Post by blake on Apr 7, 2008 2:45:20 GMT -5
Somehow it got deleted [apparently I deleted it 0o], and I've been told to repost it. So-
Eirra Gets Beat Up
Eirra couldn’t sleep. That was normal for her; she’d been sleeping less and less lately. It’d only been a couple days since Ryan had agreed to go to PAL with her, yet it felt as if she’d been there for years already. Eirra gave a forlorn sigh and glanced over at Ryan, trying, futilely, once again, to try and see past the blindness, and through the darkness. She wanted so badly to see his face… no, she needed to see it. The image of Ryan seemed to be slowly seeping from her mind. What if she forgot what he looked like? Her face glum, she gazed blankly into the blackness that shadowed her eyes, one hand resting on her stomach where the child Dante was growing. She lowered her other hand and touched Ryan’s knee affectionately. She hated him being here.
He was safer out in reality, away from the Eons who desired a gory revenge against the man who’d destroyed many of their lives. She couldn’t protect him every minute, and her ears burned from the snide comments that were muttered about her lover’s past. Ryan rarely heard them; Eirra, having been blind for years, had trained herself to hear every whisper and every footstep; a great disadvantage here at PAL.
With a moan, Eirra rose from the bed, her fingers brushing across Ryan’s leg, before returning to her side. Dante shifted inside her, and Eirra breathed a quick “Hush…” to her son. She made her way across the room, flinching twice as her shin met with a variety of solid objects, and reaching out with her hand, touched the chilled metal of the doorknob, and slipped out into the hallway. She shut the door behind her, and her ears twitched as the door gave a small click. Eirra turned and began to stride down the hall. She didn’t know where she was going; she didn’t care. She was so awake, and had so much energy… she needed to be doing something.
There were few other Eons up. Most of PAL seemed to be burrowed in a deep slumber. The few that were up were probably nocturnal; in any case, they steered clear of Eirra, much to her grim satisfaction. ‘Assholes,’ she smirked to herself. Not that she wanted any of them to talk with her. She hated them almost as much as they hated her. They saw her as a traitor; she saw them as enemies. Her chest clenched with the mere memory of the bitter commentary she heard every day concerning Ryan, and her throat constricted. ‘Fuck them,’ she thought in fury. ‘Fuck ‘em all.’
Feeling her spine begin to arch with emotion, she reached down and slipped her hand into her pocket, withdrawing a cigarette pack. She stroked the sickly yellow box with disgust, before flipping open the lid, and letting her thumb run along the rolls of neatly organized poison inside. She hated smoking just as much as she hated her brother. And she hated the fact that although she strongly detested both Darius and tobacco, she seemed to be unable to give either of them up. With a resigned breath of oxygen, Eirra tugged a cigarette from its spot, and placed in on her lips. Dropping the pack back into her pocket, she gave her fingers a snap, and her fire sprung to her fingertips. Holding the cigarette near the heat, she ignited it and inhaled, squinting as the smoke scorched the back of her throat.
She probably wasn’t supposed to be smoking inside PAL headquarters. In fact, being pregnant, she wasn’t supposed to be smoking at all. Ryan would kill her if he knew. But the stress of the day, the anxiety that drilled into her mind hour after hour, driven by unrestrained trepidation and constant concern, was too much for her to bear. And so she took another drag, inhaling the chemicals and smoke, absorbing it into her lungs, and then releasing it back into the world with a weathered, ancient sigh.
Her ears pricked as she heard footsteps caressing the carpet, coming her way. She breathed in quickly through her nose, and sorted through the smell of lit tobacco to figure out that another Eon was approaching her. She didn’t recognize the scent, so it wasn’t Reggie, Riley, or Taro. Eirra let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what Riley or Taro’s reaction would be- though she was sure they wouldn’t be pleased- but Reggie would probably have ordered her to put her cigarette out. At worst, the Eon that was approaching her was simply one of the hundreds that hated her guts. She wasn’t worried.
Taking another drag, she felt the creature’s presence near her, felt the disgust that clung onto the mutant with a mighty stench. Out of spite, she breathed her smoke out into the air at about the same instant she and the creature were passing each other. She secretly hoped the creature would inhale it and have a coughing fit, but to her disappointment, it did not. What it did do was shift its position, and smack its shoulder into her, knocking her slightly off balance. Eirra caught herself before she fell, her hand brushing against the wall. She pulled her lips back to reveal her dangerously sharp teeth and let out a venomous snarl. There was no doubt in her mind that the Eon had bumped her on purpose.
