Sensing the shift, Leo could have done anything. Leave me alone, call the night, but… he decided to push.

  “Care to elaborate on that? What do I need to do to prove myself.” He asked.

  “Not sober.” I answered back with a bit of a bite.

  “Well, luckily, I’m paying for tonight.” He bit right back, using my own words from earlier.

  With a low, self-deprecating laugh, I did just that. Another glass was poured. I drank down most of it in a single gulp and nursed the rest as I put together what I was going to say and how I was going to say it.

  It wasn’t easy. The tight knots in my chest, the myriad of emotions all stuck together and melded together into a single blob. It wouldn’t just come undone with a few drinks, though, it helped ease it. Letting me pick at the mass, to tease out small strings.

  Eventually, a string came loose, and I spoke. “I will admit, the changes you’ve went through have been, impressive.” I say, a sigh leaves my lips. “It’s just as I said, not nearly enough for me to just forget everything. And no, it’s not just because of you…”

  I take a long pause, and gulp down my drink. The burn of the alcohol sliding down my throat now indiscernible from the fire burning throughout my body.

  “A lot of it has to deal with my own issues…” I finally admitted. And, did that hurt. Like taking a knife to my own heart, just to carve out a rotting chunk. A part of me wished he’d complain, he cry or scream, that he’d get angry.

  All to justify my feelings towards him. The anger, the frustration, the fear. Yet, Leo sat quietly, watching me. Ever curious, nothing like that man.

  “Shit…” I swore under my breath, knowing that I couldn’t just keep my lips sealed. Not as it was. A relationship was a two-way street. Give and take. If I wanted Leo to give me opportunities, if I wanted to use him, I needed something to anchor myself to him.

  At least, that’s what I told myself. It also helped that I was in no way sober.

  “You remind me of my old boss.” I finally admitted. “Eerily so.” I continue.

  He gives me a look, but stays quiet, letting me quaff down more of my drink. The bartender was giving us looks. It was clear he was keeping count of how many drinks I had, and he was getting ready to cut me off.

  Hopefully, he does.

  “He was just like you…” I say, looking down at my glass, “Arrogant, too smart for his own good, charismatic.” My voice was low, my finger flicked the edge of my glass, and a crystal song echoed out. It was soothing to the ear, and yet, so very jarring.

  “He found me at my lowest, in a sense. He confronted me, like you had in that office. I’d been hiding from my family under an assumed name, and he just came out and threw the cover right off. Exposed me, my history, everything.”

  I swirled my glass, and considered taking another gulp, but the scent alone was enough to ease that urge. A fire burned in my core, my fingers and toes tingled.

  “I thought the world of him. We were working together, using each other to climb the social ladder. I thought it was mutual, that he understood the little game we were playing, but in the end, I was wrong.”

  “What happened?” Leo asked, his drink long forgotten.

  “We’d built our company up. From a small startup into a behemoth. We had plans, you know? The only thing stopping us? One last item on our check list. We like a caterpillar, ready to come free from its cocoon. More specifically, we were going public with our company. Putting it on the market officially.”

  Leo listened with his full attention. Hell, even the bartender seemed to be listening in. The whole bar tuned into my little story, listening to my low voice that just barely spoke over the music that played over it all.

  I was too sloshed too care. If anything, every word I spoke hurt, hurt so bad, but the burning alcohol in my veins eased over it, scorching away the pus and filth. I had already started, nothing was going to stop me. The dam had sprung a leak, and now it was collapsing.

  “He sucked at paperwork.” I said, almost as an aside. “Couldn’t balance a budget if his life depended on it. His company had functioned off momentum alone, more specifically, his ability to pull in talents, and schmooze clients. He was a genius…”

  Another pause, a long moment as I nursed my drink. Or what was left.

  “The moment I arrived, it was like giving a tiger wings. Our company went from struggling to soaring through the heavens. We made front pages, our name was on near every lip. And everything hinged on everything going perfectly. A single hiccup and our entire plan would go up in smoke. Our coming out had to be perfect.”

  I drank down the rest of my drink and tapped the counter for more. The bartender reflexively moved to refill, but paused, his eyes meeting Leo’s. A nod was passed between them, and he poured another, and likely my last.

  “I’d spent every waking hour leading up to that moment dealing with loose ends. Getting every bit of information I could, making preparations for when we went public. Everything was on truck, but on the eve of the announcement, he called me to his office.”

  Everyone leaned in, listened.

