A/N: Eek! I thought I'd only left this a couple of weeks, and the I happened to look at the date on when I'd last updated this thing, and realized I'd left you guys hanging for a month! Bad me! Bad bad bad! This has been ready to go for a while; I've just had a bout of laziness. Feel free to throw sharp objects.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Dark Angel still belongs to Fox, James Cameron, and Charles Eglee. But maybe if I plan out some big, complicated theft, I can finally get Dark Angel for my own. Of course, said big, complicated theft would require planning...Ah, screw it.
Chapter Fifteen
___________________________________________________________________________
Old Enemies
Streets
Seattle, Wa., September 14th, 2021
The fading smell of gunpowder seared his nostrils.
Its acrid stench tainted the air, overpowering the fresh sweetness of clinging
rainwater.
At his feet, the body of the man he'd attacked lay cooling in the rain.
His gaze twined as one with Ames White's, eyes dropping to contemplate the
pistol barrel trained on his chest. Slowly, knowing any abrupt movements would surely
coerce White into pulling the trigger, Alec pocketed his cell phone and lifted both hands
in the air.
White smirked. "Didn't expect to see me again so soon, 494?"
"Ah, you know." Alec shrugged. "I really could have done without seeing your
ugly face."
"Well, maybe if you cooperate, I'll be nice and end that particular pleasure." He
gestured with his weapon to the ragged hole in the brick only an inch to Alec's left.
"That was a warning. The next time I won't miss."
"I suppose you're sparing my life because you want to know where Max is."
"Capturing 452 does happen to be on my to-do list. I figured you might be able to
help me out."
"Now isn't that always the case? Everyone wants Max. No one ever pays any
attention to me. It's like I'm invisible or somethin'. Breaks my heart. I thought that *you*,
at least, would be courteous enough to just want me for me, and not because you're
trying to get to Max."
"Where's the bitch, 494?" White thundered, the tenuous hold he had over his
temper snapping.
"I'd say 'I don't know', but you probably wouldn't believe me." Alec shrugged
again. "So I'll say it anyway: I don't know."
White's face darkened ominously. He lowered his weapon, and strode
purposefully toward the young transgenic, muscles undulating powerfully beneath the
suit he wore. "Maybe you didn't hear me. Where is 452?"
"Who knows? We hardly talk anymor-"
Moonlight glinted off steel; White's pistol caught Alec across the left cheekbone,
slashing flesh. He raised tender fingers to the gash, bringing them away glistening with
crimson.
"Did you hear me? I asked you a question!" White screamed.
A tiny smile quirked Alec's lips, even as fear lurked deep within his eyes. "What
was that? Sorry, didn't hear you."
The next blow opened the smooth flesh of his temple. He stumbled backward
with the force, a tiny gasp of pain parting full lips.
As the gun flashed in the illumination of the moon once more, Alec blurred to
meet it, snatching White's wrist, thrusting it back until the crack of bone ascended into
the sky. The weapon clattered against slick pavement, and already he was moving again,
aiming a powerful round kick at the man's head.
"Don't shoot!" White screamed as a rifle boomed behind him. "Don't shoot,
dammit! I want this goddamned bastard alive."
"You're gonna' either have to take me dead, or pack up your pretty van there and
move it out." Alec said, and landed a hard blow to White's abdomen. He shoved the
man backward, into one of the dark-garbed figures lurking nearby, spilling them both to
the ground.
Another shot rent the air despite White's orders, its echoing thunder stretching
long into the night.
Alec cartwheeled, and surged into the air with a well-placed front-kick to the man
nearest him, knees bending to absorb the impact of his landing, his right foot leaving the
ground almost simultaneously as he turned in a vicious spinning kick.
A boot grazed his ribs, plunging Alec against the side of the van, rocking the
entire vehicle. He blurred to the right as a fist descended upon him, thrusting his forearm
up to block it. His free arm swung around to break the man's nose with a violent elbow
to the face, exploding pale flesh in shimmering gore.
"Get him, dammit! Don't let that fucking animal get away!"
Alec downed another of the bastards with a blow to the temple, and, muscles
bunching, thrust himself straight up, several feet over their heads, turning a backflip in
mid-air and landing atop the van roof. He leapt down to the hood, landed gracefully, and
blurred into the night, his feet treading air for a single moment before gravity plunged
him back to the earth.
White rose without warning before him, glowing as a spirit beneath the effulgent
light of the moon, his hard, muscular body edged in silver illumination.
Alec had a single moment to glimpse the descending weapon, before it slammed
into the side of his head, spinning him sideways, hurling his body to the rain-dampened
blacktop.
