"Where were you? I've been waiting forever," Lee snapped as Darby walked into the room. He rose from a chair in a dark corner of the room and stood glaring at her.
"I had to make sure Bailey wasn't going to follow me," Darby snapped back, pushing the door shut behind her. It made a horrible screeching sound that made her flinch.
"We have to find a new meeting place," she said looking at the cobwebs and dust coating the room. "This place is falling apart."
"Yes it turns out no one comes to clean old abandoned houses," Lee sassed. "Who knew."
Darby rolled her eyes and looked around to see if any of the furniture was suitable for sitting. Deciding it wasn't, she walked over to the wall and leaned against it.
"You're the one who wanted to come here anyway," Lee added. "I was content staying in Steven's guest house."
"I know you were but nothing good can come of you being there."
"Now don't say stuff like that. It hurts my feelings," Lee said sweetly, stepping toward Darby and running a finger gently down her face. She grabbed his hand roughly and shoved it down.
"Don't touch me," she hissed, her eyes glowing red. Lee took a step back.
"What has gotten into you?" he asked.
"Into me? What is with you? Why are you even here?" Darby began to pace in frustration. She walked to a small window that looked out at the house's overgrown backyard. The tall grass was bathed in moonlight.
"Isn't it obvious? I want you back." Darby heard this and laughed aloud.
"Is that why you waited twenty years to show up? Because you wanted me so badly?"
Lee rolled his eyes and collapsed back into his chair.
"Or maybe it's because of Steven?"
Darby laughed.
"So you're scared of him now."
In a flash, Lee was behind her breathing into her ear.
"I'm not afraid of anyone."
Darby turned around and grinned wickedly.
"You're afraid of him," she said simply. Lee shivered and took a step back.
"I would be a fool not to be," he admitted. "You're just as afraid of him as I am."
"You're not wrong," Darby agreed. "But if letting him out meant never having to see you again, I wouldn't hesitate."
"Wow, is that how you really feel?" Lee asked. Darby could hear the despondence in his voice and felt guilty for being so harsh. She ran a single finger down the dusty window and sighed.
"You can't want me back when I was never yours," she told Lee. "Whatever we had was fun but it wasn't serious and we both knew that. Besides I couldn't hurt Steven like that."
Lee scoffed and shook his head.
"Really? You're worried about Steven?" he asked. "The one who keeps you locked up in his fortress so nothing and no one can take you away from him?"
"It's not like that," Darby argued, using her finger to trace another line on the window. A firefly landed on the outside of the glass and she watched its belly glow green and then fade back to dark.
"And now he has Bailey too. He's just collecting women so he doesn't have to face eternity alone."
Darby slammed a fist against the window cracking the glass into a spiderweb pattern and scaring off the firefly.
"You have no idea what you're talking about," she growled. "I am the one who brought Bailey there. She's practically a child and she needed to be looked after."
She walked over to Lee and stood in front of his chair towering over him.
"And you don't get to talk after you took Mary from him and then tried to take me too."
Ignoring Darby's previous warning not to touch her, Lee rose from his chair in a flash, put his hand around Darby's neck and pushed her across the room against the wall. At the impact, a picture frame broke loose from its nail and fell to the floor scattering glass everywhere.
Darby's eyes went wide and she tried desperately not to look afraid. As confident and strong as she was, deep down she knew that Lee was stronger.
"Don't play the victim here, Darby. You wanted me as much as I wanted you."
"If you wanted me so badly, why did you leave? You let Steven scare you away and you left me alone," Darby said, feeling close to tears.
Lee loosened his grip on her neck but didn't let her step away from the wall.
"It wasn't like that," he said softly. "You don't know the full story. The night I left, it wasn't Steven who scared me off it was-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the front door of the house swung open and Steven walked into the room.
"Get away from her," he said to Lee through gritted teeth. Lee released Darby's neck and cautiously stepped back into the shadows.
"How did you find us?" Darby asked, running a hand over her neck that was sore from Lee's choking grasp.
"Bailey told me you were at your "place." She wanted to follow you but you left before she woke up."
Darby rolled her eyes.
"I knew it," she muttered.
"Why are you here, Steven?" Lee wanted to know. "I left your house. That was what you wanted. You won."
Steven shook his head and took a step into the room.
"No, not yet," he countered. "I won't really win until you're gone forever. So I'm here to kill you."
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