TRIGGER WARNING: violence, some gore, graphic-ish vampire death

Leviathan

Emerald should've known that what Thierry had said as she was leaving his office that day was a warning. It was too bad she was resting on her laurels.

A few days later, after their confrontation, Lucas approached Emerald. Because it'd been a few days without so much as a glare from Thierry, and because she associated Lucas with betrayal whenever she saw him, all she felt was anger and hurt when he came into view. She never thought, for a second, that he'd stab her through the heart. Again.

She'd been making her way to another building when she spotted him and he spotted her. They were heading toward each other but as soon as he saw her and called her name, she quickly turned around and started heading away from him, ignoring his calls. She was still trying to work out how she felt about his betrayal, how she felt about him in general, because she had fallen in love with him. To find out that it'd all been a lie, some kind of ploy, hurt her more than she ever could have imagined.

Right now, he and Storm were the last two people on this planet Emerald ever wanted to see.

Lucas was persistent, though, Emerald had to give him that. Annoyingly persistent, but persistent all the same.

Emerald was glad she was quicker than he was, being a vampire and all, and managed to doge him this time, but that wouldn't last long. Not even a few hours later did they literally crash into each other. Emerald didn't know how he knew exactly where she was going to be, because she'd been on high alert for the rest of the day for him. Someone must've tipped him off, but she again, didn't make that connection with Thierry. She simply thought he and Storm were making some play so she'd at least start talking to them again.

She was rounding a corner, looking over her shoulder to make sure Lucas wasn't following her and was turning to face front just as she rammed into someone. That someone being Lucas.

Emerald quickly pulled back, letting out a frustrated, annoyed tsk sound.

"Excuse me," she muttered, trying to quickly slip past him, only he grabbed her upper forearm as she passed. Glaring at his hand, she shifted her gaze up to Lucas who visibly flinched. "Remove your hand, at once," she ordered in a frosty voice.

Lucas swallowed hard, looking nervous suddenly.

"Don't be like that, Emerald… I just want to talk," Lucas explained.

She tried to pull out of his grasp, but he only tightened his grip. She ground her teeth. "Well I don't want to talk to you," she spat acidically.

"Emerald—" Lucas started, tightening his grip ever so slightly again.

"Remove your hand or I'll take the arm," she warned, glowering up at him, a fire behind those emerald green yes.

Lucas swallowed again and quickly let go of her arm like she'd just shocked him. He held up both hands in surrender.

"Okay, okay," he said quickly. "But hear me out, then. Please?"

"Why?" Emerald snapped, not even sure why she was still standing there.

"Because as much as you might deny it, and as much as you might hate me right now, you know, deep down, you still care about me." Lucas told her, slowly lowering his arms.

Emerald crossed hers. "Don't give me that crap," she spat. "You lied to me. Our whole relationship was a lie. I'm not going to get over that so easily."

"That's not… entirely true. I did care about you, I still do. I fell in love with you Emerald—"

"Stop it!" Emerald snapped, throwing her arms out, shifting from foot to foot in irritation. "Stop lying to me." Tears welled up in her eyes and she gritted her teeth, refusing to let any spill over. "This conversation is over. I don't want to see you or talk to you until I'm ready to, all right? If you still cared, as you so claim, then respect my wishes." she hissed before spinning on heel and walking briskly away.

She hadn't taken three steps before Lucas had caught her arm, though. She spun around ready to chew him out more, only as she did so he jabbed a needle into her throat, quickly depressing the plunger before she could come out of her shock.

Lucas pulled the needle out, letting go of Emerald's arm. Emerald reeled back, a hand going up to her neck. She looked at Lucas searchingly. Guilt was plain in his eyes, his face a mask of pain.

"What…?" she stuttered, her voice a breathless whisper. "What did you do—?" Her knees buckled and her vision swam. Lucas stepped forward and caught her, cradling her in his arms. She wanted to fight back, to snap the arm around his shoulders, to get far, far away from him, but whatever he'd injected into her bloodstream was taking affect quickly, she could barely move.

Beneath the panic, beneath the lethargy, beneath the anger, her soul was hurting. He'd betrayed her a second time. Right after he said he cared about her. He was just a liar. He was and always would be in her eyes. A liar, a manipulator, someone who convinced themselves they were doing good, in denial about the real damage they've caused, someone would never look back to see the destruction.

