AN: I really wanted this chapter to be longer than the previous one, but it just didn't end up that way to make the flow fit. I had to rewrite scenes and take out others and the process ended up taking a longer time than I would've liked. I had a decently difficult time writing Eve and Ahri, mainly because I'm not sure what to do with their dynamic, but I needed the practice.
Happy reading!
Stillness crept into the KDA household late that night once it was sure every occupant had finally retired. It crept over the furniture and under the cracks in the door, stealing away into corners, main dens, and bedrooms to bring comfort of the promise of a new day where things might be just a little bit better. However, it failed to reach the farthest corner of the penthouse and for good reason, for the room's occupant would find no solace in peace and how could she? For the only thing - the only person - ever to bring her any sort of comfort and warmth was lying in hospital bed.
Over and over, Evelynn replayed that horrible scene at the concert in her head, each time no easier to relive than the last. How could she have missed the warning signs her own intuition - the only thing that had kept her alive through her eternal life - had been sending her? Not only for that day, but the days and weeks beforehand? Perhaps her tenure with KDA and all the trappings of security that came with it made her soft, made her forget just how cruel, unpredictable, and savage the world truly was.
And what was the price for my carelessness? Evelynn thought. She paused in front of the large ceiling to floor windows on the West side of he room, glaring out into the light-speckled view of the distant cityscape because she could not stand to focus on her reflection. Their band's name perpetually tainted by a very public assassination attempt, their near-historic comeback ruined, the risked safety of all band members, and the hospitalization of their maknae.
It was the final thought that made Evelynn face herself, burning sulfuric eyes boring hotly into the muted, mirrored ones as if they would make the window burst.
"Was it worth it?" her reflection asked. "Was all the pain, all of your drive to survive, to fulfill a basic need, worth the blood of your woman? Your love?"
"I can't take back what I've done," Evelynn argued with a snarl. "I did what anything would have done. Does a lion shudder that it kills a zebra? Does a snake cry when it pumps a mouse full of venom? I did nothing wrong. What I did was natural if I was ever going to survive."
"Does the lion laugh when the zebra brays for mercy?" her reflection challenged. "Does the snake boast about how it snuffed out the mouse's light? You killed not only to survive, but for the sport of killing - for the pleasure, the thrill. It was just as much a need as eating."
The diva's eyes flashed. "I know better now," she defended. "I've grown wiser, more sophisticated. I've developed my tastes to be satisfied on the pain of breaking hearts instead of shredding them." She slammed her clawed hands on the opposite sides of the reflection's head, leaving hairline scratches where the metallic curve of her talons struck glass. "I don't need to kill to be satisfied!"
The ghostly doppelgänger was unfazed, leveling Evelynn with a cold stare even while rage burned within her. "And yet how often do you and Ahri 'go out' searching for a victim for the night? How hard was it not to ignore Akali's fear as she bled in your arms? How long did you resist the red mists of pain in the hospital?"
Evelynn bit her lower lip hard until she tasted blood.
"You may have gotten wiser and changed with the world, but your nature is still as primal as the world itself. You are still the one who takes pain as pleasure and prizes it above survival. You are still the one who haphazardly murdered countless without a second thought." The reflection's voice was growing louder, conviction saturating every word. "You are still the one who sought out Shauna Vayne's parents in their home and murdered them with no intention of feeding."
"Stop," Evelynn commanded.
"You are the one who savored each scream as you broke their bodies and bathed in their blood."
"Stop it!" Evelynn screeched, her lashers flaring to life behind her, primed to stab the reflection through.
"You waited until their daughter came home to see the carnage, to see what was left of her beloved parents. But you didn't leave much left to see, did you? And what's worse, you didn't have the decency to kill her. No, you kept her alive because how else were you going to draw every last piece of agony from her?"
"Not another word!" Evelynn warned.
"And now here we are at the crux of what you have done, where everything comes to fruition. It would have been too easy - too unsatisfactory - to murder you, so instead it was Akali who took that bullet. She took that bullet for young played perfectly into Vayne's hands because what better way for you to understand anything unless you feel what she felt all those years ago?!"
