Feed the Flames

As Gerard stood up straight, I knew he had made his choice. He nodded to Toby, a sort of resigned tone to his voice. “I’ll take him.”

“What?!” Mason perked up at this, but not in the good way. His eyes widened as he looked at Gerard. “No! No, don’t you dare! You take Celine with you, you fucking bastard!”

“Gerard what the fuck?” Ronan’s voice was displeased, but then again, she looked as if she knew something I didn’t. As if she understood what Gerard was doing.

Donald looked to Toby and then back at Gerard. “Him, really? I don’t think so; I think he’s more submissive to death than anything. What about poor Celine? Or her vagrant friend?” Gerard shook his head.

“I keep my coven strong. Mason is unpredictable and Cell is simply too fragile. They weaken our structural integrity.” With Gerard’s words, I saw Mikey’s mouth drop open as he stood just to Mason’s right, but he stayed silent. Ronan looked nervous, like part of her wanted to make a disgusted noise at Gerard, and the other half wanted to punch Donald.

For just a second, Donald seemed to calm down. His snappy, almost sarcastic demeanor fading, but it soon quickly returned. “Very well.” Slowly, Donald stepped over to Toby, kneeling down to begin unlocking the chains from around his ankles, and one by one, I heard the chains settle to the ground. He moved onto his hands next, and again, the padlocks were unlocked and the chains fell to the ground. The locks gave off a bright blue glimmer when they fell to the floor. They had been charmed, probably to cancel out anything supernatural, explaining why Donald couldn’t just unlock them with his telekinesis.

When Donald moved to the lock that held together the chains crossing Toby’s chest, Toby jerked forward hard, slamming his forehead into the bridge of Donald’s nose. There was an audible crack, which in turn caused Donald to cry out loudly as he stumbled backwards into Gerard, who pulled his father’s arms behind his back before forcing him to the ground. In the moment he head-butted Donald, Toby had simultaneously wrenched the keys from Donald’s hand. As I looked over, Toby had already unlocked the last lock and was standing up. It took him mere seconds to begin unlocking Mason’s restraints.

“Hurry up!” Gerard growled, still holding his father’s arms twisted up behind his own back, a knee in Donald’s spine. “I can’t hold him for long, he’s gonna come back around!”

“Give me the key!” Ronan was in front of me quickly, and just as Toby finished unlocking Mason’s restraints, he reached over to hand the key to Ronan, but the exchange was interrupted. There was a cry from Gerard as his father mustered the strength to knock his son off his back and grab Ronan’s leg. Ronan was pitched forward, her head striking the arm of Toby’s chair.

“You fuck!” Gerard reached forward to grab at Donald, but he was already to his feet, one foot planted firmly on Ronan’s calf, keeping her from standing. Donald flung a hand at Gerard, and he flew back hard against the steps. Toby sprang into action, jumping over Ronan and heading towards the metal rods and bags of cement mix. “Let her go!” Gerard screamed at the top of his lungs, and Donald flung his other hand at Toby, causing the man to cry out as he was thrown head-over-heels into the tall metal rods, which clattered to the floor, rolling in multiple directions.

“You’re all just savages! Christ, my own sons turning against me!” Donald’s voice started out angry, but turned almost sadistic as he began laughing through his words. “I must say, I did not think you had it in you, Gerard. Do a whore and a vagrant really mean that much to you?”

“I’m not a fucking vagrant!” Mason screamed, and seemed to try and stand up straight as he stepped away from Mikey, closer to Donald. “You think you’re so goddamn high-and-mighty, so goddamn royal just because you’re a normal, but you’re not!” Using Mason’s words as a distraction, Gerard began trying to stand, only for Donald to fling his hand towards his son again, pinning him to the wall. I wanted nothing more than to be released from my restraints, but then again, I wasn’t sure if I wanted a part in what was happening.

“You are a fucking vagrant!” Blood ran down Donald’s face from his shattered nose, and his voice was rendered rather nasally from the blow. “A fucking parasite on the world! That’s all you rogues are and all you ever will be! Fucking weak mistakes!” He twisted his foot on Ronan’s ankle and she groaned in pain, curling up at my feet, her hands clawing at Donald’s foot.

