Betreyl & Emily

[†Arisen†]

31. Emily
I lunged across from where I’d been sitting and pushed him back. I must’ve surprised him, because I knew that if I’d done it with his full attention on me he would’ve been as hard to move as stone. I landed with my hands on either side of Trey’s head, my face a few inches apart from his, and he snarled up at me. I’d caused him to drop her arm, but quick as a flash Deimos had her wrapped in his cold arms.
I knew it would be uncomfortable there, but it wouldn’t be as lethal as it was when you were in Trey’s grip. Which, right now, I had gotten myself into. “You can’t hurt her,” I frantically as his furious eyes found mine. “She must have a good reason.”
“And if. She. Doesn’t?” Trey pressed, grinding his teeth together.
“Then…” I searched my brain for an excuse. I saw Trey wince.
“Emily.” He said. “Move your knee.”
I turned around to see that my leg had ended up between his. “Ack! Sorry, sorry; I’m moving!” I shifted so my knees rested on the ground on either side of him.
He gave me a bored, annoyed expression. “Just curious—were you dropped on your head when you were a child?”
I scowled down at him. “Will you just listen to me?” I felt my face flush a dark crimson as I remembered the two sitting behind us, even though I knew Deimos couldn’t care less and that Fawn couldn’t see us. “Torturing her when she’s already hurt isn’t gonna get us anywhere!”
“I agree,” I heard her say. I resisted the urge to turn around and slap her myself. Then, I heard her gasp, and knew that Deimos must’ve done something to shut her up.
When I looked down at Trey, he was smiling again. “And since when do you call the shots?” he demanded, seizing me by the shoulders and rolling me off to the side, so I now rested on the bottom other than he did. “Look, /Emily/,” he sneered my name. “I’m stronger than you. I’m faster than you. And I can do whatever the hell I want.” Then, while holding himself up with one arm, he pushed against the healing marks on my neck. I couldn’t keep the cry of pain from escaping me.
Then I pushed him away. “That’s it! I don’t need you; I never needed you!” I snapped my fingers. “Come, Deimos.” I stood up, my neck still throbbing, and had my Guardian walk behind me so that there was no way Trey would be able to grab me again if he felt the urge.
We were more than halfway down the path, the little shack barely in sight, when I reached into my pockets and found that Trey had stolen both of my guns from me.

[†Arisen†]

32. Betreyl
I stood after she'd left, twirling one of her guns around my finger. She wouldn't get very far without it. I tucked both of them away in my jacket and sat down in an old wooden chair. I spun it around so I could lean forward on the back of it. Fawn had moved from where she was sitting to now be near me.
"Trey..." She said, her voice pleading.
"What?!" I snapped, still fuming over what'd happened with Emily.
"Trey...please let me go..."
"Why would I do that?"
She was right in front of me before I realized it, but what she did next astounded me even more.

[†Arisen†]

33. Emily
I wheeled around in mid-step, cursing under my breath. That little asshole.
I kicked up half of the dirt with my worn boots as I trudged back to the abandoned shed.
“You are one of the most—” I began, walking through the open doorway, and I gasped at what I saw. Fawn’s long, pale fingers were curled over the sides of his jacket, one of his hands on her shoulders. And he was kissing her.
For a fraction of a second I felt completely and utterly confused. Wasn’t he supposed to be watching her; making sure she didn’t escape? Was she playing a trick on him? Then, in Trey’s other hand, I saw one of my pistols. He slowly raised it up…
…and blew a hole right through Fawn’s stomach.

[†Arisen†]

34. Betreyl
I pushed her back, standing, "You cheap little..."
"Are we interrupting?"
I glanced up to see Emily and Deimos in the doorway. I drug my sleeve across my mouth, "Of course not."
I watched Fawn twitch on the floor, blood seeping into the dirt. Dammit, I had to get out. I pushed past Emily, dropping her gun in her hand and stepped out into the cool night air, sighing.
"That cheap little bitch," I snarled under my breath, "She should've known I'd blow a hole in her one day.”

