Chapter 83: A battle of wills

“Layla, did you have a guiding room booked?” Karen asked the Guide, and Taylor glanced behind her at the authoritative voice. It was annoying for Taylor. Annoying because honestly, why was Karen even getting involved right now?

Taylor wasn’t some new Esper who joined the Guild recently. She had been here for damn years! Sure, things were a little strange with all of the damn Gate work, and she was fucking exhausted, but she was more than capable of handling this on her own.

“I did, Lieutenant Hill.” Layla answered, both women either ignoring the sharp look that Taylor shot them both, or hadn’t noticed it. Karen had that effect on others. They tended to look at her more than Taylor, not that she cared.

There was a reason that Karen never had to worry about others approaching her. She was pretty, beautiful even. Her sharp features that rounded out when she smiled had probably stolen more hearts than Taylor could ever calculate. She wasn’t jealous. How could she be?

Taylor was surrounded by pretty, dangerous people. People that dripped with insanity, but if they killed you, you’d die with a smile. You may even walk willingly into the death trap because of those kinds of smiles.

Taylor grew up with the Woods. She was used to that kind of pretty. There was no jealousy, besides at this moment. Because Taylor? She wanted to be alone. She didn’t want others to follow her. She wanted to wallow in her anger and despair alone right now.

She couldn’t fucking tell anyone about what was going on. Everything so damn classified Taylor had to stop herself from even talking to fucking Carlos about her concerns. He was from another Guild, so she couldn’t even divulge all of her worries to him either.

Fucking annoying, that was!

She just wanted to go bury her face in her money pillow and sulk. She didn’t cry into the money pillow. It would damage the money.

“Perfect. Lead the way.” Karen said, her smile tight. Taylor, unable to stop herself, turned from her position in front of them, and with a frowning, stern expression, flipped the lieutenant off. Both Layla and Karen paused, surprised by the act. It wasn’t like Taylor. It was directly from Kellen’s playbook.

Taylor didn’t care.

Her emotions were in fucking knots, she was fighting for control, and damn it, it was annoying her how easily Karen got along with everyone and everything. She had been chatting to everyone, even the antisocial Nemesis Guild members. Doing things that even the Captain had been unable to do.

She was just feeling inadequate, annoyed, and frustrated. She felt bad at her job, so it felt like Karen was rubbing her own abilities in her face, like salt in her wounds.

Karen’s expression darkened slightly.

“We better hurry.” She muttered quietly, as if Taylor had shitty hearing. She wanted to snarl, decided that was a step too far, and settled for sarcastically gesturing for Layla to lead the way. Layla hesitated for only a moment before the woman moved, taking the lead. The way her eyes had hardened slightly, as if preparing herself for a hard job.

Taylor was going to feel bad for disappointing her. This emotional turmoil? This wasn’t related to low power levels. Tragically, Taylor’s levels were well within what she had been taught were ’normal’ for a Healer. She was just feeling like a fucking failure right now.

It all came out once Layla actually laid a hand on her.

Taylor sat on the edge of the bed in the guiding room, Karen standing a few paces away in the relatively small room, her arms crossed, her expression grim. Layla had pulled the only other chair in the room closer, taking Taylor’s hand in hers.

Layla didn’t even guide for five minutes before she pulled back, her expression full of confusion. She wasn’t stopping her guiding session, since Taylor’s levels that were ’normal’ would send a lesser Esper into a surge. Taylor had been far more insane before, but never at this level.

“What’s wrong?” Karen asked, sensing the shift.

“Her levels are…normal.” Layla said. Taylor resisted the urge to snort, rolling her eyes. She shouldn’t be taking her bad feelings out on others. Her powers hadn’t been at risk yet, but she was on her way to making it turn in that direction. Karen frowned.

“Normal? Then are you being a bitch on purpose, Taylor?” Karen asked. Layla’s jaw dropped before she snapped it closed. She dropped her eyes from Taylor’s face, and Karen’s. Taylor’s shoulders stiffened. Hearing herself being called a bitch by Karen was…not a pleasant feeling.

“Don’t speak as if you know me.” Yeah, saying it that way really did make her sound like a bitch, but what could Taylor do? What the fuck did Karen even know about her? Why did she get to call Taylor a bitch she Taylor was doing her fucking best to keep herself together, all the time?

How many times had Taylor taken a break, scheduled in a five minute crying breakdown before forcing herself back into humanoid shape so that others could rely on her again? So that everyone could turn to Healer Green and not worry about how everything was going. Not have to worry about what the poison was doing to their loved ones?

Healer Green would fix everything.

Healer Green was there, so there was nothing to worry about.

Healer Green could save the day.

