Branded (27 page)

***

“What’s happening?” José whispered, his question directed at Asher. Ruigi and Ketsu had both fallen quiet and he didn’t like not being able to tell what was going on.

“Think Fox-Face is mind-raping the bloodsucker.”

“Think he’s gonna kill him?”

“Sure hope so.”

***

Ketsu took in a sharp breath at the images that flooded from Ruigi’s mind into his. Starting from their childhood, spent strolling through the woods and searching for adventure, to adolescent days of learning what the world was all about. Ketsu saw himself as the shining light in a world that had been painted black by the death of Ruigi’s parents, the discrimination he suffered afterward and the certain knowledge that his existence was an unforgivable mistake.

Ketsu had been a friend in rough times. Someone to rely on, who didn’t care that Ruigi’s parents hadn’t kept to the rules. Ketsu growled. Ancient history.

Nothing connected him to the person in Ruigi’s memories. Yet somehow, Ruigi seemed to believe they were the same. Ridiculous. He wasn’t that weakling anymore. That kid who hadn’t been able to do anything more than watch as his brothers ruthlessly killed the love of his life. He was so much stronger now. He’d held powers his brother’s had never even dreamed of. He’d come so close to stopping all the discrimination. All those people who had hurt Ruigi, who had killed Laika and their unborn child. So close…! He let his rage control his actions once more, digging deeper into Ruigi’s conscience, searching frantically for the reason behind his betrayal.

Carelessly he tore through memories of a friendship long past, shredded images of shared joy and sorrow until he had Ruigi gasping under his hand.
Fucking liar.
Still, Ruigi had not made a single attempt to block him out. And he couldn’t find one malicious thought directed at himself. He knew now that Ruigi had plotted all this for a long time, carefully scheming behind his back, but still—

“Why?” he said out loud, impatient in his frustration. He probed Ruigi’s mind again from a different angle, but it only supplied him with the same dissatisfying answer he’d been getting all the time. He let up slightly when he sensed that Ruigi wanted to say something. Generously he allowed him two seconds to catch his breath. “Speak.”

“To protect you.”

“Nonsense.” Yet, he could find nothing but truth in the statement.

“This project would have killed you.”

“So what? I could have changed—”

“Fuck the world.” Ruigi’s tone turned spiteful, every world filled with contempt. “You really don’t get it. I…” He stopped himself and shook his head, closed his eyes. His feelings streamed freely from his conscience into Ketsu’s. And Ketsu began to understand.

***

“Aw man,” Asher said. “He’s jumped off him.”

José stood in front of him, so Asher couldn’t see his expression, but he seemed to tense. Understandable. They were next in line, after all.

The fox brushed himself off and made a few small steps away from the bloodsucker, an unreadable expression on his face, though his aura still betrayed his anger. He murmured something that sounded a lot like: “I could have done without the pornography.”

But maybe that was Asher hearing what he wanted to hear. Why would the Fox be talking about pornography at a time like this?

“Did you just hear that, too?” Asher directed the question at José, who didn’t bother replying. Oh well. He looked back at the fox and felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as the gaze was returned. Fox-Face hadn’t forgotten about them.

Asher swallowed. Then the earth swallowed, too. Rising up beneath him and falling back down in one swift but enormous tremor that shook the building and its inhabitants. Asher held his hands over his ears against the noise and looked skyward, through the transparent ceiling at something that wasn’t shaking.

Heaven came down.

With a deafening sound, the glass ceiling shattered, raining splinters everywhere. What came crashing down wasn’t heaven at all. The blue radiating light belonged to the tower Asher had seen earlier. Part of which had cracked with the recent tremor. The ruins now plummeted to the ground a few feet in front of him, covering it in heavy shards of glass, stones and rubble. Dust rose up and blocked Asher’s sight. He could just vaguely make out José’s shape in front of him.

“Ketsu?” he heard Fangs call out.

Asher held his breath. No sound.
Ten, nine, eight-

“Ketsu!”
Five, four, three-
“Oh, c’mon!”

Zero.
Asher allowed himself to exhale. The fox had been buried.

Chapter 28 - Last Order

As the tower came crashing down on him, Ketsu did the smartest thing he could do to preserve himself, which was to shrink in body size. He transformed into his fox-form, something he hadn’t done in years. Just in time, too, as a rock hit him over the head and the lights went out.

When he opened his eyes again, he wasn’t sure whether he had blacked out. He checked himself over. Pounding head, searing pain from his right hind leg. Something was lying on it. No space to move anywhere, even if he could have freed his leg. He couldn’t see anything, but a warm liquid was dripping into his eye. Blood, maybe. A plausible explanation for the headache.

He closed his eyes again, gritting his teeth. He would kill every last person responsible for bringing those stones down on him. The elf, the dragon, and that traitorous excuse of a vampire-shapeshifter mix-up that dared call himself his friend. That dared confess his undying love to him. And mean it. That fool.

Even if Ketsu had been so inclined, there was no time for petty romances in his life. He had a world to change. Except now, he didn’t. He was buried in the ruins of his plan. And whose fault was that?

He wrinkled his nose as the smell of blood invaded his nostrils. His own blood. Starting to feel light-headed, he pawed at the stones in front of him, but it was no use.

A small growl escaped him as he heard Rui’s voice calling out for him.

Dig me out of here and I’ll show you all how grateful I am.

***

“Ketsu!” Ruigi tried again, after his vision had cleared and he’d rushed toward the ruins of the tower. Ketsu must be buried. Just buried. Not dead. He couldn’t be. Not after everything.