“Watch where you’re going!” She hissed in a tone dripping with hostility. She steadied herself, and continued on her way.
“So-” an acrid voice sneered over her shoulder. “Did LIGHT slice his wings off yet, or would they prefer to simply watch him suffer in his wretched existence?”
Eirra’s froze, her cigarette balanced on her fingers. Heat rushed to her head and face, and she had a sudden, intense feeling of vertigo. Her blood ran iced through her body. She tried to swallow, but her throat seemed too tight, and it expelled the saliva back into her mouth. She felt the rage tremble across her entire body; her skin shriveled with it. Slowly, she rotated and turned back the way she had come.
“Care to repeat,” she rasped, her voice shaking slightly, as she struggled to restrain her emotions, “what you just said?” Her fists clenched at her side, her fingernails buried themselves into her flesh. Her chest ached with the exertion of holding all her pain and anger, and hurt, inside.
The other Eon’s face distorted into a smirk Eirra couldn’t see, but she heard the animosity in his voice. “You heard me. Have they killed your boyfriend yet? Lord knows, he’s better off dead. I’d love to see his guts all over the floor, just like mine were. Not that he really deserves it, that scum. Death is too good for him.”
Eirra’s cranium pounded with her vexation. Sweat droplets broke upon her forehead, and slid down her face. She took a shuddering step towards the other Eon, breathing heavily. “Fuck you,” she snarled hazardously. “You’re fucking dead…” She began to stagger blindly towards him, her hand opening and releasing her cigarette; it fell to the ground and she crushed out its flame with a twist of her foot.
“Oh, look. The traitor is upset…” a different voice echoed from behind Eirra and she paused again. She recognized this voice; she didn’t know the Eon's name, but she’d had a confrontation with him and his late friend before. They had been a loquacious duo, and many of their callous word had been in reference to Ryan. She heard the Eon’s footsteps as he shuffled towards her. Inhaling, she caught the odor of alcohol wafting from him. ‘Great. He’s drunk, again,’ Eirra frowned bitterly. She whirled to face this new adversary.
“I heard your friend got killed.” She derided, shifting on her feet. “Heard he got crushed by a piece of falling roof, and his rib pierced right through his desiccated little heart. I was surprised to hear he had a heart, personally…”
The Eon swayed unsteadily, and his words slurred when he addressed Eirra next. “I wish it’d be your buddy that got ‘imself taken out instead. Your buddy, he don’t deserve no life. Wish LIGHT would’a killed slime like that…”
Eirra lunged forward with a soft roar, and grabbed at the Eon’s face. She missed, and instead got a hold of his clothing. Reacting quickly, she yanked the creature towards her, hauling him off of the floor. Her nose wrinkled as the stench of the beer withered out of his mouth and hovered, vaporous, in the air. She took her free hand and seized his barren throat in a nigh fatal grip. “Yeah, I feel the same way about you. How’d you like it if I slid my claw across your precious little neck?” Venom dripped from her voice; her eyes burned with uninhibited odium.
The Eon attempted to jerk away, but Eirra held onto his shirt steely, and her claws tapped the sensitive flesh around his esophagus, longing to tear through it, to feel the crimson revenge splattered across her hands, to emulate the pain Ryan felt every day in one mangling, brutal gash that obliterated life from this pompous asshole.
“Whoa, man!” The Eon snapped in alarm, his hands flying up to resist Eirra’s hate, pushing futilely at her arm, “Chill, chill. Let go of me.”
“Make me.” Eirra grinned sadistically, her claws slowly tightening around the Eon’s throat. She felt the flesh begin to sever under the pressure of her claws. She could slash it so easily…
The Eon gave a small shrug of his shoulders. “A’ight.” He brought his hands down, and dealt a blow to her arms, knocking them away. He then lunged and planted his palms on her shoulders, thrusting her off her feet, and simpered as she lurched to the ground, her head cracking against the floor. ‘Shit,’ she thought. Ordinarily, she’d have been able to resist the shove, and could have easily smashed the creature’s face in. But she hadn’t eaten in so long, and what little energy she had conserved was nothing but cinders now.
Before she even had a chance to rise, the other Eon, the one that had bumped her shoulder, was on her, restricting her arms to her sides, and leering down at her sightless face. “Oh, this will be fun…”
“Fuck you!” Eirra gasped out. Her words were her only defense left; her muscles trembled with feeble attempts to fight, and her head spun frivolously. There was the rustle of fabric, and the drunkard mutant reallocated to kneel beside her.
