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Rage was.
Heath’s flesh went sallow and began to wrinkle before my eyes.
Disbelief flared in his eyes, quickly replaced by panic.
“You… you c-can’t! You’re not—” His words were choked off as I consciously pushed out harder with my power. I just wanted him to shut up. I couldn’t take any more of the shit he spewed.
All around Heath, an aura of light began to glimmer, a faint muddy green that glowed stronger with each passing moment. I watched it pulse as it grew, spreading wider and wider from his body.
When I focused back on him, I saw that he was rapidly… dehydrating. It was the only way I could think to describe it to myself. He looked like he’d been left out in the sun for weeks on end, no food or water to nourish his withering body.
Only a moment had passed, and he was already on the brink of death.
And then I realized: I wanted more.
A few minutes of suffering didn’t even begin to account for all the pain he’d caused. Not just for me, but for the other girls who felt the rough, repulsive touch of his hands before I’d ever arrived. They’d never know why they had those haunting feelings of violation whenever he was around, but I did. And I could offer them justice.
Through the pounding in my head, I could hear Darrio and Remy’s voices, Sam’s shouts louder than both of them, but I couldn’t make out the words. And to be honest, I didn’t try. I didn’t want to hear whatever reasons they had for me needing to stop. They’d claim this wasn’t justice, but vengeance, that there was another way, that he didn’t deserve to die. They didn’t know what I did.
Heath would never stop.
He’d continue to abuse his power to take advantage of people who couldn’t protect themselves against him. He was nothing more than a predator.
I’d been his prey, but now, he was mine. I couldn’t trust anyone in administration to deal with him. He could just make them forget what he was even being punished for.
So I would punish him.
I pulled back on my power and the glow around his body dimmed. I concentrated, my breathing labored, as I managed to get a tight rein on the energy that had been pouring out of me. Those cruel eyes didn’t look nearly so mean now. Instead, they were wide and afraid, much like I imagine mine had been when I was in the Dead Zone with him that first night. Someone stronger than he was had him at their mercy, so now he knew exactly how we felt.
“It’s terrifying, isn’t it? Knowing there’s nothing you can do. Knowing you’re powerless to save yourself.” I didn’t recognize my own voice, the pitch affected by everything going on inside my body. “You look so scared. I don’t understand, though. I thought you wanted this. The way you were looking at me, you were practically begging for it.”
A tear leaked from the corner of his eye, but it never had the chance to track down his cheek. The single drop was absorbed by his dry, papery flesh before it even managed to break free of the duct.
“You’re such a big, strong man, Heath. Why don’t you save yourself? Show me just how powerful you are.”
The color in his eyes had faded so much that they were just a milky gray, but they still showed his agony.
I reveled in it.
It was almost done. His body was teetering, only upheld by my power’s grip on him. The rapid blinks as he tried to comprehend that his life was ending had slowed. Now he stared with the last vestiges of life flickering in those deadened orbs, and I almost pitied how pathetic he looked.
Almost.
“Wherever you end up will still be too good for you, so know this: you’d better hope like hell I don’t end up in the same place, because if I do, I’m already planning on an encore.” Bored with him now that he was no longer in the agony he deserved, I imagined my power like a whip and lashed out with it. Whatever was left in Heath was gone in an instant. His brittle body crumpled to the ground in a pile and all my senses came flooding back in a rush.
My skin burned everywhere like a million hot needles were embedded under my skin, and my muscles ached with exhaustion. My hearing came back as well, and instead of the screaming I expected from Sam, Remy, and Darrio, there was only silence.
On either side of me, I could feel they were still present, but I couldn’t bring myself to look at them just yet. I didn’t want to see the disgust in their eyes.
I’d just intentionally murdered a man in cold blood.
He’d deserved it, sure, but it didn’t change anything about me. I was now the killer Varon had always called me.
Maybe he had the gift of foresight as well.
When I finally turned to meet their stares, I was shocked at what I found.
Fear.
