The Betrayal

It was past midnight when Mari suddenly appeared in front of Alexei, his hazel eyes full of panic. “A-Alexei,” he said hurriedly. “She’s gone. Deirdre’s gone. Sh-She stepped out and never came back. I went out to check on her, and she’s disappeared.”

Alexei looked up from his desk. “What?” He asked, his heart skipping a beat.

“Someone took her. We have to go. Only the spy could have done this. We have to find Ria.”

He nodded, grabbing his gun and his cane. “You get him. It’ll be faster.”

He nodded quickly. “I’ll teleport. Stay here for a minute while I get him.” He suddenly poofed to Ria, grabbing his arm and pulling him aside. “Deirdre’s gone. Come with me. We have to find her.” He held him tightly and teleported back to Alexei’s office.

“What!” Ria asked once they were in his office. “What do you mean she’s gone?!”

Alexei looked almost as worried as Ria did. He couldn’t let her get hurt because of him. “I don’t know. We have to find her.”

Mari swallowed thickly. “She went on break and never came back. She wasn’t there when I checked on her. I think the spy has her.”

“Fuck... fuck fuck fuck!” Alexei whined. “I’m going to go home and get Nicolai. He can help us find her too.”

Mari nodded once and grabbed both of their arms, transporting them outside of Alexei’s door. “Hurry!”

Deirdre struggled against the chair she was strapped to, screaming against her gag. She watched Nicolai wait behind the door, listening for Alexei and Ria and Mari to come inside. She screamed her throat sore to try and warn them.

Alexei was quick inside the house, his fake limp long forgotten. He didn’t have time to mess around. “Nicolai!” He called out in a panic, Ria right behind him.

Nicolai smirked and headed downstairs, running to Alexei’s arms. “Alexei!” he whimpered. “I heard about Deirdre. I’ve been worried sick.” He suddenly pulled the gun from the back of his waist belt, pointing it at Alexei’s side. “You won’t get in my way.”

Mari’s eyes widened in horror, and he grabbed Nicolai’s arm, wrenching it so that the gun pointed at himself and not Alexei. He tried to wrestle it out of his hand, snarling until a sudden shot rang through the air, and he felt a white hot pain spreading through his thigh. He toppled to the ground, pressing his hand to where the pain was coming from, and it came back red. He had been shot. The angel paled. No...

Nicolai snarled and pointed the gun back at Alexei, pulling his other gun and pointing it at Ria. “I won’t fail to kill her again. I will rid the world of the Floinns finally,” he growled lowly.

Alexei’s face fell, his eyes darting from Nicolai to the wounded angel. His mind was racing but none of it was connecting. It didn’t make sense. What was Nicolai doing?

The dragon let out a growl, quickly shifting to his hybrid form. He was stronger and bigger in this form. He’d kill this man for hurting his Deirdre. “She hasn’t done anything to you!”

He roared in anger. “She’s done everything!! She’s taken everything from me!!!” he bellowed. “I’m going to kill her just like I tried to five years ago!!”

“W-what...?” Alexei gasped. “Y-you... you were the tenth name... no... no no no...”

“You’re not going to touch her.” The dragon growled.

He glared at Ria with unadulterated hatred. “I’ll put a bullet in your fucking head and bring her down to stare at your fucking corpse,” he hissed. “I’m going to make her pay for everything she took from me. I’m going to squeeze the life out of her and soak up the sounds of her broken pleas. I will watch the life drain out of her eyes!! She always had everything handed to her! She was promoted after doing nothing while people like me were left in the dust! Forgotten! Beaten!! She’s spoiled rotten, and she needs to pay!! I’m going to kill everything she’s ever loved! Make her pay for taking everything away from me!!!”

“Nic... it wasn’t her fault.” Alexei said softly, defeat in his eyes. He was ready to die tonight if that meant saving Deirdre. “She didn’t ask for it. It was me. I was always the one trying to get her special privileges. I was the one who paid attention to her instead of you.”

Mari whimpered quietly. “Alexei... no...”

Nicolai shot Mari through the other thigh, shutting him up and turning back to Alexei. “Deirdre Floinn will die tonight. And so will her dragon. I will finally get my revenge!!”

Ria hissed, stretching his wings out behind him. He didn’t know what he was up against.

Alexei frowned, hurt in his eyes. He raised a hand to Nicolai’s cheek. “Darling... Don’t do this...” he begged. “I love you. Please. Let it go. We can be together. Just let it go.”

Nicolai growled. “You picked your fucking side. I should kill you too. Just to finish the fucking job.” He suddenly hit him across the face with the gun in his hand. “YOU. CHOSE. HER.”