“Well, aren’t you a feisty one!” He smirked jovially.
Eirra felt one of the hands relinquish its grip on her arm, and then a fist slammed into her jaw, snapping her head sidewise. Her jaw throbbing dully, she gritted her teeth, and struggled in vain against the aggressive mutants.
“Ah, ah, ah.” The Eon holding her scolded, and brought his fist down again. This time, it connected with her nose, and Eirra let out a gasp as blood spurted out and splattered against the carpet. She slowly rotated her face up to the ceiling again, blood trickling down the side of her face and dotting the carpet. The fist came again, this time catching her near her mouth. Her jaw cracked shut, and one of her fangs ripped into her lip. This time Eirra gave a small cry, to her dismay, and the Eons holding her cackled.
“Hey, I wanna,” protested the drunken one. He moved closer, and studied her face as it slid in and out of focus until, finally, his fist came flying in from the left, blackening the sensitive flesh around Eirra’s eye.
Another cry broke from Eirra’s bloodied lips, and she looked in the direction that she thought the punch had come in. Letting the salvia and drool in her mouth pool up, she pushed it to the front of her mouth and propelled it towards the Eon’s face. A gripe of disgust and an abrupt, solid blow to her chest told her she was on target.
“We’re going to fucking kill you, bitch…” whispered the Eon that held her arms still. Eirra’s heart was pounding. As much as she was disinclined to admitting it, she was terrified. She was being held against her will, and she was being beaten. It was like being back at the LIGHT laboratories, strapped to a table, scalpels slicing her skin apart, syringes inserted into her veins, releasing their contents, and sliding out again with painful ease. Her heart beat rapidly and Eirra ground her teeth together in dreadful anticipation.
A foot swung into her stomach, and Eirra yelped aloud, her thoughts leaping to Dante’s safety. Her side heaved in a spasm of pain, and Eirra closed her eyes and fought tears. Fuck, that hurt. Fortunately, it was a blow to the side of her stomach, not to the center, so Dante was, in all probability, safe. The kick came once again, and then a third time, and Eirra writhed, drawing her knees up protectively to her stomach, her breaths were now ridden with gasps of pain.
One of the hands released her arm again, and connected with her jaw. The blood from her cut lip spurted out blood again, the warm crimson liquid oozed down Eirra’s throat. The hand returned to her arms, and began to twist her left one around, forcing it behind her back. The joint groaned in pain with the stress of being forced out of its socket, and small whimpers slipped from Eirra throat.
The drunken Eon rose to his feet and stumbled away from his friend, and the bloodied gargoyle. “Hey, man,” he muttered, his words garbled and diffident. “Maybe ya should let ‘er go now… I mean, she’s ain’t lookin’ so hot…”
The other Eon didn’t respond. He raised his hand, made a fist again, and brought it into Eirra’s swelling face, the rings on his hand splitting the flesh of Eirra’s face, as he beamed pitilessly at her broken pleas for him to cease, and her wheezes of excruciation. Her face was marred by blood and cuts, her eyes shut, blackened, and bloodied.
“Dude, I’m gonna be getting outa here…” protested the intoxicated Eon, and he turned and stumbled away from the gargoyle and her abuser. Eirra could feel her body weakening under the blows, her head throbbing, her cuts stinging. She kept her eyes closed, and prayed in her thoughts for the beating to end soon.
The Eon still holding her just smiled with twisted pleasure as her blood stained his hands, as his rings slashed her face, as her cries became faint. “This is what you get…” he jeered, “for fucking a LIGHT scientist and for betraying your kind.” The creature reveled in watching the gargoyle suffer, in watching her body shake with panic; For once, someone on LIGHT’s side feared him. For once, he had power, he had control. He could make someone suffer, and he could watch them bleed. The joy was short-lived, however; the Eon froze when he felt a cold hand constrict on the back of his neck, and a mighty force lift him away from Eirra, throwing him down to the floor. “That had better not be Eirra…” A familiar voice hissed, glaring furiously down at the Eon.
The Eon looked up into Ryan’s furious face, and trembled. “Uh…”
Eirra rolled over to her side, curling into a ball and let out a soft moan of pain. Ryan glanced at her, and then lunged at the cowering Eon on the floor, lifting him to his feet, and slamming him against the wall, secretly satisfied at the splintering sound his skull made against the concrete. “Why?” he snarled at the Eon. “Just tell me the fuck why?”
