New chapter. And I think this is where I torture Dumas the most from all the story, starting with physical and ending in psycological torture. XD
Thanks to Kemeno and RandyPandy for thei reviews!!
28
Dumas knew it would be unplesant being Stoker's new experiment. What he didn't know was that Tove would enjoy it, too. The earth Terrennial, so shy, naïve and happy, turned out to be as sadist as Lucian could ever get, and this made Stoker really happy. The man disliked having a helper that doesn't know what he wants or the things he wants to use. Sheridan, being human perhaps, didn't share Stoker's passions and that often brung nasty fights between them, but with Tove was a different thing. Without even telling him anything, the young boy already knew what the man needed or wanted, and that was what scared Dumas to no end. Perrault and Nero seemed not surprised by this hidden fact of Tove, as they knew about it all along.
They went to the fourty floor of the Vambery, where Stoker held all his genetic stuff. Dumas was ordered to discard his clothes and casket armor and was given a simple, white short to wear only. Tove helped him to get on the table and quickly handcuffed his wrist and ankles to it, giggling while doing so. The horned man was starting to dislike this idea even more, but there was no turning back this time. Stoker started with simple blood tests and other things, examinating the man's body and taking also small pieces of his skin and, Dumas didn't know how, his Dark Matter. The tests were held in another room, next to where Dumas was staying, and Stoker and Tove stayed there for about two hours, more or less.
The horned man took a glance around the room where he was staying and noticed a lot of jars over shelves, syringes, little bottles with transparent liquid, others with weird colors, surgery stuff, among other things. He had never been in the Vambery, at last not in the fouty floor, and it really creeped him out. Besides, after not being used for some time, it was getting dirty and that added a creepier look to it. And being tied up on a cold, metal table wasn't helping either. Dumas struggled and found it useless; there was no way he could break those handcuffs. After all, Stoker had designed it to be resistant, including to vampires so it was no surprise that Dumas couldn't break them. He looked at the high ceiling and noticed the lanters hanging from it. They gave little light, almost for a human to see around.
Tove returned with Stoker following him, both of them chatting in a very low voice so Dumas didn't understand a thing what were talking about. The only thing that worried him was the strange bottles and the syringes they were carrying over a metal platter. Perrault and Nero were resting over an empty table, watching everything from there. They both knew somehow what those bottles had but, if they ever told Dumas, the man would freak out and will try to run away. If he struggles, then the chances of hurting him will be very high. It was better to keep silent for the moment.
"So, I developed some... vaccine, you could say.", Stoker took one of the syringes and filled it with a strange, purple liquid. Dumas frowned. "I don't know how they will react once they are in your body, but with the samples we took they worked fine."
"Bloody hell...", mumbled the horned man when he felt the stitch of the needle on his left arm. He feasted his fists and took a deep breath.
"So, let's wait a few minutes to see how...Oh...", the vampire noticed how Dumas started to feel rather... sick. "Tove...", the eart Terrennial already was holding a bucket so, when the handcuffs were loose, Dumas turned around, grabbed the bucket and threw up. "Mm... Let him rest about five minutes and we will give him the second one."
Tove left Dumas' side and went for a glass of water that, after the horned man finished throwing up everything he had in his stomach, gave to him. The vampire took a long sip before falling over the table again.
The next three shots had the exact same reaction. By now, the horned man's esophagus was burning in pain due to the sotmach acid that he threw up. And Stoker was runing out from the vaccines he made earlier, thinking why they would made Dumas so sick like that, when half of them worked well on his skin and blood.
"Should I take some samples of his organs?", asked Stoker when the vampire had recovered a bit, but paled again after hearing those words. "We could work better like that."
"From all of them?", said Tove.
"What the fuck?!", cried Dumas. "You are NOT going to stick those bloody syringes in me like that!!"
"Then how do you think I will find your cure?", Stoker glared to the former Duke. "I gave you four shots, and the four of them made you sick. I need more samples to be sure it will work."
"Why me, why me...?", mumbled Dumas, resting his head over the table, looking at the ceiling.
