Various metallic and ceramic implements rattled inside their cupboards and drawers as the corner of the counter bit into the meat of Xander’s shoulder with a sharp impact. A sudden flash of yellow-green drew his attention away from the searing pain and he hurried to jump into overdrive, stepping out of the time-frozen refrigerator’s path. Dropping out of overdrive to preserve energy he watched as the counter and the shelves above it fell victim to the attack that had been meant for him and looked around him at the rubble that the kitchen had become.
Picking up on the sound of Kyle’s boots stomping closer he decided to try and turn the fight in his favor. Jumping back into overdrive he shot at the auric vampire and pulled back his fist, fully prepared to punch through the son-of-a-bitch just as he had done to the man back in the forest. As his attack was put into action, however, Kyle vanished from sight in front of him and the full force of the intended punch dragged him and sent him tumbling. Once off his feet, all control was gone and time came back into play as he rolled across the living room floor and crashed into the dead body of Tyler’s mother and through the banister, falling halfway down the stairs in a twisted heap of limbs and lumber.
The miracle of his body’s ability to withstand damage was fully realized when he determined that nothing had been broken—though that didn’t stop the entire ordeal from hurting like hell—and he cursed as he pulled himself away from the naked corpse.
“Nice trick, huh?” Kyle called down from the living room. “It’s not easy to hold an image in someone’s head for very long, though. But I guess that means little when you’re moving that fast.” He laughed again, “All I needed was a fraction of a second!”
Xander frowned at the calm tone as well as the realization that he’d fallen for an auric mirage. Kyle had seen him coming; anticipated the attack before he’d even thrown it into motion. Deciding to keep things easy, he grabbed a length of broken banister and ran back up the stairs.
Kyle stood poised, once again seeing his intentions, and Xander growled that he was being read and threw up an auric shield.
Kyle grinned at this, “Catching on, eh?”
Xander didn’t answer.
He refused to stop for even a second and give the monster from his past the satisfaction of even the briefest moment of conversation. The rage that had remained constant and the added humiliation of not keeping his guard up from the beginning made his face redden until he was sure it matched his blood-stained eye. It wasn’t a surprise that the bastard had been able to read and manipulate him without touching him with his aura; he had practiced the same thing with Stan, after all. But he’d been sloppy in not considering that it could be used against him. He scowled as he tightened his grip on his makeshift stake. There was no point in even trying to read Kyle. The auric vampire had been shielding his mind from the beginning.
As Kyle opened his mouth for another comment Xander started his attack. His vision shimmered as the auric vampire attempted to manipulate his mind again and he solidified his shield, blocking out the interference and swinging his weapon. Its length whistled through the air as Kyle jumped back and out of its range and, as Xander worked to stabilize himself and bring around the bludgeon for a second try, drove his right foot into his left leg and swung a tight fist into the side of his head. Startled and thrown off balance, Xander toppled, catching himself at the last minute with his aura only to have that knocked out from under him by Kyle’s own.
“See?” Kyle smirked as he stood over him, “You’re not the only one who can throw a punch!” Enraged by his mocking, Xander bared his fangs and lunged forward, ready to tear Kyle’s head off. The auric vampire floated away, his green aura shooting out and wrapping around Xander’s throat as he did, “And don’t think you’re the only one who can tear heads off either!” he boasted.
Caught in midair by the tightening auric grip, Xander gurgled as his breath was squeezed out. Just as Kyle had insinuated, as the hold tightened it threatened to pull his head from his shoulders and he fought to escape.
Kyle grinned at this, watching his old stepson struggle in his bonds, “But where’s the fun in killing you so quickly?” he mused as he cracked his aura like a whip, smashing Xander into the shattered remains of the ceiling and flinging him across the room.
Landing at a bad angle, he cried out as something inside his body finally snapped.
So much for the indestructible sang body! Xander thought as a violent cough seized him and blood splattered from his mouth. The sight held his attention and for the first time in months he regretted the taste.
