Deviants Fallen: A DBH Story

Chapter 50: Checkmate

"You're still not well enough, darling. What if you damage your heart?" His face softened.

She sighed, irritation welling up briefly. "My heart is fine. Besides, you'll be there with me. You can keep an eye on me."

"I'll need to be able to move quickly and quietly. You won't be able to keep up, darling." He squeezed her hand gently.

Her irritation rose higher, threatening to spill over. "I'll be fine! I promise. I won't get in the way."

"I said no, Clara!" His face drew into a glare, voice rising. "And I meant it."

Clara flinched at his tone, jerking her hand away as she took a step back, a spike of fear shooting through her.

He caught the reaction, and after a moment, he softened again. "Just stay here," he said, lowering his voice to a more gentle tone. "Where I know you'll be safe."

He reached toward her, intending to grab her hand, but she recoiled, taking another step back. His face fell for a moment, but he quickly fixed it into an expression of neutrality.

He issued a small sigh. "I'll be back in a couple hours."

She folded her arms across her chest, but said nothing. He gave her a last look, then turned away, walking out the door. As it closed behind him, she heard a click.

She started and rushed forward to grab the knob, twisting it. It wouldn't budge. She scoffed, frowning. He'd locked her in. So much for trust.

"Damn you, Cain," she breathed, jerking away. She turned, slumping against the wall.

She'd been able to stifle the restless feeling, but the longer she stayed there, the worse it got. Today was worse than usual. The feeling crawled beneath her skin, propelling to.

Clara looked around, moving to the window. She peered out, as she had done many times over the last few weeks, but it was too high up for her to get out that way. She turned away, looking around again. Her eyes caught on the door to Cain's office space. She hadn't asked him about it since he'd shown her the brief peek inside, but she couldn't fight her curiosity about it.

She glanced again at the door, and a flicker of anger toward Cain stirred inside her. She stalked over to the door, twisting the handle, and to her surprise, it opened easily. As she pushed it open, she felt a brief wave of hesitation. Cain had explicitly told her not to go in there.

Exactly. He'd told her. He'd been doing an awful lot of that lately, telling her what to do but not bothering to explain why. And frankly, today she was tired of it.

She pushed to door open, stepping into the dark room. She glanced around, then caught sight of a light switch a few inches from the door frame, she flicked it on, lighting up the room. As she looked around, she noticed that despite his claim that it was messy, the room was meticulously organized. A shelf lay off to the side, filled with biocomponents, and a large 3D printer, the kind used to manufacture android parts, stood beside it. Those were likely what he'd used to create her artificial heart and prosthetic leg.