It’s not that his toy — that Miles — gets boring. No, he’s endlessly entertaining, endlessly amusing in that sense that he can find new buttons to press and new wires to pull and new springs to pull out of shape.
It’s Pestilence’s temper that finally tips the game past the point of no return.
An arm snakes around the front of Miles’ throat, almost playfully — and then it tightens. Yanks the reporter back against his narrow chest and holds him there, and, oh, his limbs start flailing. He scratches and scrabbles and scrapes against his hands and kicks against his shins and his pale, skinny ankles, and Pestilence shushes him with a cruel, cruel smile, hidden against the edge of his ear.
"Shh, shh, shh. It’s alright, Miles," he says, and the fight starts to die. He can feel the pulse weaken against the crook of his elbow. If he loosened his grip he’s sure his mortal would be begging, but the sound of air shivering out in thin, desperate wheezes is far more sweet.
"It’s alright," he says again, and sighs. "I’m going to take good care of you."