The Eon glanced down at the injured creature and his right eye convulsed. “It’s fun, and she deserved it, that bitch.” He spoke with faux bravado.
Ryan roared and slammed the Eon against the wall again, knocking the air out of him. The Eon choked and looked into Ryan’s eyes. There was pure enmity burning in them, and seething rage. Fear began to pound and hammer through the Eon’s veins.
“Give me a reason…” Ryan hissed. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now…”
The Eon began to shake in Ryan’s grip. He had almost forgotten who he was dealing with: a cruel and callous ex-LIGHT scientist, who adored afflicting torture and suffering on others, who had watched hundreds of Eons die with a smile on his lips. “If you kill me, Reggie will find out and kill you!” the Eon professed. His words were bold, but his eyes watered with fright.
“Do you think I care?” snarled Ryan.
Eirra lay choking on the floor, blood sticking to her hair and face. “Ryan,” she finally croaked hoarsely. “Don’t…”
“Not now, Eirra.” Ryan continued to glare witheringly at the Eon he held.
“No!” Eirra’s voice cracked, and she coughed with the pain. “Please, no. Not anymore. There’s already been enough blood shed tonight.”
Ryan sent Eirra a glance, remembered she could see nothing, and retorted, “This fucker just kicked your ass, and you want me to spare him? He doesn’t deserve it!”
Eirra shuddered on the floor. “Ryan, stop! Have you ever… heard someone die? Not seen anything, but just… heard their last screams? It’s the most horrible thing, Ryan…” Eirra’s voice faltered and failed her.
Ryan paused, and glanced from his injured lover to her smug attacker. His grip tightened on the creatures clothes, and his eyes were enflamed with wrath. His muscles flexed. Oh, how he longed to tear this creature apart with his bare hands. One of the spikes that protruded from Ryan’s wings loomed dangerously close to the Eon’s face. It wouldn’t take much… a slash across the flesh to blight the face forever. But Eirra’s pleading voice, and her reasoning and motives… With a resigned sigh, Ryan loosened his grip and allowed the Eon to slide towards the ground, reluctantly releasing him. “Come near her again,” he threatened in a low voice, “and I’ll kill you.” The Eon’s eyes widened, he gave a curt nod, and then he scuttled off, away from the infuriated ex-LIGHT scientist and the shivering victim on the floor.
Eirra breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the footsteps disappear, and fought her terror down. She lay still and quiet on the floor, trying to control her breathing. Her skin jumped and trembled when Ryan knelt beside her and laid his hand on her arm. Eirra let out a gasp, and finally, the tears of fear slipped down her face in soft quiet sobs. Slowly, Ryan brought his strong arms around her, and pulled her close to his chest, looking down at her cut and wounded face. He sighed heavily. “I’m so sorry, Eirra…”
Eirra relaxed into Ryan’s hold, and sobbed softly into his shirt, her tears mingling with her blood. Her arm still draped clumsily over her stomach, and she tried to calm Dante; the fetus was stirring restlessly inside her, sensing it’s mother’s distress. Ryan looked down at her and muttered, “Did they kick you?”
Unable to speak through her sobs, Eirra just nodded.
“Shit…” Ryan hissed, his grip on his lover tightening.
Eirra’s cries finally ceased and she lay quaking in Ryan’s arms. “H- he’s OK” she stuttered out. “Dante’s fine.”
“Good,” Ryan muttered. He quivered himself when he felt how frail she seemed, how fragile. “Have you eaten anything?” he inquired brusquely.
Eirra was quiet for a bit, pondering on how exactly to answer. Her vacillation was enough.
“Dammit, Eirra! When’s the last time you ate? And do not lie to me.”
Eirra’s voice dropped to a mutter. “Like, I don’t know, five… six days ago?”
“Eirra!”
“There’s never any time to eat!” Eirra protested.
“Of course there’s time to eat!” Ryan retorted. “Why haven’t you been eating?”
Eirra shrugged.
“Alright,” snapped Ryan. “I’m going to go find food, and you, m’dear, are going to eat it.”
With an acquiescent, albeit averse, sigh, Eirra nodded slowly. “Fine…” she mumbled. Ryan’s voice softened as he shifted his body, and leaned Eirra courteously against the wall. “Alright…” he spoke again. “Just… stay here. I’ll be back.” And with those words, Ryan rose and disappeared down the hall.