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
The diva's lashers reacted with a mind of their own, shoot straight at the reflection and piercing the glass straight through. Thousands of crystalline shards sang with a singular ear-piercing screech as they rained down upon the floor. The cold night air nipped at Evelynn's skin and the sore, bloody gashes on her lashers, but she could hardly register either of the sensations. The only thing that rang in her mind was the cruel truth of every word the image in the mirror said.
"I . . . brought this on myself," Evelynn moaned. Her lashers slowly retracted to rest at her sides, drops of dark, brackish blood staining the star-like glass. A chill colder than the night settled inside her that not even the fires of her fury could stand against it.
Perhaps it was fate that everything should turn out this way. In that regard, it was almost a guarantee it would. For nearly all of her immortal life, consequences had been a fleeting concept, even a minor inconvenience at time, but never something if lasting effect - at least, not for her. But now, she would gladly take all of the suffering she reaped and then some if it meant she could turn by time and spare the one who chose to take it instead on her behalf.
"And now I left her," Evelynn murmured.
Akali had taken her death away, willing to pay with her blood in order to redeem Evelynn's, and in the end Evelynn had left her in the hospital. Evelynn abandoned her to lay wounded on the brink of death as if she were no more important than the innumerable others who had crossed Evelynn's path.
"I left you when you needed me," Evelynn said to the wind.
She stepped over the remnants of the window, the glass grinding to powder beneath her heels, as she stopped just shy of the edge, with nothing beneath her but empty air and the sheer drop of the building. Yet her gaze never left the distant lights and the one person resting within them, too far for her to see.
Out there amongst the desolate, gilded buildings, Akali lay alone at the hospital doing all she could to fight for her life. Would help arrive in time if Akali needed it? Was she being properly taken care of, given her critical condition? Her life hung so precariously in the night that Evelynn feared at any moment it could be cut before she had a chance to protectively secure it in her hands.
And she would be damned if she would let that happen to her beloved Rogue.
"I'm not leaving her," she muttered darkly.
In an instant, Evelynn retreated from the gaping hole in the wall to one of the bedside tables. She quickly yanked the top drawer open, revealing a few odds and ends of both hers and Akali's that had collected over the months. Gently pushing the nicknacks aside, she pressed lightly on the bottom of the drawer at the back and carefully eased it up as it became loose.
She had made sure her drawers had false bottoms for safekeeping things she would only allow herself to see, and to hide away things she would no longer like to remember. Needless to say, she never truly forgot.
The diva dug around the hidden space, intent on finding a particular item. It didn't take long for the spikes of her claws to locate the object and pull it out for their owner's inspection. It was a shredded piece of red cloth, moth-eaten and worn from years of being locked away. Evelynn just had to judge it by its faded color that she had unmistakably seen its owner earlier that day.
The mangled strip of fabric fit perfect in the shallow side pocket of her black, leather skirt, with Evelynn able to zip it closed with ease. With her lead tucked away at her side, took up her position at the edge of the window once more. Evelynn slipped into the shadowy cloak of her demon shade, her form thin and specter-like against the night sky. She assessed the drop to the ground below, certain a few well-placed jumps on the intermittent balconies would break her descent enough to guarantee a soft landing. After that, it would be all too easy to melt into the shadows.
Then there was a shift in the scent of the room that the night air could not carry away. Evelynn's nostrils flared as she breathed it in, knowing just who the scent belonged to, and it set a tension in her shoulders she did not want to be burdened with.
Ahri stepped further into the room, stopping shy of the first shards of shattered glass. Her brow furrowed in concern as she assessed the damage done to Evelynn's room, taking special notice of how much force would be needed to complete obliterate the floor to ceiling window, the nearly healed gashes on Evelynn's leather-like lashers, and the dark splashes of ink-like blood. Yet it was Evelynn standing upon the wreckage of it all that caused Ahri's unease to rise.
"What have you done?" the Gumiho muttered.
"Go back to bed, Ahri," Evelynn commanded in a voice so thinly veiled with gentleness it was as transparent as her demon shade.
Ahri's ears twitched once, then slowly bent back. "Evelynn. What're you going to do?"