The bitter tang of blood clung thick to his lips; he probed the liquid with his
tongue, tasting its acidity.
"Fuck." he murmured, rolling onto one elbow.
A hard thrust of White's foot dropped him once more. Alec felt his heart
hammering against his ribcage, adrenaline surging through every nerve end, his entire
body on fire with anxiety.
"So, 494, had a change of heart yet?"
"If you mean, will I rat out Max, then no."
"You're a moron. That worthless bitch can't be worth what I'm going to put you
through." White snarled.
*Don't bet on it. Besides, while I'm sure your sadistic little brain is coming up
with some nasty torture methods, I doubt you've thought of castration. And my boys
would probably be the first thing Max went for if I ever betrayed her.*
"How about we make a deal." Alec offered, peering up at his tormentor through
softly falling rain. "You let me go so I don't have to exert myself by bashing your face
into the cement, and we both go happily on our ways."
"How about you bring 452 to me or I kill you."
Alec shrugged. "Well I'm afraid in that case the answer would have to be a big
'Fuck you, White.'"
White's lips turned up in a humourless smile. "No thanks, 494. I'm not keen on
reproducing with animals."
"I'm not keen on reproducing with psychotic maniacs who feel the need to point
their gun at my head, so I guess we're even. Then again, I'm not keen on reproducing with men, anyway, so
either way you're out of luck."
"This is cute, 494, but we're wasting time. Are you going to bring 452 to me? Or
do we have to do this the hard way?"
"Well I thought I already gave you the answer to that particular question, but
maybe you're hard of hearing or somethin', so out of the goodness of my heart I'll say it
again: 'Fuck you.'"
White's fingers trembled around the weapon he clutched, his eyes narrowing as a
red haze of anger frosted the world before him in carmine glaze.
Alec smirked, and struck, blurring to sweep the man's feet out from beneath him.
The world exploded into blackness.
She stumbled backward, only her transgenic reflexes saving her from a nasty
plunge. Her chin throbbed beneath the power of his hit, already aching as she raised
tender fingers to examine the smooth flesh.
He stood before her, motionless, the slight wind tousling dark hair as he
contemplated her shapely figure. His eyes shamelessly roamed lithe curves, a menacing
smirk curving full lips as his gaze lingered over her body.
"You son of a bitch." Max hissed, dropping into fighting stance as he pocketed
both hands within the tatters of the beaten leather jacket he wore.
"I never got to repay you the favor of that bloody nose you gave me. And the
broken arm."
"Thought you looked familiar." she said as he began to circle. "You're that freak
who jumped me at the gas station. The one who's been getting his kicks going on killing
sprees."
"Now would I do something like that?" he asked, eyes shimmering maniacally
beneath soft moonlight.
Their shadows thrashed and danced over the building's roof, twining as one, then
fracturing as the two circled, seeking entrance to the other's weakness.
"Why the hell are you doing this? You think they don't hate us enough? Why
give them another reason to want to kill us?" Max demanded, eyebrows knitting as she
watched him closely.
His muscles undulated powerfully beneath the mud-stained remnants of his
garments. He may have been killing people, but he certainly wasn't raiding their bodies
after the deed was done-or at least he wasn't investing the money wisely, such as clean
clothes and a place to shower.
Even so, he exuded sex appeal, much the same as the others belonging to the
X-series. But beneath the thickness of dark lashes lurked something sinister and
dangerous, a writhing madness alive within his gaze.
He smelled of blood. The scent curled her nostrils against its bitterness. It clung
to each curve of his, imbedded forever within his being, a lingering presence reminding
of his sins.
She lunged for him as he parted his lips to speak, closing his mouth again with a
hard thrust of one fist.
"Bitch." he snarled, his face tensing in a scowl.
Max felt fear uncoil within her stomach as she sensed his insanity, sensed the
feral aura of this pacing animal before her.
He surged forward to meet her.
She turned her body to absorb the impact, and felt his hard body pressed all along
hers for a single moment, before her smaller figure acquiesced to his force and plunged
backward, over the edge of the building.
* * *
The jarring impact thrust undulations of pain all throughout her.
Her ears hummed with the soft thud of his landing. Her senses filled with his
scent, its unpleasantness curling to embrace Max as she struggled to her knees.
He kicked her down, and thrust himself on top of her, his jean-clad thighs
tightening around her body as he pinned her beneath his larger mass. "This is really too
bad." he said, leaning in close, until she could feel his breath rippling across her face.
"You're a bitch, but you're a sexy one. I almost hate to kill you. Maybe we should have
a good, long, hard fuck before I slit your throat, huh? It's been a while since I got any."