  “I expected champagne, congratulations. A hearty smile. Something, anything. He didn’t always play nice, and a lot of the tactics he employed I wasn’t too happy with, but… I still considered him to be like family, the family I never had, a brother. I got none of that.”

  Another pause, another drink.

  “He confronted me. Rather, he’d made a crucial mistake. Despite all of his politicking, I’d managed to outmaneuver him. The moment we were to go public, I was to be named the executive, not him.”

  In a single go, I downed what was left in my glass.

  “He didn’t take it well… Not at all. He threatened me. Threatened the company. Told me, that I was just a pedigree dog he took in to show off and pawn for favors. That I had no business overstepping my bonds. That if I didn’t back off, that if I didn’t resign immediately, he’d report everything to the trade commission.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  The mood shifted.

  “The bastard, he was ready to see everything collapse, because he couldn’t stomach that I had gotten the better of him.” How I kept my voice low, was a mystery to me. How I didn’t break out into cussing and swearing like a sailor, was beyond me. Maybe it was the alcohol running through my veins. The lethargy, the exhaustion of it all just coming back to the fore.

  “And what happened next?” Leo asked, the damning question…

  “I…” I almost spoke the venomous truth. A spark of something, of something deep within pulsed. Chilling the burning heat, just only so much. “Ran. I ran.” I said, almost too clearly. “I ran and ran until I came here. That’s what happened.”

  “And… how does that?” Leo started, and I slammed the counter.

  “Because the moment you cornered me, I thought back to that moment! Being cornered, totally outmaneuvered, and I couldn’t just sit idly by!”

  His words echoed in my ears. Only now did those words strike true, piercing right through the ice and depths, to the very core of my being.

  “Seeing you, smug, thinking you won, what else was I to do? And even after I overthrew you, took your position, chewed you out, and, and…” I froze, remembering the moment I had his tie, when I was cinching it tighter and tighter, hearing him wheeze, as his heart slowed…

  “How can you not be upset?” My voice going low, almost a whisper. “How can you not hate me?” I questioned, begged, my eyes burned.

  I could see him, in his final moments, the smile on his face. Why wasn’t he angry? Why did he look so happy, even with that damn pen of his in his eye!

  “That…” Leo started, but I could feel him looking around, embarrassed. “Maybe I should take you home?”

  I didn’t say anything. I was too tired, exhausted. Taking my silence as acceptance, Leo paid the tab, and drove me home, or rather, my apartment. He walked me in, up the steps. The cold of the night helped sober me up, just a little, but it was all still a haze.

  It was only when we were at my door, that I felt his demeanor shift.

  “You live here?” He said, almost like he couldn’t believe it. And I didn’t blame him. My apartment was sparse, most of the appliances were shove over to my warehouse. Leaving just the absolute bare essentials here. Enough to stay the night, but it still looked awful.

  “Yeah… there a problem with that?” I said with a bite.

  “No… well, yes…” He gave me a look, and well, the venom in my gaze kept his mouth shut.

  With the door open though, I just staggered inside and collapsed into my bedding. I didn’t immediately fall asleep. No, I just drifted in and out of consciousness. That was why I heard it.

  “I could never hate you…” Leo said. “Sure, you said some nasty things, even kicked my ass but… you were right, I deserved that and so much more. If anything, I admire you. I admire the strength you had to not only take responsibility for your actions, but mine as well… You didn’t have to go crawling to them for forgiveness. Yet you did…”

  He trails off, but that doesn’t ease me. I hear him step closer, his hands move, a blanket over my body. I could feel him standing over me.

  “My father always said I was useless, a waste of space. That I was the reason for my mother dying. And I always hated him for saying that; I didn’t want to believe he was right, but… Maybe he was. I was stupid, child-ish. But I want to do better, and Prima, you’re the only one that ever even gave me a chance. So, why should I hate you?”

  His voice was merely a murmur at this point. And I was much too afraid to move. And it wasn’t until I heard the door slam shut, and silence come to the room that I even bothered to slip into sleep.

  I felt like I was running. Hot, warm, the smell of blood, thick in the air. His words echoing, chasing me wherever I went, almost mocking me. Then there were Leo’s words, overlapping with that of my old boss.

  Shifting, churning.

  Gave him a chance? Was this because I took his job, that I didn’t just kick him out? Didn’t he realize what I was doing? What I had planned? Was he delusional, stupid? Had he lost braincells when I nearly killed him?