He suffered quiet a lot, more than he did while serving to Ratatosk. Stoker and Tove enjoyed using long needles and other stuff to pick up some samples of his liver, kidneys, stomach (for this, they stuck a long flexible tube with a little light down his throat which Dumas disliked very much), lungs and heart. Stoker tried to convince him in getting a brain sample, but the former Duke almost killed him right there, so the Baron decided, for his own life, not to bother him with that anymore. Or at last as long he was conscious. Stoker grinned to himself, thinking the ways he could take a sample of the former Duke's brain with the stuff he had in the next floor.
They took two more samples of his Dark Matter, seeing the other one was already used. The two cat Terrennials, seeing that the Baron and the earth Terrennial were going to take a while, decided to give Dumas some comfortable company for the meaning time.
"Had Ursula successes into getting Rymer back?", asked the man, complaining at how his wrists and ankles hurt now.
"I don't think so.", answered Nero. "Otherwise, she should have returned to the Hideout. Besides, while being here, we hadn't felt anything yet."
The former Duke looked at the ceiling, the far ceiling. It was all gray; some spider webs were hanging from it, some of them made their own home doing a hole in the walls. He sighed, looking away. He couldn't believe that Ursula was going to revive Rymer knowing what he felt for him, and the strange feelings he was developing for Nish. He was truly afraid now, he was very nervous about it. He didn't know if he was capable of looking at Rymer to his eyes again, or even looking at Nish anymore. He was right in the middle of a path, a path that went to right or left, and he didn't know which to take.
It was so frustrating. After four long years, he had managed his loneliness and his anger towards Lucian for killing Rymer. He even decided to help him with his transformation since the man knew that no one but him would be willing to give him advices in it. Lucian was reluctant at first, he didn't know if Dumas was the same man from the last war, or if he had changed. He was really surprised when the former Duke acceded to help him but with a condition. Lucian snarled at that. It should be predictable in a man like him, but what Dumas asked was quiet hard, and Lucian didn't know if he was going to be capable of doing it. He told Dumas he was going to do all he could to fulfill his condition, but he didn't have any guarantees of making it work. Dumas said it was alright with it, as long as he tried.
Everything was going well until Oyan and Ernest decided to talk by phone, and slowly this little war started to grow. Dumas and Lucian forgot about the matter since Oyan took over the Guild, concentrating in what was more urgent, but then he suggested using the Casket Armors, and now Ursula was trying to revive Rymer. In all honestly, he didn't want to see Rymer again. Sure, he will still have that especial place in his heart, but… he was now in his past, like the man he used to be. He had a new beginning; he had re-started his life with new attitudes, new thoughts, new friends, a new lover… Why it had to be like this? Why his life couldn't be more messed up? He really needed a small break, a little breath. Dumas really hoped that, after the war, everything would be a little less chaotic.
Stoker interrupted his musing as he noisily made his entrance once more. He watched how the horned man wasn't interested in the Baron's new vaccines, but that didn't really affected Stoker as he, this time, had around ten syringes filled with different colored liquids, to which Dumas glared at, especially the black one. The cats flew away from the examination table and landed on each of Tove's shoulder, watching from a safe distance and hearing Stoker's little speech as to what he was going to do now. After the examination of Dumas' cellules, he was positive that he had found ten different ways of fixing him. But after seeing how bad the first attempt ended up, Tove wasn't sure if this one was going to be a complete success, as Stoker had mentioned it before back in the lab. The Earth Terennial only prayed that the vaccines didn't kill Dumas.
The first three didn't do anything at all. The horned man's status wasn't changed by the liquid, not even his brain cells or anything. Stoker had predicted that, maybe, the vaccines would alter, just a bit, his brain. Only the normal, he assured to the freaked out vampire, who really wanted to get the hell out of the Vambery and never return.
The other two made Dumas throw up, the sixth made him faint for ten minutes. The seventh hurt so much that Stoker decided not to keep introducing the liquid into Dumas' system. They eight one, the black one, was actually the one that reacted in him, but in a very violent way. The moment the vaccine started to take effect, five minutes after the shot, the vampire's Dark Matter went crazy, and his primal and bestial instincts came out. He growled and roared, trying to get break the handcuffs, biting when Stoker or Tove tried to get close to him. Streams of Dark Matter were coming out from his pores, his claws grew longer the normal and his horns turned crimson. Perrault gasped, noticing that his master was actually getting into Trance mode but, without her! How could be this possible?