“Like losing your lunch, I suppose,” Kyle cackled as he stepped toward him.
Xander heaved as another bout of blood erupted from his mouth and he pushed himself up, cringing as whatever was broken shifted inside his chest. The thirst came at him full force once again, and as his pupils dilated and his eyes narrowed on the only food source in the house he felt his body begin to numb the pain in his torso so that it wouldn’t hold him back. Then, like a beaten and cornered wildcat, he lunged.
Kyle scowled at the sudden attack, shooting his aura out again and again in an attempt to take down the threat. Xander, however, was too driven.
Driven to maim!
Driven to feed!
Driven to destroy the life of the one who’d destroyed his!
The auric bolts missed their mark by mere inches as he advanced, the flat-screen television behind him bursting followed moments later by the couch as it was torn in half. With each and every one of Kyle’s attacks Xander was no longer where he’d been. Like the beast he felt like, he circled his prey; hissing and snarling as Kyle grew angrier and more volatile.
“Stand still and let me kill you, brat!” he demanded through clenched teeth.
Xander complied then, stopping in front of him and grabbing his shoulders.
“Got you!” he snarled.
Kyle smiled at this, “Indeed you do.”
Caught off guard by his prey’s calmness, Xander paused; enough time for Kyle to wrap him up in an auric bind from below. Hissing and roaring in rage, Xander struggled in vain as he felt himself pulled away from his victory; watching as the snide, cocky face of his nightmares grew further away.
The slow push that distanced him further from Kyle shuddered and became a sudden whirlwind that smashed him into every available surface again and again. The chaotic flurry battering and dizzying him, going on for what felt like the remainder of the night. He cried out with each impact, feeling more pieces of himself break and rupture as more and more blood was lost through the multitude of fresh gashes. When, at last, the attack ended, he landed back inside the kitchen amongst even more rubble.
Xander groaned and looked up, watching as Kyle rounded the broken wall and entered the kitchen through the door, “If I’d known you were something valuable to the rest of the mythos community I might have simply handed you over.” He grinned and Xander tried to stand, only to have the yellow-green aura shoot out at him and throw him against the wall all over again, “Some say your dad was a big deal, but I heard that he was just some radical, mind-feeding hippie.” He lifted Xander, smashing him against the ceiling before throwing him onto the floor, leaving a bloody mess streaked across the hardwood floor, “I hate hippies, son, I really do.”
Xander heaved, coughing up more blood, “I’m… not—”
“‘—your son’? Yea yea! Heard it all before! You weren’t the first and you weren’t the last and neither was that ugly little shit-of-a-mutt you left smeared all over the road by your stolen car!” He shook his head, “And as many times as I hear it, I can’t help but think that you are my son: a product of what I gave to you! Look at you! You wouldn’t be the freak-show you are now if weren’t for me!” He shook his head again, “You fucking kids. You think you’re something special; something original. You think that pain can’t come to you because Mommy and Daddy swear they won’t let it!” He licked his lips, “But Daddy’s dead and Mommy’s dead and I can hurt you and it
tastes de-fucking-licious!”
Xander groaned, still struggling to stand, “Don’t you fucking talk about my—”
“What? Your mom?” Kyle smirked and shook his head, “Your mom was a dish! Something about that woman put a spice on any emotion that came out!”
“SHUT UP!” Xander roared and lunged at Kyle, ignoring his broken bones and lacerations. The auric bonds holding him back dropped all at once and he lurched, stumbling forward as Kyle drove a fist into his face, doing more damage to his already broken nose and causing him to recoil back against the wall where he felt Kyle’s aura trap him once again.
“Wow! A fighter to the end, huh? Just like your mother! Like the time I took her anti-depressants to get those negative juices basting her up good! Oh she went nuts that night! Said she’d call the cops on me and everything. Made a shit-load of noise.” He shook his head, “But I’ve got ways of shutting up my food real fast.” He moved his hand up until he was pointing to Xander’s temple, “Many, many ways.”
