Briar Hayes ♡ Rose Red (badsister) wrote in thereincarnates, @ 2011-01-31 09:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | briar hayes, kane lewis |
Who: Briar Hayes and Kane Lewis
What: Briar meets Kane in the Homelands hoping to stop him. Or join him. Really unclear which...
When: Backdated to Sunday, January 23rd 2011 (two days before her rescue)
Where: The Homelands
Warnings: Lots and lots of violence and a little sexy. Just a little, though.
Briar was tired. She was tired of this, tired of everything, tired of life. She’d been alive for one hundred and fifty years and she’d finally gotten tired of it all. Why? Two words. Kane Lewis. In just a few short months he’d managed to make her life a complete and utter hell, but she’d managed. She’d soldiered through it because Charlotte was right, she was the strongest person Charlotte knew. She was the strongest person most people knew, but someone had finally come along who’d been able to successfully throw her off her horse. For Rose it had been Boy Blue, though Boy Blue had much more nobler intentions. Briar couldn’t express in words how much she wished he was here, but he wasn’t. Instead she’d gotten Kane. The man who had followed her through an alternate reality to now and made her reality just as horrific. He’d seen to that, with what he’d left her just a few days ago.
Honestly, Briar still couldn’t really accept it. Even after she’d seen it with her own eyes she couldn’t believe that her little sister had been alive all this time and she’d never known. And then she’d died at the hands of Kane Lewis, the single greatest bane of Briar’s existence. She couldn’t accept it. She’d spent the last two days in a complete grief stricken daze, forgetting to eat and crying until she was dehydrated. She hadn’t meant to ignore the millions of phone calls she’d gotten, all from Charlotte of course, but she hadn’t been able to bring herself to do anything other then mope. And then she’d had a break through. If Kane wanted her? He could fucking have her. Briar was honestly at the point where she didn’t care anymore, and she couldn’t stomach seeing anyone else she loved dead and lifeless on the ground.
She left the Farm that night feeling like a woman condemned, and in a way she was. She knew exactly what she was marching towards and as doomed as she felt, no amount of coaxing on Rose’s part could stop her. She was beyond listening, by this point she knew there wasn’t a thing she could do about this except give in. Kane had made that perfectly clear. She just hoped he would spare Charlotte’s life in return, that was really the only thing she cared about at this point. She made it to Canada and found the gateway to the Homelands easy enough, and before she knew it she was in Toscane, standing in front of the steps that led up to what used to be the Empire’s palace, home to the Adversary.
There was no evidence that her conjured up thorns had ever been here, and she was met at the steps by guards. Guards. Kane really did fancy himself a king here didn’t he. She’d been searched, and they’d found nothing. She’d come wearing a thin red dress that reached her knees and a long, black cloak. They would have seen if she’d been hiding a grenade launcher in there somewhere. Soon she was ushered through the doors and into the main hall, and both Briar and Rose Red had no idea what to do with themselves, in here of all places. This was not their home.
---
Kane was happy. Not exactly an emotion that he usually associated with himself, but this was a special occasion, and besides, his sort of happiness was generally rather twisted. And it wasn’t that he was unhappy, per se. He split his time between his three domains – the Island, the Homelands, and the Abarat – and apart from a few minor annoyances, his existence was surprisingly neutral. Conniving, of course. Malevolent, naturally. But his work for the Resistance meant almost nothing to him. It was a diversion, nothing more. A way to pass the time. It was actually quite boring.
But today he had good reason to feel celebratory. Victorious, even. Briar Hayes was as good as his. No, not even that – she simply was his. Although she had still tried to deny it and put up a fight, their last conversation proved as much. Finding her long lost sister had been a hassle, but entirely worth the effort in the end. Briar had lost her spirit. Before he abandoned Iris’s lifeless body, he left one of his toys behind – a mechanical spider infused with magic and connected to Carrion’s Universal Eye, an Abaratian device similar to modern surveillance systems but entirely more sophisticated. He had thousands of mechanical insects and rodents at his disposal; he sent them everywhere, anywhere, always watching. The spider accompanied Briar back to her Farm, and Kane witnessed through its arachnoid eyes the fruits of his labors. How hard and how pathetically the saintly fall. She was a wreck. It made him positively gleeful.
Her arrival didn’t escape him; thanks to his little spies, he knew the moment she set foot into Toscane, and with an air of absolute triumph, he made his way to the Emperor’s throne room and waited. He reclined on the throne and barked orders at any unfortunate soul who happened to catch his eye. There were preparations to be made. Kane never ate, but food and wine was brought. Thousands of red roses had been gathered that morning, and now they were being arranged, bouquet after bouquet after bouquet lining the hall, impossible to ignore. With anyone else, it would’ve been a gesture of romance. With Kane, it was one last insult. One last challenge. He was eager to see her reaction.
