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Location: Vex’s Apartment
Time: Night
Interactions: @Tae Elodie
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Vex’s boot lifted from Elodie’s shoulder, the weight of the moment crashing down harder than any blow she’d dealt. She took a step, then another, each one slower than the last. Her feet dragged against the worn floorboards, the heavy clunk of her boots echoing in the silence like gunshots.
The cigarette hung between her lips, a faint curl of smoke rising as she moved.
And then she saw him.
Hollow.
Her eyes locked onto his, and whatever was left of her mind cracked. The crooked smile she wore slipped from her face. Gone. Just like that. The cigarette slipped from her lips and hit the floor, still burning, forgotten.
By the time Sean stepped through the doorway, she was already falling.
Her knees hit the floor in front of him with a dull, final thud. There was no rage left in her now, just the wreckage. Her shoulders sagged, hands limp at her sides, breath shallow and uneven. Blood streaked her skin, but she didn’t seem to notice.
She didn’t look up right away. She just knelt there, crumbling quietly in the place where her fury had run dry. Her eyes focused on the floor as her hands reached out in front of her.
—-------------------------------------------------------
The warehouse stank of rust, rain… and blood.
His blood.
Vex didn’t even remember hitting the floor. One second she was running, lungs burning, heart in her throat, and the next, she was on her knees in it. Cradling Bear in her arms, her fingers soaked red and slipping, vision swimming as she stared down at his face. Too pale. Too still. And his chest
fuck his chest wasn’t rising like it should.
“Bear,” her voice cracked, barely holding together.
“No, no… you’re okay, sugar. You’re okay.”But he wasn’t.
Not even close.
The wound in his side was a canyon. Torn wide. Blood was pouring from it like it was in a goddamn rush to leave him. And the rest of him—his neck, his arms, even his ribs—were torn up, punctured, and shredded. Vampire bites. So many of them. The dark trails of poison were swimming up his body as if he were tangled in dark webs.
She pressed both hands to the worst of it, but the blood just pushed back through her fingers like he was slipping like water. Her hands were shaking, and she couldn’t stop them. She didn’t know what she was looking for as she scanned him, eyes wide and frantic. Anything. Something to fix. Something to save.
He stirred.
His head rolled toward her, eyelids fluttering open just enough. And even with all that pain written across his face…he smiled.
That damn smile. Crooked. Warm. The one that always made her forgive him. The one that made her fall in love with him.
Home.“You came…” he whispered, voice barely a breath.
“Of course I fucking came,” she said, swallowing down the sob that clawed at her throat.
“You think I’d let you do this alone?”She tried to laugh, to hold onto some kind of calm, but everything inside her was buckling. Her ribs felt like they were caving in. She couldn’t breathe.
“You promised you’d wait for me,” she whispered, brushing his bloody, sticky hair off his forehead.
“We were supposed to go together.” Her thumb stroked his forehead softly as she attempted to hold back her tears.
His hand moved, slow and shaking. She grabbed it and brought it to her cheek, pressing it there like maybe if she held it tight enough, it wouldn’t go cold.
He was already halfway there.
“Didn’t wanna drag you in… too dangerous…”“I’m dangerous,” she shot back, her tears falling fast now, unchecked.
“You forget who I am, Bear? There’s nothing. Nothing! I wouldn’t burn down if it meant keeping you alive.”She took a breath that rattled in her chest, tried to steady herself, then spoke softer, like she was trying not to scare him away.
“You remember that old apartment? On 7th? With the busted neon sign and the ceiling that dripped when it rained?” Her voice cracked again.
“You loved that place. Said it felt like the kind of hell you’d wanna grow old in. You wanted to buy it someday. Paint the walls. Fix the floor.”He gave her another smile, faint this time, already fading like the light behind his eyes.
“You hated that place.”“Yeah.” She huffed out a weak laugh.
“I did. It smelled like piss and regret. But I would’ve lived there with you. Every day. Ink-stained walls, broken windows, holes in the walls, all of it.”His thumb brushed her cheek just once. Barely there. So soft and gentle, it felt like a ghost.
“You were the best thing that ever happened to me… even if you were a pain in my ass.” He smiled weakly before coughing, his body slowly starting to convulse as he fought to breathe.
