Page 63 of The Devil's Mercy

“I didn’t like when you touched me,” he murmured. “Not once.”

But Titus and Aodhan were different. Titus made himfeel. Made him feel like, for the first time in his life, he might not actually be so alone.

Dangerous. Especially considering Cal was aware that much of that feeling was no doubt due to the Connect’s influence over him. His ability to manipulate him, even on a subconscious level.

Aodhan…Aodhan made him feel special. The doctor’s true nature didn’t care about anyone other than himself and Titus. Even though he’d left Cal alone with the director to go off on his killing spree tonight, Cal had still been able to feel the excitement buzzing off him before and after.

He’d felt Aodhan’s hatred toward Sister Grace as well.

It’d been real.

And it’d been for him.

The way Calix saw it, he had two options.

Give in and accept his fate.

Keep resisting and end up under their thumbs—and their bodies—with no autonomy.

If he went with the first, Cal was starting to believe they’d give him back some semblance of freedom. He didn’t know everything about the Connect bond, but he did understandthat once they went through with it, they’d be able to find him wherever he went.

But…they’d be able to feel him too.

Cal scratched at the place over his heart, frowning. He hadn’t yet come to terms with his emotions, the thought of letting someone else in to feel them for him was… off-putting.

“Everyone here already thinks I’m a monster.” He leaned closer to Sister Grace. “You’ve helped me realize something tonight. Better a monster than a hypocrite.”

Calix had lied, but he’d never pretended the things that happened were anything other than the horrible acts that they were. He’d convinced the world, and even himself for a while there, that the incident with Nero had been an accident, but he’d never claimed hitting him with his car had been okay.

He knew right from wrong.

He’d never claimed to be a saint.

“What’s your excuse? Looks like you stopped fucking your charges, but never stopped attending shit like this.”

If she came here tonight, that meant she was a member of this exclusive club. Aodhan had even mentioned she’d been with her lover, relishing in the debauchery she used to beat Cal for supposedly being curious about. Neither the doctor or Titus had seemed surprised either, which meant they’d known.

They hadn’t brought him here to poke at old wounds and trick him into a confession to save the sylar.

They’d brought him here for this.

As far as betrothal gifts went…

Calix clutched the top of her head, taking a fistful of her gray and brown hair, barely noticing when some of the blood it was matted with smeared onto his palm and squished between his fingers. He lifted her up until they were at eye level.

“Good Light. May the gods have mercy on that poor girl's soul,” he returned the last thing he’d ever heard her say.

Then he dropped her head with a sickening plop down onto the table, turned, and did the one thing he’d always dreamed of doing.

Calix Valimir finally left his past behind.

Chapter 18:

Cal waited until around three am, when the house was completely silent, to make his move. He’d insisted on keeping the sylar with him in his room and had managed to convince Titus and Aodhan that he needed some time alone to process everything that had occurred at the party.

It hadn’t been a lie. Not entirely.

He’d noticed the collar on the creature right away when he’d first spotted it locked in that small cage. Just as expected, the loop attaching the bell to the rest of it came off with a little bit of prying. He chucked the bell onto the bed and twisted the tiny piece of metal to his liking.

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