And then, she was there. His guards escorted her into the hall, one on either side, and Kane smirked. She looked so small, so lost, dwarfed by the immensity of the castle. He leaned forward to get a better look at her, narrowing his eyes with interest, then stretched out a hand and beckoned her forward. “Bring her here,” he called out evenly to the guards. “Quickly, if you don’t mind. I’ve waited long enough.”
---
It was no time at all before she was brought into the main hall of the castle, flanked on either side by a guard and even if the room had been filled with people, she could have spotted Kane a mile away. Thankfully the room wasn’t full of people, the last thing she wanted was an audience. Her eyes immediately caught the thousands of red roses placed around the room and her eyes visibly narrowed. Really, Kane? Oh, of course, this isn’t a nice gesture, this is just another jab. Kane was still quite a few feet away, lounging on the palace throne in quite possibly the most infuriating way possible. Briar had to actually catch herself before she made a gagging motion with her finger, in some ways she really hadn’t matured past the age of eighteen. Which, ironically, was just a few short years before she ‘died’. She and Rose had always been uncharacteristically young at heart, it was a mystery to everyone but them.
When he spoke his voice sent a chill down her spine, he was still yards away but it felt like he was right there next to her ear when he spoke. They might as well have been alone in her room on New Years Eve for all that she couldn’t be bothered to focus on anything or anyone else, anyone else except the man who was so intent on ruining her that she couldn’t stay away. When had she become this fucked up and twisted? Briar had always been a woman with a very shaky moral ground and in many ways, a little out of her mind. After living for one hundred and fifty years, could you really expect her to be anything different? Eventually all the things that made you completely human started to fade, but until she’d met Kane Lewis she’d honestly assumed that she’d held onto enough of her humanity to get by.
The guards ushered her forward at Kane’s request, her coat billowing around her and Briar felt more like a prisoner then she had since she first experienced Rose’s memories attempting to escape the Homelands with Snow and ending up in a chain gang. In both Briar and Rose’s opinion, this was far worse. They’d rather be chained at the ankles, if it was all the same to him. And they might as well be, for all the hold that he had over them now. “Nice touch, Kane. Those for me? And people say romance is dead.” Briar barely heard her own words, they sounded bitter and distant, and she yanked her elbow out of one of the guard’s grasps to brush a section of long hair out of her face.
---
Amused by her words and the lack of conviction behind them, Kane chuckled and waved the guards the way. They exited quietly and all too quickly, and then he and Briar were left alone. He liked it better this way. He knew that little show of spirit wasn’t meant for him, it was meant for their very small audience. With that gone, he was sure she would be infinitely more cooperative. “You’re one to talk, my dear,” he smirked, casually rising from his throne and taking a few steps toward her. He didn’t attempt to mask his appreciation. “I see you dressed for the occasion. How sweet of you.”
He gave her another quick once over before turning away, grinning as he went. He sauntered casually over to the table holding the food and poured himself a goblet of wine, and there he lingered, with his back turned. If she wanted a shot at him, now was her chance, but he knew she wouldn’t take it. Part of him hoped she would, purely for entertainment, but really he’d be just as entertained if, when he turned back around, she hadn’t moved a muscle. The thought made his lips curl, but he didn’t turn just yet. Instead, he very calmly poured another goblet. A gentlemanly gesture, but a calculating one. He set it to the side and turned his head ever so slightly to speak to Briar over his shoulder. “A drink, if you’re thirsty. Don’t worry. It’s safe.” He took a sip of his own wine to prove his point. Then he waited.
---
Briar glared at the guards as they left, for lack of anything else to do. Half of her, the saner half, still didn’t really know what she was even doing and she was completely out of her element here. He wasn’t even being a little subtle about the way he was looking at her and so it was his turn to get glared at. She hated the way he looked at her. He made no attempt to mask what he was thinking when he looked at her, like he knew how it made her feel. But how could he know? He wasn’t a mind reader, and she was sure she wasn’t that transparent. Then again maybe she was, or she wouldn’t even be here right now. There was a very twisted appeal to Kane Lewis, aside from all his obvious offenses. He made her feel less human, which was obviously his intention, but when faced with the recent horrors of her reality it was something she found herself to be craving. Which, part of her knew, was his plan all along but it was out of her hands now. He’d killed Iris, and he’d keep killing people she loved until she stopped fighting him. She was finally ready to do that, but only for someone she loved more then she loved herself.