"Maybe that's because the smell of your breath drives off any whores who might
want to give you a go for the night." Max retorted, thrashing beneath him.
He plunged his teeth into her neck; not merely sampling the flesh, as a fervent
lover might, but drawing blood with his ferocity. His tongue flicked out to clean the
glistening drops from her neck, the liquid lying stagnant within his mouth as he savored
it.
"This is what I do to my victims." he whispered into her ear. "I rip their throats
out, so I can taste the blood. I lure them with the promise of sex, then kill the bitches
before they can even get all their clothes off."
"How sad for you." she said, vocal cords thrumming with mock sympathy.
"Maybe you should fuck them first and then kill them. Satisfy your manly urges and
killer instincts all in one."
"Maybe. I could start with you. At least you'd die happy, huh?"
"I've had better offers." she replied, and arched upward with all her strength,
heaving him free of her body.
He rolled over one shoulder, thrusting out both hands to push himself up, the
rain-slick pavement shredding flesh. He spun to face her, panting, hands curving to hard
fists.
"Let me give you some advice; next time you're toying with the idea of raping a
girl and then killing her, make sure she's not genetically-engineered."
Max booted him in the nose; flesh and bone gave way in a sickening crunch.
Crimson spray leapt thick into the air.
"Shit!" he screamed, raising both hands to staunch the flowing liquid.
She surged forward in a spinning kick that knocked him flying. He stumbled
across the glistening pavement, the gore twining his face shimmering beneath the
moonlight.
Max snapped her leg up and sideways, toward his taut abdomen.
He dodged, twisting her leg viciously as his hand closed around her foot.
She cried out and plunged her fist into his chest, thrusting the breath from his
body.
They drew back, both gleaming with perspiration, throats pulsing in rapid breaths.
A single gunshot shattered the night's stillness, and in the echoes of its fading
thunder, his name parted her lips in a frightened yell.
"Alec!"
The bullet, fired at nothing more than indistinct shadows, exploded the front
window of the van. Alec raised his hands against the ensuing spray of glass, grunting in
pain as his palms received the froth of broken window shards.
He clenched both hands to hard fists, ignoring the streams of crimson twining
between his fingers as he blurred for his nearest attacker.
And her voice echoed within his hypersensitive ears.
Alec froze, his head whipping around to peer wide-eyed in the direction the shout
had originated. *Shit.*
His heartbeat began to flutter against heaving ribs, beating wildly in terror.
Gleaming eyes sought his figure; he glimpsed recognition in the madness of
White's gaze, and a sadistic pleasure that ran cold the very blood surging through Alec's
veins.
He hurled himself into their midst, fists and feet blurring, fighting like a cornered
animal as White screamed orders. They fell before him, frightened and bleeding, their
terror thickening the very atmosphere.
Rough, heavy hands descended on him; Alec thrust them aside, booting away the
guns aimed in his direction.
But there were too many. Too many for even an X-5 to conquer.
She spun in the direction of the gunshot, heart pumping in terror.
"Alec!" Her throat closed around his name, fear stilling the breath within her
lungs. "Shit."
He moved swiftly, taking advantage of her distraction, his fist thrusting her jaw
with strength sufficient to put an ordinary down for good.
Max stumbled backward, hands surging upward once more, her right leg thrusting
up to boot him in the groin in the same movement. The soft thwack of her foot merging
with flesh rang through the night air.
"Oh shit!" he screamed, clutching himself as his knees buckled. "You bitch!"
She nailed him with a right hook, driving his face up to peer into swirling
mahogany orbs.
"What did you call me?"
"I said 'You bitch.'" he snarled, breathing raggedly.
"Shouldn't have done that." Max murmured, and smashed a powerful round kick
into his head.
He fell to lie still and bleeding against wet pavement, his face glistening beneath
a layer of crimson.
She kicked him once more for good measure, then turned, and blurred into the
surrounding night.
They held him back, using every ounce of strength to restrain Alec as he thrashed
desperately. He arched against the gun barrels rammed cruelly into his back, lashing out
with his feet, his hands...his efforts always in vain as they prevailed and tightened iron
grips across his shoulders.
He heard the whoosh of a body moving at superhuman speed through the night,
the resounding thud of her feet as she drew near.
White's cold smirk thrust icy tremors of fear down his spine.
"Let me go! Let me *go*!" Alec snarled.
"Leaving, 494? Too bad. It sounds like 452 is coming just in time to join the
party."
"Leave Max the hell alone, White."
"I don't take orders from transgenic scum." He motioned with the barrel of his
gun toward the waiting van. "Load him in. He might provide a little entertainment
before he dies, and I'm sure seeing me cut into her boyfriend will be good incentive for
452 to cooperate."