If she ever saw him again, she would kill him.

That was a fact.

Emerald's sense slowly came back to her, one by one. It was tactile first, she could feel something somewhat soft beneath her. She was definitely lying down. It was cold wherever she was lying. Then came audition. There was quiet breathing, hers and… someone else's. She wasn't sure who though. Her olfactory and gustation might as well have come at the same time, seeing as one was dependent on the other. As she breathed, she could taste the moisture in the air, the familiar scent of something or… someone, just on the edge of her memory. It was familiar in a most terrifying way. The scent brought on severe negative emotions: hate, disgust, resentment.

She couldn't think on that too long, though, because whoever was with her had moved. Swiftly and almost silent. Vampire, at a guess. Their footsteps were almost nonexistent, just the stirring of air. She could feel a presence leaning over her then, where their shadow cast, her skin becoming slightly colder. There was the rustle of fabric as they moved again and the whistle of air as something came down toward her.

Emerald's silver-flooded eyes snapped open, her hand automatically coming up to catch the perpetrator's wrist mid-swing. She looked at the hand holding a wooden stake before her eyes slid over to the person—well, vampire—holding it. Her body reacted more out of muscle memory than anything else: She brought his wrist closer, forcing him to lean over her, her free hand coming up and grabbing the back of his shirt. Tensing the muscles in her upper body, she flipped him over her, slamming him into the wall next to where she was laying. As soon as his body hit the wall, Emerald sat up, twisting his arm that still held the stake, behind his back. She shifted to her knees as the stake fell from his hands onto the bed and he growled in pain.

She took this moment to look around, the silver leaving her eyes as her canine retracted to a normal size. They were currently sitting on a cot, in a corner of a smallish room. The walls were made of metal. It smelled dank. The door, in the middle of the wall across from the cots, was also made of metal. Probably locked. She looked over her shoulder to see another cot, parallel to hers.

She turned back to at her father, monitoring his movements. He didn't seem comfortable but he hadn't done anything to escape thus far.

"Where am I?" she asked, looking around again.

Jonathan snorted. "Where do you think, kid?" he asked.

"Shut up, we're the same age," she snarled, jerking his arm behind his back a tiny bit more. A hiss escaped from Jonathan's lips. "…it looks like some kind of makeshift jail cell." She finally said.

"Give the girl a prize," Jonathan replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Could you let me up? This is starting to get uncomfortable."

Letting out a sharp sigh, she grabbed the stake with her free hand before letting Jonathan's arm go, quickly sliding off the cot, scrutinizing his movements as he righted himself and rolled his arm.

"How'd you get a hold of this?" Emerald asked, sitting on the other cot, holding up the stake.

Jonathan glanced at her and scoffed. "Don't look at me like that, you came in with it."

Emerald tried to hide her confusion. "What? Who brought me in here?" she demanded.

Her father shrugged. "Some nameless worker of Thierry's, I suppose."

"Was he tall, brown hair, blue-green eyes, human?"

"Hell if I knew, I wasn't awake when they brought you in." Jonathan straightened up and sneered. "More boy troubles, daughter dearest?" he mocked.

Emerald crossed her arms tightly over her chest, narrowing her eyes, pursing her lips. What was Thierry up to? Throwing her in this jail cell? One of her friends was going to notice her absence at some point and go looking for answers. Would he punish them, too? Throw them in here with her or in a different cell? Ice water rushed through her veins at that thought.

But if Thierry was as smart as Emerald thought, he wouldn't. If he knew her as much as he claimed, he would know that Emerald would only go on the offense if he attacked her friends. And she would most definitely not give him her power. That comforted her a little.

It didn't answer the question as to why she was here. Or what would happen if one of her friends went digging for answers. Would they just explain away her disappearance? Would her friends believe it?

Not if he answered wrong.

Jonathan waved his hand in front of his daughter's face, snapping a few times for good measure.

"Earth to Emerald," he called loudly, making her jump. She blinked and focused back on Jonathan. He smiled. "You're smarter than this. You can figure it out."

Emerald's eyes narrowed as she scowled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she finally said, averting her gaze, dropping the scowl slightly.

