Artifice - Man x Man - Book Six

Chapter 8

I'm dazed as I'm thrown into the back of the vehicle rather unceremoniously. My fingers clutch and rip my vest as I twist and sputter, trying to see how fast I'm going to die. I must be bleeding out, this hurts too much. Searing pain radiates from my back, through my chest, and down my ribs, cold and hot all at once. I cough and gag, on my own blood or my own panic, I'm not certain. 

Tonic clutches my hands as the vehicle speeds off and I look over his shoulder out the rear window to see the pile of bodies where the small group stood. "You killed them?!" I wheeze, hardly able to speak as my lungs scream for air.

"They attacked us first."

"I scared them!" I gurgle and cough, trying to clear my throat of salvia as my body rejects my internals and begs for air. I claw at the apparatus on my face and Tonic helps me take it off as I gulp in big mouthfuls of air. Horribly unsatisfying but at least I'm not restricted, I unbuckle the vest and rip it open as I look for a hole but there is none.

Marcello watches me in the overhead mirror. "Are you done, princess?"

"What..." I manage. "There's no hole?"

"That vest is bulletproof. It was a warning shot. But, not to be taken too lightly. We can't risk anyone finding the compound or deciding they want you and Tyler for themselves, they saw your abilities and shot you anyways, any enemy of the cause is an enemy of mine." He glares ahead at the road and I can tell Tonya is distraught, she clutches herself quietly as she tries to hide the emotion on her thin face. 

Her hair is disheveled, messy, and shoved about from her fingers frantically trying to soothe. These people aren't warriors. They're just people. 

People that I'm dragging to darkness with me, yet this is a dark cause. "I thought you have no enemies?" I respond back, shortly.

His fist clenches on the steering wheel as he thinks it over, I can see the strain on his scalp as he grits his teeth. "I'm sure you know the difference between enemies and threats."

It seems like a fine line, one that I don't care to redefine right here when I'm so conflicted myself. I press my hand to my chest and I quietly thank the vest for the lack of a hole. A failed attempt, a horribly failed attempt, was I so bad at this? My time in school was mostly spent just trying to survive, maybe it's the only way we learn as Solomonari? When I was sent to Penelope, I was trained, I was just weak. 

Tyler is totally untrained, ready to be molded with what little talent he possesses. Where do I start? Where could I begin in the vast expanse of knowledge I had amassed? What was easy for me was difficult for him. I clutch my book closer to my chest and hand him the water bottle, he reluctantly takes it. "I'd understand, iffin' you don't want to train me anymore, sir."

A way out. I could just tell him no, figure it out myself, go off and do this on my own. But, as I look at his face, those green eyes full of disappointment, his mouth pulled down in harsh lines of self-deprecating judgment. I open my mouth to tell him that I'll be taking my leave but it won't come out. 

Since the moment I found out that Verando would, once again, be a father I wanted this. I wanted progeny, someone to teach and someone to nurture. There has been an ache in my non-existent womb for a life that needed me. Verando does not need me, he loves me and wants me but he would continue to survive without my interference. Tyler might not have that opportunity. This world was crumbling, crashing to the ground around us. I'd seen firsthand it's sickness, its lack of balance. How could I turn away that which I had wanted for so long?

I couldn't have my own children and he didn't seem to want to adopt, could I ever adopt a child given my profession? Given the way that we live our lives? I think of Reid, his devotion, his adoration, Verando had given him guidance in the darkest time of our history. I sit up, adjusting myself in my seat as I take in what could very well be the only relative I have left.