Desirae was standing outside her home. She had no reason to stand still, but she couldn’t make herself go inside. To her right was her father’s car, gravel crunching beneath her feet as she shifted uncomfortably. Her mind felt numb ever since that ominous message crossed over her tablet in class. The way her teacher talked, too, was as if she knew what had happened to her. As if she were involved too. That would be impossible though.

She rubbed the rough material of her arm brace before taking a few steps towards her home, resting her hand on the door handle, and let out a shaky sigh. It felt like the world was going to collapse in on her—her father had yet to see her following the accident, and the house had felt like one giant shell she was able to become a recluse in. With him back, she no longer had the capability to ignore everything that was crumbling around her.

Just as she was about to open that door, her phone rang to life and practically made her jump out of her skin. Looking down at her wristwatch, she saw Zeke’s name cross over the clear screen and the choice to answer, or ignore.

Looking at the door once more, she pressed the green button and pulled her phone out of her pocket so she could hear him.

“Hey, Zeke, what’s up?”

“Just checking in,” Zeke said, papers crackling in the background as he sighed. “You home yet?”

Desirae smiled, taking a seat on the step of her front porch, kicking some gravel beneath her feet idly. He had been checking in on her daily since her accident, Desirae wasn’t sure she had ever seen him so concerned. “Kinda?”

“Kind of is never a good answer with you.”

Desirae chuckled. “I’m sitting outside my house. What are you doing? It sounds like corporate hell there.”

“Things are burning, per usual. Why don’t you go inside? It’s a bit chilly outside.”

Hesitating, she tucked her bottom lip between her teeth and closed her eyes. “Daddy’s home,” she said, distaste dripping off the tip of her tongue.

Zeke stayed quiet, a sharp sigh muffling into the poor reception. He started to talk again, but it was more of a mumble than anything else. Desirae didn’t bother to ask for clarification, she knew it was some sort of jab at her father. He was beyond pissed with how uninterested he had been in Desirae’s accident.

“It’s fine, Zeke. When do I get to see you again, anyway?”

He hesitated again, which made Desirae furrow her brow. Zeke was typically the type to be quick on his feet, almost never taking a moment to breathe. Especially when it was just the two of them. Today, though, he seemed distracted. Distant. She passed it off that he was at work and busy, but something churned in her stomach at the thought of him fading away as all her friends had in the past.

“Whenever you want, Des. I have to go, though. Work is hell right now. I just wanted to check in and make sure you were alright.”

Although she knew he couldn’t see her, she nodded. “Sure, I understand. Hope the rest of your afternoon is fine.”

“Thanks.” Just as she was about to press the end button, his voice chimed in again. “Hey, Des? I mean it when I ask that you please be safe out there. I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be fine, Zeke. Just so long as I have my partner in crime annoying me every now and then.”

“Wouldn’t miss that opportunity for the world.”

Chuckling, Desirae lifted her phone from her ear and hung up. Standing to her feet, she felt a rush of courage flow through her, and this time she opened the front door without question. She stared down at her wrist, watching as the chip buried beneath the first few layers of her skin glowed. It was so easy to ignore it, most things didn’t even require her to lift her arm for the chip to be read. It’s quite possibly the only augmentation that her father would ever allow, and that was because it allowed anybody with the right power to see into her life. It made her shutter, but it was the way society operated.

As she climbed up the stairs, she overheard her father talking to somebody in his office, laughing every other minute as the muffled voice responded. Without waiting to see if he would peek his head out, she disappeared into the second story and hid in her room. There, she took a seat on her recessed window, moving her pillow so it was nestled in a corner, and stared out into the front courtyard until the sun began to set.

⟨ᴠᴀɢʀᴀɴᴛ⟩

What came next was beautiful. A collection of scenic views that spanned the city, a portrayal of beauty leaning against the concrete barrier of the rooftop, and a henchman holding his arms behind his back with a gun pressed firmly against his temple.

“I’m sorry, I should have told you...” The woman stood upright, wiping some of the dirt off the side of her jeans as she walked over. “I am into a bit of gun and knife play.”

DeVile scoffed and drew his lips into a smirk. “‘I’ve always had a certain appreciation for danger.”

She hummed, stopping directly in front of him. The top of her head came to his chin, her eyes studying his face carefully. “I see a lot of augmentation scarring. What do you have beneath that beautiful, beautiful face?”

She trailed her finger up his metallic arm, lifting to stroke the curvature of his chin. DeVile flinched as her nails teasingly dug into his cheek before she dropped her hand. The henchman behind him latched something around his wrists before moving so he was in sight, too. He had a long, jagged scar crossing from his right eyebrow to the middle of his lip. His eyes were white, no color held in his iris, but he could tell it was an augmented eye. He wondered if he was actually as blind as it appeared.

As he tried to pull his wrists apart, he was met with a sharp shock. Looking over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of handcuffs held together with an electric blue laser that glowed brightly every time he moved. If he tugged, it would send a shock through his system.

It only really affected his unaugmented arm, the other was more of a tickle than anything. DeVile knew this sweetheart of a vixen knew that, too. They were doing this to keep him behaved.

“Okay, so you have me gagged and cuffed. What is it you want?” He asked, narrowing his stare towards her again.

“I didn’t lie to you down there, I knew who you were. It’s such a shame you gave it up so easily, though… I figured it would be more of a chase.”

“I don’t play hard to get.”

“Fooey, I do. Anyways, there’s been a number on your head for years, DeVile. You made a lot of important people pissed.”

DeVile fell silent, his lips pursed as he waited for her to continue. He wouldn’t throw himself under the bus, because she was right—he had made a ton of people mad. Some were more important than others. That being said, any ganglord on this side of Chicago could want him dead. He needed to hear the name from her, just in case his big mouth made this situation all that much worse.

“Tell me something, DeVile,” she said under her breath as she mockingly circled him. She was like a hawk. “What did it feel like?”

“What did what feel like?”

Stopping behind him, she stood on the tips of her toes and tickled his earlobe with her breath. “What did it feel like knowing you left my family for dead?”