Rise of the Dunamy (25 page)

50

L
ucian was lying flat on his back, a long wooden pole from the staircase banister he had landed on stuck out from his left pectoral. Sofia stared at his limp body in shock.

“Lucian?” She was trying to call out to him, but was only able to produce a whisper. There was no response.

“Lucian.” She spoke much louder this time, praying that he had simply not heard her the first time. There was still no response.

“Lucian!” She shouted this time, choking back the tears that were welling in her eyes. Quintin began laughing at Sofia’s futile attempts.

“You move and I swear to God I’ll put a slug in you, asshole!” Sofia shouted as she left her position behind him to check on Lucian. She continued to hold her gun on him as she slowly walked across the room.

As she drew nearer to Lucian, she could see that the piece of tattered railing had gone directly through the center of Lucian’s right pectoral muscle. Sofia instinctively reached for his throat and checked his neck for a pulse, but there was nothing. Seeing him lying there, Sofia was unable to keep herself from feeling her truest emotions. Knowing that he couldn’t be killed had made her whole investigation of Quintin very easy, as she was only focused on stopping Lucian, never that she would lose him. She figured that the most likely scenarios were that he would go to jail, or he would leave. Both situations ended with the possibility that she would be able to see him again. This situation caught her completely by surprise.

“Lucian?” She pleaded. “Come on baby, you can fix it. Just heal it up. This should be nothing compared to those bullets. You’re not a vampire, this can’t kill you. You’re a Dunamy, Lucian. This is a myth, this isn’t real!” She told him as she continued to split her focus between he and Quintin. “You have to be alright, Lucian.” Sofia tugged at his massive arm to try and get him to stand up, but it was useless. Quintin’s laughter was echoing throughout the room now.

“Shut it, Quintin!” Sofia screamed as she turned her attention back to Lucian. The wound that was created by the banister spindle had not healed at all. She had hoped that there was some sign that Lucian’s body was still working on some low level, but there was nothing.

“Come on baby! You have to get up!” She pleaded, continuing to pull at him. The tears were now streaming down her face. Sofia leaned down and stroked Lucian’s long, sweaty, golden hair. As she looked into his face, Sofia began to relive their first date together. It was the first time that she had ever felt so much happiness and it was all because of Lucian. He had made every second that they spent together wonderful. As she continued to roll the memories around in her head, Sofia realized that she no longer heard Quintin’s laughter.

Swinging around to find Quintin on his feet and moving towards the door slowly, Sofia raised her weapon , concentrating her barrel on Quintin’s head. “What did I tell you?!” She shouted.

“What are you gonna do to me, cop lady?” He asked, never stopping his progress towards the exit. “That was self-defense and you know it. You got nothing, so I’m leavin’.”

Sofia knew that he was right. There was nothing that she had on him that she could make stick. She hadn’t witnessed the beginning of the fight, so she could never testify any different. As these thoughts raced through her brain, Sofia realized that none of that mattered to her now. She could only think of the pain that she was feeling which was like no pain she had ever experienced before. It burned like acid in her stomach, and Quintin was the cause of it. Even though she had no idea how Lucian had gone about provoking him into that fight, she knew that Quintin was evil. He was the epitome of what Lucian was trying to stop. He was the monster that she had been searching for,

“That’s not what I asked you.” The sheer tone of Sofia’s voice was enough to stop Quintin in his tracks. It wasn’t commanding or aggressive, it was calm but filled with hatred. He turned and faced her directly, an evil smirk strewn across his lips.

“What? You gonna shoot me, cop?” He held his arms up, inviting her to do so. Sofia hesitated momentarily as she considered the ramifications of her actions. She knew that shooting an unarmed man would likely end her career, but she felt confident that she could get around it because of his size and the threat he posed to her.

“I been shot before, and it just never seems to take. So you go ahead and take a shot, honey. I don’t think you are gonna like what happens next, though. Just remember, your boyfriend back there can’t help you now.” His comments sliced through her thoughts and all but made the decision for her.

“Well, I did swear.” Sofia said cryptically. The shot rang out and Quintin hit the ground, screaming out in pain. Her aim had been true and had done exactly what she intended. She had shot him directly in the kneecap, completely disabling him for the moment. Sofia leaned back down and gently caressed Lucian’s face before leaving his side to approach Quintin. Making sure to keep her distance from him having seen what he did when given the opportunity, Sofia began pacing in front of him. Quintin writhed in agony before her, but ever so slowly, his screams turned into a sick laughter that sent chills down Sofia’s spine.

