This time, it's Neal who feels the rush of Luka's apprehension. It doesn't click right away, what that might mean. What it does mean for the dream at least.
You can make him regret this, something says, a voice so quiet it feels like instinct. You aren't helpless. You know exactly how to terrify, exactly how to bring someone to ruin.
You've just been too kind to people who don't deserve it.
Protect yourself.
You're the only one that will, in the end.
Neal catches the uncertainty in Luka's spirit. Feels it brush up his skin like an oily film on the surface of a drink. He takes that sense of being judged like a knife and twists it into a corner of Luka's mind, savage with his own anger and the sudden realization that he can do something about it here.
They are judging Luka. Every single person in this room, with their unnatural bodies and too-sharp smiles. They're grotesque and awful and evil and he doesn't belong even here. Even in this crowd. Even with monsters.
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You can make him regret this, something says, a voice so quiet it feels like instinct. You aren't helpless. You know exactly how to terrify, exactly how to bring someone to ruin.
You've just been too kind to people who don't deserve it.
Protect yourself.
You're the only one that will, in the end.
Neal catches the uncertainty in Luka's spirit. Feels it brush up his skin like an oily film on the surface of a drink. He takes that sense of being judged like a knife and twists it into a corner of Luka's mind, savage with his own anger and the sudden realization that he can do something about it here.
They are judging Luka. Every single person in this room, with their unnatural bodies and too-sharp smiles. They're grotesque and awful and evil and he doesn't belong even here. Even in this crowd. Even with monsters.
"I never said I wasn't enjoying it."