Chapter Twenty
Taking a stroll by the shore, Victoria walked around the murky water of the bayou. Placing one foot in front of the other, she kept her gaze on the water as if it possessed the answers to the world. There were times where she drifted from the solid ground and walked through the water. Without looking up, Victoria walked up a fallen log and down its path until she was walking on ground once again.
In the real world, the darkness was wondering around in her body. The last time Victoria was in control of her body was when she found a way outside. After her talk with Gabrielle, Victoria left her room only wearing jean shorts and a black spaghetti strap top. Old memories invaded her mind that Victoria needed a walk only to find out the darkness was a little too on edge. One would think the fight they went through against Mehrcy the previous night would've helped. Victoria was still bruised and she was sure Mehrcy was as well. Her right hand had a big bruise that it would be a while for her to play the violin. Since she couldn't practice her music, Victoria wanted to go be somewhere to be in peace only to sense Mehrcy was still in the mansion.
Escaping through a window and landing on the snow covered grass, Victoria quickly disappeared back into the bayou and the darkness took off running in her body. Now here she was, walking around the bayou in the night.
"What are you doing?"
Time must've passed because a voice found its way into the world. Still looking at the water, Victoria watched as the water started to lighten until she saw what the darkness was looking at. To her surprise, the darkness had led Victoria to the training room and she found herself standing next to a Mook Yan Jong. She had never used the tool before but it seemed the darkness was beating the hell out of it. Watching through its gaze, it turned around to find Mehrcy standing by the doors. The male narrowed his eyes when he saw he wasn't looking at Victoria.
Victoria snickered and sunk down to her knees. Playing with the water, she looked up to see the black wolf appear next to her. It licked her on the face before nuzzling its giant head under her arm. Wiping her wet fingers on its black fur, Victoria buried her face in its shoulder for a second. She then took a deep breath and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, she found herself looking at Mehrcy.
Turning her gaze back at the Mook Yan Jong, she gave it a punch and felt her body remembering the moves. She threw another punch to feel her body remember the reflexes and turned back to Mehrcy.
"How long have I been in here?" she asked.
"That was the darkness just now, wasn't it?" he asked back.
Snickering again, Victoria went back to the Mook Yan Jong to see how much her body remembered. Her attempts were slow at first. But it only took her a couple of seconds before she got it.
"It would've been better if I tried it first," she mumbled to herself.
Showing no interest in the device, Victoria gave it one more punch before walking away from it. But when she walked up to Mehrcy, she hoped he would step aside. When he didn't, she tried walking around him. It was kind of hard when he filled the entire doorway. Since it didn't look like he was going to move, Victoria stepped back and placed her hands on her hips.
Scanning the male, Victoria started from head to toe when she noticed he was holding something in his left hand. It was hard to see since his hand nearly covered it but it looked like a picture. As if sensing her curiosity, Mehrcy brought it up between them and Victoria stiffened. The darkness had returned the moment Victoria saw the picture.
It was the picture she had taken in New Orleans during Mardi Gras when she met Mehrcy for the first time.
"Where did you get that?" she demanded.
"From your bag where I found the same Mardi Gras mask from ten years ago. And while I'm at it, it's where I found your laptop which I gave to Vishous to look at."
It wasn't the darkness who snapped first. Victoria practically lunged herself at Mehrcy. Catching the male by surprise, she grabbed his arm, slid her leg between his and flipped him clean over her body. Twisting his arm behind his back on his stomach, she snatched the photo from his hand and stuffed it between her waistband. When Mehrcy tried to move, Victoria moved along with him and twisted his arm even further.
"Now did I ever go through your luggage without your permission?"
"Says the woman who doesn't exist," he challenged.
Forgetting his arm, Mehrcy kicked out his legs and pushed himself around. Victoria was forced to release his arm and rolled to her back. Before she could get up, Mehrcy was on top of her and pinned her arms above her head when she tried to punch him in the face. He kept his lower body down against hers so she wouldn't try in kicking him. The only part of them free was their heads where she had attempted to head butt him.
Out of frustration, Victoria bared her teeth and a low growl came from her. The darkness growled as well to where she knew her eyes dilated. But as she looked up at Mehrcy who kept her pinned under him, she saw something. The darkness saw it as well because the both of them stared at it in awe. Mehrcy probably didn't know he was doing it because he seemed too focused on preventing a fight from breaking out. Even though they weren't big like Victoria's, Mehrcy's eyes had dilated bigger than usual. His silver eyes were still there and the pupils looked like huge orbs. And through the darkness, Victoria could see the outline of the light radiating over Mehrcy. It was thin and weak but Victoria could see the light take the form of a white wolf.
It was the darkness who reacted to the change. Through her body, it reached out to the light and Victoria watched as the light called to the dark with what little strength it had. And just like that, a surge of electricity struck through Victoria. It wasn't the kind where someone jumps back out of pain. It was the kind where she felt her feelings towards Mehrcy heightened.
Out of sudden fear, Victoria didn't know how she did it but she accidently slipped one of her knees past Mehrcy's waist and accidently kneed him in the groin.
The male stiffened for a second and rolled off. He cursed for a while as he clutched himself. Victoria rolled up and sat on her knees as she watched him. Her eyes were back to normal and she started apologizing. Mehrcy couldn't speak that all he did was grunt in her direction and finally picked himself up.
"I think I deserved that one."
