Author's Note!!
Again, this chapter may not be work friendly… but for a different reason. This contains a rather graphic scene that may upset some who are weak of heart or stomach… You have been warned!
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Tori held her up as best he could from the angle he was at, Tristan and Joey both letting out a shout as they hurried to haul Ruby to her feet again, Joey pulling Ruby behind him protectively as Tristan turned his shotgun to aim at the Smoker, terror in his eyes.
Aster came down from the rooftop, yelping in surprise when a warning shot went over her head and dug itself into the side of the house.
Further out, halfway down the hill, Darren was standing with his eye to the scope on his sniper rifle. He had a murderous expression on his face, seeming more upset about Aster pushing Ruby than he was about Tori being infected.
"The horde-"
"Shut up!" Joey shouted as Tori tried to speak. "Just shut up! Liar! Deceiver!!"
"I never lied to you. I never deceived you." Tori breathed. "You never asked me if I was infected."
"How's this possible? You don' look like one o' them an' you sure as hell don' act like one o' them!" Tristan cried, gripping his shotgun a little harder.
"I promise I'll tell you the story when the horde has been dealt with." Tori tried to keep his voice calm, black eyes turning to look towards Darren, who was still fighting off zombies in an attempt to rejoin them in the house. Aster hadn't moved, both hands raised and her skin even paler than normal. Obviously, Darren's shot had startled her.
"Damn it all, take care of that horde!" Ruby cried from her spot, crouched on the ground behind Joey. "Don't worry about Tori! They're gonna kill Darren!"
Her voice seemed to rouse Joey to his senses, the bigger man turning to fire down at the gathered horde below, giving Darren enough time to get inside. Tristan didn't turn or lower his gun, the expression on his face full of confusion and anger.
Aster stared at all of them in silence, her expression unreadable. She turned to look at Darren briefly when he finally got to them, taking in his dishevelled appearance and the severe bite marks on his arms. There was also one on the side of his neck, although a shallow one, and none of them seemed to be any cause for immediate alarm.
He turned his gun to Aster, glancing over at the others while keeping the gun level on her.
"Seems we have a bit of a problem." He murmured in his soft, high voice.
"A problem with a capitol A." Ruby breathed, Joey turning to look at her.
"Try a capitol T!" He shouted. "Tori's a fucking zombie!"
"Tori's more than they are." Aster murmured quietly. "Why do you think I've gone to all this trouble to-" She was silenced with a yelp by Darren, who struck her across the face with the butt of his gun.
"Shut up, you stupid bitch. How could you? How could you do that to Ruby?! She could have DIED!" He shouted. "She's done nothing to you!"
"This shit is crazy." Tristan breathed, gun still aiming at Tori. "Hangin' with an infected…"
"I'm so sorry, Ruby." Joey said, the girl looking at him in confusion. "God… I can't believe he-"
"Joey, I knew the whole time, alright?" Ruby hissed. "I knew what he was!" Joey turned to face her, his face going pale when she raised her gun to aim at him, hands trembling. "I love him… I don't expect you to understand that, but I love him!"
"And I love her in return." Tori whispered, Aster making a noise like an angry cat.
"This thing, this creature has killed people in horrible, brutal ways. He has taken his frustrations out on me in the past, left me with bruises, scars-" Aster was once again cut off by Darren striking her, spitting out some blood on the deck and glaring up at him.
"You don't get to accuse him of ANYTHING. We know you well enough to know you drove him to it, Aster!" The tall, pale man hissed, Tristan letting out a growl as he shifted his shotgun to Darren and opened his mouth to speak.
Tori's tongue wrapped around the shotgun and wrenched it from Tristan's hands, then the Smoker turned the shotgun to it's previous owner, clawed finger resting on the trigger. Tristan swore softly and raised his hands, shooting a glare in Darren's direction.
Joey glanced around the group and let out a groan, also raising his hands in surrender. Darren prodded Aster with his gun, and she begrudgingly raised her hands, glaring daggers at him and Tori and Ruby.
"Seems we have ourselves a stand off." Tori growled. "Before we jump to any more conclusions, let's go inside and sit down and have a good long chat. Nice and easy now." He shifted around with the shot gun still aiming at Tristan, who nodded.