And then…
His hand slipped from hers.
His chest stopped moving.
He was gone.
Just like that.
Vex didn’t scream. Didn’t sob. She just… folded. Arms locked tight around him, like maybe if she held on hard enough, it would undo everything. Her head dropped, resting against his. Her fingers clutched the front of his coat like she was anchoring herself to the only thing that ever made sense.
“I was supposed to die first,” she whispered.
But the words got swallowed by the rain.
And still, she stayed there. Long after the warmth left his body. Long after the blood dried against her skin. Because letting go would make it real. And if it was real, it meant he was never coming back.
And she wasn’t ready.
She never would be.
The rain persisted, trapping the moment in a frame of gloom and sorrow. The scene wasn't unfamiliar except for the faces of the lovers involved, so Sean, Hollow held no feelings that interrupted his stride. Like Death, he entered the dreary abandoned warehouse with the visage of a hooded skeletal face and dressed in black. Somedays his holster pulled him toward a lucrative businessman or the scorned side of a rivalry. Today, it was toward someone needing retribution. An eye for an eye, blood for blood.
The sound of his hard boots echoing within the near-empty building was his greeting, and a hand resting on his enchanted holster was his first impression. As he drew closer, he recognized the merciless black veins. The result of a lycan being bitten by a vampire’s fangs.
“He’s long gone. Free from this shithole.” Sean wasn't pretty with his words. He couldn't be for someone he didn't know.
As if the event were running in real time, Vex’s eyes, red and teary, looked up at Hollow. Her hands were shaking in the air as she held a ghostly form in her grip. A familiar sight…
Her mind drew back in again, twisting the layers of reality and the past. Tears streamed from her eyes as they looked up from her apartment floor at Hollow with his barrel pointed in her direction. Her face contorted in an angry expression as a deep and low guttural growl.
“You…” Her voice cracked, raw and feral. She eased Bear down gently, like he might wake up if she moved too fast. Vex then surged to her feet like a force of nature.
“Don’t do it.” It sounded like a mix of a threat and a plea.
“YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!”She lunged.
No questions. No warning. Just violence.
She slammed into him with the weight of her grief, fists flying before she even registered the impact. One punch landed against his mask with a sickening crack. Another to his ribs. She didn’t stop. Couldn’t.
The force of her body slamming into him caused them both to tumble into the door of her apartment, nearly breaking it off the hinges.
Grunts, fists, pounding against the hardwood floor and apartment door… but absent of gunshots. No man could outpower a Lycan, and every hunter knew lethality was needed in order to even the playing field. The pistol was far from the man’s reach, a foolish move of his own doing. He had tossed it with no intention of using it, but it was not an indicator of forfeiting.
“Vex! Ugh!” The pain was dulled by her weakened state and his gear, but it still hurt like hell. He was damn sure she was trying to beat him into mush under her fists.
As Vex continued her assault, the hunter stabbed and shot up her right quad with the syringe to free his left hand for continuous punches targeting her liver. His other hand was far less gracious, desperate even, as it switched from blocking to reaching up and grabbing a tuft of hair to pull.
“You should’ve killed me with him.” Her breath was hot, ragged, and soaked in grief.
“Because I swear to god, I’ll fucking haunt you. I’ll tear you apart one scream at a time if I find out you had anything to do with it.”Her right leg buckled from the injection, numbness spreading through the muscle, but her rage was still burning white-hot. Refusing to fall.
With a guttural snarl, she lunged again. Her hand shot out, wrapping around the hunter’s throat in a vice-like grip. Fingers dug in, nails biting through skin and gear as she slammed him into the nearest wall with brute force. The drywall cracked behind him, dust and paint chips raining down around his shoulders.
Her face was inches from his, breath shuddering, chest heaving.
Her eyes, no longer human, burned a bright, vivid yellow. Wild. Crazed. Violent. They locked onto his behind the mask, daring him to move. Daring him to lie, but he didn't utter a word. He couldn't even if he wanted to, as she choked him.
“Look at me,” she growled, her voice low and trembling with fury.
She squeezed tighter, knuckles white, arm trembling from the effort. Sean gripped her flexed forearm with his left hand as a low growl emanated from beneath his mask.
