Damien POV
The tires screeched against the wet asphalt as Damien's car tore through the darkness. Trees blurred past on either side like reaching claws, but he didn't slow. His heart wasn't just racing—it was howling.
The manor was close. Too close.
Elias was in there. He knew it. His mind pieced together the clues from the burner phone's last ping and the security footage at the university. Elias had gone searching, alone. And now he was prey.
Damien's foot slammed the brake at the iron gates. They were open.
Careless.
Or confident.
He gripped his gun, kicked the door open, and stormed in.
The manor was a tomb.
Silent.
Luxurious.
A funeral wrapped in velvet.
He walked carefully, gun raised, eyes darting. The place reeked of roses and rot. Red petals littered the floors, and a chandelier swayed slightly from above.
Then he saw it. A smear of blood across the wall.
A shoe.
Elias's shoe.
A scream tore through him, silent and primal. He took the stairs three at a time.
---
Elias POV
He couldn't breathe.
The wounds bled hot and steady, one across his side, another over his arm. His vision swam, colors warping into chaos.
But he kept running.
He stumbled into a hallway—no doors. No exit.
He ducked behind a tall armoire, clutching his side, biting his lip to stay quiet.
Footsteps.
Slow. Taunting.
"Eliassss," Alexander's voice floated through the darkness, syrupy and deranged. "Come out, come out... wherever you are."
Elias pressed a trembling hand to his mouth.
"You're very good at hiding," Alexander continued, his footsteps pausing. "Better than Jamie. But he never screamed like you do. God, you sound like music."
Elias shook, every muscle straining to keep silent.
The door creaked open. Alexander entered the room, humming softly.
His shirt was gone. Blood stained his bare chest. The knife dangled from his hand like a toy.
"She said I should've been gentler," he said suddenly. "My mother. When the cancer came, she whispered apologies to me... for letting Father hurt me. Isn't that funny?"
He smiled. A child's smile.
"She died begging me not to turn into him. But it was too late."
Elias held his breath, frozen behind the furniture.
Alexander turned his head. "I picked Jamie because he reminded me of you. But he was a sketch. Incomplete. I wanted the original."
Suddenly, he lunged.
Elias tried to dart out, but Alexander caught him by the wrist, slamming him against the armoire.
"No more games," he hissed.
He raised the knife.
And then—
BOOM!
The door burst open.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!"
Damien.
Gun raised. Voice like thunder.
Alexander turned, eyes gleaming. "So predictable. The broken knight charging in too late."
"Drop the knife."
"He's mine."
Damien fired.
The bullet grazed Alexander's shoulder. He snarled, grabbing Elias by the hair and dragging him toward the balcony.
Elias kicked, screamed, clawed—blood trailing.
"You don't get to take him from me!" Alexander shrieked.
"LET HIM GO!"
Alexander slammed into the glass doors, shattering them with his back as he dragged Elias to the edge.
"YOU THINK YOU'RE THE HERO, DAMIEN? YOU THINK HE'LL LOVE YOU? HE'LL BREAK LIKE THE OTHERS!"
Elias elbowed him, nearly free—
Alexander spun him, slammed the knife into his side.
Everything blurred.
And then they both tumbled—
Through the glass—
Off the edge—
______
Elias POV
It was cold. So cold.
The pain in his stomach flared with every breath, heat leaking from his body like spilled wine. Somewhere above him, a scream echoed, distorted by the rush of wind and the roaring silence in his ears. Everything felt distant. Unreal.
His knees buckled. His hands, slick with blood, slipped along the marble floor. He could barely see through the crimson smear across his lashes.
Alexander's laughter trailed him, eerily light, like a boy playing hide and seek in a field of corpses.
"You're such a pretty little thing when you cry," Alexander murmured, stalking closer. "It's why I picked Jamie. But you... you were always the real obsession."
Elias wanted to scream. Wanted to run. But his body was faltering, betraying him. He stumbled toward the open balcony, the world spinning sideways. Rain lashed against his face. The storm above the manor crackled with violent energy, thunder rolling like a warning drum.
He blinked — and for a moment, he saw Cassian's smile. Warm. Whole. Coffee between his fingers. Then, Damien's scowl. The way his eyes softened when Elias wasn't looking. A memory. Or a goodbye?
"Don't go falling off now," Alexander cooed.
Elias turned just in time to see the glint of the knife again.
Damien
The doors exploded open beneath his fists.
"ELIAS!"
The manor was a maze of darkness, wet footprints smearing along the wooden floor. Blood. His stomach twisted. He followed the sound — not of Elias, but of someone enjoying the hunt.
Alexander Musk.
"I swear to God," Damien snarled, sprinting up the stairs, "if you touch him again—"
A scream.
Not loud. Not strong. But Elias.
Damien didn't think. He surged through the hall, burst onto the balcony just in time to see Alexander lunging forward—
And Elias—
Elias's POV
The blade slashed his side.
He cried out, stumbled backward—
And gravity took over.
The world fell away.
Time stretched. He saw the black sky open like a mouth. Saw Alexander's eyes widen with twisted delight as he lunged after him. No longer chasing. Just falling, together.
Rain streaked his cheeks like tears he couldn't cry. Air whipped past his ears, the wind stealing the breath from his lungs.
Was he going to die?
He remembered the first time he touched Damien's hand.
The way Cassian smelled like citrus and soap.
Noah's necklace. The one he wore until it broke.
He was so tired.
A scream ripped out of the sky above. Damien's.
He wanted to tell him not to cry.
But the ground rushed up fast.
Damien
"NO!"
He reached over the railing, arm stretched as far as it would go, but they were already gone. Elias. His Elias. Swallowed by the dark.
A flash of white cloth, red blood, and twisted limbs disappearing into the storm.
His knees hit the floor.
"No," he whispered. Then louder. "NO!"
Below, a shatter. Glass? Bone?
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't move.
Elias was gone.
But somewhere in that crashing void, Damien swore he heard a heartbeat.
Weak. But there.
He stood.
And he ran.
---