Chapter 8

We all knew who was going to go first.

Craving was crying.

“You have 1 minute...” Lust stated.

It was kinder than I had ever seen her be before.

I couldn't imagine what he was going through. I just wished we would have had more time. I wished there would have been some sort of miracle to give us more time. To give HIM more time. We all knew though.

I tapped Craving on his back.

No...it wasn't Craving.

“Ardor, say your goodbyes...”

Ardor and Craving went into a corner. There was something about Lust however. There was something human about the way she was doing it. She gave them their time. I watched as they hugged. I watched as they kissed. I watched as they cried. I wanted to tell Ardor there was a worse way to go. I wanted to tell Ardor what I had seen with Wrath.

I wanted to give him some sort of comfort but in the end really I believed that Craving had been given him comfort this entire time. Craving and known that it was only a matter of time before Ardor was going to go. Ardor knew it just as well.

I closed my eyes when it happened.

I didn't look when it happened.

“Don't you dare cry,” Urge told me.

“I won't.”

“You cried enough.”

Lust had told the rest of us to line up. It was clear that Ardor wasn't going to be the only one to not make it to rank 4. It was clear there was going to be another one when she asked us to line up. She passed Craving. She passed Passion. She passed Allure. She passed stopped at Glamour.

“No...no...”

Glamour was the next one to go. I had wondered if it was going to be her but I hadn't been paying too much attention to whether she had improved or not.

Glamour didn't take it sitting down. She tried to attack Lust.

Urge stated, “Idiot...”

She didn't make it very far. She two steps and got two bullets to her brain. I looked away again. It was getting easier unfortunately. Even with Craving still shedding tears, it was getting easier to see people die.

We were all surprised when she KEPT walking. It couldn't have been Romance. Could it? No. She walked past Romance. Romance's eyes got wide as she let out a deep breath. It seemed like she hadn't even realized her best friend Glamour was dead until Lust past her.

What the fuck?
Lust kept walking down the line.

She walked past Urge. She walked past me.

She stopped.

She took a step back.

She was standing in front of my face! She was fucking standing in front of my face! Craving seemed to start crying almost immediately. Lust was staring at me. Her eyes seemed to say it all.

“No...you're wrong!” Urge stated going off.

Everyone was kind of shocked. It was unlike Urge to lose control. When Lust was staring at he seemed like he was about to do something rash and crazy. I was breathing hard but my breathing was controlled. I was calm in this situation. Even facing death I was somewhat calm in this situation, but Urge wasn't having it.

“Your scores barely passed, I'm deciding if you're worth it,” she stated.

“Barely passed?” Urge stated, “That's bullshit. He got perfect scores. I made sure of it. I trained him myself.”

Lust seemed to not want to communicate directly with Urge. I wondered if it was because Urge was Tom's son. Maybe it was something else. She continued to look at me. Maybe it was the fact that she just wanted to figure out whether I was really worth it or not.

“The scoring has changed. Instead of being scored on on two skills you are now scored on three. Desire it's true you had perfect scores with knives and poisons but you have no scores with everything else.”

I had focused on knives and poisons. Urge had said...

Urge had said....

I was trying not to panic. I turned to Urge trying to figure out what this meant. He was looking at me. He wasn't crying but he was panicking. It was Craving in the background crying that seemed to hurt the worst. Seeing my best friend cry like this was worse than being put down like Ardor was.

“Since when were the scores changed? I'll talk to my father. Let me talk to Tom.”
“It's Tom who changed the scores....just for Desire.”

The shock had made everyone turn their heads. I was looking to Urge. I was looking for him to defend me but he seemed just as confused. It was the first time Urge didn't seem to have a clear cut plan. It seemed the first time that he just looked lost.

His face wrinkled up at that moment. He was breathing heavy. I saw him breathing heavy. Craving was panicking and Urge was losing it!
Would today be the day I died?
At least I wouldn't be going alone.

At least Ardor would be with me....we'd go together.

“Why would he? Why?”

It was pointless. Lust wasn't even listening to Urge. She had lifted her gun again. She had pressed it to my dome.

“I can't change the rules,” she stated so low that it was almost a whisper. It was almost like she didn't want someone to hear. It was almost like she didn't want anyone to hear. Was this her apology?