Ruigi’s hands were shaking as he grabbed a couple of stones and threw them aside. He had to free Ketsu, before—

He stopped himself from finishing that thought. Just dig, he told himself. After all, this was his fault. That the stupid building was collapsing. That Ketsu had stopped here in the first place. It shouldn’t have happened like this. It shouldn’t—

Something stung his hands. Instinctively, he drew back.
What the—

The stones had caught on fire. Why would they do that? How...

Ruigi whirled around and narrowed his eyes on the fire elf. He opened his mouth, but found no words strong enough to express his rage. Instead, he raised his hand and used his magic to slam the meddling bastard against the wall. His gaze darted back to the stones behind him. The flames hadn’t stopped.

Ruigi focused back on the fool, the insect, that was stopping him from getting to his friend. It was scrambling to its feet now, a look of contained pain on its face. Along with a look of determination that did nothing to lower Ruigi’s adrenaline level. His mind on Ketsu, Ruigi attacked again, putting more force into it.
Die, die die!

The elf took a second longer to get up this time, but there was no change in his resolve. This one wouldn’t go down easy. For a while, the elf would ignore all pain Ruigi could inflict on him. Ruigi didn’t have time for this.

“The antidote,” the elf said.

What was he talking about? Ruigi didn’t need an antidote; he needed to free Ketsu.

“Give me the antidote and I’ll stop, and you can dig up your boss.”

The realization struck like lightning.
That
antidote. The one he’d wanted to pass on
outside
. Digging through his pockets, Ruigi glanced at the dragon he’d poisoned. Stupid kid. Ruigi didn’t care whether he lived or died, but if helping him would help Ketsu... Ruigi’s fingers closed around a small bottle of pills.

“You’ll stop?” He looked back at the elf. “You stop or I’ll kill you both.”

“I’ll stop.”

Ruigi threw the bottle at the elf and, without watching it land, turned around to the pile of rubble. The flames vanished. Ruigi dug back in.

***

The bottle clunked to the floor a few feet in front of José’s feet without breaking. It rolled toward him and he picked it up, closing his fist around the cool glass as if it was a small treasure trove. He’d gotten the antidote! But it was still too early to rejoice. They had to get out. He walked over to where Asher was sitting and knelt down beside him.

“Take it.” He held the bottle out to him. It was grabbed out of his hand.

“You really did it…”

A smile tugged on José’s lips in spite of the circumstances. “Told you I would get you out of here. I don’t break my promises. Now, we have to run. Can you get up?” He grabbed Asher’s arm to support him without waiting for a reply. With the constant death threat hanging over their heads, he was getting just a tiny bit impatient.

“Just a second.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have that.” José listened to the bloodsucker sending stones flying. He might find the fox alive or not; José didn’t want to take his chances. He stood, pulling Asher up with him.

Once Asher stood on his feet without falling over, José made a step forward. Not a second too soon.

“Ketsu!” he heard the bloodsucker’s voice call out over the noise.

José swallowed, waiting for any sort of reply. The growl he heard was so low he wouldn’t have picked it up if it hadn’t been for his heightened hearing, but it still made his blood run cold. The fox might not be in top condition, but he wasn’t dead. He was alive and pissed off.

***

Even as José dragged him along, Asher couldn't take his eyes off the scene behind them, which made walking yet a little more difficult. The antidote was working, though. It made his skin crawl, but he didn't feel as unbalanced as before. The adrenaline probably helped. As he watched, Ruigi dug up not Fox-Face, but an actual fox. The animal began to stir on the ground, swishing dust with one of his tails. It might have looked cute if it hadn’t been flashing its teeth.

“We have to go faster.” José tugged on his arm. Asher ripped his eyes away from the fox and looked ahead. The shaking of the ground wasn’t quieting down. At this rate they were either going to end up as fox food or stone mash.

“You just can't give up, can you?” Asher lowered his gaze to the floor, focusing on the movement of his feet as José upped the pace. Damn the blind man for being steadier than him.

“I’m a stubborn bastard. Get used to it.”

A terrifying growl cut through their conversation, making the hair on the back of Asher’s neck rise. He went faster. Given the choice, he’d pick getting smashed to death by the ceiling over having another one on one with Fox-Face any day.

“Any chance you can run?” José’s tone indicated the only valid reply was yes. Without waiting for Asher to respond, José broke into a sprint. Asher felt his own body fall forward, almost meeting up with the ground before he caught himself and followed José.

“Tell me if there's anything in the way,” José said.

Asher swept their surroundings in one glance. They were heading into another hallway. A staircase went up at the very end, still a ways off. Behind them, footsteps closed up. Asher risked one glance over his shoulder. The fox was dragging one of his legs, but it didn’t seem to slow him down.

“Ketsu!” the bloodsucker shouted over the rumble of more falling stones. The fox didn't break his stride. Someone else who didn't know how to take it easy.

Asher turned his gaze back to the hallway ahead just as a wall of green flames sprang up a few feet in front of them.

“Stop!” he pulled on José's arm as he skidded to a halt, almost making the other man fall flat on his face.

“What?”

“There's flames! You didn't feel that?”

“Flames?”

“Green flames. They’re not the pretty kind but—”

“There's no getting through that,” the fox's voice cut in. He stood a short distance away, transformed back into his human form, glaring at them. A small trail of blood trickled down from his forehead over his brow. He looked like he’d walked right out of a Halloween party. After killing every other party guest.

There was a slight sway in his stance as he took a step toward them. The snarl on his face however said that he'd sooner keel over and die than dispel the barrier. Behind him, the bloodsucker was closing up.

“Just let them go,” Fangs said “We have to get out, too.”

“Never.” The icy tone of the fox’s voice made even the vampire fall silent.