Døllmaker | Cyan

(twenty)

Ryan just barely started to come to. Once he realized he had a slight grip on consciousness, he forced himself to open his eyes all the way. Unlike most, he didn't need any time to remember where he was or what had happened. He hadn't lost track of the nightmare that occurred earlier. Currently, there were shackles around his wrists that led to a bolt in the floor. He was leaned in the corner of Veera's workshop as the man worked. 

"You didn't kill me." He stated bitterly, "Why?" 

Veera continued working, not giving him even one glance as he responded, "Seems like it'd be a waste, wouldn't it? A highly trained sorcerer and one of the few people that the Collector cares about." 

"He doesn't give a shit about me and neither do you. You couldn't kill me, could you?" 

He sighed, "No. For the most part, Kuza was always inferior to me as a potion brewer. The one thing he was actually good at was creating vitality potions. Prolonged use makes it's user immune to many poisons." 

"There's other ways of killing people." He grumbled.

"You say that as if you want me to slit your throat." Veera stood from his seat at his workbench, his chair's legs skidding across the old warped floors. He walked over to Ryan and crouched down in front of him. "I am... old fashioned. I prefer to honor the dark arts' code of honor. Which states-" 

"A life may only be claimed by thou's hands by way of thou's respective arts. In layman's terms, you can only kill using what you're trained in. In your case, alchemy. In my case, sorcery." 

"Hm, you've been sucking on those vitality potions a lot longer than I thought." 

"The same goes for you." Ryan replied, "You don't look a day over twenty five, but how old are you really? I know you must be fifty, at least, if you've got a past with Kuza. What exactly happened between you two that's made you so pissed? Every time I even say his name, you get a look in your eyes like you want to strangle me." 

Veera groaned under his breath and stood back up. "We were taught by the same apprentice. I was a far superior student, but because he was fucking her, he got all the favoritism. Up until he killed her. I should've been pissed but I was so happy to see him snap, I helped him burn the body. We finally saw eye to eye, for a little while. It didn't last. He sold me out, got me a few years in jail, haven't seen him since." 

"Explains a lot." He muttered to himself, thinking over Kuza's strange personality.

He'd always taken in strays like Croc, Paris, and Asher to help them. It had always been obvious he did it in search of atonement and out of sheer guilt. Despite how much Kuza cared for his little pets, he also snapped at several of them many times. His random outbursts of anger never had an explanation, until now. There was trauma in his past. Who knew even the supernatural could get PTSD?

| | |

Rush laid upon his lover's chest, tracing shapes along his skin. He glanced up at him and frowned. "What's that look for?" 

"There is something unsettling in the air tonight. I can't place it, but it won't allow me to sleep." Judas replied.

"Is that why you made us leave Chrissy earlier?" He pouted.

"Yes. I apologize if it came off as me being unhappy with Ryan's new toys. If he just told us when he does these things, I wouldn't care. It's the secrecy that angers me. I believe that's why father gets so angry, too. He never cared that Ryan created Chris. He was angry that he tried to hide it, and that he acts as if we're the abominations. Like we're something he has to protect Chris from. If he gave father the option, I know he'd love Chris as if he was his own. Being denied the chance to have another family member is what hurt him the most." 

Rush snuggled in closer and buried his head in Judas' shoulder. "I think you're right."

He almost jumped out of his skin when he heard a loud knock at their iron door. Rush sat up in bed, pulling the red silk sheets over his chest. Reluctantly, Judas got up and approached. It was a rarity anyone ever came to visit or dared bother them. This late at night, it was extremely concerning. He slowly pulled open the door and breathed a sigh of relief to see his father.

"You never come up here. What's wrong?" He asked.

"Your idiot brother thought it was a good idea to confront Veera on his own!" The Collector scoffed, storming into the room. "Tell me you didn't know anything about this?" 

"No. We knew he was planning on leaving for a few days, but he told us it was for an assignment. Why the Hell would he want to go after Veera?" 

His father threw his hands in the air, "Why the Hell did he think it was a good idea to go after a man that came very close to killing the world's population not even a week ago? I have no damn idea! He started to activate the pendant Kuza gave him, but it was destroyed before a full signal could get through. We have no idea where he is. Kuza's using a smoke spell right now to try to find him, but it could take days." 

Judas looked back to the bed and addressed his love, "Get dressed and go visit his train car. See if you can find anything that might clue us in to where he is. Try not to wake the baby, though. If you can't find anything there, try the workshop." 

Rush nodded. "Okay." 

"We have one other option." 

"I know." The Collector grimaced, "That's why I'm here." 

  ( ø ) 

a/n: wow this was a shortie i'm sorry. but aye two comment questions: 

1 - why do you think ryan went after veera? 

2 - what do you think judas was referring to when he mentioned the "other option"?