I was confused but I knew Lust wasn't a monster. I used to think she was a monster by how quick she pulled the trigger but I didn't think she was any longer. I knew the real monster was Wrath who just didn't pull the trigger. He made his people suffer.

“It's ok. I forgive you. You were me once,” I stated.

Lust looked away as she put her finger on the trigger. It was the first time she ever looked away. I looked at Urge at the same time. Urge was staring at me. It was the first time I saw his face break character. He was...emotional.

It was emotion that was in his eyes.

Was it? Yes...tears.

I could die happy. Urge shed an actual tear for me.

The GUN went off almost the same time I heard a sound, “Wait!”

I was shot...but I wasn't dead. I wasn't dead. The gun had just touched my ear. It was Urge. He had pulled me out of the way. I hadn't even seen him coming towards me.

Urge had me on the floor huddled up at that moment.

“You can't have him.”

Lust turned the gun over towards Urge and I.

“Are you an idiot?”

What was Urge doing? He was blocking me with his entire body. He was willing to give his life for me. I was completely behind him and he had his hands outstretched. If she shot me she would have to shoot through him.

Lust's hand was shaking. She was turning towards the moderators as though looking for some sort of sign or something. She was nervous. The cool and collected Lust seemed confused now as to what to do. Should she shoot through Tom's son to kill me. I felt bad for her really. I felt bad because I knew now that she was nothing more than another weapon. She may have been a high ranking weapon but she was just another one of Tom's weapons. Lust wasn't the enemy. Lust was never the enemy. Tom was.

“Enough,” a moderator said, “Tom has the information he wanted. Desire has moved on to Rank 4.”
“The information?” Urge asked.

The moderators ignored him. They called in the clean up crew. The crew took out Ardor and Glamour's bodies. They literally had to claw Craving off of his dead boyfriend. The moderators had been taken notes as if this was some sort of test or something. Who were they testing? Were they testing me? Were they testing Lust? Were they testing Urge? I didn't understand it. I don't think anyone understood...not even Lust. She was just shaking her head after the clean up crew left.

Urge seemed so frustrated. He had lost his cool. He had this emotion now and he had a hard to concealing it now that it had come out, “What information! What INFORMATION! Don't just walk out, Lust! What fucking information did my father want?

Lust didn't turn back, “Everyone acts so weird around him?”
“Desire?”

“Yes. I don't know what your father wants. He changed the rules...just for Desire. He wanted Desire to fail. He wanted me to kill him. I think. I thought. I don't know. Listen. I just follow the rules. That's it. I just follow the rules,” Lust stated.

I struggled to get to my feet, “Lust...”

“Yes.”

“I meant what I said,” I assured her, “I forgive you.”

She nodded. Her face was down to the ground. I know she heard me. I didn't know if it really sunk in but she heard. After seeing what Wrath was capable of I knew that I was ok with Lust. It wasn't the best of circumstances to be here but if I was here I rather serve under her. She hadn't been pretending like she cared about us...like Tom did when I first met him. She actually did care.

I turned to Urge.

He was shaking.

He looked around. His face was red. The others were all looking at him. Allure was included in that.

“That took guts, Urge,” she stated, “You standing up to them like that. I didn't think it was possible. Maybe I'll stop trying to kill you after all.”

I thought it would make Urge happy. It didn't. He looked disgruntled. He looked even more upset then ever. He was breathing heavily. He was angry.

“Urge are you ok?” I asked.

I tried to reach out to him but he hit me.

Urge punched me hard in my face. He punched me so hard that I fell to the ground. Craving got up immediately and was going after him but I held out my arm to stop Craving before he got to Urge. Urge looked down at me with this angry look.

I was so confused. What the fuck was going on?

“Don't you ever fucking put a hand on me again,” Urge warned me.

I was confused. He saved me. He risked his life to save me only to punch me in the face like this. I didn't get it. Of course my face hurt when he hit me but that wasn't the pain that hurt the most. It hurt when I saw how he looked at me. He looked at me like he hated me.

The others looked on seeming just as confused as I was. I was embarrassed. I was the only one Urge had let in this whole time and now he had just straight up socked me in my face like I meant nothing to him.

“Urge, calm down. What's wrong?”

He grimaced at me, “Don't speak to me...you worthless piece of shit. Stay away from me, ok? Do you hear me?”

Urge started to walk away from me but I couldn't take it. I was panicking. There was this huge fear of dread that came over me. It was almost like I had gone so far to really having him trust me but he was withdrawing again.