“I dress like this for all the men that stalk me and kill my loved ones,” she stated flatly, watching him all too warily as he walked towards her and then away from her to the table. She knew exactly what he was doing by turning his back to her but he wasn’t going to get that kind of satisfaction. If she was going to take a shot at him, which she still very well might, it would be up close and personal. The bastard deserved that level of intimacy from her, no other. She stayed perfectly still, crossing her arms over her chest and pulling her cloak closer to her. “No thanks. I prefer to keep my wits about me when in the company of my adversary.” The irony of her words weren’t lost on her and she bit her bottom lip hard, just to feel something other then this rottenness. She hadn’t meant to draw blood but then she tasted that familiar metallic feeling just inside her mouth and she flinched. It barely hurt.
---
Kane turned then, laughing openly at her words. Quite the jokester, his Briar. When all else failed, she still had her biting wit. Unfortunately for her, such jibes had no effect on him. She could say whatever she wanted to him, but words were nothing. Just the last vestige of the desperate. All the more reason for his amusement. As much as he enjoyed feisty Briar, this was the one he’d been waiting to see. Crushed, broken, empty. Barely holding herself upright. Resigned to her fate. Waiting for him to decide what to do with her. A glorious sight.
“Adversary?” He set his goblet down on the table and took a few carefully measured steps toward her. He didn’t take his eyes off of hers, and once he was near enough – too near for her taste’s, undoubtedly – he stepped very close behind her and reached for her neck. Tempting as it was to grab hold, he still hesitated deliberately before brushing her hair over to one shoulder and undoing the collar of her cloak. He made a move to take it off, sliding it over her arms before pausing and leaning forward to whisper in her ear. “Hardly. This castle is half yours, if you want it.” Not really. He wasn’t that generous. But he was interested to know whether or not she wanted it. Perhaps her greed was more tireless than he knew. “Why else do you think I put in the roses? This isn’t your prison, Briar. It’s your home.”
---
Briar knew exactly how much her words had an effect on him, which was none at all. That was evident enough by the way he brushed off every single thing she said and laughed at her just then, but that didn’t deter her. It never did. Actually, if there was a single likeable thing about Kane, it was that. She could say whatever the fuck she wanted to say to him and he just took it all in stride. He didn’t get offended, he didn’t get hostile or disgusted or any of the other things a lot of people expressed when she got even a little inappropriate. That was just Briar. And Rose, really. They didn’t have a filter, they said what they want and they did what they want and not much had changed between then and now. Except Briar was maybe a little less of a brat, but not by much. She didn’t even have to ask Kane, she knew for a fact that he saw all of this every time he looked at her. And yet he still wanted her? It would have actually been a little more then flattering if he wasn’t, you know, him.
When he made his way toward her, this time with a designed purpose, Briar only flinched a little. She didn’t move as he circled around her and stood perfectly still as he reached for the collar of her cloak and pulled it down around her arms. What else could she do? She did feel defeated, and she honestly didn’t care enough not to show it now. Apparently she couldn’t fool him no matter what she did, so why bother. He wasn’t wrong about everything. At his next words though, her jaw dropped partially open in shock for a moment before she closed it. He had to be joking. She almost laughed, but the laughter died on her throat before it even made its first sound and despite what every instinct in her was screaming at her to do, she inclined her head towards him and shrugged her now bare shoulders.
“What, so we can live happily ever after?” The tone of her voice was soft, and much more resigned then it was ironic, which had been what she’d originally intended, considering the chosen phrase. “I’m not a fool, Kane. If I tried to leave and you didn’t want me to, you wouldn’t allow it. And yet I came anyway, so. Clearly I hold no delusions here, and certainly none that involve playing queen to a long since dead kingdom.” At those words, a spark of her old self flashed in her brown eyes as she spoke in her best teasing voice. “But if role play is your thing...”
----
“Mm, yes, you did come, didn’t you,” Kane murmured, his lips still very close to her ear, and even closer now that she was turning towards him. “That surprised me, I’ll admit. I thought I’d have to bring you here myself, but here you are, of your own free will. Whatever happens now is your choice. Remember that when you feel the need to blame me for what you are.”
With a slight but forceful tug, he slipped her cloak all the way off and discarded it off to the side. He knew the main hall was cold in the way he knew the sky was blue: it just was, but it had nothing to do with him. He wanted her uncomfortable, he wanted her to shiver. To help her along, he placed on hand on her hip and used the other to graze a finger up and down her bare arm, stroking her gently and with purpose. His grip on her wasn’t tight, but it was strong, and he pulled her back to him until she could go no farther. She was so rigid it was like caressing a statue, but for the moment, he didn’t care. This was exactly what he wanted.
“It’s funny you should mention that. Roleplay.” His voice was poisonously soft, and almost mocking. She’s walked into a trap, another one, and she hadn’t even realized it. Yet another thing he loved about her: she got herself into trouble with reckless abandon. “Your sister and I had a long, long talk before her unfortunate demise. She had all kinds of stories about you. Quite the little actress, aren’t you? I think I must be the only person alive who knows you’ve always had a taste for the wicked. Did you honestly think you could hide that from me? That even after centuries of pretending, I wouldn’t see just how transparent you are?” His hold on her tightened ever so slightly. “Once again, Briar, you disappoint me terribly.”
