———

As the man ripped Remi's clothes off in one, smooth motion, leaving her in only her undergarments, she left out a angry snarl. "Get off me!"

The other men crowded around, leaving the other woman alone long enough for her to spare Remi a single fleeting glance before darting off through the broken door and out of sight. They began unzipping their pants, pulling them down until they pooled at their feet, and were left in only their undershorts.

Bile formed in Remi's throat as the man began roughly touching her skin. She writhed and kicked, only to have the men pin down her arms and legs. Everything he touched left behind what felt like spiders crawling under her skin, eating her from the inside. She couldn't stand the feeling.

Remi's body began to shake and tremble, and sweat broke out over her skin, leaving a thin sheen of perspiration.

She screamed until her throat felt raw, and even then she refused to stop. She would scream and scream and scream until someone heard her.

"Look Buck, she's enjoying it so much that she's already all worked up and sweating," one grinned with a few gaps in his teeth. His hands fiddled in his lap. "Can we have at her now, boss?"

"Screw you!" Remi yelled furiously.

"Not yet," he whispered with a sadistic gleam in his eyes. "I'm only getting started. This wench had the disrespect to spit in my face. We're going to draw this out and break her."

With one strong hand, the man flipped her over so that he could unclasp her bra.

The musty scent of the floor filled her nostrils.

She wished she had her cousins' abilities right now. They could disintegrate someone from any part of their body in seconds as long as there was skin to skin contact, while Remi always had to use her hands and concentrate hard for a longer amount of time and was so much better at healing than destroying.

With her arms pinned down with gloved hands, Remi felt like she had no chance, and that feeling of hopelessness only made her panic all the more.

Remi could already feel hives breaking out over her skin where that disgusting pig had touched her stomach and breasts, and she was beginning to hyperventilate. Her screams were strangled by the impossibly quick, terrified breaths her body was forcing her to take.

As the clasp of her bra finally came undone, Remi opened her mouth and let out one more terrified shriek.

And heard the door of the shop fall off its hinges onto the floor with a loud bang, startling the men.

The one touching her back held his hand in place. The skin beneath his fingers burned in pain as if it was on fire, and disgusted shivers racked her body in painful waves.

"What are you buffoons doing?" a woman's voice interrupted them, her voice low and sultry, but also deathly sharp. She wasn't pleased. "This wasn't apart of the contract."

"So?" one of the men grumbled. "We're improvising."

"Like hell you are," she snarled, storming her way over. Remi heard her sandals clacking against the ground, and suddenly a pair of ankles came into view. "Get off her; you're making her break out in hives."

The hand left her skin, and relief washed over her body. She still hated their eyes on her, but it was so much more tolerable than being touched.

The furred Carnean man stood to his full height and bellowed, "Stay out of this, Melee."

She must have done something to cause him pain, because all Remi could hear was a strained groan.

Quickly, while everyone was distracted, Remi yanked her arms out from under whatever knees had been holding them down and swung them behind her, quickly doing up the clasp on her bra once again and scurrying away from them.

Remi ran over to Martha's dead body, seething. The old woman's shirt was in disarray, and her hair had fallen from its bun. Foam was beginning to crust around her mouth, and her brown eyes were wide and open still.

What a terrible way for someone to die.

Remi blinked back the angry tears threatening to spill over and rolled up the woman's shirt so that she could touch her skin.

Instantly her hands began to glow, and she concentrated hard as the tiny hands stretched into the woman's body and began removing the poison by pumping her heart and adjusting the cell membranes of the cells in her body. She focused a lot on the red and white blood cells. They'd gone hard and stiff, so Remi made them flexible once again so that they could help to get rid of the poison by preforming their normal functions. Keeping them that way instead of letting the poison harden them again was energy consuming, but Remi didn't let herself stop. She spread more of her energy through the woman's body than before to speed up the procedure.

Minutes later, the toxin had been mostly extracted from her body. Remi sat back and sighed deeply, exhaustion rolling over her in waves. Martha was unconscious now, but alive, and would wake up in a few hours when the last few traces of the poison had been removed.

Remi realized that a long cloak had been placed across her shoulders, hiding her nearly bare body from few.

"You know, most women get raped at least five or six times in their lives. They only fondled you a little, so you really had nothing to be getting so upset about."

Turning around, Remi's eyes widened upon seeing a young woman with long, black hair standing before her. She had her arms crossed and was tapping her foot impatiently.