*Shit. Dammit!* Alec screamed silently, fighting them all the way as White's
companions dragged the unwilling man away. He forced an arm free, driving his elbow
back into bone.
A man's agonized scream pierced the night.
"494!" White roared, raising his gun.
Alec grasped for the body nearest him, and flung the shrieking man into the
bullet's oncoming path. Metal seared flesh, tearing through bone and sinew, hurling the
victim backward to sprawl limply over the hood of the van.
He ducked again as White's gun exploded once more.
Blood painted the ebony sky crimson; the man standing now in Alec's place
crashed to lie motionless in the gory mud.
*What the hell happened to not killing me?* Alec thought, springing into the air
with the agility of a cat, his impressive jump carrying him over the heads of those who
sought his panting figure with their gun barrels.
He turned in a spinning kick, thrusting a dark clothed figure out of his path and
into the van's side.
And her voice rang out, above the shouting and chaos, above the lingering
remnants of gunfire.
"White."
Alec squeezed his eyes shut and turned slowly, lashes fluttering open again to
reveal the lithe curves of her body. She stood just behind White, hands curved to fists at
her sides, her body glistening beneath a sheen of rainwater.
"Max, no!" Alec screamed, the words slipping unbidden from full lips, terror
lurking in his voice.
Her eyes never strayed from the dark-suited figure before her. "Let him go. You
don't want him-you're after me."
White smiled coldly at Alec. "How sweet. 452-sacrificing herself for a worthless
fuck-up like you."
Alec felt strong hands close once more over his arms, but offered no struggle this
time. He stood panting, going slack in their holds, fear driving his heart into his throat.
"Max-"
"Shut up." she ordered without so much as glancing in his direction.
White lips curved in a smirk. He turned, slowly, his weapon surging upward.
Max sensed his movement, and blurred to meet him. She knocked White's gun
flying and drop-kicked him in the stomach, doubling the man over, then delivering a
vicious chop to the back of his neck.
"Alec!" Max yelled, and flung the fallen weapon toward him.
White's lackeys, relaxing for a precious second as he stopped fighting, moved too
slowly to retrieve him as he jerked himself from their holds and leapt to catch her
offering.
He spun in the same movement, suspended for a single moment in mid-air, his
finger already closing hard on the trigger as his acrobatics thrust him around to face them
once more.
Their blood misted the night air, accompanied by the chilling shrieks of the dying.
Alec fired until the gun clicked on empty, relentless in his slaughter, his aim
deadly accurate as body after body fell to lie still and bleeding on the street.
He turned to face Max, the pistol slipping from trembling fingers to splash against
blood-slick pavement.
They writhed and spun in a deadly dance, fists and feet blurring, punches and
kicks landed too quickly for the human eye to follow.
She fought dirty, Alec had to give her that. Ten years of training on her, and yet
watching her trade blows with White, her small hands striking his face, his body with
enough force to shatter bone, Alec recognized a worthy opponent.
But the bastard couldn't feel pain. Thousands of years of selective breeding, all
fine-tuned to this man, this monster who knew no physical agony.
Alec winced as White thrust a knee into Max's abdomen. She doubled over at the
waist, gasping, peering up at her nemesis through a curtain of dark hair.
"You lose, 452." White snarled.
And steel glinted beneath moonlight, a minuscule flash of silver in the ebony
night.
Alec lunged.
His desperate leap brought them both down, to sprawl hard against damp
pavement. Alec felt White's knife pass through his ribs, parting flesh and muscle,
shredding the material of his T-shirt. He cried out, arching his back beneath the pain that
screamed through his body, and lashed out instinctively with a forearm as the blade
plunged toward his throat.
The knife ripped through his biceps, darkening the sleeve of Alec's jacket with
gore. He felt warmth ripple down his arm, felt the surge of bile within his throat, its
acidic tang lying stagnant against his tongue.
His fingers trembled against the knife handle, jerking it free of his body, only the
smallest of grunts escaping his lips.
White's body sagged limply against him.
Alec looked up, blinking in stunned amazement at his saviour, her face rippling
into hazy shadow before his eyes.
"He's not dead, but maybe the headache he'll have when he wakes up will give
him something to think about." Max said, shrugging. "Then again, maybe not."
She crouched beside them, thrusting White unceremoniously to the side, her
slender fingers gently cupping Alec's shoulder. "You all right?"
He curved a large, quivering hand over her smaller one, his flesh resting cold
against her own. "I don't think so." he said, and passed out.
