His Stoic Mask, Her Bleeding Heart

The door banged against the wall as Elyria stormed into Matthias' residence, the sound echoing endlessly through the massive hall. It died away to leave only the clicking of her stiletto heels on the tile, and Kai and I followed her toward the stairs. Her stride was confident, cold, aggressive – everything I remembered so distinctly from the way she was before. The werewolf and I couldn't hope to match it, just her two little shadows, snaking along behind her.

"Do you think this is going to end well?" Kai rumbled to me as Elyria took two stairs at a time, his eyes on the bouncing hem of her skirt. I was suddenly very glad I'd had some clothes to lend him; there was no telling what could've been going on in his pants at that moment.

Or maybe I wasn't so glad. Those were my pants.

"For us? Yes. For Kyrianna? Who knows," I answered, my eyes drifting to the girl's back as she picked her way through the piles of dust that still littered the floor. A crowd of vampires waited for her at the end of the hall, the remnants of the afternoon's battle, and no matter how they bared their fangs or licked their lips or smirked their dangerous smirks, she wouldn't slow, wouldn't hesitate.

The sea of bloodsuckers parted gradually, but still, her stride never slowed. In the end, only one vampire remained, a man who leered down at her as if he were issuing a challenge. Naturally, she accepted, knocking him to the floor with a strike of the back of her hand that was so swift the vampire never stood a chance. I wondered if her eyes were red, if the monster was making its return, but when she glanced back at us over her shoulder, her irises were as amethyst as ever. She was just her – brutal, elegant, and strong.

"Hurry up," she said, nothing to her tone to suggest any kind of strain or frustration. "We don't have time to play with the trash right now." And then, she was gone, rounding the corner with a swish of her royal purple skirt.

When we finally caught up to her, she was ascending the stairs to Matthias' quarters with quick, deliberate steps. I wondered why we'd tried to take the vampires out on our own, me and Kai. I wondered why I'd ever thought that I could do better than Elyria. This was her world, and I knew that. But part of me still rebelled against the notion. Why did it have to be her? Why did it always have to be her?

"Be careful," I murmured to the girl as we neared the top, and I saw her give a single sharp nod before she pushed the door open and emerged into the dim light of the bedroom.

"Ah, Elyria," Matthias said cheerfully, and the sight of him turned my stomach. Kyrianna was there, still in her bed clothes, her hands and feet bound and her mouth covered – perched upon the sick bastard's lap like some kind of doll. "Nice of you to finally join us. I've been waiting for you ever since your friends decided to burst in here this afternoon."

"Give her back," Elyria said sharply, stopping a foot away from where the man sat on the edge of the bed. If she'd reached out, she could've touched Kyrianna; I saw her fingers flexing as if she longed to do just that.

"Why ever would I do that?" the man retorted innocently, a hand gently patting Kyrianna's bare thigh. She cringed, and while I didn't particularly like her, I certainly felt for her in that moment. "You practically trashed our agreement by sending your friends here to attempt to destroy me. I've decided to take this little sweetheart as payment. Really, you should just be glad I didn't decide on something worse."

Elyria took a small step forward, her hands balling into fists so tightly that her silvery knuckles turned bone-white beneath their metallic sheen. "Give. Her. Back." Her voice was low, her tone threatening, her words slow and carefully spoken. I knew that voice; I knew what would come if he refused. But he only smiled and laughed lightly, acting as if she'd just told him the most innocent joke in the world.

"Come, now, sweetheart," he said, and something cruel entered his smile. "It doesn't have to be this way. You and I could work together. We could both profit from this girl." His hand began to slide slowly up her thigh, his fingers sneaking slowly beneath the leg of her clothe shorts. "We could both –" But she was already lurching forward, a hand extended to strike the man's face.

I fell to the floor with a heavy weight on my back, and a thump beside me told me Kai had experienced the same thing. The floor creaked around me, feet passing my face in a blur of vampiric speed, and another thud sounded in a heartbeat, accompanied by a cry from Elyria.

"I'll kill you!" she shrieked over the sound of Matthias' voice raised in bellowing laughter. "I'll fucking kill you!"