"And you are?" Remi bit, eyes blazing. She couldn't help herself for being furious. Even if this woman had saved her, she was still associated with the men who had nearly raped her.

"The person who just saved you," the woman replied back, rolling her stormy grey eyes. "Now come on, my employer is waiting, and he'll be mighty angry if I'm late."

Remi only looked at her warily, but got up none-the-less. "Are you behind Bliss's disappearance?"

"Bliss?" she laughed. "There is no bliss in our city. Only cruelty and savagery."

Now Remi was the one getting annoyed. "No, Bliss is a name. My cousin's name, to be precise. Her hair is the same colour as mine, but a lot shorter. And she went missing a couple hours ago, and no one has been able to find her."

The young woman was sauntering over to her now, her hips swaying sensually as she walked with all the grace of a deadly panther. "I could say I noticed someone like that, but you would have to decide for yourself if I was telling the truth, or simply spinning you a tale in order to get you to willingly come with me."

Remi shrugged nonchalantly, although she could feel her anxiety flaring and her body growing warm. "Call me stupid, call me naive, but if there's even the slightest chance that your employer—whoever that may be—has my cousin, I'll go."

"You're stupid and naive, and you're almost definitely not some heroine. You're a complete idiot," she replied, strolling out the door and expecting Remi to follow. She tossed something behind her, which Remi instinctively caught. The cold metal of handcuffs bit at her palms. "Also, put these on. If you're thinking of refusing, keep in mind that I'll have to do it if you won't."

Remi frowned in reply, but put them on anyway. She'd rather do it herself than feel more familiar hands on her skin today.

"Since we'll be briefly travelling together, and because I already know your name, you might as well know mine. It's Melee," she announced loudly, as if she was bestowing a gift upon Remi.

"Pleased to meet your acquaintance," Remi murmured back uncertainty, following her. She tried to catch a glimpse of either Killure or Blue, but saw nothing other than a stressful crowd of faceless people. They weren't literally faceless, but that's how they felt to Remi. So many strangers. "Can I ask you something?"

Her hands were already becoming clammy just being around so many people since they'd stepped outside. Remi forced herself to say Melee's name over and over in her mind while staring at the young woman, in an attempt to disassociate her from the crowd of people. It hardly helped.

"I suppose if you must," Melee frowned, walking a few steps ahead of her.

"Where'd those . . . men go?"

Her ebony hair spun around her as she turned to face Remi, walking backwards now as she talked. "Men? More like pigs. And I kicked their butts out of the tea shop while you were off doing your magic-y thing."

"It's not magic," Remi replied automatically. It always bothered her when people said that like all they had to do was touch someone and that person would be instantly, magically healed. It wasn't like that at all. "But thanks."

Melee smirked at that. "I'm kidnapping you and you're thanking me for something I did that made things easier for me?"

Remi grinned back. "You didn't have to come in when you did—you could have waited until they were done and I couldn't walk."

"If you couldn't walk, I'd have to carry you, and I'd rather not," Melee grumbled, spinning back around without stopping. "And I hate pigs who treat other people like they're objects to be toyed with."

Remi's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You do?"

She held up her hands. "Crucify me for it if you'd like. I know most people don't think that way."

Remi hadn't met anyone who disagreed with the way things were. It shocked her.

"You're also contradicting yourself by taking me to someone who probably doesn't have my best interest at heart."

Melee's sharp, bitter laughter carried behind her. "A girl's gotta earn a living somehow. Can't change the way the world works."

Her words struck Remi like a cat-o-nine-tails, tearing flesh from her back with its hateful bulbs.

Their world was terrible and flawed. No one felt any regret for the heinous acts they committed—in fact, they were often proud of them. The more brutal, the better.

It wasn't how things should work.

But Melee was right. One person couldn't change the world.

"I wish I could," Remi whispered passionately, lowering her eyes to the ground. It wasn't possible, but that didn't mean she couldn't wish things were better.

Melee scoffed without looking back. "And I wish I could live out my days seated in front of a massive buffet stacked high with all kinds of food, while simultaneously being catered to by servants whose only desires are to do my bidding and make me as comfortable as possible. But alas, that would be impossible. Looks like we both have impossible dreams."

———

A/N: The beginning of this chapter was so painful to write. But writing the ending with scenes with Melee was super fun.