A/N 2: The next chapter to this is almost done, so that should be up within the next few days, plus I'm finishing up another standalone, and I've already got some ideas for my next WIP after this is finished. Don't worry; you guys haven't heard the last of me. ;) Promise I won't abandon this thing.
Disclaimer: Nope, not mine. Dark Angel still belongs to Fox, James Cameron, and Charles Eglee. But maybe if I plan out some big, complicated theft, I can finally get Dark Angel for my own. Of course, said big, complicated theft would require planning...Ah, screw it.
Chapter Fifteen
___________________________________________________________________________
Old Enemies
Streets
Seattle, Wa., September 14th, 2021
The fading smell of gunpowder seared his nostrils.
Its acrid stench tainted the air, overpowering the fresh sweetness of clinging
rainwater.
At his feet, the body of the man he'd attacked lay cooling in the rain.
His gaze twined as one with Ames White's, eyes dropping to contemplate the
pistol barrel trained on his chest. Slowly, knowing any abrupt movements would surely
coerce White into pulling the trigger, Alec pocketed his cell phone and lifted both hands
in the air.
White smirked. "Didn't expect to see me again so soon, 494?"
"Ah, you know." Alec shrugged. "I really could have done without seeing your
ugly face."
"Well, maybe if you cooperate, I'll be nice and end that particular pleasure." He
gestured with his weapon to the ragged hole in the brick only an inch to Alec's left.
"That was a warning. The next time I won't miss."
"I suppose you're sparing my life because you want to know where Max is."
"Capturing 452 does happen to be on my to-do list. I figured you might be able to
help me out."
"Now isn't that always the case? Everyone wants Max. No one ever pays any
attention to me. It's like I'm invisible or somethin'. Breaks my heart. I thought that *you*,
at least, would be courteous enough to just want me for me, and not because you're
trying to get to Max."
"Where's the bitch, 494?" White thundered, the tenuous hold he had over his
temper snapping.
"I'd say 'I don't know', but you probably wouldn't believe me." Alec shrugged
again. "So I'll say it anyway: I don't know."
White's face darkened ominously. He lowered his weapon, and strode
purposefully toward the young transgenic, muscles undulating powerfully beneath the
suit he wore. "Maybe you didn't hear me. Where is 452?"
"Who knows? We hardly talk anymor-"
Moonlight glinted off steel; White's pistol caught Alec across the left cheekbone,
slashing flesh. He raised tender fingers to the gash, bringing them away glistening with
crimson.
"Did you hear me? I asked you a question!" White screamed.
A tiny smile quirked Alec's lips, even as fear lurked deep within his eyes. "What
was that? Sorry, didn't hear you."
The next blow opened the smooth flesh of his temple. He stumbled backward
with the force, a tiny gasp of pain parting full lips.
As the gun flashed in the illumination of the moon once more, Alec blurred to
meet it, snatching White's wrist, thrusting it back until the crack of bone ascended into
the sky. The weapon clattered against slick pavement, and already he was moving again,
aiming a powerful round kick at the man's head.
"Don't shoot!" White screamed as a rifle boomed behind him. "Don't shoot,
dammit! I want this goddamned bastard alive."
"You're gonna' either have to take me dead, or pack up your pretty van there and
move it out." Alec said, and landed a hard blow to White's abdomen. He shoved the
man backward, into one of the dark-garbed figures lurking nearby, spilling them both to
the ground.
Another shot rent the air despite White's orders, its echoing thunder stretching
long into the night.
Alec cartwheeled, and surged into the air with a well-placed front-kick to the man
nearest him, knees bending to absorb the impact of his landing, his right foot leaving the
ground almost simultaneously as he turned in a vicious spinning kick.
A boot grazed his ribs, plunging Alec against the side of the van, rocking the
entire vehicle. He blurred to the right as a fist descended upon him, thrusting his forearm
up to block it. His free arm swung around to break the man's nose with a violent elbow
to the face, exploding pale flesh in shimmering gore.
"Get him, dammit! Don't let that fucking animal get away!"
Alec downed another of the bastards with a blow to the temple, and, muscles
bunching, thrust himself straight up, several feet over their heads, turning a backflip in
mid-air and landing atop the van roof. He leapt down to the hood, landed gracefully, and
blurred into the night, his feet treading air for a single moment before gravity plunged
him back to the earth.
White rose without warning before him, glowing as a spirit beneath the effulgent
light of the moon, his hard, muscular body edged in silver illumination.
Alec had a single moment to glimpse the descending weapon, before it slammed
into the side of his head, spinning him sideways, hurling his body to the rain-dampened
blacktop.
The bitter tang of blood clung thick to his lips; he probed the liquid with his
tongue, tasting its acidity.
"Fuck." he murmured, rolling onto one elbow.