“Why?” I asked getting up and walking towards him. I cornered him leaving him no where to go.

“What? You want to fight? You want to fight. RAISE YOUR WEAPON!”
“My weapon? Oh this thing. The thing you gave me that belonged to your mom because you supposedly cared about me. Right? That weapon. What made you change your mind? Huh. Now all of a sudden you want me to raise my weapon to what---fight you? Seriously Urge? What is going on? Why are you acting like this? I'm NOT fighting you.”
He turned away.

It was all too embarrassing. I knew that Craving was going to get involved even before he did. Craving tried to grab me but I shook away from him.

“Let him be...” Craving told me, “Fuck him...”

Craving had said it loud enough for Urge to hear but words didn't effect him. I could care less what he said though. There was this emotion all in me to see Urge treating me like shit all of a sudden. I found myself walking up to him.

I grabbed Urge and pleased, “Why are you acting like this?”

I don't think I ever pleaded before. He had moved his hand again. He was about to hit me again. I could see it coming. I could see the back hand about to slap my face when all of a sudden Craving caught his arm. Craving grabbed his arm and tossed Urge's arm to the ground.

Urge and Craving squared off. Craving's face was fierce when he threatened Urge in this intense way, “Desire won't come near you. I'll make sure of it. Since that's what you want. Fine. It's done. But don't you ever put your hands on him again or believe me...believe me, I'll kill you. And no offense, Allure, but I'll make sure I get it done.”

Craving had an intensity I had never seen before. Maybe it was the fact that Ardor was dead and I was all he had left. I knew Craving wasn't playing and I think Urge took him seriously as well. Regardless of whether it was possible that Craving could beat Urge, we all knew Craving was upset. Craving was more than upset. He was the one who was so against killing but he was basically telling Urge that is exactly what would happen if he put his hands on me again.

Urge showed no emotion now. His face went back to the same old Urge and I felt like I was losing him. I felt like I was losing him all over again.

I felt like shit as Urge walked away. A part of me wanted to go after him again no matter how many times he hit me. I knew that it would complicate things with Craving standing there though and that's the only reason I didn't.

Allure shook her head, “Was it something I said?”

That night we had a memorial for the dead. We all gathered around in the corner of the dormitory. Romance had gotten weeds from the courtyard. It was the closest thing we could find to flowers. We laid them out. One for each person that had died. We said kind things about them. We tried to remember them. Of course Urge was no where to be found. He all of a sudden wanted nothing to do with any of us...me in particular. It would have been nice if he joined us. It felt like someone was missing from the group. We had all been through so much.

Allure was the one who spoke about Glamour, “She wouldn't want us crying over her. That kind of thing embarrassed her you know. She'd want us to take her strength and use it. She's not dead you know. Neither is Ardor. None of them are dead. They live through us. Our brothers, our sisters through the worst times of our lives. Even if we weren't close to them, we knew them. We had grown to know how they laugh, how they cry and we had grown to know how they sweat. And we all sweat. We all sweat goddamn it. And we deserve better than this and one day we'll earn it. One day we'll get what we deserve. There will be justice for the dead.”

Justice.

Allure had balls. Talk like that probably wouldn't have gone over well with the moderators but then again no moderators were around to hear what she was saying. She dropped the weed and walked away. There was so much strength in her and in a way I admired her. It was easy to see why people like Glamour followed her. She was a natural born leader.

Romance prayed a few minutes later and Passion pattered her on the back. Passion went over to Craving and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She smiled at me lightly before walking away. That was all she could really do I guess.

It was just Craving and I. He stared down at the memorial we made.

“You ok?” I asked.

I was rubbing his back. It seemed to help a little. When I rubbed his back he stopped holding back his tears and let them cry a little bit. I was there for him the entire time. I didn't know much that I could say to help him with this. I knew he just wanted me to be there for him and I would be. I would be there for Craving no matter what.

Craving shrugged, “I loved him. You know? Even when it was stupid to do so. Believe me, it was stupid. We all knew he wouldn't make it. He knew he wouldn't make it. And I loved him anyway. Do you think that's stupid?”

“You can't help who you love...” I told him.

“Like you and Urge...”