He shouted, “I warned you bi….” Sofia fired a shot into the opposite knee before Quintin could finish his threat. He cried out again, much louder than before. Sofia resumed her pacing, almost as if she were stalking him like prey. He lay on the floor holding one bloody leg in each hand, tears from the pain rolling down his face. Sofia couldn’t help but lecture him. “I don’t understand men like you, Quintin. You have so many options in life because of your size and strength, and you constantly choose the wrong path. Why is that?” Sofia’s voice was stern and becoming angrier as she went on. “I came down here to try and keep you safe!” She proclaimed, waving her gun about and using large gestures to accentuate her speech. “I went a long way out of my way to try and protect you. I do all of that, and you take a cheap shot when the fight is over and kill a man. Not only that, you disobey my instructions and threaten me!” Her lecture was doing little to make an impact on Quintin, but it was doing plenty to get her blood boiling over the matter. She fired another shot into Quintin’s shin, causing another pain filled howl. “You don’t get to threaten me!” She shouted at him. The training she had received at the academy and the numerous courses and lectures she had attended to prepare her for life as an officer went out the window.

As she continued to pace, Sofia repeatedly looked back to see Lucian’s body lying with the large wooden pole protruding from his chest. All that she could think of was the men who had attacked her and how Lucian had saved her. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she slowed her pacing and focused on Lucian. As she stared at his corpse she allowed herself to accept what she felt for Lucian. Even in the wake of all that she had learned about him, she loved him more than she realized she was capable of loving anything. Her heart ached as she looked at him. Now Lucian lay dead because of this man; a man who had crippled an entire community with his presence. It was all too much for her to take in. In that moment, Sofia lost every idea of who she was or who she had ever been.

“See, he came here to kill you because he thought you deserved to die for the crimes that you have committed; but I thought people could change if you give them the chance. Well, maybe he was right all along, Quintin! Maybe I’m the one that doesn’t understand.” Turning her attention back to Quintin, she watched as he drug himself across the dirty cement floor towards a nearby wall.

“I guess I should thank you for opening my eyes to how truly evil some people can be.” Quintin began pulling himself up against the wall using primarily his upper body as his legs were virtually useless. He panted heavily as he glared at Sofia.

“I’m glad I could be of service.” He mocked. Most people would have found it impossible to deal with the amount of pain that Quintin must have been experiencing at that moment; but he was actually remaining quite calm at this point.

Quintin continued, “I’m even…” Sofia never gave him the opportunity to finish. She didn’t even remember firing the gun until seconds after it happened. The bullet struck Quintin in the head, an inch above his right eye. His arms relaxed and his body slammed into the wall he was holding himself up on. He slid down the wall and collapsed awkwardly into the corner. A trickle of blood rolled down his forehead before gathering in the thick hair of his eyebrow. His eyes remained trained on Sofia; his expression was one of shock. Sofia stood there with her arm extended, looking back into Quintin’s lifeless, soulless eyes. After all of the effort that she had put into her career and her life to lead it the right way, she had thrown it all away.

Sofia knew that there were people who could identify her and people who knew she had been looking for Quintin. Quintin was unarmed and it was clear from the pattern of shots fired that he had been tortured before being murdered in cold blood. Even though she knew all of this, Sofia felt nothing. She wasn’t concerned about what she had done, nor was she worried about the ramifications of her actions with the department. She had held happiness for only a short time, and he had taken it from her as well as so many others. She knew that she would never find true happiness again without Lucian. Without another thought, Sofia unloaded round after round into Quintin’s face and head until the clip was emptied and the slide of the gun locked up.

51

T
urning away from Quintin, Sofia walked over to Lucian’s body. She sat on the steps next to him and held his hand in hers. Rubbing her face against his hand, she remembered how sweet he had always been to her. She thought back to the things he had told her as he explained everything to her. She had never considered how difficult that must have been for him. To know that what he was telling her would almost definitely drive her away from him. If the situation had been different, could she have done the same? Could she have told him a secret that dark, knowing that she would likely lose him for doing so? Unable to answer such questions, she hugged his palm tightly against her face and kissed it softly.

