Scarlett was quiet for a long moment, her fingers gripping the crystal edge hard enough that her knuckles went white. "You want to know what's really fucked up? I've fed on thousands of people. Drained them, compelled them, discarded them like empty juice boxes. And I never once thought about their names, their lives, their families."
Parker waited. He could feel the real confession coming.
"But you." Her voice cracked slightly. "I went through all trouble to know everything about you. Your favorite foods, the way you talked to yourself when you thought no one was listening, how you'd try to fix your hair even when you were bleeding. I memorized you, Parker. Every detail. Your family and even came to know who you were, and the orders left by your mother. And I told myself it was just... research. Know your prey better."
"Was it?"