"You know I've always been able to basically read your mind, Emerald. This is no different. You're trying to figure out why Thierry put you in here. What's his purpose? What's his plan? Gotta wonder…." He smiled mischievously.

Emerald tried not to let this bother her. Why did he always have to be right? How did he know where she was? How did he know what was going on in her life when she hadn't seen, spoke, or interacted with him for months on end? How did he even manage that? It made no sense!

As hard as she tried, she couldn't hide her frustration well. Her frustrated thoughts showed through her body language unintentionally. She crossed her legs and arms, eyebrows knitting together fiercely.

She was usually better at hiding her emotions, but when it came to her father, everything seemed to work backwards.

"Would you like me to give you a hint?" Jonathan finally said, smirking, breaking her out of her thoughts. Emerald's eyes slid back over to Jonathan, cold as the arctic tundra. He held up his hands, leaning back slightly. "I'll take that as a no."

Emerald's eyes turned back to stare at the door, unconsciously playing with the stake. She made sure to keep her senses open to Jonathan, in case he attacked again. She could never be too sure. He hadn't really been trying to kill her just a moment ago—he was a much better fighter—so why even bother in the first place?

God, what was with the men her life? A psychopathic father, Lord of the Night World who was turning out to be less nice than he appeared (at least when it came to Emerald), and two ex-boyfriends who'd broken her heart, one happening to be a soulmate, the other doing it twice. Sky was the only remotely normal one and he turned into a 750 pound tiger when provoked.

With a heavy sigh, Emerald stood and tried the door. She didn't know what she was going to accomplish with that because it was locked, and she knew it too. Maybe a small part of her had hoped that it wasn't. When it didn't budge, she went to sit back down on the cot. Jonathan watched her silently.

She started flipping the stake in her hand as she thought.

Jonathan had said she'd shown up with the stake. What did that mean? Why would Thierry drug her and then throw her in a cell with her father, with a stake—

A thought suddenly occurred to Emerald and though her hand closed as the stake came down, she missed, it clattering noisily to the floor of the cell. Her eyes flickered down to it before flickering over to Jonathan.

A slow smile appeared on his face.

"She's finally figure it out," he commented, shooting to his feet. Emerald ducked and scooped up the stake before, backing up onto the cot halfway—one leg on the ground, one leg bent, on the cot—holding one hand up in front of her, the hand with the stake poised to strike if he moved another muscle.

"Thierry wants me to do his dirty work," she said unnecessarily. Jonathan chuckled. "That's a first," she muttered. Her eyes looked away from him for just a moment, not even for a millisecond, but Jonathan took this moment to lunge forward, wrapping both hands around her neck and launching her backward onto the cot. The arm holding the stake swung toward his side, but he merely grabbed her wrist with one of his hands and pinned that to the cot as well.

Emerald's free hand grabbed his arm and started forcing his ulna and radius together while her father's nails dug into her throat. Blood beaded beneath his fingertips but Emerald didn't even flinch as she continued to squeeze his bones together until they broke with a satisfying snap. Jonathan howled in pain and pulled his hand and body away, standing, allowing Emerald to sit up. However, he kept her other wrist firmly in his hand.

"You do so love to break my arms, don't you?" he spat, remembering a previous fight they'd hand in which Emerald had snapped his arm enough to make bone tear through muscle and tissue, spill blood, and stick out of his arm.

She didn't answer as she, in one fluid movement, stood up before sweeping one of her legs behind Jonathan's, while using this momentum to lean to her right and force him tumbling to the floor. His head hit the concrete, he hissed in pain, and he finally released her wrist.

The only problem with this move was the fact that gravity took control for a moment and she almost landed on top of her father, but managed to catch herself. Jonathan recuperated quicker than Emerald anticipated and with a snarl, he grabbed her arms while bringing his foot up underneath her abdomen so he could kick her and send her flying over him. She landed on the floor with a resounding thud. Jonathan took this time to flip over to his stomach before retreating into a hunting crouch.

Emerald quickly sat up but only had enough time to turn her torso to face Jonathan as a growl ripped through his chest and he launched himself straight at Emerald. As he flew through the air she managed to turn her body fully to face him just as his hands hit her shoulders and knocked her back again. She had to let go of the stake so she could grab Jonathan as she used the force coming from Jonathan's attack to somersault both of them so that Jonathan was on the floor again, Emerald straddling him.