Sofia placed his hand gently on the step beside his body. As she looked him over, she became enraged at the site of the wooden dagger that had taken his life. It shined bright with his blood. Sofia realized that she had never seen Lucian bleed before. Even in the attack in the street, he had never spilled a drop of blood. She imagined that was just another part of his healing abilities. His injuries usually healed so quickly that there was no time for the blood to escape. There was something different about it, but she couldn’t quite tell what it was.

Unable to look at him impaled that way any longer, Sofia lowered her shoulder and pushed against his body. Lucian’s enormous frame hardly moved. The awkward confines of the staircase made it difficult for her to get the leverage she would need to push him over, so she went lower in an attempt to roll him over, hoping that his immense body weight would break the rod off at its base.

Her new position gave her the edge she needed and Lucian’s body began to roll. Placing her feet against the wall, Sofia put everything that she had into one final push. There was a loud pop as the lumber snapped at its base which sent his body to the floor with a heavy thud. She had to catch herself to keep from rolling right off behind him.

Sofia could hardly see through the tears in her eyes as she walked down the steps and rolled him over on to his back. Grabbing the stake with both hands, Sofia jerked them skyward. The blood that covered the stick caused her hands to slide off, sending her flailing backwards where she landed flat on her back. She began to sob heavily as she lay there. Not to be denied this final right, Sofia scrambled to her feet and once again grasped the rail. Taking a much tighter grip, and sliding her fingers between the beveled grooves, she pulled gently and steadily; pulling harder and harder until it began to slide from the opening in Lucian’s chest. The wet, suctioning sound that it made as it exited the gaping hole solidified everything that had happened. It was then that she accepted that he was gone, and she could no longer restrain her tears.

The hunk of wood clacked against the concrete into the shadows as she cast it aside. Sofia buried her face into Lucian’s neck and bawled. She couldn’t remember a time that she had cried so hard or a more devastating moment in her life than this. Although she had seen a great deal of the people in her life be murdered in front of her in cold blood, she had never truly been given the time to get to know any of them very well. This was the first real connection she had ever made with another human being on this level outside of her parents. She cried until she became so tired that she lay her head down on Lucian’s arm, curled up beside him and listened to the sound of the falling rain until she finally fell asleep.

52

S
ofia had no idea how long she had been asleep when she finally awoke, her head still resting on Lucian’s arm. She glanced around the room groggily, looking for the source of a noise she thought she had heard. Unable to locate anything, she began to wonder if she had actually heard something or if it had been a dream. As the events of the evening began to come back to the forefront of her thoughts, paranoia began to set in. She snapped her head over to the spot where Quintin’s body had fallen to rest to confirm he hadn’t moved. A solitary moonbeam shone through a broken window overhead, lighting his corpse perfectly. He was still there, exactly as she had left him; slumped over and riddled with bullets.

Springing to her feet, Sofia ran over to the door to see if someone had happened to come across the crime scene. Aside from thinking that the storm had masked the noise, she genuinely hadn’t cared whether or not she was found out during all of the commotion. Now, as things had settled in her mind from her slumber, she felt that someone surely would have heard something and come to investigate the noises from earlier. Peeking through the massive doorway, she glanced up and down the street to see if she could find the source of the noise she was now convinced she heard, but there was nothing.

The rain had stopped and the cloud cover had moved on, revealing an all-illuminating full moon. She could see clearly up and down the road in either direction, and there was no sign of movement or life. Not convinced that she had imagined the sound, Sofia walked to the corners of the building and checked down each alley; still there was nothing. Giving a final glance down the street, she reentered the building as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Her tears had made the skin beneath her eyes tight and dry. She rubbed them until it hurt; then she rubbed them a bit more. Suddenly, Sofia heard another noise. The staircase where Lucian had fallen creaked under the weight of something. Someone was in the room! Reaching for her gun, Sofia realized that she had left it lying on the floor somewhere after shooting Quintin. “Who’s there?” She called out unable to see anything more than random flashing color orbs and blackness.

“Well, hello beautiful.” Came a soft reply from the shadows.

Sofia’s heart felt as though it would explode! Temporarily blinded from her eye rubbing, she couldn’t confirm where the voice had come from. Why had she rubbed them so long! As her vision slowly returned to her, she began to scan the dark room for life. She looked over to where she had left Lucian’s body, but it was gone!