Craving knew me. We had spent so much time together. There was no point in denying what was going on, “Yes like me. Not Urge though. I think it's clear he could care less about me. But I guess it doesn't matter. I loved him anyway. It's like a bad religion, loving someone who doesn't love you back.”
“Don't drink the punch,” Craving stated.

“The punch?”

“Yeah, you know. Those bad religions that they make you drink the punch and you end up in a body bag. Don't drink the punch,” Craving stated giving me a slight smile.

I knew he was trying to crack a joke and be lighthearted even now. It came across as awkward but it made me smile none-the-less. I removed my hand from his back.

“Too late...too late...”
We went to bed late that night. Craving had spent time talking about Ardor. He was just reminiscing really about all the times they shared. I listened. I was there for him. Every once in a while I would notice Urge. He had gone to sleep early that night and moved his bed away from Urge and I again. He had pulled his bed across the room away from everyone else. I would have been so distraught about it but right now all I cared about was being there for Craving. I cared about being there for my best friend.

Going to sleep that night was hard. It was extremely hard to sleep. I kept having dreams of Ardor. They kept waking me up in the middle of the night. I felt almost like he was pulling at me or something like that. It was almost like Ardor was haunting my dreams trying to warn me of something. I couldn't tell what it was though. I found myself awake in the middle of the night.

A FACE!
Someone was right in front of me!
I tried to scream, “Oh shit!”

It hardly came out though. I felt the person put something over my head. A bag. I was gagging. Was the person trying to kill me? How didn't I see this coming? How! I felt something being injected in me. A needle. My body got light. I felt sleepy.

“How you doin'?”

My eyes opened. It wasn't a person. It was a television. The Wendy Williams show. I turned sleepily.

I woke up in a bed. I looked around confused. Where the fuck was I?

It was a normal home. It wasn't my home but no...it was a normal home. The walls had this ugly wallpaper on it. There was a television stand at the foot of the bed. The room even smelled like some teenage boy or something. On the wall there was a photo. I walked over to the photo. It was a portrait of Urge and...a woman. The woman was middle aged. It had to be his mom. I could tell by the features. Urge looked no more than 4 in the picture but I knew it was him by those beautiful eyes. I could see now that he had gotten those eyes from his mother who had eyes that looked almost like a beautiful deep ocean.

Why was Urge's picture on the wall?

Was I dreaming?
No. I wasn't.

I turned to the right. There was a bookcase. I turned to the left. A window. A window!

I ran over to the window all of a sudden and looked out. I was in a normal community. Houses were lined up all around the block. There was a little girl riding her bike. There was a guy next door that was watering his garden.

I tried to open the window. I tried my best but it didn't move. I found myself tapping on the glass trying to get the attention of the man who was standing out there.

He looked up.

“HELP! HELP!” I was screaming at him.

The guy didn't hear me.

I banged hard against the window three times.

“HELP!”
The man finally looked up. He looked confused when he saw me standing there. His eyes darted to me.

“HELP ME! HELP ME PLEASE!”

Just as I said that I heard footsteps. Shit. Fuck. I ran back to the bed and lay down. As I got back in the bed the front door opened.

“Good morning, sleepy head.”

Tom.

Tom was standing there. He had on a bathrobe. I was breathing hard when I saw him standing there but he looked so....so NORMAL. I almost felt like I was in some strange twilight zone. No moderators. No training facility. Where was I? How far from the training facility was I now?

“Are you letting me go?” I asked.

I didn't know why I thought that. I guess it was wishful thinking.

“No. Walk with me.”

Tom had a coffee in his hand. I looked in his cup. It was black coffee. He had on black slippers with feaux fur. He looked like he handn't shaved and when I got close I could smell the morning on him. He looked like a regular guy. The average joe.

I just kept breathing heavily scared out of my mind.

“Where I am?” I asked him.

“My home. I had you brought here. Do you like it?”
We were walking down a hallway. He was smiling. He was smiling like some average guy and not some maniac who kidnapped kids to turn them into assassins. The house didn't even look big. This wasn't some mansion. This wasn't some secret head quarters. This was some three bedroom, two bath home in Anywhere, America.

“You have a lovely home?”

There was a dog that came up to me. It wasn't some Rottweiler or vicious attack dog. It was a wiener dog. It licked at me feet kindly trying to invite me to play with it. It rolled over on it's stomach until Tom lightly brushed it away.

“You want some coffee? Something to eat. I just made some eggs?

