Chapter 85 (2/2)

“Tell her that I appreciate the offer, and I will report it to Donnyton’s council.” Randidly walked away, heading towards Tessa’s door.

Apparently those words were satisfactory, because no one tried to speak with him again. He knocked on the door, and was surprised to find one of Tessa’s roommates answering it. She quickly ushered him inside, taking him directly to Tessa’s room, where she sat, wrapped in a quilt, staring out the window.

Before Randidly could even say anything, Tessa asked. “Was Sydney the reason you broke up with me?”

Her voice was oddly even, almost monotone, and her gaze didn’t waver from the window. Randidly opened his mouth to respond, then caught himself. Slowly, he closed his mouth. In all honestly… it had been.

“Yes.” Randidly said. When he had broken up with her, he had been brutally succinct, before departing, leaving her crying on the floor of her apartment. For that callous treatment, he owed her a bit of honesty.

Snorting, Tessa swore bitterly. “That fucking cunt. I always knew she was a little slut. Did Ace know? That his best friend was fucking his fiancee?”

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. “It wasn’t like that, we weren’t-”

“What’s the point in lying now? They both are already dead anyway. Is a life with me really so bad? I’m here, right now.”

Barely containing his rage, Randidly said. “I’m trying to say that we never-”

“Do you think I’m an idiot? Do you think ACE is an idiot? Both of you kept disappearing together for those few weeks? Did you think once we noticed, we didn’t talk? And how when we compared our notes, the schedules fit so nicely together-”

“Just fucking listen for a minute!” Randidly growled, but Tessa was too far gone, working up a head of steam for herself.

“Both of you would give a convenient excuse, then slip away. At least you were smart, you stuck to during the day, during the week. No late nights ‘studying’, no moving while the people you two were cheating on were out of town. No, you- uhk?!?”

“Let me stop you right there.” Randidly’s voice was cool, but his eyes blazed with rage as he activated Agony.

****

Ezzie only had a moment, where his new, danger instincts warned him powerfully to run away before a wave of vicious, head wrenching pain knocked the wind out of him. Whimpering, the other bouncers in the hall collapsed, leaning against the wall and sliding slowly downward. Even Ezzie, who had been undergoing special training to raise his skills and improve his stats, staggered, barely able to withstand the wave of pain that struck him.

But what really brought a chill to his heart was that when he checked, his health was decreasing, moving rapidly towards 0.

Although his instincts were screaming for him to run far away and hide, Ezzie pushed through them, rushing up to the door that the Ghosthound had entered. Grunting, Ezzie raised his leg and made use of his Kicking Mastery, smashing the cheap wood of the door, ripping through the deadbolt.

Once inside, the pain redoubled, and Ezzie bit his lip, struggling to stay conscious. His vision swam as he stuttered slowly forward, heading to the back room with the slightly ajar door, where the powerful aura was emanating. Ezzie wasn’t even able to see, to make out the figure, wrapped in air distortions, but in his heart, he knew there was only person who could cause this.

Eyelids fluttering, he leaned against the door, barely aware enough to speak, but he worked at his heavy and fat tongue, struggling to say, something, anything.

“Sir-” But that was all that Ezzie was able to complete, because The Ghosthound turned and looked at him, really looked at him, for the first time in their interactions. The Ghosthound’s face was twisted into a scowl, his eyes narrowed. But the emerald pupils burned like a chemical fire, bright and dangerous.

In those eyes, Ezzie was forced to confront a truth about himself; he would never be a match for the man standing in front of him. Perhaps a month ago this man had been human, but no longer. Now he was….

The Ghosthound.

“You-ll-....... killl-ll……” Ezzie blubbered, his words more slobber than syllable, and all at once the pain stopped, gone as soon as it had came. Gasping, Ezzie fell to his knees.

The Ghosthound pressed his eyes closed, seeming to struggle inwardly. Then he opened them, and his eyes had faded to their usual innocuous forest green.

“I… apologize. I lost my temper.” Ezzie watched as the Ghosthound walked over to Tessa, and put a hand against her neck. A flash of relief crossed the Ghosthound’s face, but then he turned back to Ezzie, once more a stoic mask. “I suppose compensation is in order. Take me to the roof.”