[†Arisen†]

35. Emily
I barely even regarded the twitching, bleeding body on the floor. “Hey!” I called out. “What the hell; where are you going?!”
I had to run to catch up to Trey, whose long legs made him much faster than me on foot. “What was that all about?” I demanded, barely able to keep my pace with him. “You shoot her—wasting my bullet—and then just leave me with her corpse? Are you trying to mess with me, because its not—!”
He turned on me then, glaring, seeming so large and menacing it was almost scary.
“What do you want from me?” he asked in a whisper, his voice full of rage.
“More like ‘what do you need from me?’” I retorted. “You just dragged me along because you want my blood, right?” I continued to glare at him, even when he reached up and grabbed one of the pigtails on the side of my head. His other hand reached up, grabbing a handful of the white hair that I’d worn down, and pulled me closer.
“You’re just a lonely little girl in the big world.” He said, watching the hurt flicker across my face. He leaned closer, tugging my hair in the process. “You don’t understand anything.”
I grabbed him by the collar. “You’re an asshole.” I hissed, and he roughly pushed me away. “We still going to Cetbal?” I asked after a moment of silence.
His eyebrow rose. “Be my guest. I’ll sit on the city walls and watch them slaughter you. Mostly because you have the prettiest face when you’re in pain.”
My eyes narrowed. “You’re just sick.” I replied in a hollow voice. It had taken me until just then to realize we’d started walking again; I noticed Trey was going noticeably slower.

[†Arisen†]

36.Betreyl
I watched the ground roll past me. "When will you tell me what your problem is…?” She muttered.
"I don't have a problem," I snapped, turning toward her. She flinched. “I don’t have a problem, I have a weakness.”
"Weakness?”
"Blood. Anyone’s. Even when I know it’s there…I go out of control.”
“That’s why you attacked me earlier.” She clarified softly. “And why you walked out.”
“Yes. I’m not the strongest in the world. All of us have a weakness. But mine’s so…” my fists clenched. “Simple.”

[†Arisen†]

37. Emily

“No,” I said slowly. “It’s not simple at all, really.”
He stared at me, dubious. Again, we fell into silence. Then he looked over at me again.
“Emily,” his voice was careful. “When you look at me…what do you see?”
The question threw me off guard. “Hmm.” I hummed, truly pondering his words. I wasn’t used to dealing with things like this; since most of the humans over the world have vanished, nobody has really had time for other things other than survival. But I peered through my strands of dirty hair to stare at his face; he didn’t seem troubled at all, in fact, his face was almost relaxed. Only his gray eyes—which were beginning to mix with the blood red from earlier—betrayed his anxiety. “You seem unreal, almost. When I see you, I see…” I chewed the tip of my finger nervously, wondering if he would bite me again if he grew angry at my response. “…Sadness.”
He stopped walking. It was almost as if he was moving in slow motion as he looked in my direction again. But I’d never been more surprised at what he did then…

[†Arisen†]

38. Betreyl
I moved slower than usual as I used the back of my hand to brush her hair away from her face. She seemed to freeze, "Sadness,” I muttered faintly. My eyes walked over her face, seeing the little details I'd missed with the action exploding around us. But the calm made it easier. I knelt down to her height. "Is that what you really see...? Sadness?"
I must've given her a shock because she took a half step back before nodding. I smiled gently. I leaned forward, kissing her cheek, "At least you didn't say monster," I muttered while I was still near her. I stood and continued to walk.

[†Arisen†]

39. Emily
Before I could stop it, my hand flew to my face. “You’re not…angry?” I managed. I ran up to his side. I heard something blow through the leaves, and I knew Deimos had melted away into the shadows nearby. Things like this bored him out of his mind.
“You know,” I said in an almost scolding voice. “You really, really confuse me.” I thought I saw him smile, even if only for a second.
Then he reached up, ruffling my hair. I huffed as I felt one of my pigtails come undone.
“You really shouldn’t stay near me.” He mused. “You barely even know me; I don’t even know why I forced you to come along!”
I felt like throwing my ‘blood’ comment at him again, but the act seemed pointless. “Why do you say that? You don’t like having me around?” I said the words with a demanding voice.
“You truly don’t know about me?” he asked in a surprised voice.
“How would I?” I threw back. “I just met you today!” I saw the sun peeking through the clouds above the tress. “Yesterday!” I corrected.

