Our Love Is Tainted

Chapter 23: A Tainting End

In a sudden moment, the trigger is pulled, and I watch for what seems like an hour, Tate takes the impact. Red. That's all I can see, all I can smell and taste as ringing continues in my ears. I wipe my face, feeling the warmth of red; blood. I still can't see, I still feel sick in the stomach from the smell, which has somehow affected my eye-sight. The gunshot had to be louder than the loudest of lightning strikes, more ferocious than the most monstrous of roars. It was obvious, the choice Tate had made; to protect me at all costs, he'd suffer in the process. I don't want to be the girl in distress, but he would never let me be the one to take the fall, and now, I don't know what state he's currently in. I scream out for him as I try to get up, slowly gaining back my sight, not sure what I'm about to witness, fuck, not sure if I want to witness it.

In a sudden moment, my eyes adjust once more, and, I see Tate, falling over me, and onto the dusty floor, still, conscious.
"Tate?" I ask in fear.
He looks up at me, and, I've never seen anything or anyone like it. His face, his sweet face, mutilated, torn apart by the shotgun blast. He bleeds everywhere as he looks back down, and I have no other choice but to stare at the missing part of his face, and both the bone and muscle that I can see through the hole. I stare the, still, smiling nemesis of Taint, and I. He looks pleased with himself, he probably is, which makes me even more pissed off. I want to lose it, and I have a god damn feeling I'm about to get a chance to.
"Hey, 'Vi'?" Taint whistles, giggling a little. "Do you think that hurt Tate? Or do I have to shoot again? I mean, the choice is up to you, but-"
"Shut the fuck up," I snarl at the asshole in front of me. "Or I'll make you."
"Do you want to be shot too, girly?" Taint growls. "I'll fucking do it, you know I will."
"I wouldn't," I growl back like a child, hearing familiar voices in, and around the house. "The spirits will be, very, very mad."

I feel a breeze slash against my hair, and in an unexpected moment, Tate's axe goes flying past me, flying towards the top of the stairs and hitting Taint in the shoulder. I watch as Taint is knocked back against the wall, firing his weapon in imbalance, that's when Tate makes his move. I watch carefully as Tate makes his way up the stairs Taint pulling the blade out of his shoulder while he does so.
"You. Mother. Fucker."
Taint fires his shotgun again, hitting Tate in the stomach, again and again, causing a deep anger inside of my heart. I pick up a vase from a nearby shelf and make myself appear behind Taint, hitting him in the head with it, breaking it entirely. I move away from Tate's way, watching as he grips his co-existent's throat, slamming him against a wall. A brawl between angel and devil, it was going to happen, whether Taint liked it or not. I notice something strange; Tate's face has already healed.

I hold Taint still, feeling the full effect of whatever is going on with my face. I can feel the ability to speak rise up again, so I plan on giving the son of a cunt, the message of his life.
"You think you can just come here?! Hurt my MOTHER?! MY GIRLFRIEND!"
I drag him past Violet and into the bathroom as he laughs sadistically, breaking his face against the cabinet, picking him up, and then breaking the mirror with his skull. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy this violence, feels like payback, feels amazing.
"You think any of your BULLSHIT!" Taint stops, spitting blood at me. "Will do anything."
"SHUT UP!" I scream again, smashing his face into the mirror again, feeling his body shake in adrenaline.
"Want to know something," he says, gripping my throat. "I've always been a part of your life, you just didn't know it."
I watch as Ben comes into the room with the axe, so I move Taint towards his direction, giving him the green light. Ben slams down the axe, placing it deep inside of his back, and his spinal cord. Taint's eyes roll back for a single second, but then they come back, looking angry.
"My turn."

Taint manages to kick Ben away, forcing him into the wall, and breaking it. He pulls his arm back, just out of reach of the axe head, so he does something I'd never expect. He breaks his arm forcefully, allowing himself to stretch his reach, grabbing the axe head and ripping it off his back, then snapping his arm back into place. He laughs as he stares at the blood on his hand, then he starts to whistle, a tune a recognise in my dreams, he's antagonising me, and it's fucking working.
"Let's, go for a walk, buddy," he says, taking us to the basement in a blink of an eye. "Much better."
He throws me into the side of the opened up wall, making my body break some of the bricks on impact and crash onto the ground.
"You know," he smirks at me. "You're a fiery one, Tate Langdon. I like that! Maybe, for all of the bullshit you caused me, I'll give your boy a visit after I'm done here?"
My eyes peer back at him, I swear, a volcano is burning up my body with rage. I want to send him here, and now. But I can't, I need some help first.
"Come on, Tate, let's finish this, together."

