Era’s scream was only interrupted by his need to retch.
Doubled over on the floor, he was vaguely aware of the others rushing in and seeing the same sight. Gabriel going into protective mode. Crisilla shrieking in horror. Jarred pulling her close and shielding her eyes.
And at the heart of it all, amidst the disgust and the shock and the panic, was one looming fact: Someone knew we were coming.
“You lose your lunch awful easily, Era,” came a voice that sent waves of dread crawling up Era’s back. “You might want to get that looked at.”
Era wiped his mouth and looked slowly over to the chair behind the desk, making absolutely sure not to look at the corpse seated in it. Caine stepped casually out from behind the chair, leaning an elbow on the desk an inch away from the dead man.
Something snapped within him. Era wobbled to his feet, all feeling lost within him except for an overwhelming sense of weakness. “I have so many questions for you,” he uttered meekly, “but you’re not going to answer them, are you?”
“Maybe if you ask nicely,” Caine said politely. “But then again, maybe not.”
“You’ve had so many chances to kill me,” Era continued quietly. “Why haven’t you done so?”
Caine’s green eyes flashed with rage at this. “You think this is just some silly little game of mine, don’t you? You think this is just some elaborate trap, some demented way to off you? This was never about your death, Eravisté. This was a matter of honor, and every time I gave you an opportunity to restore some of your lost pride, you threw it back in my face. You forced me to hurt you, just as you forced hurt upon me so very, very long ago.”
“Why won’t you understand that I don’t understand!?” Era screamed. “You have never let me explain properly! I remember nothing, nothing at all! I don’t remember you, or my family, or my friends, or even my own goddamned name!! My entire life is a mystery to me, and here you are, enacting some psychopathic vendetta against someone who has no idea in the world of what his crimes were! Perhaps if you’d take the time to enlighten me, I would be a little more understanding! I would try to make amends! But as it stands, you are doing nothing but kicking me while I’m down, Lapointe! You have nothing to gain from this except whatever sick satisfaction you may get from that knowledge!!”
“You will not play me for a fool, Lucien!!” he screamed. “Not again, not ever!!”
Despite the rage within him, the strongest emotion he’d ever learned, his heart skipped a beat. Lucien…?
With a forceful wave of his arm, an invisible pulse flattened Gabriel and Jarred against the walls, somehow passing right through Crisilla. She screamed, panicking as she saw blood trickling from her beloved’s lips.
Caine was over to her in an instant, clutching her wrists in a painful hold behind her back. “Let me go!! Let me go, let me go, let… please…” she sobbed, writhing and struggling in his grip.
“You don’t even remember her, do you?” he asked quietly. “Really and truly?”
“Let her go immediately!!” Era screamed.
“I will take no orders from you, wretch!!” Caine shouted back. Glancing behind him to make sure both of the other men were out cold, he whipped his head back around to face Era. His demeanor was suddenly very calm. “Well, obviously you care at least a little for her. Or maybe you just don’t want to get in trouble with her hubby, eh?” Holding a hand out, he summoned a sword from a wall ornament to his hand. “This would be quite a fun test.”
Era blanched, halting his breath. “No… please, you wouldn’t…”
“There is very little I wouldn’t do anymore, ‘master.’”
With that, he threw Crisilla against a nearby wall, throwing his entire weight into the thrust of his sword.
Reacting without thinking, Era leapt forward, staff out, and deflected the blow, throwing Caine off-balance momentarily. He recovered quickly, however, and hastily shoved Era out of the way, preparing his strike again.
“No!!!” Era leapt in front of Crisilla, right as the sword came plunging towards her.
As the sword ripped through his back and out his front, Era and Crisilla’s eyes were locked, even as the sword continued and pierced Crisilla’s heart.
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