“Just let us go!” Mikey screamed again, standing in front of the chair Mason had been sitting in. “Dammit, why do all of this? Why fucking…experiment on rogues?! Why?!” Mikey’s voice was now equal pars concern and confusion. Mason began stepping around Donald, and as he stood in front of Donald, I could no longer see him because Donald was in front of me.

“Because their weaknesses are more hidden than ours and experimentation is the only way to uncover those flaws. Finding out just how much blood they can lose, finding out what substances have a negative effect on them, finding out all the things that make them tick; it’s all crucial in their extinction!” Donald’s voice was no longer sarcastic or snappy, but solely hateful. “If you had of stayed and learned from me you would be in a higher position than you both are now!”

“How can you talk about this like it’s mandatory?! Like it’s all a good thing?!” Mikey’s voice went up a few octaves with his desperation, and Mason moved a few more steps around Donald, closer to the metal rods.

Mason was back in my line of sight, just in time for me to see the grin that spread across his face. “You are just some sick old man, Way.” His voice was malicious and almost as if he was savoring each word he said. “It’s a goddamn wonder your sons are as decent as they are.”

Donald laughed again, and finally stepped off of Ronan’s leg, a hiss of relief sounding from her as Donald turned fully towards Mason. “Just some sick old man, huh? I expected a more…colorful expression from such a vibrant young vagrant. How old are you, son? Twenty eight on the outside, but…over two-thousand on the inside, am I right?”

With a lopsided grin, Mason nodded. “Grew up on The Seine, I’ve grown old with Paris. Been a rogue for fifteen-hundred years.” Donald turned slightly to the side as to better face Mason.

“Then am I not right in saying that without hunters to push you, you wouldn’t be the rotten soul you are today, hm? Am I not right in saying that us hunters…we’re mandatory in this whole screwed up food chain?” Donald clasped his hands together in front of him, and Mason scoffed, shaking his head.

“The only thing you do is drive rogues like us to hate normals. I’ve had my fair share of run-ins with your kind, and every single time it’s done nothing but made me hate you even more.” Mason took a step back, and Donald took a step forward, his right side now facing me fully, no longing blocking my view of his face, which was screwed up into a mad grin.

“Without us, your kind would’ve overrun the world. We are the exterminators of the vampire world. While you go around killing normals, being nothing more than murderers, we’re forced to go around killing you in an attempt to stop the slaughter of our kind.” Donald’s voice was a growl, his expression that twisted smirk, his body tensed in anger as he finally put down his hand that was keeping an energy holding Gerard to the wall. Toby was finally coming around, sitting up in the pile of metal poles, seemingly unharmed.

“Slaughter? I prefer the term culling.” Mason’s tone was dripping with mocking venom. Gerard was no longer being held, and began to get up off the floor, and Donald seemed to finally snap.

“We don’t need culling, you shit! We only want to live among humans without complications!” As Donald began to scream and I noticed Mason make a very subtle gesture with his hand at Toby. “You rogues and your messy ways make that near impossible!” Donald got in Mason’s face then, ignoring Gerard as he walked up swiftly to the two men. “You are the scum of our species! You are nothing more than the bottom feeders, the shrimp of our race!”

“Shut up!” Gerard told his father quickly but Donald was having none of it.

“All you ever do is kill and kill and kill and it never ends!”

“Stop!” Mikey yelled, attempting to get his father to shut up as well. But I could see it. I could see what Mason was doing. “Dammit, this is pointless!” Mikey yelled, annoyance in his tone.

Donald however was not so sure if it was pointless. He had a point and he wanted to get to it. “When will the bodies be enough? When will you be satisfied with the carnage you’ve wrought?!” Just as Donald finished his sentence, Toby had snuck one of the long, rusted metal rods into Mason’s hand.

There was a scream from Mikey. “Mason no!” But it came too late. In one swift movement, Mason moved the rod so that he was holding the shorter end, and thrust the rod upward into Donald. Gerard was frozen, Mikey was unmoving, and Toby was smiling as the expression on Donald’s face slowly melted away. Mason gave the rod another shove, and Donald was dead immediately as the rod protruded out the back of his shoulder blade, having gone through his heart.

