Beauty & The Beast (Book 1)

46. Willing

Connor drags Alex down to the boiler room, sliding the lock into place of the heavy steel door. A banging comes through from the other side and fist indentations appears one after the other.

"Vincent?! Vincent!" Alex yells in terror as Connor pushes her into a turned off boiler and locks her in. He puts a chair against it and turns to face a snarling Vincent jumping down from the top of the stairs to the bottom after he broke down the door.
He shoots at him, but Vincent's too fast. Connor reloads the gun after his last aim clicked empty.
Vincent had his prey in sight and he ran circles around the man in the dark.

"Let me guess," Connor yells. "Soldier boy! Come to rescue your sweetheart! You willing to die for her?!" Connor sends bullets flying around him, almost hitting Vincent in the arm. "She's obviously in love with you!"
Connor spots Vincent and shoots his way. Vincent turns and runs the other way. Connor was closing in fast.

Vincent's eyes start to blur against the lights and he grunts, rubbing at them. He wasn't all the way gone, he knew what was happening. He couldn't lose focus now. He roars the irritation at the lights out, looking away.

"Looks like you're still in love with her!" Connor continues to goad him out of the darkness. Connor sees Vincent again where he is hiding and he shoots. His bullets hit the electrical box. It sparks and shorts out. The lights flicker off.

Vincent blinks his eyes a few times. He was seeing everything around him as clear as day. This was new... He liked it. He focused his line of sight on finding Connor. Stalking closer, he watched a panicking Connor swing his gun side to side, ready to shoot anything that moves. He could hear the growling but he couldn't see.

"Great, I can't see you, but if you don't come out, how will you ever save her from me?" Connor looks around. "No? Okay! But you just remember... This was your choice!" Connor takes out a lighter and flicks it on.

Vincent snarls behind him, breathing into his neck and Connor turns slowly, the flame lighting Vincent's face. Vincent grabs him, picks him up and tosses him across the room through the kitchen doors. Connor starts crawling backwards, trying to get away, having dropped his gun by Vincent's feet. Vincent walked towards him slowly, already taking control of his animal side and starting to change back.

"How'd you do that?" he stammers. Vincent continues towards him, and Connor takes out a smaller handgun from his boot. He points and shoots. Vincent ducks, rolling out of the way and grabbing the gun as he does. He is in position on his one knee midroll, aiming at Connor, and he fires two shots into his chest. Connor drops to the side, sliding down the wall, and Vincent gets to his feet.

Vincent wipes the entire gun down with his jacket and puts it down next to Connor's body.

*

Cat walks through the hallways looking for the others, not having the strength to really do more than walk. The power comes back on and she looks around, blinking.
"Alex!" Vincent yells and Cat turns her head. She follows his voice past the boilers as he calls. "Alex!"

"Hey!" Alex yells back. Cat speeds up, getting to a door and she hears Alex speaking to Vincent, crying happily.

"I thought I lost you again."

"Are you okay?"

Cat pushes through the doors, seeing Alex put her lips to Vincent's. She watches him kiss her back, her gun lowered.

Vincent holds Alex to him, his eyes closed. He breathes a sigh of relief, opening them to see Cat looking at them, tears in her eyes and her face fallen with heartbreak. She gives him a small broken smile and closes her eyes.