Ludo – The Horror of Our Love

I could still taste Jevin, the cold death his presence always left on me, when he called me back to his room, luckily it was just for a target, not something more intimate. I left immediately, wanting nothing more than to get out of the house and into the bitter winter air, hoping it would numb the feeling of him from my skin, hoping the cold could blend into the memory of his skin against mine until it just seemed like winter, not something worse.

I packed a quick bag of weapons, throwing daggers as well as some larger knives and a lightweight crossbow in, and finally clothes, silently hoping my target would take more than one night, and was gone within minutes.

I pulled my coat up against the cold, nestling my head back into its hood. I was maybe eight blocks away from the house when I felt their presence. My Shift arched in my mind, stretching, preparing for a fight, giving me a warning. A moment later I felt a disturbance in the air. I dropped to the ground as a dart flew over my head and stuck into a garbage can just a few feet from me. One look told me it wouldn't have been deadly, no poison and not large enough to cause any mortal wounds; so this was a capture, not a kill. Their mistake.

I rolled to the side, spinning back toward my attacker as I stood. It was a woman in a dark ensemble, clearly my kind, I could tell from her presence though she wasn't Shifted. I also knew she was weak, a diluted bloodline that was no match for mine. My Shift ripped from me as I sensed two more Darklings, then three, then four.

This wasn't just an attack, this was an ambush. I sent my full Gift to their thoughts, something I hadn't done in weeks. Feeling others' minds just reminded me that my own was broken, numbed to the point of no longer being a mind, not with my own thoughts at least, my own desires. Feeling others just reminded me of the emotions I had given up so much to forget. In the past weeks I usually only looked into people's pasts, their memories, to determine their guilt and ease my conscious about my orders to kill them. In this rare case though, I needed my Gift in the present tense. I needed it to give me the upper hand, an advantage to the five Darklings, the Clan, that was quickly converging on me.

I hadn't needed my Gift like this on any of my kills before. They had never been that challenging. Murdering someone unsuspecting was almost so easy it wasn't even fun, which had been my entire plan. I didn't want to enjoy it. But now the tables were turned and I was the one caught off guard.I felt a small burst of defiance, of pride, something usually so dulled I couldn't even remember what it felt like. I refused to die like so many of my targets had, taken by surprise, beaten because they let their guard down, a fatal mistake.

My mind reeled as I tried to figure out how they had found me, how they even knew of me. I hadn't gone after this Clan, I hadn't done anything to gain their attention. This Clan wasn't my target, they were my hunters. So someone had sent them. Someone had targeted me, but not for death, for capture. I wouldn't lose like this, like an animal snared and collared to yet another master.

I knew what I would do even before a single second had passed - one dagger to the throat of the man behind me, trying to get a shot at my back, a quick turn and then my second knife to the chest of the woman before me, my Sign could suffocate the next to try and come for me, giving me time to grab the sword from my bag and spin once more. A strong swing at the second Darkling behind me would leave him decapitated and then it would be one-on-one, an easy task and all under four seconds.

I would be adding more marks than expected to my tally after this errand. I felt my sharpened teeth show as I smiled at the prospect.

The woman's mind told me all I needed to know as I pulled up a shield of hard-packed air around me, waiting for their attempt at a capture before I pounced in the lull its failure would inevitably bring. They wouldn't see it coming. They wouldn't even feel their own deaths. Quick and painless and no fun at all, just as it should be. Humane.

I could feel in the woman's mind that she had orders to capture me, though I didn't have the time to fight through her memories to see who the order came from. It was blurred out like when something is erased but still leaves grey smudges behind, but she feared him, I knew that much. Part of me wondered if killing a Clan who didn't wish the same on me was wrong, but I wouldn't let myself be controlled by another, one master was all I could tolerate. As their darts came I hardened my shield and watched as they fell to the dirty snow around me, useless, a smile forming on my lips once more.

I raised my black eyes, preparing for the carnage that was on its way and was met by a midnight blue I thought I would never see again. For a moment, I froze, my leaden emotions trying to break from the prison they had been trapped in for the past six weeks.

Those eyes, his eyes.

Then I felt a sting at the back of my neck. I turned and saw a tall, deep-skinned man, his arm still raised, holding the gun, his eyes with obvious fear in their depths. I raised my knife as two more sharp needles stabbed into my side, my Shift screamed at me to let it fly, but my body wouldn't do as it was told. A moment later I slumped to the slush, feeling the cold wetness soak into my hair. The last thing I saw were white flecks swirling down from a dark sky.

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I waited for the call from Chi, to hear she had Jordan, hoping my pair hadn't killed any of her Clan in the process. If they had followed my plan perfectly, it should be a bloodless capture. I had my Shift pulled around me, I almost always did now, standing back in the shadows across from Jevin's home, just waiting for the call, to know I wouldn't run into her when I went in. That she wouldn't be there to protect him.

The call came and I could barely contain myself during the brief conversation, all I wanted was to rip Jevin apart. I may have been denied revenge on my father in my vain attempts to locate him, but at least I could take revenge for what my old friend had done, the pain he had caused Jordan, the torture he had put her through for the past weeks. He would die tonight and I couldn't wait to feel his icy blood run between my fingers. He would get what he had deserved for so long. I was finally coming back to him.

