Mantle of the Gods

She smiled.

It looked like pure joy and it made my skin crawl.

“Ready to finally cooperate?” She walked back over and leaned against the door.

“What about the rest of my team?” I tried to simmer my rage and focus on getting out. And not just getting me out, but all of us.

“Someone is going down for this.” She shook her head. "And if you didn’t do it then we’ll have to make it stick to one of them. The brunette? The snow?”

I pulled against the cuff. "You can pin all of this on me!” I raised my voice so that if anyone was listening outside, they’d hear me. "I did all of it! And I’ll tell you whatever you want to know! Don’t you dare touch them!”

“Second try.” She shook her head. "Must be losing my touch.

“You got what you want, okay?” I sank back into the chair. "I tell you everything and they all walk.”

“I can work with that.” She mused. "Depending on how accurate your information is.”

“What?” I propped my head up with my hands as I stared at the desk.

“How did you get the stat modifying substances?”

I looked at her. "What?”

“And the experience enhancing substances. Did Trent Vowler give them to you?”

I swallowed. "What?”

“Come on, I thought you were going to tell me whatever I wanted to know.” She shook her head. "Ten in every stat, twelve in Magic with three unspent stat points, and level two in a week? There’s no way you got that without using some illegal substances.” She pointed at me. "And I want you to tell me where you got them from.”

I swallowed. "It’s not…”

I saw the look in her eyes. She wasn’t going to believe me if I told her that wasn’t why my stats were so high. And I couldn’t tell her the real reason that my stats were so high, because then she’d log it and one of the Gods would figure out where I was and then I’d be as good as dead.

“I’m waiting.” She tapped her foot to emphasize her point.

“I did it.” My mind was racing as I tried to piece together a story about things that I had no clue if the things I was about to lie about even existed. “I heard about a place outside Zeb where an Outsider would sell you drugs that would enhance your stats. I spent everything I had saved to buy as much as I could, then used them after I got here.” I swallowed,

“What about the girls? Did you give them anything?”

“I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "I made them promise not to tell and that we’d be Cathedral heroes for taking out the boss so early.”

“What about Edward?”

I was making this up as I went. "He threw away the potion I gave him and threatened to turn me in. I broke his legs and told him if he talked, I’d do worse.” It felt wrong, but I tried to find a way to make everything jive. "I was afraid the Yellow team was going to figure out what we were doing, so we had to drive them off. After we got to the second floor, Rix couldn’t handle the guilt of what I had told her to do to the Yellow team and said she was going to confess, so I had to get rid of...” I fought back the tears. "Her.”

The Enforcer nodded. "Did Trent Vowler know about any of this?”

My hand started to burn. "No.” As soon as I spoke the burning stopped.

“This contact’s name? Who sold you the drugs?”

I tried to think of something generic. "Yon.”

She stared at me for a moment, then opened the door. "He’s all yours.”