Darkest Before the Dawn (male/male)
Finality

Barty

I would have been perfect for one of those, “which does not belong” games.

Cade had already started her flow of magic, exposing her horns and allowing glyphs to frame her face. They were the same glyphs I wore when my anxiety sunk in too deep. Hers were indicative of being a daughter of a Hellish general. Magic and power oozed from her.

Goldie looked cool as fuck with a gun the length of her arm, the cactus at her feet a staunch, but similarly dangerous, contrast. She was never one for violence, not when she could find alternative means of accomplishing her goals. The BRF was corrupting her, too.

Felix, goddamn, how did I think he wasn’t my type for so long? Shirt torn from what looked like bullet holes, curls askew, shrouded in black. Fangs and claws were ready to rip into flesh.

My feet were sticky from being covered in mine and Cade’s blood. There was still a lingering threat of keeling over. I was nauseous.

But I was already in this.

“We can cut a deal,” Jayden started, staying in one spot, just out of arm’s length of me.

I opened my mouth. Cade started in before I did. “No, no, let’s hear it. I’m sure this asshole has something to say that could lighten the mood.”

Jayden smirked. I wanted to rip his lips off. “Something about you showing your true colors is just, ooh. Dangerous. I love it. That’s why you’re part of this deal.” He turned his attention to Felix. “You give me both the demons, I’ll help you capture Richard.”

I was already making my way to Cadence, her lip curled in disgust. “You’re not getting anywhere near Cadence again. You can just take me and –”

“Mew, I say this as lovingly as possible: shut the entire hell up,” Felix snapped. “We’re not doing any sort of deals or exchanges. We’re arresting everyone in this building and then going home. That’s all.” He stepped backwards until he found my hand, gripping it tightly but never losing focus of anyone in front of us. “Take Cadence and get out of here until reinforcement arrives. Goldie and I have this under control.”

“Listen to him, Mew,” Cade whispered. “They’ll be here soon.”

My jaw clenched. If Felix were human, I would have broken his hand from how tightly I was holding it.

“Go. We’ll be safe.” Felix released my hand, taking a stance in front of me and Cade.

Cadence made the first move, darting around Jayden to make for the door. Felix blocked a shorter vampire from getting to her, snatching him by the shoulder and arm and tossing him into the two vampires who were blocking our path.

The cactus at Goldie’s feet blossomed, growing enough to almost hit the ceiling. Without hesitation, she commanded finger-length thorns to go flying into the faces of the downed vampires and Jayden, striking them and releasing a slew of profanity from the victims.

Cade made it to the stairs that led back to the ground floor, making it up halfway while I grappled with a middle-aged vampire who followed me out. I barely had time to conjure my magic before a blast of orange light shot to my left side, knocking the vampire back and amputating his right arm.

“Dad would be really proud of you,” I breathed, chasing Cadence up the steps while she waved the heat off her hands.

“I hate combat, I hate fighting, I hate this whole thing.” She stomped out of the library that hid the bunker entrance. I followed after, feet tacky on the tile and tracking bloody footprints.

The living room was found to be empty, other than the headless carcass that had bled out on the cowskin rug.

“Do I wanna ask about the corpse?”

“Some asshole vampire, what do you think?” Cadence shook her hands out, then brushed her hair back into a loose bun. “Okay, we’re going out to my car while we wait for everyone else.”

“Right, yeah, you’re going out to your car while you wait for everyone else.”

She squeezed her eyes shut. The muscles in her neck throbbed. “Bartholomew Palmer, I am going to drag you through a mile of broken glass.”

“Richard’s right upstairs.”

“So are five other vampires and an unknown number of humans.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“I hate you. I hate you so much.” Her voice was disbelieving. She started a pace, throwing her hands into the air while she muttered in Latin and French. “Couldn’t just fuckin’ become a vet o-or a human police officer or a librarian. No, you had to become a supernatural detective dealing with goddamn murderers and cults.”

“You done?”

Her jaw was tight, and her eyes were wild. “When we go up there, you just start swinging, you hear me? And once we’re home and things have gotten back to normal, I’m starting the paperwork to demote you back to desk work.”

“I don’t know who this we is. You’re going to your car and waiting on Felix and Goldie.”

“You’re going to die.”

“It’s either I die trying to deal with the glue-eater who started this, or I die when he inevitably escapes and finds me again since nobody wanted to take care of him. Take your pick, but I’m fucking tired of waiting.”

Cadence’s Face of Fury (trademarked) melted away, her eyes just past my shoulder. Instead of furrowed eyebrows and a snarl, her brows curled upwards, and her throat jumped.

“I was just thinking about how exhausting it is to wait, too.”

