Sincerely, Vintage

Part 6

Vince

A thunderous roar shook Vince out of a shallow sleep. He'd been stretched out on his balcony floor, staring up at the sky, and he must've dozed off. Eerie noises were normal nowadays, but the sound still froze him to the spot until he heard something else.
"C'mon! Show me what you've got!"
Only one person he knew could yell that loud.
Tracey.
In a flash, he grabbed his weapon and practically jumped down the fire escape. He hit the ground running, listening for any sounds of a fight. The monster roared again.
They're close.
Vince put on a burst of speed and continued toward the sound. As he got closer, he could hear the monster's grotesque noises punctuated by occasional explosions.
Suddenly, Tracey flew into view like the monster had thrown her. She hit the ground and rolled until she came to a stop against a building. She didn't get up.
"Trace!"
Vince knelt next to her and brushed her neon pink hair out of her face. The sleeves of her hoodie were torn in some places. Both knees of her jeans had been ripped, exposing bloody skin underneath.
"What are you doing?" Tracey's eyes flickered open. Her voice was weaker than usual, but she sounded like she would still knock him over if he tried to help her.
"Helping. Or trying to."
"If you really want to help, get Hrida out of there." Tracey slowly picked herself up, wincing. Vince reached out a hand to help her, but she shoved it out of the way.
"Where is she?"
"I told her to hide before the fight started. It's only a matter of time before-"
A scream interrupted Tracey mid-sentence. Vintage leapt to his feet and ran toward the sound, stopping short as the situation unfolded in front of him.
Hrida, who must've tucked herself behind a dumpster, had her back to the wall. In a horribly cat-like way, the monster was simply sitting in front of her, head cocked to one side, as if it was taking a moment to consider whether or not it was hungry.
Looking at it, Vince could see how it had been able to effortlessly throw Tracey so far. Powerful muscles rippled across its limbs. Dangerous claws curled out from each paw, and its tail playfully flicked side to side, mocking him. He'd seen beasts like this at the museum. Of course, they weren't as intimidating when they were stuffed and silent behind glass.
Vince took in a slow breath through his nose, then let it out as he brought his hands together. When he spread them back apart, a small orb of flame had kindled in each. He hurled one of the fireballs at the beast's tail, igniting the tuft of fur at the end.
The monster howled in pain, whirling around to face him. Its eyes glowed an eerie yellow in the streetlights, and when it opened its mouth to snarl at him, its teeth shone.
Even though the beast towered over his head, Vince glared back at it, eyes blazing. His fire grew until it completely engulfed his hands and ran down the backs of his arms. The flickering light cast strange shadows in the alleyway. For the first time, the monster actually looked a little bit afraid. It hadn't expected fire to come out of nowhere, but this tiny being had summoned it effortlessly.
Vince bared his teeth and swept one of his arms across the air in front of him, sending a wave of fire flying toward the monster's face. It brought up a paw to protect its eyes, but it wasn't fast enough. As the wave passed, the fire ignited some of its whiskers and singed the fur on its muzzle.
The monster howled again, dropping back and pawing at its face. Vince kept pressing forward, attacking relentlessly until the beast gave up and fled down another alleyway. As the frantic beat of its paws faded into the distance, Vince's fire gradually faded away. He was breathing heavily, and if you looked closely, his hands were shaking. He put a hand to his forehead and sighed.
"Vince?"
Hrida quietly walked up behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Vince didn't turn to look at her. He took a few deep breaths to steady himself, but his hands tightened into fists at his sides.
"I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Don't worry about it." Hrida's voice sounded calm, but when he turned around, he saw her arms tightly crossed over her stomach and how the color had drained from her face. A sad smile lifted the corner of his mouth for a moment.
"Let's get you home."
—————
Vince waited outside, leaning against a streetlight while Tracey walked Hrida to her apartment. He fidgeted with the edge of his sleeve as he tried to think of something to say. Footsteps on the stairs announced Tracey's return. She came out onto the street, and when she turned to face him, his heart twisted in his chest. The orange glow of the streetlight painted her face, lighting up her neon hair and setting the depths of her eyes on fire. Standing there, she looked so heroic and beautiful that he ached to tell her so.
"Some help you were."
She brushed past him, and the moment was broken.
"Sorry?" He went after her. It bothered him that he quickened his pace to catch up.
"I could have handled it. You didn't have to come flying in and rescue me." She rolled her eyes and shoved her hands into her pockets, kicking at a piece of rubble in front of her.
"Trace, did you see the size of that thing? There's no way you would have-"
"Don't."
Tracey stopped and looked him in the eye. Her gaze reminded Vince of a pair of steel doors, closed tight.
Vince stared back at her, even though it felt like looking into the sun.
"Look, outside of Derrick and Hrida and you, I've got nobody. I don't know what I'd do if something happened. That's why I try to protect everyone."
Why I protect you, he wanted to say, but he couldn't.
"Hm," she huffed. "That's a nice sentiment." Then she turned and kept walking like he hadn't said anything at all. Vince fell into step next to her. The two of them didn't say a word for the rest of the walk back to Tracey's apartment.
Even though Vince tried to stop himself, he kept glancing over at Tracey. Her eyebrows were scrunched together, and she was biting her lip the way she always did when she was deep in thought about something. Eventually, Vince decided it was safer to look at his shoes.
The two of them stepped into the puddle of lamplight outside Tracey's apartment building. If Vince had been carrying his camera with him, he would've paused the moment and taken a picture of them standing there, two silhouettes and a circle of calm in the middle of a shattered city.
"Thank you." Tracey's voice broke through the silence unexpectedly. Vince couldn't figure out her emotions from the expression on her face. It reminded him of one of the paintings he'd seen in the museum. All of the colors swirled around each other in a confusing way; you couldn't be quite sure of what you were supposed to be seeing.
He realized he'd been staring and looked to the side.
"You're welcome."
So many other words crammed into his throat, forming a bottleneck. He wanted to say all of them, but he couldn't.
Tracey studied him for a moment, then nodded.
"Good night."
She vanished up the stairs, leaving Vince alone. Even though he didn't want to, he watched her go without saying a word. A bitter wind whistled through the alleys, bearing the smell of smoke and the faint racket of goings-on elsewhere in the city. Vince sighed, fingering the tattoo on the inside of his wrist. The half of a yin yang symbol etched on his skin was barely visible in the dim light.
So many memories.
He turned his steps toward home.