Chapter 14 · The Debt Collector

"Still breathing? I'm almost disappointed."

Silas had me by the throat before I even heard him move.

My back hit the brick. Cold. Wet. His hand wasn't even squeezing yet, just holding me there like I weighed nothing.

"Get off me," I choked out.

"No." He tilted his head. His eyes were that dead silver again, catching the neon from the alley sign. "You were supposed to be dead two floors up, Kane. You glitched. You bled. You burned. And yet. Here you are."

"Yeah, well. I'm hard to kill."

"You're easy to kill," he said. "You're just expensive to keep alive."

He let go. Just like that. I dropped a foot and caught myself on the dumpster. My knees almost gave out. My chest was doing that flutter thing again, that bad wiring buzz from pushing the deck too hard last night.

"You followed me from the table," I said.

"I didn't have to follow you." He flicked his wrist and the black mark on my forearm lit up. That branching, vein-like shit that crawled up toward my elbow every time I used the Void deck. It pulsed. Burned cold. "You ping every time you cheat death. It's loud."