Confrontation..
#8 of Lunar
© All characters and storylines surrounding these characters belong to me, Eben Black..
Blood. There was Blood! I walked along the corridor, the walls spattered with blood. Two policemen had been killed, one was slung over the railing of the staircase that wound down the apartment building, while the second was at the front door, slumped in a pool of more blood. I stepped over him and found the door splintered and hanging off the hinges. I peered inside and found the lounge trashed, more blood spattered the walls and a third policeman was slumped over the back of the ruined couch, the coffee table shattered to pieces. The plasma television had fallen and smashed on the hardwood floors. The string of floor-to-ceiling windows had been broken and shattered as the blizzard outside roared onward. I stepped inside and reeled, scanning the lounge and kitchenette.
I paled at the sight of all the carnage and blood. The refridgerator had been pulled and was now balanced over the marble countertops, milk pooled on the floor, blood blended with the pure white liquid.
I looked again and found the single corpse of the dead policeman. Snow was not here. I then realised I had checked only half the apartment. The bedroom door was closed. I swallowed hard and walked toward it. The noise of all that rushing snow made it impossible to hear anything. Snow spattered the lounge. I had a feeling there wasn't anyone coming here to back me up. I neared the bedroom door and listened, I listened hard and tried to block out all the noise beyond those shattered windows. I raised my hand to the door knob.
What had happened here? Ethan was presumed dead. The corpse burned and a simple silver ring to identify him. Until dental records came back from the labs, the ring was all the coroner had to go on it seemed.
I turned the handle and pushed open the bedroom door. I gazed inside the darkened bedroom, the drapes had been drawn and the bedroom had also been trashed. A lone form was slumped over the bed on his back. A slender striped tail draped over the edge of the bed and a slither of light caught the reflection of a knife standing, embedded in the form's chest. I swallowed. Shadows heavy and harsh fell upon the motionless heap. I swallowed and took a step forward, unsure of what I was being faced with.
"S-Snow?" I choked as I peered at the face of the corpse on my bed.
I exhaled, a sigh of relief considering I was gazing at a dead body. It wasn't Snow. I had no idea who the white tiger was, but he was a few inches too short to be Snow, he was more slender than muscular. He wore clothes that I'd never have seen Snow wearing. I backed up and hit the wall beside the bedroom door. I hunched over, nausea built at the back of my throat. I clasped hands over my eyes and smoothed back my head fur as I glanced at the body once again. Who had done this? I turned and stepped back into the lounge without a word. I needed to find Snow and I needed to find him now!
"You look paler than I remember!" a deep, gravelly voice said from the fireplace. My eyes widened as I look right at the wolf standing before the ruined and abandoned fireplace.
"E-Ethan?" I stammered.
The man was standing in the same suit and attire I'd seen him in during the nightmare. He grinned at me, a photo frame in hand, his other buried in his trouser pocket. He grinned down at the photograph and glanced up at me. The torn ear, the mad look behind those pale blue eyes. Here he stood, the one who'd threatened me, who'd sworn death upon me. The man who'd turned to madness and violence instead of accepting his parents were dead. I'd never frozen up like this before. I wanted to run. I wanted to flee and leave as soon as possible.
Ethan glared at me, his eyes held a subtle madness, hidden beneath a look of boredom. He grinned and gestured to the photograph I'd had on the mantelpiece of the fireplace, "Nice picture."
The photograph was one me and Snow had taken together when we'd hiked together last year.
"You look like you've seen a dead person, brother." Ethan dropped the picture. The glass shattered as he glared up at me, he added, "Like what I did with your place? I felt it need redecorating!"
"Ethan, what have you done?" I demanded.
"I redecorated. Aren't you listening?" he growled.
"The policemen, Ethan! Did you kill them?" I demanded.
"They were in the way," Ethan smirked.
"So you killed them in cold blood?" I snarled back, anger was better than fear, anger I could work with. Was it wise to get angry at Ethan? Probably not, but I was paralysed if I was frightened of him.
"I killed them for pleasure, for fun. Do you remember what fun used to be like, Eben? Because I don't!"
"Ethan, you need help, you need medical and psychiatric help," I replied looking panicked now. I scanned the room for weapons, something to defend myself with.
Ethan swung a clenched first around and slammed it into the wall above the mantelpiece. "I tried that, Eben! I tried all the meds, and all the team talks. And each time I got better, they'd remind me of you and all the anger, all the rage would come back. The people, Eben! The voices that demanded, that screamed for your blood. I ignored them, I tried to ignore them. I tried to think of music, and flowers and other pretty things, but each night my mind wandered and each day someone would smile the way you did, would breath the way you did. Someone even blinked the way you used to fucking blink!" he snarled the last part and took a step, cracking glass underfoot.
"Your fucking insane!" I snapped back.
"And I'm loving every second of that fact, little brother!" Ethan laughed now, that harsh bark of raw, mad laughter that shook his shoulders. He lowered his bloodied fist from the now cracked wall.
"You turned up, you killed a few policeman, and you trashed my home. Now what?" I demanded.
"I think we both know what happens next, Eben," Ethan looked solemn for a moment, bored almost. His hand reached behind him. There was a sound of steel being dragged across fabric and then Ethan pulled out the knife. It was long and wide, almost as long as his forearm. It looked more like a machete than a simple kitchen knife. He turned the blade between his fingers as his solemn face broke. Those blue eyes widened, and dark, sinister thoughts swam through his mind as his lips curled into a grin, a snarling flash of fangs.
"So now your going to kill me?" I demanded.
"That's the plan!" he took a shuddering step forward.