Jonathan quickly reached up with his left arm to cup his hand around Emerald's neck while at the same time he hooked his left leg around her right. Before she could react, he shifted his weight to his left side, lifting his right side and rolling them over. Emerald was now pinned to the floor with Jonathan's left arm cutting off her windpipe. Her hands reached up to claw at his arm and she squirmed, trying to get out from underneath him, but he unwaveringly reached over to grab the stake she'd dropped, ignoring her scratches, almost like she wasn't even hurting him.

He positioned the stake over her heart before bringing his arm down full force. The lack of oxygen was starting to make Emerald's head spin, but she had just enough of a mind to catch his wrist with both hands right before the stake pierced her skin. Though how long she would be able to hold out was a mystery with no oxygen to fuel her muscles—they were already starting to cramp.

It was only a few moments of this struggle until she felt the tip slide straight through her skin and hit her sternum. The pain was immense. It was like he'd just started a fire right in the middle of her chest. She choked on a scream and her arms almost let go of his wrist, the stake digging a little deeper. Her body jerked and her eyes watered at the intense, scorching pain. Black spots were covering her vision and she could feel the stake slip a little bit more into her chest.

Suddenly air rushed into her dying lungs and deprived body. Her head cleared, though pounded slightly in time with her frantic heart. Her vision came back and so did her strength, though all she could do was delay the inevitable that much longer. She coughed and choked on all the air rushing through her airways, her back arching slightly, only helping Jonathan's work.

"…why?" she rasped, looking up at her father.

"I want you wide awake when I plunge this thing into your heart, daughter dearest," he snarled with a malevolent smile. To make his point—no pun intended—clearer, he shoved the stake in a tiny bit more. Now that Emerald could breathe, she couldn't help the scream that escaped her lips.

No!

She couldn't go out like this! Not so easily, not right now, not after everything she'd been through. This wasn't how it was going to end for her. She would not let it.

Thinking quickly, glanced down at their entangled legs. He seemed too busy trying to stab to her to notice he didn't have her legs pinned down. She hastily braced one of his legs under her ankle, bending her foot so his leg could rest there. With her other foot, she positioned the heel just over the back of his leg before bringing it up and swinging it down with as much strength as possible.

One or both bones in his leg—Emerald didn't care to look—snapped and Jonathan let out an agonized shriek, collapsing on Emerald, almost pushing the stake clean through her heart. Thankfully, she was prepared enough to brace her arms and catch him so that the stake didn't go any deeper. Using what little strength she had left, she shoved Jonathan off of her while he simultaneously slithered off and tended to his leg as it started to heal.

She used this time to pull the stake out of her chest and, though every breath felt like she was inhaling flames, she tackled Jonathan to the ground, making sure to pin his legs before attempting to jam the stake into his heart.

The tables had turned and now it was Jonathan who was holding her wrist with both hands, struggling to keep the deadly piece of wood away from his franticly beating heart.

About a moment in, however, Jonathan laughed, loud and boisterous. Emerald was so shocked, the pressure she was applying lessened slightly. Jonathan didn't take advantage of this, which Emerald thought was odd.

In fact… this whole fight had seemed… odd, now that she thought about it. Jonathan was a skilled fighter, one of the best Emerald had ever faced. He had tricked her into believing he fought one way before switching it in the middle of battle to gain the upper hand. He was cunning and almost always, it seemed, a step ahead of Emerald, if not three. If he lost in a fight, he always had a backup plan that would save his life. It was only by some miracle Emerald hadn't been killed by him yet.

But this fight… this fight has been mediocre at best. They'd rolled around a lot like school children on the playground or humans getting into a drunken bar fight. Not like two skilled vampires with years of close-quarters, hand-to-hand combat.

Emerald looked down at Jonathan, eyes wide and stricken as this occurred to her. Jonathan's laughter had subsided but he was smiling wickedly at her. He hadn't once taken advantage of her zoned-out state.

"What's so funny?" she asked in a whisper through unmoving lips.

