’t appreciate you thinking you can make decisions for me,” I snarl. “So, you can back the fuck off!”
“You wanted me here,” he points out.
“Because I thought you’d like to be something other than a propaganda machine, you asshole!” I snarl. “That doesn’t mean I’m giving you free rein to control me!”
He steps closer, his expression free of anger or any other emotion. “Do you know what a Warden is, Beast Bound?”
I bare my teeth. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“You read the description I’m sure, but that was only a Tier One,” he continues, ignoring my question.
“A Warden is a protector of sorts.” He reaches up and runs a strand of my hair along his fingers as he moves in closer, towering over me on this crowded street.
“That means I protect whoever is close to me, if I so choose. Many seek my kind out.”
“I don’t need your protection,” I spit, refusing to back down.
“Cipher thinks you do,” he laughs. “Or else I wouldn’t be here.”
His words earlier suddenly make sense. Havoc isn’t here because he wants to be. Cipher is making him, somehow. Whatever he has on him, it’s enough that Havoc is now part of our group.
It wasn’t because of me that he’s here.
I tilt my head up. “That true?” I ask.
Cipher hums in my mind. “You are a Tier One, Vespera. I thought—”
“Fuck you,” I spit, cutting off any explanation as I scowl at Havoc. “Fuck both of you.”
“Vespera—” Cipher tries again.
I shut him down, building that mental wall brick-by-brick just like I practiced. My mind goes blissfully quiet. Then I shove past Havoc and rush into the crowd to try and find my Bone Breaker.