Across The Divide by Stacey Marie Brown Page B

his body language was detached and factual. “We lost Sera last night, and right now my team is analyzing her body. I need to re-examine why your blood didn’t work on her.”
    I forced my features into an unemotional blank slate. The impassive tone he used to talk about his “experiments” stretched the capacity of my acting abilities.
    “I wanted Liam to train you, but today he is not quite up to his usual standards.”  Yeah, he just lost his partner and, I’m pretty sure, the woman he loved. “Peter will be taking over instead.”
    I groaned inwardly. Great. Peter was actually worse than Liam. His dislike of me over Daniel and my fae involvement had clearly turned to loathing. He would make me suffer.
    Like I didn’t already, every day. No matter what anyone said, I would always blame myself for Daniel’s death.
    “I need you dressed, fed, and ready to train in twenty minutes. Peter will be in the training room.” Rapava turned and moved to the door.
    My mouth dropped open in surprise. Was he letting me leave the room unsupervised? The idea made me uneasy. His trust was too easy, too soon.
    The doctor opened the door. The nurse, Delaney, stood on the other side with a tray of bottles and needles.
    “Delaney, after her injection, can you escort Zoey to this level’s cafeteria? She will be eating breakfast in there, and afterwards take her to the training room?”
    So…not alone. If it were only Delaney and not with another armed guard with her, it was like going from a tricycle to a two-wheeler with training wheels. He was slowly giving me more freedoms, showing trust, true to his character.
    I didn’t buy it for a moment. It was all an act. A test. But everyone I passed only helped me win the game.
    He walked out as Delaney walked in.
    She gave me a slight smile but quickly let it drop. I wondered if she realized her compassion toward me was a little out of place when she was about to shove a needle in my neck, treating me like another fae specimen.
    She set the tray down, selecting a syringe. “How are you feeling today?”
    Outstanding, fucking fantastic, joyous…this is like a tropical vacation.
    “Fine.”
    She smiled in return. She had a kind aura. Even as she wiped my neck with an alcohol swab, I still couldn’t totally hate her, even though I wanted to. She was part of team, and she knew what Rapava was really up to. But she was someone who, like I once did, thought fae were evil and what DMG was doing was beneficial. Hopefully she saw me as a Collector, a human, one of the “team,” no matter how far I strayed.
    “You know we lost Sera last night?” Her voice sounded timid and soft.
    “Yes.” I cringed as she drove the needle into my vein. “Rapava told me.” Suddenly Sera’s face, blood leaking from her eyes and mouth, fixed behind my eye. I had to shake my head to clear the image.
    “I didn’t know her well, but it’s still sad…to lose someone in that way.” Delaney sucked in her bottom lip. It looked like she was trying to push the memories of Sera’s dead body from her head as well. “She was too young.”
    “She was a bitch,” I responded, watching Delaney’s eyebrows hitch up. “But no one should die like that. Violently and alone.”
    Her head tilted as she pulled the syringe from my neck, I could see the question forming on her lips.
    Shit . “That’s what I heard. Her death was brutal. I-I saw her earlier yesterday and she looked awful. She was still human, one of us, part of the team.” Reflecting Delaney’s words back to her from the night before was a manipulation. A trick to subconsciously bring someone in closer. My survival skills would always float on top when I needed the—whatever it took, whoever I had to con. The nurse injecting me with traces of goblin metal was not going to become a friend, merely someone to befriend and manipulate. I would do whatever it took to get the hell out of here.
    Delaney smiled again, nodding in agreement. Her fingers