HORNS (BoyXBoy)

Chapter 118

Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen

The padded room was perfectly white, colorless, and lacked all forms of depth. 

It made my hypersensitive eyes hurt a little and also made me nervous. The entire room was completely and square, with no windows, and the only light came from a padded see-through bowl in the center of the ceiling. The transparent door to the room slid shut behind me with a hiss of hydraulics, but I can't and won't lie.

The blandness of the room freaked me out.

Almost like clockwork, though, my eyes were immediately drawn to the only splash of natural color I could actually see. My heart stuttered and faltered and sank at the sight of Yuma sitting curled up in the furthest corner of the room with his back facing me, hunched over, broken horn gleaming. His curls were disheveled but clean and his ears twisted toward me, listening.

I stood still for a second, unable to stop the cold rush of fury from swelling up. I hated the sight of him. Just looking at him made my stomach burn.

"I told you before, I don't need food," he said in a quiet, stony voice. "I don't deserve it."

I blinked, momentarily confused enough for my anger to falter. I didn't know why that would be the first thing he'd bothered saying, but at the same time I didn't really care. This man had committed unspeakable atrocities and I wasn't going to allow myself the courtesy of being curious about him. I was only here to have him confirm the truth.

Nothing more.

"I'm not here to give you food," I said without emotion, without inflection. "I'm here to talk."

Even in chains and dressed in the drab, baggy white pajamas I'd seen on the vampires out in the common area of the VRC, the way Yuma straightened like the snap of a whip put me on my guard. His ears swiveled to and fro, earrings jingling, and I blinked at the jewelry in confusion.

"Horst," he said quietly, shoulders suddenly going lax. "You're the last person I expected to see."

I snorted with a bitter quirk to my lips. "Fuck off. Not like I want to be here."

His left ear flicked. "Then why are you?"

Good question. I didn't really know how to answer it without giving away my real reasons. I hesitated, faltering for a few moments as I thought of what to say, but it luckily didn't take me too long to realize that I could tell him one of many truths in favor of the main one.

I took a breath and let out an irritated sigh.

"I want to know why you did it," I reluctantly muttered. "I want you to tell me why you hurt my father twenty two years ago. He was helpless and you knew it was wrong, you had to have known... because otherwise why would you use magic on him to keep him from struggling?"

The chain connected to the heavy iron-wrought collar prevented him from moving too far away from the corner he was nestled in, but still, he turned his body around and his goatish eyes met mine, affixing me with a steely, stone-cold stare.

"I advise you not to waste your effort," he said in a quiet, warning tone. "I am sorry, but I will not be telling you anything. I know what this is. I know that you're here to interrogate me, they thought that this would make me crack... but it won't."

I clenched my fists as a boiling sensation rattled my stomach.

"Me? Interrogate you?" I sneered. "You're just fucking lucky I'm not smashing your face in."

Yuma's eyes twinged with something at my words and he averted his eyes for a second, seeming to be thinking, but then he closed them and uttered, "Horst... please. Go. Try living your life. You got what you wanted, I will see justice so you have nothing holding you down now. You can--"