"You ain' gonna shoot." The southern boy said, Tori offering him an odd twitch that passed for a shrug. "You ain'…"
"I might if you try to kill me." Tori confirmed. "Self preservation and all that."
"Well, I ain' gonna do that either." Tristan said softly, but Tori shook his head and gestured with the gun towards the door. "Fair 'nough."
"Get moving." Ruby prodded Joey with the gun she held, the bigger man handing the gun he was holding to Tori before moving inside with his hands still raised. Darren dragged Aster up to her feet by her hair and shoved her forward, growling fiercely as he followed the rest of the crew down the stairs.
The people held at gunpoint were shuffled into the dining room and sat down in chairs, weapons removed from them, and Tori moved to lean against the wall by the door, watching them carefully.
"Darren… put your gun on the table and sit down, please." He said quietly. "While I appreciate your assistance… you understand, don't you?"
"Yeah." Darren nodded, setting his gun down and sitting at the table himself.
Ruby was shaking still, nervously tucking her wavy hair behind her ear.
"First thing's first…" Tori dragged his claws through his hair. "Yes, I am infected. Yes, I am a fucking zombie. No, I'm not a mindless rage machine. I have discovered ways of dealing with the rage and I'm pretty much just like every other average Joe… just not so average. For one, I'm really good with my tongue."
Joey frowned, Tristan scowled at Tori in disgust but Aster snickered. Ruby's cheeks glowed red.
"For two… I feel I'm slightly higher up on the evolutionary scale than you guys are. The infection has changed me, but it hasn't taken my mind. I'm faster, and stronger than you. That Tank I killed just before you guys came and found us? Yeah, I did that myself. With my tongue, my axe and my bare hands. Pretty cool huh? I could have left it alone, run off with Ruby and left you to take care of it on your own, but I didn't. Why? Cause I'm actually a nice guy."
He emptied the gun he was holding of it's ammunition and set the empty gun on the table, holding up his clawed hands.
"I'm a nice guy. And I've treated you all with enough respect that you shouldn't feel inclined to kill me. Right?"
"This sort of situation really opens your eyes." Ruby finally said. "These creatures, the infected, they're not zombies. They don't eat people, they're not dead, they're just sick. At one point in time, they were no different from any of us with the exception of Aster." She wet her lips and glanced towards Tori. "And it's not like he's been going around, spreading the infection to other people."
Tori nodded at her thankfully and looked around the table, his amber eyes lingering longest on Aster.
"If we're going to make it to safety, I'm going to need you all to trust me. Have I given you any reason to doubt my loyalty?" He rasped quietly, the boys exchanging glances with one another.
"You have given me plenty of reason to do so." Aster muttered, Darren raising his fist menacingly at her and receiving a grunt and a punch in the arm from Tristan.
"As horrendous a girl as she may be… don' hit women aroun' me, ya hear?" Tristan muttered, Darren nodding slightly at him and sitting back again.
"You surprised me." Tori said to Darren, who blinked a few times. "I thought, from the beginning that you were suspicious of me. And you kept an awfully close eye on me."
"I have an aversion to strangers. And it wasn't really you I was keeping an eye on. You, I knew your secret from the start. It's hard not to tell, y'know?" Darren gestured to Aster, who eyed him quietly. "It was this one. We were together already when we met up with Tristan and Joey… I never told them, but there was another girl in our… 'party' before the two other guys joined us. Aster killed her."
"You can't prove that." Aster hissed, Tori reaching down to take her hair in his hand, dragging her head back sharply and ignoring the gasp that escaped her.
"He doesn't need to, I've watched you do it before." The Smoker growled, releasing her and striding across the room. "You guys can have your guns back… I trust that you're not going to kill myself, or Ruby. And since I've given you my trust, you need to give me yours. Please."
"… I dunno." Joey murmured, rubbing the back of his head. "Who's to say you're not gonna kill us in our sleep? Or yours, for that matter, fuck. I mean, you've got a rage disease, what if you lose it?"
"I'll handle that." Ruby said quietly, lowering her gun at last. "Don't worry, we're not going to let Tori hurt anyone."
"Except maybe Aster." Tori said from across the room, where he was standing near the door.
They all exchanged a quiet glance and Aster got to her feet, eyes narrowed.
"You can go ahead and try." She said, tilting her head to the side. "I'd like to see that, Itoria."
