Read Online Endgame (Voluntary Eradicators) by Nenia Campbell - Free Book Online

adjectives.
    He just watches her, silent, waiting. The blood soaks into his collar, like a tear. It makes him look vulnerable. He is human, if nothing else. Like her, he can bleed. She growls and re-sheathes the dagger. He isn't worth the reprimand, she tells herself.
    “ Thank you,” he says, and closes his eyes.
    She hates that he can look so relaxed and sound so confident while she feels so very unnerved. And she is starting to feel warm, curse him. Between the thick, warm coat and his own body heat, she is quickly losing the chill from the river.
    “ Any more questions?” he asks, after a pause.
    “ What's your name?”
    “ Ahh. That is a bonus question. And I'm afraid that you will have to wait until next time to unlock it.”
    “ There won't be a next time. Tell me now.”
    “ I bet to differ.” She feels his hand drop to her hip and jerks when she realizes he's taken her dagger. “There is definitely going to be a next time because” — he lunges. Her back hits the ground and so does her head, and suddenly her wrists are above her, pinned and useless. His smiling face appears above hers and he continues, “Because I'm afraid you've lost this round.”
    The dagger is poised at her breast, just above her pounding heart. The bite of it is icy against his skin in spite of the sun's warm yellow glow.
    “ Hmm,” he says. “Now this is an interesting position.”
    Vol spits in his face For tricking her, for touching her, for making her feel anything but good, healthy, self-preserving emotions like hatred and fear. For about a million other reasons, as well, and none of them even remotely close to accurate. The force of rage and betrayal inside her body surprises her, like a wave at high-tide. If she held the dagger in her hand she would plunge it into him.
    No question.
    And he knows this. She is sure he does, just by looking into the abyssal pupils of his golden eyes. Sometimes the eyes speak far more truthfully than the mouth is ever capable of; the eyes are windows into the soul. For a moment, his narrow. Not in anger, not exactly, but something else. Concentration. Appraisal.
    Then he smiles, and she feels another shiver coming on, that he can smile at all with eyes like that. “Until next time, then.” And he drives the dagger through the slats of her ribs, straight into her heart. She feels the vibration of it in her chest as dagger hits bone and her vision goes white, — black, and then — blue — and she wakes up in the gaming cubicle, shivering, and sweaty, and very much afraid.

5.
    Vol walks out of her cubicle on shaking legs.
    She can still feel the blade. It seems to protrude from her body like a phantom limb.
    Tash is already back in the reception area, sitting on Ariel's desk and swinging her legs back and forth as she chats with the God Mod. The shorter girl is leaning against the same surface in close proximity to Tash's swinging leg left leg, chatting back with the same amount of ease.
    She seems oblivious to Vol's presence, though this seems impossible considering that Ariel is looking in Vol's direction. Tash has seen her, has, in fact, already inclined her head and started to wave, but her hand stills in mid-air and she glances curiously at Ariel. And distantly, in spite of the mixed emotions swirling through her like spilled paints, part of her finds room to be bitterly amused and think, Oh, so it's like that, is it?
    “ Are you okay?” Tash's eyes crease in concern. “Did you find out what you needed?”
    It takes a moment to get the words — any words — out. “Yes, — and more. I think — I think he hacked the game.”
    Ariel glances from Tash to Vol and back, frowning. “Wait. Who hacked into the game? And why?”
    “ Some asshole is stalking her.” Tash pats Vol's shoulder and Ariel's eyes track the movement.
    “ What's his name?” she says. “I can check the registry. See if he logged in.”
    “ I don't know his name,” Vol says. “He wouldn't tell me.”
    Ariel