Exitus - 15. Part I, chapter 15

So this is all she wrote so far -- the end of part one. Hopefully, it'll keep on screeching forward though. 

 

- XV -

“...and for the first time around, his plan blew to pieces, since the entire world knew of Julian’s death,” Nex said fifteen minutes or so later, her expression darker than usual. She glanced at the woman in the middle of the floor, who was still frozen in one single moment of pain. “There was no way he would be able to become him anymore, it would be suicidal. Even someone like you...” She looked at the eerily silent blond. “...wouldn’t be able to come back from the dead.”

“Why did he...” Raven stuttered slightly after throwing a quick glance at Vivienne’s frozen form. “...do it earlier this time around?”

“I don’t know,” Nex frowned.

“Because he saw me in his dream,” Desmond said tiredly, and Salamander’s eyes immediately darted towards him.

“What dream?” the blond demanded sharply.

“I dreamt of you and Vivienne on the night when we got here,” Desmond sighed, and Julian’s eyes became just a tad whiter. “I figured it was your dream,” Desmond said pointedly without looking away from the fuming blond. “And since you never saw me in there, I decided not to mention anything...” He shrugged. “For obvious reasons...”

Julian took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

“But yeah,” Desmond sighed and fished one cigarette out of Raven’s pack. “He didn’t know if I would keep my mouth shut; especially after he realized that he almost blew it by staring right at me before I left... I thought she was looking at something behind my back,” he grimaced when he saw Salamander’s expression. “So he panicked,” he continued after the blond wouldn’t say anything to that, his jaw locked tightly. “He panicked and decided to risk it. That’s why he sent the stream on Tuesday this time, and not on Saturday... Then he took Nex on that wild chase, making sure he dragged her deep enough for her to have to spend several days to get back here,” he glanced at the Hunter. “He knew that she would sense every single ability of his the minute she saw him...” He looked at Vivienne. “Her... And since the real Vivienne had never possessed anything, it would be a dead give-away. That also explains why I never sensed any lies; my take on it would be that the hole between realities was something that Vivienne actually saw right before he shifted... He has all her memories, since technically, he is her at the moment... So when he told the story, it wasn’t a lie,” he shrugged again.

“That’s why he aimed for me,” Raven muttered to no one in particular. “With me out of the picture, he would have a hell of a better chance to get close to him; and since it’s much easier to kill someone who trusts you, he morphed into her...” His mouth twisted in a resemblance of a smile.

“I guess he thought that he succeeded; otherwise, he wouldn’t have come here... He had no idea that the stream had never even touched Raven...” Desmond said thoughtfully, eyeing the frozen woman once again. “It would be much easier for him to get to you without Raven around,” he glanced at Julian, whose eyes were darker now.

“He would kill him, shift, and nobody would ever know,” Nex nodded and straightened up. “Take off the spell, Julian,” she said, and the blond looked at her thoughtfully for a second or two before closing his eyes.

“I do have all her memories,” faux-Vivienne said the minute she was free of the spell, her voice tight, breathing fast and shallow. “I could tell you quite a few little secrets you never knew about your precious mate...! Right, Tony...?” She threw a quick look at Desmond, whose eyes immediately became narrower. She let out a shaky smirk. “I know every single detail,” she looked at Julian again. “All I am asking in return is...”

“What are you waiting for?” Julian asked coldly, looking at Nex. “Have at it.”

The Hunter gave him a small, serious nod and slid towards the suddenly terrified woman. Desmond wasn’t sure what was about to happen, so he just started blinking rapidly when Nex’s hand flew up and locked around the tall woman’s neck. Then both of them – Nex and faux-Vivienne – froze in their spots, their gazes linked together, breathing patterns identically slow and steady.

“What’s going on?” Desmond frowned, not sure whether he liked this.

“She is draining him,” Julian said indifferently, studying his fingernails. “Sucking him dry... I guess that was her compensation for this Hunt.”

“What do you mean, she is draining him?” Desmond frowned deeper.

“She is taking every single ability of his,” the blond leaned onto the back of the couch, wrapping his arm around Raven’s shoulders, and crossing his legs. “After she is finished with him, he will be nothing but an empty shell; he won’t be able to think or act out of his own will. There will be no will in him... That’s what Hunters do,” he shrugged. “I suppose it’s a much better alternative for Reagan... He is not going to be a threat ever again...”

“Oh, bloody hell...!” Desmond jumped up. “Not yet! Nex, stop...!”

“She can’t hear you right now,” Julian said with a small frown. “Why are you acting this way? He is...”