Alexei stumbled back, holding his busted lip. “Nic... please...” he begged, tears in his eyes. “It’s not her fault. Please. Just let her go. We can forget all about this. Everything will be fine. Please.”

Ria growled. “You’re not going to hurt her.” He said coldly, his voice a dangerous calm. “I’m going to kill you and paint the streets with your rat blood.”

He growled and shot Ria through the wing, glaring at Alexei. “Shut up!!! I’ll kill you!”

Ria let out a hiss of pain but it wasn’t enough to stop him. It just made him angrier. He leapt forward, knocking one of the guns from his hand and sailed over him, hurrying to find Deirdre. Alexei could take care of himself.

“Then do it!” He screamed. “Was I always just a toy to you? I thought you loved me! Up until a few weeks ago we all thought she was dead! And now she’s back and you’ve gone mad! You decided to throw away all we had because you’re fucking jealous?! Well fine! Kill me then! Fucking do it!”

Deirdre screamed at the sounds of shots, thrashing even more wildly.

He hit him again, growling. “You’re such a little bitch. Can’t even fucking fight back. What a fucking pussy. I can’t believe I ever liked you. You’re a fucking coward! Fight, Alexei! Don’t you care?!”

Ria followed the sound, bursting into the room. He was quick to her side, taking out the gang and then untying her. All the while he muttered reassurance that he was getting her out of there. That everything was going to be okay.

He fell back onto the floor with the force of the hit. But he stayed down, staring up at him. As long as his attention was on him he wasn’t hurting Deidre or Mari or Ria. So let him do his worst. “I trusted you.” He said, his voice broken. “I loved you. I was happy with you. And I was ready to die for you. I still am. If killing me gives you some kind of peace then do it. But you will never hurt Deirdre.” He hissed, slowly reaching for his cane that had been knocked out of his hand when he’d hit him the first time.

She sobbed brokenly. “Ria...” she gasped. “Your wing...”

“I’ll kill her!” he snarled. “I’ll slaughter her!!!”

“Shh...” He said, folding his hurt wing behind his back. “I’ll be fine.” He assured her. “It’s just a graze.”

He finally grabbed his cane, swinging it at him and knocking his feet out from beneath him. “You will never touch her again.” He hissed.

She weakly stood and hugged him. “Where’s Alexei? Mari?”

Nicolai grunted, quickly standing and stomping on Alexei’s thigh as hard as he could, his eyes glinting at the sound of the bone cracking. “I’ll kill her. It is my duty!”

“They’re downstairs dealing with that bastard. Come on. I have to get you out of here.” He told her, holding onto her tightly.

Alexei let out a scream, writhing in pain. “Nicolai...” He whimpered, tears forming in his eyes. He gripped his cane tightly, reaching for the head of it where the knife hid. He slowly sat up, keeping the weight off of his leg.

“Not without Lex and Mari,” she whimpered. She gasped at the sound of Alexei’s scream. “Oh gods. Alexei!”

He kicked him in the stomach hard before moving over and aiming the gun at Mari’s head.

“Deirdre we can’t do anything. Please.” He begged.

Alexei dragged himself to his feet, ignoring the shooting pain in his leg. It was probably the adrenaline that was allowing him to stand at all. “Don’t touch him.” He hissed, the knife from his cane drawn.

“N-No, p-please. I can’t lose him. Please.”

Nicolai growled lowly and grabbed Alexei suddenly by the hair, using it to throw him away from him before turning and cocking the gun. “I’ll kill you all.”

“Deirdre I’m not letting you put yourself in harms way. Let’s go. Please.”

Alexei groaned, gripping the knife tighter. He reached for the gun that Ria has knocked from Nicolai’s hand. “Don’t you dare.” He said softly, leveling the gun with his back. “You’ll stop this madness now.”

She began to sob harder. “Please! We can’t! I can’t let him die!!”

He laughed coldly. “You think I care if I die? Here’s the deal, babe. I kill the angel, and you can see if you have the fucking balls to shoot me. Ready, set...”

Mari suddenly sat up, screaming in agony, and he grabbed Nicolai’s foot and pulled him to to ground. “A-Alexei... now!”

“Deirdre... please...” he whimpered.

Alexei pulled himself to his feet once more, hovering over him. “You’re right. I don’t have the balls to shoot you.” He said, but despite his words there was a glint of mischief in his eyes. “That’s too good for you.” He continued, brandishing the knife and kneeling down over him. “Oh honey, you were there when I killed your men. The nine of them. You saw what I did to the assassins you sent after Deirdre. I’m not about to shoot you like a common thief. No. You’re going to suffer for what you’ve done.” He hissed, sinking the blade into his shoulder.

She sobbed into his chest. “We can’t leave him behind. We at least need to stay up here until it’s over...”

Nicolai howled, reaching up and wrapping his hands around Alexei’s throat.

