AVERY
“Can we go straight to business already?” I asked, unable to bear it anymore. I had already wasted enough time and it was starting to get late. I didn’t know how this whole thing was going to go, but just incase, I needed to leave before it got too late and I got stuck here.
Plus, I didn’t want to be in here with this man alone. It was obvious that he was attracted to me, but I wasn’t attracted to him. This was only going to lead to awkwardness. I didn’t want things to be difficult.
“Sure. Have a seat.” He said, walking around his table to return to his chair.
I sat on the chair opposite his, folding my hands in my lap. I removed my phone from my back pocket, placed it on my thigh and met his gaze head on. I had to remember to always seem bold and sure of what I was playing. Play sad when the time came, strong, and then bold. I wasn’t an actress, but seeing as the situation called for it, I had no choice.
“What brings you here?” He asked me, finally able to drag his eyes from my breasts to stare at my face. With the way the man couldn’t seem to take his eyes off them, one would think that I had very much going on there-which I didn’t.
Taking a much needed breath, I decided to go straight to the point, “I was at this eatery a few days ago and on the TV, there was this footage of a man being captured. The man turned out to be something else. A creature. Watching the footage to the end, the logo of your company was on the side of the vehicle used to transport this… creature.”
My chest and heart hurt every time I called him a creature, but I tried not to flinch. I fought hard to not show the anger and sadness I was feeling on my face, or my voice.
The mans face shuttered, but I pushed on anyway. “I knew that I had to find you immediately because this same creature tried to attack me a few weeks ago, but I was fortunate to have run Into an open area where there were a ton of other people, so he had not been able to attack me.”
He gave me a doubtful look, “That seems strange. If he wanted to attack you, he would.”
Oh fuck. Could he tell that I was lying?
“Did you not hear what I just said?” I added a hefty dose of anger to my voice. The anger was genuine. I was pissed that these assholes had taken him captive and still had the guts to be so calm, so unaffected, while he had someone who he had no business with.
“I did.” He said, taken aback by my anger. Good. I would pick shock and surprise, and even anger, over suspiciousness right now. Those, I could work with. “I still don’t understand why exactly you are here.”
This was the part that was the most important. There were only two ways he could react to what I was going to tell him. Either he laughed it off and decided I was just as crazy as the man who he was holding captive, out he bought my story and decided to give it a try. I could only hope that he went with the latter.
“I’ve read a lot of stories. I know a lot about creatures like him. In fact, I know what exactly he is. Do you?”
His brows dove to his hairline, “Oh, is that so? I do not know what he is. Care to tell me?”
He looked like he was trying hard not to laugh at me. He was going with the first option. For some reason, pissed me off. Come to think of it, everything he did pissed me off. It was mainly the fact that he acted like I amused him, that pissed me off the most.
That anger fuelled my determination and had me saying enough to convince him that I knew what I was saying.. “He’s what you call a lykae. Creatures born immortal with a beast inside of them. This beast can be summoned by them when they feel emotions like anger or fear. Their faces become different when they change, claws emerge from their hands and feet, and hairs sprout all over them. They are merciless and ruthless and most importantly, they are one hundred times stronger than an average human.”
I was breathing hard by the time I was done and I sat back down in my chair when I realised that I had leaned forward to the point that I was almost coming off my chair. I must have really been so mad.
I didn’t know if the last part of what I said was true. The part about him being one hundred times stronger than humans, but even it wasn’t true, I did that to let this man know that he was no match for Cyrus. That last part had simply been me bragging.
…And trying to make up for the other terrible things I had said about him.
“Wow. You really do know a lot about them.” The man said, dumbstruck.
“I said as much before.”
He tilted his head, staring at me with a new light in his eyes, “What is your name?”
I didn’t know what that had to do with anything, but I told him anyway. “Avery.”
I would have given him a fake name, but just incase he needed to see my ID, or maybe did it by chance, I didn’t want him to find out that I was lying and then have a reason to be suspicious.
“Do you believe everything you read in books, Avery?” He asked, peering at me through serious eyes.
The question didn’t sit right with me. It felt like he was trying to make me feel small and silly, but also, the look in his eyes was one of utmost seriousness. I didn’t think he was trying to annoy me.
“Not everything, but a lot.” I shrugged, “I have an idea. I’m assuming that you captured this creature, not just because you want to prevent them from harming people, but because you also want to study them. Am I right?”
He had a deer in headlights expression. “How do you know that?”
For a man dealing in such jobs, he gave a lot off just from his reactions. He didn’t know how to be discreet or hide what he was feeling. I could use that to my advantage.
“I know a lot of things.”
He stared at me silently, probably weighing everything that I had told him. Would he believe me? Would he call my bluff? Underneath the table, my fingers were crossed, hoping that he would believe me. I needed him to believe me. I needed it to get Cyrus out of here.
“I can help you.” I tried to convince him. I didn’t want him to think long on it. Long enough for him to start having doubts and stared getting suspicious. The longer he thought on it, the lesser the chances of him believing me were. I knew this, because it happened to me too.
If I had the chance to think long and hard on something, chances were, my earlier assumptions of whatever it was, would change.
“How do you plan on helping me exactly?” He looked at me, rolling his bottom lip with his thumb.
I noticed that he had a ring on his finger. An engagement ring. This asshole was married and he had just tried to feel me up.
“I could tell you everything I know about them.” I tried to sound convincing, “The things that make them weak, strong and how you can conquer them.”
Bile rose up in my throat. I sure as hell wasn’t going to be telling this man anything that was true. The only thing he was going to get from me, were lies.
“What I really want to know Is, why do you think that this is going to work? Why do you believe the things you read in those books?”
His questions were starting to annoy me, so I gave him one of my own. “Before you saw these creatures with your own eyes, if anyone had ever told you that they exist, would you have believed them? Are these creatures not what we hear about in myths?”
It was obvious that I had won him over then, because the doubt in his eyes dies and the only thing left was, interest. He had made his decision.
“What do you need in return for this?” He asked, bracing his elbows on the table and dropping his face on his hands, “I’m assuming you’re not doing this for free.”
With a chillingly cold smile on my face, I said, “Revenge. Revenge is enough for me.” I got up and said, “Take me to him.”
He retuned my smile as he stood up, rounded the table and walked in the direction of the door. I couldn’t believe it. I had somehow managed to convince this man, that they called the general, that I could help him with whatever he wanted to do with Cyrus.
I was going to see Cyrus. My heart leaped in my chest.
The idiot still had the smile on his stupidly handsome face, no doubt finding the fact that I wanted to take revenge on someone delightful.
Little did he know that the revenge, was going to be directed at him.