I suddenly had a thought. Snow!
"Where did you do to Snow!" I demanded, almost frantic around the edges. I stepped back and touched the wall behind me. Ethan took another step. He tossed the blade between his hands.
"Snow? The boyfriend?"
"What did you do to him?" I snapped back.
He grinned again, a maddening sweep of manic lips. "What do you think I did to him, faggot? Do you think I killed him? Do you think I've seen him here?"
"He read your text and came back here!" I sniped.
Ethan considered me for a moment and then turned the knife in his hand. He held the blade at his side and frowned.
I glanced at the knife and concentrated on thinking up a plan. Keep the madman talking and run for the bathroom? Sounded like a plan to me. I inched toward the door, holding my breath. Ethan took a deep breath, then he suddenly lunged, he rushed me, cleared the space between us and threw himself into me. I slammed back against the wall, and half expected the blade to sink into me. There was no welcoming death, or white light. There was a stinging pain in the palm of my hand though. I opened my eyes and stared down at the bloodied wound that Ethan had opened up in my palm. I had automatically raised a hand to ward off the attack, and in turn Ethan had pierced the flesh right through. But that alone had stopped him from stabbing me in any vital organs. Problem was, Ethan was now inches from me. His snarling grin widened as he watched the blood spatter from the wound and down the knife. Ethan slammed his other forearm into my neck and pinned me back against the wall. His blade-hand twisted and pain seared through me. I screamed out as blood spattered the hardwood floor.
"You do not realise how wonderful this feels at the moment!" Ethan sneered at me. His breath wreaked of hatred and spite.
I glared back, half panicked and half relieved I was still alive.
"I'm going to kill you, little brother! I'm going to slaughter you, and bleed you all over this apartment. I'm going to make you understand the pain you've caused me!"
I whimpered as he twisted the blade again. I watched as the world blurred. Had I lost that much blood? Or was it the pain? I had no time to consider an answer, as a furred hand wrapped around Ethan's neck and launched him off me. Ethan staggered backward, leaving the blade pierced in my palm. A hulking form moved in front of me and I watched as a muscular arm swung, and a fist connected with Ethan's jawline. Ethan staggered back again, bloodied and panicking now from the immense pain that sprang from his new wound. I had heard a bone dislocate.
I gazed up at my savior and smiled as my white tiger lover raised a hand to shield me from my brother. Snow's tail cracked like a whip as he clenched his hands and took his stance. Ethan considered Snow for a heartbeat and then barked his laughter once again.
"The loving boyfriend saves the day!" Ethan laughed, "Do you consider yourself his white knight, or something? I'll slaughter you both!"
"I don't think you have time to be worrying about us right now!" Snow growled as he tensed.
"Oh, and why would that be?!" Ethan demanded with a snarling grin.
"Because the police are on their way here. Can you not hear the sirens? You won't get by me anytime soon." Snow grinned, "Time to make a quick getaway, right?"
Ethan looked dazed for a moment and then heard them, distant and hidden beneath the rush of the blizzard outside, the police sirens echoed the haunted skies beyond.
He glared down at me and then back up at Snow. His grin sprang across his lips and he warned, "I'll bleed you dry and then make you watch me kill him, pussycat."
"I'll end your life before you subdue me!" Snow growled back.
Ethan considered Snow one more time and then scrambled for the door. He glanced at me when he reached the door and then disappeared through the doorway. Snow relaxed and then turned on me. I'd fell to the floor. Call it blood loss, or exhaustion, but I was slumped on the floor, the blade still pierced my flesh while I huddled there, blood spilled and pooled beneath me. Snow crouched in front of me and touched a hand to my head. "Did you hit your head when he shoved you?" he asked in a low breath.
"Where were y-you?" I breathed as my vision blurred around the edges.
"I came here and found the policemen. They'd been asked by their chief of investigation to keep an eye on all locations that Ethan would visit. I looked around and found no one. I headed back to the hotel and saw you ride by the taxi on the Davidson. I tried to get the taxi back, but rush hour kicked in and I ended up abandoning the car and running here. Don't know if your noticed, but there's a blizzard outside. And I'm not as light on my feet as I once were," he admitted with an embarrassed smirk. "I made it back here and found the massacre, then I heard you two collide with the wall and ran in."
"Ethan was right...about one thing..." I breathed.
"And that would be?"
"You are my white knight. The man who saved me," I choked. I coughed and spluttered. Blood loss can be a bitch.
"Fair enough. Keep awake, Eben, keep awake. The police will be here soon," Snow assured me as he tapped my face to keep me awake. The world swam and shadows swirled my vision.
"I can see...shadows."
"Ignore them. Talk to me, Eben!" Snow demanded.
"Oi! Police!" a deep, booming voice echoed.
"In here! Phone an ambulance!" Snow yelled, his voice panicked a little. He looked back at me, tears burned in those beautiful eyes. I never knew blue eyes could swirl like fire, until Snow looked at me like that.
"I....love you....Snow Valentine," I choked. The shadows swirled and swam and enveloped me as I slumped forward and huddled against the furred warm of my lover.
"I love you too, Eben Black," Snow murmured as he caressed my head fur. I heard him turn and demand, "Here! Here! He's been stabbed in the hand. I think its blood loss!"
The world swam a third time and darkness subdued me. I gave in and let unconsciousness take me. At that moment I was relieved. Ethan was gone for now. Snow was alive and well. And sleep sounded amazing.
I could feel the warm fur of my lover, even though my vision was blocked. I knew that he'd stay by my side, no matter how long I remained asleep for. I smiled at that thought and allowed the blood loss to knock me out cold.