• Absolute •

][ XXXIII ][

We both sprung out from behind the tree, the look on Lorin's face - from smugness to shock - fuelled the hungry, foreign feeling of vengeance within me. I didn't like it, but I relished in it despite not agreeing with its harshness. Plus, I still wanted to punch Lorin in the face. Super hard.

Lorin paused for a second too long as he stared at the two of us in mixed surprise and horror. Before he could unfreeze himself, Ezra was upon him. Even I admit that I didn't see Ezra fling himself at Lorin until they were both on the ground - Ezra on top, and Lorin on the bottom - throwing punches and wrestling each other. I heard the sound of struggle, hard breathing, and pained gasps as Lorin tried to get on top of Ezra. But Ezra wasn't having any of that. I watched in some sort of stupefied daze as he lifted his right hand in a fist over his head - and continued to watch - as it came barreling down, impacting Lorin's face. I broke out of my moment as I heard the sickening crack of what had to be Lorin's cheekbone shattering underneath Ezra's knuckles.

"Argh!" Lorin screamed from underneath Ezra. I instantly jumped out of my spot and proceeded to grab ahold of Ezra's shoulders. I wanted to pull him off before he broke anything else of Lorin's. I wanted to do that. And also, I didn't want Lorin to suffer as much as I and Ezra did because we weren't like him. We weren't bad - just. . .justified and a bit vengeful.

"Ez - Ezra!" I stammered out as I struggled to pull him off of a cursing and screaming Lorin. "St - stop! You'll kill him!"

"Isn't that the plan?" He yelled back over his shoulder, his voice dark and heavy with an unknown intent behind it. I swallowed visibly, pausing as I went over his words in my head. Of course that wasn't the plan, but I didn't want Lorin to start feeling better in a few days, either. I wanted him to limp back from wherever he came from, a bit battered and bruised - but not broken or dead.

"N - no!" I replied as I saw a glimpse of Lorin's purple, bloodied face over Ezra's shoulder. "We're not killers!"

"You're not." I heard Ezra growl low under his breath. I gasped and let go of his shoulders. He had stopped punching and hitting Lorin, but continued to sit on top of him, pinning him down and making sure he wouldn't escape.

"Ezra. . ." I breathed out, sounding helpless and tired. "This is all - this is all stupid now. We're not like him." I repeated. Ezra looked over at me, his face cut and bleeding here and there. He looked furious, wicked and dark, a true fallen angel, but I saw sorrow and vulnerability in his electric eyes. And I wondered, not for the first time, what was going on within him; what was he thinking and feeling? He was always so quiet, curt and brooding, yet he always had that mournful and heartbroken look in his eyes. Just before this moment, I didn't really care to find out why. But now I wanted to.

"Let's just. . .lets go." I whispered, looking away from his sad blue eyes and down at my feet. I couldn't stand myself knowing that I had constantly noticed and recognized the broken look in his eyes and never did anything to ask him about it. Or at least try to cure it. I had been selfish - and I guess I still was, but I didn't want to be anymore. I didn't want my world to be all about me. I wanted him in my world too. His eyes had shot right through me and awoke my empathy.

"But this is your chance to - to. . ." Ezra trailed off. I looked up at him again and saw he was staring down at the ground like I had been. "He's a bastard and he deserves what we give him. He played with us - you. He hurt your family."

"I know." I said gently, like I was talking to a threatened, caged animal, and not Ezra. "But he didn't kill them. And I'm okay too. I know you want to hurt him - I still do too - but. . .I realize that that's not what I stand for. I'm just Rachel. A quiet, clumsy nerd. I don't kill villains and I sure as hell don't try to fight them either. I read about that stuff in comic books! And I only just remembered that, and I'm sorry I made you help me."

"I. . ." Ezra whispered, but didn't continue. Instead, he looked up at me - the same emotions in his eyes - yet his face had changed. He didn't look like the fallen angel that he had before, now he looked liked he had the day I found him in my room. The day where we kissed. He looked. . .content and relieved. I held my hand out to Ezra and sighed internally in relief as I felt his long, callused fingers intertwine with mine as he got off Lorin. Standing up to his towering height, he looked down at me and opened his mouth to say something. But nothing came out. I smiled, thinking it was because he was finally feeling reassured and strong about things. It was because I saw, and stopped his darker side - the fallen angel side; the reason he fell from his post up in the heavens - without going ballistic on him. I didn't know what he felt, or what he went through, yet I wanted to empathize and show him that even though I didn't understand his pain, I would be there to help him get past it.

But just as I was about to tell an open-mouthed Ezra that he didn't have to say anything to me, his eyes went blank like a light had been blown out from behind his bright, sad eyes. Instead, now they showed pain. And now, his mouth was gaping wide open because of the thick, golden blood that spilled past his lips and onto our shoes and the forest floor.

"Ezra!" I screamed as I tried to hold him up as he began to loose footing and fall to the ground. I sank to my knees with his head cradled in my lap, not caring about all his blood staining my clothes. It was warm and viscous, and I think I felt a bit of it slide into the teenie-tiny holes of my sweater and onto my skin. It burned and made me bite my lip to prevent me from screaming out in agony. A metallic glint caught my eye and made me instantly forget about Ezra's holy - or unholy - blood on my skin. A dagger.

My eyes went wide with horror rather than the sizzling of my skin, when I saw Lorin stand up straight from where he crouched, behind Ezra's body, blonde head bent, and his breathing ragged and harsh. He was gripping the handle of the blade that protruded from Ezra's back, pulling on it so painstakingly slow that I cringed for a half unconscious Ezra. With one final tug, the blade came free from Ezra's flesh and Lorin looked down at us, then directly at me.

"Goodnight. You deserve this, you stupid -" Lorin's empty, dark voice cut off as Ezra grumbled something under his breath and tried getting up.

"No. . ." I whispered and held him down. He was in too much pain and I only think he would get himself killed - somehow - if I didn't keep him down.

"Goodnight." Lorin said again, that same devoid, unemotional and. . .not insane voice carrying itself on the small breeze that blew around us, and into my ears. I shivered in fear and helplessness as he stared at me, his green eyes now unfamiliar and just as empty and blank as his voice. I think I liked it better when he was cackling with insanity and his eyes had a wicked sparkle in them. That was less frightening than the dead eyes that stared at me right now.

"Lorin. . ." I began but stopped, thinking what could I say to him. I was helpless and all the fight had left me. Ezra murmured something and tried to get up again but my tight grip on him - because in truth, I was scared out of my mind - kept his weak body down. I had enough time to take one last rattling breath before Lorin brought a rock, the size of my fist, barreling down upon my skull.

The last thing I saw before I slipped into the soundless, black void, was Ezra, as he shakily stood up - my hands no longer holding him down - and faced Lorin with golden, snarling lips.

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OOHH SHEIT! :O Does she die...?