I twisted my head away from the floor to view the scene, but a heavy hand on the back of my head sent my face right back into the carpet. I'd managed to catch a glimpse of the scene, though: Elyria pinned to the wall by a pair of dark-haired women; Matthias leaning toward Kyrianna's neck.

"Just relax and enjoy the show," the man murmured, and the smell of blood suddenly burst into the air, sweet and alluring, almost Elyria's but not quite. A muffled cry from Kyrianna could be heard, but it quickly died away beneath the sound of Elyria slamming herself against the wall over and over again in her struggles.

"I'll kill you!" she screamed again, her voice high and rasping with more than a hint of hysteria. "I will kill you!"

I began to fight against the body at my back, but I couldn't free my limbs from the man's hard grip, and no matter how hard I bucked, he wouldn't budge. Beside me, I heard a scuffle, and the scent of a wolf soon permeated the air beneath the scent of Kyrianna's blood. But Kai never burst forth to save the day as I imagined. There was a sudden yelp, a sound of pain that sent a stab of guilt through me as I remembered the struggles of the afternoon, and then, only silence at my side. I struggled harder against the vampire who had me pinned down, hoping to wear him down.

My head twisted from its position, my face no longer buried in the carpet, and I froze as Matthias pulled the clothe gag from Kyrianna's mouth to let the sound of her screams fill the room. Blood dripped down her neck, down the front of her shirt, and he smirked as he pulled from her vein, his eyes trained sickly on Elyria's face, contorted in violent rage.

"I'll kill you!" she still roared, over and over again, as she kicked and thrashed against the two women. Her eyes had turned crimson, her voice more animal than human, and still she screamed, "I'll kill you!" One of the women was suddenly sent sailing across the room, crashing into the desk yards away, and the second threw her whole body against Elyria's in an attempt to keep her pinned. She, too, was sent flying over the bed after a moment, and the stairs creaked loudly as a slew of vampires ascended to fill the space.

Matthias was on his feet now, Kyrianna held tightly in his arms as he continued to drink from her. He backed away from Elyria, dragging Kyrianna's bound feet across the floor, and the girl's cries died away. She was losing consciousness; I could tell from the look in her drooping pink eyes. He intended to drain her dry, and he intended for Elyria to watch every painful second of it.

I began my struggles anew, fighting harder than I had been before. I nearly got to my knees, but a rough shove from the vampire at my back sent me front-first into the floor once more. I wouldn't stop, though, not while I could see Matthias killing Kyrianna, not while I could see Elyria fighting to reach the girl.

Elyria's screams were wordless now, just roars of blind rage. She fought through the crowd of vampires that had gathered around her with a set of long, curving fangs she shouldn't have had, tearing at them with her teeth and her nails between punches and kicks. A woman sank her fangs into the side of the girl's neck as a man latched on to her thigh, trying to pull her down, and Elyria struggled to knock them both away.

"Elyria!" I cried, nearly managing to rise once more, but the heavy weight at my back wouldn't lift.

"She's as good as dead," the man growled in my ear as he forced my front back to the floor. "Stop struggling or I won't even let you watch."

I flung my head back out of instinct, catching the man in the nose with a nice cracking sound. He barely let up, but it was enough for me to get my bearings and fling him backward. A rough back kick sent him tumbling down the stairs, and I lurched to my feet while I still had the chance.

My eyes first flicked to Kai, naked and unconscious on the floor beside me after a failed attempt at transforming. He seemed safe enough for the moment, and I turned my attention to Elyria. I was horrified to find her lost in the crowd of hunched vampire bodies, the scent of her blood filling the air along with her screams of rage. One of the bloodsuckers fell back, and I could see her there, in the midst of the writhing crowd, kicking and punching and biting as vampire after vampire bit and clawed at every inch of bare skin they could reach. She was coated in crimson, losing pints of blood by the minute, but she wouldn't stop struggling.

I rushed forward, tearing a pair of vampires away from her legs and flinging them behind me. I reached for another two, but they were turning on me already. One landed a punch to my head that disoriented me enough to allow another to bite into my wrist. I felt a punch to my stomach, a kick to my leg, a set of teeth in my back. This was nothing like the fight we'd had this afternoon. These vampires were in a frenzy, the fear and the blood and the anger ramping up their aggression until they ran only on instinct.

