Prelude (Underworld Lucian Fanfiction)

73 - Chapter LXXIII: The Death of Reinette

He growled, lurching forward. Shoving his way through the backs of revellers, trying to reach her in time. He could see it from the angle. It was wrong. Like a bird that had forgotten how to fly, her limbs stiffening in the air, falling like a dead-weight.

She fell...

...and he heard it.

An absence of sound, different from the last time. So different that it took him a moment to register the reason. The body splayed in front of him. Her eyes wide and unseeing, no longer reflecting the light above their heads.

Unable to grasp what he was seeing. The way her skull had split on one side, the blood mingling with the silver strands. A pool of blood spreading from her back. It was everywhere. Rancid gobs of blood, the smell of nightshade foul, permeating the ground. But he would fix it. He could still fix it. He just needed more time...

A minute. Two minutes. Singe pushing him aside. His medical bag open and a roll of knives brought out. Syringes. Tubing. An incision made in her throat. Trying to force life into her veins. Trying to make sense of it when a shriek suddenly cut through the night, jerking him out of his thoughts.

Sabine.

She'd pushed her way through the crowd. Half-drunk and sobbing, she was shrieking something at him. It was his fault. Twenty-six and a torrent of fury, struggling to attack him while Rena pulled her back, soothing her head. Like she was a child again, taking her inside before she could see the carnage. Rena who could not feel, yet somehow had...sorrow...in her scent.

It was madness.

All of it.

Even in the quiet settling around them. Allegra starting to usher people into the house. Four minutes. Raze posting guards to keep the stragglers back. Six minutes. Singe working in the corner of his eye. Eight minutes. A full ten before he gave up, shaking his head as he put the instruments down. Saying something about the rate of regeneration, that the poison had overtaken it...

Deceased.

His voice threatening to...do something...when he heard it. Raze the only one to notice what was happening, quickly signing instructions for the few who remained. James on the major contingent, McNally on the minor. Singe taking the lead on cause of death. Transferring the body to his lab. Collecting samples from the ground. All of it happening so quickly that she was gone before the blood had dried.

Until it was just him and Raze left in the garden. Neither of them talking, but neither of them moving either. Even when he knew too much time had passed. That they were not...coming for him. Not until Allegra emerged from the house with a shawl around her shoulders, whispering something to Raze...

Safe-house.

They wanted him in a safe-house...

...except he couldn't move. And the whole time, he could feel them watching him. Waiting for something. The temperature starting to drop. Making him realise how long he'd been sitting there. That he was a fool to be waiting for news. Staring at his hands in a daze and then looking down at himself. For the first time, seeing what they were seeing.

He was covered in her blood. His hands starting to shake. His shirt, his coat...everything.

Still able to smell her. Her disappointment. The ferocity with which she'd left him. Like...something wrong...was clinging to his skin. All of it threatening to unravel as he started walking.

Away from it.

Now.

o...o...o

Two hours later.