---
Briar’s eyes flashed darkly, and for a moment she forgot to be completely rigid in his arms. Every touch he graced her body with felt like cold fire. The room was already freezing, and his hand on her bare arm made her feel hot all over, like he was trying to burn her skin with ice. She knew exactly what he was doing and she didn’t care, not until he started talking about The fact that he actually had the stones to judge her was the thing that least infuriated her about this, but still. How dare he. As if he could measure up every single thing she’d done in her incredibly long life and somehow measure it against his, like they could even come close to any of the horrors he’d committed. Didn’t even come close. They may be cut from the same cloth, but she wasn’t a murderer until his body was lifeless and cold under her hands. That would always be the one difference between them, if there wasn’t any other. As for everything else she’d done? That was none of his business, and she refused to acknowledge any of it. All of that was so far back in the past that she barely even remembered that girl. The girl she was before she became Briar Hayes.
She absolutely loathed the way he spoke to her, so soft and misleading. It made her shiver more then his touch did and with a rush of adrenaline she managed to wrench herself free of his grasp, but only enough to turn around in it and face him. He was holding her firmly enough that she couldn’t get very far, but that didn’t stop her from getting right up in his face and snarling, pushing against his chest with one hand in an attempt to keep some distance. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. As if anything I ever did back then could in any way measure up to what you’ve done. Please. I was a stupid girl who didn’t know any better and put my faith in all the wrong people.” She paused, unable to avoid making eye contact with him and willing herself not to falter when she did. “Not much has changed, apparently. Make no mistake, I don’t regret any of it. It’s made me the person I am today, and that suits me just fine.”
---
His grin turned into a hard, hostile line when she tried to get away from him, but he loosened his grip enough to allow her to turn before tightening it again, this time even harder. She’d barely been here ten minutes, and she was already getting bruises. That had to be a record. It was only when she pushed his chest that he grabbed her other arm and yanked her into a position more suitable to him. He maneuvered one arm behind her back, twisting it just enough to cause some pain, while the arm on his chest stayed there, her wrist in his iron grip. Growling, he closed the space she’d tried to put between them, twisting her arm a little more as he pulled her against him. So much for niceties. Roleplay, after all, wasn’t really his thing.
“You’re right,” he hissed, meeting her gaze and forcing her to keep it. “Nothing’s changed. It’s just taken you a hundred and fifty years to catch up. I don’t know what’s more pathetic, this act you cling to or the fact that you still believe in it. At least you’re on the right track now. Regret is below us. Don’t you ever forget that.”
---
Briar had expected a reaction like that, but it didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less. She was so tiny compared to him, it wasn’t hard for him to overpower her and he was strong enough that just a hard pinch would leave a bruise. Luckily she could take it, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. She craned her neck back when he twisted her arm behind her and forced her closer to him, looking him square in the eye when he forced her to and glaring. She’d never met anyone in her entire life who got off as much as he did on being right. It was inconvenient for her because while she was incredibly versed in power plays, she was usually on the other side of it. But not with him. Just one of the many reasons she fought him as hard as she did. And he knew that, there wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he didn’t.
She couldn’t help crying out a little when he twisted her arm, her muscles straining under it but she immediately gritted her teeth against the pain, forcing what remained of her breathing to regulate since his tight hold on her was making it near impossible for her to get much air. Being this close to him, it brought back a slew of memories from New Years Eve, the first time she’d come face to face with him despite just how close they’d been in that alternate reality. The way he’d come to her in the darkness, their brief but vicious struggled that had somehow ended in one of the most passionate kisses she’d ever been a part of in her entirely long life. Was this what it took for her to have that kind of passion with someone? Intense hate? She hated Kane with every fiber of her being, and yet.
“I don’t regret a thing and I never will,” Briar finally responded, more or less evenly despite the way her insides were still turning. They were so close she could feel his breath on her and, if she wasn’t just imagining things, almost taste him, but she quickly pushed that thought out of her mind. “You want me to admit that we’re the same? That I’m exactly who you think I am? Fine. If that’s what you want, you’re completely right and I don’t regret saying that either. It’ll just make it all the more easy for me when I finally give you what you so rightfully deserve. A painfully slow death that I’ll take more enjoyment out of then you could possibly imagine. Or maybe you could.”
