The rustic looking car pulled up at the track aside the woods, the silence had been crushing the whole way there, neither Hal nor Alex spoke for fear of the situation becoming reality. The air was foggy and cold; leaves fluttered all around in the breeze. Hal and Alex shared a look before leaving the car a lot was spoken in that look, Hal's fears of loss and Alex's fear of losing the closest thing she had held as a brother since she lost her own.
It took them roughly twenty minutes to walk the circumference that Tom had marked his trail. The silence continued the whole way there, Hal's brow furrowed in apprehension of what they could find, but nothing could have prepared them for what they came across.
Tom lay cold and pale on the ground, congealed blood pooled around him, flecking up onto his face. His puppy dog eyes usually so kind and loving lay open in terror and disgust, Alex screamed, she ran forward to collapse upon her fallen friend 'No, Tom, Tom look at me!' She shrieked.
'Tom get fucking up god damn it!' she began to beat on his chest, sobs coming hard and heavy from within her. His thigh was shredded from top to bottom, exposing tendon and muscle and bone. 'This was planned' Hal said simply, the precision of the hit. The time, the spacing's from the chicken. Every moment had been planned.
'Hal do something!' tears streamed down her cheeks evaporating before hitting the floor, like a lost memory. The vampire didn't move he stood in shock, tears threatened his eyes… they leave you; they all leave you in the end lord Harry sniped inside his head. If only he had listened to his gut feeling, he could have saved him.
'Larry' Hal whispered the name in realisation and hate they were the last words he uttered before he turned his back on Alex and Tom. The last word Larry himself would hear ever again. His face was hard and cold as he made his way back to the car, Alex could rentaghost back to the B&B of her own accord. Have you forgotten how good this feels, the anticipation, the hunt? Hal let the vehement voice of Harry fill his head, he drowned himself in it, he needed the man's talents for what he was about to do.
'Larry' Hal was calm, his voice smooth like velvet and his movements stealthy and liquidised.
'Larry, Larry, Larry, what a mistake you have made, you murder my friend in coward's blood and then you dare come back to the hotel in which he worked'. Hal tapped his fingers along the service desk as he made his way towards the werewolf.
Hal knew he would have been here at the hotel, it was a power game; he knew this because Harry thought in the same way. But if there is one lesson to be learned in this lifetime and in the next it is this…you do not play power or mind games with the man who invented them.
Larry turned his head towards Hal 'I just needed him out the way, you know, survival of the fittest. You and me Hal, we're the winners here' He used a hand to gesture to himself and Hal 'that's what winners do- we beat the losers' Larry pulled back his lips in a crooked gruesome smile. Hal crossed the gap between them with a snarl, a hand clasped the monsters throat 'You have just killed the only thing keeping me safe, keeping me clean!' Hal seethed quietly into the man's ear 'You have no idea what you have unleashed' Fear and realisation crept among Larry's features before Hal brought his head forward sharply to crash it back down onto the wall behind them.
He repeated the action over and over, each crack and break of the man's skull giving him shreds of satisfaction. Hal's eyes were sheer black his fangs unsheathed. He let Larry's body slide to the floor. His face contorted into an emblem of rage and fury before he landed a kick to the dead man's face. Spraying blood and scattering teeth onto the floor and walls around them, luckily clothing was a good defence against toxic blood.
Back in the woods Alex still lay over Tom's body gripping his Top and heaving cries onto his chest.
'Alex' The Scott screamed in shock as she heard a voice behind her she stood and swivelled 'Tom?' She looked down at the body and then at the Tom that stood before her. He pulled her into a hug 'I'm s'sorry, I shudda been more careful like' Alex cried softly into his shoulder.
'Tom it wasn't your fault, I'm the one who should be sorry, Hal knew something was wrong, I didn't listen to him… what happened Tom?' the ghost sobbed.
Tom looked at his body 'Larry…he musta planned it all' he said quietly, he seemed in shock over his body.
Tom pulled his eyes away from his mangled body and looked around 'Alex…Where's Hal' She lifted her head from his shoulder and looked about them; she hadn't even noticed him leave 'Oh god' She clasped a hand to her mouth 'You don't think?' Tom bit his lip 'Actually I do think, aww bloody hell' Tom was about to tell her to go after him when a whooshing noise came behind him.
'Tom look' Alex held up her arm and pointed towards a door that had appeared behind him.
Tom turned slowly, the door was beautiful it was a dark wood, on the panels were carved in spirals and twists 'Is that fo' me?' He looked back at Alex unsure of the situation. She felt tears prickling at her eyes again, so she kept her mouth shut and nodded. 'Go' she finally blurted out 'Tom you don't want to end up stuck here like me, like Mary and Annie, it never ends well for us'
Tom gazed at the door; he stepped forward and held the handle 'Alex, my body, bury me next to my dad will you?' He moved forward a step before stopping 'And Alex… look after him for me won't you? He's a good bloke; he just needs to find 'imself'
The ghost nodded again. She looked off to the side; Annie had passed on her trait of not looking through other peoples doors. Tom opened the door, a white light cast down from the interior of the door and onto the leaves with a majestically heavenly glow; 'I'll be watchin ya' Tom smiled before stepping through to the other side. When Alex looked back the door was gone. So was Tom, it was just her, his body and an urgent need to find the renegade vampire.