Page 24 of Tyton: The Spider and the Dragonfly (Tyton #1)

“It’s not often and most of us use guns, but I guess it’s different seeing it happen up close like that.”

“Do you carry a gun?” Callie felt her eyebrows pinch together. She hadn’t meant to. She wanted to appear as if murder wouldn’t faze her. Even though obviously it did since she was asking about it.

“I haven’t needed to in a while. I’ll bring a RAM case if I need enough processing power to disable people. It’s quicker and leaves less of a mess.”

“Siku said something about hacking the strength amplifier patches.”

Talia nodded. “That’ll last until they figure it out. I have these as backup.” She pulled a wicked looking knife from behind her back. Where she kept it, Callie couldn’t guess. She wore only a loose top and panties. Unlike the ulu she had seen Sesi use, Talia’s had only one purpose.

Callie’s pulse sped up as her body relived the experience with Sesi. She took a calming breath, as shallow as she could manage, hoping Talia wouldn’t notice. “Have you ever had to use them?”

Talia thought. How prudent would it be to tell her everything? That she excelled at tech, but she felt a special kind of glee in using her knives. Tech could be innocuous or threatening, but pulling a knife had only one message. And she loved being the messenger. Death was coming for you .

Talia nodded slowly, refusing to meet her eyes. “Does that bother you?”

Callie looked up at the ceiling. It did bother her. And yet, the other woman she wanted also murdered people. What was wrong with her? “It’s a lot.”

Talia sipped her Koffi. She could accept that.

“Sesi said she was expecting our mission to fail. Does she have to kill very often?”Maybe a comparison of kill counts would help ease her mind that she was choosing the lesser of two evils?

“Sesi has contingencies upon contingencies. There’s always a back-up plan.

And a back-up-back up plan. It’s why she’s in charge.

” Talia couldn’t help the hint of admiration that had crept into her voice.

“Killing corp employees is rare. It tends to complicate things. Most of the actual violence is spent defending turf.”

Callie frowned. Violence over who got to be in control of a few city blocks seemed petty.

This time, Talia caught her look. She pawed at the back of her neck, pre-empting the question.

“Like I said the other day, if some other gang got their hands on this turf, you’d see way more harassment.

If you don’t believe me, go check out Tethys.

Or Leto. Leto has a full-blown human trafficking problem. ”

“So, you all believe you’re the good guys?” Callie raised an eyebrow. She wasn’t sure why she was acting so confrontational, especially first thing in the morning.”

Talia just shrugged and laughed. “Are you trying to talk me out of being an Adlet?”

Callie shook her head. “No, I don’t know why I asked. You already explained everything at Mike’s.”

“Would it make you feel better if I told you there were no good guys ? Just bad guys and less bad guys?”

Callie stared at her knees as if they would give her the right answer. She knew what her body would say and that was half of her problem. “Not really,” she muttered. “I guess I just want to still believe that most people want to do the right thing.”

“Most people just want to feed themselves. The good ones also want to feed their families. The really good ones, their communities. All of it involves doing bad things. At least, that’s how I see it.”

“And which one are you?” The question simply appeared. Callie wasn’t sure which answer she wanted Talia to pick.

“Sesi is definitely the latter,” she deflected.

“And you?”Callie wasn’t going to let this go.

Talia detected a slight edge to her voice, but she it didn’t feel like disdain.

Given Callie’s distaste for murder, Talia wasn’t one hundred percent certain where Callie wanted her to be.

The only thing clear was that she hadn’t figured out her feelings yet and so the only thing Talia could do was to be herself.

Talia’s lopsided smile returned. “I’m glad Sesi’s first plan failed. I wanted to be there. They owe me.”

So, Talia was definitely not in the good camp. But Callie’s curiosity got the better of her. “That sounds like there’s a story.” Callie crossed her legs and sat back on the bed.

Talia chewed the inside of her cheek. “There is. I know their CEO.”

“Did he steal something from you?”

Talia bobbed her head slowly, pondering how much to say. “Kind of. Back when the Natalists had me, I would see him come in.” Callie made a face, disgusted. But noticed Talia fidgeting with the mug. There was more.

She took a deep breath. “It’s gross enough, but some are far worse.” She set the mug down and leaned against the wall, eyes up pre-empting any tears that might come. It had beena while since she had told this story, but it didn’t hurt any less.

“Normally, if that’s even the right word for this, they would wait until you were fourteen. But if you had enough scrip, they would let you go younger.” Talia pressed her lips together until they were a thin, bloodless line. “Three of my friends died.”

The horror of how they died was left unspoken, but it didn’t need to be.

Callie stood and stepped forward to gather Talia into a comforting embrace.

Talia tried to relax into it. She knew she should.

Callie was being kind. But she just couldn’t.