Kyle stepped back and narrowed his eyes. There was an explosion in Xander’s head; an intense agony that seemed to drill its way out from the inside-out.
The pain was too much!
He screamed and saw, through his twisted vision, as Kyle smiled at him and soaked up his torment; bringing it into himself.
Feeding off of it!
Xander cringed, reaching for some bit of control in his mind to take on the monster, but his aura was immobilized by the pain and his body held tight in the sadistic auric’s grip.
“My only regret,” Kyle mused as he continued to drain Xander, “is that the bitch isn’t alive and here so I could do it all over again.”
There was nothing left in Xander to fight back with; not a thing he could do but feel his mind begin to shut down—piece-by-piece. His eyes rose to see Kyle’s grinning face through the growing haze of his approaching death. Though Kyle’s mouth continued to move, Xander heard nothing except the dull hum of his mind being drained. He closed his eyes again and his muscles slacked as he began to feel tired and, as his head dropped in defeat, he felt the familiar warmth of the skin-heated metal under his chin and forced his eyes to open, filling his vision with his mother’s pendant. Seeing the charm, Xander couldn’t help but remember the sight of it as it fell from her beaten and ravaged neck.
There was the familiar surge of heat as his rage swelled within him and a sharp yank as Kyle ripped it from him just as fast. Again his anger and hate inflated his aura and again it was shrunk back down. With each new burst, however, something lingered in Xander and, though he was not strong enough to get free from Kyle’s auric grip, he felt a portion of his life-force return to him. His tortured muscles flexed and he struggled against Kyle’s force to reach up with his left hand until it clutched the pendant that had brought him back. Grabbing the pendant the rings that lined his fingers rattled with his quaking body against it.
And suddenly he was free.
Surprised, Xander stretched, finding all his limbs free of pain and capable of movement. This newfound freedom came with an even greater shock: he was no longer in Kyle’s house!
He had no idea where he was!
It was foggy, first and foremost, and in the distance he could see the flashes of lightning and hear the rumbles of an approaching storm. Though he was bewildered, he did not feel lost. Rather, he felt a strange sense of peace.
The sound of soft footsteps drew his gaze away from the mist-filled distance and the raging storm that filled it and focused on a shadowed figure as it approached, hidden in the fog. Believing the environment and the figure to be a manifestation of Kyle, he tensed and watched as it emerged from the thick gray and into the small clearing he stood within. At first, he was sure it was some sort of trick, but as the familiar face of his father smiled at him he felt calmed and stepped forward to join him.
“Dad?” he croaked, his voice as choked in this world as it was in Kyle’s home under his suffocating hold.
The ghost nodded and smiled, “Thought you might want some support.”
“Not sure what good it’ll do at this point…” Xander frowned and scanned their surroundings once again, “Where are we?”
The image of Joseph looked around as well and shrugged, “You’re in that sadistic asshole’s house, giving him the last of your essence.”
Xander let out a heavy sigh and sat down on the ground. “He’s too strong,” he confessed, watching the swirling mist that served as this world’s sky, “Any power I build up he takes away just as fast!”
The ghost mirrored Xander’s stares into the distance, but remained standing. “You’re confusing your emotions with power,” he responded.
Xander looked up at the specter, “So what should I do?”
His father’s image continued to stare off into the distance. When he was sure he would get no reply, he looked down at his feet.
Why do we like tigers? Xander’s head shot up to find a source but his grandmother’s voice sounded from all directions. He turned, eager to question his father’s ghost but found himself alone. As the echo died down, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker.
His eyes opened then, revealing the interior of the house and the bastard; still grinning and still feeding off of the last of his energy.
“My, my. Aren’t we the bottomless pit of hatred and despair?” Kyle taunted, The kids at school must have loved you.