"Then come… let's have that one on one chat you wanted so badly. The rest of you, go and get yourselves cleaned up in the lake. Give us an hour or two." Tori replied, dragging his claws through his hair and leaning his head back.
As they stood from the table, Aster bristled, her face turning rather pale. She stared after them as they began to file out of the house, finally letting out an indignant noise and starting after them.
"You're not gonna stop him? He's probably going to kill me!" She cried. "Don't you even care?!"
"In all honesty," Joey began, looking over his shoulder. "No. Not after what you've done."
"You pushed Ruby off the roof, Aster, and forced the secret out of Tori to hurt him, to hurt us. To hurt ALL of us. You don't get any sympathy from me." Darren said softly, not bothering to look at her. Ruby didn't say a word to Aster, offering Tori a gentle kiss before moving outside with the others and glancing back only once.
Tristan stood looking at Aster and Tori for a long time, then he sighed and shook his head.
"You're cold. And cruel. And if it's true that you've killed people, well… there's a special place for people like you, Aster, and you can join each and every one of the people like you that went before you. I won't miss you." He said softly, turning towards the door. "It ain' right. But I won't miss you."
Stepping outside, Tristan heard Tori close the door behind him, grimacing and hurrying to join the others by the docks. Ruby was staring back at the house with tears in her eyes, but she soon turned and looked away.
She turned and looked straight ahead.
She didn't watch what Tori had to do.
…
Tori and Aster stood staring at one another for a long time, without speaking, hardly blinking. Tori rested one hand on the doorknob…
Aster knew she wouldn't be able to run. She knew, if he wanted to catch her, he would be able to do it easily.
"I remember how we met." Tori whispered, Aster jumping a little when he spoke, the eerie silence that had stretched between them breaking soundly. "I remember… Shakespeare. The smell of sweat and blood. You had been eating something… sweet. I remember the taste of it but couldn't give it a name. I remember how warm you were, how fast your heart was beating. I remember the feeling of your blood on my hands."
He stepped away from the door, his head hanging slightly so that his dark hair fell in his eyes. Bone straight… even after drying from the water in the lake.
"I feel… unfinished." He growled, looking down at his hands. "Your antics interrupted me."
"What do you want from me?" Aster gasped, Tori looking up and taking another step forward. She wasn't surprised to see his eyes were black…
"An outlet, for starters. Answers, regarding the attempt on Ruby's life." Tori took another step forward, his heavy boots unnaturally loud on the floor. Aster swallowed a few times, rubbing her palms on the ruin of her skirt and lifting her chin ever so slightly. Her thumb scratched at her flesh, at one of the half healed wounds on her thigh.
Focus, Aster. That's what she needed… focus.
"Go ahead and ask all the questions you want." She breathed, her voice high and airy. "You already know the answers, Itoria."
"Revenge?" Tori took another step forward, leaving very little distance between them. "… release? Jealousy? Obsession?"
"You're mine." Aster hissed. "You belonged to me once and all that stood in the way of my possessing you again was HER. She's made you soft… she's no good for you, Itoria."
One more step forward on his long legs and Tori was almost touching her, gazing down at her with soulless eyes.
"I belonged to you once." He rasped. "Once, and only once. Never again, Aster."
He drew one claw down her cheek, noting her wince and the soft hiss of breath that escaped her, the color of her blood even more vivid against the pale color her skin had taken on.
"What raped your mind and left you in this sorry state, Aster? What turned you into this monster?" He whispered, stepping just a tiny bit closer, so that they were practically breathing the same breath. Aster trembled, staring at him with wide eyes, the eyes of a scared rabbit facing down a dog. "What has bent you like this, Aster? Did someone do to you the things you do to everyone else? Did someone take you the way you took me? Tied down, cut and bleeding, crying and pleading for my life?" Tori reached his finger up and licked the blood from his claw, tilting his head to the side.
"You can't turn this against me." Aster gasped, eyes still staring. "This is my game."
"It seems," Tori began, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "I'm winning now. The tides seem to have turned."
"So what happens now?" Aster asked, voice still high. She didn't try to move away, didn't try to fight, his hand moving to brush the hair from her face very gently.