The wings shot from his back and hit the machines next to the table, one of them falling down on the floor and doing a heavy noise. The second, but much smaller pair came out from his head as strange marks appeared on his body. He managed to break the handcuff concealing his ankles as his legs morphed, turning more beast-alike, like taloons. Dumas let out a long hiss before the transformation was complete. The Dark Matter vanished in the air and the man was soon back to his old self, panting hard and sweating, feeling extremely tired.
"Fuck…", he moaned in pain, his fingers twitching involuntary. "My whole body hurts…"
"I can't believe it…", whispered Stoker, admiring the results from the vaccine. The syringe still had a bit of leftover from it. "Pure Dark Matter seems to bring the original form in the Duke, which means that probably every vampire will able to get into this state doing their own personal vaccine."
"What are you talking about?", asked Dumas, not really noticing that his body had changed quiet a lot.
"I amplified the native Dark Matter you had inside your body, the natural for vampires, as you well know.", he grabbed the syringe and smiled to himself. "Making it completely pure."
"Wait… ", the horned man could seat on the table as he looked at the Baron. "The original energy is the Lunar one…"
"Exactly."
Then, it hit him.
"Of course! Since we are creatures created by the Moon itself, it was obvious that its pure energy would bring our original form back!", he said as Stoker nodded. "But, why can't we do it like Werevoles do? I mean, we are under the Moon by night…"
"Because that light is not the Moon's true one. It's the Sun's reflect on the Moon. In other words, indirect Sunlight.", explained Stoker. He started to play with the left side of his mustache. "That's why we can't get into our true forms. Werewolves have it easier, since the only thing they need is to be under the Moon when it's full. They don't require its energy at all, only its presence."
Only when Stoker finally untied him, Dumas could understand how his body changed. He had those strange markings Lucian had when he transformed, and now he was sure it was because he had, finally, reached his original form. It would be cool if every vampire helping them could access to this, but he didn't know if there was enough time for it. Now like this, Dumas didn't really need his Trance ability back; this was a thousand times better. He made some flying tests and it went well after so much time. He looked different, yet he didn't feel any different. He could feel an enormous energy flowing in his body, but it was all normal, all natural.
Dumas left with the cats, leaving Tove and Stoker in the Vambery to fix up the Casket Armors for the next battle.
The same day of the fight, Dumas practiced all morning and afternoon with his new form. Nish was glad to help him as they both had a few air combats in the woods, having a lot of fun trying to see what Dumas was capable of with his new powers. He actually could do what he always did in his Trance form but now, his energy was much more flexible than before and he could do different types of things that he normally wouldn't as a vampire. He also gained an element with this transformation, as he and Nish noticed while fighting. In his way to block one of Nish ice attacks, his hand suddenly went into fire and shot a massive fire thrower to him. The albino barely dodged the attack as he watched the horned man surprised. Excited about this, Dumas started to practice and try to get his fire powers out and noticed the many things he could do with them. Then he laughed at the irony of it. Nish was ice, and he was fire. Rymer was also fire. Perhaps it was when the man mated with him, that he trespassed some of his powers to his body, much like Lucian does with Aaron.
When the Sun set, they both returned to the Hideout to rest before going to Acuna. The Casket Armors were already cleaned and fixed by Stoker's and Tove's hands. Virginia was rather nervous and Ezra tried to calm her down, but without her brother, she felt alone. Edgard was there, but without soul. He could move his body, but couldn't think by his own. Virginia had to order him so he could do something. Tove said that Alexander should be in this fight and they would be able to gather his soul back too. The Earth Terrennial said he would pilot Edgard's machine while waiting for the Wind Terrennial to appear, and Virginia agreed.
Stoker's one was fully powered, but the Solar Pincer was still unpowered. It could move, hit and crush, but it didn't have the same solar powers it used to four years ago, and Ernest refused to slip inside the test tube.
"I can give you a copy of the Dragoon for you to use, but no way in hell I'm getting inside that bloody thing again.", told the man to the Baron, very serious.