My legs started to give beneath me as I pushed and shoved, trying to escape. My eyes scanned the room for help, an unfamiliar panic beginning to rise in me, but there was none. Kai was still unconscious; Elyria was still struggling to free herself from the crazed crowd around her.

Across the room, Kyrianna's eyes found me. "Kyrianna," I whispered, watching the glow slowly fade from her irises. "Kyrianna." Her eyes slipped shut; her body sagged in Matthias' arms. "Kyrianna!" My legs finally buckled beneath me, and I tumbled into the group that tore at me.

I thrashed and kicked at the vampires who bit in to every inch of flesh they could find, some even biting straight through my shirt to the hard, muscled flesh beneath, but when one vampire fell back, another pair took its place. Through the haze of pain and fear, I could just barely hear the sound of Elyria's horrid shriek dying away. Panic lanced through me, dulling the pain. Had she been overcome? Had the horde of vampires drained her dry like Matthias had drained Kyrianna? The sight of her eye-light fading was a vague memory, a dull pin-prick beneath the overwhelming terror I felt for Elyria.

"Kai, get up!" I screamed as I continued to swing blindly at my attackers. Surely the werewolf wasn't still unconscious. Surely he could rush to Elyria's aid. "Kai, come on! Please!" But the vampires around me only laughed, somehow noticing the futility of my cries even through their bloodlust – no one was coming. We were on our own. I was on my own.

My vision began to dim, darkening around the edges as pain and blood loss threatened to overwhelm me. If I didn't escape soon, if I didn't feed and refuel my empty veins, I would be of no use to anyone. I would be of no use to Elyria.

My senses sharpened suddenly, the thought of the girl's bloody face vivid in my mind, and I let instinct take over. A slew of well-placed kicks knocked the vampires away from my legs; a rough thrust of my arms knocked the vampires away from my arms and neck and torso. They were lunging at me in a heartbeat, though, barely affected by the fall, and I hurried to my feet. I landed punch after punch, barely realizing what I was doing. Vampires crumpled before me, not dead but blessedly unconscious. Pain twinged at the edge of this violent fog, teeth and fists finding my torso over and over again, but I wouldn't be stopped, not now.

In a matter of seconds, I'd cleared a path for myself, and I dove through the opening and into the horde that still stood bent over Elyria. Her blood was heavy in the air, I noticed, and I wondered vaguely what had become of her.

Three vampires tumbled to the floor as I roughly knocked them aside, and I found Elyria alive in the middle of it all, her red eyes focused on me as she gnawed at an unconscious vampire in her grasp. There were still men and women sinking their teeth into her legs, but her torso and throat were free. She seemed oddly content with the situation, her teeth in the woman's neck as she eyed me strangely. Had the monster so overwhelmed her that she'd forgotten about Kyrianna? That she'd forgotten about me?

But then, I saw it – a single tear rolling slowly down her bloody cheek. She hadn't forgotten; she'd given up hope. She knew that her love was dead.

"Elyria, come on," I growled to her, free of the adrenaline that had gripped me so tightly only a moment ago. A vampire released the girl's leg and reached for me, but a swift kick to the head knocked him to the floor. "We need to go." I kicked the remaining vampires away from her legs, the scent of old blood filling the air as I cracked their skulls open, and reached for her, tightly gripping her upper arms and pulling her to her feet. I landed a back kick to the face of another approaching vampire, one in my blind spot; maybe my instinct hadn't faded as much as I'd thought. "And leave the vampire behind," I added, as she continued to clutch to the woman with her teeth in her throat.

I heard a sudden growl behind me, then a crash. The telltale smell of wolf reached my nose. Kai had awoken, it seemed, and he was more than ready for a fight.

"Come on," I growled again, having to pry the corpse from Elyria's arms. Her blood-red eyes had found Kai's form in the distance, and she wouldn't look away. "We need to go!"

"Leaving so soon?" Matthias chuckled from his safe place across the room, separated from us by a sea of vampire bodies and the limp corpse of Kyrianna, still lolling in his arms. In my haste to get Elyria to safety, I'd completely forgotten that he was there. Elyria's gaze snapped to him, and I felt the growl rising in her throat before I heard it, setting her whole tiny frame trembling. "We haven't even gotten to the good part yet." I had to admit, the man had some balls. His entire army had fallen, yet he still dared to draw the attention of a vampire, a werewolf, and a Shadow to his lonesome figure, protected only by a dead girl's corpse.