"Now… we go back to the beginning, Aster. Now we go back and review the script, don't we?" Tori whispered back to her, leaning down so his lips almost touched hers. "I'm ready to stop repressing… I'm ready to give in and give you what you want, but at the same time… I'm going to take it the way that I want. Do you understand?"
"Go back?" Aster squeaked. "Script?"
"Why yes, of course, my Lady Macbeth. I play my part, you play yours." Tori smiled wickedly. "Do you remember how it started?"
"Go back to the beginning… To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow…" Aster gasped, eyes fluttering closed. The hand that scratched at her leg was bloodied, but from the look on Tori's face, he didn't mind.
"To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow creeps in that petty pace from day to day." He whispered close to her ear, feeling her trembling grow worse. "To the last syllable of recorded time." He paused and drew away, looking down at her. "I believe you were sitting, were you not? Ah, details… I like it better this way."
"And all our yesterdays?" Aster whispered, Tori grunting and nodding.
"And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death." The growl of Tori's voice was so deep, she could feel it as well as hear it, feel it against her chest, all through her body, down to her feet. She curled her toes and leaned her head back ever so slightly. "You know what's going to happen next?"
"This is the part… where you kissed me." Aster replied to his question, scared to move, hardly breathing now.
Tori's hand closed on the back of her neck, then his hot mouth was on hers and she didn't try to stop him. Leaning up on her toes, into him, Aster let out a soft cry, tears now slipping past her lashes and spilling down her cheeks. He kissed her now the way he had the day they met. He kissed her with the same passion, the same purpose…
But this time, she actually felt the fear he had been trying to feed into her with that powerful kiss. This time, Aster was sure she wouldn't survive this encounter. Tori's tongue curled around hers, tasted and explored forcefully, his claws digging into the back of her neck and making such a heat rise in her body, she thought she might erupt into flames.
When the infected man broke away, he didn't break character, his breath thick now and rasping even more than usual.
"Out, out brief candle. Life is but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets-"
"Shut up." Aster sobbed, Tori smiling down at her in a pleased manner. "… You should just stop. Y-you've proved to me that you're c-capable of… I mean, you… Fuck, I can't remember."
"What are you saying?" Tori hissed, his grip on the back of her neck not lessening. "What are you trying to say, Aster?"
She struggled to breathe, opening her eyes to stare up at him in terror.
"I'm s-so sorry." She whispered, crying out when Tori's hand closed over her throat and lifted her from her feet.
"That's not what you said then! Stick to the script!" He howled, Aster letting out a choked scream. "What are you saying?!"
"I'm saying… I d-don't want to t-talk anymore!" She screamed, panting for breath furiously as Tori let her feet touch the ground once again, his grip loosening. "P-please, what are you-"
"Doesn't this make things more interesting, Aster?" Tori whispered in her ear, kissing her once again.
Aster couldn't move as he pulled her closer to his too warm body. She didn't dare struggle with those claws around her throat. She didn't kiss him back but couldn't bring herself to pull away.
And then Tori deepened the kiss…
And then the kiss wasn't a kiss anymore.
His hand gripped her hard as his tongue forced its way down her throat, the way she arched her back and rose up on her toes not helping her any. She opened her eyes wide, beat her hands feebly on his chest, but his only response was to lift her once again from her feet and slam her hard into the wall behind her. His bulk pressed into her, flattened her to the wall, but any noise she tried to make was choked off by the obstruction that also made it impossible for her to breathe.
It was agony…
Now she was kicking at him, her hands scrabbling at his face and neck, his chest and hands and arm, but he didn't move. It was as if Tori were now carved from stone. Her eyes rolled up into her head, her face began to color oddly, but Tori's only response was to squeeze her throat a little more tightly. Bloody foam worked it's way past her lips and her body began to convulse, but all he did was press her more tightly to the wall…
And he waited.
Several moments passed after she finally fell still… And he waited. He waited until he was sure the last flicker of life had left her, the last bit of breath and the last heartbeat. He waited until he was sure the abomination that had tortured and raped him, killed and maimed so many others was dead.
Covered in her blood, covered in wounds she had inflicted in an attempt to make him stop, Tori drew away at last, letting what was left of Aster drop to the ground, nothing more than an empty shell.
His eyes black, Tori staggered a few steps backwards, leaning against the stairs for a moment before sinking to the floor with his head in his hands.