He truly didn't know the light inside him was active. If he did, he would've seen the darkness inside Victoria just like how she saw the light. But since he didn't, she and the darkness thought it would be best that Mehrcy figured out how to touch the light. Besides, he was the only twin who ever had an active light. His father, Lhight, didn't feel it until the day he killed his brother and it was silenced. Sohrrow's light was practically dead since he never used it. Only Mehrcy's light was active from his years of hunting Ahnger. It would be a sight if he could call it.
Forgetting about the light, Victoria stopped her apologizing and remembered why she was furious with him. Mehrcy had the audacity to go through her things when she wasn't in the room. Countless things went through her mind. If he found her old mask from New Orleans and the picture of him, what if he decided to look through the two books she had hidden at the bottom of her suitcase? And what if V actually managed to hack her laptop? Everything she had on her and her family was on the thing and it was in the hand of the most notorious hacker known.
Victoria jumped back to her feet and made a move to the door when Mehrcy limped up and snatched her wrist. Turning around with the intention to kick him again, she found he kept a good distance between the two. He probably thought she was thinking the same thing.
"Vishous said you have some heavy security that it'll take him a while to hack through," Mehrcy told her. "Unless, you know, you tell us your password. Or you can tell us why we can't find any record on you and we can save the hacking for another time."
"I don't have to tell you shit," she hissed. She wasn't on the verge to agree to any of his terms. Everything she had on her laptop was personal. Her entire damned past was on it. There was no way in hell Victoria would let the Brotherhood get their hands on it. Part of it embarrassed her and the rest broke her. She didn't want anyone to see the dark secrets she desperately kept hidden.
"Fine. Sooner or later, Vishous will get through it and we'll all see what you have on the device."
His words almost sounded like a threat.
"Why you…you…urgh!" She couldn't come up with a word. A word in English at least. So switching to her second tongue, the words came to her with ease. "Vous pas bon trou du cul d'un homme!"
You no good asshole of a man!
Mehrcy held up his hands the moment she started speaking French. But it was too late. Victoria was on a roll and she couldn't stop. That meant every word she spoke was French.
"Je n'ai fait que a pris votre épée. C'est tout! Il ne vous donne pas le droit d'aller fouiller dans mes affaires! Comment feriez-vous il si je suis passé par votre farcir et a volé vos sous-vêtements? Je sens tellement violé! Je devrais—"
I only took your sword. That's it! It does not give you the right to go rummaging through my stuff! How would you do if I went through your stuff and stole your underwear? I feel so violated! I should—"
"Enough with the bloody French! I get it! You're extremely pissed that I violated your privacy. But that doesn't give you the right to act like a child right now!"
"Fils de pute!"
Son of a bitch!
Victoria started pacing. Raking her hands through her hair, she couldn't look Mehrcy in the eyes. She was a vessel of mixed emotions she was sure not even the darkness could comprehend. The only thing she could feel was anger, rage, fury, worry, fear and downright murderous.
It would take Vishous a few days since Victoria had the best computer geeks set up her security. Without the password, it would take the male four, maybe five days to hack it. That gave her five days max to get her laptop back. If not, well, she didn't want to think about that.
Stopping in the middle of her pace, Victoria turned her hard gaze on Mehrcy. There was a hint of worry in his face. Then something clicked in her head. Why wasn't V or the other Brothers in the room trying to get the password? Why was it Mehrcy who was here?
"Vous fils de pute sournois."
You sneaky son of a bitch.
"Can you please talk to me in English?"
He thought she would speak English? Oh, was he in for a ride.
Taking three long strides and standing only a hairs length apart, Victoria folded her arms under her breasts that they touched his chest and looked up straight at him.
"Je vais obtenir mon ordinateur portable en arrière, je peux vous l'assurer. Et anglophones? Eh bien,vous mieux apprendre français parce que je ne suis jamais vous parle à nouveau en ce que langue. Donc, vous comprenez mieux moi quand je vous dis que je ne te pardonnerai jamais pour ce que vous avoir fait, Mehrcy, fils de Lhight."
I'll get my laptop back, I assure you. And English? Well, you better learn French because I'm never talking to you again in that language. So you better understand me when I tell you that I will never forgive you for what you have done, Mehrcy son of Lhight.
With her messed-up emotions in tow, Victoria spun on her heel and stormed out of the training room.
Still standing in his spot, Mehrcy stared at the door Victoria left through. His mind was spinning not only from that little knee attack but from a language he had no clue about. He had gone looking for Victoria when Vishous was having a hard time hacking through her laptop. Technology wasn't his thing but he got the feeling the male never had a hard time hacking things. It was clear they needed the password to get through and Mehrcy was sure he could get the password from her.
But he had let his emotions cloud his thoughts when he found the picture and mask in Victoria's bag. He had entered her room after she had left in hopes of finding anything about her. Shoving past her clothes and the books she kept tucked away, he found the two things that reminded him of his time in New Orleans.
Perhaps it wasn't smart to start the conversation by showing her the picture. He had expected her to by mad and yell at him. He didn't expect her to tackle him to the ground and nearly break his arm off. Mehrcy also didn't expect to see fear in her eyes. Sure, they dilated and he was already used to it. But when he had her pinned under him, he saw a trace of fear that he wanted to hold her and asked what frightened her. He didn't get the chance to after her knee attack.
And now he was sure this little fight was one of many. And he got the eerie feeling the upcoming fights would be in French. He just unleashed a woman's anger upon himself. Well, Mehrcy had until the full moon. That gave him enough time to get the password from her unless Vishous managed to get through the security. Mehrcy really hoped the Brother got past the security.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.