A hard thrust of White's foot dropped him once more. Alec felt his heart
hammering against his ribcage, adrenaline surging through every nerve end, his entire
body on fire with anxiety.
"So, 494, had a change of heart yet?"
"If you mean, will I rat out Max, then no."
"You're a moron. That worthless bitch can't be worth what I'm going to put you
through." White snarled.
*Don't bet on it. Besides, while I'm sure your sadistic little brain is coming up
with some nasty torture methods, I doubt you've thought of castration. And my boys
would probably be the first thing Max went for if I ever betrayed her.*
"How about we make a deal." Alec offered, peering up at his tormentor through
softly falling rain. "You let me go so I don't have to exert myself by bashing your face
into the cement, and we both go happily on our ways."
"How about you bring 452 to me or I kill you."
Alec shrugged. "Well I'm afraid in that case the answer would have to be a big
'Fuck you, White.'"
White's lips turned up in a humourless smile. "No thanks, 494. I'm not keen on
reproducing with animals."
"I'm not keen on reproducing with psychotic maniacs who feel the need to point
their gun at my head, so I guess we're even. Then again, I'm not keen on reproducing with men, anyway, so
either way you're out of luck."
"This is cute, 494, but we're wasting time. Are you going to bring 452 to me? Or
do we have to do this the hard way?"
"Well I thought I already gave you the answer to that particular question, but
maybe you're hard of hearing or somethin', so out of the goodness of my heart I'll say it
again: 'Fuck you.'"
White's fingers trembled around the weapon he clutched, his eyes narrowing as a
red haze of anger frosted the world before him in carmine glaze.
Alec smirked, and struck, blurring to sweep the man's feet out from beneath him.
The world exploded into blackness.
She stumbled backward, only her transgenic reflexes saving her from a nasty
plunge. Her chin throbbed beneath the power of his hit, already aching as she raised
tender fingers to examine the smooth flesh.
He stood before her, motionless, the slight wind tousling dark hair as he
contemplated her shapely figure. His eyes shamelessly roamed lithe curves, a menacing
smirk curving full lips as his gaze lingered over her body.
"You son of a bitch." Max hissed, dropping into fighting stance as he pocketed
both hands within the tatters of the beaten leather jacket he wore.
"I never got to repay you the favor of that bloody nose you gave me. And the
broken arm."
"Thought you looked familiar." she said as he began to circle. "You're that freak
who jumped me at the gas station. The one who's been getting his kicks going on killing
sprees."
"Now would I do something like that?" he asked, eyes shimmering maniacally
beneath soft moonlight.
Their shadows thrashed and danced over the building's roof, twining as one, then
fracturing as the two circled, seeking entrance to the other's weakness.
"Why the hell are you doing this? You think they don't hate us enough? Why
give them another reason to want to kill us?" Max demanded, eyebrows knitting as she
watched him closely.
His muscles undulated powerfully beneath the mud-stained remnants of his
garments. He may have been killing people, but he certainly wasn't raiding their bodies
after the deed was done-or at least he wasn't investing the money wisely, such as clean
clothes and a place to shower.
Even so, he exuded sex appeal, much the same as the others belonging to the
X-series. But beneath the thickness of dark lashes lurked something sinister and
dangerous, a writhing madness alive within his gaze.
He smelled of blood. The scent curled her nostrils against its bitterness. It clung
to each curve of his, imbedded forever within his being, a lingering presence reminding
of his sins.
She lunged for him as he parted his lips to speak, closing his mouth again with a
hard thrust of one fist.
"Bitch." he snarled, his face tensing in a scowl.
Max felt fear uncoil within her stomach as she sensed his insanity, sensed the
feral aura of this pacing animal before her.
He surged forward to meet her.
She turned her body to absorb the impact, and felt his hard body pressed all along
hers for a single moment, before her smaller figure acquiesced to his force and plunged
backward, over the edge of the building.
* * *
The jarring impact thrust undulations of pain all throughout her.
Her ears hummed with the soft thud of his landing. Her senses filled with his
scent, its unpleasantness curling to embrace Max as she struggled to her knees.
He kicked her down, and thrust himself on top of her, his jean-clad thighs
tightening around her body as he pinned her beneath his larger mass. "This is really too
bad." he said, leaning in close, until she could feel his breath rippling across her face.
"You're a bitch, but you're a sexy one. I almost hate to kill you. Maybe we should have
a good, long, hard fuck before I slit your throat, huh? It's been a while since I got any."
"Maybe that's because the smell of your breath drives off any whores who might
want to give you a go for the night." Max retorted, thrashing beneath him.
