Katie looked at her reflection in the mirror.
After the slaughter ended, Mr. Isaac announced that everyone could go home now, and as odd as it was to say it, things went down normally. The partiers went to party. The drinkers went to drink. The sexually-active left in pairs or trios or, if they were extremely lucky, groups of four.
Caitlin and Zach left together.
Katie didn't know how she got home. All she could remember was the way Sara’s cold, dead eyes looked up at her...and how she felt absolutely nothing.
Wait. No. Not nothing.
Excitement. Satisfaction. Thrill.
Any and every emotion that shouldn’t be associated with looking down on the eyes of a dead girl.
This was not right! What was wrong with her? You should feel embarrassed and guilty! An innocent girl came to you for help and you screwed her over! Not only so, you made those damn jokes about it! What type of twisted psychopath would do that?
Katie stared into her own eyes through the mirror. She did all she could to find even a shred of remorse in her own gaze, but she couldn’t.
And despite her attempts to force herself to feel bad, she only felt high, and not in a bad way.
Suddenly, Katie punched the mirror with all her strength.
The mirror immediately broke into half a dozen pieces. Fractured pieces of glass cut several bloody grooves across Katie’s fist just like she wanted, but Katie’s plan to punish herself with pain failed. Pain, she did feel, but it was more of a reward than a punishment.
“Shit!” She cursed loudly. Not giving up, she smashed her fists into several pieces of broken glass. It hurt, but it didn't hurt enough to make her ignore how much she, deep down, enjoyed it.
“Fuck!”
The brunette closed her eyes. She suddenly remembered the deal with Mira. Mira was still in the Sherdon hotel were Katie left her. The girl was hunted by Kameron, the practical prince of the Tribe of Mu. According to Mira’s estimations, Kameron should arrive in NYC soon. Her plan was to conceal her presence, but Katie hoped to stay by her so that when Kameron arrived, she could have some fun with him.
Nooo...that’s not the proper thing to do! It’s not me making the decision! It’s my body and its desires! I should go to Mira and escort her to safety! I’m not gonna put an innocent girl at risk so I can have fun!
Katie silently made up her mind. She might be enjoying pain and suffering, but whether or not she would be devoured by that desire was her choice and her choice alone.
She looked back into the broken mirror. The different pieces attached to the mirror made her own image look distorted.
Katie spoke through her teeth.
“This is not me.”
Inside the mirror, a distorted Katie Lockwood looked back. A distinct frown on her cheek.
----------------------------------------
Katie called another Uber to the Sherton hotel. This time, the Uber driver glanced at her many times on the drive there. Katie was alone and the destination was in the rurals. In the middle of the drive, Katie even closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Due to what she said back in the house, she wouldn’t go around looking for a fight, but if someone brought the fight to her, well, she would gladly ‘defend herself’.
Yet once again, the driver remained a law-abiding citizen until Katie got off the car.
After giving the driver a one-star rating, Katie walked into the hotel. She walked past the hotel clerk, a young woman with dark hair, at the front desk. Katie had one of the two cards to the hotel room door, and she was able to open the door to the room and walk inside.
“Hey Mira!” Once she got in, Katie kicked her shoes aside and stepped through the carpeted floor barefoot. “I had a change of mind! Basically, before that guy comes, we can leave...Mira?”
She went halfway through her plan before realizing she didn't have an audience. Katie immediately frowned and searched through the entire room with her Walther handgun drawn. But the result wasn’t great.
Mira was gone.
“Oh great.” Katie groaned and tossed her handgun onto the bed. Really? Did she spend eighty dollars and forty-five minutes on an Uber here just to see an empty room?
Things were clear now. The room wasn’t forcefully broken into. The most likely possibility was that Mira left the room by herself. Makes sense. Katie knew Mira didn't have the two million dollar bounty she promised, and she has always wanted to run when Katie said she wanted to stand and fight. Now that she thought about it, if Mira stayed here like a good girl and waited for Katie to return, then she was a real idiot.
That didn't stop Katie from swearing.
“That damn girl!” She bit her lips. “Ok. Here’s the thing. Maybe she doesn’t want me to find her, but I am still going to track her down. Why? Well, I am not going to miss out something this fun. Wait! Nope! Let me rephrase myself! I am going to track her down because she is still being hunted, and me, Katie Lockwood, the caring and compassionate girl that I am, can’t live with seeing an innocent girl die when I can do something.”
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“How nice of you.”
Katie snapped around and found herself facing the clerk girl from the front desk. There was a weird smile on that girl’s face that reminded Katie of the smile on a puppet’s face. Smiles were supposed to be warm, but the only word Katie could relate to the girl’s smile was fake.
“Excuse me,” Katie rose her eyebrows. “but I’m talking to myself here. Now, be a good girl and get out. This is still my room, right? I paid for it.”
“Oh trust me, I will get out, but not before you answer a question from me.” The clerk’s cold, wicked smile never left her cheek. “Where is Mira?”
“Oh.” Katie quietly pulled out the handgun she just returned to her pocket. “So you’re working for that guy after Mira, right? What was his name again? Karl? K something, right? Am I going crazy?”
“Kameron, I believe.” The clerk bowed politely. “At your service.”
