Chapter 08: Ashes

"Running away and hiding with you
I never thought they'd get me here
Not knowing you changed from just one bite
I fought them all off just to hold you close and tight…"

- from "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville" by My Chemical Romance

The first thing Mark could remember was sound of water dripping.
He opened his eyes, and saw blackness above his head, that slowly came out of the blur to be a hard wood floor from underneath, like when one is in a basement... wait... a basement? The events leading up came back to him, of going to kill King, and then being struck outside the head by a strange man; probably King's familiar.
He sat up in a rush and looked around him. Yes, definitely a basement... but there was a thing like a large casket made of stone, perhaps right into the cement of the cellar floor. The pipe that dripped was off in a corner, but -- as apposed to the Marsten house -- the floor in this basement was rather dry, dusty infact, and cold.
He looked next to him, and saw Sam still lying there. He lifted her into a sitting position, and tapped her cheeks until she came through. She grumbled something he couldn't make out, and then sat straight up very suddenly, her eyes jerking back and forth frantically. At length, she gave a frustrated sigh and fell back against the wall.
"How much you wanna bet the cellar door's locked?" Mark asked, leaning over her to peer at it through the darkness.
"A lot," Sam replied glumly.
Mark sat back again, sighing. "... So what now? We wait for King to come and kill us?"
"Pretty much..."
"Oh yippy..." There was a long moment of silence, with only the sound of the water dripping to rub their nerves in all the wrong ways, before Mark spoke again. "... Just for the record, this was your idea."
"Shut up," Sam moaned, turning her head to the other side. Then she looked up again, and seemed to be staring something in the distance. Mark followed her gaze. A basement window. "Oh shit... it's dark out."
"Well, at least we won't be waiting long," Mark voiced, narrowing his eyes.
"I didn't want to hear that," Sam said, turning her head to look at him.
He turned his to look back. "I know, I just don't care."
"Jerk..."
"Bitch..."
"Prick..."
"Slut..."
"Fag..."
"Dyke..."
"Skank..."
"Freak..."
"Jack-off..."
At that moment, in a spur, Mark leaned over and kissed Sam; much to her surprise. Much to his surprise, when the shock wore off, she began to kiss him back. He slipped a head behind her head, cradling it, and went with the flow. The kiss was long and passionate, their tongues swimming together in either's mouth, until Mark finally ended it, sitting back again.
"... I just didn't want to never have done that," Mark said, answering her unspoken question. He could feel the heat rising in his cheeks, to spite how hard he tried to choke it down.
"You still lose," she said, smiling. She leaned over and kissed him again. This kiss was shorter, but no less loving. When it was over, they were still left nose-to-nose.
"Imminent death: $0. To die knowing you won the stupid game: Priceless."
"We're not gonna die," she argued. "Not here... not now... not after all we've been through..."
But the door at the top of the stairs was being opening; they heard the key twitching around inside of it, the lock clicking, and then the hinges creaking with movement. They swallowed hard as they eyed it, a figured standing in it; to big to be Stephen, who was about as skinny as they come. He slumped down the stairs, and as he came into the dim light of the basement, they saw that it was King.

