Downers: Lothiraxl
Book II of "Spinners: Lothiraxl"
Chapter 1
2182
Kina sat on the edge of the bed, her breasts exposed to the air of the bedroom in her suites at Nolyn Tower.
Her halter portion of her dress had its strings untied, loose about her waist as Konis Traus had left these before Bildea had interfered with his intentions.
On the floor at the end of the bed, Bildea lay atop Konis's back barely breathing. Konis underneath him, contemplating the blade he could feel between his ribs on his right, under his chest. Blood marked the floor stunningly red. He pushed himself up, heaving Bildea's body off.
Crawling over to the bed, he pulled himself onto the edge, leaving smears of blood.
Konis turned and sat with his back against it….He looked at Bildea's form above the blood stains in the carpet….He knew Bildea would die without help.
He had crushed his neck.
Konis dropped his eyes down to his chest, and saw the hilt of his own blade protruding from the groove in his armor….He gripped it with his right hand and slid it out with a smooth glide.
Blood seemed to bubble out from the wound, dripping faster down his armor's front and onto the carpet. He turned his face to the ceiling.
He closed his eyes and felt the release of his life fluid through that hole in his side of his chest, and opened his eyes again, remembering Kina.
He started to turn his head to find her….She remained where he had left her—where Bildea had made him leave her, her breasts free and nipple clear from his vantage point.
Konis crawled onto the bed towards her, his blood marking the fabric…He reached for her arm, taking hold of it with his free hand, and Konis looked at the vicer attached to her temple as he turned her some, her weight stationing her perfectly on the bedside, and made for her temple with his fingers.
He might remove it now, before the effect became permanent.
As though fighting towards the surface of water, Bildea struggled free of his black unconsciousness, and the first indication he was coming to was delivered by a cracking wheeze from his throat.
Konis glanced at him from Kina's vicer. Bildea made a motion with his fingers, feeling wetness under him as he tried to rouse himself through his fog and confusion….His fingers pressed into the stained carpet, and painfully, he lifted his shoulders.
Konis turned back to Kina, and from his hesitation, he was not prepared to remove the vicer yet….He moved himself backwards, and lowered himself onto the floor to see to Bildea.
"She's betrayed us, Billy."
Bildea opened one eye, the pupil and iris turning towards Konis's voice, and from his lips a hard effort of noise came, but Bildea could not speak….His efforts to get off the bloody carpet became more animated.
Konis raised his knife, shining with his blood….He raised it towards Kina, staring only at Bildea was he….With more effort than before, however, Konis suddenly pushed himself up and stood erect above him.
"Help is coming, Billy….Cate and Billa were warned…." Konis stepped with control of himself away from Bildea, passed Kina, and towards the doorway. He stepped out into the common rooms, and made his way over to the kitchen.
Around the counter he walked, and once on the tile, he sagged and dropped to the floor.
Bildea, meanwhile, wheezed with every effort to breathe, and pulled himself across the carpet, up onto the bed, covering Konis's stains with his form as he worked his way to Kina….He reached for the dress strings around the bared skin of her waist, hesitated and moved his hand upwards to the vicer attached at her temple—still hesitant, he dropped his hand to her dress strings and lifted these, and with much effort, he labored to lift himself higher so as to tie the strings together again behind her neck, covering her breasts once more with the brown dress she had danced in with him at The Roqueforte….and when that was done, he choked some on his own saliva, wheezing still, and reached for her vicer….Her dress tied, he felt he had given her some of her dignity back, and she would not be humiliated when she came to him again….His fingers collected around the ugly black vicer stump embedded to her temple, red rivulets of blood at its bottom curve seeping down her soft-haired cheek and into her ear, and depressing the button on its central hub, Bildea freed her.
The vicer made a sharp sheathing noise, and fell from her temple, a circle of blood where it had held onto and in the middle of this, a hole the size of a hole-puncher bit.
Bildea wheezed with excited pants for air, and turned to lie down on the stained bed with his back, his arms falling wide.
She came from her monopoly of memories to the present, leaving behind her childhood and memories she'd not known before then….The vicer had torn through the fabric netting over her mind, hiding that part of her from herself, and freed what had been repressed for so long from Kina….She felt before she heard Bildea—that he was there somewhere nearby her.
Blinking her eyes, she sought for him….She turned to her right….Kina saw Bildea with his back on the bed, his legs on the floor, bent half-on and half-off, "….Billy?…." She saw the blood….She turned all of herself to him, her face paling in fear for his state, her hands clutching and pulling at his shirt, "….Billy!"
On the floor of the kitchen, Konis lay peaceful in his own pool of blood, still holding his knife and remaining calm….He was dying….He heard Kina's cry, and realized Bildea must have removed her vicer.
The blood around him was warm, but he could not feel it because of his armor. He felt cold, lying there on his back, but at peace, as when one feels so with their laying down on a bed of snow, and staring up at the night sky above….He was looking at the ceiling of the kitchen, but he only saw night sky, cloudy, murky, dark with flecks of snow falling towards his eyes.
"Billy!…." Her cry was heartbreaking….She really loved Billy….Konis opened his mouth for a breath.
He never had her to himself….Not really….And neither will Cartira.
And Konis smiled.