He sounded exactly the same, that voice having laced my nightmares for years now. While there was an underlying odor of moss and clean linen, the overwhelming stench of fetid demons’ blood coated him. When I turned to see him strutting down the stairwell, I spotted that scar on his throat that I had caused, a small reminder compared to the scars I wore on my own skin from him.

“Bartholomew Palmer, in the flesh and awake. Oh, and your sister, Cadence Palmer. What a marvel. She’s more beautiful than Jayden said she is.”

“Go sit on a sword,” my sister growled.

“Cade,” I hissed. “Shut up.” Looking directly at Richard put pins and needles into my hands. Magic sprouted up from my gut, the instinct to destroy settling into my bones. My heart pounded in my dry throat. “Get bored of sending cronies?”

Richard made the final steps down, landing on the ground floor, hand on the wooden banister. “I don’t know if I would say that.” His index finger twitched.

Cade and I were dropped faster than I could process, my chest and stomach smacking hard on the tile and my teeth clacking together. A knee was pressed into my back. A hand was buried in my hair, keeping my cheek pressed to the floor. Cade didn’t look much different from me.

“I’ll fucking kill you,” my sister snarled, flailing her legs.

“Cade.” She must have seen the terror in my eyes. Twenty years’ worth of anxiety came back then, my breaths shallow and uneven. I would have killed for my Klonopin. Dark shadows began on the edges of my vision as I heard Richard meander over, his leather boots soft on the marble.

“Hey, Mew. Breathe. Look at me and breathe.” Cade tried reaching her arm out to me, grazing my bicep with her fingertips. “I’m here. I got you.” Her burgundy eyes flicked up to my assailant. The woman on her back had an itchy trigger finger, retrieving a syringe from her shirt pocket.

“Don’t!” I could barely shout before Cade’s arm had the needle in it, the liquid being pushed into her system. Confusion crossed her face before the sedation, her eyes coming in and out of focus before blinking shut. “What did you do?” I was ashamed that my voice was so small.

“We put her out for the time being so that she didn’t create an impedance. I’m sure the two downstairs have been taken care of so as not to become a distraction, as well.” Richard knelt in front of me, analyzing my face. “I know your magic is a little, mm, spotty, so I don’t believe we’ll have to worry about you much.” He waved his hand. The pressure lifted from my back and head. “I want to make an offer.”

Swallowing down the bile in my throat, I gathered to my knees, glaring up at him. If it hadn’t been Richard, I could have spat some retort at him, the adrenaline forcing words from my mouth.

My mind was blanker than paper.

“No words this time? You’ve had plenty to say these past few days. Sad.” He knelt in front of me, giving me the first opportunity to analyze his face. He was nothing extraordinary: round face, crooked front teeth, fine lines around his mouth and eyes. He must have been in his forties when he was turned.

“How did you turn into this?” I whispered.

He flinched and his eyebrows drew together. “A peasant. I was a nobleman, and they were upset at me for raising property taxes and demanding higher crop yields, so they condemned me to this life.”

“Ahh, so you’ve always been a fucking dick. Good to know so I won’t feel guilty when I kill you.”

“Oh, there’s that attitude. Finally.” He stood, his back turned to me. “If you can decapitate me, you’re all free to go. Of course, that also means that you’ll be able to arrest me at that time and finally be done with me. Or, you can burn my body and head and just be done with me completely.”

I swallowed. “How long do I have?”

“It ends when I’m headless.” He made a big show of turning back to me, hands in his khaki pockets. “Or when I incapacitate you. Be it death or dismemberment, just so you can’t move. I then keep the other three you came with.” Gray eyes wandered to Cadence, his tongue darting out to lick his bottom lip. “I’ve heard her magic is supposed to be incredibly strong.”

He blocked the first punch I threw, grabbing my wrist and twisting it away from my body. I winced, urging any of my magic to flow to my free hand. Feeling it pool there, I gathered my other hand up and landed a blow to his stomach, freeing me.

He was faster than me, his hand at my throat, flinging me. I flew threw the air like I was boneless. My back cracked against the stair banister, the wood shattering beneath me. “Come on, then. You can do better.”

Balling the front of my shirt up, he dragged me up from the debris and struck the side of my face. Blood founted from my nose, forcing me to breathe through my mouth.

He almost got another punch in before I could grab his wrist, taking both of my hands to prevent it. I almost expected the other vampires to step in at this point. “Fuck you,” I spat, blood dripping into my mouth now.

Reaching around, one hand still gripping his arm, I found a broken piece of wood about a foot long. Grunting, I rammed it into his jugular, his own blood spurting from the wound. I was released again, scrambling to my feet while he tried to remove the stake.

My nose was healing already. Magic was hot in my stomach, a warm ebb and flow pulsing through my body. Before Richard could get the advantage, I was on him, tackling him to the ground. He was pinned beneath me, and I swung.