He plunged his teeth into her neck; not merely sampling the flesh, as a fervent
lover might, but drawing blood with his ferocity. His tongue flicked out to clean the
glistening drops from her neck, the liquid lying stagnant within his mouth as he savored
it.
"This is what I do to my victims." he whispered into her ear. "I rip their throats
out, so I can taste the blood. I lure them with the promise of sex, then kill the bitches
before they can even get all their clothes off."
"How sad for you." she said, vocal cords thrumming with mock sympathy.
"Maybe you should fuck them first and then kill them. Satisfy your manly urges and
killer instincts all in one."
"Maybe. I could start with you. At least you'd die happy, huh?"
"I've had better offers." she replied, and arched upward with all her strength,
heaving him free of her body.
He rolled over one shoulder, thrusting out both hands to push himself up, the
rain-slick pavement shredding flesh. He spun to face her, panting, hands curving to hard
fists.
"Let me give you some advice; next time you're toying with the idea of raping a
girl and then killing her, make sure she's not genetically-engineered."
Max booted him in the nose; flesh and bone gave way in a sickening crunch.
Crimson spray leapt thick into the air.
"Shit!" he screamed, raising both hands to staunch the flowing liquid.
She surged forward in a spinning kick that knocked him flying. He stumbled
across the glistening pavement, the gore twining his face shimmering beneath the
moonlight.
Max snapped her leg up and sideways, toward his taut abdomen.
He dodged, twisting her leg viciously as his hand closed around her foot.
She cried out and plunged her fist into his chest, thrusting the breath from his
body.
They drew back, both gleaming with perspiration, throats pulsing in rapid breaths.
A single gunshot shattered the night's stillness, and in the echoes of its fading
thunder, his name parted her lips in a frightened yell.
"Alec!"
The bullet, fired at nothing more than indistinct shadows, exploded the front
window of the van. Alec raised his hands against the ensuing spray of glass, grunting in
pain as his palms received the froth of broken window shards.
He clenched both hands to hard fists, ignoring the streams of crimson twining
between his fingers as he blurred for his nearest attacker.
And her voice echoed within his hypersensitive ears.
Alec froze, his head whipping around to peer wide-eyed in the direction the shout
had originated. *Shit.*
His heartbeat began to flutter against heaving ribs, beating wildly in terror.
Gleaming eyes sought his figure; he glimpsed recognition in the madness of
White's gaze, and a sadistic pleasure that ran cold the very blood surging through Alec's
veins.
He hurled himself into their midst, fists and feet blurring, fighting like a cornered
animal as White screamed orders. They fell before him, frightened and bleeding, their
terror thickening the very atmosphere.
Rough, heavy hands descended on him; Alec thrust them aside, booting away the
guns aimed in his direction.
But there were too many. Too many for even an X-5 to conquer.
She spun in the direction of the gunshot, heart pumping in terror.
"Alec!" Her throat closed around his name, fear stilling the breath within her
lungs. "Shit."
He moved swiftly, taking advantage of her distraction, his fist thrusting her jaw
with strength sufficient to put an ordinary down for good.
Max stumbled backward, hands surging upward once more, her right leg thrusting
up to boot him in the groin in the same movement. The soft thwack of her foot merging
with flesh rang through the night air.
"Oh shit!" he screamed, clutching himself as his knees buckled. "You bitch!"
She nailed him with a right hook, driving his face up to peer into swirling
mahogany orbs.
"What did you call me?"
"I said 'You bitch.'" he snarled, breathing raggedly.
"Shouldn't have done that." Max murmured, and smashed a powerful round kick
into his head.
He fell to lie still and bleeding against wet pavement, his face glistening beneath
a layer of crimson.
She kicked him once more for good measure, then turned, and blurred into the
surrounding night.
They held him back, using every ounce of strength to restrain Alec as he thrashed
desperately. He arched against the gun barrels rammed cruelly into his back, lashing out
with his feet, his hands...his efforts always in vain as they prevailed and tightened iron
grips across his shoulders.
He heard the whoosh of a body moving at superhuman speed through the night,
the resounding thud of her feet as she drew near.
White's cold smirk thrust icy tremors of fear down his spine.
"Let me go! Let me *go*!" Alec snarled.
"Leaving, 494? Too bad. It sounds like 452 is coming just in time to join the
party."
"Leave Max the hell alone, White."
"I don't take orders from transgenic scum." He motioned with the barrel of his
gun toward the waiting van. "Load him in. He might provide a little entertainment
before he dies, and I'm sure seeing me cut into her boyfriend will be good incentive for
452 to cooperate."
*Shit. Dammit!* Alec screamed silently, fighting them all the way as White's
companions dragged the unwilling man away. He forced an arm free, driving his elbow
back into bone.
