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Blood and Championships One by one, the lights flickered in the building. First the farthest light, only darkening for a second. Cole gasped unintentionally, as a shadow seemed to flit past the darkness. But nothing before the second light. Which then flickered, and for a split second, there was a clear outline of a tall man, and the dual flash of light off of his eyes. But nothing. A hallucination. Cole Marr tasted blood in his mouth, the metallic flavor growing as the pool around him spread, his quickening pulse pouring his essence onto the cold floor. Then the final light in the line flickered. A split second and the man was there. The sinister smile, the towering frame in a commanding posture standing before him. As soon as the darkness lifted, with a jolt, Kelly Rein features were clear. The words bubbled weakly from Cole's bleeding mouth, the sound sapped by his neck wound. Cole Marr: This...isn't happening. I'm not like those two...you will NEVER take me... The weakened words from his foe only seem to please Kelly, whose sweet, yet deadly voice echoes throughout the room. Kelly Rein: I'm sure a similar thought went through "their" minds as well at this point. For a split second, thoughts and images filtered through his mind, some more familiar than others. He was more than aware of Kelly's penchant for depravity, especially from acts against his own former allies. He could barely even speak, while holding his neck shut more or less, let alone able to defend himself. Cole Marr: You won't be fucking me, emotionally or physically. If you could have, you already would have. You couldn't before, and you've never had the leverage to, never...had the BALLS to. The words seemed to catch in Cole's throat even as they emerged, the feel of a death warrant being signed, and shortly to be enforced. But then...wasn't he already there? The blood everywhere, the cure...something inside needed to die... The low, slow laugh of Kelly dragged his trailing thoughts back to the present, as his foe shoved her hand down his pants, moving pretty steadily before she stepped closer to Cole. Kelly: I'll let you be the judge of that. Rest assured, you will find me more than capable... With one free hand, Kelly grabbed Cole Marr by one bleeding forearm and tossed him almost casually away from the wall, toward the center of the room. Cole landed on his back, groaning with the impact on his wounds, before Kelly flipped him onto his stomach. His forehead smashed against the cold concrete of the floor, his only vision that of gray, black and crimson. This is how it happens. Halfway in the grave, and unable to get the other half in there before...the unthinkable. He felt his shirt ripped off roughly, spiking pain through his torso as the action put pressure against the bullet wounds and his gaping neck slash. Kelly: I was going to start with your ass, but I think I'll detour to fuck you right in that neck hole of yours first. Fitting for you, isn't it, to be fucked unnaturally? Not to mention by a female… Cole flails wildly with his arms, yet he can't fend off Kelly, who drops low and straddles him. The vampire loses sight of Kelly for a moment as the queen pushes Cole's head roughly off the side, exacerbated by the gaping neck wound...which suddenly feels a pulsing pressure, though unseen from the angle. Cole cringes at the feeling, before feeling something solid in his hand. Unthinking, he lifts the hand, and as if by its own accord, it pulls the trigger. The silenced gunshot staggers Kelly back on her knees, the vampire Queen slowly lowering his gaze to her chest, where dead in the center is a spreading red stain. Cole's mind suddenly races as his head flops back into its normal position. Tim Marshall must've dropped his gun on the way out! And there, his knife! Cole reaches for the blade, only to have his wrist clamped onto by Kelly's hand. He turns to stare into Kelly's darkening expression...which slowly forms a smirk. Kelly: You're starting to get it. Bloody bubbles gurgle from Cole's neck wound as he whispers back to Kelly. Cole: No...you are. He pushes past Kelly's block, and grabs the knife on the floor, before stabbing it quickly into Kelly's crotch. The queen gasps, her jaw agape, as Cole stabs again and again, the sickening squish of frail reproductive organs reduced to fleshy puree. A line of bright red blood drips from the center of Kelly's lips, before she suddenly smiles again, her teeth stained red. Kelly: You definitely get it...you just won't admit it. Cole: No...no...NO! With almost every last bit of strength, Cole lifts himself toward Kelly, and grabs her by the hair, and takes the knife to her neck. Roughly