---
“Oh, I can imagine,” he whispered back, smirking as he twisted her arm a little further. “In fact, I think I’ll enjoy it more than you will. Nothing gives me more pleasure than a woman acting on pure malevolent instinct. Thank you for telling the truth.” Surprisingly, he meant his thanks; somehow he always did with her. When she did what he wanted, he did feel gratified, and the only reason he knew that was because it was such an unfamiliar emotion. And even though she was giving him exactly what he wanted, he knew she wasn’t lying. He’d shaped her well over the past few months, sculpting her into his very own Galatea. Or perhaps Eliza Doolittle was the better analogy. Either way, she was changed. Permanently and, in his opinion, for the better.
As a reward, he released her completely. He even took a few steps backward, raising his arms in mock surrender. Though, of course, his signature smirk never left him. He was still in control here. The smirk wouldn’t go anywhere unless that changed. “You want to kill me, Briar? This is your chance. Your only chance. You won’t get another one.” He was taunting her. His grin turned bestial as he opened his arms wide, beckoning her as if for a simple hug.
---
Briar knew he was taunting her. It was obvious, and to give him what he wanted would be foolish. Still, it was hard to resist. She was too angry to think straight, angry at Kane, angry at herself. Irrationally angry at her sister, who couldn’t have helped telling Kane the things she had under duress and that was all Briar’s fault too so mostly, she was just angry at herself. There was a beat where all she did was glare at him, now completely free of his embrace and almost every instinct in her was telling her to run. All except one.
His guards had neglected to search some parts of her when they’d brought her into the castle, and in a flash she pulled a knife from her breast, took a few swift steps forward and chucked it expertly at him. Chucked it at him and missed on purpose. The knife flew right past him, so close to his ear that it almost pierced him but it was only a graze, and it kept flying past him into the opposite wall where it sank into the wood with a satisfying thunk. Briar was breathing abnormally heavily, her chest heaving in and out as she stared at him, waiting for him to make a move. When she spoke her voice was quiet, lacking the anger it had been full of earlier as her gaze flickered to the scars on his face, scars that had been her doing, his mouth, and back up at him. “It’s just no fun if you’re expecting it.” She knew right then it was her biggest mistake, not aiming to sink the knife straight into his heart, but something very dangerous to herself had kept her from doing it. Something that didn’t have a name, but they both knew it was there.
---
Kane didn’t flinch when she threw the knife at him. It was unexpected, but he let it fly, raising an eyebrow as it barely missed him and following its path with his eyes when it hit the wood behind him. He crossed his arms and looked back at Briar almost apathetically. The fact that she had a secret knife didn’t surprise him, but the fact that she missed on purpose.... well, that didn’t surprise him either. He knew she couldn’t kill him. She wasn’t ready yet. This was just a test, so she would know it, too.
Holding her gaze, he walked toward her slowly, calmly, very much enjoying the fire radiating from her but for once he kept it off his face. In fact, he was completely impassive now, almost disinterested, his cold demeanor in stark contrast to her impassioned one. He directly in front of her, just as close as they’d been minutes before though now they weren’t touching. Instead, he just looked down at her, towering menacingly. “You blew it, Briar,” he whispered, reaching up to toy with her hair. “Even so, I feel the need to give you a compliment. You’re very beautiful when there’s murder on your mind.”
---
Briar looked back at him unabashedly as he drew nearer to her and came to tower over her, just as close as he had been before. This time she didn’t flinch. She didn’t move a muscle, but she wasn’t as rigid as stone either, she was loose in her posture and movements. She was simply... letting this happened. Resigned to her fate. He'd manipulated her right into this situation and she knew it, but she didn't care. Her eyes never left his. She wasn’t afraid to look into his eyes, she never had been. Well, maybe a little. Every time they made eye contact she felt like she was being pulled downwards, down into something she wouldn’t be able to claw her way back out of. There was something so alluring, so piercing about those blue eyes that you practically had a death wish if you stared into them for too long, but for the first time she was allowing herself to. If only for a moment. He really was almost devastatingly beautiful. For a homicidal maniac.
“Kind of you to say. I’ll take that as the compliment you intended it to be,” Briar said easily, her gaze following him from the fingers wrapping themselves around strands of her hair back up to his face. There was a smile playing at the corners of her slightly parted mouth now and she held his gaze for a long moment before she made her move. There was another knife hidden on her person, strapped and well hidden to her inner thigh and she reached for it with lightening speed, raising it and aiming to plunge it into his neck. Just because he’d given her the chance earlier didn’t mean she wouldn’t take one now, when it actually suited her. If she didn’t succeed in killing him, she knew she was done for, even if he let her live. Their lives were too tightly entwined now for either of them to just let each other be. She hated it, but she couldn’t deny the rush she got from every single interaction she had with him. He was right, she was just a little bit wicked.