Eirra Gets Beat Up
Eirra couldn’t sleep. That was normal for her; she’d been sleeping less and less lately. It’d only been a couple days since Ryan had agreed to go to PAL with her, yet it felt as if she’d been there for years already. Eirra gave a forlorn sigh and glanced over at Ryan, trying, futilely, once again, to try and see past the blindness, and through the darkness. She wanted so badly to see his face… no, she needed to see it. The image of Ryan seemed to be slowly seeping from her mind. What if she forgot what he looked like? Her face glum, she gazed blankly into the blackness that shadowed her eyes, one hand resting on her stomach where the child Dante was growing. She lowered her other hand and touched Ryan’s knee affectionately. She hated him being here.
He was safer out in reality, away from the Eons who desired a gory revenge against the man who’d destroyed many of their lives. She couldn’t protect him every minute, and her ears burned from the snide comments that were muttered about her lover’s past. Ryan rarely heard them; Eirra, having been blind for years, had trained herself to hear every whisper and every footstep; a great disadvantage here at PAL.
With a moan, Eirra rose from the bed, her fingers brushing across Ryan’s leg, before returning to her side. Dante shifted inside her, and Eirra breathed a quick “Hush…” to her son. She made her way across the room, flinching twice as her shin met with a variety of solid objects, and reaching out with her hand, touched the chilled metal of the doorknob, and slipped out into the hallway. She shut the door behind her, and her ears twitched as the door gave a small click. Eirra turned and began to stride down the hall. She didn’t know where she was going; she didn’t care. She was so awake, and had so much energy… she needed to be doing something.
There were few other Eons up. Most of PAL seemed to be burrowed in a deep slumber. The few that were up were probably nocturnal; in any case, they steered clear of Eirra, much to her grim satisfaction. ‘Assholes,’ she smirked to herself. Not that she wanted any of them to talk with her. She hated them almost as much as they hated her. They saw her as a traitor; she saw them as enemies. Her chest clenched with the mere memory of the bitter commentary she heard every day concerning Ryan, and her throat constricted. ‘Fuck them,’ she thought in fury. ‘Fuck ‘em all.’
Feeling her spine begin to arch with emotion, she reached down and slipped her hand into her pocket, withdrawing a cigarette pack. She stroked the sickly yellow box with disgust, before flipping open the lid, and letting her thumb run along the rolls of neatly organized poison inside. She hated smoking just as much as she hated her brother. And she hated the fact that although she strongly detested both Darius and tobacco, she seemed to be unable to give either of them up. With a resigned breath of oxygen, Eirra tugged a cigarette from its spot, and placed in on her lips. Dropping the pack back into her pocket, she gave her fingers a snap, and her fire sprung to her fingertips. Holding the cigarette near the heat, she ignited it and inhaled, squinting as the smoke scorched the back of her throat.
She probably wasn’t supposed to be smoking inside PAL headquarters. In fact, being pregnant, she wasn’t supposed to be smoking at all. Ryan would kill her if he knew. But the stress of the day, the anxiety that drilled into her mind hour after hour, driven by unrestrained trepidation and constant concern, was too much for her to bear. And so she took another drag, inhaling the chemicals and smoke, absorbing it into her lungs, and then releasing it back into the world with a weathered, ancient sigh.
Her ears pricked as she heard footsteps caressing the carpet, coming her way. She breathed in quickly through her nose, and sorted through the smell of lit tobacco to figure out that another Eon was approaching her. She didn’t recognize the scent, so it wasn’t Reggie, Riley, or Taro. Eirra let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t know what Riley or Taro’s reaction would be- though she was sure they wouldn’t be pleased- but Reggie would probably have ordered her to put her cigarette out. At worst, the Eon that was approaching her was simply one of the hundreds that hated her guts. She wasn’t worried.
Taking another drag, she felt the creature’s presence near her, felt the disgust that clung onto the mutant with a mighty stench. Out of spite, she breathed her smoke out into the air at about the same instant she and the creature were passing each other. She secretly hoped the creature would inhale it and have a coughing fit, but to her disappointment, it did not. What it did do was shift its position, and smack its shoulder into her, knocking her slightly off balance. Eirra caught herself before she fell, her hand brushing against the wall. She pulled her lips back to reveal her dangerously sharp teeth and let out a venomous snarl. There was no doubt in her mind that the Eon had bumped her on purpose.
