spent.”
“You don’t understand, David. I can’t change who I am.” I pull away from his embrace and fake a sense of strength. “You’re right about LeMercier, he is a monster. And his DNA is part of me.”
David tries to interrupt. I place a finger to his lips before he can say anything else.
“I’m more like him than you’ll admit. I refuse to put you in the position of having to defend yourself against me. I just won’t do that to you.”
David’s face darkens as his voice lowers. “That isn’t going to happen, Dakota. You can’t hurt me any more than you could’ve hurt Josh. It just isn’t in you. No matter what that monster made you believe, how he twisted your mind. DNA or not, you aren’t like him. It just isn’t possible.”
“You forget that I’ve already hurt you. When we were kids. The training.”
“That was different. You bruised our skin. Our egos. Nothing more.”
“And if you’re wrong? If I wind up attacking you, or worse? What then?”
David reaches for me and I pull back again. “I’m not wrong,” he says.
“But—”
“Stop it, Dakota. You can’t keep doing this to yourself.” David pins me with his stare, the intensity almost more than I can handle. “You’re more than he’s trained you to be, so much more. Let me spend a lifetime proving that you.”
I focus on the slim band of metal that circles my finger. I want to say yes , promise myself to him. Each day a few more of my memories return, and with them so do my feelings for him. But there are other memories that come too. Thoughts of the training and the killings. Memories of how much I enjoyed LeMercier’s praise. Echoes of the pleasure my power brought me. How am I supposed to ignore what I’ve done, what I am?
I stare into David’s eyes, wishing we could disappear into another life, one that never included our so-called gifts. In a moment, the world slips away. But instead of a beautiful life with David, all I see, all I feel, are bullets whizzing past.
Another moment passes and David shoves me to the ground. The rough cement floor grinds into my knees. David guides me toward the only door in the front of the crowded cafe. Bullets swarm around us, coming from every direction. People scream, their voices forming a cacophony of panic and fear that pushes out every other sound.
My worst fears unfold in the chaos . . .
Dr. LeMercier is alive.
And we’ve been found.
My mind spins into autopilot as we pour onto the street and lose ourselves in the mob. I picture the gunmen, their guns turning against them, their lives ending with deafening silence. Screams split the night air, along with the sounds of sirens coming closer and closer and the rapid fire of the assault weapons. I feel the lives ending around me, taste the panic in the air. Thoughts of the guilty and the innocent mix together in my mind and stop suddenly as David leads me away. A piece of me wants to go back to see if the men have died by my thoughts. Kill them if they haven’t. But I won’t succumb to that temptation. Not again.
Why was I so reckless? I knew this would happen? The accusations wind through my brain, adding to ever-present noise.
“Where are we going?” I ask David.
“Home.” David continues to pull me through the crowd, the sirens and screams growing more and more faint with each step.
“Home? We can’t go home! They’ll find us there.” I yank at David’s arm. It’s no use, he won’t stop pulling me through the streets.
We wind our way through the town until we are alone, walking through a sleepy neighborhood. The gunfire and screams feel like nothing more than a distant echo, a dream.
David stops, his breath coming in quick, heavy bursts. “We need to go home and get our things. We can leave tomorrow.”
“And if those creeps aren’t planning on waiting until tomorrow?”
“ If they’re still alive, they won’t find us at the flat.” David scans the landscape, his eyes darting from