“The bodies will never be enough.” Mason growled, that grin dissipating from his face as he let go of the rod, allowing Donald’s body to fall forward. The older man’s body slumped against the rod, but it didn’t allow him to lie on the floor. As soon as he died, I could feel the blood of everyone in the room once more. Now that Donald was dead, nothing was blocking anyone’s abilities.

Mason looked over to Gerard, and the entire room was silent. Gerard stared at his father, his face emotionless as he walked over and took hold of the rod. He planted a foot on his father’s spine and shoved the man’s body to the ground before drawing the rod out from him. As Gerard turned to Mason, dread spread through me. The two of them locked eyes, and everything was still. Just when I thought Gerard was about to run Mason through, his knuckles white against the rusted metal, he tossed the rod aside, and finally broke eye contact as he turned and walked over to Ronan, who was only just now sitting up against Toby’s chair.

“Mikey, get Ray up, we’re fucking leaving.” Gerard’s tone was emotionless as he kneeled next to Ronan. I looked to Mason, who was already snatching the keys up off the floor from where Ronan had dropped them, and came over to me, seeming even weaker now as he fell at my knees, taking his time to unlock the padlocks on my ankles and wrists.

‘We’re getting out of this hell.’ I heard Mason’s voice echo through my head, and his words brought me a strong sense of comfort. Behind him, I saw Toby walking across the room to where Rhys was lying on the metal table. As Mason unlocked the chains around my torso, they fell off of me. Mason smiled feebly as the chains fell, and looked up at me with tired eyes. “If I never see a basement again it’ll be too soon.” His words were lighthearted, but as I stood I had to help him to his feet. He had used all his energy to confront Donald.

As Gerard helped Ronan to her feet, Mikey spoke up, ignoring that Ray was still unconscious. “Gerard what the fuck?” Mikey stalked over to Gerard, his voice condemning. “Gerard, are you just going to let him get away with this? He just fucking killed our father!” From his expression alone I knew that Mikey was not taking the situation well.

“Mikey,” Gerard turned sharply to his younger brother. “Shut the fuck up and go fucking wake Ray up. We’re fucking leaving.” At these words, Mikey scrunched his face up in anger and turned, storming over to Ray. Turning to Mason then, Gerard calmed down measurably. “Do you think you have the energy to teleport us to our hotel?”

As I pictured the location of our hotel, I knew Mason could see it as well, and he nodded shortly. “Yeah, but I’m gonna need to get some blood in me after I do.”

“You don’t look up to this, are you sure?” Ronan was the apprehensive one now, looking at Mason with furrowed brows.

“I’ve been a rogue for a long time; I’ve learned how to calm my body down to survive a bit longer without blood. I’ve got this.” His words were confident, though he sounded as if he was about to kill over. “C’mon, let’s go before my body changes its mind.” He stepped over to Gerard, and tapped Gerard, causing him to disappear. He then tapped Ronan, and she disappeared as well.

‘Is Toby alright?’ I questioned in my thoughts. It was nice to be able to speak with Mason again without actually speaking.

Mason let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “Probably not.” Mason walked over to Toby and I followed.

Before Mason could even speak, Toby spoke up, taking the IVs out of Rhys’ arm. “Don’t take me yet. Get those two.” Mason didn’t protest, but walked around the overturned metal table, stepping through tools as he got to Mikey and Ray.

I shortly turned my attention to Toby. He was an okay guy, I’d gathered, and it didn’t feel right seeing him so broken up. “You okay?” I asked softly, seeing Mason tap Ray with his foot, his body disappearing as he teleported.

Toby shook his head sadly in response to my question. “If Mason was on this table would you be okay?” It wasn’t a question I had to think about as I shook my head.

“You fucking son of a bitch, I’ll-” At Mikey’s enraged voice I looked over just to see him throw a punch at Mason, but just before the blow connected Mason grabbed Mikey’s shirt and teleported him. He was gone just like that, his anger gone with him.