“Watch where you’re going!” She hissed in a tone dripping with hostility. She steadied herself, and continued on her way.
“So-” an acrid voice sneered over her shoulder. “Did LIGHT slice his wings off yet, or would they prefer to simply watch him suffer in his wretched existence?”
Eirra’s froze, her cigarette balanced on her fingers. Heat rushed to her head and face, and she had a sudden, intense feeling of vertigo. Her blood ran iced through her body. She tried to swallow, but her throat seemed too tight, and it expelled the saliva back into her mouth. She felt the rage tremble across her entire body; her skin shriveled with it. Slowly, she rotated and turned back the way she had come.
“Care to repeat,” she rasped, her voice shaking slightly, as she struggled to restrain her emotions, “what you just said?” Her fists clenched at her side, her fingernails buried themselves into her flesh. Her chest ached with the exertion of holding all her pain and anger, and hurt, inside.
The other Eon’s face distorted into a smirk Eirra couldn’t see, but she heard the animosity in his voice. “You heard me. Have they killed your boyfriend yet? Lord knows, he’s better off dead. I’d love to see his guts all over the floor, just like mine were. Not that he really deserves it, that scum. Death is too good for him.”
Eirra’s cranium pounded with her vexation. Sweat droplets broke upon her forehead, and slid down her face. She took a shuddering step towards the other Eon, breathing heavily. “Fuck you,” she snarled hazardously. “You’re fucking dead…” She began to stagger blindly towards him, her hand opening and releasing her cigarette; it fell to the ground and she crushed out its flame with a twist of her foot.
“Oh, look. The traitor is upset…” a different voice echoed from behind Eirra and she paused again. She recognized this voice; she didn’t know the Eon's name, but she’d had a confrontation with him and his late friend before. They had been a loquacious duo, and many of their callous word had been in reference to Ryan. She heard the Eon’s footsteps as he shuffled towards her. Inhaling, she caught the odor of alcohol wafting from him. ‘Great. He’s drunk, again,’ Eirra frowned bitterly. She whirled to face this new adversary.
“I heard your friend got killed.” She derided, shifting on her feet. “Heard he got crushed by a piece of falling roof, and his rib pierced right through his desiccated little heart. I was surprised to hear he had a heart, personally…”
The Eon swayed unsteadily, and his words slurred when he addressed Eirra next. “I wish it’d be your buddy that got ‘imself taken out instead. Your buddy, he don’t deserve no life. Wish LIGHT would’a killed slime like that…”
Eirra lunged forward with a soft roar, and grabbed at the Eon’s face. She missed, and instead got a hold of his clothing. Reacting quickly, she yanked the creature towards her, hauling him off of the floor. Her nose wrinkled as the stench of the beer withered out of his mouth and hovered, vaporous, in the air. She took her free hand and seized his barren throat in a nigh fatal grip. “Yeah, I feel the same way about you. How’d you like it if I slid my claw across your precious little neck?” Venom dripped from her voice; her eyes burned with uninhibited odium.
The Eon attempted to jerk away, but Eirra held onto his shirt steely, and her claws tapped the sensitive flesh around his esophagus, longing to tear through it, to feel the crimson revenge splattered across her hands, to emulate the pain Ryan felt every day in one mangling, brutal gash that obliterated life from this pompous asshole.
“Whoa, man!” The Eon snapped in alarm, his hands flying up to resist Eirra’s hate, pushing futilely at her arm, “Chill, chill. Let go of me.”
“Make me.” Eirra grinned sadistically, her claws slowly tightening around the Eon’s throat. She felt the flesh begin to sever under the pressure of her claws. She could slash it so easily…
The Eon gave a small shrug of his shoulders. “A’ight.” He brought his hands down, and dealt a blow to her arms, knocking them away. He then lunged and planted his palms on her shoulders, thrusting her off her feet, and simpered as she lurched to the ground, her head cracking against the floor. ‘Shit,’ she thought. Ordinarily, she’d have been able to resist the shove, and could have easily smashed the creature’s face in. But she hadn’t eaten in so long, and what little energy she had conserved was nothing but cinders now.
Before she even had a chance to rise, the other Eon, the one that had bumped her shoulder, was on her, restricting her arms to her sides, and leering down at her sightless face. “Oh, this will be fun…”
“Fuck you!” Eirra gasped out. Her words were her only defense left; her muscles trembled with feeble attempts to fight, and her head spun frivolously. There was the rustle of fabric, and the drunkard mutant reallocated to kneel beside her.