"Oh, are you? That will be better then. Last time I had to hear you and Ice Terrennial bitch inside the Casket Armor and it was so annoying…"
Ernest rolled his eyes as he gave Stoker a replace for the original Dragoon. The Baron made a few modifications to it before plunging it in the Casket Armor. After giving it some energy, the Solar Pincer was charged up once more with solar power. They moved pretty quickly. Just when the Sun hid, Ernest moved with the vampire group, Nish and Dumas. Virginia and the rest of the Terrennials were marching just behind them, but ended up taking another path to completely hide from the enemy until they were needed.
Dark Shadow was following them from the air. Since he could control shadows at will, he made his body morph into a bird-like creature. His whole body, except his nose, eyes and hair, was all covered with darkness, his legs were joined together and his arms were now wings. He flapped them and looked forthwards. With those werewolves, Lucian and the huge machine of Nidhoggr, this battle was going to end not so well, and Dark Shadow didn't know what Dyango was thinking when he told him they should wait for it.
"He must be insane... to do this...", he mumbled in the silence of the night that was soon going to be interrupted.
Ernest hides in a different zone from the usual. Dumas and Nish were transmiting information about the desert streets using his dark powers. It all seemed too quiet, but the vampires smelled them; those wolves... they were right in front of them. All of them gripped down their silvery weapon and prayed this plan would work. If not, all was lost.
The first sign they had of Oyan being there was Lucian, who growled, still tied up with the bloddy ropes. Dumas, upon his sight, gripped his teeth. He didn't know if Stoker was going to be able to bring such huge beast down so easily.
"Fuck!", the former Duke cursed when a crimson spike rose from the ground right next to him. "Damn it..."
"It's all right. He is sure trying to localize us to not screw things up.", assured Nish.
"I'm trusting you."
The albino smiled and got into his full form, crawling up the building and glueing himself to the roof, hearing the soft steps Lucian made with his wolf form. He also felt the werewolves running with him, sniffing the air and quickly knowing where the vampries were. Barely standing up, he made a sign to Ernest and the man ordered to move to the right and then forwards. They knew the werewolves would smell them up, but it was no good if they didn't know where they were heading right now. Stoker and the others were in the paralel street the werewolves and Lucian were coming down and, thanks to the Terrennial's presence, those creatures weren't paying attentiont to it.
Then it was Nidhoggr. The vampire boy was sitting in his control room, watching everything from the cameras. He watched how Alexander, out there, was talking with Máximo and, perhaps, calming him down and giving reassuring words to the rookie. Nidhoggr bit his bottom lip. This was the night. If he didn't take this opportunity, he was not going to succeed at his revenge.
"Don't move! You are making me nervous!", he shouted to the back of his machine. There were some fabric noises and then a loud sight.
"I'm sorry, I will try not to..."
Nidhoggr gripped the controls tightly. It was now, or never.
The snake machine screeched as it lunched forwards and turned to the left, finding Ernest's group easily. Dumas was the first one in counterattack; he summoned his original form and blocked the machine's missils with a dark barrier. Some grenades were shot to him and exploded on its body, before slipping away and shotting missils along the way. Most vampires were covering their comrades while the others were attacking and the rest kept walking forwards. Ernest stayed as Bea and Kay lead the other group, shouting orders and seeing how the north gunslingers suddenly decided to move.
Lucian roared when Nish impaled his icy needles in his body, receiving a hard hit in return. His group was already fighting with the werewolves but, luckily, their number was slowly decreasing thanks to the silvery weapons. Cyryl didn't know what to do in order to kill them, as werewolves didn't have energy to manipulate like vampires. They only could use their brutal and animal strengh in close range combats. They didn't have any weapons either to use as humans. In other words, they were lightly fucked up.
Nish managed to freez Lucian's legs, inmovilizing him for a few minutes. The ice vampire needed to figure out which of the two vampires he was going to ask help; Stoker or the Poes? But that question was soon answered when he saw, rising between the buildings, a giant snake, the same they saw when Lucian was captured. This creature slipped his tongue in and out several times before launching towards Lucian and biting his throat. The wolf whined in pain but hit the snake with his frontal paws, scratching the scaled surface of it and dealing deep wounds. It attacked Lucian once more and managed to slip on him and maintain him on the floor using his massive weight. The wolf growled angrily. Besides barely moving from the ropes, now he had a huge snake on him. Lucian thought nothing could turn out worst than this as he sighted angrily.