"Are you going to try and stop me?" Evelynn asked, glancing over her shoulder.
The sheer savage look in Evelynn's eyes. Ahri had come to know that look very well throughout their time together and it made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Ahri's ears all but lay flat against her head and the tip of her crystalline tailed flicked agitatedly behind her.
"Eve, listen to me," Ahri began slowly. "Being in that hospital, everything that has happened today, it still has you riled up. Trust me, I felt it too. And I know we haven't gone out this month yet and that doesn't help."
Ahri gingerly picked her way across the glass, deftly bounding between the shards as easily as if she were skipping across rocks. Out of her periphery, Evelynn's lasher flicked, the movement only becoming more erratic the more Ahri spoke.
"But this isn't the right way," Ahri continued. "Whatever you're going to do it's going to do more harm than good."
The FOXXY model stopped just short of Evelynn, not daring to step across the piles of glass separating her and the demonic diva.
"Please, Eve," Ahri whispered. "If you go to Akali now . . . you won't be able to stop yourself."
The agitated lashers that had slowly encircled them rushed the gumiho from both sides. One coiled loosely around her torso, threatening to pull her onto the glass. The other reared up like the head of a snake before dipping down and gently touching the soft underside of Ahri's chin.
"Enough," Evelynn said evenly. "You're so focused on the brushstrokes you can't see the bigger picture. You worry about me hurting Akali when you should be worrying about Vayne! How easy would it be for her to slip into that hospital? To finish her off while I stand idly by here because you forced me to be instead of by her side?"
Ever so slowly, the lasher's grip upon Ahri subsided, but the tension in Evelynn's voice kept Ahri firmly in place.
"I have not killed in a long, long time," Evelynn continued, "because we both found ways to feed our needs without raising a stir, but neither of us can deny who we are deep down, foxy. Who we have always been. It may make us evil, it may make us primal, but it can never be gotten rid of entirely.
"I can't ignore that urge to kill any longer, but this time I intend to wield it for something useful." Her cat-slit eyes burned in the darkness. "I'm going to finish off Vayne like I should have done all those years ago."
"Alone?" Ahri challenged. "Knowing what she almost did to you? What she did to Akali? What if this is her plan, Evelynn? To draw you out to her and lure you into a trap? What if it doesn't just stop at killing you? She could expose you, expose me, put Kai'sa and Seraphine at risk."
"I know what I'm up against," Evelynn assured firmly. "No human can stand against me."
The singular tail twitching behind Ahri suddenly turned into two. "No human . . ." Ahri muttered. The two promptly became three, then four, five, and more still until all nine of the Gumiho's crystalline tails shimmered in the low moonlight. "But I'm not a human, am I?"
Evelynn's eyes narrowed to slits, the color of her eyes barely visible against the dim light. "I won't let you stop me," she warned.
"And I won't let you die," Ahri replied. "I've known you for a long time, Eve. You're my best friend." Her cool blue eyes glowed dimly as they narrowed. "And I won't let you be killed!"
A quiet gasp left Ahri's throat as the lashers tightened their hold around her once more. Evelynn steadily stepped across the piles of broken glass to stand just inches before Ahri, leveling her with a smoldering stare.
"I won't let you stop me," Evelynn quietly hissed.
For a few fateful seconds, Ahri and Evelynn stared one another down, burning sulfuric yellow boring into cool, smoldering blue. The end of Ahri's tails flicked every now and again, shimmering blue-hot energy playing along the pointed crystalline tips and with each flash of light Evelynn's lashers wound a little bit tighter around the agitated Gumiho, daring her to make the first move.
Ahri's fingers twitched by her side. Very easily she could try and charm her way to get Evelynn to stay. It worked on soothing Kai'sa and Seraphine back to sleep when they all first heard the window shatter, but Evelynn having a charm of her own would make if difficult for the effects to take hold and even then, would she evade the sting of the lashers quick enough for the charm to land?
The tip of one of the lashers tickled her chin, threatening to draw blood. Ahri knew her decision.
All nine of her tails began to fall, reluctantly easing into themselves until all but one tail remained. The Gumiho's fidgeting hands fell limp by her sides and ever so slightly the lasher eased away from her throat.