“Well, aren’t you a feisty one!” He smirked jovially.
Eirra felt one of the hands relinquish its grip on her arm, and then a fist slammed into her jaw, snapping her head sidewise. Her jaw throbbing dully, she gritted her teeth, and struggled in vain against the aggressive mutants.
“Ah, ah, ah.” The Eon holding her scolded, and brought his fist down again. This time, it connected with her nose, and Eirra let out a gasp as blood spurted out and splattered against the carpet. She slowly rotated her face up to the ceiling again, blood trickling down the side of her face and dotting the carpet. The fist came again, this time catching her near her mouth. Her jaw cracked shut, and one of her fangs ripped into her lip. This time Eirra gave a small cry, to her dismay, and the Eons holding her cackled.
“Hey, I wanna,” protested the drunken one. He moved closer, and studied her face as it slid in and out of focus until, finally, his fist came flying in from the left, blackening the sensitive flesh around Eirra’s eye.
Another cry broke from Eirra’s bloodied lips, and she looked in the direction that she thought the punch had come in. Letting the salvia and drool in her mouth pool up, she pushed it to the front of her mouth and propelled it towards the Eon’s face. A gripe of disgust and an abrupt, solid blow to her chest told her she was on target.
“We’re going to fucking kill you, bitch…” whispered the Eon that held her arms still. Eirra’s heart was pounding. As much as she was disinclined to admitting it, she was terrified. She was being held against her will, and she was being beaten. It was like being back at the LIGHT laboratories, strapped to a table, scalpels slicing her skin apart, syringes inserted into her veins, releasing their contents, and sliding out again with painful ease. Her heart beat rapidly and Eirra ground her teeth together in dreadful anticipation.
A foot swung into her stomach, and Eirra yelped aloud, her thoughts leaping to Dante’s safety. Her side heaved in a spasm of pain, and Eirra closed her eyes and fought tears. Fuck, that hurt. Fortunately, it was a blow to the side of her stomach, not to the center, so Dante was, in all probability, safe. The kick came once again, and then a third time, and Eirra writhed, drawing her knees up protectively to her stomach, her breaths were now ridden with gasps of pain.
One of the hands released her arm again, and connected with her jaw. The blood from her cut lip spurted out blood again, the warm crimson liquid oozed down Eirra’s throat. The hand returned to her arms, and began to twist her left one around, forcing it behind her back. The joint groaned in pain with the stress of being forced out of its socket, and small whimpers slipped from Eirra throat.
The drunken Eon rose to his feet and stumbled away from his friend, and the bloodied gargoyle. “Hey, man,” he muttered, his words garbled and diffident. “Maybe ya should let ‘er go now… I mean, she’s ain’t lookin’ so hot…”
The other Eon didn’t respond. He raised his hand, made a fist again, and brought it into Eirra’s swelling face, the rings on his hand splitting the flesh of Eirra’s face, as he beamed pitilessly at her broken pleas for him to cease, and her wheezes of excruciation. Her face was marred by blood and cuts, her eyes shut, blackened, and bloodied.
“Dude, I’m gonna be getting outa here…” protested the intoxicated Eon, and he turned and stumbled away from the gargoyle and her abuser. Eirra could feel her body weakening under the blows, her head throbbing, her cuts stinging. She kept her eyes closed, and prayed in her thoughts for the beating to end soon.
The Eon still holding her just smiled with twisted pleasure as her blood stained his hands, as his rings slashed her face, as her cries became faint. “This is what you get…” he jeered, “for fucking a LIGHT scientist and for betraying your kind.” The creature reveled in watching the gargoyle suffer, in watching her body shake with panic; For once, someone on LIGHT’s side feared him. For once, he had power, he had control. He could make someone suffer, and he could watch them bleed. The joy was short-lived, however; the Eon froze when he felt a cold hand constrict on the back of his neck, and a mighty force lift him away from Eirra, throwing him down to the floor. “That had better not be Eirra…” A familiar voice hissed, glaring furiously down at the Eon.
The Eon looked up into Ryan’s furious face, and trembled. “Uh…”
Eirra rolled over to her side, curling into a ball and let out a soft moan of pain. Ryan glanced at her, and then lunged at the cowering Eon on the floor, lifting him to his feet, and slamming him against the wall, secretly satisfied at the splintering sound his skull made against the concrete. “Why?” he snarled at the Eon. “Just tell me the fuck why?”