Stoker came and, like a bull, run over several transformed werewolves. They cried out in pain as the mad scientist watched from his cabine the scared look in their face. Ezra, who was just sitting behing the man in a second seat he did for her, grinned and twisted her tails. Sadly, she and the rest of the Terrennials had a little of insanity in them, a little self that loved to create chaos and enjoying hurting others. Not even Tove, one of the most innocent from them, escaped from it. He was sure a little darn sadist.
"Bring it on, Stoker.", her fur shone in a creamy blue light as an ice armor appeared over the crab shaped casket armor.
Stoker only laughed as he launched again to the werewolves with both pincirs upright, hitting the nearest one with the yellow one and burning his fur, setting him on fire. The ice bombs he shot froze the floor and some of Cyryl's men slipped on it, finding a painful dead under those pincirs.
"This is so much fun...", commented the Ice Terrennial.
"Heh...", laughed Stoker. "Then why you fought against us four years ago?"
"Because no human or vampire had the right to control this planet.", answered. "If humans were the ones trying to make a utopia for them, a world without vampires, we would have helped vampires."
"And what are you doing right now?"
"Fighting for my beliefs, like you and the Duke did four years ago."
Stoker laughed once again as he shot a dense Dark Cloud to a group of three werewolves that was heading to them.
Virgnia and Tove, who was piloting Edgard's Casket Armor as he was sitting quietly behind him, made an entrace similar to Stoker's; both machines came from no where and slipped on the floor, knocking out the running north gunsligers and taking Oyan out of guard. Máximo was trembling, but the grin on Alexander's face told him that the machine showing up was a good thing. Virginia gave a lot of punches and Tove kicks. But what made the horde of men wide in shock was that Tove's Casket Armor was reflecting all solar shots, just like it did when Aaron and Lucian fought with them. The Earth Terrennial laughed as he was also trying to spot Alexander, but the man came to him as he jumped on the head of the Casket Armor. Máximo was with him too, dragged by the Wind Terrennial to a safer place where to talk.
They found a nice and dark hallway to stay. Alexander and the rookie got off as both mouths oppened to reveal Tove and Virginia.
"Sir Alexander!", shouted the girl, happily.
"Aahhh...", he grinned. "I know where this is heading and I really, really like it.", he turned to Virginia. "This is Máximo and you nor your brother or anyone should kill him, alright?"
She giggled, and the boy felt very out of place.
"Very well, but hurry up and bring my brother's soul back so we can fight!"
The man turned into a light purple wind that went straight into Edgard's body, the same way Tove did with Virginia. The boy arose from his sleep and, connected to Alexander's soul, knew what he had to do. Tove did the same and fused with the girl's Casket Armor before both of them closed.
"You should stay in a safe place once this is over.", said Edgard. "But I don't know where."
"Oh! I know!", said Virginia. "What if we carry him with us?"
"Isn't that a bit dangerous?"
"No. I meant that one of us carries him inside our Casket Armors!"
"Works for me.", then, it opened again. "Come, jump in."
Máximo did what it was told and, once they were all ready, they returned to the fight.
Kay's group was taking care of the one being leaded by Recher right now. Oyan seemed to look out for Lucian, since he hadn't seen the wolf for quiet some time and was starting to worry. But he still had the boy back in the Guild. That man was surely going to return even if he was rescued by his partners, but it will be more difficult for him and his men to stop him. Bea's little group intercepted him and Oyan growled, telling his comrades to kill them right away. The woman took out her Witch and started to shot at will, not really caring at all. Her missiles hit on their target, being dragged to them like metal was dragged towards the magnet, killing the instantly. The vampires under her orders were also doing their job with their dark powers, besides protecting the humans in their group against the gunslingers.
The surprise came when Nidhoggr actually showed up there. He had finished with Dumas' group, and was now watching this new fight. The vampire boy took a deep breath. His hands were shaking so much.