“I'm ok.”
“You sure. My eggs are amazing. I'm telling you, Desire...they are a real treat. I learned this new recipe off Pinterest where you put the southwestern seasons in there. A-mazing.”

You wouldn't have known. You wouldn't have known what this guy did by looking at him. His smile was honestly friendly. He looked like a regular middle class man who did a 9 to 5 came home, fed his weiner dog and maybe watched CNN until he fell asleep. He looked like a boring, kind hearted man. I knew different though. I knew this was the devil. My nerves were on edge. My body was shaking. I felt so nervous around him.

“I can't eat,” I said too nervous to even look him in the eyes, “My stomach is a little...messed up. You know. From drugging me.”

“Oh I'm sorry about that. Kind of like to keep a low-profile you know? You're the first assassin to come to my home you know?”

Why? Why was I in his home?

I looked around. There were knives in the kitchen which wasn't far from where I was sitting. They were sharp...chef knives. I could go for them. I could stab him. I could do it in less then 10 seconds.

Tom seemed almost to read my mind, “You can go for them, like you are thinking. You can go for the knives and try your luck. You won't succeed. I'll probably kill you if you do, but not quickly. I'll do it really slow. That's just ruin breakfast though wouldn't it? I just got my carpet done. 30 bucks per room. Isn't that a steal? Well...you probably don't care about deals do you. Why don't you just sit down?”

I got nervous. A part of me wanted to go for the knives still. A part of me knew I wouldn't get far. A part of me knew it would be stupid to go for the knives now.

I sat.

He walked over and sat next to me. He had a newspaper. A fucking newspaper in his hand. My eyes darted to it. CTPost. We were in Connecticut. I didn't know if I could use that later but somehow I made a mental note of it.

“Why am I here?” I asked.

“I'm deciding...whether to kill you or not.”

He smiled to me. You would think he had just asked me how the weather was by how casual he was being. I felt like I was talking to fucking Bill Cosby instead of some murderous madman by his image.

“The assembly never rubbed me as a group of people who hesitated to kill,” I stated, rolling my eyes at the betrayal in his remark.

He laughed, “You're confident now...very different from the person I met. That's good. I like it. I guess I thought it was smart to get to meet you before I decided to kill you or not. Just to see what all the fuss is about.”

“Fuss.”

“Fuss. Big. Fuss. I don't like fusses.”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“I'm talking about my son. You're familiar.”

Urge. This was about Urge.

I nodded at that moment getting slightly nervous but keeping a straight face, “Yes. He is a friend of mine.”

“Don't be coy with me,” he replied, “He loves you.”
Loves me...

I almost broke out laughing at the remark, “Um...”

“Something funny?” he asked with a smile that almost made me wipe my smile off of my face.

“You got the wrong idea. I don't think your son loves anyone...or ever will...”

Tom's smile got wider and even more friendlier if that was possible, “He loves you. I'm sure. He's said it many times. Over and over even. It gets a little annoying. It has become an issue. You see. A big...issue...”

I was surprised. My heart fluttered a little bit. Urge was telling his father that he was in love with me? The idea of this blew my mind. He treated me like shit. He had just literally attacked me the day before. Now he was in love with me? It didn't make even a little bit of sense.

“Why is it an issue?”

“See when I'm gone my son is going to be running the Assembly. Usually I don't intervene in matters of the heart with my assassins but my son is no normal assassin. He will lead us. So love...that's an issue. People like us aren't supposed to fall in love. That's why I killed his mother. You understand? Love complicates things for people like us. You are a bad distraction...”

He was giving me this look. He still had this smile on his face mind you. It still had this mask of friendly easy going man but his eyes had something behind them. When you look deep in them like I was looking now you could see it. You could the darkness. You could see the malice. You could see the desire to kill.

Had he made up his mind.

“So why don't you do it? Just get it over with.”

Did he think I would beg him for my life? No. Maybe death would be an easier way to go. After all of the people I knew that he had killed one more would be nothing to him. Maybe death would be good. It still scared me how he would kill me more than if he would kill me. I kept remembering Wrath torturing those people. It was the worst fear I had.

“My son would be extremely upset if I did. So you see. You and I. We have us a...dilemma. What am I going to do with you Code Name Desire? What should I do with you?”

He was really thinking.