“He said that he would be still locked up in Stratum Five if not for the mirrors!” Desmond interrupted him quickly. “Mirrors...! See where I am going with this?” he looked at the blond, whose eyes suddenly became round.

Julian jumped off the couch and lunged at the Hunter. Now, Desmond didn’t know about this particular habit of Hunters, but he knew that touching one while they were in this state wasn’t a very good idea.

“No,” he said sharply. “Don’t touch her! It’ll...”

Salamander ignored his words completely and grabbed Nex’s wrist, clearly intending on pulling it off Vivienne’s neck. The minute he touched her, there was a very angry crackling sound, then something flashed vicious-red, and then the blond flew backwards, slamming into the wall hard. Nex, it seemed, never even noticed anything; she never moved or blinked, her breathing slow and steady as before Julian grabbed her.

“...do that,” Desmond nodded and slammed his fist into the wall with helpless frustration. “Goddammit,” he hissed, ignoring Raven who dashed pass him towards the dazed-looking blond. “Goddammit...!”

“Okay,” someone said very slowly and Desmond turned his head. “What is going on?”

Gabriel looked at the scene in front of him without blinking, threw two cartons of cigarettes onto the couch, and shifted his gaze towards Desmond.

“Cut yourself shaving?” he asked mildly, staring at Desmond’s throat.

“Yeah,” Desmond muttered and slammed his fist into the wall again. “Goddammit...!”

...“How much longer is she going to do this?” Gabriel muttered half an hour later, staring at Nex and faux-Vivienne who still stood frozen in the middle of the floor.

“No clue,” Desmond said gloomily, sucking on his cigarette rather viciously. “Bloody hell...! That bitch was behind this whole thing! How though...? I mean, how in the world would someone like her be able to get someone like him out of Stratum Five?”

Suddenly, Raven started to laugh. Desmond and Gabriel gave him an identically puzzled look; Julian just raised one eyebrow.

“Sorry,” Raven cut his laughter short. “It’s just...” he chuckled again. “I have to give it to her – she does not give up easily! I mean, she keeps coming up with all these plans, and they are impressive, to say the least!”

“Uh huh,” Desmond said darkly. “I would applaud her if I wasn’t positive that some nasty shit is going to happen to one of us rather soon... Considering that I am her most beloved one, it’s safe to assume that I would be the first in line of lucky winners...! Dammit...” he squeezed his eyes shut. “This son of a bitch can grant wishes...! Could,” he shrugged after he opened his eyes and looked at the said son of a bitch. “If he did that with her, if that was his way of paying her for helping him to get out, then... Wonder what she would wish for...”

“He didn’t do it the first time around,” Gabriel said very thoughtfully. “Nothing happened for almost a month after his death,” he nodded at Salamander. “I mean, maybe that wasn’t their deal; maybe there was something else! Hell, maybe it’s not even her...! For all we know, it could be nothing but...”

“Rayhe,” Desmond said dangerously. “Say ‘coincidence’ and I will kick you! There is no such thing as coincidences; you should know that as well as I do.”

Gabriel sighed and said nothing. Suddenly, there was a soft sigh coming from Nex, and all four men turned their heads towards her at the same time. The Hunter slowly lowered her arm, her eyes still closed, and there was a small, satisfactory, and very eerie smile stretching her mouth apart.

“Was delicious, I take it,” Desmond said dryly, and Nex’s smile grew bigger.

“Yes,” she said in a low voice and slowly opened her eyes. Desmond blinked several times when he saw them.

“Good God,” he said. “You look higher than a kite!”

“Yes,” the Hunter said again and took a deep breath.

“Holy hell...” Raven muttered, staring at Vivienne. “He is going back to his original appearance...”

All of them looked at the woman, whose eyes were still closed. Her entire body started trembling slightly, while her face began twitching in a strange way – it was as if there were small bizarre waves of transparency running over her skin. She shook harder, and then those bizarre waves grew bigger, enveloping her entire body, making it look like she was melting. A minute later, the tremors stopped, the waves disappeared, and Vivienne was no more. Instead of her, there was a rather tall man with startlingly white hair; it wasn’t blond, it was pure white.

All four men stared at him without saying a single word. Nex let out another smile.

“Doriel,” she said quietly. “Open your eyes.”

The white-haired man slowly opened his eyes, and Desmond muttered an astonished obscenity when he saw them. They were completely black, captured in shimmering golden circles that made the man’s entire face to look eerie to say the least.

“Pretty as ever,” Nex said seriously, watching his blank expression. “Sit,” she nodded at the chair shortly, and he obliged, slowly walking towards the chair, his posture rigid, facial expression empty.