"Ah, what the fuck...", he said. "Fuck all this shit.", came angrily as he launched towards the horde of north gunslingers.
Oyan watched, dumbfoded, how the snake was killing his men using the huge weight of it. He didn't understand why Nidhoggr did something like this. What was happening to him? The auburn man cursed under his breath and kept going, not bothering with it.
Just when that group was completely finished, Nidhoggr rested the head of his snake close to Bea and opened it.
"Come inside.", told to her.
"What? Are you kidding me?!", shouted her back, holding her Witch tightly.
"It's alright, Bea.", came a second voice, very familiar for the woman. "I will tell you everything if you get inside."
She swallowed and looked at her group.
"Lobreta.", a woman around her age but with vampiric features with long, blonde hair and a pair of black horns growing from her head came to Bea's call.
"Yes, ma'am."
"I will leave the rest to you.", orderes as she walked inside the machine and disappeared when the mouth closed. "Go help Kay now."
"Yes."
The snake lifted his head and slipped away, going to where Lucian was staying.
Bea walked forwards, barely seeing anything in that darkness, hearing the sound the machine did while going away. Then, he saw some bright lights and, before she knew it, she was in the control room of it. Nidhoggr was sitting in front of the computers, with his Machine King in automatic mode. The vampire boy turned around to watch her and shook his right hand, telling her to come closer. Bea, with the Wtich still in hands, did so.
"I really thought you were going to shoot, but guess that women, humans or vampire, are very overfamilliar.", said to her. "Your gender should take more precautions."
"We are still, us women, alive and kicking, even being like that.", Bea replied and saw a funny grin show in the boy's face.
"I like you. I guess the kid does have interesting people to stick up with."
He turned to the controls and pushed some buttoms.
"What you want from me? Where is he?"
"Back there.", said, pointing to a location. "He is pretty cold. Before I got him here with the Wind Terrennial, Oyan decided to extract him some blood."
"Wait... Oyan actually did that?"
"Yeah. He is with an IV now. I'm trying to speed up the blood transfusion before this thing ends. I don't think he will be capable of controlling Lucian if he faints."
Bea kept walking. She put the Witch against the wall of the insides of the machine and, with a huge smile; she rushed and hugged Aaron, crying with joy, happy to see he was alive. She stepped back and smiled, the boy returning the gesture.
"You look good, brat.", said Bea.
"I have been better, thanks. Oyan took almost half of my blood to prevent that I would break the spell on Lucian and now I'm trying to recover it all.", he pointed up and Bea followed, seeing a half empty blood bag. "I haven't even finished the first one."
"But... Why is the spy helping you? Why he helped me?"
"Tell her, kid.", came Nidhoggr's reply and so, Aaron told her his story and the reason why he suddenly decided to attack Oyan's army.
Bea understood his reasons and feelings, but he should work hard for Ernest's approvement if he wanted to fight along then. Nidhoggr told her he already knew about that, but he said that there were two or three people that would be happy to have him in their side. When Bea asked, the vampire boy only laughed.
Dumas was now having a hard time dealing with Oyan's group. He and Ernest had a few issues with the aunburn man, especially when he had twice the members thee had right now. The former Duke whispered to the gunslinger it was better if he and the vampires attacked, letting the humans return to base, safe.
"The hell? I'm not going to leave you here to fight alone!", shouted the tanned man.
Even when the reaction made Dumas surprised, the vampire smiled.
"I will not be alone. These guys are pretty though. Don't worry about me."
"You better come alive. I don't want to deal with Nish's breakdown like the other day...", warned Ernest before leaving with the five or seven humans in the group.
Dumas thought about it and it made him corageous to keep going, to keep moving. There was someone who was expecting his return. He hadn't felt that in such long time. He was about to make his move when the entire people in there heard a woman scream and what it seemed to be horse's steps on the stoned floor. The gunslingers turned around and some of them cursed out loud when a huge tower of fire went past them. Some of them took the opportunity to attack and Dumas was hit several times, one of the hits being a hand grenade that made him flew away, hit the floor, roll and finally stop when he twisted his legs and arms. His wings covered his body of a second incoming attack and then, he peeped between them, his eyes widening in shock at the scene in front of him.