“Jesus, that guy was a sadistic fuck.” Toby ignored Mikey’s outburst, his eyes still on Rhys. His movement slow, he ran a hand through her long blonde hair, shaking his head. “The fucking monster…”

Mason walked back up to us, and noted the air around Toby. How it was tainted with a deep sadness. “Come with us, alright? You can stay with me for a few days at the school until you figure out what you want to do next.” At this, the corners of Toby’s mouth pull down into a frown as he shook his head.

“What kind of fucking person does this to a woman?” He seethed, and Mason put a gentle hand on Toby’s shoulder, but didn’t teleport him.

“Say your goodbyes, Toby. We need to go.” At that, Mason’s hand fell from Toby’s shoulder, and he nodded shortly. Toby didn’t waste a moment before he leaned down, pressing a kiss to Rhys’ pale forehead. He whispered something against her skin, and then stood back up, looking at Mason.

“Do it.” Nothing else needed to be said, and with a tap on the arm Toby was gone just like the rest.

The entire room was silent, and even though my eyes were on Rhys’ face, I felt Mason’s hands on my arms. “Are you alright?” His voice was soft, and after tearing my eyes away from the dead woman, I nodded. Mason seemed to be purposely avoiding looking at Rhys as he smiled at me, resting a hand on my face. “I’ll be at the hotel in a little while, alright? I have to go feed before I start purging.” I didn’t have the moment to respond before Mason pressed his lips against mine in a short kiss, and just as I closed my eyes the feeling of his lips disappeared, and when I opened my eyes I was standing on the balcony of my hotel room.
______

Everyone was at the hotel. It was decided that Toby and Mason would stay with Ronan and I while Mikey would stay in the room with Gerard and Ray. Mikey couldn’t be in the same room with Mason. That was proven when Mikey knocked on our door twice in an hour, wondering if Mason was back yet. He wasn’t, however. Toby was asleep on the couch, Ronan was in her bed, and I was sitting on my bed, reading the last, long chapter of Asunder. I hadn’t heard anything from Mason, not even in my thoughts. I figured he had gotten far too weak and was currently completely distracted by his food.

My eyes moved over the words on the page I read them, but my mind was far too distracted to piece together the sentences they constructed. Rhys was what was distracting me, in fact.

First seeing Rhys dead on that table, and then seeing Mason kill Donald like it was nothing… These things had racked my thoughts and my mind. They’ve made me realize that nothing can last forever. No matter if you think you’re fucking invincible…you’re not. Things are brought into this world with ease, and they are taken from this world with ease. If it begins, it has an end. Everything has an end.

Tap-tap-tap. At the noise my attention was pulled to the French doors that led out to the balcony, and standing on the other side of the glass, was Mason, a smile on his face. Standing up quickly, I left my book on the bed as I tip-toed past Ronan’s bed and over to the doors. I opened one and stepped out, letting Mason’s arms immediately envelope me in a hug.

“God, you don’t know how great it is to be out of that goddamn basement.” His words were quiet in my ear, and I smiled against his neck. The feeling of being back in his arms…there was nothing to compare it to. What can you possibly compare to the feeling of absolute love?

‘Let’s not let that happen again, alright?’ I questioned mentally, and Mason chuckled softly.

“At least it didn’t happen during the fun bits.” His lips twisted into a smirk, and I couldn’t help but shake my head with a smile. Mason pulled away just enough to bring my face to his for a kiss. His hands moved to my sides and I felt him pick me up before sitting me on the balcony’s railing, and then his arms wrapped securely back around my torso. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?” He spoke the words as soon as he pulled away from my lips. They were concerned, but I shook my head.

“Nothing.” I whispered, but he knew better.

“C’mon, don’t lie to me now. What is it?” He had a direct line into my mind, and I knew he was already aware of what was wrong, but I also knew he attempted to respect my privacy. Asking me a question to which he already had the answer was his way of attempting to show that.

Bringing my hands up to his face, I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to think about someone driving a metal rod through his heart one day, but… ‘We’re not as permanent as we’d like to believe.’ As soon as the thought flitted through my mind, there was a frown on Mason’s face.

“Yes we are. Don’t say that.” Keeping his hands locked together behind my back, Mason leaned back a bit more as if to see my face better. “Is this about Donald?”

