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“Enough!” the bastard snapped, prowling forward. “It is time you finally realized we were meant to be together!”
Octavius moved himself away but into the room, making sure to keep his distance from the Knight. Their steps mimicked each other now. Dayan going forward, as he moved back. Octavius’ heartbeat sped up as he prepared for an attack at any time.
“Meant to be together…where? In torture? In pain? Where exactly are we meant to be, Dayan? As it is for certain that we were never meant to be in anything close to love!”
As Dayan continued to move, Octavius found himself back near the bed when the Knight finally stopped trying to approach. His hand wrapped around the closest column of the bed.
“But that is EXACTLY what we are to each other! Lovers! Soulmates! From the beginning, I knew the moment I saw you that it was destined to be. You were the one who foolishly tried to go against fate! If you had just listened, you’d be a Knight with me, instead of a vampire!”
He snorted. “Yeah, no. I think I prefer being undead over being part of a group of homicidal bigots, thank you.”
Dayan growled. “You’re so stubborn. But you know the truth. You know we were meant to be. That us coming together was meant to happen! You were my true purpose. I thought when I joined the Knights all those years ago, I had found my calling. That it had been God speaking to me, telling me to avenge man, to protect man, from all the monstrosities that hid among us. But as the years passed by, things changed. So much changed around me. That purpose from God became unclear and unsatisfying. I began to wonder what my true purpose was again, and thoughts of trying to leave that life grew. When I was in utter despair, that’s when it happened. God showed me that I was wrong. I was not meant to be a drone that forever chased creatures, I was meant to thrive! Before my very eyes, he delivered my reward for years and years of seeking retribution against those he deemed unworthy. That reward was you! How surprised I was that you refused to see reality!”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP!” Octavius roared. “Reward?! I am no one’s reward! I am an individual, with emotions and rights to my own bodily freedoms! You want to know what really happened, Dayan?! It wasn’t God rewarding you! You didn’t do anything worthy of anything. You decided to hate all those that were different. You joined a group of psychopaths, got bored, and then saw a pretty face and decided your new purpose was to serve your own demented selfish needs. You stalked, kidnapped, murdered, and raped me! You don’t get to blame me for your actions! You don’t get to claim that I was the difficult one. You are my fucking rapist. My personal nightmare for fucking centuries. I despise you with every fiber of my being, and I will, with that same being, make sure you don’t leave this place alive!” Hissing loudly, he snapped the wooden column of the bed in half, and attacked.
Dayan met his attack, grunting in pain as he blocked the piece of wood with his arm. “You’ve always had such a temper… In the future, I’ll train that out of you!” the Knight growled.
Octavius jumped back in time to avoid being stabbed by the knife the bastard had materialized. “The only thing in your future is death!”
Turney pounded on the glass separating him and the others. Not even his full strength put a single crack into the surface. He fell to his knees, the dome continuing to lower. All he could do was scream Scarlett’s name as she stared up at him grimly.
His breathing moved from fast to erratic. His anger and fear surging, Turney felt his control over his own mind beginning to collapse. Thoughts of giving in began to swirl in his mind. How easy it would be to give in to the anger. It would be so easy to just let go, to let his zombie side—that was already so close to the surface—take over.
“Scarlett!” Turney cried out one last time as a panel in the floor slid into place, blocking her from his view, and leaving him completely alone.
He clawed at the floor, trying to pry the tiles up. His nails left gouges behind, but made no progress beyond that.
Hands shaking, Turney fell back on his ass, clasping at his head as the chaos grew inside. The control he had began to slip away further, sweat forming on his brow as his body stiffened—muscles jerking and bones popping. For a moment his vision swayed to darkness, his thoughts blanking.
“No…NO!” he screamed. He shoved back against the unwilling change, and pulled away from the welcoming hands of nothingness. He couldn’t do this now. He couldn’t! He didn’t have time! Gasping, Turney jerked away from the edge, choking his anger and emotions down. His body loosening up again as he gained back some of his control.
Body trembling, he wiped the sweat from his brow, while his pulse continued to speed along. Scarlett and the others would be okay. They were strong…they would be fine. Even as Turney tried to convince himself, his mind went back to their conversation about Dayan. That he wanted to leave Octavius with nothing…
“No!” he cried out again, as panic started to force him to change once more. Shaking, he took a deep breath, and then another… He kept breathing, trying to banish all thoughts from his head until his mind was finally calm.
Feeling more centered, he closed his eyes and listened. At first, he heard a rather large number of clocks ticking away…then he heard it—a sluggish heartbeat.
Octavius’ heart was all the way up above, and another one was there with him—Dayan. Listening further, he found five heartbeats below him. Everyone was fine… They were all fine.
“Octavius… I have to find Octavius. The others…will be fine,” he told himself, trying with everything in him to believe the words he’d said. Slowly, Turney pushed up from the ground. On shaky legs, he headed towards the door on the other side.
Carefully, he opened the door and peeked out. At the sight of a metal wall to the right, he cursed. “Well, that answers that question.”
Turney stood there for a second, thinking over his options. Dayan likely blocked all paths to the main stairway. The stairs Octavius had used were likely the only set you could take, not only to each floor, but all the way to the top too. The rest only connected to a maximum of two of the floors. It meant each time he reached the next story, he’d have to find the stairs for the level above.
He frowned, there would likely be traps…but that wouldn’t stop him, so he supposed it didn’t matter.
Turney opened his senses, hoping to give himself a warning of any danger. Listening intently, he entered the hallway.
CLICK!
He jumped forward without hesitation at the sound. “Fuck!” Turney hiss at the burst of pain as something slammed into his right leg as he fell. He glared down at the spear sticking out of his right calf, and the multiple that were now imbedded in the stretch of wall behind him. Of course, if he had jumped a few inches further, it would have missed him completely. He rolled his eyes.
Taking a deep breath, he clenched his teeth and reached down. Grabbing onto one end of the spear, he snapped it off. With a quick jerk, he tugged the spear out. Hissing at the pain, he stood and limped quickly down the hallway, doing his best to ignore the throb in his leg. The pain definitely wasn’t as bad as it would be if he were human, but it was still there.
He didn’t end up finding any more traps, and reached the other set of stairs quickly. Hearing nothing out of sorts, Turney slowly made his way up.
The stairs, like the ones they had taken up to this floor, were wide and carpeted. There was no doorway. At the top of the stairs, he could see clearly down the hallway until it veered off to the right.
