Vices and Maces

Chapter 90: Water Versus Fire Part 2

CW: mentions of drowning, blood, death

As soon as he heard the explosion, Roman had a pretty good idea where to go. Only he was on the other side of the building from the explosion so that made it sorta hard to find it, especially since people got in his way. Either they were running away and panicking, or trying to kill him. The hallway was not big enough for this shit...

Thankfully even with one hand, Roman was able to get through. The smell of blood and water from the sprinklers filled the air, and for a moment it drowned out every other smell. He thought he was supposed to be trying to follow the smell of gunpowder, but that must not have been what caused the explosion.

Then he caught the smell of oil and coffee. He didn't realize it at first, it was so faint, but he definitely recognized it. He ran down a hall and turned right, seeing a hole in the ground. As he got closer, he saw a man and someone trapped in water. He jumped down, grabbing the man in a suit, his hand raised and the water hovering around him.

Roman looked over at the sound of splashing water and saw Virgil fall to the ground, coughing up water. He was drowning.

"Virgil?" he called, but the only response was the dragon curling up with a small whimper.

The water moved away from him and towards Roman, rising up to catch him. But Roman moved faster than the water and jumped back, letting go of the man's shirt. The water genie stood up, the water rising around him. Some blobs of water sharpened and turned to ice, floating in the air.

"You must be Black," Roman guessed.

"And you, Hunt," he replied.

"You can call me Burning Petals, nothing else." Roman pulled out his mace again, quickly whispering the enchantment to make it grow. It was heavy racing through the halls with it in his hand. His fist lit on fire and crawled up the steam, the head of the flower bursting into flames, small because of the water sprinklers.

This was bad, fighting a water genie in a soaking wet hall. Virgil was out like a light, too vulnerable. But Roman can't get close enough to grab Black and pull the fight somewhere else. In this situation, fire won't last.

Roman dashed forward, bending down as two water spikes came towards him. He picked up some debris and threw it at Black, who slashed it down with water. Roman managed to get three feet from him and swung his mace, the movement making his shoulder ache in pain.

Black moved away just enough for water to engulf the head of the mace with water. The flames died out instantly and the genie pushed the mace away, tearing it from Roman's grip and tossing it down the hall.

"Rude!" Roman shouted.

However Black didn't seem like the type to have witty banter. He wasn't a very fun opponent. Well... considering he was trying to kill Virgil, Roman didn't feel the need to have a fun conversation with him.

The genie sent icicles his way, and Roman tried to either melt or dodge them. He wasn't fast enough doing both, especially since he only had one hand, so he ended up getting a few grazes. Slowly the pain was starting to add up, and his shoulder really wasn't helping.

He tried stepping back to give himself more time to dodge them, but Black just followed, step by step. Every time Roman took a step back, he took a step forward, and the attacks were relenting.

Then he seemed to double the amount in one fluid motion, and Roman was able to press himself against the wall to dodge most, but one ended up scratching deep on his thigh, the pain making him drop to one knee.

He thought he was dead for sure but no immediate attack came. And when he looked up he saw why. Black had gotten close to a weapon that was half covered in rubble. He pulled it out and Roman saw it was a giant gun, almost like a- oh. That must be the laser.

Before Roman could get up and move out of the way, Black pulled the trigger and the ice beam hit him. It encased first his legs, then his arms in ice. Immediately Roman summoned fire to his hand, but it wasn't fast enough.

Icicles floated to the air and circled around Roman's head. Black smiled wide. "I don't understand how anyone had trouble killing you," he gloated.

Roman looked over to Virgil, who's arm moved to rub his face. The dragon looked out of it still, but he glanced over to the two of them.

Virgil's eyes widened when he saw Roman trapped in ice, having trouble getting free, and Black about to kill him. He pushed himself up, biting back any cry of pain as he searched for something he could use.

The sight of a small glimmer in the rubble caught his eye. It was a dark metal, and with a start Virgil realized it's his gun. His left hand felt broken, so he grabbed it with his right hand, not caring how loud he was.

Fortunately Black didn't seem to notice, or if he did, he cared more about killing Roman. "Goodbye you rose thorn."

The vampire shut his eyes tight, still trying to melt his way out. There was a deafening bang, and then two more before a body dropped. He opened his eyes to see Virgil staring sightlessly, his face pale. And Black on the ground.

Virgil pushed himself to sit against the wall, letting the gun drop. He let himself grimace in pain, a whimper escaping from his throat as he held a hand against the wound in his leg. Everything ached in him, and as he looked back at Black, he couldn't believe what he had done.

The water flowed normally around them, nothing to control it but gravity. Blood mixed in with it, both of Virgil's and now of Blacks. The genie's blood came from two wounds, one of the shots had missed. But that didn't matter, not when he was crumpled against the ground and the debris. His skin turning pale, his eyes empty.

They won. They really won. Virgil killed him. He's free...

There was a loud crack that made Virgil jump and look over, seeing water spill from the ice that trapped Roman. The vampire pulled himself out, stumbling for a bit before rushing over to him.

He pulled Virgil into a hug, making him shout in pain at the sudden movement but he quickly grabbed onto the back of Roman's shirt so he wouldn't let go. And finally, finally he let himself cry. Virgil didn't care how loud he was as he sobbed into Roman's uninjured shoulder.

"I'm so-sorry," he hiccupped. "I'm sorry!"

"Shh, it's okay, I have you," Roman cooed before pressing a kiss to Virgil's hair. "It'll be okay."

"I didn't- I-" What could he say? He didn't want to put anyone in danger, didn't mean for all of this damage to happen. He just wanted Black gone, dead. He wanted to be free. He didn't even realize that he didn't want to die.

"Virgil! Roman!" someone shouted from somewhere else. The dragon looked up at the hole he created to see two blurry figures.

Both of them jumped down, or hovered? Virgil couldn't tell, not as the relief of being free hit him. As well as the exhaustion from everything he just went through. He shut his eyes and pressed his face into Roman's shoulder, trying to slow his sobs since it hurt his chest.

"Oh god, his leg," he heard a voice say, was it Janus? It sounded like them.

"Is that Black?" someone else- Remus- said.

"Huh... Look at that. God- we need to go. The police are crawling all over this place."

"Right- yes," Roman agreed, "we need to leave. Janus can you-"

"I have him, don't worry." Virgil felt hands grab onto him, and he tried to tighten his grip on Roman.

"It's okay Virgil, it's just Janus," Roman told him.

"Wait, Rom'n," Virgil slurred, and the vampire squeezed his hand before letting go.

"Shit, I think he's going into shock. We need to get to a hospital."

"Let's go this way."

"Just keep him steady, I don't know the extent to all of his injuries."

Virgil found it hard to keep track of everything as Janus stood up. It sounded like they were talking too fast and that they were getting farther away, even though he was in the shifters arms. He knew that Roman was near though, so everything will have to be okay.

Black is finally dead. And they were finally free.