He sat down on the chair, his hands in his lap, his eerie eyes fixed on the farther wall.

“Stay,” Nex nodded and turned away from him.

“Does he remember anything?” Desmond asked with badly hidden desperation.

“No,” the Hunter replied indifferently. “This...” She glanced at the man on the chair. “...will be his permanent state for the rest of his life.”

“Dammit...” Desmond closed his eyes for a second. “Did you get his memories along with everything else?” he asked quickly after he looked at her again.

“No,” she said as indifferently as before. “Not the memories; those are gone.”

Desmond closed his eyes again. Nex looked at him with mild interest.

“Why?” she asked. “Why do you need his memories?”

“Because he said something rather disturbing right before you showed up,” Desmond replied gloomily and opened his eyes, staring at the white-haired man with a dark frown. “I wanted him to elaborate.”

“What did he say?” Nex looked at Doriel as well. The man continued staring into nothing without moving a muscle.

“That if not for the mirrors, he would be still locked up in Stratum Five,” Desmond said heavily and turned away from the empty-eyed man on the chair.

“Mirrors...” Nex repeated with a small frown.

“Yes,” Desmond sighed and walked towards the couch where Gabriel left two cartons of cigarettes earlier. “That rings the bell for all four of us,” he nodded while ripping open one of the cartons. “Long story,” he sighed when he caught Hunter’s thoughtful look. “Let me just say that it’s a very unpleasant bell... Dammit, Nex...!” he said bitterly after he lit a cigarette. “Why in bloody hell did you have to do it so quickly?”

The Hunter looked like she was about to say something, and Desmond just waved his hand tiredly.

“Never mind,” he muttered. “What’s done is done.”

“I have an idea...” Raven said slowly, and everyone else looked at him.

Desmond narrowed his right eye, staring at the smaller man without blinking.

“It might work,” he said slowly a minute later, and Raven shot him a dirty look.

“Stay out of my head,” he said in a low voice. “For the rest of you who could not get into my brain...” he glanced around. “Here is my idea... Even though his memories are supposedly gone, there is a chance that something might resurface. I mean, the whole ordeal just happened, it is possible that there is something left in him, like an echo of a sort...”

“That is unlikely,” Nex said somewhat dryly, and Raven shrugged.

“Yeah,” he said. “But not impossible, right? What can it hurt? The worst that can happen is that he won’t say a single word... And in the best case scenario, he’ll tell us what we need or at least some of it.”

“What are you offering?” Julian asked, his hand on top of Raven’s wrist.

“Get him to a mirror,” Raven nodded. “Get him to a mirror, make him look into it, and see what happens.”

“Might as well,” Gabriel shrugged and stood up, pushing his chair backwards.

“It’s not going to mess up anything for you, right?” Desmond looked at Nex, who simply shook her head.

“No,” she said. “I just don’t see how it could possibly work... I am telling you, he is empty; there is nothing in him – no echoes, no shadows, nothing...!”

“Well,” Desmond shrugged as well. “Since it can’t hurt, let’s do it. Might as well,” he glanced at Rayhe and gave him a small smile.

They walked into a bathroom, and Desmond thought that it could easily serve as a decent size bedroom – ‘spacious’ wouldn’t even start describing it. He looked at the mirror and hemmed quietly – it stretched almost all the way to the ceiling. He glanced at the blond, wondering why in the world he would need such a huge mirror. Then he decided that he really didn’t want to know.

“Get in,” Nex said calmly, pushing Doriel on the shoulder lightly, and the man obliged.

He walked into the bathroom, and stopped when he got to the marble counter, his expression empty.

“Look in the mirror,” Nex commanded in the same calm manner, and Doriel slowly turned towards the smooth glass without blinking even once. “What now?” the Hunter looked at Raven, her expression patient.

“Now we wait,” the smaller man muttered without looking away from Doriel.

Nex sighed, walked towards the wall, and leaned on it, folding her arms in her chest, her red pupils still slightly dilated.

“So now you can shape-shift?” Desmond leaned on the wall next to her, his eyes curious.

“No,” she said without a smile. “I am incapable of certain abilities; that one will transform into something else. I don’t know what yet,” she glanced at him, answering his unasked question. “But now I am able to walk between worlds without any stream-hassle...” Here, she smiled with satisfaction.

“Handy for a Hunter,” Desmond nodded. “What about wish-granting?”

She looked at him intently.

“Why?” she asked. “You have a wish?”

“Even if I did, I wouldn’t make a deal with you,” Desmond answered without a smile. “Just curious.”

“That one should be unchanged,” Nex said without looking away from him. “My fee would be different, however. I don’t need any extra life-span.”