What the fuck would Lieutenant Karen Hill, who got to go into Gates for fun and fuck whoever she wanted, know about the weight that was on Taylor’s shoulders? The strongest woman Taylor had ever met, who could fight the fucking Captain and almost win? The same woman who got everyone’s respect, all the damn time.

Who never had to shove her hands into the guts of the dying and damned and plead with whatever powers that they had that they would be able to save another poor fucking soul? Would she ever know what it felt like to have pieces of themselves missing because Taylor was using those pieces to keep others together?

To watch the still bodies of her teammates, over and over, begging for a sign of life? To sign death certificates? To do Taylor’s job?

So where the fuck did she get off for calling Taylor a bitch? What did she know? Taylor earned being a little snarky. No fucking wonder Carlos was a menace to deal with. He’d earned it.

Taylor, lost in her own emotions and trembling with them, didn’t notice how Karen flinched at her words. The venom in them, nor did she notice how Karen’s eyes slowly shifted from her normal brown to orange.

Karen held her tongue, letting Layla work, and then, only then, did she speak.

When Taylor looked like she was ready to leave, that stupid scowl still on her pretty face.

“Taylor.” Karen’s voice was soft, alarmingly so. Taylor stiffened, Layla’s hand out of her grasp. “We are going to have a chat. Right now. Layla, thank you for helping Taylor out, but I’m afraid I can’t see you out.” Karen told the other woman. Layla looked between the two women and wondered if she had gotten herself stuck in something that she shouldn’t have.

Layla stood up, letting out a shaky breath as she felt the powers in the room swirl around her. She could tell that something was wrong with this, but she wasn’t sure if she even think what she was considering. After all, it wasn’t like she had ever considered this combo.

No one had.

So, she held her tongue, glancing down at her watch which was also her schedule. She looked at the room around them, then checked the availability. Without hesitation, she booked the room for another hour.

She hoped that would give the Espers more time to figure out…whatever this was.

“I’ve booked the room for another hour. Good luck.” Layla said. Karen acknowledged what Layla said, but Taylor? She didn’t look at Layla, her gaze locked on Karen, her knuckles white from how hard she gripped the edge of the bed. Layal wondered who she had wished good luck to, because this power struggle?

Layla had no idea who would come out on top.

She quietly left, leaving the other two women alone.

Taylor didn’t relax now that they were alone, instead staring up at the other woman with undisguised annoyance and anger. Karen stared down at the other woman, her arms still crossed. They didn’t speak, the tension thick enough that if it snapped suddenly, it would kill both of them.

Things only shifted when Karen stepped closer. Each step she took felt like she was throwing down the gauntlet, begging Taylor to protest, say something, anything that would tell Karen to back off.

Taylor wasn’t feeling exactly like she should run away. She was sure her own gaze was glowing, angry. Bitter. Frustrated, and now that Karen was close enough, filled with a despair so dark and cloying that Karen knew that was the stem to all of this.

She also knew that Taylor wasn’t going to break easily. She had her defenses up, and she was giving all the warning signs, telling Karen to back the fuck off.

Karen wasn’t one to read those signs, not when it came to the people she cared about.

“I don’t know you?” Karen’s voice was a whisper. Soft, sweet, and sending alarms up as soon as Taylor heard the words. Taylor’s breath caught, but she held her ground. Her grip tightened on the edge of the bed.

“You don’t.” Taylor sounded sure, full of herself. Karen’s careful nod of agreement made Taylor’s fingers twitch. She didn’t trust that, and she was right to. It wasn’t Karen agreeing with her, it was her fucking plotting.

“Hmm. I had thought that we had gotten closer. I didn’t realise that wasn’t the case.” Karen’s gaze narrowed, her bright, orange gaze scanning, searing into Taylor’s body. Taylor felt her face warm. She had seen the other woman do this to others before. This look, this scan.

She had done it to others that Taylor had then seen her kissing at parties after. It was her examining prey, and Taylor, who had seen a few of these in her day from Karen, twitched. How dare she do this in a moment like this? Treat her so lowly, so…confident in a moment like this?

“Stop looking at me like that.” Taylor finally snapped, pissed off. Karen’s eyes widened almost comically wide and that only pissed Taylor off more.

“What? I’m not looking at you like anything.” Karen insisted, but Taylor knew better.

“Don’t lie.” Taylor spat. “I’m not fucking dumb, Hill. I know what that look means.” Taylor told her and Karen’s gaze narrowed. She leaned in closer and Taylor flinched. Karen didn’t smile, not really.

“So you’ve been watching me close enough to know what that looks means, hmm? So maybe I don’t know you, but you know me?” Karen’s words hung in the air for a moment. “Presumptuous little Taylor, aren’t we?”

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