I hadn't even stepped into the street when I felt eyes on me. I changed my path to lead me to the alley that ran alongside Jevin's home, feeling the presence follow. I turned the corner quickly and ducked into a small alcove, waiting until I saw my follower silently glide around the bricks, a moment of confusion on his face at my seeming disappearance before I pounced, grabbing him and slamming his back against the bricks.

"Why do you follow, and why shouldn't I kill you!"

My Shift made the words come out as a growl, barely containing my need to kill the spy. The man struggled in my grasp for only a moment before recognition came to his face.

"You're here for Jordan. You're here to save her!"

A look of awe was on his face, and it took me a moment to place how I knew him. He looked different now that he was Turned. It was the man from the club, the one who had danced with Jordan, the bartender and one of Jevin's pets, who had apparently gained his reward in the past weeks and now had cold skin and empty veins just like his master. I wanted to kill him.

"I'm not here for her."

I tried to place as much disdain in my voice as I could, the last thing I wanted was some new Vamp running about the city blabbing that the Darke Clan was still in town. From the rumors I had heard, most of the city's Overworld thought my whole Clan had simply left, together, no one knew we had disbanded, and I preferred it that way. There was safety for the others in numbers, or the illusion of numbers.

The thought crossed my mind that I could easily kill this bastard, tie up a loose end. That way he'd never be able to let it slip that Jordan was in town, or that she was the assassin the entire city had spent the last month and a half petrified of, but I assumed Jevin had already forced his sired to swear secrecy on the subject. I could still kill him though, just for fun, just because I could still picture him in the club with Jordan, holding her and dancing in a way that made my arms tense at my sides and my jaw ache, even now. I pushed him away from me instead, trying to stuff down the anger I felt, just for a moment, until it could be given to the one who deserved it.

"I'm here for your master, not any of his pets. Though I suggest you make yourself scarce for the next few hours unless you want to witness him begging for his life as I skin him alive."

The words hissed through my teeth, just the thought of what I would do to Jevin made my Shift send a shudder up my spine. I saw the bartender swallow hard, a spark of something in his eyes, loyalty? But then he turned and ran down the alley without so much as a glance back at me, his large frame moving with a swiftness that proved he had lost his humanity, traded it for something colder. I grinned despite myself at his apparent decision that self-preservation was worth more than a futile attempt to warn his master. He was a smart little leach.

After watching him disappear around the corner I stretched my Sight, trying to find what room Jevin was in. His bedroom, of course. He was lying in bed in tight, silky boxers, a self-satisfied smirk on his face that made it easy to guess at what his evening had consisted of. Apparently, my vision hadn't been of the distant future as I'd hoped, though I knew it was a vain wish to begin with. I knew it was happening as I saw it. I looked through the rest of the house then, searching the layout, looking for the best way in, the fastest route to him. There were a number of others in his house, guards, servants, various pets, both human and Vamp alike.

After less than a minute of searching I decided it would be useless to try and spare his household. The most direct route to him would be over his servants' corpses. I smiled at the thought, my nature stretching under my skin almost painfully, my eyes still dark.

Now that I had made my plan I decided I might as well enjoy myself, relish each kill as if it were him, until the grand finale of my visit when I would have him begging in front of me just like he had made Jordan do. I went to the front door, unable to hide the smile on my face at the thought of ringing the doorbell of the one I was about to destroy.

I rang it twice, my entire body tingling with anticipation.

A man opened the grand door, spilling light onto the pavement around me. His gaunt cheeks and gray skin made it obvious that he must have been one of the human menu items Jevin especially liked the taste of. I smiled once, flashing my teeth at him, letting them catch the light before I dug the blade on my right wrist into his abdomen, pulling it out at an angle so his guts covered the floor. His eyes never even had time to reflect his shock before the light left them. I kicked his corpse out onto the front steps before closing the door behind me, my shoes leaving gory, red prints as I walked across the pristine, white stones of the entryway's floor.

I was almost to the stairs when I heard the sharp intake of breath that's the prerequisite to a scream. My dagger stuck in the woman's heart before she could make her warning noise, her body slumping to the floor as her fangs shrank back up into her gums. I walked over and yanked the blade from her, wiping its length on my pants to clean it before putting it back in its holder at my hip.

By now the decadent entry smelled of sweet blood mixed with the unpleasant stench of guts, but I doubted even Jevin's heightened senses would catch it, he was still far away in the large house, behind closed doors. He most likely had a fire burning on such a cold night too, especially without a warm body in his bed. My jaw tensed at the mere thought of his dead, icy skin touching Jordan's, a painful ripple running through my mind from my Shift.

I was up the stairs moments later, stalking down the white hall, my steps just barely leaving rusty smudges now. I knew which room was his, end of the hall, quick right to the high double doors meant to be a layer of defense, but they wouldn't stand up against me, not now, not with how I was. Even the two guards he had posted outside wouldn't slow me. Nothing could.