“What’s your fee then?” Desmond seemed genuinely curious, and she gave him a small smile.

“Ask me to grant your wish, and you will find out,” she said, and Desmond returned the smile.

“Then I will never find out,” he nodded, and she was about to say something else when Gabriel breathed:

“Holy hell, it’s working...!”

Desmond’s eyes darted towards the white-haired empty shell of a man, and he muttered something inaudible. Gabriel seemed to be right – it was working. Doriel’s expression was now puzzled and somewhat dumbfounded, as if he were trying to figure out how in the world he managed to end up in this particular place. He stared at the mirror, and there was a frown growing in the middle of his forehead.

Nex slowly straightened up.

“This is impossible...” she said quietly when there was a reflection of recognition in the man’s black-and-gold eyes. “He is empty...!”

“What do you remember of the mirrors in Stratum Five?” Raven asked very quickly, worried that whatever was happening to Doriel wouldn’t last long. “How did you get out? Say it...!”

The white-haired man ignored him and took a step towards the mirror, his eyes fixed on his own reflection, his arm slightly rising while he reached for the smooth glass with his fingertips. Suddenly, Desmond didn’t like this ordeal a single bit.

“Get him away from there!” he said sharply, glancing at Julian. The blond shot him a quick look. “Get him away from the damn mirror!” Desmond ripped himself away from the wall, cursing the size of this ridiculously huge bathroom, which prevented him from getting to the white-haired half-breed as fast as he wanted to. “Goddammit, Julian...! Don’t let him to touch the mirror!”

The blond blinked at that and grabbed Doriel’s shoulder, yanking him away from the glass. He was too late – Doriel’s fingers touched the cool, smooth surface a second before Julian’s hand locked on his shoulder. The minute his hand made that slight impact with the mirror, the white-haired man jerked violently, as if he just touched a bare live wire. Then his arm fell down, and he stood still for a couple of seconds before his black-and-gold eyes rolled backwards, and then he collapsed onto the tiled floor without making a single sound.

Nex hissed something through her clenched teeth, nothing left of that higher-than-a-kite look in her eyes; she dashed towards him, grabbing his throat as she fell onto her knees, her expression dark and furious.

“Up!” she barked, and cursed virtuosically when Doriel wouldn’t move. “Up...!” she repeated even louder. “What the hell did you do?” she whirled around without letting go of Doriel’s throat, her purple eyes fixed on Raven, her red pupils grotesquely wide. “What did you do?”

“Me...? Nothing...” Raven blinked rapidly, his expression confused. “I didn’t do anything...! Why would you think that I did...”

“Because you are the one who came up with this brilliant idea!” she interrupted him sharply. “You are the one who told us to get him to the mirror...! What do you know?”

“Nothing...!” Raven responded somewhat irritably. “It was just an idea! I had no clue something like this would happen...!”

“If I were you, I would stop right now,” Salamander said very quietly, but Nex heard him right away.

She looked at him, and her eyes that started to become more red than purple, shimmered ever so slightly, and then they were back to normal after she saw the blond’s hands and the look on his face. Julian’s fingers were glowing with a bright-white light right now, and his eyes were almost the same color.

“Stop,” the blond said in the same quiet manner, and Nex narrowed her eyes.

“It is not in your interests to go against me,” she said slowly without shifting her gaze. “I will...”

“Shut up...!” Desmond interrupted her, his gaze glued to the mirror. “Oh, bloody hell on wheels...! Shut up already...! Raven had nothing to do with this... Your half-breed had a back-up plan!”

Nex stopped talking, and her eyes darted towards the smooth surface of the cool glass. Then she jumped up, leaving the unconscious man on the floor and paying no attention to him whatsoever.

“No...!” she yelled, lunging at the mirror and slamming her hands into the glass. “No...!”

Doriel’s reflection gave her a slow, very satisfied smile, glanced around, smiled again, and then it made a lazy ‘see-you’ gesture with its left hand before disappearing into nothing and becoming just another mirrored shadow within the shimmering glass.

For the next minute or so, there was nothing but dead silence filling the bathroom. Finally, Nex let out a slow, deep sigh, and straightened up, taking her hands away from the indifferently-smooth glass. Without looking around or saying anything, she bent towards the unconscious man on the floor, grabbed his hair, yanking his head up, and all of a sudden, there was a clap-like sound, a furiously-bright flash of light, and a second later, she and the empty-shell of a man were gone, leaving four men alone in the huge bathroom.

“Well, shit...” Desmond muttered a few seconds later, and the silence agreed with him.

End of Part I