Cold Ashes

Chapter 22 - Sacrifice

He stepped towards the boy with a sinister look upon his face, a giggle in his throat that he could barely contain at the very thought of ending his existence.

"At last. The one who has it all. Who's so perfect and amazing in his appearance and wonderment that I can barely contain myself. Hello. Hello to you."

"Who's there?" The boy's neck strained against the bonds, trying to look at the man who began to taunt him.

"You believe that just because you speak a few words of comfort to her that that's it? That she's yours and yours alone?"

"Wha-"

"Well she is not yours! I was here before you weren't even a thought in her mind. She belongs to me as long as she breathes she is mine!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't be so naïve, boy! You believe that I won't slice you to ribbons just to hear you scream? That I won't snap each bone in your body or burn you alive just to watch you cry out for mercy? Until you beg for death? Because I will go to the ends of the Earth to make sure that you never breathe another word of your lies in Leah's direction ever again."

"You don't get it, do you?" He sighed, "If you think that she belongs to anyone, then you don't know her much at all."

"Insolent boy!"

Yvonne approached with the injection in one hand. Out of some old instinct she flicked her finger against the side of the syringe, but then this vanished. This one was only filled with air - which would be more than enough to stop his heart. She was still unhappy of murdering the specimen so soon, but she was also afraid of that look in the eye of the Viceroy. And she preferred the delay of research to be done rather than the sudden end of her own life just because of her pride.

Viceroy looked straight into the boy's eyes. A smug, victorious look sliced across his chin. "D'you know what Leah is, boy? Did she ever tell you why she ran from here so long ago? Why her mother wanted to keep her away from Boss and his influence? The girl is the daughter of a foolish whore-" He leaned in so close that only the whispers he said in Ryan's ear could be heard. Finishing the sentence; those tiny words... were enough.

Ryan felt something stir within him. No. No it couldn't be true - it just wasn't true! Through his mind went a thousand pains, a thousand loves and deaths. He saw her face and each lie that was attached to it; the hypocrite more bothered with his lies to completely ignore her own.

The switch ignited, the buzz running through his blood and making sweat begin to fall off his brow. Then the heartbeat raced, faster than his breaths, faster than the thudding that passed through his brain. His vision distorted and shivered with white and coloured light. He was angry. He was so, so angry that all around him was black, white and the darkest of blood reds. He crushed every ounce of moral he had and let it take him over.

With an almighty roar he strained against the bonds and they were strong. Yvonne's face was fixed in a terrified stare, Viceroy's equally with fear and surprise, his comments stopping as he saw what Ryan was doing. The monster within him taking over, a furious rage filling up with adrenaline and hate that he never knew. The bonds snapped and his arms flew upward, his roar intensifying and increasing in deafening volume as he had never known, he tore off the other bonds quickly. The humans went to the door quickly, the doctor dropping her tools, the man reaching for the handle as slow as if he were through treacle.

Ryan ran towards him, striking the woman and in barely a second he had the man at the throat, holding the 6" man high above his head, clutching the breath that went barely pried through his hand. He breathed deeply and slowly as he threw the man away at the wall, at such a rate as he lost all senses immediately.