The Eon glanced down at the injured creature and his right eye convulsed. “It’s fun, and she deserved it, that bitch.” He spoke with faux bravado.
Ryan roared and slammed the Eon against the wall again, knocking the air out of him. The Eon choked and looked into Ryan’s eyes. There was pure enmity burning in them, and seething rage. Fear began to pound and hammer through the Eon’s veins.
“Give me a reason…” Ryan hissed. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right now…”
The Eon began to shake in Ryan’s grip. He had almost forgotten who he was dealing with: a cruel and callous ex-LIGHT scientist, who adored afflicting torture and suffering on others, who had watched hundreds of Eons die with a smile on his lips. “If you kill me, Reggie will find out and kill you!” the Eon professed. His words were bold, but his eyes watered with fright.
“Do you think I care?” snarled Ryan.
Eirra lay choking on the floor, blood sticking to her hair and face. “Ryan,” she finally croaked hoarsely. “Don’t…”
“Not now, Eirra.” Ryan continued to glare witheringly at the Eon he held.
“No!” Eirra’s voice cracked, and she coughed with the pain. “Please, no. Not anymore. There’s already been enough blood shed tonight.”
Ryan sent Eirra a glance, remembered she could see nothing, and retorted, “This fucker just kicked your ass, and you want me to spare him? He doesn’t deserve it!”
Eirra shuddered on the floor. “Ryan, stop! Have you ever… heard someone die? Not seen anything, but just… heard their last screams? It’s the most horrible thing, Ryan…” Eirra’s voice faltered and failed her.
Ryan paused, and glanced from his injured lover to her smug attacker. His grip tightened on the creatures clothes, and his eyes were enflamed with wrath. His muscles flexed. Oh, how he longed to tear this creature apart with his bare hands. One of the spikes that protruded from Ryan’s wings loomed dangerously close to the Eon’s face. It wouldn’t take much… a slash across the flesh to blight the face forever. But Eirra’s pleading voice, and her reasoning and motives… With a resigned sigh, Ryan loosened his grip and allowed the Eon to slide towards the ground, reluctantly releasing him. “Come near her again,” he threatened in a low voice, “and I’ll kill you.” The Eon’s eyes widened, he gave a curt nod, and then he scuttled off, away from the infuriated ex-LIGHT scientist and the shivering victim on the floor.
Eirra breathed a sigh of relief as she heard the footsteps disappear, and fought her terror down. She lay still and quiet on the floor, trying to control her breathing. Her skin jumped and trembled when Ryan knelt beside her and laid his hand on her arm. Eirra let out a gasp, and finally, the tears of fear slipped down her face in soft quiet sobs. Slowly, Ryan brought his strong arms around her, and pulled her close to his chest, looking down at her cut and wounded face. He sighed heavily. “I’m so sorry, Eirra…”
Eirra relaxed into Ryan’s hold, and sobbed softly into his shirt, her tears mingling with her blood. Her arm still draped clumsily over her stomach, and she tried to calm Dante; the fetus was stirring restlessly inside her, sensing it’s mother’s distress. Ryan looked down at her and muttered, “Did they kick you?”
Unable to speak through her sobs, Eirra just nodded.
“Shit…” Ryan hissed, his grip on his lover tightening.
Eirra’s cries finally ceased and she lay quaking in Ryan’s arms. “H- he’s OK” she stuttered out. “Dante’s fine.”
“Good,” Ryan muttered. He quivered himself when he felt how frail she seemed, how fragile. “Have you eaten anything?” he inquired brusquely.
Eirra was quiet for a bit, pondering on how exactly to answer. Her vacillation was enough.
“Dammit, Eirra! When’s the last time you ate? And do not lie to me.”
Eirra’s voice dropped to a mutter. “Like, I don’t know, five… six days ago?”
“Eirra!”
“There’s never any time to eat!” Eirra protested.
“Of course there’s time to eat!” Ryan retorted. “Why haven’t you been eating?”
Eirra shrugged.
“Alright,” snapped Ryan. “I’m going to go find food, and you, m’dear, are going to eat it.”
With an acquiescent, albeit averse, sigh, Eirra nodded slowly. “Fine…” she mumbled. Ryan’s voice softened as he shifted his body, and leaned Eirra courteously against the wall. “Alright…” he spoke again. “Just… stay here. I’ll be back.” And with those words, Ryan rose and disappeared down the hall.