Part 44

At the moment the bindings around his wrists came undone, Alex grabbed the pistol pressed against his head and shoved it away, the bullet firing wide and planting itself in the wall of the studio. Valentino fired again, trying to overpower the lizard. Still, Alex was slippery as an eel, and when he thought he could get a clean shot into the boy's abdomen, the bullet instead flew across the room and shattered a mirror on the opposite end.

Stunned when, with a single hand, Valentino lifted Alex up and threw him across the room, the boy crashing into the new couch and flipping over it before landing on the hard floor, rolling, and hitting the wall. He felt his head spin, and for a moment, it became hard to breathe, his eyes focusing just in time to see Valentino raise his pistols again, both firing.

Lashing out, the sutures cracked against the bullets, raising in a shield that smashed through the first two shots, a second two shots, and collided with the moth as Alex charged him, sending him backward onto the bed Alex was all too familiar with. He rolled backward onto the floor, and Alex scrambled to his feet, sliding along the shiny tile and ducking behind an oversized chair, "That was a new couch, you little fuck! You better believe your ass is going to pay for a new one. It's either you or Angel!"

The sutures glowed, and Alex felt that chilling rage run through him, not for him, but for his spider, as they coiled around the chair he was hiding behind. Valentino slapped two new mags into his pistols and leaned up over the bed to fire, only to duck as the chair flew overhead and shattered against the wall behind him, "I'm going to rip your fucking wings off, bug!" His teeth seemed to grind against one another as the words escaped his lips, eyes burning and focused as the demon fired again.

Alex jumped forward and up, bouncing off his hands in a vault along the surface of the bed Valentino was behind. The two collided into one another, falling to the floor together. Alex was on top and reeled his fist back, striking Val in the face as hard as he could. Valentino's glasses broke against his punch, and the moth returned the strike, driving his fist into the boy's chest. Alex reeled back, but Valentino's claws found his hair, pulling him down into the next punch that knocked Alex up and back onto the bed from the force. He couldn't breathe. He didn't know Val could hit that hard.

The pimp was on top of him, pinning the boy beneath him, and went to strike him again, but the fist was stopped when the sutures wrapped around his wrist and pulled the punch back, his arm being twisted behind his back. Val groaned and gritted his teeth, and Alex heard it when Valentino's bones broke at the wrist and elbow, and the sutures' strength made the overlord buckle. But with pain came adrenaline, and now Valentino felt very little as he threw himself forward with a scream and drove his head into the lizard's nose.

Blue blood came gushing out of the nostrils of Alex's very broken face, Valentino screaming as he fell off the back of the bed and onto the floor, pulled by the glowing ribbons. Alex scrambled backward, falling off the other side, trying to get his vision back from the strike, the pain radiating into his teeth. When he managed to stand, it was on wobbly legs, but he knew the pain wasn't the worst he had ever experienced. Val was hurt and couldn't stand, and Alex, though his face stung, didn't seem that worse for wear yet.

Val was quick to grab one of the guns that had clattered to the floor and fired it, catching Alex in the leg. It caught him off guard, but Alex fell backward and threw his arm out. The suture lashed outward, wrapping around the wrist of the moth, and pulled him up off the ground, over the bed, and towards the wall behind Alex. Valentino smashed into it shoulder first, then the side of his head, and struck a few bones in the side of his ribcage as he fell onto the floor. Alex was on top of him, limping quickly toward the pimp and wrapping his hands around his throat, squeezing tightly. The ribbon glowed brightly, snaking around the moth's neck as it followed the lizard's hands, "I told you that one day, someone with a bigger smile was going to fucking kill you, Val. And I have a big," tighter, "fucking," the sutures straightened tight, thin, sharp, "smile."

The moth gasped and struggled against the lizard, scratching hard at the stiff wrappings on his arms, the claws unable to damage the wrappings. The fabric became more stiff, thin, and sharp, like knives against the Overlord's neck.

Like knives.

He stopped scratching, his hands trying to find the ends of the ribbons around the lizard's arms, trying to keep his neck tight. Alex pushed his whole weight and strength down on Valentino's throat before the moth's slender fingers found the stiff, pointed tip of the suture on the floor and drove it deep into Alex's side.

Alex's smile seemed to lessen for a moment, slowly pulling from a smile to just a thin expression. Blue blood dripped down onto Valentino's chest from his nose and then his mouth. The strength in his hands got weak, and Valentino could breathe again as Alex's breathing drew short, almost panting, the ribbons losing their glow.

The moth grit his teeth, pushing the boy off of him and onto his back beside him. Alex watched the blood run freely from his side, beginning to pool beneath him. "Pathetic...," Valentino grunted out through clenched teeth, clutching his arm, which was hung limply as he climbed up on the boy, straddling the lizard's hips, "not that this isn't a bad position, I wouldn't mind ending you right here. Or...fucking. After all, I know you're a bit of a slut for me" He cackled and pulled himself upright, his hands sliding around the lizard's throat, touching him.

Valentino reached for the ribbon on the boy's forearm, wrapping it around Alex's throat and pulling hard, "Fuck, I love a little role reversal." Alex's back arched as he struggled pathetically, "These were a gift from heaven. They might as well kill one demon while down here." He pulled tighter, leaning down to get his hands involved for a personal touch. Valentino laughed, the lizard grabbing at his arms, hands, and fingers to pull the ribbons off but couldn't. The moth simply pressed down harder, and the sounds of Alex's throttling filled the room. It got quiet as he scratched at Valentino's chest, his vision starting to go black, fading.

