Gaspard screeched in pain when Lucas finally let go. He had lost feeling in his arm along with most of its use. He quickly stood and backed away while he tried to regain strength in his arm.
But Lucas wasn't done with him. With a strong round-house kick to his abdomen, he sent Gaspard flying across the grounds landing horizontally against a tree, injuring his back and then fell facedown to the ground.
Lucas smiled when he heard him cry in agony as both of his scapulae fractured. "Ah, yes. This looks rather familiar- strikingly recent I should include." He chuckled; bending down to pick up a large remainder of a brace then tossed it back and forth from hand to hand. "To see me suffer," he pondered with amusement, "That is what you wanted, isn't it? Seems as if you are on the losing team, Gaspard. The only one who will be learning a lesson here tonight is you."
Gaspard was only half-listening to Lucas as he was trying to focus on recovering from his back injury so he could move again. Though, he noticed the quiet inching closer Lucas as he spoke. It wasn't until his shadow hovered over him when he saw the wood coming for his head. It hit him hard, blurring his vision for a few moments. Lucas continued to beat him with it in the back and his limbs. Lucas was obviously skilled in weaponry and held the enforced wood like a sword when he struck. He broke Gaspard's radius in both forearms while he attempted to block and his right patella when he tried to stand.
"How does it feel to break and repair over and over?" Lucas suddenly asked with a vengeful tone.
Gaspard could only grunt, as he rolled in pain on the ground. His bones and cuts would only take a couple of minutes to heal since they weren't life threatening injuries, even though they had hurt without a doubt. But it was only his bite that was still not healing at all.
Lucas noticed it, and took advantage of this. He knew Gaspard would have to drink blood in order to heal from his bite. He struck the wound hard with an end thrust, causing Gaspard to bellow loudly and clutch his shoulder as the pain shot through his entire body.
"Come on, boy, let's put this quarrel to an end." He finally tossed the wood to the side. "It is only a waste of time and pain for you, even though I do find all this rather entertaining," he mused.
"Why?" He asked through gritted teeth. "Do you not want to try and kill me as well, Lucas?" He began lifting himself up, putting one hand on his knee as he tried to regain stability.
"Kill you?" He asked with a sarcastic shocked look on his face. "Of course not. As much as I hate to admit it, I need you alive for as long as I deem necessary."
"To hell with this prophecy!" he snapped. "Not in my lifetime would I allow you of all people to control me and whatever future offspring I shall sire. What do you take me for?"
"For a boy that was never meant to live. And for the life that was given to you, I say you owe fealty to myself for such a privilege. Thus, do as I command. Submit to me now and I'll let up on your torture- a little." He smirked devilishly.
"Never."
His smile quickly changed into a scowl. "Wrong answer." He suddenly grabbed Gaspard by his bitten arm and dragged him across the ground back towards the house.
Gaspard could only struggle; his injuries were still too severe for now to stop him.
A small pile of rubble was still in flames inside what was left of the house and Lucas took him to it. He bent down next to Gaspard with his arm still gripped tight by his hand and forced his hand into the flames.
"Burning of the flesh, boy!" He bellowed madly into Gaspard's face at his heavy wincing. "How does it feel? You may be immune to the sun's rays, but not fire itself." The flames licked up Gaspard's hand and then to his forearm immediately.
"This is the pain you should have felt not so many years ago with your deceased family. Your true fate." He released his arm from the fire and threw it back at him.
Gaspard tossed his head back, clutching his red and blistering arm and tried to cope with the worst pain he had ever felt. He swallowed deeply several times and winced. "I don't believe I was ever meant to die then with my family, Lucas."
"Ha! And what makes you think that?"
"The damned prophecy was written before I was even born, you said so yourself. My future was seen before I was alive. My death would affect the future. But how could it be called the future if you were meant to change it?"
Lucas' smug look turned into a thoughtful scowl.
"So I believe no matter what you do to me, you won't be able to kill me even if you tried- not tonight."
"Life is not written in stone, boy," he said and half-turned his back to Gaspard and kicked around dust.
"I never said it was. Only that what little is seen beforehand is going to happen no matter what we do to try and stop or change it."
"That is a bold theory."
Gaspard shrugged slightly. His injuries were finally starting to heal as he laid there. "You can't deny that there is truth in it," he rasped.
"No, I cannot," he chuckled evilly, "But what if I did succeed in altering it? I could kill you right now just to prove you wrong."
"Let's see you try."
Lucas turned around swiftly and saw that Gaspard was now standing directly behind him. But before he could strike first he was kicked into the center of a room. Gaspard lunged at his neck and put his hands in a choking position that were now as hot as fire and burned the skin right off his neck. Lucas' screeches were cut off when Gaspard sunk his fangs into his neck and tore the muscle and bone with all of his jaw strength.
The paralysis spread throughout Lucas' body within moments when Gaspard let go. His knees buckled underneath him, sending him crashing facedown to the ground. He lay with his neck severed and his head half hanging off. Tissue ripped and sliced cleanly; tendons of muscle were broken and springing, trying to reconnect themselves. Gaspard knew that his body would be able heal itself within a few hours if he left him like this. With one more swipe to the neck, he could cut his head clean off and his eternal life would come to an end.
Gaspard walked over to his twitching body and kicked him around to face up. A sudden memory flashed before his eyes of Elijh lying helpless on the ground like this.
Gaspard stood over Lucas as he lay on the floor in front of him, the bits and pieces of his flesh strewn about the destructed room. He was in pain, Gaspard could see it in his eyes, but Lucas was still grinning like a child with a new toy.
"Are you going to kill me now, boy?" he sneered, part of his cheek hung from his face giving his delish smirk an even more demonic appearance, "Go ahead and do it, you'll be just like me when you do."
Gaspard's jaw tightened, his eyes narrowing, "No. I won't be like you," he said stiffly. "I won’t kill a vampire like you have done. I won't bring myself to such a low level as yours."
"Ah, such nobility." Lucas laughed, wincing as he did. "Such actions are what made your father so weak. It is what killed him!"
"My father would have given you justice for the laws you have broken. And being my father’s son, I will do what is just," Gaspard's voice was a low growl, "I will sentence you to die by fire. The very element you used on my parents, and on my uncle. You will feel the wrath of the flames- that is your justice!"
Gaspard pulled a match out of his pocket, and eyed it almost hungrily as he dragged it swiftly across the nearest object to light it's flame. He bent down to the immobile Lucas and leaned close to his face so their noses almost touched.
"Enjoy hell, Lucas. I will not be seeing you any time soon."
With a horrifying grin, he flicked the match onto Lucas' chest and stood as he watched the flames begin to creep over his body. As soon as the first scream emitted from Lucas' mouth, a scream that could be heard for miles, Gaspard turned and began to leave what was left of the room without a single backwards glance.
A sudden feel of relief and accomplishment washed over him as he continued walking with the heat of the flames against his back. The thought of his family's murderer never being able to hurt another soul--mortal or immortal--again was enough
to make him smile even after everything that had happened. His father's conqueror would be dead in a matter of moments. His soon-to-be nonexistence was like a weight of an infinite amount lifted off his shoulders. A death almost none would mourn. He had finally brought justice to his late family and to all the other lives Lucas had destroyed. He never imagined something like this could feel so satisfying.
The screams that came from Lucas decaying mouth had ceased. The flames that fed on his body had fully engulfed him, turning what was left of his bones into dust. But Gaspard's smile faded as a new thought arose. Even though Lucas was dead, the fight wasn't over. So many more complications and problems still lay forth. This was only a small step he had reached of peace for one who would live for eternity.
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