To Rescue a Villain

Chapter 8

It was starting to get dark by the time I reached the house, my makeup removed and uniform replaced with some purple pants and a black sweater I'd found cheap in a nearby store. Odette had loaned me the money to buy it since my whole paycheck was going to Derek and his grandma.

My mind was still reeling about Dark's lack of reaction to my job but everything became focused when I heard a resounding crash from behind the front door. Panicking, I unlocked the door with the spare key I'd been given and ran inside, listing all the things that could be happening in my head.

The scene I found inside made me want to curl up in a ball and hide.

Derek was pressed against the wall, the right side of his head covered in blood, and his grandmother was at the other end of the kitchen with a long glass shard in her hand.

Lying next to Derek were the remains of a glass pot, which had presumably broken when it hit his head. That meant grandmother had been the one to throw it.

I was in too much shock to clearly hear what the old woman was yelling about but her voice was so full of venom that I didn't need to know. Panicking, I ran toward Derek and wrapped my arms around his head to protect him from any future blows.

Normally, I would have tried to save my own skin in this situation but since I knew how important this moment was I knew that I had to act! I'd seen this exact scene occur in the book and knew how it would end. I hadn't been expecting it to happen so soon but this was the day when Derek's grandmother went too far and tried to kill him for no reason at all. This was the day that Derek made his first kill. It was his first step toward becoming Dark.

I couldn't let that happen!

"It's okay, Dark," I whispered to him as though speaking to a child. In the heat of the moment I'd forgotten to call him by his real name. "It's fine. I'm here."

"Get away!" Grandma yelled, calling me some unsavory names before grabbing my elbow and trying to yank me off her grandson. Luckily, she wasn't quite as strong as me and I managed to maintain my grip.

"Get off of me. You'll get hurt," Derek whispered, looking genuinely concerned about me before shoving me to the side and grabbing both of his grandmother's hands.

All I did was watch as he squeezed her wrists so tight that the shard of glass fell to the floor with a clink and she started to scream as though he had been the one to attack her. I had to cover my ears to keep them from ringing in response.

It was then, as the old woman flailed around helplessly and kept yelling death threats to his face that Derek frowned, looked down his nose at her, and growled like some sort of beast. "I'm sick of tolerating you," he hissed, releasing one of her wrists and wrapping his free hand around her throat. "Why don't you just die?"

Oh no! This was worse than the actual scene had been! Had my interference made it even worse?

Not needing to second guess myself, I leapt to my feet and grabbed the arm used to strangle her, my voice turning even and calm.

"Please," I whispered so he'd focus those dark, angry eyes toward me instead of her. "Don't do this. It'll only drag you down to her level."

"And you think I care about that?" he asked me, turning back to concentrate on the task at hand. His words were less angry when directed at me but it still wasn't enough to stop him.

"Please...Derek...I know that you're a good person. You're not thinking straight right now. Later, once you've calmed down, you'll regret doing this." Now I was just saying whatever came to mind. "If you do this you'll—"

"Yes, listen to her," the woman said, her words reminiscent of a witch and her eyes of a clown. She didn't care if she died. She just wanted to see her grandson end up as miserable as she was.

As soon as she spoke, Derek tightened his grip, squeezing so hard that I could see the veins pop out on his neck.

"Derek!" I yelled, tugging harder on his arms this time. "If you do this, you'll be doing what she wants!"

Only that made him hesitate and glance my way, his eyes seeming to grow lighter with realization. I knew that I had him now and just needed to keep going.

"You're so close to getting that job at Hikarius! Don't let a murder ruin your clean slate and take away your chance to get hired!" I knew that he'd get the job either way but he didn't need to know that. "You still have a chance to become the hero you've always dreamed of."

To show that I trusted him, I removed my hands and took a step back, leaving the decision up to him. I didn't care if he killed the evil woman but I did care about him getting blood on his hands.

The second kill is apparently always easier so, if he didn't kill her now, that meant he would hesitate when the next chance to kill someone arose.

...Goodness, I was talking about murder as if it was the most normal thing in the world.

Derek glanced at me one more time, his eyes clear and face now devoid of expression, then nodded. "Fine." Dragging his only living relative across the floor, he opened the door and flung her onto the street. "If you ever come back," he told her as she sat up, moaning, "I'll kill you."

With that, he slammed the door behind her, locked it securely, and turned toward me with a huge smile on his face. "We'll have to get a better lock," he told me cheerfully, touching the deep cut on his face as though this was the first time he'd noticed it. "Maybe I should get a dog too. I could teach him to recognize her scent."

It was then, when Derek was smiling and the horror was over, that I allowed myself to collapse on the floor and take a deep breath. I had done it. I had stopped him from killing his grandmother. I had changed the future.

Derek was still in the midst of smiling when he noticed my position and got down beside me, checking to see if I'd gotten hurt. When it became obvious that I wasn't cut or bruised he asked me, just to make sure. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I eeked out, unable to take my eyes off the cut on his forehead. "You should probably bandage that."

"You're right." He nodded and got to his feet but before he could head to the bathroom he paused and took a huge breath, sighing. "I haven't felt this good in ages."

Hearing that made me want to giggle like a fangirl. This was the first time I'd gotten the chance to see my idol smile instead of smirk. "Does that mean you won't kick me out?" I hated to ask but was too impatient not to.

Oh. There was the smirk I was talking about. "We'll see," he said, offering me a hand so I could get up. "We'll see."