Page 29 of Exile

Turning my attention to Charity, I give her a friendly smile. She recoils still, eyes blown wide with fear. "No need to tremble, Charity. I won't bite."

"Grey!"

"Alright," I laugh, holding my hands up in defeat. "I'll be outside."

I deliberately leave the door open when I step into the hallway, leaning against the adjacent wall. Christopher stalks over and slams it closed to my face with a glowering look.

Amused, I do wait as promised. It gives me time to survey the hallway, noting the blood stains on the walls and floor. I wonder which poor sucker had to clean up our mess.

After the allotted ten minutes have passed, true to his word, Christopher walks Charity out. She gives me another shy glance before following Connor.

"You can't just be walking around like this," Christopher scolds, beckoning me into his office.

"Of course I can."

Taking the guest seat, I spread out, resting my arms along the top of the chair. Christopher sits at his desk, running his hand through his hair.

"Damon will be back tomorrow," he says suddenly. "Stanley briefed me."

"And how is dear Dr. Markel?" I ask. "Ready to take on Damon's care?"

An annoyed glance comes my way, the two of us well aware that Damon won't be letting Markel touch him, even with a ten foot pole. According to Avery, it's also unlikely that Damon will take any drugs offered by the old bat. Which means we're going to have a very cranky Deadman on our ass.

I don't blame him though. I wouldn't take the drugs either after what happened to Avery. Arthur would jump at the chance to drug any of us.

"Funny," comes the blunt reply. "Anyway, get to the point, Grey. What do you want?"

"Aww, trying to rush me? And here I thought you loved my company."

Christopher cocks an eyebrow. "You have three seconds."

"Fine," I sigh dramatically. "I take it you and Elsher confer at times?"

Even the mere mention of that cunt makes my blood boil. He's lucky he's still breathing. I can't help but notice that I never seem to be able to catch him alone. Always with a guard or storming off in the opposite direction when I approach. But that's okay—I love to hunt. He can only run for so long before I catch him.

"Not as much as we should be," Christopher informs me. "Even less now since my so-called termination."

"Well, that's about to change," I tell him. "I need you to find out whether or not the missing patients signed those forms. Avery tried to come ask you but you weren't here."

I leave my sentence there, letting him fill in the blanks. When his face scrunches up painfully, I get my answer. Christopher suspects they are experimenting on them too.

"They have been cornering patients," he says quietly. "One on one, seeking signatures still."

"What?" I snap. "Did you not think to perhaps relay this information?"

Christopher's eyes shoot up. "Watch your tone, Grey. I'm already on the outs because of you and frankly, not everything concerns you."

I nod my head toward the canister on his desk. "I'll jam that letter opener through your eye, Christopher. It works well. Ask the guard that caught Avery and I in Arthur's office. Oh, wait. You can't—he'sdead."

Alarm crosses his face. "Stop killing people," he orders.

"I don't take demands from you, Christopher," I say delightfully. "You're not my father—who I also killed. And you might have the same blood, but you're not Damon either."

"Normal people don't go around murdering others."

"Thank fuck I'm not normal then."

The two of us enter into a stare off. I refuse to give in, just flashing my teeth as I grin at him.