Xander cringed as he heard Kyle’s voice ringing inside of his head. His left hand, despite his strange “trip,” remained tightly wrapped around the pendant, its corners beginning to tear into his palm and sending drops of blood onto the floor.
Grace and intelligence. His grandmother’s voice sounded in the back of his mind again.
Kyle furrowed his brow, “What do you have going on in there?” he growled in frustration, the pain in his head growing more intense.
Xander glared at the source of all his pain; the cuts in his hand deepening as his grip tightened around the pendant. Feeling the jewelry bite into him, a massive surge of scorching rage began to grow within him once again, and he cringed at the burning that was consuming him and fought to push it away, not wanting to feed Kyle any further.
Power… Grace… Intelligence… his grandmother’s words repeated over and over in his mind.
Kyle snarled in frustration and took a step towards him, his boots landing hard on the floor, “I asked you a question, son!”
Xander saw his chance then and shot forward with his right hand, grabbing Kyle’s face and digging into the soft flesh. He knew he had precious little time before the auric vampire would squirm free and hurried to take back the stolen energy through his hand. With every passing second he felt stronger, and his aura sprang from his chest, pushing against Kyle’s restraints until they buckled and shattered from the pressure. Finally free, Xander pulled him forward, holding him tighter in his energy-draining grip.
“I’m not your goddam son!” he growled, his fangs extending further than ever before and causing his gums to ache.
The blood that seeped from Kyle’s face smelled too good to hold back any longer and he kicked off the wall, forcing both of them to the floor. Crouched over his old stepfather, Xander saw fear in his eyes and he shot forward with his aura, embracing the quivering energy mass and beginning to feed from it.
The ironic justice of feeding from Kyle’s misery didn’t distract him from the thirst and he brought his fangs down on him, holding his struggling head to one side as he began to drink. Kyle thrashed and squirmed as Xander fed from both his fear of being conquered as well as his spilled blood. As he did, he felt his strength return and his body begin to heal and his grip tightened with his returning strength.
Finally, when he felt he’d had enough, he rose to his feet.
Kyle groaned, his weakened aura darting back-and-forth for energy that Xander refused to give. As he looked into the hate-filled glare of his old stepfather, he reached out with an auric tendril and brought Yang to his hand.
Seeing what was coming, Kyle sneered. “So what happens after you kill me?” his voice strained and croaked around his torn throat, “I’ve looked into your head, and you and I both know that you’ve got nothing more to live for!” He laughed and spat out a mouthful of blood, “You’ve got no clan. No family. NOTHING!” He grinned, glaring up at him, “So… you going to go back to trying to kill yourself?”
Xander frowned and fought the rage that Kyle wanted to grow within him, knowing that if he let the auric vampire into his head he’d feed once more and grow stronger. Finally getting control of his emotions, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the bullet he had been saving and slipped it into the chamber, giving the barrel a spin and slapping it shut like he had so many times with Yin. As the raging inferno inside him shrunk down and disappeared, Xander pressed the barrel of the ivory revolver to Kyle’s head and smiled, confident that this time the hammer would find the right chamber.
“If there’s anything you’ve taught me”—he spoke slowly and deliberately—“it’s that there is always one more thing to live for.”
With that, he pulled the trigger and put an end to his nightmares.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Something to Live For
Xander sighed as he climbed from the driver’s seat of Kyle’s beat-up truck. Scowling back at the vehicle, he cursed the fate that the Firebird had come to meet. It really had been such a sweet ride…
Rocking back on the heels of the stolen boots, he smiled; though they were a bit big on him they were comfortable and would serve as a reminder of his first real victory as a vampire and the conquest against the monster who had ruined his life. Kyle had, from what Xander had seen, cared a great deal for the expensive footwear by keeping them in good condition for so many years. Their new owner, however, had every intention of wearing them until they came apart at the seams.
Noir: A Crimson Shadow Novel Page 32