Ursula was screaming, really excited as she moved her arms and hands, creating dangerous fire attacks. Being herself a fire dancer it was easy for her to create hypnotic movements that the enemy couldn't decipher, unless it knew the dance as Ursula. The Fire Terrennial was sure having a lot of fun and the gunslingers had a hard time counterattacking her since she was riding a centaur, a fire centaur to be precise. His armor was entirely red and crimson, he had a fierily tail moving around and burning whatever it came across with. He had a huge and long lance in his right hand and over his left one, a crossbow, with which he pierced the men chests or heads.
"Burn in hell, you assholes!!", screamed Ursula, creating with a powerful fire ball an explosion that not only made a nice hole on the floor, but also took a few limbs from her enemies.
"Damn it, your energy never empties or what?", came the centaur as he stopped to turn around. He was wearing a strange, blue helmet with a red horn on it.
"Never, ever!!", she said, laughing. "Come on, Rymer! We still have some work to do!!"
He launched again towards the gunslinger group and, with his crossbow, he managed to kill a few and then, with his lance, the remaining ones.
Dumas watched from the distance, how the man he used to love with all his might was alive and moving once more. He knew that his idea was going to be a disaster, but he didn't know that it would affect him this much. He knew he had to say 'only Stoker and the Poes', for obvious reasons, but he didn't. In the end, that desire to see Rymer again didn't leave his heart and now that he had it, he didn't know what to do. He whined in pain from the earlier hand grenade and stayed in the same place he was now.
Dumas didn't realize that everything was over, not even when the remaining gunslingers decided to run away, scared for their lives. He sure was seeing, but he wasn't watching. Ursula kicked out the last ones, and Rymer turned around, spotting Dumas on the floor, with his wings folded on his back, his eyes wondering into the nothingness.
The vampire returned to his normal form, with his Casket Armor and the fire symbol pin on it. He obviously lacked the cape because Dumas conserved it, but his features remained the same. The man sighed, not moving. He was, in truth, also a little scared. He hadn't seen Dumas in four long years, four years being sealed inside Ursula. His soul was weak, and didn't know for how long the Fire Terrennial was going to be able to maintain it in the body. He slowly approached the horned man, taking indecisive steps. Just by seeing him, Rymer knew Dumas wasn't the same from four years ago. His eyes shone in a different way, his body, still the same, told different things from the ones he knew. This Dumas was more confident about himself.
"…Dumas?", he softly called. Rymer almost didn't recognize his voice, not to talk about the vampire kneeling on the floor.
Dumas lifted his head and frowned, crawling a few steps away from him. His wings instantly covered his body, in a protection way. He watched Rymer, he noticed his familiar short and orange hair, the shape of his head and face, his thick neck. He had kissed it, he had touched it, he had caressed it, he had bit it, he knew it. And that wide chest and shoulders, and back, and arms, and legs, and wrist, and fingers. He knew it all, Dumas knew it all… Why he had to return in a time like this? Why, after so long, he never thinks before saying? Even when one of his deepest desires comes true, he was scared. And he had another responsibility to take care of, only if he wanted to keep up with that. He didn't know if Rymer was going to maintain that form forever, or if it was for a short time.
"Even after so long…", Rymer heard Dumas said in a whisper. "Even after so long… I'm still an idiot, I'm still act without keeping in mind the consequences.", the fire vampire knew he was referring to the idea of reviving the others, as Ursula told him. Rymer really wanted to approach even more and hold Dumas into his arms, but it would be more heartbreaking for him, and he didn't want that for him. "I can't decide…", warm tears left his eyes as they rolled over his cheeks and then, down on the floor. "I don't want to…"
"You don't have to…"
"Shut up!!", shouted the horned man, startling Rymer in his place. "Just… shut up and let me… think…"
"Sorry…", whispered the fire vampire.