In those moments, as Valentino seemed to get further and further and further away from him, darkness swimming around him, he thought back to all the things that had led to this moment and all the things he was going to miss: Angel, a drink with Husker, Popsicles, ice cream, hot dogs, a newfound enjoyment of smoking. He was going to miss all the experiences he was never going to get to have. Get a tattoo, go skinny dipping again, try flying, blow some shit up with Cherri. Hell, even Angel had talked up cocaine at one point. He was in hell; he wanted to try it just for the experience. Instead, his only memory of narcotics, if he had any more after this, was his one time with Valentino when the moth had raped him.

And that could maybe work...

With his last ounce of strength, Alex sucked hard on the inside of his mouth and spat a thick mouthful of his blue blood up into Valentino's eyes, blinding him for a moment as the moth recoiled backward and let go of the boy's neck. As he pulled himself back up, Alex took that deep breath and, with one hand, grabbed the bag of powder in Valentino's breast pocket and pressed it to his face before punching him with all he could muster with his other hand.

The bag exploded, covering the moth's face with dust. At least the pain would end for a second.

Val's mind started going a mile a minute, and a second passed, his chest thumping and his muscles going limp as he fell backward, his legs kicking like he was trying to swim. "Fuck! You...FUCK...you...you..." Valentino felt his arms go weak as he rolled over onto his belly, trying to crawl away from Alex, who took those beautiful gulps of air, the world starting to come back into focus, "Fucking...f-...fu..."

For Valentino, he was lying on the beach, the warm sand on his chest, his giant wings fluttering delicately in the sea breeze of his home. He sighed as his head rested on his arms, relaxing as the sounds of the ocean almost brought him to the point of slumber. Then the sun flickered as a shadow passed over in front of him, and he leaned his head up to see a tiny gecko in the sand in front of him, beautiful sapphire scales, diamonds for eyes, and gold designs underneath its encrusted tail. He smiled at it, "Hello there, pretty thing..." he ran his claw slowly up and down its back, "What are you doing so far from the water on such a warm day? Would you like some help?"

Val scooped up the small lizard, cupping it against his chest, and ran his finger up and down the golden design under his tail, "here's a place to sleep~" he gently kissed the reptile's head, cradling it against his body and moved towards the water, "can't have such a pretty thing like you getting dried out on such a warm day, now can we, hmm?" He knelt, cupping the lizard in his hand against the warm water, splashing the water up onto his neck and face. "Is that better~? My baby," Val leaned forward, kissing it gently and wading in a little more when the gecko skittered into the water. Val was up to his waist in the ocean, enjoying the coolness against his skin on such a hot day, the gecko swimming around him in little circles, happy to see him.

On his knees, Alex dragged Valentino's body to a sitting position, blood running freely from the hole in his side as he braced one knee into the moth's back between his wings. He began to wrap the sutures around the pimp's throat.

"You know, Val, I was told that in order to...," he swallowed the blood in his mouth, his breathing getting more shallow, "...to kill you, I needed to forgive you for what you did to me."

The little gecko smiled up at Valentino, crawling onto his hand, "And I do forgive you, Val." Valentino bit his lip, smiling at the beautiful little lizard as it spoke to him, "You...do?" The gecko crawled around in his hand, walking along his palm, and then the back of his hand and up along his arm, "of course I do. You did what you did simply because it's in your nature. How could I get mad for you doing what comes naturally?" The little gecko looked up at him, sitting on his shoulder, "It's in your nature to do what you do and be who you are. I could never be mad at you for that."

Alex took a deep breath and leaned back, pulling on the sutures around the moth's throat, knee in the middle of Valentino's back.

Valentino reached out as the ocean pulled back, the tide going out, far out, further out than he could see, leaving only the sand and the gecko. It began to get colder as the sun started to set. Alex pulled harder on the sutures, glowing brightly around Valentino's throat. He reached out for the sun, not wanting it to set. Alex pulled harder, The sun sinking below the horizon.

The lizard was cold and dry, its golden tattoos filled with sand. It did not smile, and its scales were starting to dry out.

There was a cracking and snapping noise from behind him as the last ray of light was eclipsed by the waters below the horizon, and the feeling of the warmth, the sand, and the sun all faded, and everything turned black.

Part 5 Complete

Alex stumbled backward, releasing Valentino's body on top of itself. He was having difficulty breathing, the floor slick with his blue blood. His neck and throat hurt from being strangled. With no small amount of pain, he crawled on his hands and knees, lying down next to Valentino's lifeless body. He closed his eyes for just a moment, tired...so tired.

He patted down the pockets of the former overlord, eventually finding his cell phone in his front pocket. He rolled, laying down on the ground, his breathing getting slower, his heart thundering in his chest as his shaking fingers pressed or tried to press the screen with bloody fingers. Blood coughed up from inside his throat and he spat it onto the floor as he pushed the phone to his ear, his voice quiet, shaking as it rang. And rang. And rang.

It went to Angel's voice-mail, "Hey, this is Angel. If I fucked you, then, Hey, baby~; if you're one of my pals, then, hey, what's up. Leave a message, and I'll call you back if I want to." Beep.

Alex couldn't help but smile at the fact that that was his voicemail message: " H-hey...babe..."