Mari pulled on him, and he pinned him to the ground with all of his remaining strength. “A-Alexei... Hurry... I’m f-fading fast...”

“O-okay...” he nodded. “Okay...”

He pulled the knife out of his shoulder. “Let him struggle, Mari. Let me beg for his life.” He hissed, bringing the blade down in his other shoulder. “He should be executed in the streets like the rest of them.”

She whimpered and held him tight. “Th-This is all my fault...” she whispered.

He screamed, trying his best to hit at Alexei.

“No. No it’s not.” He shook his head, looking at her sternly. “You haven’t done anything.”

Alexei leaned down so their lips were almost touching as he brought the knife out of him again. “Oh darling. Why did you have to do this? Why did you have to ruin it all? We could have had everything.” He whispered. “Nicolai. Despite all of this... I still love you.” He admitted, kissing him one last time and plunging the knife into his chest.

She buried her face in his chest. “Oh, Ria...”

He coughed up blood, his skin turning pale. “I... love... you...” he choked out, and he fell limp to the floor, the light draining from his eyes.

He held her tightly. “It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He assured her.

Alexei pulled back, throwing the knife away. He didn’t want to look at it. He looked down at the boy beneath him. Nicolai. His Nicolai. How could this have happened? He collapsed on top of him, holding onto his lifeless body as he sobbed. How hadn’t he seen it? This was all his fault.

She listened closely, her eyes widening. “Someone’s crying. We have to go look.”

Mari watched him sadly before the blood loss caught up with him, and he lost consciousness, falling over with a loud thump as his head hit the ground.

“Stay behind me.” He said, slowly making his way back down, ready to attack if the wrong one had won.

Alexei sobbed harder. Despite the betrayal all he could think of was the happiness Nicolai had shown him. His first love. The first person he’d let himself get close to. And he was lying dead beneath him. Because of him.

As soon as Deirdre’s eyes landed on Alexei, she began to sob harder, running to him. “Lex!” she cried, dropping to her knees and staring at him. “Lex, I’m so sorry. This is... this is all my fault. I’m sorry...” She reached out to hug him, but she froze nervously, scared he would lash out at her.

He just stayed there. He didn’t have the energy to do anything even if he wanted to. He sobbed, clinging to the body. “H-h-h-He’s g-gone...” he sobbed, clearly starting to hyperventilate. “I-I-I d-did th-this...”

Ria frowned, looking at the angel. “We have to get them to a medic. They need help.” He said, moving to lift Mari into his arms. “He’s going to die if we aren’t quick.”

She slowly stood, pulling Alexei up. “He was going to kill us all,” she said softly. “Come on. You’re hurt. Lean on me. I’ve got you. I’ve got you, Alexei. Focus on the sound of my voice. Right now we have to worry about Mari. He could die if you don’t help me by walking.”

Alexei sobbed, reaching for Nicolai. “No! I can’t leave him!” He wailed. “Please...please.... p-p-please...”

“Alexei we have to go.” Ria growled. “We can’t help him now.”

She looked at him sadly. “It’s okay. It’s okay. We can’t do anything for him right now, Big Brother. We have to save Mari.” She pulled him towards the door. “Come on. He’ll be safe. Nothing is going to happen to him. He’ll have a proper burial, Lex.”

He sobbed, closing his eyes and leaning against her. “O-okay...” He muttered, not looking at him again. “H-h-help m-Mari...”

She pulled him outside. “That’s right. We need to save Mari. He saved you and Ria. We have to make sure he stays alive. He’s our friend.”

Alexei felt himself starting to fade, the adrenaline starting to wear off. He had to made it to the hospital though. He had to be sure Mari was okay. “I-I’m s-s-Sorry....”

She whimpered under the strain. “Lex, please stay awake for me. I can’t carry you,” she pleaded. “And I’m the one who should be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for, okay?”

“I-I’m trying...” He sniffled, trying to walk the best he could but kept putting too much weight on his broken leg and whimpering. “And it... it... it is m-my fault...”

She shook her head quickly. “It isn’t. You did everything you could. It’s not your fault at all.” She helped him up the steps to the hospital, sneaking a glance at Mari. Ria was covered in the angel’s blood. “Mari might not make it...” she whispered aloud accidentally.

Ria shot her a look. “He’s going to be fine.” He said as they entered the hospital and were immediately swarmed by doctors and nurses who took the angel from him and then got Alexei.

He whimpered softly, his purple eyes watching his friends. He owed them everything.

Deirdre watched as they took him away. “Alexei, it’s going to be okay. You’re safe. Be brave for me, okay?”

The peacock nodded, tears still streaming down his face. He wasn’t brave. And things would never be okay again. But he was going to fake it for her.