My knuckles crunched into bone and cartilage. Blue light was encompassing my hands while I pounded away. A tooth was missing from Richard’s bottom jaw. His gray eyes were bulging from the splintered sockets.

I was crying, I realized. His hands were tight on my shoulders, squeezing them to the point I swear they were broken. I wanted to fight through the roaring pain, but he flipped me onto my back.

His nails grappled for my throat, clawing along my jugular. He was able to get a few slices in, my throat raw as I rolled away from him. I couldn’t get to my feet fast enough, those claws of his shredding my shirt, ripping the flesh below.

“That’s better!” he roared, blood and spit flying from his sunken face. His nose was almost completely flat. He was missing several teeth, including a fang. The stake in his neck had been removed.

My breathing was ragged. The new wounds in my chest were deep, pumping out blood quicker than I could heal. Memories of this same helplessness shot back into my mind, reminding me that I wasn’t capable twenty years ago. Once again, I was uselessly facing down Richard.

“Are you going to cry again?” he asked, wiping his hands on his pants. His left cheekbone was filling in again, the fullness returning while the skin patched together. “Give up, and I’ll let you live.”

I sucked in air. Took in my surroundings. Some sofas and chairs. A glass coffee table atop a rug. A hell of a lot of taxidermized animals.

My jaw clenched. “Just get it done with,” I offered, opening my arms wide. “Be fast about it.”

He tipped his head, narrowed eyes calculating what I was doing. I hoped a plan would come to me.

When he shot towards me, I knew I had to be just as fast. He reached out for me.

I sunk my nails into his biceps when I grabbed him, using his weight to counterbalance and spin us. A gurgling sound came from him when his back smashed the glass coffee table, the metal leg plummeting through his back and exiting through his chest.

“Barty!”

Exhaling hurt but it felt good to do so when I heard Goldie. “For fuck’s sake,” I sighed, doubling over, hands on my knees. “You’re both okay?”

“Felix told you we’d be fine.” She harrumphed when she was blocked by the two vampires who had tackled me and Cadence. “I just put out four vampires twice your size. Move.”

“Don’t you dare.” Richard choked out from the floor, trying to push himself off the table leg. Glass was imbedded into his back and limbs.

“Where’s Felix?” I said, keeping my eyes on Richard again.

“Still downstairs. Lots of blood, so he needed a minute.” Goldie herself was drenched in it, red tinging her hair and splattered on her face, covering her freckles. “The human is alive and okay. Just shaken up. Is Cadence...?” Her voice was fragile.

“Sedated, but alive.”

“We can change that,” Richard sputtered. “Amy, go ahead.”

The vampire who had restrained me was no longer blocking Goldie. She knelt beside my sister, turning her body faceup and cradling her.

“Felix!” Goldie called.

Tea and oak hit my senses, assuring Cadence’s safety. I turned back to Richard, half-raised off the table leg.

My body moved before I willed it to.

My magic pushed through me like an eruption, hands a flaming blue when I knelt by Richard’s head. My hands were on both sides of his head, pulling hard.

The skin of his throat began to tear, spilling blood while the muscles and sinew stretched. The sound of ripping skin sounded in my ears.

Almost.

Blood filled my sinuses.

Almost.

My claws were latched up under his jawbone now, laughter erupting from Richard’s mouth while I pulled harder. His arms were flailing, scratching at my arms, trying to get hold of anything around him.

I saw the ligaments in his throat now, the pull of his carotid artery as it was severing.

He quit laughing long enough to whisper, “got you”.

Warmth spread across my chest. Richard’s laughter was replaced by Goldie’s scream.

“Mew!” Felix shouted.

I couldn’t breathe. Blood gurgled up, bubbling in my mouth.

Darkness tinged the corners of my vision again. I think my neck was stinging.

A shard of glass in Richard’s hand, painted in crimson.

“Oh,” I managed, blood overcoming any other words I wanted to say.

My hands were tingling.

Felix’s hands were on me, helping to my back. My heart thudded in my ears, the pulse thin and infrequent.

“Goldie, you need to breathe for him!” He slapped my cheek a few times. His hand didn’t feel cold for once. “Hey, sweetie, hang in there. Mew, open your eyes.”

I hadn’t realized they were closed.

Honey-scented fingers pinched my nose. Goldie’s mouth met mine, releasing air into my lungs. Some got pushed out from my throat. I felt the bubbles forming there, heard the little pops of blood.

“One of you fucking call 911!” Felix shouted. There was a ripping sound. Something pressed to my throat. “Baby, please. You have to stay awake. Mew, please. Please.”

I wanted to nod. Another breath from Goldie. My chest was sore from her compressions.

It was cold.

I was tired. So tired.

Magic surged for the briefest of moments. Then faded. It left me.

I was empty. Fading.

Tired. Freezing now.

There was a hum in my ears. Loud. Whiny.

Sleep sounded good.

Sleep was good.

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