No Control (Chris Motionless)

Chapter 52 - Damage Control

William smiles at me when our eyes meet, blood still coating his teeth as he says, "There you are."

A wordless scream tears past my lips as he drags me back towards where I'd escaped from. I had known that this would happen, that William and I had to come face to face again to end this, but that didn't stop my panic. As if it were mocking me, the dull side of the filet knife bumped into my hip as it dangled precariously from my pocket. There was no way I could defend myself against a demon with something so minuscule. On top of that, how did I intend to save the very person trying to kill me?

The sound of bullets ricocheting off of the buildings grew louder. Hudson was still putting up a firefight, but that meant no help was coming for me. My only option was to find a way to stall William. But it was useless even as I writhed against him with all the strength I had left.

"See, I knew that she couldn't have gotten that far," Roy calls out in a tone of poorly concealed tension.

"Go get the infant," William responds, disregarding Roy's remark.

When my eyes finally find the cult leader in the dim streetlights, I watch as he ducks his head and hurries off in the direction we'd come from like a scolded child.

"Chris," I plead as I grasp onto any part of him I can reach. "Chris, you have to wake up."

"Oh, trust me, he's well aware of everything that's happening now. Maybe even more than you are. It's quite sweet that he's making such a fuss for your sake."

"Why are you doing this to us? Why couldn't you use one of your willing followers?"

William glanced down at me with a smirk tugging at his lips. "I know that you already know the answer to that. Twin flames work so much better for a ritual like this. The pull your souls have towards one another is honestly remarkable. Why wouldn't I choose the best ingredients for my recipe?"

The implication of his words made my skin crawl, distracting me long enough that I hadn't realized that we'd stopped until he began to lower me onto the road. The odd feeling of nostalgia crept in underneath everything else as he loomed over me.

"Are you wondering?" He questioned with a knowing smile as my back met the asphalt, his hold on me still iron-tight.

"About what exactly?" I struggle to wheeze out as his weight presses against my chest.

His nails drifted from my side to rest between my breasts, overtop my hammering heart. The answering pinpricks of pain to my skin fell silent at the thought of William being able to pry my heart from my chest with his bare hand.

He chuckled as if he could hear this fear. "Are you wondering how many moments you shared with me instead of him?"

At my stunned silence, William let out a low laugh. He was enjoying this, and he clearly wasn't done as he added, "Are you curious how many times you came because of me and not him?"

"Why do you care?"

"It just makes me wonder. Who is it that you truly love? The man or the monster?"

A barrage of memories flashed through my mind. The poem I'd found on Chris's desk in William's handwriting. The god-like image of Chris towering over Cleo in the Torture Garden, when I knew he somehow wasn't himself even then. The sight of the moment Chris's eyes turned black when he reached his climax the first time we'd slept together.

I had been so willfully blind. I'd known this monster was breathing down my neck the whole time, yet I had ignored it. I wasn't possessed like Chris; I had no excuse for my actions. But as I stared up at the curve of his jaw, the set of his brow, his laughter still ringing in my ears like a bell, it hit me. I understood that I was doomed from the start.