Repent: Gwyllomay of the Darkness (1.5) (MANUSCRIPT)

Chapter 9, He Saw But He Ran (re1)

     "Grace, listen, I'm going to save you!" Ricardo ran a finger down his sweaty cheek. 
     "Whoa. Dude. Can't we all just, like, drink some tea?" Daniel awkwardly waved his arms to the side, a huge shelf of jarred tea-lives falling over. 
      Brilliant, Daniel. 
      "You," Ricardo snapped his gaze, biting his bottom lip, over to Daniel. "are trying to make peace with this monster? We do not make peace with vampyres! They make peace with us! They are the faeries of old! It is humans who run the world now!" 
      "But you left Temple, Ricardo. If anyone is going to kill Gwyllomay, it shall be me." Grace walked slowly up to her old friend, grabbing the knife, but still keeping it in the man's hand. The ceiling hung low above us, daunting it was, as Grace stared Ricardo down into his brown lollipop eyes. Oh, how cute. Despite her contrast in height, the French woman drove a punch into the wider man's hip. 
     Oh, jesus fucking chri-
     "ACK!" Ricardo staggered back. "G- Grace, why would you-" 

     "Gwyllomay is my target. And you aren't a member of the cult anymore. You stay out of my life, alright? You think you're being so bad-ass, but you're really offending the hell out of me. I'm not going to have my noble objective stolen by some renegade agent... who can only use a knife!" Grace backed away into the rainbow-colored tea-shelves as Ricardo dropped his weapon, grabbing at his waist in pain.
      "This is why I left Temple. You all are bastards in your pride." Ricardo gritted his teeth. "But you! I always cherished you. I thought you were different." 
      "Wait, wait, wait! Sis! You really are part of a vampyre-slaying cult? Gwyllomay, you were right!" Daniel jumped up, his eyes bright. 
       Grace put a palm up to her face, covering her expression. "Ugh. Brother, I was going to tell you-"
      "Yeah, like I haven't heard of that one before." Daniel chuckled, though it wasn't pure. He seemed exasperated. He seemed like he'd been here before. "We have a lot more catching up to do than I thought, apparently."
       "Oh hey, my friend Allison is calling. She must be here." Grace blushed as she looked down at her vibrating pocket. Mmm, juicy. 
       "One thing at a time!" Daniel flapped his right arms about.
       What a goof. He was always such an emotional buffoon. Perhaps that's why I've been so drawn to him. I'm an eccentric introvert, if I had to pick a phrase, and Daniel is so... normal.
       He's so full of trouble-making life.
       "Sorry, boy, but life is anything but 'one thing a time'!" Ricardo lunged his arm out, the knife in his hand once more, as he aimed for Daniel's leg. 
       "Ugh, would you give it a rest already?" I landed a chop -- my handed straightened out -- into this man's ribs. 
       "Don't touch me!" Ricardo screeched as a bunch of small, black, and rounded devices fell out of his shirt. 
       Wh- What? Are those-
      "The fact you actually thought I came with just some silly bit of silver wear, Grace, is quite unbecoming of you! I always held great feelings for you, you know. Yet you are just like the rest of them. An untouched and boring soul who's too obsessive in her work! You have no real ambition, you're just a bitch to the system. High in agreeableness." Ricardo chuckled as the tiny black balls began to spark, fire spreading across the floor of the tearoom. 
       "Whoa, okay, we need to go. Forget about sis's dumb secrets! I wanna be able to live to hear her tell me about them first!" Daniel darted for the front door.
       Unfortunately, a drastically loud noise pierced everyone's -- except my -- ears. 
       Ricardo chuckled. "Distractions, distractions. I might not be too well dressed today-- Just an apricot button-up over my chubby self... but your monster-friend set off my explosives! These fireworks are damn sure to char this place to the ground. As you can see, the fire is spreading pretty quickly, Grace. Good job tryin' to catch me, though I'll be sure to tell Temple you're keeping a vampyre to yourself! I don't think they'll like that very much. Oh! Or, better yet, I won't. Temple can burn in Hell for all I care. The only one who deserves to hunt monsters... is me." 
       The roof began to collapse, the ozone-esque smell of hot heat doused my nostrils. My skin felt sooty. I turned to my arm and saw some tea leaves incinerating themselves over my long-sleeve shirt. The employees of this noble facility, wherever they were, clearly weren't here, and yet, I could hear distant screams and yells of a disheveled nature. 
      Grace's eyes started to flutter in that panicked moment. Ricardo had evidently vanished, as more bits of the store fell around this woman and I. Her gaze soon fell to a close. The once horrific sounds of her helpless coughing now fell to a slumber of some sort. Her lovely body fell limp towards the charred floor.
      Oh, no you don't. 
      You're not dying on my watch.