Hard to Hate You // Michael Langdon

Part XXI - Confrontation

I quickly grab Coco's arm and begin to rush down the hallway.

"Where are we going?" she asks as she follows me, matching my quick pace.

"We need to get down the stairs before Langdon-"

We round the corner so that we are at the top of the main staircase, and, timely as ever, Michael is on his way to the staircase as well. "Fuck," I mutter under my breath as I step in front of Coco protectively. "What the hell did you do to Venable?" I yell at him, noticing Mead walking behind him.

He disappears and I turn on my heel, knowing that he'll be there.  I'm met with his smug face looking down at me and Coco.  "I killed her, just as I will kill you, witch bitch."

Ok, good.  He's sticking with the plan.  "Fuck," I mutter as I turn to the stairs.  "Run!"  Coco and I begin to run for the stairs, but a force hits me and I fall flat on my face.

Coco turns back to me, already considerably ahead.  "Run, Coco!" I yell.  "The women down there can help you!"  I hope the witches will realize that Coco is innocent and not kill her.

"But Valentina-"

"Go, Coco!"

"I'm sorry!" she apologizes as she turns and runs down the stairs.

I sigh as Michael grabs me and pulls me up to face him.  He looks off to the side, making sure Coco is gone, before releasing me.  "You good?" he asks, keeping his voice low.

I nod.  "I must admit, I think my acting is unmatched."

He rolls his eyes.  "It'll do.  The issue is, it'll take more than good acting to convince the witches that we're enemies."

"What do you mean-"

I am cut off when he throws his arm out, flinging me across the hallway.  I gasp as I slam into the wall, the wind being knocked out of me.

Before I can process it, Michael tangles his hand in a fistful of my hair, and I cry out in pain. He uses his leverage on me to drag me down the stairs. "Let me go, asshole!" I shout. 

I can feel the witches' eyes turn to us as we begin to descend the stairs. I quickly light Michael's shoe on fire, and he releases me. I cradle my scalp in one hand as I use the other to get up. By the time I'm on my knees, he has put the fire out. Unphased, he raises an arm, and I am knocked off my feet. I fly down to the landing in the stairs and land on the floor.

"She's a witch," the older red-haired witch whispers.  

"No shit," a young blonde one responds.  "And it seems that he doesn't like her."

Michael grabs my hair and roughly pulls me to my feet while they're talking.

"You're lucky I haven't killed you yet," Michael states as he pins me against his side.

"Have you really captured one of our sister witches to use against us?" a blonde woman at the front states condescendingly. I remember her from Michael's memories as Cordelia.

"It's more like she came right to me. She was one of the Outpost residents. I knew what she was as soon as I saw her, but she didn't. She fell right into my trap."

"I did not, asshole," I kick him.

He quickly covers my mouth with his hand. "I would've also captured Mallory, but I was unsure of how aware of her powers she was. I was able to sniff out the identity spell you placed on her, so I decided to let the simple humans in this outpost kill her."

"Well, you failed at that," the red-haired one, Myrtle, says.  "We just brought her back."

"Yes, and I was planning on that.  I needed some way to lure you witches here so I could kill you.  What better way than to kill the witch under an identity spell?"