Abernathy steps off the splintered remains of the table he landed on.
"Tell me," addressing Jade. "How did it feel to kill Lyriz? Did it feel good?"
Jade is confused by the question.
"Did it feel good…to feel the one who turned you die in your hands?"
"What the hell are you talking about," Jade impatient with this bizarre questioning.
"You really don't remember me," his face appears hurt at this revelation.
"Should I?" Jade folding her arms.
"We met…though it was a long time ago…down in the subway?"
Jade's memory goes back about nine years; mere hours after her attack. The first time she ever fed. "Ben…Clarke. That's what the paper called you. Thought they arrested you."
"They did," he snorts. "But…heh…heh…naturally I didn't stay in custody for long. It's not Ben Clarke anymore. That was my time as a human fucking being. I go by my mother's maiden name: Abernathy. Always liked it. Being a dead man, no one cares about you changing your name."
"I never…"
Jade's retort is interrupted by Abernathy throwing a row of attached chairs in disgust.
"You took my life, Jade West. You think I enjoy being this way? Never seeing the sun; resorting to cannibalism to survive." His face became more twisted with each passing word.
He leaps toward Jade, knocking her across the room.
"I only stole what I needed to. I wasn't a monster before I met you. Now I'm a murderer. And you know what? I found out that I was really good at it."
Jade struggles to get her bearings. He's really strong.
Abernathy picks her up by the throat. "How long has it been since you've fed? Must have been quite a few days; I can see it in your eyes."
No, it's me.
"When you cut me like a stuffed pig," Abernathy pounds her ribs until they felt like they've been turned to powder. "And lapped up my bleeding body like a hungry dog…" throwing Jade back to the ground. "You didn't think about exposing me to your DNA?"
Jade's memory couldn't help but search its archives. Tori was never infected and they've kissed hundreds of times. Wait. He shot me before that. Was I bleeding internally? Did I accidentally bleed through my mouth when I touched him? Stupid. Stupid.
Abernathy lands kicks into her torso.
"Stop it!" Trina standing her ground close to the melee. "Leave her alone, you bastard!"
He points right at Trina. "Ah, isn't that precious? You have a fan."
Beck comes up with his gun freshly reloaded. "Make that two." He fires at the vampire but he is surprisingly quicker than average. He dodges the shots and deftly disarms the vampire hunter with a head-butt. Once the weapon is free from its operator's fingers, Abernathy breaks in into pieces.
"Just because I loathe what I've become," Abernathy pointing at Beck's motionless body. "Doesn't mean I condone his kind." He disregards Jade and walks over to Beck, picking him up by his shoulders. "You really think you were the first hunter I've encountered. Huh?"
Trina runs over to help Jade. Supporting herself with one arm, she tells the older Vega "No…help…him…"
She nods and runs over to the fallen soldier. Abernathy catches what is going on and tosses Beck haphazardly through the air, landing on Trina which knocks her to the floor.
"Beck? Beck?" his lack of response makes Trina terrified. But her anxiety reaches new dimensions when Abernathy begins to strangle her with his one arm.
"Annoying wench," he sneers.
"Let her go," Jade's voice getting Abernathy's attention. She stands, barely, holding her right side with her left hand and her left arm with her right. Jade couldn't keep track of the amount of broken bones in her body but she knew one thing: she hadn't the strength to repair them. She only has the energy to stay alive which is getting increasingly difficult.
Abernathy looks at Jade, back at Trina and then back at Jade again. He discards the human and pursues the big prize. Jade could feel her whole body tense up, bracing for the next series of blows but she had to keep fighting.
It was all she could do.
Jade lands a couple decent punches but his retort was far more severe. It wasn't long until she found herself on the ground again. This time, she couldn't get up anymore. With her last ounce of strength, Jade manages to roll over onto her back.
If she was gonna die, she was at least gonna look her killer in the eyes. Never give him the satisfaction of being afraid.
Even when there is no hope left.
Andre makes it to the hospital but his progress is upset by the hordes of freshly-minted vampires. He certainly has his work cut out for him.
"Damn it, I need to get past the lobby. I hope Jade and the others are okay."
"Does it hurt, Miss Jade?" Abernathy standing over her, savoring his impending victory.
"I'm pretty fucking far from okay, if that's what you mean" Jade holding onto her sarcasm. Take the flavor out of his moment of triumph.
A deafening scream surprises Jade and so does watching Abernathy fly across the room, slamming into the wall. His body leaves a big crater. Tori grabs the dumbfounded Abernathy and slams him into the floor, his form making an even larger impact mark.
"You attack my sister and my girl?" Tori's eyes ablaze. "You die!"
Tori backs up, letting Abernathy get to his feet. He comes at her with some fresh jabs but she counters every one by ducking. On the fifth one, she grips his fist and uses it to swing him around before letting him go. His trajectory sends him into the big window close to the floor.
He emerges from the shattered glass, several pieces of which sticking to his flesh. He clearly looks worse for the wear from what Tori did to him.
Trina crawls over to Beck. She puts her ear to his chest. Still breathing. She acquires a couple pillows from a couch and supports his head. Even though she knew nothing about medicine, having a father as a cop made her learn basic first aid peripherally.
Trina rubs his forehead, tears traveling down her face. "Please wake up, my knight."
Beck coughs and opens his eyes. "What's happening?"
"You past out when that guy hit you."
"Sure it was him," he winces. "And not a semi?"
Trina covers her mouth, trying not to laugh even though despite being hurt, that was his intention.
"You're flat on your back and all you can think of is making me feel better?"
Beck shrugs one shoulder. The left doesn't feel too good. "Sometimes that makes us stronger, thinking of somebody else."
Tori gets behind the wounded Abernathy and gets a firm grip on his head. He screams ferociously as the jugular, trachea and vertebrate stretch beyond their means. Soon, Tori is holding the head of the threat to what was left of her family. The body on the other hand collapses far below.
She kicks the severed head like a macabre soccer ball. The amulet, hanging from what still remains of the neck, hits the wall squarely and smashes into a thousand tiny bits.
Soon, and orange glow begins to creep through the darkness.
Shit.
Tori looks at the clock on the wall. 7:15.
Oh God, Jade.
She races to her fallen girlfriend but a rough ray of UV penetrates the broken piece of ceiling glass. The light hits Jade in the chest, the agony making her eyes roll in the back of her head.
Tori picks up Jade and runs to the lounge, the closest place away from any windows. She looks down at her love and sees her heart beating. The ray managed to make a gaping hole in her.
"Jade?"
No reaction. No movement.
"Jade, can you hear me?"
Still nothing.
Tori could feel the ground giving way from underneath her as she looks upon Jade's lifeless body.