‘Partly. And Rhys. They were killed with…little to no effort. We’re not invincible.’ My words made his frown disappear, and he simply sighed.

“Thinking like that you aren’t, no. Nothing can hurt us, Celine, and we have the rest of time to show that.” His words meant nothing but good things, but I still couldn’t help but feel they weren’t true.

‘We don’t have forever. We don’t have the rest of time. Our time on this earth is finite, and no matter if we live a hundred years or a million, eventually something will kill us. We don’t have perpetuity.’

“I have to disagree with you there. No matter when you think the end is coming, there will always be an escape from it, and if I’m there, we’ll make that escape just fine.” His statement was accompanied by a small smile.

‘How close were you today? How close were you to death, really?’ For a moment, I could tell Mason thought about lying, but he seemed to side against it in the end.

“Truthfully, within a couple hours my body would’ve begun purging, and with no one there caring enough to help, I probably would be dead right now.” This was distressing to me, but he knew that as he smiled a bit wider as if it was time for him to make a point. “But that’s exactly what I’m talking about. So far I haven’t been faced with a deadly situation in which I didn’t find an escape.” For a moment, I didn’t care about his words as I stared into his mismatched eyes. There was something about him hidden in those orbs. Something new that I hadn’t seen before. Something innocent and scared, and almost childlike. The smile slowly fell from Mason’s face then as he read through my thoughts. “I can hear you, you know.” I knew.

‘Being in that house alone, afraid, and rendered absolutely helpless shook something loose in you. I can feel it.’ I could. I could hear it in his voice, see it in his eyes…feel it in the way he kissed me, as if he wasn’t sure of our infinity himself.

He stopped speaking and moved into my thoughts. ‘You don’t want to hear about that.’ Mason stared off over my shoulder at Italy below us. We were high enough that you could see quite a bit of the city. But I wasn’t concerned with the city stretching out below us, I was concerned with him.

I put a hand on his cheek, and moved his face back to look at mine. “Yes I do.” I whispered, and he sighed again, but kept his arms around me.

‘The butler was the man who was…doing whatever he was, to Rhys. The torturer, whatever you want to call him. He…he picked my brain, forced his way through my head painfully slow, picking out all these little details. The locations of other rogues, mostly. That’s why Toby and Rhys were there. The butler found their location, and Mr. Way went and got them.’ Mason furrowed his brows then, and for a second I thought about just telling him to stop, that I didn’t need to hear it but…I did need to. ‘In every life or death situation I’ve been in, I’ve gotten out with relative ease, but…I couldn’t do anything. Weak from an absence of blood, powerless and tired…I was helpless.’ Mason leaned forward then, resting his forehead against mine, closing his eyes. 'If I am ever brought to that point again, I fear it is death. I never want to feel so helpless ever again. I will outrun death in the end. I must.’

Slowly I put my arms around his neck, closing my eyes as well. I hated hearing him confirm my thoughts. Being afraid to die wasn’t exactly uncommon. It was probably the most human thing about Mason at this point. With that thought, there was a soft scoff from Mason. “Perhaps I have retained some humanity, then.” The dark mood was beginning to lift as I smiled.

‘We will outrun death for as long as we can. I can’t guarantee we’ll have the next million years to show one another we love each other, but I can guarantee we’ll have the next moment at least.’Opening my eyes, I brought my hand up to Mason’s face, letting my thumb graze softly over the lower half of the scar over his right eye. The contact caused him to open his eyes, and I smiled at him, knowing for once that no matter if I fully understood it or not, I cared for him. Whether we had one year or a million left, I wanted to spend those years with Mason.

The words were like velvet rolling off my tongue. Spoken so freely, so casually, I felt like they were the only words I had ever spoken that had held any true meaning. “I love you.”

Never had I heard the words spoken with such care. “I love you too.” I had never heard such adoration seeping through their letters as they drifted from lips to ears through the chilly night air. “I will continue to love you for as long as my heart remains in my chest, and even still after that.” I knew I would never hear those words from another set of lips and take them to heart as I did his words.

No one else will matter as much as he matters to me.

Notes