---
His eyes widened at the sight of the second knife, but he wasn’t quick enough to stop it. She was aiming for his neck – he ducked, and the knife dug into his left shoulder. The pain was sharp and fast, and with a roar he punched Briar square in the face, knocking her to the floor before he ripped the blade out of his flesh. He almost threw it across the room, but then he thought better of it. Why waste a perfectly good knife?
Using the adrenaline to his advantage, he didn’t waste another second before pouncing on her and straddling her, pinning her down. There was a manic, almost gleeful, and definitely insane look on his face as he took Briar’s own knife and plunged it into her left shoulder. And twisted as he pulled it back out. His shirt was soaked through with blood, but he barely noticed. He was too busy admiring his handiwork. “There,” he panted. “We match.”
---
Briar barely flinched when he hit her, and she didn’t make a sound when he knocked her to the floor. One might actually think she was used to his. It wasn’t until he plunged the knife into her own shoulder that she cried out, struggling against him when he got on top of her as best she could but she couldn’t over power him before he sank the knife into her. The pain was searing, nothing like she’d ever felt, and she couldn’t help the cry that ripped from her throat as her face twisted up in pain and her eyes shut involuntarily. She tried to roll onto her side and away from him to nurse her shoulder but being on top of her, she could only twist her upper body a little to the side as she gripped the flesh over her wound and grit her teeth against the pain.
Her breathing was hard and entirely irregular as she tried to collect herself, swallowing hard again and again and willing herself to open her eyes through the pain. When she did and she looked up at him, straddling and towering above her like a deranged animal, she had probably the most inappropriate reaction one could have in a situation like that. She laughed. Her laugh was high and near hysterical, tears already collecting around the corners of her eyes as she doubled over on herself. This whole situation, her and him, was just so... ridiculous. They couldn’t make up their minds about each other, could they? One minute they were as close to fucking as two enemies ever could be and the next minute they were plunging the same knife into each other’s skin. Ridiculous. It was a really good thing she couldn’t be killed that easily or that knife might have done a lot more damage to her then it had.
Her arm was throbbing and she could barely see through the pain but her laughter finally quieted down as she struggled to breathe through it, her chest heaving in and out as she locked eyes with him. She barely even noticed her blood or his, her own body’s adrenaline was kicking in and she shifted under him, the ends of her dress collecting around her thighs as a result of the position he had her in. After a few more deep breaths her expression instantly sobered as she realized what that pain had brought her, what she was feeling. Alive. “Thank you.”
---
For a moment, Kane just watched her. His expression never softened, but it minimized, his mania replaced with fascination. He stared at her, eyes wide and piercing, just studying her, listening to her laugh. He knew that laugh. Of all the laughs in the world, this one was the most unmistakable, the one he was most familiar with. It was complete loss of control, and acceptance of that loss. Loving it, even, because at this point, at the very edge of sanity, there was nothing else to do but enjoy it. Finally. The ultimate breakthrough. She was here, the same place that he was, finally. There was no denying it anymore. They were the same.
And, for once, he was almost at a loss as to what to do next. Keep her? Kill her? Let her go? All varying degrees of tempting. If he kept her, they could have such fun together. If he killed her, Tristan and Charlotte would finally get it through their thick skulls that he wasn’t to be trifled with. If he let her go, then his creation would be let loose on the world, destroying everything she touched. In the end, he decided that was a choice for another time. He wasn’t done playing yet. A work of art was never finished.
Carelessly, he tossed the bloodied knife aside and closed his eyes, whispering a few words of Abaratian magic. His lip curled slightly at the pain of his wound closing, the muscles and skin weaving back together haphazardly, forming an ugly scar that would never fully fade. Sloppy, but effective. Her wound healed simultaneously, and the bleeding from both of them stopped. When he opened his eyes, he looked down at her with a small, triumphant smirk. He was completely aware of the comprising position they were in, so of course he didn’t bother to change it. He stayed perfectly still right where he was, and he took her thanks in stride. He of all people didn’t have to ask what she meant, what she was thanking him for. He knew. “Addictive, isn’t it?” he whispered. His tone was almost affectionate. “That feeling. Enjoy it while you can. It never lasts.”
---
She watched with an almost morbid fascination as he healed both their wounds. She’d known Kane to be powerful, but even in the alternate reality they’d shared she’d never actually seen any of the magic he could do. It actually made her feel a little breathless, or it would have if she hadn’t already been so short on breath at the moment. Her eyes widened further as she watched her wound heal and close itself, she was so fascinated by it that she forgot to wince in pain. It hurt, but nothing excruciating. It almost felt like an itch that she’d already scratched.
After a few minutes her breathing finally started to slow, her chest rising and falling in more regulated patterns as her body and all of her senses calmed. She was a lot more aware of her current position now then she had been before and the way he was speaking to her now was provoking a deceptive tingling in the base of her spine. His tone was soft, she detected a hint of affection there that she knew she couldn’t trust, but that didn’t mean some twisted part of her didn’t like it. It was almost nurturing, not a way people spoke to her often. Or ever.