Sam covered Mark with her body protectively, and Mark was too petrified to notice as the powerful vampire stood before them where they were huddled like rats in a basement corner. King smirked, and said; "Well, I can see which one of you wants to die first!"
He grabbed Sam up by her neck, and lifted her very feet off the ground. Mark cried out, stumbling to his feet but still leaning against the wall. He felt helpless and small, and that was more then mildly frustrating to him; but he knew he had to keep a level head.
"I'm so glad you two fell into my little trap," he said as he carried Sam over to the stone coffin, and set her leaned over it backwards, holding her by the throat to it. Her hands were wrapped around his wrist, trying to paw it off her; but it seemed he couldn't even feel it at all. "I think Stephen put on an excellent show..."
"W-what are you talking about?" Mark jumped in quickly, trying to distract King from hurting her.
King looked up and back at the boy, the movement so quick that the human eye could never catch it. "Oh, you mean you don't know?"
Mark shook his head, breathing sharp and quick from fear through his nose.
"I'm very old, child," King told him, tipping his head to the side. "Very, very old... and, when one grows as old as I am, we start to develop powers. My power is that of premonition. I saw you and your girlfriend here killing me... as you can imagine, I simply couldn't let that happen! So I had Stephen fake his death and leave you that little note so that you would come here tonight, and he would be waiting for you. Darling boy, isn't he?"
"Yeah, w-whatever," Mark said, too frightened to care, but not too frightened to be rude. His eyes were locked on Sam. "What are you gonna d-do to us?
"Isn't it obvious?" King smiled. "I'm going to kill you!"
A shudder passed through Mark, like a bolt of lightning, a spasm; it shook him. He remained pressed in the corner.
King rolled his eyes. "You humans... scare so easily! It's not that bad... I won't be eating your flesh or anything; that's for the lower vampires. I'll drink you blood and help you both become one of us, and if you fail me I'll kill you for real."
"You can't be serious..."
"Oh! But I am; I'll show you!" Before Mark had a chance to protest, King curled a finger inside Sam's lip ring and ripped it from her face. She cried out in pain, she was actually shrill and breathy as King was nearly crushing her throat.
King smiled, dropping the golden captive -- still with a tiny bit of flesh attached to it -- to the floor. A thin river of blood had formed down Sam's chin. He leaned down and licked it up, smacking his lips together as he tasted it. "Oooh, you taste delicious..."
Level-heads out the window, Mark lost it. He ran at King and attempted to tackle him, but the vampire got him, and spun him around and under his arm. He pinned Mark's arms to his body, and pinned Mark's body to his own. Grinning, he said; "And I though she was the lucky volunteer... oh well; she'll just have to watch."
His lip curled up and his fangs shown, glowing bright under the moonlight that spilled in through the windows and the pale golden light of the one bulb lit in a corner. He prepared to chomp down on Mark's neck, but instead threw his head back.
He let go of both of the kids and jerked around. Mark fell to the floor and his hands and knees. Sam remained lying there, coughing and gasping air. Mark pulled himself back together and jumped up, jerking around, to see Rider.
Rider had come to their rescue! Unbelievable! But before their eyes, he battled King... with a sword... which was weird... but nonetheless; he swiped and cut the vampire's arm off. King reached to bite him but Rider dodged and sliced his other arm. King screamed and jumped behind him, but Rider swung around and cut both of his legs off.
King's head and torso tumbled to the ground, and they could hear him hissing and coughing. Mark and Sam -- who had sat up at some time during the fight -- stood and made their way a crossed the room and to Rider's side, peering down at the disabled vampire. King looked up at them with eyes wide and frightened, his tongue snaking in and out of his mouth slowly, his limbs still squirming upon the floor.
"Did you get Stephen?" Sam asked Rider casually.
Rider nodded. "Slit his throat."
"I didn't know you had a sword..."
"Davis collected them," Rider told her, not taking his eyes off King. "This one was his favorite..."
Sam smiled. "I'm sure he'd be proud to know that it was used in taking down King..."
"Um, guys," Mark interrupted. "This is all nice and everything, but shouldn't we, y'know, stake him now?"
Sam rolled her eyes. Rider threw the sword aside, and pulled a stake out from his belt, he approached King and positioned it over his heart, but as he was about to bring it down, Sam cried out for him to wait. He stopped and watched her come foreword to the other side of King.
"You and your kind ruined everything for me," she told him, and wrapped her hands around the stake as well.
Mark, too, came over then, and stood above King, his feet on either side of the vampire's waste. He wrapped his hands around the stake, too. "... And me."
"And me," Rider agreed, tightening his hold on the wooden instrument. He looked at the kids and nodded, and they nodded back. "1..."
"... 2..." Sam continued.
"... 3," Mark finished.
With all their might, in unison, they raised it up, and brought it down into his chest, crushing and piercing his heart beneath it. King cried out, wrangling beneath them, and many voices began to mix with his own, all the voices of those who had been him before, and his face flashed with many faces, and his body of many heights and widths, and his clothes of many different ages; but all in all, he ended on himself, screaming like a child; and exploded into the ceiling, raining sparkling blue ashes down among all three of them.

I haven't gotten any reviews for the last two chapters... wah! Nobody loves me ( BUT NONETHELESS! This one's actually my favorite chapter. I thought Mark was most in-character for it... plus; it was all good fun. Then again, the climax is always fun (wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more)...

Next chapter; the epologue...