All three heads whipped to the source of the commotion. A small group of boys were fixated around a game. Raz's superior vision made out the reason for their happy yells. A high score screen for MarioKart.
Raz turned to find Selene's eyes aimed at Cass, in a keen gaze. Cass' own eyes were still on the boys. No, they were on one in particular. The one they were all fist-bumping.
"Who are they? They're making such a racket." Selene said, in a shrewd tone. It was the tone a hunter adopted in calming a startled prey and it made the hairs stand up on the back of Raz's neck.
"Oh, they're just some boys from my high school," Cass said distractedly. "Sorry, I'll tell them to be quieter."
"No need, I'm sure they were just excited about the victory of one of their friends. He must be very good at the game to be so successful."
Cass frowned at Selene's odd choice of words but somehow they must have struck the right tone. She said, "Yes, that's Ian. He's very good at everything." Not the right tone Her voice was laced in her siren persuasion.
Selene smirked in Raz's direction at that. "At everything?" A feeling of dread squirmed in Raz's stomach.
"Yeah, at everything! He's like the district champion for swimming and he's so good at MarioKart and he's so nice."
Selene raised her eyebrows, her lips slightly cringing. She turned to Cass, staring right into her eyes. "You should go congratulate him then if he's so good. I bet he would appreciate a free beverage."
"Selene..." Raz said warningly.
Selene continued, her eyes never breaking from Cass, "In fact, he might really like a meal along with it. Perhaps you should sit with him for... Companionship?"
"Uh, I don't think..." Cass said.
"Don't think." Selene offered. "Just do it."
"Okay..." Cass wiped her hands on her thighs before walking towards the boy.
"Why did you do that? Do you think it's fun to humiliate her?" Raz said angrily.
"That would be fun." She nodded. "But that's not what's about to happen."
Raz shook his head. "You can't just force people to do things for your enjoyment! It's unnecessarily cruel! She didn't deserve it!"
Selene dragged a nacho chip to her mouth. "Oh, this is actually very bad." She munched on two more before adding. "It's very good though too..."
Raz sighed. How could she not understand what she did hurt people? He knew she felt guilt. She had feelings. Why would she do this?
"Don't be dramatic," She said. "That boy has an annoying voice and a bald patch just waiting to happen. The kind thing would have been not to make her talk to him."
"What?"
Selene gestured to where Cass was talking with Ian, the guy she gushed about. Raz winced waiting for a crestfallen look on her face but then her face twisted into a grin. Ian grinned back at her. Raz looked closely at him and true to Selene's words, his hairline was far too high.
"Okay... That did help her out but you can't force people to do things. If she were ready she would have done it."
"She was ready," Selene said simply, snacking on another chip.
"How do you possibly know that?"
"I just do."
"Because you're immortal and that makes you superior to a human?"
She glared at him, laying her palms flat on the table, leaning forward. "Do you want to know a secret, Raz?", her voice turning low. "I can't force anyone to do anything?"
"What?"
"I can't make anyone do anything!"
"Your powers, they literally persuade and -"
Selene laughed darkly, shaking her head. "I can't force them. All I can do is find an act they already deeply wanted to do but contained themselves from doing. I can only twist it and magnify it." Raz stilled, his eyes wide but Selene continued, "I can't force someone to leave their wife unless they've already cheated. I can't make someone abandon their family unless they despise them. I can't make someone hurt another person unless they crave hurting people. All I am good at is finding people who have that in them."
"You make people kill themselves..."
Selene smiled without emotion. "Why do you think I come up with such creative ways of making people hurt themselves? I can't do it unless they really, truly wanted to. But usually, it's the guilt that lets me. I've tried, you know, on good people, just to test it out. It doesn't work. But I probably couldn't make Theron hurt himself, all I could do would be to make other Redeemers hurt him. He has no guilt."
"You've wiped people's memories!"
"They want to forget. That's the one thing I can do for almost anybody."
Raz turned silent. He never expected this. It didn't change anything. A feeling and a desire did not equate an action. But it made everything different. The people she targeted weren't innocent. Not entirely.
It wasn't right. But it wasn't entirely wrong. Not like it used to be.
"You only target the men who've hurt people," Raz said slowly remembering the long list of crimes in her file. They were all against men, and most of them were crimes that led to financial and social ruin.
"There are laws against hitting people. There are no laws against ruining someone's life in other ways. There are no laws against wasting money that could have schooled your child and there are no laws against ripping every happy thing in your wife. You thing I live to cause pain? So do your people except they think they're saviours. Your beloved Theron, you have no idea the things he is capable of." Selene said simply, staring out into the neon lights.
Raz let out a rough breath. What was Theron capable of? A lot, that much Raz knew. But nothing that bad against his own brother. Half brother, a wicked voice reminded him. "Not me. I would never hurt someone I cared about."
Selene looked at him with wary eyes, "Not on purpose at least."
"I would do anything to make it right again."
A giggle broke the tense silence. A few tables away Cass sat sipping on a milkshake, her hands intertwined with Ian's.
"And on company hours... Good for her." Selene murmured.
"Why don't we play that bowling game? I'd hate for you to not have a chance to beat me."
"Likewise, Redeemer," Selene said, with only a hint of a shadow on her face.
To his surprise, Selene was quite skilled at 'lugging around a large weight'. She couldn't possibly beat him, not with his immortal strength but Raz rolled with sluggish energy. To make things fair, he told himself. He stopped saying that once Selene won with the widest grin he had ever seen grace her face.
"You let me win!" She laughed, seeming human. Not much older than Cass.
"Nope, it was all, you babe."
"Babe?"
Raz shrugged as if that hadn't just slipped out of his tongue. He truly hated that he grew up in the 80s.
"I'll give you a chance to beat me in the arcade games," Selene said far too cockily for someone who hadn't even played one.
She lost, of course. There was only so much Raz could forfeit.
But Selene was still laughing as they walked out of the place, holding onto a small container of slime. "Humans come up with the strangest things! What clever little monkeys!"
Raz shook his head, unable to contain his smile. He was about to suggest they go have desert when he saw a familiar shadow on the bricks, at the corner of the block.
He waited for a beat and the shadow disappeared and out emerged Theron's face, half shadowed.
Raz wanted to ignore him but he had to deal with this.
"Hey, why don't you go on without me. I'll meet you at your place soon."
Selene frowned but she agreed. Not that she would ever disagree with something like this. That would mean she didn't want him to go and she would never admit that.
Raz watched her walk away, waiting until she turned the corner at the street before he made his way to Theron.
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Love how my boy Theron shows up at all the wrong moments to cause drama in Raz's life. Just like a real brother.
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