“Yes, you are.”
“No.”
“I saw you, Luca. I felt you….” His terror, his revulsion, his confusion.
“And that’s because I felt it. Not because I’m afraid of it. What it thought, what it wanted to do, what it still wants to do.”
Then how could Luca even stand to be next to him?
“It liked killing those people.”
New tears burned Nox’s eyes.
“It liked it, but you didn’t.”
Hope threatened to flicker in Nox’s chest, but then reality came crashing down. “We’re the same, Luca. There is no it and me. We’re the same.”
“I don’t believe that. I refuse to believe it.”
“And the Anubis doesn’t give a shit what you believe.”
Headlights from a vehicle in the opposite lane glinted off the wet roads highlighting the rain. Glare swept over the windshield until it passed.
Luca sat back in his seat. Tears pooled in his eyes.
The wheels of the Jeep thrummed against the road and lightning broke apart the cloud cover overhead, right before another burst of rain came down but was gone again in minutes.
Another car appeared in the rearview, closing in. Blue and red lights filled the night behind them and, a siren wailed.
Luca turned. “What are we going to do?”
The Jeep wouldn’t stand a chance against a pursuit car, even if Nox did manage to keep it from rolling on the curves.
He turned on his blinker.
Luca widened his eyes. “You can’t stop.”
“We can’t outrun them either.” The tires rumbled against the shoulder of the road. The police car followed Nox as he slowed down.
“Nox, please. They’ll take one look at us….”
They’d see the blood, the bruises on Luca’s face, Nox with nothing on. Yeah, they’d take one look and arrest them both.
“Listen to me.” Nox continued to let the Jeep roll. “Tell them I abducted you.”
“What?”
“Tell them I forced you to get in the car. Tell them I hurt you. They’ll arrest me and take you to a hospital.”
“Nox.”
“I’ll get away as soon as I can and find you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Please, Luca. They won’t believe the truth, so we have to tell them whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
“And what about you?”