Edgewise

39

Calponia couldn't imagine Mack's expression but Mr. Henderson physically flinched before he recovered, drawing up his deceptively frail frame with a bold sneer.

"Last one to the party Macklemore," he said. There was a pause before he spoke again, a softness to his voice that confused her. "I used to think you were the smartest being in existence."

Mack clearly wasn't expecting the shift in tone either. His shoulders hunched as he shifted fully in front of Calponia, blocking her from view. It felt like a physical weight lifted from her. She sagged back as awareness crashed down on her, sitting in a rapidly cooling puddle of Eugene's blood. Her stomach clenched, a watery tremor moving up through her muscles. She shoved to her feet, grasping at the metal pinning him to the wall. She had to snap it off, yank it out, something, she had to get it out of him. The moment she wrapped her blood slicked hands around it, Eugene hissed, reaching up to clamp an iron grip on her wrists.

"Don't," he whispered. She stared at him, mesmerized by the fear, and feral rage glaring down at her. His jaw worked, lips white, too white. The fingers wrapped around her wrists were tight to the point of pain, but she could feel them tremble through her bones. "Don't."

She nodded. A warm spill of tears down slid down her cheeks. Her hands dropped to her sides when he released her.

"Obviously that is not the case," said Mack. Her words snapped her back to the moment, and the still very present threat of Henderson. She swallowed. Peering over her shoulder at them, not quite willing to turn away from the vampire. She caught a glimpse of Henderson's hand as it curled into a tight fist. Injured and cornered were never a good combination for dangerous beings.

"Indeed," said Henderson. She could feel his eyes on her. Glancing up to find him peeking around Mack's wide shoulders. "It seems you are still in the dark about a great many things." She knew he referred to her. The fact Henderson knew more about her past than she did made her skin crawl.

"Why are you doing this, Jacob?" The note of pleading in Mack's voice was far worse. The weight of so much history between them lent an unwanted, painful intimacy to the moment. Calponia dragged a breath through her lungs. Henderson appeared to feel the same, sucking in a deep inhale.

"How could you not know? How could you not see? Even now!" His fist clenched so tight his knuckles burned a sickly sallow white. "It was your choice, your folly, that made all of this happen, Macklemore." He slammed his fist back against the wall. The outline of the door shuddered, grinding as the way began to open. "You will see by the end," Henderson promised, a cold anger frosting each word that left his mouth. "I will shred your sanctuary at its foundations, but first..."

His smile was cold and cruel as he looked directly at her, eyes like flint as they examined her. "Preparations, preparations. Try not to die until then, my dear."

"You son of a bitch." Mack snapped forward, grasping air as Henderson dissolved into smoke and shadows, fleeing through the cracked doorway. The wall reformed as if the door never existed. "Dammit!" Mack slapped the wall, leaving a slight dent under his palm.