"You're not really trying," Jonathan sang dementedly. "You don't want to kill me, do you?" His voice had dropped to a whisper.

She put pressure on the stake, digging it into his sternum. Jonathan gritted his teeth and swallowed his cry of pain.

"You must be joking," she replied through clenched teeth.

Jonathan swallowed hard and managed a smile through is pain. Pain that mimicked Emerald's.

"Oh, please, you know I'm right," he told her, his voice a little hoarser now. He carefully removed one hand from Emerald's wrist to reach up and brush her hair behind her ear. "More blood on your hands. Your mother and father's death on your conscience for the rest of eternity. You don't want that." He pulled his hand away but didn't return it to Emerald's wrist.

Unwanted tears flooded Emerald's eyes as his words raked across her whole body, leaving long lacerations. She let out a shaky breath, some tears breaking away and falling onto Jonathan's face.

"Go ahead, I won't mind," Jonathan sang softly, alluringly. "Kill me, Emerald, kill me." He laughed lightly.

"I won't," Emerald choked, letting up the pressure she was applying. "I won't." She repeated in a whisper.

Jonathan's eyebrows furrowed in mock sadness. "Oh, sweetie," he cooed. "We don't always get what we want." he said darkly just as he released Emerald's wrist from the grasp of his other hand.

There was no resistance any longer and because Emerald was leaning over Jonathan, gravity took over and plunged the stake straight through her father's heart, before she had time to react.

Emerald's eyes grew wide her breathing turning in gasps as Jonathan let out a pained grunt, his back arching slightly before sinking slowly to the floor as the light started to fade from his eyes. Just like Emerald's mother, a smile was on his features and he began to laugh softly, knowing even though he was as good as dead, he'd won the psychological war.

Emerald scrambled back, away from her father, his laughter still echoing through the room until it was abruptly cut off with a pathetic gasp of air. The body mummified before Emerald's tear-filled, wide eyes.

"Let me out," she whispered, not able to take her eyes off the body. The longer she looked, the more she wanted out and finally need won out over shock and she was on her feet banging on the door. "Let me out!" She shrieked. "Please, let me out! Get me out!" She stepped back trying to kick the door down but it was strong, it stayed locked and where it was. Not even with her supernatural strength, did the door budge.

"No, no, no," Emerald gasped, resorting to slamming her shoulder up against the door now, though it was more ineffective than kicking near the doorknob. "Let me out," she sobbed, ramming her shoulder into the door until the pain was too overwhelming. "Please, please, let me out." She gasped, her voice just above a whisper as she slid to the floor, eyes fixed on a point on the wall across from her.

"Let me out, please, let me out," she continued to whisper, curling up into a ball, silent tears streaming down her face. She rocked back and forth until exhaustion swept over her. She rested her head against the door, eyes drooping before closing, her pleading whispers fading out, like a song.

Emerald woke with a choked gasp. Her muscles screeched and howled in agony, yellow lights danced across her vision and when she tried to breathe, her body wouldn't take the air. Her gasps ragged and scraping as the air uselessly whistled down her throat, she forced her muscles to unfurl and clawed against the door. She tried banging on it weakly, but her body was giving out. Her vision soon became black and her muscles stopped working. She fell to the floor, convulsing, trying to breathe air though her body would take none.

Her gasps slowed, became shallow, quiet… until, soon, there was no noise left in the small jail cell.

Okay, so late. I know, and I feel kind of bad for being late but also leaving you on a cliff hanger, but only kinda-sorta. I did give you a longer chapter, though. Also, I hope the fight scene was okay, fight scenes are one of the harder things to write, especially on the fly without a lot of previous planning.

Expect a chapter Sunday, but don't get your hopes too high because I don't want to disappoint you if I can't make it on Sunday for whatever reason.

I'm not making any promises, but I'm saying Sunday because I'm 95% sure that I'll have the chapter done and written and posted on Sunday. I have half of it written already, I just need to brainstorm and work out a few things to write the rest.

Again, I apologise for how long this chapter took, I got so invested in another one I'm writing I ended up getting writer's block for this one… if that makes any sense. And before you say it, I didn't promise a posting schedule, I said I might be able to have one. Anyway, as always, I hope you enjoyed!

Thank you for reading,
TheBrightestNight