carving, the squish of flesh and tendons, the dumping blood over his hands, the grating tension as the blade rips through the cartilage of Kelly's trachea...and finally the sick pop as vertebrae are harshly separated and Cole lifts Kelly's head free as the body falls to a slump against the floor. The blood continues rushing from Kelly's head, as the blank eyes stare into forever. Cole stares into them with sinister satisfaction, a final gruesome sense of victory accomplished. Yet...the blood dripping down his arms is only his own. The last few gushes dribble out, as his ashen form collapses, no fuel remaining for the eternal fire. The last thing he sees before darkness is Kelly's head fall to the ground close by, the blank eyes staring into his own. Kelly: You know I'm not real. If you could get rid of me this easily...you already would have. The mouth stops moving, the words stop flowing. The head itself isn't there anymore. There is only the cold as death corpse of the vampire Cole Marr. Then the door creaks open. Wesley Shackleford steps in slowly, leaving a trail of cigarette smoke in his wake. The cigarette falls out of his mouth at the sight of pools of blood, as his mouth hangs open. Shackleford: Shit, I knew I had to check in on these guys, somethin' didn't seem right... He steps further in, his expression suddenly freezing when he spots Cole's slumped, pale, corpse. He gets close, moving a hand to Cole's neck to check for a pulse, before realizing the futility of his action. It was only futile to him though, as his wrist passed by Cole's face. The eyes were blank, but the mouth snapped forth anyway, the fangs clamping deep into Wesley Shackleford's flesh. Fresh blood coursed through the decrepit veins, the searing flame of eternity rushing through the vampire again. The eyes drew focused, as Wesley Shackleford's eyes fell out of focus for the last time. It’s something I don’t understand. You ever get that feeling? The feeling that you want to understand it but you can’t? The thing this time is Kelly Rein and damn, I can’t understand her. A better question should be ‘Do I want to understand her?’ It’s like she wants to lose to me. It’s like she wants to fall into the traps that everyone else has. It’s kinda sad, really. Kelly, you’re good. I’m not taking that away from you. You’ve proven your worth in the ring against everyone else you’ve come face to face with. On the other hand, when you come face to face to me you can’t do a damn thing. Your talk is nothing when you’re around me. I think that is what you are the most afraid of. You’ve gotten into the mind of everyone else you’ve faced and it has worked. You tried the same spiel against me and guess what? It didn’t work. Now you’re getting desperate, Kelly. I can tell from the way you speak. I can tell from the shaking in your voice. What, no one else could tell? Well I could and that’s why I’m better than everyone else. I know when you are afraid. Your fate is in my hands. I am unmatched in this federation. I’ve seen the best and I’ve beaten the best. I’ve seen the ones they call kings fall at my feet. I’ve seen every challenge you have and more and I’ve walked away with my dignity. And at Slamfest, I’ll be leaving with the North American Championship. Sure you look to be ready. You are ready, Kelly. You’re ready for the long walk back to the lockeroom without the North American Championship. You’re simply just not ready for me. You won’t be ready for Slamfest when your body slams through many tables on my way to shutting you up. You won’t be ready for the massive amount of blood you will lose. You won’t be ready for that wheelchair that will contain you the rest of your life. You’re just not ready. You are ready, however, to play second best to me. You’ve never done what I’ve done. I’ve seen you around these woods and through it all you’ve never been able to catch up. It’s the story of the tortoise and the hare but in this instance, I don’t sleep. Your mindset is ‘slow and steady wins the title’ but in this business slow and steady makes you an easy target for This Vampire. You’re still at the beginning and I’ve already ran laps around you. You keep seeing me progress as you stand in a moment of time. A moment of mediocrity. You did this to yourself. You brought all this upon yourself. Now you will have to deal with it. Now you will have to deal with me and believe me that it will not be easy. You could have avoided this but instead you kept poking and prodding. You kept bringing yourself into the spotlight to potentially shine and I’ll make sure the spotlight is on your broken and battered body for the whole world to see once the night is over. Thirty minutes, Kelly. It’s all I need. |