Just at that moment the door bell rang. He seemed surprised by it. I could tell he probably didn't get a lot of guests by how his head jerked over. He turned to the door bell and excused himself from the table, “One moment please.”

He walked over to the front.

Just as he did I found myself running towards the kitchen and grabbing one of the knives from the countertop. I shoved the knife in my pants. I could use it. I could use it to kill him.

I noticed voices from the front. I crept over behind the wall. I peered around the corner. When he came back I would go for it. I would stab Tom. I would stab Tom right in the chest and I would run out of that door. I would find a phone. I would call my mom. Fuck. What was her number? I had forgotten my mom's NUMBER! No matter. I would call the cops. I would call the news. I would call anyone who would listen to my story.

But what would happen to Craving if I did that? What would happen to Passion? What would happen to the others. I hesitated. Maybe the knife wasn't the way to go.

My eyes turned the corner where I saw Tom. He was standing at his front door looking outside. I could see who he was talking to.

It was the neighbor.
“I could have sworn I saw someone in your window...a boy dressed in gray. I know your sons. This boy didn't look familiar.”

“Are you sure?” Tom asked the man.

The neighbor gave him a friendly smile even though he still seemed confused, “Pretty sure. Tom, I know this will sound crazy. You know. I mean trust me I thought long and hard about what I saw. But GOSH darn it, I think I saw the boy was screaming for help. Isn't that crazy?”

This fucking clueless ass man. He had heard me but he didn't call the cops? He didn't go for help? He decided to FUCKING come to the house and knock on the door! What the fuck. We just had to be in the suburbs somewhere.

I found myself not thinking and running around the corner. This would be only my chance. I leaped on Tom's back but it didn't get me anywhere. I was trying to strangle him.

“RUN! GET help CALL THE COPS!” I told the neighbor, “RUN!”

“Holy shit!”
The neighbor ran out of the door. I knew that me holding onto Tom was just a way to give the neighbor enough time to get away. The street had looked busy. He would get away if he could run fast enough and the way he had turned around made it seem like that was exactly what he intended to do.

This may work. This may work.

Tom backed me up and slammed me into the nearest wall. He had slammed me so hard that I could feel my body crumble.

I fell to the ground. Fuck this old man was strong as SHIT!
“Now why did you have to go and do that?” Tom asked me calmly not breaking out of his character, “Do you know how much it'll cost for me to get that wall fixed?”

I could hardly move. I had thought training was hard but Tom had literally slammed my body into a wooden wall and completely broken the wall. Splinters were outlined on my back. I grabbed my knife out of my pants and I threw it. I threw it as hard as I can.

It was going.

It was going right at Tom's forehead.

Then he did something I had never seen anyone do.

He caught it. He caught it on the handle inches...no centimeters before impact!

That wasn't. It wasn't human!
This man wasn't human!

“Impossible!” I found myself screaming out.

“You should be careful with sharp things sir,” he stated throwing it on the ground.

No...not on the ground. He threw it at my hand. I screamed out in pain as the knife went right into my hand pinning me to the ground.

“Dad! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!”
A voice. No. No. This wasn't the right voice. This was a voice that I had grown to fear. I saw all of a sudden as someone walked into the house.

It was Wrath.

Wrath had the neighbor by the neck! He must have been approaching the house at the exact same time that the neighbor was trying to run out!
He must have seen the neighbor running. He must have grabbed the neighbor outside.

FUCK!
I had been so close. I had been SO fucking close!

The neighbor was gasping as he was hauled back into the house. The way Wrath had his neck made me think that the neighbor had attempted to scream but now he was just struggling to breathe. Wrath threw the neighbor on the ground beside me. The neighbor seemed horrified as slid to the wall. He let out another scream when he saw me on the ground with a knife in my hand.

“What's going on? Oh God, Tom, what's going on here?” the neighbor asked.

Tom didn't seem to be concerned with the neighbor. I felt bad for him. He had no idea what he had gotten himself into. He had no idea who these monsters were. Tom didn't even seem to be concerned about the neighbor. He was just smiling all of a sudden with this bright smile on. Wrath was looking at me with these eyes. He had walked over to me and was trying to help me pull the knife out of my hand. He yanked it immediately...not being any gentle and causing me to scream in pain as blood flashed on the wall.

Tom turned to Wrath and smiled, “Son, we were just talking about you...”

I was confused.

“I thought Urge was your son,” I stated.

“He is. But I have two...”