Todd’s smile didn’t lose its sadness, but he did roll his eyes when Mary commented on his love life. He didn’t dwell on the fact that if it ever happened… more than the sheets would need to be changed. And it’d only need to happen once.
Then his face became a little more sad than smile as she announced her ambitions. His senses pricked up suddenly at the scent of gas and flesh, at the flash of red light that crackled and dissipated, but they were dampened enough that his response was just to watch the place where the light was fading. He thought about what she said, about power, about people who had it, about people who didn’t. About different kinds of power. About the power from the hunt. His mind was very full, and very heavy, but his thoughts didn’t take up much time at all.
“I think power’s overrated.” He shrugged, and slipped his hands into the pockets of his coat. He never lost the tired smile. “Too many people think just having it is enough to make their opinion right. I’ll stick to my cars, thanks.”
Kicking her legs about, Mary started walking again while looking back to see if Todd was following her. She'd keep walking for as long as Todd accompanied her. Listening to him explain his simple little ideas, she couldn't help but laugh a little bit. Sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans, copying Todd a little with his own hand motions, she replied.
"Wrooong!" Another laugh, crueler than before, and Mary dropped her voice to a low, serious tone, "Ain't about that babe. Power don't make right, but bein' weak don't make anything. What matters tho- it ain't who's right and who's wrong. What matters is who- got- power." With the last three words, Mary stamped her foot to emphasize her point.
Pointing down an alleyway, Mary added, "This way, shortcut." Before continuing to explain herself, "If I've gots power, and you's don't, then nothing you think or say is ever gonna matter. Cause all I gotta do is use my power to silence you's. Ain't hard, specially if you's power is money. You's gonna tell me I'm wrong while Ammazon warehouse workers be pissin' in bottles and dyin' of heatstroke?"
Mary stopped, looking Todd dead in the eyes for only a moment. Her gaze was unabashedly hateful, even though it wasn't directed at Todd. "Don't bullshit me."
Her laugh this time was harsher, and didn’t suit her young face. Something tightened in Todd’s chest as she turned down the alley, but whether it was his nerves, potential for danger, or her casual acceptance of power plays as the world works, he couldn’t tell. What he could do was follow her until she stopped, and stop when she did. His expression didn’t change, tired as he was.
“That’s where the balance comes in,” he said, as he maintained steady eye contact. The rest of his posture was soft – shoulders rolled forward, jaw relaxed, lips closed over his teeth. “You’ve got to be strong enough to protect your own, our own, but you can’t inflict that strength on other people who aren’t a threat. Then you’re exactly the same as the people you hate.”
Had he ever felt that hate? He couldn’t remember. He remembered the addiction, the high, the power. He remembered the rage that only the hunt could cure. Was that hatred, that unadulterated anger? Was that what he was seeing in her eyes? Rage and love? Or was it just empty hatred of an enemy that didn’t have a name?
Did it matter?
He sighed, deeply, and ran a hand through his curls, pushing them off his forehead and tangling his fingers in them.
“My point being, I can have power to defy you if you try to stop me, and that doesn’t mean I have to turn it around to silence you. It takes more strength to control your own power than to abuse it. Abusing power is easy. If it wasn’t, fewer people would do it.”
Mary sighed while Todd spoke, moving deeper into the alleyway until she came upon a nasty looking dumpster near a back corner. Grabbing it, she struggled a bit to pull it away from the wall before the wheel finally caught tread and the large thing rolled. Behind it, a small wooden door that blended perfectly with the wall behind it.
Stretching her back after the exertion, she responded, "Uhg, you's sound like my ol' youth pastor. Wasn't a bad guy, though the church dissolved afta' the head pastor got caught diddlin' the youth pastor's wife. Listen, sure, that makes sense. But maybe you's just a better person than me, cause all I can think about somedays is gettin' some well deserved fuckin' revenge."
Reaching for the door handle, Mary cranked it hard and entered into the building. It was a very, very old factory built into the back of a row of storefronts. Entering inside and waving away dust, Mary hit an old lightswitch that illuminated their surroundings in yellow light. Trash was everywhere, broken machinery, and a few beanbag chairs. Sitting in one of the chairs, Mary remarked, "This's one of my safeplaces. If'n you's ever need a place to hide, here's good. No access from the front stores, only that lil' door there. I know the landlord, he pretends this space ain't here cause if'n it was, it'd 'condemn' all his front stores. If you's know what I mean."
Todd shrugged, letting his hand fall to his side while he watched Mary move the dumpster. “I was never really religious. Every set of foster parents I had was, but I’m way more an ‘all things come to a natural balance’ than a ‘the almighty creator of the universe’ kinda guy. God doesn’t really look all that great from the perspective of a ghoul-kin.”
He would’ve offered to help her, but he was pretty sure Mary would’ve taken that personally, somehow. So he let her do her work, and she revealed a small door, the perfect size for her. He had to duck to follow her through it, but he did so without question or hesitation. He glanced around the big room as Mary explained it, and watched as she threw herself on one of the soft chairs. It was a long way to throw himself down, so he sank instead, folding inward the same way he did when getting into his Malibu.
He nodded, to indicate he knew exactly what she meant, but he looked distracted.
“Revenge is… complicated,” he conceded, maybe a little too softly, like he’d been thinking about it the whole time she talked. “It has a time and place. Retaliation when somebody hurts you is a natural response. But there’s such a thing as too far, even if that’s as far as your enemies would go.”