"What more do you want?" I snapped, though I tried my best to keep my tone level. "You've already killed our friend. You've already driven her to madness. What more do you want?"

He laughed, the sound high and unconcerned. "I may have driven her to madness, but I haven't broken her." He leaned down to lap up the blood on the side of Kyrianna's neck, smirking at Elyria all the while.

She burst free of my arms suddenly, dropping to all fours as she leaped over the bed and charged at Matthias. Kyrianna's body fell to the floor as Matthias put his arms to better use, catching Elyria's throat when she dove for him and slamming her back against the nearby desk with enough force to splinter the top of it. She cried out, her voice rough and obviously pained, and a low growl began beside me – Kai.

He rushed forward, leaping at Matthias where he still held Elyria to the broken desk, but the vampire backhanded the wolf away without hesitation, and he fell to the floor with a harsh grunt. I followed suit, lunging at the man, though I ducked beneath the blow he aimed at me and caught him by the throat as I sprang back up.

I jerked him back, away from Elyria, and pinned him to the wall, slamming his back against it hard enough to crack the drywall. He smiled in my face.

"What are you going to do?" he rasped. "Kill me?"

"Wow, you're perceptive," I remarked dryly, my hold on his throat already tightening.

"Something worse will come to take my place," he grated, grinning. "I can promise you that."

A chill slithered down my spine at the thought, and my grip faltered slightly. What if he was right? What if someone came along who was willing to skip the theatrics and take Elyria from me without a second thought?

But I smiled down at him coldly, a new thought blooming in my mind. "I won't let that happen, Mattie. Don't you worry about that." My hold tightened fully before he could respond, and my fingers burst into his throat, gore spattering my face and hand. His head and body thudded to the floor, and I slowly turned to the room behind me, my smile long gone.

Elyria was bent over Kyrianna's corpse, sobbing, and Kai knelt beside her in his human form. He rubbed her shoulder gently, and she pulled the dead girl's body to her chest. What color were her eyes, I wondered?

"Elyria," I said softly, and she turned to me, her irises the familiar, comforting purple of amethyst.

"Eli," she sobbed. I slowly made my way to her side and knelt, tucking myself beneath her outstretched arm. She held me to her chest as she wept, and I stared at Kyrianna's empty face, across from me on the plain of this bloody bosom.

I couldn't believe how I'd treated her. I couldn't believe I'd let her die.

"Elyria, Kai," I murmured, suddenly making a decision, "I think I'm going to take Matthias's place."

Elyria stilled considerably, though her body still jerked with the occasional sob. I turned my face toward hers, and I saw horror in her wide eyes.

But across from me, Kai smiled. "You're a good man, Eli. I'd call you smart, but it took you a bit too long to figure it out."

"You've thought about this before?" Elyria said, her tone teetering between terrified and enraged, as she locked eyes with Kai.

The werewolf shrugged, though he boldly met her gaze. "As far as I know, everyone's thought about it. Everyone but you two, anyway."

"He can't!" she cried, and her voice cracked as another sob broke through. She still held Kyrianna tightly to her, but I was free to sit up and observe her reaction. "You're stupid to even think that the role would be right for him."

"We need to end this cycle, Elyria," I told her softly, placing my hand over hers on Kyrianna's stomach. "We need to stop giving the power to men who only want to cause pain."

She immediately lowered her gaze, and I realized by the sudden emptiness to them that now had not been the time to say this. She stood with Kyrianna in her arms, starting unsteadily toward the door. "I should kill you," she whispered, picking her way through the piles of dust and unconscious bodies. "I should kill you both for even thinking this." And then, she was gone, staggering out the door and down the stairs.

I looked at Kai, and he frowned at me. "This isn't going to help her," I said softly. "This is going to make her turn back."

"No," the werewolf said with a shake of his head. "This is going to save her."

But as I listened to the sounds of her slow, shaky footsteps on the stairs, I couldn't help but wonder – would I be the one to kill her? Or would I just be the one to send her to insanity?