[†Arisen†]

40. Betreyl
"I find that hard to believe. There isn't many who don't know me," I mused silently.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"I doubt that you haven't heard of me."
"Why do you say that?"
"Have you heard of a mass slaughter, an entire town slaughtered by one man?"
"Yes... But its...just..." She stopped as I turned to her.
"It’s not a legend. I know. I was there."
"Three hundred years ago...?"
"Yes. Three hundred years ago. Vampires hardly age or don't at all."
"Betreyl... Why are you bringing this up?"
"The man who killed the entire town... Was me. I killed them all. I remember it so clearly that I could describe it.” I rolled up the sleeve on my blackened arm, "Their blood... It wouldn't come off..."
She stayed silent, looking like she would back away. But, then, "Why? Why did you do it?"
My hands fisted, "They asked for it. They begged. They wanted to die. They wanted me to kill them. The only mistake I made was letting two stay alive."
"Who...?" She was shaking now.
"Myself... and Fawn."
"Fawn? Why didn't you kill her?"
"She was only four... She'd seen it all. Even as I made a pile of the corpses. I saw her... and I couldn't bring myself to kill her.”

[†Arisen†]

41. Emily
I felt like an idiot; why was I shaking so badly?
“What did you do?” I asked.
His eyes were so intense it was almost scary. And having him crouch down to my tiny height didn’t exactly help. “I took her eyesight away,” he whispered. He must have seen the horror fleetingly in my eyes, because he smiled. “But I won’t ruin you; your eyes are far too pretty. Such a dark brown” he tilted my chin upwards with a finger, so the sunlight slanted across the top half of my face. “That they’re red in the light.”
I pushed his hand away. “Then what would you do to me, hmm? Would you have killed me too?” Then the vision of Fawn’s crumpled body flashed through my mind—then I remembered that she’d really deserved it.
“Yes.” He said without even hesitating. But his voice was soft, as if I was frustrating him again.
I stepped back, making sure he wouldn’t be able to take anything from me this time. “I think you’ve had enough time toying with me.” I practically spat. “Gonna stop me this time?” I eyed him, seeing if he was actually going to challenge me.

[†Arisen†]

42. Betreyl
I stepped back, "I never did stop you. You came back. And remember. I was never toying with you. You could've left at any time."
"You attacked me…and..."
"I never made you come with me. I couldn't stop myself from attacking you. After that, you could've turned around and pretended you never saw me. You didn't though, did you?"
She looked away.
"I'm going to Cetbal. You can come, or you can go somewhere else if you wish. But I'm going to take down their leader, with or without your help," I stood and started to walk away. It truly was her choice.

[†Arisen†]

43. Emily
I wheeled around, walking back down the trail where I’d been heading before, but making my way off of the trail so I wouldn’t have to walk by Fawn’s body. “Goodbye, Betreyl.” I said callously, kicking past the dead leaves and broken twigs.
When I heard nothing, I turned back; only to see that he’d already left me.
Deimos suddenly materialized behind me, bending down to whisper into my ear. “You’ll understand soon.” He said, almost as if he knew something was going to happen. But, mostly I was surprised because he’d spoken to me without a direct order.
“What?” I asked softly. But he never answered. I pushed a tree branch out of the way before grabbing my hair to put it back in its pigtail. I’d never felt more confused in my life. “Today has been one disaster after another…” I muttered, kicking a log from my path. “Damn it, Deimos, talk to me!”
He didn’t even jump at how sharp my words had become. “About what?” he asked.
“Anything!”
“Positive.” He replied. “You know, your stepping in poison ivy.”

[†Arisen†]

44. Betreyl
I trudged as I walked. It was quiet. Quiet enough to make me suspicious, but it just wouldn't spark. I sighed, wishing for something to listen to. But there was no sound. Just my footsteps, which were hard to hear as it was. I started to hum, just for sound. It was going to be slow today.

[†Arisen†]

45. Emily
I’d been out here for about forty minutes—total. And already I’d stepped in poison ivy, gotten one of my feet stuck in the mucky sludge from the fog that had dampened everything yesterday, and had tree branches rip through my hair like claws.
But, then again, I’ve never met a person who enjoyed this new world, the one overrun by ghouls and filled with dead towns.
“Remind me to never, ever do this again.” I said to my ghostly companion, who nodded in response.
“Positive.” I hung my head, beginning to wonder already if Trey was at Cetbal.