I broke into a run as soon as I heard a scream come from downstairs, apparently someone stumbling upon the Vamp woman by the landing. Before the scream ended I rounded the corner and saw his doors, a large man standing on either side. My fire covered them both before they even recognized me as a threat. By the time I got to the doors they were little more than charred flesh and stinking smoke. One kick brought the doors down, the left one hanging by its hinges, little bits of wood scattering the floor. I stepped in to see Jev, still in bed, clutching at something under the covers, his face a mixture of terror and disbelief.

"I do hope that's a gun, dear Abas."

I let the words slip through my Shift, sounding calm, teasing even.

"Sh-she's not here, and if she was you can't have her back. She's mine now!"

He said the words as if he truly believed them, like he could own someone like her, as if he had stolen her away from me in some way.

"I'm not here for her. I'm here for you."

Jev's eyes dropped to my hands as a slight hiss filled the quiet between us. I released the trigger on my knives, letting them show from beneath my sleeves, twin blades coming from the tops of my hands. I rolled my shoulders once, loosening my tensed muscles, getting ready for the fight to come. I knew the outcome though, I could already feel Jev's blood on me, see it pooling on the floor, soaking into the white rug beneath his bed. I smiled at him, letting my teeth show in a way I knew would remind him of our past, back when I took pride in my Shift, in its bloodlust.

"She came to me! I did nothing wrong. She wanted what I did to her! She needed my blood! Because of you! You can't fault me for that, you can't be angry with me for giving her what she begged for, what you made her need."

Jev was pushed up against the white headboard now, pulling at the covers around him like some kind of shield. Apparently he knew his fate too, apparently he knew I wouldn't leave without his head. I took a step forward and he cried out like a child.

"She said you were dead! You can't be here now! You're dead! You're dead! You're gone! Even you can't come back from Hell! You are dead!"

He screamed each word at me, almost sobbing by the end, a pathetic show of what he had become. I felt a ripple of disgust move through my mind, disgust at the cowardly excuse for a Darkling before me, at the weakness there, one who could only gain power over others by deceit. He had lost all of his mind, it was obvious now, and I couldn't believe I hadn't noticed it before, seen the cracks in the thin mask of sanity he wore. It was almost too much a kindness to kill him.

I took another step toward him and he pulled the gun from under the covers, aiming it at me poorly as it shook in his hands. My smile widened as I took another step.

"Go ahead, shoot me, see if you can squeeze that trigger enough times before I cut your heart out. See if you can kill what's already dead. I came from Hell for you, brother, come home with me."

I said the words softly, my voice persuasive, convincing. Jev looked like he might die of his own fear before I even got the chance. What a shame that would be. His eyes were wide, mouth opened slightly, lips quivering even more than his hands. I could tell he believed me, he really thought I was a demon sent from Hell for him, a ghost. He always had been the spiritual type. I smiled again as I took the final strides to the foot of his bed.

He stared at my teeth as I approached, like he thought I would bite him. The thought had crossed my mind, but I'd rather my knives taste his blood. I knocked the gun from his hand easily. He recoiled from my touch like a beaten dog, whimpering as he stared up at me with eyes full of awe and fear. I raised my blade to his throat, watching as his eyes left my smile to instead follow its tip.

"Y-you c-can't kill me. She n-needs me, my blood. She'll go insane without m-me. She c-came to me for a re-re-reason, she needs it because of y-you."

His eyes were squeezed shut now as he spoke, his voice coming in bursts as he choked back his own fear and spit, sniveling like the gutless coward he was. How far he had fallen from when we first met, from when he had taught me, culled me, since he had been something of a mentor to me. How destructive his search for power had been. How destructive I could be to others if they didn't guard themselves against it.

Despite his state of mind, his words gave me pause. What if he was right, what if she needed him to survive, what if killing him would kill her? What if her addiction was too strong? But then my vision came to mind, of her begging, crying at his feet, the hungry look in his eyes as he watched her climb on top of him, the countless other torments he had no doubt put her through in the weeks he had enslaved her, I could picture them all. I knew the sick pleasure he took in women, I remembered many times from our past.

I had disapproved back then, but I would end it now. He should have known not to touch Jordan, to not control her, to not hurt her. Even if he had thought I was dead he should have known better than to use my Pair. Even if I had been dead I would have found a way to kill him, to make him pay.

"How pitiful that you have fallen so far."

The words barely escaped my mouth before my mind shut and I no longer had control. The world around me flooded with red, calling for the blood that was about to be freed from his guilty body. I heard Jevin scream as the blade cut into him, he tried to fight me off but his terror only fed my need for revenge, for his death, his payment.

I saw the red begin to run down his chest in great streams, drenching the bed's white sheets in mere moments, dripping to the floor. I could smell the staleness of it, stolen from others, and then I felt the cold, the freezing touch of his blood as it left its dormant home. I cut into his neck first, wanting him to feel the blood he so desperately craved leave him, but I knew that wouldn't kill him. I watched him for a moment, sputtering, grasping wildly with slick hands, trying to keep the precious liquid he needed so badly from leaving his corpse, but then I saw the fresh mark on his lip, where Jordan had bit him, and I couldn't stand it anymore. I couldn't let him live another second.