“Tell me the truth. Right now. Or I swear I’ll rip your fucking spine out through your goddamn mouth.” The words were familiar, the same words she muttered to him that night. The familiar look of pain on her face.
“B- Bear…” He blinked hard to maintain some semblance of focus and awareness through the pain. The fact Sean could get anything out was a good thing—it meant his airway wasn't completely obstructed… yet. Still, he was in a tight spot, his back literally against the wall, pinned by Vex’s grief she kept marinating and contained deep in her barely put-together heart. Vex being tough as nails hadn't been something he told Elodie for the sake of aura points.
“Bear…” He managed to get out again with another hard blink just before he delivered a sharp stomp into her right knee. It might have nearly shattered anyone else's, but all he needed was a slight buckle—a small break in the balance of her stance.
“...ain’t here!” Sean roared. With his grip locked onto her hair and forearm, he slammed her down so he was on top of her. With a gasp, her back slammed against the ground, the air knocking out from her lungs as she attempted to gasp.
“I’m here to help you, Vex!” He began punching at the arm still choking him to loosen her grip.
“Me and you, Vex… but you gotta… get your fucking shit straight!” Her back hit the dirt hard. The air got knocked right out of her, and for a moment, everything went blurry.
Something inside her went quiet. Anger is simmering under the surface.
Vex let Sean throw one more punch, took it as if it were nothing, and then snapped. Her hands shot up, grabbing his arm just before the next swing. She twisted hard, pulling his weight forward. Planting her boot, she rolled.
Her whole body moved fast, low, and aggressively. She grabbed the edge of his jacket, stuck her other foot behind his knee, and threw him.
As his body hit the ground, drywall dust flew everywhere. Before he could catch himself, she was on top of him, straddling his hips, hair falling over her shoulders. Her forearm slammed into his throat, her other fist shaking, ready to hit.
Her face was twisted in pure anger. No words. Just ragged breathing, sharp and wild as she pressed her weight deeply into his throat. Instead of moving for another hit, she reached down, gripping his mask and ripping it off his face.
Rain poured down on her, the smell of rotten wood filling her senses as she stared down at Hollow. Her chest rose and fell rapidly with breaths as she attempted to register what she was looking at.
A human ”You’re a hunter,” she said breathlessly. She released her pressure on his back, still straddling him, staring down at him.
“Warden.” He corrected despite needing to save his words.
Suddenly, her body stumbled. Falling as if drunk, Vex wobbled slightly to the right, attempting to catch her balance.
“Steady…” Sean managed to get out before coughing. He reached for her wrists, pulling her center. Her body followed in submission as her head rolled back slightly. He raised his knees for her to rest her back onto.
“Lean back… Ugh. Fuck this hurts… I should’ve shot you.” He forced the complaint out stubbornly before letting his hands drop with a thud. His head tilted back, leaving his eyes to focus on the cracked and leaking ceiling.
“We can't keep doing this, Vex,” he said weakly, though there was a hint of a grin on his face.
Her arms hung down beside her as her head fell back against his knees, looking up at the broken ceiling, still feeling the rain fall against her face. Her chest continued to rise and fall with deep, shallow breaths.
“He’s not here… she said softly between breaths. Thunder cracked beyond the wood planks of the warehouse as reality began to shift between real and delusion.
“...He’s gone.” Her voice trailed off absently as if attempting to convenience herself.
Her mind slowly started to form itself, her fever breaking slowly as the serum continued to work its way through her bloodstream. Vex sat up straight, reaching for his chest as she steadied herself. Her yellow eyes, dull and fractured.
“You came…” the words once spoken to her by Bear, a haunting memory as she looked down at Sean. She recognized him. Her arms suddenly gave out on her, and her weight collapsed; she collapsed on top of him.
“I did…” He sighed, shutting his eyes from the view of the ceiling.
“One…” Sean said with a breath while dropping his knees. He lay there, t-posed on the apartment floor, thinking about how he might have to take a trip to the Bastion later to get looked at for injuries. Taking a deep breath, as painful as it was, he reopened his eyes. The fighting was done, but the night was far from over.
“One problem solved… Now…” He turned his head towards Elodie, refusing to move under his human-shaped weighted blanket.
“Elodie… First, sorry for… this. Second… are you alright?”
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