Fifty-Five…

Fifty-Five: Fire & Brimstone

Contains harsh language.

Two months coasted by. Kat was recovering from her illness, but not cured and never would be. She would always need treatment, and Hunter was the only one qualified to give it to her.

Reznik got better at controlling his powers, but still had some occasional flare-ups.

Neither Aubrey nor Vaclav knew about Reznik and Ashton’s relationship. The two hid it well. Eventually, however, there’d come a time when it would blow up in everyone’s face.

Kat ate the nasty, pasty stuff specially made for her so she wouldn’t get sick. She would be destined to eat it the rest of her life.

She stared down at it. It tasted very plain, not bad, but it still sucked. It was almost like eating liquified cardboard.

Yuck.

Her heart went into a frenzy as soon as Dr. Logan entered the room.

Thump thump thump thump thump.

Her knees felt like the consistency of the mush she just ate.

“Great news, Kat. I think you’re well enough to go home now. You can get your treatments on an out-patient basis.”

                                                              …

“No happy face?” he asked. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to go home?”

“I kinda wanted to stay a little longer.”

“Why’s that?”

“I don’t know. I guess I like it here.” I like being around you, you idiot.

“I’ve never known anyone who’s wanted to stay in a hospital.”

“Well now you do.”

“Yeah, well… I have to go speak to your mother but I’ll be back in a few minutes, ok?”

Kat nodded as he left.

Afterward she got up and went over to the door.

She watched as he spoke to her mother.

Then they embraced.

She opened the door, debating over screaming at both of them to cut it out.

Instead she trudged back to the bed and sat down.

She glanced at the vials of blood on the table. Maybe she should ingest some of it, just to get sick again so she could stay at the clinic.

It just might work, she thought.

He came back several seconds later.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he said; then motioned to the chairs near the window.

“I think I know why you want to stay.”

Her eyes lifted to his. It was pretty obvious what he was going to say, and her whole body quaked with the thundering of her heart.

Meanwhile, Reznik expressed his undying love to Ash.

…or his version of undying love.

“I’ve never felt this way about any girl before,” he gushed.

He kissed her.

“Rez, there’s some things about me you don’t know.”

The familiar tightness of anxiety formed in his stomach.

“I’m pregnant.”

“You’re… what?”

“I’m pregnant with your baby. You have to promise me… swear to me that you won’t tell anyone. Not your parents, not Katerina, not Keith, not even the bug crawling on your bedroom floor. Do you understand?”

Do I understand? Do I understand?!

A small inferno erupted on the bed.

“Shit!” Reznik dashed over to put it out.

He remembered what the mage told him… to concentrate all his energy to quell any flame he’d caused. He squeezed shut his eyes, elevating his hand over the fire, telling himself the pain wasn’t real. Heat seared his face, hand, and arm.

Then it vanished.

Once again he turned and regarded Ash.

“But it’s okay though, right? I mean, you’re a full vampire and vampires cannot carry babies past a few weeks.”

“I’m sorry to say that I’m glad you’re going to lose the baby, because I cannot be a father right now. Maybe not ever.”

“You should’ve thought of that before. You refused to wear a condom. Over and over you refused.”

There’s that tightness in his gut again.

“WHY are you acting like you’re going to carry it the full nine months and give birth to it?”

“You just have to trust me.”

“Ash, you’re really starting to make it hard for me to trust you. You ARE a full vampire, right? You’re not a dhampir?”

“Stop yelling at me!”

“Show me the test, Ash.”

“Fine. I will,” she said heading to the bathroom.

She came back a second later.

“You wanna see the test? Here! Here’s your fucking test!”

She threw it at him.

“Choke on it!” she continued.

Reznik caught it.

He glared at it. “Two lines means you’re—”

“Yes, you moron!”

“Tell me right now… are you a dhampir?” he shouted.

“Fuck you!”

She ran off.

Reznik struggled to keep that fireball of apprehension inside him, instead of allowing it to show up in reality.

What the hell just happened here? One second I was telling her how I felt about her, the next thing… it all goes to hell.

“Kat, you have to understand that I’m too old for you. Way too old. You’re fifteen years old, you need to go home and have fun with your friends. Be a teenager. You’re lucky you made such a big recovery from the I-DAS.”

“But—but you told me two months ago that you’d kiss me if I was a little older.”

“I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time. I’m sorry if I misled you.”

“You’re sorry you misled me? I can’t believe this. And by the way, I’ll be sixteen in only eight more months.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

How could he be so cold about it? He was ripping her heart to shreds and didn’t give two shits.

It hurt so bad she could’ve thrown up.

“What if my mother asked you to kiss her? I bet you’d do it, wouldn’t you?”

“Your mother is a lot older than fifteen.”

“My mother is also married.”

He threw his hands up. He seemed to be losing patience.

“All I’m asking for is one kiss. Just one and I’ll leave you alone.”

“Can’t do it.”

“Would you do it if I threatened to tell the staff about the injections you secretly use on yourself?”

                                                               …

Back at the Haas manor, Reznik vented his frustrations to his BFF Keith.

“I can’t see you as a dad. Seriously,” Keith said.

“Yeah, you and me both.”

“I’m so sick of girls and their bullshit,” Reznik said.

Keith laughed. “I never did like girls.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

                                                  *Aubrey’s POV*

She’d been searching all over the house for Reznik. There’d been a call concerning Tia the Mage. She was sick and wouldn’t be teaching Reznik for a while.

Aubrey smiled to herself, wondering why Tia couldn’t just snap her fingers, wiggle her nose and get over whatever illness she had.

Tia’s boyfriend acted strangely over the phone. He behaved curtly, as if he were angry about something. Almost as if he blamed Tia’s illness on Reznik…

She knew she should’ve knocked. She just didn’t… think.

Um, yeah.

                                                              …

Quietly, she left the room and closed the door behind her.

                                                        ****

Thanks for reading!!

And yes, Rez is bisexual.  ^_^