He didn't mean to sound so rough, but it just came out of him. He was furious, he was angry and frustrated, scared and yet happy at the same time. How could his mind, body and heart feel so many emotions in a single moment, in a single day? He couldn't bear it anymore, all the deception, all the sadness, all those dark feelings. Dumas was truly happy being besides Nish, even if he denied it to the albino vampire. He really desired to be his mate, he wasn't just prepared. That's all. And then it was him, standing in front of him, alive, waiting for him. A sudden rage built inside Dumas, his wings shaking in anger. The man was happy, he was living his life how he always wanted; no bounds, no master, no horrible orders, no nothing. But if there was one thing that he will never rip of it was his past, and it was just standing in front of him.
It was just there; all the memories, all the nice feelings, all the warmth he felt while being with Rymer, all his thoughts about him and the way he saw things while being the ruler of all, his old self. Dumas gripped his teeth, getting more and more furious with himself. That old self, that bastard, that selfish, that narcissist, that killer, that horrible man. Not only Rymer made him remember those beautiful feelings, but also the one he used to be and the one he wasn't right now.
He wasn't a bastard now; he just had a little temper. He wasn't selfish; he actually learned to give much more he was going to receive. He wasn't a killer; he only kills for food or if it was necessary. He wasn't like that anymore, he wasn't, he wasn't, he wasn't…
"I'm not like that…", said in a whisper.
Rymer heard it and lowered his head.
"I know you aren't."
Dumas growled. How this man in front of him was still able to see through him? How Rymer managed to know him that well? Was he too obvious sometimes? Or did he unconsciously say all his thoughts out loud, without even hearing his own voice?
"Dumas…", continued Rymer, making small steps towards the man.
"Don't come any closer!!", shouted the horned man, showing his fangs to him, with his eyes growling red of anger.
But, to whom he was rejecting? Rymer or those memories of himself? Which he wanted, the fire vampire or that self that was trying to get back at him? The fire vampire tried to reach out again, but Dumas roared and launched to him, but not doing anything to the bigger body of Rymer, which knew exactly how to block his attack.
"Hands off!!", screamed a new but much angrier voice.
Rymer had time to only turn his head and see a blue blur come to him and tackle him to the ground, separating him from Dumas, who was trying to gather information at what just happened. But there was no other vampire he knew he used ice powers like that. The needles penetrated the Casket Armor and stuck into Rymer's flesh, making him bleed for a few seconds before they melt at the intense heat the armor was liberating. The fire vampire looked up, to left, to the right and then he saw him. He was utterly pissed; his hair was all spiked up, showing his fangs and looking at him with those bloody red eyes. His tail was flagging in the air, ready to strike, as he also cracked his fingers before attacking again. This time, Rymer summoned a fire tower that blocked the icy attacks by melting them, but didn't stop Nish from coming again, giving the fire vampire a nice hit with his tail, cracking his arm armor.
Rymer stood up and jumped away from the albino's next move, studying his form and figure. Just by seeing it, he thought that was his original form since he barely wore armor similar to his or Dumas, but didn't know why that vampire was attacking him, unless…
Ursula told him that Dumas was being very friendly with a new vampire that the horned man met during mating season a month ago. Seeing how this ice vampire was reacting at the angered voice of Dumas and seeing him beaten up, no wonder he was attacking him like that. He must have thought he was the one that injured him and that vampire, was surely Dumas' new partner.
Nish came to him again, but Rymer dodged him and punched him very hard on his back, throwing him against a house and making the wall fall over him. Dumas, desperately that his partner was heavily injured, he run to him, only to stop in half of his path. He gripped his teeth and fist; he looked at Rymer, then to Nish.
"Fuck you both!!", he cried before opening his wings and flying away.
The fire vampire couldn't help it and smiled, walking towards the fallen one and putting away some of the rubble on his body. The albino was alright, but with a terrible pain in his back. He looked up to Rymer and frowned, recognizing him.
"Dumas never told me you were that tall…", said when the fire vampire helped him to his feet. His back ached in pain as a gosebump traveled all over it. "…It …fucking… hurts…"
"Sorry about that.", apologized the auburn man.
"It's ok; you were just defending yourself, though I don't think I will be able to walk."
Rymer didn't have a choice but to summon his centaur form. He helped Nish to his back and, after the albino told him where to go, he rushed back to the Hideout, in where Dumas was already, crying his heart out.