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 Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:05 pm
Crumpled in the corner, head resting against the wall, Julian laughed. It was a low, strangled and utterly mad sound.
"No more orders," he said. "Not listening. Took everything else. What do you want?"
He shifted, trying to sit up further. He leaned into the reddish scrap of light the door allowed and looked past Liam, not seeing him at all. A ldark bruise stood out on his temple, spreading down over one eye. He grinned and his face looked like a skull.
"She can't do her own work," he said, sitting back again and head resting against the wall. "Sends someone new. Don't know you. Don't care."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:07 pm
"I...what...Julian. Julian, come on," Liam was nearly pleading as he stretched out, tugging at Julian's arm, "Please. Just come."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:09 pm
Julian let loose a snarl like an animal and struck out, livid. His eyes went wide, though he still looked past Liam.
"No," he spat, pushing himself back against the wall. His head fell, chin resting on his chest and he laughed again. "Never seen you. Don't know you. I don't have to."
He pushed himself up, leaning heavily against the wall.
"She can take me herself," he said, voice almost lucid.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:11 pm
Oh, well, ********. The b*****d was crazy. And now Liam was gonna have another goddamned shiner.
"Julian, I'm not going to ask you again. I'll knock you out if that's what it'll take. Please, just come willingly."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:16 pm
Julian's fingers clawed down the wall, and the whitewash flaked off under his nails. Then they began to tinder, until his hands were spotted with white flame that trickled down his arms.
"Try," he said, voice baiting. His shoulders shook with laughter as the white fire grew brighter, though now tears had started streaking unnoticed down his face. His eyes finally shifted onto Liam's face and he suddenly paused, mouth working.
"Hh...I. I don't. I do. I. Hn. No. L..li...Liam."
The shock sent Julian careening back against the wall. The fire flickered away.
"You. You sh..shouldn't have.... Go. GO. They'll find you," he said, backing away further. "GO. NOW!"
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:17 pm
"Julian, NO!" Liam yelped, "I don't give a damn about me. We have to get you safe. Now. Come on. If you die, I die." White fire. White fire. When had he seen that ********>
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:23 pm
"Don't touch me!" Julian shouted, pushing Liam away and staggering off to the side. He bent over, body wracked with shudders. "Dark. Dark, it's too dark, they'll put it back, too dark."
He forced himself upright, biting his tongue hard enough to draw blood to stop himself from raving.
"They're not going to kill me," he said, his words so forced it was obvious he was trying to keep hold of the sudden lucidity. "Liam, don't you understand by now? What use am I to them dead?"
He laughed before he could stop himself, though the sound choked off.
"Listen," he said, the manic noting leaching back into his voice, head tilted to a sound seemingly only he could hear. "She's heard you, coming now, going to hurt you, they hate you so much."
He looked around the room.
"It's too small," he said, voice choked. "Too much dark, can't even breathe."
He abandoned Liam and went for the door. The bed was still in the way and he kicked the lumbering thing aside as though it was nothing. It crashed against the wall and he stumbled out the door, tripping onto the landing.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:26 pm
Rabid yelped.
"Julian?!" She rushed to him, trying to hug him.
"Like I ********' care," Liam mumbled, "Everyone seems to hate me nowada--don't touch him, Rabs."
Rabid pulled back as if burned.
"Why?"
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:31 pm
The moment of clarity had passed. Julian pushed himself up, leaning against the railing of the landing. He muttered to himself, not meeting Rabid's eyes, shying away from her.
"Coming," he said, voice edged with hysteria. "Coming, coming, coming,"
The lights on the landing went dead, and Julian shuddered, shaking his head and trying to make himself small.
"She's in the dark, she's waiting, here. Found," he said, pointing. The sun had set, and the landing was dark. The sounds of life in the other rooms seemed muted, smothered by the shadows. And something in them moved, her paper white skin hanging off her bones, her matted hair dragging behind her.