“No?” She asked, her tone was just as soft as his whisper, unable to tear her eyes away from him. Once again she felt pinned down by his gaze alone, he didn’t even need to hold onto her. She could see the scars on his face so much clearer now, some of them her fault and others that weren’t. Her gaze followed each and every one of them as her legs bent at the knee without her realizing. She found she was reaching out a hand and curling her slender fingers it into the front of his shirt, though it was unclear whether she did so to push him away or keep him there. “But I want it too.”
---
Kane was completely aware of every move her body was making, and he compensated accordingly. When she shifted her legs, he leaned forward somewhat, bringing their faces closer together and giving her just a little bit more freedom to move. All his weight was on his knees now, and though he was still straddling her, he was slightly above her now, not on top of her or holding her down. His hands went to her neck, caressing it slowly as he traced the lines of her jaw and collarbone. She really was a remarkable creature. One hundred and fifty years old, yet completely timeless. Frozen, stuck, just waiting for him to come along to breathe a life worth living, worth enjoying into her. How boring her life must have been before him. How pointless.
He smiled when she touched him, and he leaned further down, now mere inches away from her face. She looked entranced, hypnotized, and he relished in the power that look gave to him. He liked this better than loathing or disgust, though those offered him another kind of pleasure. This was the look he remembered. This was the one he’d been trying to reclaim since the beginning. No one but Briar looked at him like this.
His answer was short, brutally honest, and commanding; the look on his face victorious and almost alarmingly passionate. The three words he said to her were everything. They were the core of his beliefs, his motivation, the only thing that truly mattered to him. They were Kane, plain and simple. Soon they would be her, too.
“Then make it.”
---
For once his touch to her neck, or any part of her really, wasn’t making her shrink away in disgust. Quite the opposite in fact, it was making her tremble ever so slightly. The varying degrees in which he handled her, from rough to violent to oh so gentle that it almost hurt more; were enough to actually drive her insane. And that was assuming she hadn’t been driven insane already. She’d never felt so unstable in her life, and yet she didn’t feel like she was at odds with it at all. On the contrary, she felt like she was drowning in it, embracing it, and it was all his fault.
She swallowed hard, her eyes only leaving his face to drift down and watch the directions his hands were tracing down her collar bone. His smile made her feel warm all over in a way that it most definitely should not and with a certain degree of distress on her part, the closer he got to her the more her body responded to him. She was more or less unconsciously arching herself toward him when he leaned over her like that, her grip on his shirt tightening and his words actually made her blush. Blush. She couldn’t fathom how that was at all possible, she couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. It had been decades. And to have her face flush over something like this? She couldn’t understand it, but Kane was like a magnet pulling her in. The pain in her shoulder was completely forgotten, all she could do was concentrate on what he was saying to her, her entire face hot as she breathed him in from only a few inches away.
She’d never seen that look on his face before, and that entranced her more then anything else ever had. She couldn’t see her reflection in him, but from the way she felt her expression change she had a hunch her face mirrored that look exactly. Then make it. Briar and Rose were no strangers to this belief, they shared it themselves, even if they had never taken it quite as literally as Kane seemed to. Still. Maybe he understood her better than she had ever thought, which is what provoked her to raise her head off the floor in order to close the distance between them and claim his bottom lip hard between her teeth.
---
Kane let out a hungry growl when she bit him, and one hand instinctively moved to the back of her head, not to support her, but to hold her there just in case she changed her mind. He doubted she would. After New Year’s Eve, this was exactly what she wanted, the reason why she’d come here willingly, though it took her this long to finally admit it. She needed him. He was the only person who could make her feel alive, and that was a responsibility he intended to exploit to the fullest. In a way, he needed her too. She was the closest thing he had to an equal. Close, but not quiet. Kane didn’t really do sharing. He gave in order to take. Briar must have realized that by now, but clearly she didn’t care.
To say he kissed her back would have been completely misleading. He fought her hungrily, fingers digging into her scalp mercilessly as he grabbed her thigh and practically tore her dress to get to the skin underneath. His hand slid up, urgent and rough, along her hips and waist, all the way up to her ribcage – which was when her dress did rip. His knee held the hem down on one side, and his arm was so forceful that the pressure was too much for the soft, flimsy fabric, and it tore viciously, giving him more leeway. He teased the side of her breast with his thumb as he pulled away just enough to purr in her ear, his voice dangerously low and playful, “Child’s play, darling. You have to try.”