"Everything I have in me is saying this is a bad idea," Ahri began slowly. Her eyes drifted shut and brows knit in concentration, as if it physically pained her to speak. "There are so, so many ways this could go wrong and there are so many risks." Her eyes fluttered open again and now it was her turn to level Evelynn with a stern, but compassionate stare. "But I know you, Eve, and I trust you know what you're doing. Neither of us would have survived this long if you did not."
Slowly, the lashers disentangled themselves from around Ahri, being careful not to so much as touch her as they slid away and back to Evelynn's sides. Ahri remained in place.
"You have one week," the Gumiho stated, holding up a single finger. "You hear me, Eve? One week, and you are to give me updates about where you are and what you're doing throughout that week. If you take any longer - even so much as a couple hours - " Ahri swallowed the knot twisting in her throat - "and I'm coming after you. Understand?"
The diva took a step back in shock, the dangerous glow present in her eyes moments ago fully receding. Within the blue stillness of the night, a thin, crimson mist gradually formed around Ahri. The taunts of her now shattered doppelgänger whispered from the depths of her mind, yet even in her fear-deprived state, Evelynn could not stomach looking at Ahri's fear.
The nebulous veil of Evelynn's demon shade melted from her body and back into the surrounding shadows of the room, leaving her solid and whole once more. A lasher calmly extended and caressed Ahri's cheek with its inner smooth, scale-like texture, prompting Ahri to turn her head into the touch.
"You're too emotional sometimes, Foxy," she diva smirked and readily opened her arms as Ahri braved the stinging cuts of the glass and dove into them.
"You better come back in one piece, Eve," Ahri hissed in her ear while her own pressed back against her head. "It'd be stupid if you went through all this trouble and didn't come back to enjoy it!"
Evelynn smiled. "Trust me, I don't plan to lose any body parts anytime soon." She gently tugged Ahri's arms away from her waist, holding them loosely by the wrists. "Don't you worry your cute blonde head about it."
Sniffling, Ahri took Evelynn's hands in her own. "No promises I won't worry," she stated plainly. "We just don't want to lose our diva."
"And you won't," Evelynn soothed one more time. The playful smile returned and despite herself, Ahri couldn't help but smile back. "You'd never find someone to replace me."
She chucked Ahri under the chin before taking her place against the exposed frame of the window. The shadows drew ever closer to Evelynn as her form wavered, melting into the diva as she donned her demon shade once more. With a last glance over her shoulder, Evelynn bid the Gumiho a departing flirty wink and jumped, disappearing beyond Ahri's sight.
XXX
Tragedy never rested, and Evelynn was reminded of this as an ambulance flashed in front of the hospital doors, prompting the first couple of nurses to rush onto the curb. The vehicle was nearly bathed in thin, crimson mist, prompting Evelynn to only guess for how much time the critically injured person within had left. When they unloaded him onto the ground, it only took a quick glance at his bloodied forehead and chest that it wouldn't be too long. Nonetheless, she found herself taking shallower breaths as her suppressed appetite leaped inside of her.
The nurses pulled the gurney onto the curb and Evelynn slithered on their heels through the front sliding doors. Their barely concealed fear for the man's life enticed her like sweet perfume and despite herself, the diva gently dragged her claws down one's back while she severed the face mask of the other. She giggled to herself at their wide eyed babbling, but they quickly recovered to push the gurney away to the nearest vacant room.
With visiting hours over, the population of the hospital waiting room was significantly less, which Evelynn was thankful for. While her harmless joke on the nurses were fun, less people meant less distractions and more opportunity to get to the task at hand. She moved purposefully to the set of doors leading to the hospital's inner halls. The invisible diva didn't even bother waiting for anyone else to open the door as she pulled the handle open with a forceful jerk and hastened through.
