The Rogues

39- Touch

Evelyn

Darkness engulfed me. It sank into my skin and gnawed at my flesh like a treat. 

I should have been used to it by now--but I wasn't. 

My bones clattered with the unnerving turn of the truck they towed me into. I felt like a caged animal. I had the power to revoke all of them, yet I remained helpless.

After they took Dominic away, they knocked me out with some sort of serum by sticking a syringe into my forearm. It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but I was out too quick to care. One minute I was in a bright room flooded with people, the next I was alone in a dark vehicle, steering me off to hell knows where.

In such shadow, I couldn't help but feel trapped; not only in darkness but in a cage of my own thoughts.

I pondered a lot. Maybe too much. I wondered If Celeste was reading a book with Kyler, or if Cassian was bickering with Lani. But mostly my head careened towards Dominic. I came for him and now we were both confined. Guilt twisted in my stomach at my foolishness. I should have known better, I was just so...so angry. I cursed myself over and over, but I think I would have felt even worse if I had just stayed in No Mans Land and done nothing. At least I tried to help him, but I just wished I could have done more.

I just hoped he was okay.

Maybe he escaped; he's done it three times, one more won't bother. But what if he didn't...what if he's inside a cell or laboratory, becoming the experiment he feared to succumb to.

I wasn't sure if that thought was what sent a shiver up my spine, or the presence growing in the confined space of the cart.

A rustle sprouted from the darkness. Maybe I wasn't alone after all. With a slight click, light spilled onto my face, my eyes fluttering at the abrupt adjustment. When my vision eventually focused, I saw a pair of bright blue veering eyes over my head. Panic seiged in me, and I held my breath.

"Hello, Evelyn," Verena said in a soft alluring voice. I pressed my hands back, leaning into my weight and wincing away, but she only walked nearer. How long had she been there? Was she watching me? Staring? Laughing? Mocking? I wasn't sure...but It was unsettling.

"Don't be afraid of me Evelyn." She said, crouching down and sitting beside me. "I just want to talk."

"Get away from me," I said trying to flinch back more, though my space was awfully limited. Especially with her so close.

"Please." She batted her bright eyes, a touch of something sincere lingering in her tone, "I feel that a talk between us could break some very thick ice, don't you think?"

I didn't want to talk to her. Not at all. But there was something about her voice that just compelled me to listen.

"What could you possibly want." I bring up my knees and hug them tightly with my hands.

She looks at me for a moment that feels awfully too long. A warmness climbs in my chest, but I force it down. I will not let her make me feel this way...no matter how beautiful she is. Even under the unpleasant fluorescent, her features look drawn on by a careful artist. I want to look away, though I find it so hard. "You and I," She lifts her chin, her eyes traveling down my trembling body. "I think we are not so different."

"our powers are similar, but ...I...I'm nothing like you." I snarl and she grins smugly.

"That is where you're wrong." she says, "We are both unnatural beings. Both feared, and looking highly upon."

Looked highly? I was being held prisoner in a dirty old truck...it looked like anything but highly.

"You don't know what I am." I scowl and lean closer, "And you don't know half of what I can do."