Hard to Hate You // Michael Langdon

Part VI - Jealousy

I suddenly get an idea.  Michael is listening in on our conversation right now, so this is the perfect time to piss him off.  And what better way to piss him off than making him jealous?

"Ms. Venable, I am surprised that you'd want to punish me for that," I say almost mockingly as I walk up to her until we are feet apart.  I stand in front of her for a few seconds as I pick up a strand of her hair that is coming out of her perfect updo.  I twirl it in my finger before pushing it behind her ear.  "Would you want to punish me if I did it again?" I whisper.

Venable stares at me almost in shock, seemingly unable to decide whether to stop and chastise me for my behavior or let me continue.  She opens her mouth to respond, but no words come out.  I press my lips to hers, and almost as soon as they touch, Michael slams the doors to his office open.

"Ms. Callistra," he states, his eyes on fire.  "A word."

I smirk as I release Ms. Venable.  She stares in shock as I back away from her and walk toward Michael.  As soon as I enter the office, he slams the door behind me and grabs me by the neck.  "What the hell are you playing at?" he asks through gritted teeth.

"You get jealous easily," I smirk.

His eyes narrow as he glares at me.  "If I see you kissing anybody again, I will not hesitate to snap their neck on site."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I scoff as I try to push him away.  

His grip on me only tightens.  "Are you trying to press my buttons?" he asks, his voice turning on threatening.

"What's your deal?  Why do you care who I go around kissing?"

"The more trouble you cause, the more I have to cover for you to stop your ass from getting killed."

"So?  What's the problem with that?" I ask as I try to push him away again.  This time he lets me go.

"The others are starting to get suspicious that we're working together," he states as he walks over to his desk.  "You've been MIA for the last two days, and I've been the only person to see you.  I hope you know that Venable would not hesitate to kill you if it got her one step closer to the Sanctuary."

"I'm entirely aware," I state condescendingly as I walk over to the desk and sit against the edge.  "However, you're far more powerful than her, and you seem to not want me to die for whatever reason."

"My father doesn't want you to die," he corrects.  "You're so insufferable that I'm considering going against his will and killing you myself."

"Please do," I roll my eyes.  "Put us all out of our misery."

"How do the others in this outpost not hate your guts?"

"What do you mean?  I'm pretty sure they all hate me."

He shakes his head.  "Coco loves you, Gallant thinks you're fun, Dinah respects you, and Andre says that you're 'a stone-cold bitch but a likable one at that,' whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.  The only one that hated you was Evie, but it seems that everyone in this damn outpost hated her guts."

"You seem to have left Venable out," I remark, knowing that he did so because he's jealous of our kiss.

He rolls his eyes.  "She says you're an 'unpredictable hothead with diabolical smarts, constantly manipulating the other residents of the outpost to your every whim.'"

I shrug as I lean back.  "Sounds about accurate."

He walks around the desk towards me.  "I entirely agree with her, although I think she forgot to add on incessant and petty bitch."

"Thank you, I was afraid you were going to forget my two favorite personality traits," I retort sarcastically.

He sighs defeatedly as he sits in his chair.  "How the hell are you so unaffected by me?" he asks as he throws his arms out.

"Unaffected?" I question.

"Psychological manipulation, mind games, all that," he sighs.  "So far it seems that I got a slight emotional response from my attempt to point out your weakness, but your walls immediately went right back up.  Even when I sent my demon after you, you went on like normal after I brought you back to consciousness."

"Awe, are you upset because your psychological torture tactics don't work on me?" I mock.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?  Are you sociopathic?"

I shrug.  "I block out my emotions so I don't get hurt again, simple as that."

"Why would you admit that?" he questions.

I chuckle.  "What, do you think you're going to be able to use that information against me?  The truth is that I am not going to be letting those emotions back in any time soon, so you may as well give up on your little mind games."

He scoffs as he watches me begin to walk away.  As I go to open the door, he appears in front of me.  "Will you stop with the teleportation shit?" I state condescendingly.

I try to push past him but he grabs my arm and I quickly look up at him.  He's only an inch taller than me, but it feels like he's trying to make himself taller.  "Transmutation," he corrects.

I roll my eyes.

"Someway, somehow, I am going to make you feel those emotions," he states.

"Nice try," I roll my eyes.  "Then what, use them against me to manipulate me?  Good luck with that."

He smirks amusedly.  "Maybe.  Or maybe I'll actually have grown to like you by then."

I scoff as I push his hand off my arm.  "Doubt it."

He chuckles as he opens his door.  "You see, I'd like to think my father chose you for a reason, however strange that reason must be."

"Personally, I think your father must be a fool to think we're a good pair," I retort, walking out the door.

He rolls his eyes.  "I doubt that it is wise to call Satan a fool."

I shrug as I turn around in the hallway to face him.  "What's he going to do?  Kill me?  Like I said earlier, I don't care."

"Such a pleasure, as always," he says mockingly, his tone laced with sarcasm.  "Until next time, Ms. Callistra."

I roll my eyes as I turn away and begin to walk down the hallway.  "Whatever, Langdon."