Almost immediately, Evelynn recoiled as she was plunged in clouds of crimson mist seeping from the various recovery rooms. All levels of pain from deep, unadulterated agony to the minor irritation assailed her senses, enticing the forbidding hunger deep within her begin a feasting frenzy. The diva all but salivated as she steadied herself against the wall, taking deep, harsh, cleansing breaths as she tried to keep a tight grip on her remaining shred of sanity. Her harrowing dialogue with her doppelgänger came to the forefront of her mind, but much like with the window, she banished it away. She wasn't going to give in so easily, not when she had just gotten her chance.
With a disgusted grunt, Evelynn held the back of her hand to her nose, blocking out the majority of the scent, but enough to keep her focused. There was nothing she could do about the mists; those she would have to ignore lest she discard her demon shade and open herself up to being seen and she wasn't so keen on doing that either. With a final deep breath through her mouth, Evelynn steeled herself and plunged headlong into the bloody haze.
She made a beeline to the private wing Akali was being held, every twist and turn on in the hallway engraved in her memory. Thankfully, there were only whispers of the fog here and Evelynn uncovered her nose to breathe properly. The doors of that secluded wing were sealed closed, giving Evelynn some comfort they had been that way since she and Ahri left earlier that night, but she remained skeptical. The diva pressed herself tightly to the door and peeked through one of the small glass windows, finding the room dim save for a lonely spotlight above the nurse's station. Curiously enough, there was no nurse and a sudden rage and panic filled the diva. How could they leave their most high-profile and critically injured patients unguarded where anyone could walk in unnoticed?! The thought prompted her inside and Evelynn wasted not a second more to do so.
If the thought that someone would sneak in didn't disturbed Evelynn, it was the silence. The ear-piercing quiet set her stomach into knots and she cautiously stalked forward, eyes narrowed and scanning every entryway, crevice, and corner for anything amiss. She put her nose to the air and sniffed, finding nothing of suspect in the waiting room and the nurse's station, save for the scent of human. Much to her relief, not one of those scents matched the one lingering on the tattered red cloth in her pocket.
Her worry assuaged, Evelynn approached Akali's room, but spying her slumbering love through the glass, but the overwhelming sight of that terrible deep red mist jerked her to a halt. This time, both her hands flew to her nose as the potent perfume of Akali's pain enveloped her senses. It was nowhere nearly this strong when she and Ahri left. What could have possibly happened since then? The invisible diva held her breath as she rushed to the door of Akali's room, her stomach sinking as she was reacquainted with the sight of her injured beloved.
The lights were dimmed to darkness, but it hardly hid the horror of Akali. Her pale, ashen skin was devoid of the warm vibrancy of life. She lay still on the bed, not a trace of energy within her. The bruises from the IV lines and dried blood from the gauze were too tangible, too real that Evelynn bit down on her lip to keep from whimpering. Akali looked worse than when she was bleeding in Evelynn's arms on that stage. And the worst part was Evelynn could see, smell, and taste every ounce of pain her beloved suffered.
Unable to stand it looking at the mist a second longer, Evelynn swiftly shed her demon shade. The diva released a heavy, shaky breath and caught herself against the wall before she completely collapsed. A bead of sweat rolled down her temple as she leaned her head back, closing her eyes. She couldn't remember the last she had used her demon shade for this long, and just how much effort it took. Not to mention, her lack of a proper consumption of pain didn't help matters.
After one more steadying breath, Evelynn slowly inched her way to Akali's side, being careful to avoid touching the medication line and heart monitor cables attached to her. Evelynn almost lost Akali once due to her negligence; she wouldn't let it happen again.
"Akali?" Evelynn called gently. Her heart skipped a beat when there was no immediate response. She carefully touched a hand on Akali's forehead, doing everything in her power to not let the claws hurt her any more, and leaned in close to her ear. "Darling, I'm here."
Ever so slightly, Akali's eyes cracked open to slits and Evelynn's heart soared.
"Kali?" The diva all but hovered over her, desperately cradling Akali's hand in both of her own. Akali was weak and drained, but she was alive! And that's all Evelynn could want.
The rapper's brow furrowed at the familiar call of her name, forcing her eyes open just enough to see if the face matched the heavenly voice. " . . . Eve?" Akali croaked uncertainly.