I launch myself onto Taint, gripping his chest and making us appear back in the living room, where I know, the gang is waiting.
"NOW!" I scream.
I watch as Chad pulls a knife from his belt, stabbing Taint multiple times in both the back and neck. Vivien sticks a blade into Taint's side, directly into his now, bloody kidney. Ben and Hayden begin kicking the shit out of him, hard enough to break ribs cages. Blood comes drooling out of Taint's mouth, dark and blackish red blood.
"Nice try," he chokes on blood. "But- you're- gonna'- have to- try- harder."
"Get him, hun," Chad smirks with a dark look as Patrick appears behind him.
"My turn," Patrick smiles, cracking his knuckles.
Patrick grips onto Taint's neck, picking him up with one hand, throwing him into the wall, then picks him up again. But Taint manages to break from Patrick's ghostly grip, holding his head down onto the floor, yanking Vivien's knife from his side. Taint shoves the blade into the throat of Chad, making him choke on his own blood, then turns to Patrick, breaking his neck once more.
"Never gets old."

I watch patiently as Taint manages to get to feet, all of his wounds and broken bones healing in a matter of seconds. He holds the axe in his arms, looking tempted to use it, violently.
"Is that all you've got?!" He roars. "C'mon, I want to see more from all of you. At least throw something more than a couple of faggots!"
"Tempting," I scoff. "But, that can wait."
"You're out of your league, Tate, you cannot stop me. None of you can, not physically or mentally! We're the same person, Tate, I'm everything you've ever hated about the world, put into one person. I'm darkness, your darkness, I block out the fucking sun!"
"The sun," I hear Violet whispers. "THE SUN."
I charge towards my nemesis, and he does the same to me. We collide, creating an unknown force I've never felt before, but for some reason, I'm the one who prevails. The sheer force of my power sends both of us through the front door, and out the front of the house. I stare at the sky; it's close to morning, close to finding out whether our new method will work. I hear him scream, and as I turn, I see him swing the axe. I manage to dodge getting my head cut off, kicking him in the balls, and making him drop the axe.

"NOT FAIR!" He screams once more, charging at me once more, his nails ready to gouge out my eyes.
Violet comes out of nowhere, swinging something metal towards Taint, creating a metallic sound, and making him scream loudly. I stare over at Taint, and that's when I see it; his bloody hand, creeping along the ground, shaking like it's still connected to the rest of his arm. Violet wields a now messy machete in her hands, looking pleased with herself. I turn, watching Ben as he passes me Taint's shotgun, and I snatch it off him, cocking it. I fire two rounds into his chest and another in his stomach, then drop the weapon. I grip the axe tighter than I have ever gripped it before, slamming it into the top of his neck, deep into the top of his spine. I feel the bone grind against the metal as I drag him towards the gate by the axe, coming closer and closer to it. I don't know how, or why, but he manages to break away from the axe, and place me in a headlock as he passes the gate, me in his hands.

"TATE!" Violet screams as the sun begins to come up.
I try to break free from his grasp, but, even with one hand, he's got a fucken hell of a grip. I watch as the gates as something strange happens, blue smoke begins to slowly ease off the gates like they're burning.
"No. It happened, you're free," Taint gasps. "Impossible. No, no, no! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME!"
"GET OFF OF ME!" I roar at the creature holding onto me.
"Imagine it, Tate; a world, where it's only me and you, forever."
"Not on my watch," I hear a familiar voice say.
I turn to see my mother, Nora, holding a revolver in her hands, and she looks pissed off.
"You won't do it, you stupid c-"
Nora fires her revolver, hitting Taint in the middle of the head, sending him to the ground. The sun comes up, and I have a single second to get back into the yard. I blink. Did I make it?!