The Transcended: They call him Lucius

Part 3: Blood ~ Chapter 15

"I'm not entirely sure why you'd put me on speaker," Khalida said, "considering this is the exact situation I foresaw the moment you told me you wanted to help Andrew's little toy break free."

Gwen's face turned red and she didn't reply.

"I've got to admit, it took you long enough. You're there, right, Andrew?"

Lucius rolled his shoulder. "Yeah, I'm here." Anger dripped from his words. "So, you betrayed me too?"

"Not quite. Gwen knew Zoey wanted to commit suicide and she was determined to help her. I was just informed of what might happen. She initially planned to fake the whole thing, but your toy was so desperate to break free, she jumped anyway—you did tell her, didn't you, Gwen?"

Gwen had been staring at Lucius in horror as Khalida told him everything, and now her gaze shifted to Zoey. "I-I'm sorry. I tried to tell you, but—"

"Hold up," Lucius interrupted. "Helping her plan a fake death is even worse than faking a broken spine and transcending her behind my back." He turned to Zoey who was dumbstruck hearing that Gwen's initial plan didn't even include her actually trying to kill herself. "Though I have to admit, you shitting yourself to convince me it was real? Good one." He wanted to take a step closer, but Isa stopped him.

Khalida clicked her tongue. "This is very confusing with just audio. I'll video call you." She hung up.

Lucius crossed his arms and looked at Gwen. "So, just how planned was this attempted suicide of her?"

"It wasn't," Zoey stated before Gwen could answer. "All she said was that she would look away long enough for me to do what I wanted to do—if I really wanted to do it." She smirked. "And I did. Because, guess what? Being dead beats getting tortured by you!"

Lucius pushed Isa aside and he grabbed Zoey's jaw roughly. "Well, you're going to be wishing you jumped off the other side of the building, because now that you've survived..." He drew a sharp breath through clenched teeth. "I'll be showing you all sorts of—"

Gwen's phone went off again and she immediately answered. "Okay, good to have you back," she said and immediately held the phone out so everyone could see Khalida on the screen—and she them.

Khalida chuckled and Lucius released Zoey. As his hand retreated from her face, she tried to bite him but missed.

"My, my, my... Seems you weren't exaggerating when you said they'd been fighting. Seems she got you good, Andrew. Am I seeing it correctly? Did she break your nose?"

Lucius' lip twitched. "She did, but I broke hers too—along with both her legs."

"And did she break your nose before or after you broke her legs?" She smiled coyly and Lucius scowled.

"I broke it after," Zoey stated proudly. "And if he hadn't broken my wrist too I might have done a lot more."

Lucius turned to her again and his hand went for her throat, but Isa grabbed him and just shook her head. "Not now," she hissed.

"Easy now," Khalida said. "I don't have time for watching petty quarrels. You do know Kyron and I are still working hard on covering up your mess here, right, Andrew? I'm certainly not used to you leaving so many loose ends." She clicked her tongue. "You've never been this sloppy before."

"I was very pissed at the time; more pissed than I've been in over a century," he stated. "Considering the reason as to why I was so pissed, it all comes back to you—so can't say I feel too bad for you needing to clean up after me now."

Khalida's gaze grew cold and despite the small screen, it still made Lucius swallow what he wanted to say next.

"Taking a neutral stance and using it to obtain valuable research data should not be confused with betrayal." She leaned back in her chair, her expression daring Lucius to challenge her.