Elation erupted in Evelynn's chest. "I'm right here," Evelynn hushed, lips splitting into the widest grin she had ever worn. With such tenderness, Evelynn eased Akali's hand to her cheek. "Can you feel me, love? I'm right here, you're safe."
Akali's thoughts swam in and out of clarity. She could barely register the touch at her hand, let alone Evelynn's voice, as if she was falling through an ever-shifting fog desperate to keep any lucidity at bay.
Her gaze slowly drifted to their reflections in the window glass, frowning. "This is a dream . . ." she murmured. Akali lifted her free hand and curled her fingers, not liking how her ghostly silhouette copied the motion. "But dreams . . . " - she slowly looked down through the opaque haze of her breathing mask to the large wad of gauze at her chest - "aren't supposed to hurt . . ."
Evelynn sighed deeply and tightened her hold. "This is no dream, darling. It's . . . a nightmare." She leaned over her beloved until their foreheads touched, determine yellow eyes meeting cloudy blue-gray. "But I promise it'll end soon."
"Take it," Akali whimpered. "Please . . . it hurts."
Evelynn breathed in sharply, a cold shiver unpleasantly prickling her skin. Deep within, her neglected hunger lifted its head and she suddenly became all too aware of how thick Akali's pain was. The diva bit her lip hard and a small bead of blue blood pooled beneath her teeth. She leaned heavily into Akali, burying her face in the pillow, right next to the rapper's ear as Akali continued to plea. Her claws gripped both sides of the bed tightly, pricking tiny tears into the fabric.
So desperately Evelynn wanted to agree, wanted to reach deep within her girlfriend and tear away anything and everything that was ailing her, but how could she? Evelynn was a demon, a monster, she had long ago come to terms with what she was. Her purpose, her destiny, was to cause pain and thrive off it, leeching off the torment of others like a parasite. There was no room for healing. No room for amending the suffering she had caused despite every fiber in her chest wanting to.
"I want to, love," Evelynn whispered. Her shoulders trembled as she tried to resist the animalistic urges coursing through her. The blood on her lips dripped onto the pillow, and Evelynn horrifyingly found herself wishing it was Akali's blood. No . . . I'm not like that. I'd never hurt her!
". . . Eve . . ." Akali mewled.
The fragrance of Akali's torment shifted and Evelynn stiffened as a tear slipped down Akali's cheek, a herald of many.
"Please," the rapper breathed.
The word cast itself over Evelynn like a spell. Her eyes glowed brightly while everything seemed to grow darker around them, all traces of the tender exchange just moments ago vanished from her gleaming, white-hot robs. She eased herself onto the bed to fully straddle the rapper's hips, looming over Akali until the full length of her shadow fell over her. To feel Akali shudder beneath her was beautiful to the diva. While it hadn't been that long since they both were in bed together, but the heightened sense of her pain mixed with despondent hope made Evelynn's skin tingle in the most pleasant of ways.
"Don't worry, my darling," Evelynn hushed in a husky breath. Her touched a searing kiss to Akali's hairline and grinned as the rapper weakly curled her arms around her, drawing Evelynn in. "I'll take care of everything."
She peppered Akali's forehead with kisses, keeping them sweet and slow, earning approving moans from the wounded girl beneath her. So badly did Evelynn want to ravage Akali's mouth with kisses, but decided she wasn't ready for Akali to lose her breath just yet. The tip of Evelynn's metallic claws tapped the shuddering rapper's cheek lightly and traced down, leaving a trail a thin, hairline trail of fresh blood upon its descent. The rapper's soft whimpers only spurred the excited diva on.
"Harder? Okay," she grinned, breath hot and heavy in Akali's ear. She licked the outer shell of Akali's ear, the dangerous points of her fangs teasing the hot, delicate flesh. The sharp edge of her claw pressed a little deeper as carved a path over the curve of Akali's jaw, tracing the outline of the breathing mask, and down her throat to it settled on a particularly soft spot at the base of Akali's collarbone. Evelynn raised her stained claw and sampled Akali's blood, not bothering to stifle the lascivious moan as she shivered.
This was what she had been craving all day.
