The Second Layer

Chapter 30: Ryan

Chapter 30: Ryan

Ryan was waiting inside Blaze's house at the outskirts of town. There'd been a second floor window carelessly left open at the back of the house, so he hadn't needed to break in. Waiting was a hard thing, every second dragged on with excruciating slowness. His thoughts kept shifting between imagining what he was going to do to Blaze when the man arrived, and wondering what would happen if Vryce failed in his task of getting Blaze to run, and the man didn't arrive at all.

Before he'd let him out of the car earlier, Vryce had told him what Blaze's car looked like, and Ryan had seen it sitting in front of the freak bar, so now he was standing at a front window watching for it. The driveway was decently long, so when it arrived he should see it well in advance. His own car was parked several blocks down. There was a chance Blaze had seen it after knocking Ryan out, the night Blaze had killed Anne. And Ryan wanted there to be absolutely no chance of Blaze spotting it tonight, even if the odds of him recognizing it were slim. Now Ryan was just counting the seconds, practically shaking with anticipation, hoping at any instant to see the headlights of Blaze's car.

He couldn't have said how long he stood there. It felt like an eternity, although it was probably less than twenty minutes, when finally a set of headlights approached and then began to turn into Blaze's driveway. Immediately Ryan backed off so that he wouldn't be spotted. He'd already picked out a spot down the hall from the front door, cloaked in shadows so it wouldn't be readily noticeable by someone as they first came in. He figured he could wait there, just out of range of Blaze being able to sense him. At full speed it took him only a fraction of a second to move there now, being careful as he reached it to make sure the shadows completely covered him.

He had to wait another twenty seconds before he finally heard the key in the lock, and then saw the doorknob turn. Ryan froze, locking all his muscles in place, not even daring to breathe. As the door opened, there was just enough moonlight coming in from outside for Ryan to make out Blaze. Blaze didn't even seem to really pay much attention to the inside of the house, he was too focused on turning back to quickly close and lock the door.

Ryan leapt out of the shadows while the man's back was turned, breaking into a sprint down the hall. They both came within range of sensing each other at the same time, and the moment they did Blaze turned his head to glance over his shoulder, his eyes wide with shock.

By the time Blaze spotted him, Ryan was nearly down the hall, closing at an incredible pace. Blaze didn't even bother with the door, he just made a break for the nearest window, clearly planning on jumping through it. Long before he could reach it though, Ryan caught up to him, grabbing him by the shoulder and flinging him to the floor. There Blaze lay on his back, not trying to rise but instead letting his eyes dart quickly back and forth, obviously either looking for something he could use against Ryan or trying to form some plan of escape.

"I told you we'd be seeing each other again," Ryan said, a ferocity in his voice that made Blaze blanch. "You killed the woman I love. As I'm sure you've killed dozens, probably hundreds of others. And now I'm going to kill you."

"Hold on!" Blaze said sharply, holding up one hand to ward Ryan off. "I'm sure there's some way we can work this out. There must be something I can give you. Something I can do. Some way we can settle this."

"Sure, there's a way we can settle this. With you bleeding and begging for your life before I bash your fucking skull in," Ryan replied as he advanced a step towards the man.

Suddenly a bright light flashed from off to Ryan's side, out the window. The headlights of another car? Ryan's head quickly turned, his eyes shifting back and forth to find the source of the light. But there was nothing there. In fact there was no light at all. An icy feeling coursed through him as he realized what the light had been. Nothing more than an illusion. He quickly turned his head back, only to find that Blaze was already on his feet, beginning to run for the back of the house. With a low growl in the back of his throat, Ryan was off after him.