  I tossed and turned until morning came. I barely felt like I slept a wink. My head hurt, like a team of construction workers were hammering away at my skull with jackhammers. My tongue felt like sandpaper against my desert dry mouth. My body ached and hurt as well…

  It wasn’t pleasant, not at all.

  After getting some water, I felt just slightly better. I checked the time and tried to recall what it was I said last night… Most of it came back, but…

  The more I recalled, the more embarrassed I felt. And then there were Leo’s words. His admission. Then there was my own…

  I felt like I was falling apart, little by little. The cracks in my heart growing by the day. As if I had a heart of ice on the verge of shattering into a million pieces. Cold, hard, and yet, so very brittle. Perhaps a more literal example, given my magic. The irony was not lost on me…

  With a sigh, I got up and prepped for the day. I didn’t have my car, so getting out and finding a bus station was a bit of a bother. Before long, I was at the lower quarter, and back inside the community center.

  Inside, I was discussing my plan with Berry, for a new bullet type.

  “Would it work though? As in, can you actually use it?” He asked.

  “I believe so. Whenever I point my rifle at a target, or just about anywhere, I have a good feel for where the bullet will go. Almost like a laser pointer. It’s just that I don’t have the experience to properly make use of it.”

  “Will it work with what you have in mind?”

  “It should. I can sense what the bullets trajectory will be, in theory. Even if I shut my eyes I can feel where it is. The trajectory shifts slightly with different bullet types as well, which is why I’ve never had a problem with judging distance.”

  Though, the constant practice made it easier to work around variables, but there was only so much practicing in a range could do.

  At my words, Berry adopted a thoughtful expression. I had given him the idea before, but he wanted me to practice more, to make sure I could actually pull it off.

  “Alright, that would work, do you have ideas for the enchantments?”

  “I do, here.” I pulled out some papers I had brought with me. He looked them over.

  “Mm… with your rifle, you might be able to do it, but it would take some serious effort.”

  “But you think it can be done?”

  “From what I’ve seen? Yes. It might take a bit, and there will be a lot of errors.”

  “I wouldn’t expect anything less, but with your help, I might be able to do it without too much trouble.” I answered back.

  “It’s an interesting enough project, so I don’t mind using my time to help.” He agreed and we began brainstorming. Papers were brought out as he drew basic designs, while I focused on making different shaped bullets. All rifle rounds, but the tip had to be slightly different to work for what I had in mind.

  Piercing rounds were pointed, like a pencil or pen. Shot rounds were flatter tipped. Explosive rounds were rounded, to accommodate the sliver of pressurized liquid at the center of the bullet. Normal shots were, well, normal looking for a rifle round. The tip was pointed, but the tip was rounded, not sharpened like piercing rounds were.

  For this new round, I had to do something strange.

  We went back and forth between the drawing boards and the range, testing out each possible version. We worked to get it working, and by the end of the day, we managed something. The bullet sang its song and cracked against the board. With another crack, it slapped into the ground where it shattered.

  “You get it?”

  “Yeah, but the enchantment didn’t quite hold, and the bullet lost too much mass to be useful.”

  Berry nods, “Yeah, I noticed that too. Let’s give it a few more goes before you have to leave.”

  And we did, right up until it came time for me to leave. Instead of heading right back home, or rather my warehouse, that was more or less my home now, I stopped at the office to get my car and then drove back.

  Already, I had been staying at my warehouse for nearly a full week. Each day, I could animate three to four dolls. Which meant almost half of the dolls I had were animated by now. I hoped to get them all animated by next week. Then, I wanted to see if I could make more knights. If I took my time, I should be able to get them both done before the blood moon arrives.

  Finally, I planned to saturate Cobalt, and four of the dolls. After that, compressing them, so that they can officially evolve. Cobalt would be an issue. Though, he had been slowly soaking up the ambient magical energy, thanks to the array I had placed. I’m sure he also gained benefits whenever the full moon rose.

  The others should be less of an issue but promoting them to bronze was a must.

  As it stands, I only had spear wielding dolls, but that would have to do. I wasn’t sure how many coins I could get from now to the blood moon, but near every one of them would have to be converted to cash, as my finances were in dire straits.

  Just thinking of all the work I had ahead of me was exhausting, and yet… It was also nice. Nice to finally have a future to look forward to. And something to distract me from the ghosts of the past.

  With a smile on my face, I went to sleep and readied for work the next day.