Of Gods and Monsters

Into Fire And Into Ice

"Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard
Some do it with a bitter look
Some with a flattering word
The coward does it with a kiss
The brave man with a sword" 
― Oscar Wilde

As the footsteps became louder and loomed ever closer, Elek could feel the anxiety rise in his body. He couldn't figure out exactly who would be in his home? It couldn't be humans, that much he was certain of. He strained to hear thoughts, but none came. That could only mean something---inhuman, was making their way towards where he was pacing, in their basement. Finally, the door opened with some force, and Elek winced at the noise.

"Who goes there!"

Elek called out, willing his voice to sound dangerous and forceful. However, it came out instead as a hoarse and wavering sound, his fear palatable. Elek cursed himself. When they finally reached his vision, he recoiled violently.

At least five creatures, (for creature was the only word that could sufficiently describe them), came forward and stood before him. They were bi-pedal, but hobbled when they walked, as if they hadn't fully formulated. They were humanoid, for Elek could make out where there once had been a face. A few had exposed muscle, not a fresh red color, but instead a sickly grey. A few had their eyeballs still intact, if only one, and it stared back at him in a cold, unfeeling way. The rest of them seemed to be black, charred. He could smell a horrid, rotting smell, and the faint tinge of smoke. One of them came forward, and Elek once again recoiled.

"You don't recognize your own handy work?"

It spit out through a mouth, a mouth with no lips or teeth. It looked to Elek like someone had cut a deep wound into the area where perhaps a mouth should have gone previously, it was grotesque. As his fear ebbed away as he processed it's words, his heart sunk.

"Are you...the Magyar Theatre vampír?! B-But---there's no way! We—"

Elek was cut off by the creatures advancing again, this time with a menacing look in their eye(s).

"---burned us while we slept? Is that the phrase you're looking for?"

It clicked its tongue, the only thing on its body that held any color. A bright red, with boils protruding here and there. Elek felt ill.

"Oh come now, Elek. You should've known better. We can't be killed off by mere flames."

As they advanced, Elek realized with horror his only means of escape was blocked off. They stood directly between himself and the stairs. He felt the wall press into his back and gulped audibly. He squeezed his eyes shut as the horrible creatures began to stretch their burnt limbs forward to grab him.

"Enough!"

Elek heard a familiar voice bellow from opposite of him. Daring to look, he opened an eye enough to take in another absurd face. Victor. Uncharred, but how? The creatures obeyed and made a clear pathway from the stair's to Elek.

"Victor....? But how are you---"

"Intact? Dieu merci, I happened to be out during the fire, obtaining a new sacrifice for our play."

He drawled out, walking leisurely from the stair's, to where Elek stood. Elek's mind flashed.

"Where's Ambrus?"

He asked, with a new sense of anger. Victor stopped walking, pretending to be in thought. Anger again flashed through Elek's mind, but he made no movements. He sensed the situation he was in was dire, and precarious. There was no way he could out fight six fully fledged vampír on his own, and held his tongue.

"Ambrus? Hmm. The last time I saw him he was begging me to spare him, and kill you instead."

Elek blanched noticeably and stiffened. Victor just smiled. Would Ambrus really sell him out like this? He couldn't be sure. Had he really made Ambrus that mad? Victor watched Elek's agony with satisfaction.

"Poor Elek, so new, so fresh. Doesn't even understand his own emotions."

Elek frowned now.

"What are you getting at?"

Victor walked over now, close, grabbing Elek's face between his thumb and forefingers. Elek winced, but didn't jerk away. From his current position, his head was plastered as far as it could be against the wall. The creatures just snickered.

"You think Ambrus loves you, don't you? And that you love Ambrus? Such a fool, you are."

He spat, his breath blowing into Elek's face. He gave Elek no time to think of a retort.

"Ah, to be young and naïve. I explained the sire progeny bond to you once before, no? Did you take nothing from it? It's a one-way transaction, mon ami. This is why I killed my own sire. They think of us as tools, weapons. We're expendable. If they grow tired of us, they simply make another. We are their fodder in this existence, their entertainment, their toys."

Elek felt his mouth go dry while he processed this information. He knew Ambrus wasn't getting what he wanted from Elek anymore, knew that he could sense his restlessness. The possibility of Ambrus simply leaving him and making another had never crossed his mind before, but the longer it did, the more sense it began to make to him. Had Ambrus really let him take the fall alone?

"You're a liar."

Elek managed to choke out, unconvincingly. Victor smiled sweetly.

"Am I? Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Victor snapped his fingers and two more creatures began to walk down the stairway, each holding a figure under the armpits, dragging his body forward. It was Ambrus, beaten, and defeated.

"Tell him Ambrus, tell him what you really think of him."

Ambrus, who couldn't stand, simply looked at the floor. Victor angrily walked over and gave him a kick to the ribs, and Elek watched in horror as Ambrus screamed and spat up blood.

"I said tell him, Ambrus."

After a bit of panting and shaking, due to the pain, Ambrus stood. He shoved both of the creatures off of him, attempting to regain some dignity. He met Elek's eyes for the first time. A look in his eyes and in his face, that made Elek's heart stop.

"Elek. Everything Victor has said is the truth. And we need you to leave here. Forever."

--

"You will do what I say, when I say it, or his immortal life will come to an unfortunate and early end."

Ambrus didn't have much time to process Victor's words as hands grabbed him from behind, thrusting him with force onto the ground. Held there, on his back. Victor stood, adjusting his collar and rubbing his neck.

"You choking me like this brings back such fond memories, mon ami."

Victor nearly spat. With force and suddenness, Victor slammed his foot down onto Ambrus's jugular, producing a gasping and gargling sound from him. Ambrus struggled to breath.

"You're going to break him, Ambrus. You're going to set that little shit free, on his way. If I didn't hold a shred of love for you still, believe me, he would be dead as a door nail as we speak. But because we are friends, I will instead let him live. Far, far away from here. And me and you."

After Victor finished, he brought his foot away from his jugular, if only to slam it violently into his ribs. Ambrus held there like a child, could do nothing to stifle the blow, and all but screamed as he felt his ribs give way and break. Ambrus's vision began to darken. He couldn't make out who the invisible hands belonged to. The only thing he could make out in his tunnel vision was Victor, a satisfied look on his face.

"And if you don't do this for me, then Elek will die. And there will be nothing you can do about it."