A man's agonized scream pierced the night.
"494!" White roared, raising his gun.
Alec grasped for the body nearest him, and flung the shrieking man into the
bullet's oncoming path. Metal seared flesh, tearing through bone and sinew, hurling the
victim backward to sprawl limply over the hood of the van.
He ducked again as White's gun exploded once more.
Blood painted the ebony sky crimson; the man standing now in Alec's place
crashed to lie motionless in the gory mud.
*What the hell happened to not killing me?* Alec thought, springing into the air
with the agility of a cat, his impressive jump carrying him over the heads of those who
sought his panting figure with their gun barrels.
He turned in a spinning kick, thrusting a dark clothed figure out of his path and
into the van's side.
And her voice rang out, above the shouting and chaos, above the lingering
remnants of gunfire.
"White."
Alec squeezed his eyes shut and turned slowly, lashes fluttering open again to
reveal the lithe curves of her body. She stood just behind White, hands curved to fists at
her sides, her body glistening beneath a sheen of rainwater.
"Max, no!" Alec screamed, the words slipping unbidden from full lips, terror
lurking in his voice.
Her eyes never strayed from the dark-suited figure before her. "Let him go. You
don't want him-you're after me."
White smiled coldly at Alec. "How sweet. 452-sacrificing herself for a worthless
fuck-up like you."
Alec felt strong hands close once more over his arms, but offered no struggle this
time. He stood panting, going slack in their holds, fear driving his heart into his throat.
"Max-"
"Shut up." she ordered without so much as glancing in his direction.
White lips curved in a smirk. He turned, slowly, his weapon surging upward.
Max sensed his movement, and blurred to meet him. She knocked White's gun
flying and drop-kicked him in the stomach, doubling the man over, then delivering a
vicious chop to the back of his neck.
"Alec!" Max yelled, and flung the fallen weapon toward him.
White's lackeys, relaxing for a precious second as he stopped fighting, moved too
slowly to retrieve him as he jerked himself from their holds and leapt to catch her
offering.
He spun in the same movement, suspended for a single moment in mid-air, his
finger already closing hard on the trigger as his acrobatics thrust him around to face them
once more.
Their blood misted the night air, accompanied by the chilling shrieks of the dying.
Alec fired until the gun clicked on empty, relentless in his slaughter, his aim
deadly accurate as body after body fell to lie still and bleeding on the street.
He turned to face Max, the pistol slipping from trembling fingers to splash against
blood-slick pavement.
They writhed and spun in a deadly dance, fists and feet blurring, punches and
kicks landed too quickly for the human eye to follow.
She fought dirty, Alec had to give her that. Ten years of training on her, and yet
watching her trade blows with White, her small hands striking his face, his body with
enough force to shatter bone, Alec recognized a worthy opponent.
But the bastard couldn't feel pain. Thousands of years of selective breeding, all
fine-tuned to this man, this monster who knew no physical agony.
Alec winced as White thrust a knee into Max's abdomen. She doubled over at the
waist, gasping, peering up at her nemesis through a curtain of dark hair.
"You lose, 452." White snarled.
And steel glinted beneath moonlight, a minuscule flash of silver in the ebony
night.
Alec lunged.
His desperate leap brought them both down, to sprawl hard against damp
pavement. Alec felt White's knife pass through his ribs, parting flesh and muscle,
shredding the material of his T-shirt. He cried out, arching his back beneath the pain that
screamed through his body, and lashed out instinctively with a forearm as the blade
plunged toward his throat.
The knife ripped through his biceps, darkening the sleeve of Alec's jacket with
gore. He felt warmth ripple down his arm, felt the surge of bile within his throat, its
acidic tang lying stagnant against his tongue.
His fingers trembled against the knife handle, jerking it free of his body, only the
smallest of grunts escaping his lips.
White's body sagged limply against him.
Alec looked up, blinking in stunned amazement at his saviour, her face rippling
into hazy shadow before his eyes.
"He's not dead, but maybe the headache he'll have when he wakes up will give
him something to think about." Max said, shrugging. "Then again, maybe not."
She crouched beside them, thrusting White unceremoniously to the side, her
slender fingers gently cupping Alec's shoulder. "You all right?"
He curved a large, quivering hand over her smaller one, his flesh resting cold
against her own. "I don't think so." he said, and passed out.
A/N 2: The next chapter to this is almost done, so that should be up within the next few days, plus I'm finishing up another standalone, and I've already got some ideas for my next WIP after this is finished. Don't worry; you guys haven't heard the last of me. ;) Promise I won't abandon this thing.