---
Kane certainly had a way of making her feel insanely fragile, something she didn’t necessarily like. She had always been pretty tiny in figure, curvy but bony in all the right places and overall thin in frame. But it was only when Kane touched her, in any way shape or form, that she actually felt breakable. If anyone could break her he could, and that was a thought that constantly petrified her, even as her mouth fought back against his. Her scalp stung where his nails dug into it, flinching under his grasp but instead of flinching away, she fought back by clutching to him tighter. There was absolutely no logic in this, and it’s no wonder there had never been any place for logic in Briar and Rose’s lives or Briar would have never gotten herself into this situation in the first place. For Rose’s part, Briar could actually feel her shrinking back into a part of Briar’s head that Kane could never touch, and Briar couldn’t blame her for that. If Briar could do the same, she would have, but he had more or less claimed every other part of her.
A small grunt sounded in the back of her throat as his hands practically tore at her skin with the way they slid up her front once he’d gotten inside her dress. Just how she remembered, a though that crossed her mind as she shivered. A lot of time had passed since that alternate reality trip but she remembered exactly how his hands felt on her bare skin. They were rough, like sand paper, and yet it was a touch that she had so craved back then. Did she now? She couldn’t come up with an intelligible answer for that, even to herself. And yet her body arched the further his hands traveled even though she hadn’t been telling it to and she let out a low gasp when her dress ripped. Cold air rushed over the exposed skin but she barely noticed once he whispered in her ear. All she wanted to do now was tear him apart. “Like I said. Bite me,” she hissed, twisting her body on the floor to push her breast into him and get a better angle which she used to circle her arms around his back and shove her hands up his shirt, sharp nails piercing and digging into his skin as she dragged them all the way down. As if she hadn’t marked his skin enough. She got a very small satisfaction out of marking him, too bad it didn’t make up for everything he’d done to her. What he was forcing her to become in order to survive.
---
Kane let out a low noise, part chuckle and part groan, before he eagerly obliged her. He bit her ear none too gently before moving down to her neck, brutally biting and sucking her skin as she scraped her nails down his back. That move was so very her. Scratching her way to release. He liked that, it was desperate. He grinned against her skin, his mouth traveling further down along her bare shoulder, giving her a few deceptively gentle kisses before cupping her breast and gripping it hard.
Still, as enjoyable as it was to feel her writhing underneath him, trying so hard not to enjoy this but enjoying it anyway, it wasn’t enough. She was still holding back, and that annoyed him. For a moment, he considered stopping, getting up and walking away like had on New Year’s Eve, just to see if she’d come after him, but he dismissed that thought almost as soon as it occurred to him. That wouldn’t accomplish anything, and he needed this release just as much as she did. Whatever happened after this moment didn’t matter: this was the culmination of months of push and pull, and this was where she needed to prove herself. With another kiss, his hand slipped from her breast to her stomach, slowly sliding downwards as he just as slowly pushed her legs apart. “If you could, right now,” he murmured curiously, glancing up and meeting her eyes, “would you stop me?”
---
“Stop you?” Briar echoed, her voice sounding incredibly far away to her. She actually had to think about that for a moment. Her thigh muscles tensed considerably as he pushed her legs apart. That simple act alone was enough to get her trembling again, though it was unclear whether it was from feelings of fear or desire. Maybe a healthy mixture of both. There was certainly desire there, but she had been afraid of that. Or him. Both? For whatever reason, desire and Kane seemed to coincide in a very dangerous manner. He scared the living shit out of her and they both knew that, despite the front she’d continuously put up for the past few months now. When it came down to it she’d been absolutely petrified of him and the way he made her feel. Now not so much, only because she’d already given in. She was already here, bending and scratching underneath him. The only thing she was still afraid of was herself. She had absolutely no idea where she was taking her.
The skin where he’d kissed his way down her was already aching from the way he’d bit and sucked at it none too gently. Before this night was over she’d be lucky if there was a single spot on her that wasn’t covered in bruises, this is what she got for being so damn skinny. Skinny, but deceptively strong. Maybe not as strong as him, but she had some strength in her, a strength that was entirely fueled by bursts of anger and adrenaline. They usually served her well, even if it was only temporary.
Her eyes caught his for a split second before her legs moved as if of their own accord. If there was one part of her body that was bigger then the rest it was her thighs, lean and muscular, and she clamped her thighs around his neck and threw all her body weight into a hard twist that resulted in Kane on his back and Briar straddling his chest with her hand on his throat, like he’d done to her so many times before. She knew that he could over power her easily and that just pissed her off more so that she completely forgot to be afraid. She hated being the weak one, but she would always be the weak one between them. That thought alone made her eyes flash as she stared down at him, her long chestnut hair wild around her face. “But things were finally starting to get interesting.” The instinct to get up and run was just as strong as her instinct to stay put and see this through. Honestly, the only person more dangerous to her then Kane was herself.