The diva zeroed in on the stained gauze peeking out just beneath the collar of Akali's thin hospital gown. It took only the slightest of movements to slice straight through it and peel away to reveal more and more of the bandage and the tender, bruised flesh beneath.
Evelynn eyed the wound wickedly. How easy would it would take only one swipe to tear the bandage away and let it gush anew. She teased the bandage with her claws, occasionally sinking the pointed tips into her red and purple bruises as she anticipated what heights of pain she could take the vulnerable rapper. How would she scream? How would she beg? What joyous memories of them could Evelynn poison just with one precise puncture? Maybe she would watch it bleed and take pleasure in Akali's feeble cries for Evelynn to take away the pain, to make this nightmare end like she promised.
Her eyes smoldered as she hooked the tip of her claws beneath the first layer of gauze. Let's find out!
". . . Eve . . .!"
The call of her name prompted the diva to look up. Akali trembled fiercely beneath her, eyes screwed shut and on the verge of tears, and her breathing mask was frosted over with her hot breath.
Slowly, Evelynn, looked over her shoulder to their reflections in the window: she was hunched over Akali's chest on the hospital bed, clawed hand raised to initiate the first strike while the other held the rapper down. She hadn't realized it before, but her lashers had unveiled themselves at full length and curled around them to form a protective bubble from anyone who may interrupt the diva's feeding. The sight of it filled Evelynn with a new, deep-seated dread and she all but threw herself away, pressing tightly to the opposite wall as she fully came to realize what she had almost done.
She's not safe with me.
Evelynn pressed her hands over her mouth as her shoulders shook, lashers fully curling around their master. She could still taste Akali's blood on her tongue and how clouded her mind became with the heady sweetness of Akali's pain. But oh, how truly horrifying it was that she had given herself to her desires to readily, how quickly she was to not only betray Ahri's faith in her, betray KDA, but betray the love and trust of the woman who had unconditionally surrendered herself to Evelynn. She shouldn't be here.
Akali shuddered and gripped the sheets tightly in her hand, the IV line straining. The pace of the heart monitor increased, the beeping almost deafening to Evelynn. Akali was in pain, and if though Evelynn couldn't free her from it, she could offer some relief.
"Akali . . ." she called softly.
Evelynn approached cautiously, afraid that even the slightest proximity would entice her instincts and she would be too weak to stop it. Still, she had to try. For Akali. She took both sides of Akali's head gently in her hands, her skin hot and clammy against the diva's palms. With extreme care, Evelynn brushed her thumbs beneath her eyes, prompting the rapper to look at her.
"Darling, I'm going to take away the pain," Evelynn assured in a hushed voice. "You're not going to feel anything."
Evelynn's eyes glowed in the dim light, and what ferocity they held just moments before was replaced by soothing kindness and only the best intentions. Akali felt like she was wrapped in the warmest, coziest blanket and it was all she could do to fight to keep her eyes from closing as they grew heavier and heavier.
"Shh, just sleep, my darling," Evelynn soothed. She guided Akali's head into the pillow as her charm took over and Akali passed into sweet unconsciousness. "You'll be all right."
The silence in the room as soon as Akali fell asleep was deafening, even through the hiss of the ventilator and rhythmic beep of the heart monitor. But there was no more whimpering, no more laments of how much it hurt. The aching Akali suffered from only moments ago had dissipated and that was all Evelynn could ask for. Her darling would sleep well the rest of the night, that much she was sure of.
Gathering herself, Evelynn approached the bedside once more and lightly traced the gentle valleys and slopes of Akali's profile, caressing her cheek as she memorized every freckle, every hair, every little detail of her beloved rogue. Though, it was hard to forget anything about someone like her.
"I will come back to you," she whispered over the rapper. She pressed Akali's hand to her chest, hoping she could feel the bleeding heart within it - the heart Akali almost single-handedly helped create. "You have my word, my love. I'll come back to you." Her lips graced Akali's cheek, lingering to enough to savor the softness of her skin. With great restraint, she pulled back and gave Akali's hand a final, strong squeeze before finally walking away, letting the rapper's hand drift from her own as Evelynn took her place at the door.
She paused, making a point to take one last look at her lover. "I love you, Akali. Wait for me."