These moments of weakness weren’t for her.

They were for other people. She was the predator.

She was the one who had escaped their trap and she would bring them down. Alone.

Callie stepped back. There was that darkness I couldn’t put my finger on. She hugged herself tightly, unsure how to proceed. She didn’t know if she was still too much of an outsider to fit into Talia’s life, but this wall would have to come down sometime if this was going to work.

She decided to drop it for now. “You’re older than twenty-four. Are you still… concerned they’ll kidnap you?” Callie was careful to avoid the word afraid in case that might damage Talia’s ego.

“You want to know about the mask?” she smirked, but it looked malicious rather than playful.

“You think that just because my fertility is gone, they’ll let it go?

” She shook her head, but the smirk stayed.

“You don’t know these people. Actually,” she corrected herself, “you might. You just don’t know that you know them.

Natalists don’t walk around wearing special clothes or shit.

I have no idea who they are, but I can be certain they know who I am.

They know my face. If I started showing it off around town, I’d likely disappear within a week. ”

“And then,” Talia ranted, “they’d make an example of me. I’d be kept. Put on display, limbless and shown to other girls to prevent them from doing what I did. It’s a message. No matter how far you run, we’ll always hunt you. ”

Callie sat, hunched and defeated. She couldn’t fathom how broken that must make you, but here, she had evidence of it before her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. It was so insufficient as a salve for the horror that Talia had suffered, but she didn’t know what else she could offer. Talia did not want comfort. Talia wanted revenge. Callie couldn’t see how could she fit into that.

Talia felt her rage bubble up. She flexed and unflexed her fingers, tiny muscles twitching in her face. She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t cry for herself. For other people, yes, but not herself. That would be weak.

This always seemed to happen to her. She would find someone she liked. She would get her hopes up and then, inevitably, she would freeze when it came to this part. Sesi was the only one she was ever able to let in. Sesi understood revenge.

Talia’s eyes darted around the room as she thought. Callie felt her muscles clench as she watched. She fully expected Talia to lose control.

“Um,” Talia sniffed. It almost sounded like she was about to cry. The words were on the tip of her tongue. “I’m just going to…” she pointed toward the door, but Callie lifted an eyebrow. She had been expecting something else. Why was this so fucking hard? Her brow furrowed.

Talia narrowed her eyes. Callie flinched, but relaxed warily after nothing happened. Her stare was angry, yes, but also confused. And it was very much in Callie’s nature to want to help, even the most hopeless of causes. Maybe she could lead Callie to understand.

Callie had braced herself for a violent outburst, but now the pieces were falling into place.

Talia’s confidence was a facade. A very good one, but a facade nonetheless.

Underneath was someone who needed to be loved – and Callie could provide that.

But Talia’s facade had been there so long it had turned into a wall.

She reacted poorly when that wall was challenged.

And the only one who was able to fix that was Talia.

Talia closed her eyes and took a breath. She cracked her neck. She shook her arms. Callie sat and stared. It was like Talia’s body needed to prepare for whatever was going to come next.

“I know how what I’m going to say next is going to sound, especially since we took the same psych courses,” she started, focusing on a framed picture of Callie and Sparx as kids.

Callie’s grey eyes were alight with joy and Sparx hung off of her, strawberry blonde hair shining in the sun.

The picture stood in perfect contrast to the childhood Talia had never experienced.

“And I understand if you want me to leave because I’ll never fit into your life,” she continued. “I’m not a good person. I can’t let those people go.” Talia stretched her neck again. “I can’t accept sympathy from someone who thinks that’s wrong. That I’m wrong.” she said into her chest.

Callie sat with Talia’s words for a few moments. Her fingernails were going to be a mess. “Is that why you and Sesi…”

Talia huffed. “No. Just the opposite. Sesi was the only one who understood that.”

Callie squinted, trying to figure out the missing piece.

Talia filled it in for her. “Sesi hasn’t let me go after them yet because we don’t have a plan that she’s satisfied with. It has nothing to do with her disdain for revenge. She understands revenge as well as I do.”

“Then…?” Callie started.

“We broke up because we’re both Dommes.”

“Oh.”

Talia let Callie process that for a minute. Regardless of her decision, all of Talia’s cards had been laid out on the table and she was proud of herself for it. She was fucked up in ways too numerous to count, but maybe she could get somewhere close to okay , at least for a little while.

Talia stood, slouched and off balance like she was still new to her body. “I need to go to work, so I’m going to head out.” She started toward the door.

“Wait.”

Talia turned. Callie stood with her arms open. An offer this time. Not pity thrust upon her. Talia could choose to accept or walk away.

She took the step and let Callie wrap her arms around her, still warm from the bed. Her hair still smelled like sleep. This time, Talia hugged her back. Callie was too good for her .