“Wait, you’re Kameron?” Katie was seriously surprised. Her mouth hung open for a full two seconds before she started chatting. “I always thought you were a guy! I mean...not to be assuming or anything, but most psychopath sadists tend to be guys...well, I am probably the worst person to make that assumption. But the Ling family wanted to give Mira to you! Wait, are you gay? Hey, I’m starting to like you!”
“That girl has told you a lot about us.” The clerk replied quietly. “I’ll take that into consideration when I find her, take her back to the family, and punish her. Now, help me find her, and I will make it worth your while.”
“Sssssss...yeah...usually this is the part where I lead you to her and then suddenly betray you and shoot you in the head just for the kicks of it, but I’m just going to say no right now. Before you get mad, it’s not personal. I just have some personal thing to deal with…”
Katie was still babbling on and on when the clerk suddenly reached her arms forward. Two green tree branches exploded out of her palm and wrapped around Katie.
“That brings creepy to a whole new level!” Katie cried as she raised her handgun and shot the clerk in the chest multiple times, but when the bullets landed, they drew some sort of green liquid rather than blood.
The tree branches bound Katie’s arms to the side and lifted her up into the air. Her handgun fell on the ground.
The clerk walked up to Katie. The brunette struggled, but the branches coming out of the clerk’s hands held her in place. She couldn’t even reach for her knife.
After examining Katie and making sure she was fully restrained, the clerk suddenly stepped to the side. A figure walked in through the door. It was a man in his twenties with dark hair and a mocking smirk.
Katie rose her eyebrows.
“Now, you are more of a Kameron.”
“Indeed. Let me introduce myself again. I am Kameron. She,” The man gestured at the clerk. “she is merely an unfortunate soul I came across in pursuit of my little toy. Speaking of her, where is Mira?”
Now, to a normal human being, Katie was at a complete disadvantage, right? She was unarmed and restrained, and she was facing two enemies with unknown superpowers.
But Katie says no! She wasn’t at a disadvantage! She was simply fucked.
Then again, she wasn’t bothered by this one bit. What could Kameron do to her? Torture her? Kill her?
She answered as snarky as always.
“Well, since you have been listening to my entire monologue, then you should know she ditched me without notifying me at all.”
“Any you didn't have anything to track her down?”
“Nope.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Nope. I mean...yeah! Of course! Why not?”
“You don’t seem to understand the seriousness of the situation, Ms. Lockwood.” Kameron suddenly leaned forward so close to Katie that she could smell his scent. The man turned to the clerk.
“Do you know how she went from an ordinary person to this?”
“This is the part where I say no and you explain everything to me.”
Kameron grinned viciously.
“Well, to transform you, first, a seed is planted into your body. Normally, if the seed is put into your mouth, the seed would fall into your stomach and be corroded by your stomach acid. But my specially cultivated seed will attach itself to your throat on the way down. Within an hour, you will feel more thirsty and hungry than you have ever felt before. That is because the seed inside you has planted itself inside your body and is stealing your nutrients and water.”
“After three hours of cultivation, that is when all the fun really starts. The seed will grow into a plant that will slowly merge with your bones. Your spine. Your arms and legs. Even the bones in your fingers. You will scream, a lot.”
Katie licked her lips.
“Finally, after you have exhausted every fraction of your strength screaming and crying, the plant will spread itself to your flesh and your skin. In the end, your brain will be the final victim. At that point, you will be no more than one of my many puppets.”
“So, either surrender now, or become just like her.” Kameron gestured for the clerk.
At this point, the descendant of the Mu clan was confident. No one in the right mind would willingly choose such a fate for a girl who she barely met. This was the point where this tough-sounding brunette breaks down and begs for mercy.
Katie turned to the clerk.
“I’m sorry. I am really, really sorry.”
Suddenly, she burst out into laughter.
“How was that for a Doctor Who impression?”
Kameron’s smile disappeared. His face twitched in fury. How dare she? How dare this girl say something like this to him? He was the son of the Chief of the Seven Tribes! He would make her pay for this!
A green seed formed in Kameron’s palm. The clerk suddenly jerked the tree branches deep into Katie’s arms. When she opened her mouth to scream, Kameron tossed the seed into Katie’s mouth.
The clerk pulled the tree branches back and allowed Katie to fall back onto the carpeted floor, choking.
“Enjoy.” Kameron grinned. “Now, if you surrender now…I will tell that seed to cease absorbing nutrients and die, but if you still want to protect my toy, I will end you right now.”
Of course, the first part of that was a lie. He has already wasted a seed on Katie. No reason to back down now. Even if Katie gave him everything he wanted, he would transform her either way.
“Well,” Katie wiped her mouth. That seed tasted really bad. “You did say that it takes several hours for the good part to start, right? So, I’ll be safe till then.”
“Under normal circumstances, yes, but since I’m in a hurry.” Kameron snapped his finger and sent a psychic order into the seed inside Katie. Grow. Take whatever you need from your surroundings and grow. Take over this body! Make your host suffer!
And then, the next moment...absolutely nothing happened.
The room got into a period of awkward silence where Katie and Kameron looked at each other in anticipation. Two minutes later, Katie politely raised her finger in inquiry.
“Well, you’re a bit too young for performance issues, but I guess too much contact with certain plants may cause that.” She gave out a sigh. Before Kameron or the clerk could respond, Katie turned and ran straight through a glass window.
Kameron didn't expect that at all. This was the third floor! The girl was committing suicide! But when he ran to the window and looked down, he saw Katie slowly limping away.
“Damn it!”