“What are you doing, Malcolm?”
“I understand!” he said. “Rose, we can do whatever we want! The champions can’t control me anymore! We can be together now! We can leave Vanderbrook… Right after we kill the demon.”
“Malcolm,” Rose said, in a calm voice. “Did you take off your stabilizer, somehow?”
He lifted his arm up and pulled the sleeve down, showing her the charred remains of it. Rose massaged her temples and sighed.
“You need to get a grip,” she said. “Right now. What you’re talking about isn’t what you really want.”
“How would you know?” asked Malcolm. “What I want is you, Rose. And I know I can have you.”
He walked over to her and pulled her into an embrace. Rose didn’t stop him, but the fierce look in her eyes made it clear that she was prepared to, if need be.
“I remember more about them, now,” she said. “The stabilizers have a control device that helps keep champions from being able to binge on their powers and accidentally turn themselves into sprytes and demons. If you keep doing what you’re doing… you’re going to end up like me.”
“Is that really such a bad thing?” Malcolm kissed her neck. Rose pushed him back roughly.
“Yes,” she said. “And not just for you. Think of all the people who you could hurt if that happened.”
“I wouldn’t hurt anybody,” he said, feeling suddenly defensive. “And it’s not like I couldn’t fight it, and try to stay in control. We’d be strong, and we could help each other survive. We could be together, Rose. Don’t you see?”
“I see more than just that,” said Rose. “And I’m also thinking more clearly right now than you are. Malcolm, you’re about to make a really fucking stupid mistake.”
“I disagree completely,” he said. “Now come here. We still have time to have some fun.”
Malcolm reached out, pulling Rose against him. She felt soft and perfect, and lust surged through his loins. He kissed her, but she kept her lips flat against his.
And then suddenly, he was on the floor, knocked back a half dozen feet by one of Rose’s shadow assisted pushes. It was just dark enough outside to leave apartment partially in shadow, strengthening her powers.
“You have no idea what it’s like to be a monster,” said Rose, in a cold voice. “What it means to feel corrupted all the time, addicted to using your powers.”
She reached out with tendrils of shadow and lifted Malcolm up, holding him with all four limbs outstretched.
“Then tell me,” he said. “Or show me, if you can.”
“Show you?” She let out a mocking laugh. “I’ve been trying to keep you from seeing it, Malcolm. Making a fool of myself to maintain, just so I could keep using you for another day.”
…What?
Her words were like cold water on the flames of his manic state. He suddenly didn’t care about flying, or playing with the wind, or anything other than what Rose had just said.
“Malcolm…” said Rose, her voice turning poisonous. “Why do you think you’re still alive right now? You’ve been sharing your apartment with an evil, dangerous spryte for the past couple of days…”
“Rose…” Malcolm shook his head. The intensity of the conversation had done something to her. Her eyes were darkened, the whites pushed out by deep black, and shadows clung to her body like veils.
“Do you think I spared you because I cared about you?” asked Rose. “Or because I just enjoyed the sex that much? Does that seem likely to you?”
Malcolm summoned the wind, trying to knock her off balance. She anchored herself in place, unmovable against even his fiercest attack. She slowly drew him in closer, pulling the tendrils toward her until Malcolm was hanging from his bonds directly in front of her.
“You’re my little champion,” whispered Rose. “My inside man. My shield against field champions, willing to lie and obfuscate to throw them off my trail. And you won’t be able to do that if you lose their trust.”
“I… don’t believe you,” said Malcolm.
“Good,” said Rose. “That means you’re learning. I’d have thought the champions would have a clear policy against trusting sprytes.”
She held him just inches away from her. Malcolm stared into her eyes and saw only blackness staring back at him. The room was charged with emotion, but not in the way he would have expected. Rose’s body language was open and easy, almost as though…
Wait… Her focus activity. It’s been almost a full day… She’s losing control!
“Rose!” said Malcolm. “Hold on! You have to fight against it! You’re losing touch!”
“I’m more in touch with myself than I have been in a long time,” said Rose. She kept him in the same position. Malcolm saw the chance he had, and took it.
“Really…?” He whispered the word, leaning in and letting his breath tickle her neck. “Rose…”
She shivered slightly, and Malcolm slowly brought his lips up to hers. He didn’t kiss her immediately, instead letting the tension build until it was about to explode. His lips brushed against hers…
And the door slammed open. Tapestry was suddenly in the room, launching a vicious front kick into Rose’s chest and pulling Malcolm back.
“No!” he shouted.
“You…!” Rose pulled herself back to her feet, darkness swirling around her as though she’d opened a gateway to a dimension without light.
“Malcolm, get behind me!” shouted Tapestry. She had her gun out, and was taking aim.
Rose launched one of her tendrils directly at Tapestry. Tapestry fired, the sound of it deafening to Malcolm’s ears. He summoned the wind, trying to defuse the situation by keeping the two of them distracted.
He looked over at Rose, and she made eye contact with him for a moment. Her eyes were, for an instant, back to normal. There were tears in them. Rose blinked, and the darkness took hold again. She threw the full force of her shadow power at Malcolm and Tapestry, not attacking or killing, but demonstrating.
Tendrils of shadow surged by him, coming within inches of his face and neck. Tapestry was still trying to take aim at Rose, but she couldn’t see, let alone manage to hold her arm steady to get a shot off.
Malcolm heard the sound of a window shattering, and then she was gone. Her aura of darkness followed behind her, and so did he. He sprinted toward the opening, summoning the wind and preparing to leap outside to follow her.
“Malcolm!” Tapestry pulled him back from the window and wrestled him down to the ground. “Are you insane? You’re going to get yourself killed!”
I can’t lose her. Not like this…
“No!” Malcolm struggled, trying to push Tapestry off. She was straddling him, and pinned his arms to the floor with surprising strength. He bucked his hips, trying to throw her loose.
“Malcolm!” Tapestry slapped him hard across the face, stunning him. Malcolm stopped fighting against her, leaning his head back against the floor. He closed his eyes and let out a slow, shaky breath.
CHAPTER 34
Tapestry moved through his apartment like a professional, taking stock of the situation. She locked and bolted the front door and found a piece of cardboard in Malcolm’s closet to put in place of the broken window. She took out Malcolm’s phone while he was still on the ground, and after muttering to herself for a minute about how to get it working, managed to play some of his music for him.
“This is partially my fault,” said Tapestry. “I knew that your stabilizer had taken damage in the explosion. I just thought that it would be better to wait until we could replace it without Multi having to know.”
“It’s not your fault,” said Malcolm. “I let myself go off the deep end. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
He ran his hands through his hair, feeling more annoyed with himself than he ever had before in his life. Not only had he come close to losing control, he’d also triggered Rose and scared her off in the process. And this time, he didn’t think she was coming back.