“Where are you?” She whispered loudly. “Is that you? Baby, is that you?” Still somewhat blinded, Sofia was unable to differentiate between shadows and objects in the dark room.

“It’s me. I’m here.” Lucian’s voice came from a darkened area a few feet from where he had been lying. Her eyes continued to adjust to the dark until she finally saw him slumped over on the staircase with the look of a battered soldier. She stared at him in disbelief, but couldn’t help but smile when he flashed a weakened version of his beautiful grin at her.

“How’d I do that?” He asked, pointing over to Quintin’s corpse. The warmth that seeing Lucian had brought her now left as she looked over at the lifeless body.

“That was… uh…” She searched her thoughts for a way to explain what had happened, but couldn’t find the right words. Of course, there was no need to explain, it was obvious what had happened.

“Doesn’t matter.” Lucian said, stretching his muscles as best he could. “You alright?”

“You were dead.” She whispered, unable to look away from Quintin, and what she had done.

“That would not appear to be the case.” He replied with a chuckle. “I mean, pretty much, but not entirely.” He said as he continued to stretch casually. “I was definitely closer than I’ve ever been; but I never actually died, I guess. I was still in there, it was just more like a dream than anything. Real weird shit.” Lucian closed his eyes momentarily as he tried to search his thoughts to see what he could remember, but it was futile. The memories of what he had experienced while unconscious were just outside the limits of his memory.

“It’s like trying to remember a dream when I try to think of it. There are little clips that almost bring it back, but I can’t remember it.” Searching the dark room for a moment, he located the picket from the handrail that had pierced his body. He nodded his head in the direction of the blood stained shard that Sofia had removed from his sternum. “From what I could tell, that thing was pokin’ through part of my heart. Can’t heal if my heart’s not workin’ right. My guess is that I would’ve stayed that way for a good bit if that thing had stayed in me. I take it you pulled it out?” He asked, not knowing the specifics of what had transpired after being stabbed. Sofia nodded slowly, never taking her eyes off of Quintin’s corpse.

“Well, that allowed everything to start healing my heart. After that, things went back to normal.” He tapped his chest lightly. “Stake in the heart: that one clearly has some roots in the truth.” He laughed weakly.

“Where’s the logic in that?” Sofia asked solemnly. “You said you were basically just a human. If your heart stopped, you should be dead. Unless it’s shocked back in to rhythm it can’t start beating again.” She was caught in a deep stare that she couldn’t pull out of, but longed for an understanding of how Lucian had survived, welcoming the logic she had found so annoying before.

“That’s true. But I did use the qualifier ‘basically’ for that very reason. I was out, so I can’t be sure, but I imagine my heart was workin’ on some really low level, which kept my blood flowin’ to some degree. Tell me this, did my body ever get cold?” Sofia thought back and realized that she had not noticed whether or not his body temp had ever dropped. With that thought in mind, Sofia simply curled her lips inward and slowly shook her head. There was no way that she was going to debate him on that issue. Lucian gave a subtle flip of his hand, adding “Well, there ya go.”

Lucian began inspecting himself for any other injuries that might not have healed properly and began taking notice of how large he had grown during the battle.

“Damn! I’m huge!” He said with a chuckle. His comment eased Sofia’s nerves slightly. Breaking her concentrated gaze, she couldn’t help but to smile as she finally turned to look at him. The wound on his chest was still there, but appeared to be healing. Just like before, he was healing up and there was only a skin filled crater where the puncture wound had been before, and it was growing shallower by the minute.

“Why do you still look so sad, pretty lady?” Lucian asked, even though he knew exactly what was causing her distress. Knowing that she wouldn’t answer him, he continued, “Quintin was a terrible person, Sofia. He’s done horrifying things countless times and there was no chance he was ever going to stop. This was the only way to handle this guy. So don’t let that get to you. You stopped an unimaginable amount of grief because of what you did.” He was hoping to ease her sadness as much as possible.

Lucian pulled himself to his feet and walked across the partially moonlit room and placed his massive arm around Sofia’s shoulders. Sofia, weary from everything, leaned against him and laid her head against his chest which was still covered with blood, but she didn’t care. She was coming to terms with what she had done and she was overjoyed by the fact that Lucian was alive, although she was far too tired to show it.

“Are you seriously not going to say anything about how huge I am?” Lucian asked softly, causing Sofia to bury her face in his chest to keep from laughing. She didn’t want to laugh, she wanted to dwell on what had happened and continue to be ashamed of herself.