"Thief," Kaego called, her emaciated face leering.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:33 pm
Rabid shrieked. She seemed to be doing that a lot.
Liam blinked. He was too traumatized to do much else.
"
"Liam....tha...NNGH!" Rabid instinctively gravitated toward Julian.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:38 pm
Julian struck out again, scrambling away from Rabid.
"NO!" he screamed at her. "I won't let you do it again, you're not getting in, you don't get to see inside anymore. Go away, go in the ground, you're not real!"
Kaego, or at least what was left of her, gurgled and swept her way across the landing, jaws clicking.
"No daring rescue?" she purred. "Little bird has a hole in her head now, and his isn't quite right anymore..."
Her head turned to Liam and the empty eye sockets stared.
"I am going to open you up and take back what you stole," she murmured. "And when he comes, he will cut that half-slit throat of yours and make you his own."
She glanced up at Rabid.
"What a pretty Hakin you'll make," she said. Julian stood, and she looked up at him.
"You're dead," he said, staring at her. "You're not here."
Kaego smiled, and struck Julian across the face. Her fingers were nothing but bone and they left a long set of slashes across his cheek.
"Time to go home," she said, grabbing hold of his throat.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:41 pm
"NO!" Rabid yelped and lunged forward, grabbing the whatever-she-was-now by the neck and wrenching backward. Liam, at that moment, decided that they were all probably going to die.
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:44 pm
Kaego shrieked and twisted in Rabid's grip, hands slashing at whatever she could reach. Julian was thrown back, and hit his head against the window, making it crack and spiderweb out from the impact. The shock of pain made him cry out, and he staggered away from the fight muttering and watching.
---
Down in the parking lot, Ethan was on the verge of tearing his hair out.
"It shouldn't be taking this long," he said, biting his lip hard. "Somethings gone wrong. They should have found him by now."
"Be patient," Len chided. "Maybe they ran into a bump. They're coming."
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 3:48 pm
Rabid ignored the various slashes inflicted on her arms and face. She'd be damned if this b***h was gonna take her man off to the netherworld. Instead, she kneed the thing in the back and wrenched her hands hard. Liam, however, had produced a handgun from intangibility and, after a bit of searching for the proper magnet, pumped four shots into the...the...corpse, he figured.
---
"They can take care of themselves," Björn said, shrugging, "You gotta know Julian's gonna put up some--"
And he heard the blasts.
"
Was he dreaming?
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Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 4:24 pm
Kaego gave a metallic shriek, falling to the ground as shadows rose from the wounds like smoke. She twisted and bent back unnaturally, her body contorted as she stood and swung herself around. She went for Rabid's shoulder, burying her teeth and shaking her head like a dog. She gave another shriek as something smashed against her head, and recoiled as Julian smashed his fist against her face. He kept hitting her, splitting his knuckles against the jutting bones, screaming curses. She kicked him off and he slammed against the wall again, head knocking against the window sill.
"Leave!" he screamed at her. "Leave!"
Kaego roared and rushed Julian, striking out. He ducked under the blow but found himself pressed against the window, Kaego's hands around his throat again.
"You'll learn discipline," she said, her ruined face a mess of ragged skin and crushed bone. She shook him hard, and he choked, trying to take a breath. "The little b***h is gone, but you-will-LEARN-"
Julian grabbed hold of Kaego's arms, expression elated. She shrieked, trying to free herself but not daring to let him go.
"What are you doing?"
Julian had no air to answer. His eyes swept upward and closed, his hands gripping Kaego's hard enough to crack the bones. He leaned back as far as he could, and with every ounce of strength smashed the back of his head against the broken window. The impact was terrible.
"Hh....hhhk..." Kaego gurgled, her skin shucking off and blowing away in a cloud of shadow. There was no physical body underneath, only an animal skull. Julian fell to the ground, and the skull fell with him, smashing and withering to dust. A flicker of fire wavered in the remains of the bone, and then went out.
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