His Stoic Mask, Her Bleeding Heart

Chapter 6: The Next Vampiric Alpha Male

I lunged forward suddenly, still moving against my own will. I could feel a panic beginning to stir within me, a deep fear that I would hurt Elyria, but I could do nothing to stop the feeling or myself.

Why is she doing this? I wondered as I pulled my clenched fist back and prepared to strike. Why is she forcing me to fight Elyria? If Kyrianna really loved Elyria as she said she did, what was the point of all this?

My jaw clenched as I let loose a powerful punch, one with the strength to break the small necromancer's jaw and send her through the nearby wall. If I hit her, she was doomed; and if she was doomed, so was I. With Elyria out of the way, there was no doubt in my mind that Kyrianna would happily have me behead myself or bathe in a pool of holy water or whatever other demented methods she could think of to get me out of Elyria's life. By some miracle, however, Elyria dipped below my fist with surprising agility for someone so out of practice and let fly a punch of her own. Kyrianna's powers were so underdeveloped, so slow and sloppy, that she couldn't get me out of the way in time. Elyria's fist connected with my stomach, knocking me backward. If I'd been in control of myself, I would've stopped a couple of steps back, but with Kyrianna in control, all I could do was tip over, effectively ending a fight which I had expected to be much more exciting.

My back hit the floor, and Elyria instantly stepped over me. She had Kyrianna by the throat in an instant, and the girl's hold on me broke with a painful tug on my consciousness. I could only lie there for a moment, disoriented, as Elyria slammed Kyrianna's back into the bathroom wall.

"What the fuck is your problem?" Elyria shouted so loudly that her voice cracked halfway in. The scream sounded odd coming from her, someone who rarely raised her voice above the volume required for casual conversation, but at that moment, I loved her for it. I would've screamed at Kyrianna myself if I'd been able to pick myself up off of the floor.

"I...I..." Kyrianna could do nothing more than stammer, eyes wide and locked on Elyria's. The rage burning in those amethyst depths had her paralyzed and almost as disoriented as I was.

"You what?" Elyria hissed. Kyrianna only dropped her gaze, and a soft growl slipped from Elyria. "Have you lost your mind?" she asked the girl, who now looked as if she were on the brink of tears. I watched as Elyria's expression softened, and I wanted to let out a growl of my own, but I hadn't yet regained the energy.

You should be mad, I thought as I crawled to my knees and turned to look at the two women, disgusted. You should still be yelling at her! But my thoughts meant nothing to Elyria, who didn't even offer me a glance as I loudly got to my feet, scraping and shuffling and leaning heavily on the sink as I did so.

"Why are you doing this?" Elyria asked quietly, releasing Kyrianna's throat. Her hand went to the girl's cheek when a tear finally slipped out, and she brushed the droplet away with her thumb. The tenderness of the gesture sickened me.

"I...just..." Kyrianna's eyes finally met Elyria's, and she went on in a voice that could only be described as "pathetic." "After my parents were..." She paused for a moment and swallowed, then went on. "Were...killed, you became the only thing I had left. And with...him around, I just...I didn't think you would be around for long."

"He's not going to take me away from you," Elyria replied, attempting a reassuring smile that looked more pained than anything. The sentiment was apparently appreciated, however, as Kyrianna smiled softly in return. "You should know that. But..." Here, her smile completely vanished, replaced by the eerie nothingness that she was accustomed to. "There has to be more to it than that. You wouldn't go crazy and try to kill someone over just that."

Kyrianna's gaze fell again, her eyes becoming frantic with panic. A moment passed before she could look up again, and her eyes flicked to me before finding Elyria's once more. She leaned close to her love's ear and whispered something, something that I couldn't hear, even with my vampiric senses. It couldn't have been good, though, as Elyria dropped back a step the moment Kyrianna stopped speaking, her eyes wide and her mouth open to match. She tried to say something, her eyes darting to me, but no sound escaped her. She spun on her heel and walked out of the room, her air a combination of anger, shock, and hurt that likely pleased me more than it should have.