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Octavius spun ready to fight, and then gasped in relief at the sight of Turney. “Turney!” Octavius cried, tears forming in his eyes.
“Octavius!” Turney rasped, eyes glistening as well.
They ran—well, limped—towards each other. His poor Turney was coated in blood and gore, and didn’t look to be in any better shape than he was.
As soon as the zombie was close enough, Octavius pulled him into his arms, their lips pressing together. Breaking the kiss, he continued to hold him close, just listening to the beat of his heart. When he’d taken off after Dayan…he’d avoided seeking out everyone’s heartbeat…fearing he wouldn’t find them all there.
“I was so worried,” Turney gasped.
“Never leave my sight again,” Octavius said with a sniffle.
The zombie chuckled. “I feel that is an impossible request.”
Not impossible but improbable, he supposed. “The others?”
“Safe, as far as I know… I was separated from them soon after we left you. But I can hear them all.”
“As long as they are safe…we will find them and get them out,” Octavius said with a sigh of relief. He slipped out of ‘super vamp’ mode. His head was throbbing. Not as bad as it would have been if he hadn’t been training the last few weeks, but still not good.
“It doesn’t matter!” Dayan bellowed, and began to laugh again.
They turned towards him.
“Would you just die already?!” Octavius snapped in irritation.
Turney pulled him closer and started to growl, looking like he was about to shift.
“Don’t worry about him.” Octavius patted him on his uninjured shoulder. “He is done for.”
“Yes, I am. But I still won! I STILL WON!” the Knight cried out joyfully, before pulling something small out of his pocket. Flipping a small clear lid off whatever it was, he revealed a red button.
Octavius eyed the thing looking confused. “What…?”
“Shit!” Turney pulled away, starting towards the Knight.
But it was too late as Dayan had already clicked it. A booming voice rang out as the Knight began to laugh maniacally. The voice was Dayan’s. “It is my end, Octavius. You may think you have won, but you haven’t. You never could. You were never destined to win! This may be my death, but I will not be alone. As even in death, we will be together! In one minute, the house and everyone inside it will be destroyed!”
Octavius’ eyes widened in horror, meeting Turney’s worried gaze as the Knight continued to laugh. His gaze snapping back when the laugh turned into a cough and then silence. There Dayan lay…finally dead. But it was too late…
Why…why did it have to end this way? It wasn’t how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to get out of here…
“Fifty seconds remaining.” Dayan’s voice, even in death, was mocking.
“Fifty seconds remaining.”
Turney flinched as Dayan’s voice boomed out again. He grabbed Octavius’ hand. The vampire’s gaze pulled away from Dayan’s corpse to look at him. His ocean blue eyes were full of sadness. “The ward…” Turney said softly.
Octavius shook his head. “There’s no way to break it in time. Even if Min-ji was free to do it…”
“I heard…so many ticking noises on the way here. I kept checking to make sure everyone was still okay. I took the sound as clocks…” He winced, and he tried to remember how many he had heard. “There has to be one in practically every room.”
The vampire’s shoulders dropped. “There would be no way for us to disable them in time. It’s possible that some are just clocks too…” Octavius placed his other hand on top of his. “I’m so sorry, Turney. This was not how it should have been.” The vampire winced and shifted on his feet.
“Let’s sit?” Turney suggested with a sad smile. “It hurts me to stand too.”
With a few painful winces and grunts, they managed to sit down. Backs against a broken looking bed, Turney leaned into Octavius. The vampire wrapped his arms around him. In his lover’s arms, he couldn’t help but think of fate. Apparently, instead of being so focused on thinking what could be fate, he ignored the realities of it. The fact was, fate could be cruel. He should have known better, considering he had experienced fate’s cruelties again and again.
“We thought we had centuries, but there’s always the afterlife, right?” Turney said with a smile, peering up into Octavius’ eyes.
