Gyrus

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Faction

I think I actually rubbed my eyes just to convince myself I wasn't in trapped in some sort of trance. The tops of my Converse sneakers were splotched with blood and little bits of white. I tried not to look too closely; nervousness was making me struggle to keep my stomach’s contents down and I didn't want to do anything that might tip me over the edge. Detective Williams was sprawled in front of Wong, blood still leaking from the hole at the back of his head. I looked up warily, catching the eye of his assailant, the person I had called my girlfriend for almost a year.

Alyssa looked older, wizened. She had her beautiful hair swept up in a way she'd never worn it before and her sweet innocence was replaced with a hard calculating beauty that terrified as much as it fascinated. She lovingly examined the gun in her hand, taking a moment to scan the room and lock eyes with the guards around us before ejecting the clip of the Beretta and handing both to a svelte woman dressed in a catsuit with pale skin, exotic eyes and a blood red mane woven into a single braid. Alyssa approached us and Zoe and I involuntarily moved, shifting subtly till our arms touched. Wong just stood there in front of us, completely immobile. 

Alyssa walked around the corpse and continued towards us. I grew taut with fear as she caught my eye and smiled. Then she turned away at the last second. Surprise overtook me as she stopped before Wong. She placed a hand on his cheek and gently turned his head to her before leaning forward and seeking out his lips. 

"I thought she was your girlfriend." Zoe whispered to me.

"I..." I started to respond and found the words wouldn't come. All I could think of was Wong's arm snaking around Alyssa's waist as he got sucked into the kiss. Alyssa turned and he followed seamlessly, barely breaking contact as she cocked her head and looked me square in the eye as she kissed him. They seemed so natural together; Wong was smaller than me so he didn't tower over her tiny frame like I did and their exoticness didn't jar me the way I expected. Alyssa broke the kiss with a breathy sigh and led him like a lamb towards the other end of the circle. The sudden realization that this wasn't the first time they had shared a kiss hit me in the gut. Alyssa had been cheating on me, and she wanted me to know. It hurt. It hurt in a way I never imagined or experienced. I mean, Alyssa had been the first person to ever bother with me - not that I was approachable in my early teens, with all the bullying and juvie I was getting into. I swallowed the lump in my throat and fought past the feelings of anger and disappointment, reminding myself that this wasn't the place to worry about my short relationship with a girl who could very well be a murdering psychopath.

The vision Wong had coaxed out of me with his hypnosis forced its way from my subconscious and my head swam as I had a feeling akin to déjà vu. It all made sense now. Alyssa had betrayed me; Wong had lied to me and hid his reasons for coming along to find her. I looked down as I felt Zoe's warm fingers thread themselves into the crooks between mine. It was so bloody ironic that the only person I was supposed to trust was the person I barely even knew. 

"I'm guessing Wong didn't tell you about us." Alyssa smirked. "He's so chivalrous. I hadn't really expected him to come looking for me. Most knights are only so in name. In reality, they’re shrewder with their lives than a miser in a gambling house."

"Wait, you know about the castes?" I asked in surprise.

Alyssa gave a pained exasperated look and waved her hand as though brushing away my stupid question. "Of course. I know everything there is to know about the castes. You forget who my father is, a man revered in the SPIARH house as La Guadana."

She tried to take Wong's hand and he swatted her and stepped away. 

"Touchy." She muttered, visibly upset. "Neem tells me you know about SPIARH and Square Inc. and that you are responsible for the collapse of the gun factory in Fortuna. That outfit cost us a pretty penny - not to talk of the sudden interest that the incident will attract from the CIA House. Neem is very upset; it took her almost a month to subdue the wills of all those workers."