What Not to Do (Kallisti)

[Oriena]

After Nox left, Ori idly watched the security screens. Boredom sank its claws in quickly. She cared less than Nox imagined about the Atharim in the club. She’d been luring the fucking bait for months, and apparently the snakes were too dim or too scared to make any connections to the fires she’d set to burn them out of their Baccarat hole. They were hardly going to do anything tonight if they were still sneaking like vermin. Nox had the wrong idea, warning them, insisting the girls stay hidden. The warning ought to be visceral, the display of power sublime. A conflagration none could ignore.

But she was annoyed. Annoyed and disinterested, and fighting the compulsions squeezing her tight. Only she wasn’t sure which she rebelled against more; the notion that Kallisti was something she needed to protect, or the idiocy of Nox telling her what she could and could not do.

She glanced idle at her wallet when it beeped. Considered ignoring the message, though in the end the temptation bit.

A warning. Cute. So what are you going to do about it? Stand around looking pretty?

The gauntlet was casually thrown. He was going to do nothing, she imagined. It was not like Jaxen was good at finishing what he started.