“Stop it!” she pleaded weakly as she fought to stop smiling.

“No! I will not stop it! This is ridiculous, I am a massive individual right now and you aren’t saying a word! I feel vindicated! All of those little comments about how small I am, now this!” Lucian modeled his impressive physique for her, striking a few poses to show off his build. Sofia allowed herself to laugh at his silliness for a second, but felt odd about laughing in light of what had happened. Lucian stopped modeling and struck a more serious tone.

“But, in all seriousness, this is gonna hurt like hell pretty soon if I don’t manage it, so you might want to get going.”

Now that Lucian’s death was no longer occupying her every thought, the reality of the situation was settling in with Sofia. She had no desire to be present during the gruesome events that would be taking place when Lucian began to shred the giant corpse for sustenance, but she had no idea what was coming in her very near future.

“What am I going to do, Lucian? I killed a defenseless man. I used a police issued weapon. The evidence is going to show that he was unarmed and that he was tortured before being killed. People here are going to be able to link me to this. I’m going to have to go to jail.” Sofia’s voice began to crack as she considered the idea.

“Stop. You’ve done enough crying in the past few days.” Lucian insisted as he placed his fingers below her chin and tilted her face up to look at him.

“You need to focus on what this dude was guilty of. You saw him in action. He was a terrible person that he deserved what he got, and then some. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll take care of the body, and I’m pretty sure you don’t have to worry about the people around here going to anyone about what they think happened. They’ll probably want to throw you a damn party when they find out this piece of trash is gone.” Sofia was listening to him, and oddly enough, she found herself agreeing with him.

“I’ll tell you what; I’ll call Shane and have him pick you up. I’ll go pick up your car later on tonight and I’ll have it back to you by mornin’. That way you don’t have to go back down there just in case someone’s snooping around.” Considering everything that had happened, Sofia just wanted to let Lucian take care of things so that she could go home; so she did exactly that. She handed him her phone and didn’t resist as he pulled her over and squeezed her tightly.

Lucian realized that it was a good sign that she had allowed him to hold her without any signs of hesitation on her part, but had hoped she would embrace him back. Accepting it as a small victory, he released her and walked a few feet away to make his call. Because he hadn’t moved too far away, Sofia was still able to hear some of what Shane was saying and pieced the rest together.

“Hey man. I need a favor.”

“You hurt?”

“Nah, I’m good. I’m with Sofia and I need you to come grab her.”

“She alright?”

“She’s okay I think. Just needs a ride out of here while I clean up a mess. Can you get her?”

“Yeah. No problem.”

“Cool. I’ll see ya shor..”

“Need to talk to your brother.”

“Why?”

“More “Keeper’s” showing up in my searches.”

“From Victor’s crew? That doesn’t sound like them.”

“I know. But it’s them”

“Alright. I’ll look into it. Let’s just take care of this right now.”

“Where are you?”

“Still got the info on that guy I told you about?”

“Yes”

“That neighborhood. Call this number when you get close.”

“On my way.”

“Thanks, bud.” As he hung up the phone Lucian turned back towards where he had left Sofia. She had moved up right behind him and now stood with her arms crossed and her head down, all but begging to be held. Without saying a word, he wrapped his massive arms around her and held her snugly against his chest. He could feel the tension in her shoulders slowly easing as he held her close. Her desire for him to hold her made him hopeful that things were going to be alright.

“Is everything alright with Shane? Was there something else he needs you to go do?”

“No, no, no. Nothing like that. He’s on his way.”

“Are you sure? You can go if it’s something more important.” Sofia had no intention of letting Lucian leave her, but made the suggestion anyway. Lucian simply squeezed her gently and added “There’s nothing more important.” With that, Sofia finally relented and unfolded her arms from her chest. Lucian was overjoyed as she wrapped her arms around him as best she could. Knowing the amount of pain he was about to experience when his metabolism kicked in wasn’t even enough to make him let go as the two stood in the darkness and waited for Shane to arrive.

As they held one another, bathing in the all-consuming darkness, Sofia stared out the framed, door-less doorway she had run to when she woke. She gazed into the stormy night at the distant lightning that lit the dark heavy clouds as she waited for the low rumble of the accompanying thunder; oblivious to smile that had found its way back to her face.