Chapter XXXII

The Unfortunate Events of October 31st: Part Three

I forgive you, Nephew...

Eros' form struck through the glass of an establishment. It'd been a long time since his last face-off against a being so capable, and even with the knowledge of Jeremiah being considered lesser than what he was before in terms of resilience, his strengths still came through efficiently.

When Eros recovered and rose from the shattered glass, the rage in Jeremiah locked onto him yet again, but as he stalked nearer, crushing the splintered glass on the floor, he was blind-sided by a force and disappeared.

Nabadias had recovered from the distance he'd been thrown and tackled Jeremiah before he could reach for Eros again. The two barreled up the sidewalk where a cluster of costume-wearing mortals had hidden themselves from the brawl. As they came to a messy stop, Nabadias secured one of Jeremiah's arms in a submissive-like hold and turned him over onto his stomach.

Jeremiah's nails raked the concrete of the sidewalk as he thrashed, Nabadias using what near-unbeatable strength he had to refuse his nephew's resistance. "Come now, Nephew!" he shouted, struggling to hold the dhampir down when Jeremiah stabbed the tips of his wings into the ground and pushed himself up. "You must stop this foolishness. We only want to help you!"

"What the fuck is that?"

The jittery question had been spoken under the breath of a cowering mortal, and their distraction caused Nabadias to lose focus for a second. In that second, Jeremiah reached behind him and drove the points of his talons into Nabadias' side. He tore the elder from him and tossed him against the side of a parked car.

When Nabadias collided with the surface, his head bounced off it and he felt his mind sway before being overtaken yet again. This fight was not a fight. That's not what he or Eros wanted it to be as they teamed up against this person they'd always viewed as family, even if they weren't as affectionately close. They'd been stunned so long ago to know Demiesius' would be welcoming a child of his own into the world, but it'd been interesting watching Jeremiah grow through the decades.

As a child, they'd understood Jeremiah to be a walking portion of Demiesius' heart, more so with how protective their fellow elder had been over his son. When he'd been small, Jeremiah had been at the center of Demiesius' thoughts, was always something he'd been desperate to get back to during important events that'd taken him from home. In this moment, there were no thoughts to hurt Jeremiah in a lethal manner; they wanted to subdue him, stop his rampage from reaching any further than it already had.

While there was no use hoping the vampire race could be hidden once more after this night, the least they could do was hold the bloodshed off. Knowing what type of heart Jeremiah wielded as a person, Nabadias was sure his nephew wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he lashed out at the fearful onlookers fleeing and hiding from them. Although Nabadias and Eros' could give a shit about the human race, at least right now, they had to make certain to protect it with all their might.

In these few minutes as their bout spanned the boulevard, Eros and Nabadias were ripped open and sustained injuries no other being could survive. The first serious laceration had been a slash of razor-sharp claws to Eros' throat, another tearing easily through the flesh of Nabadias' cheek and nearly dislocated his jaw.

With their inner ability to simply heal from the wounds administered to them, and the fact that they felt no pain whatsoever from the struggle, the most they experienced from this harm of being clawed into by their nephew was the fracture that dug into their hearts. But no matter the damage Jeremiah caused during this fight, Eros and Nabadias were content taking it and knowing Jeremiah wasn't doing this out of hatred, spite, or for pleasure.

That wasn't it at all.

They were aware of the contact made by the Pyrenean was what had driven Jeremiah further away from his ability to hold onto who he was. So, as they clashed, as this dhampir looked at them like he wanted to splatter their bodies and kill them where they were, this wasn't the Jeremiah Titus they'd become accustomed to over the many years. The longer they were made to lay hands on him, the longer they faced this monstrous version of a boy whose existence once livened a dark time in their brother's life, the more hopeless trying to gain an upper hand seemed.

"Why did you have to be the son of an elder?" Eros grumbled.

The tactical usage Jeremiah put forth in utilizing his wings was becoming bothersome. They were weapons of their own, and he could use them to get away. No other dhampir he'd ever known had the extra appendages, so he assumed being the son of someone who'd derived from the blood of Lilith also made Jeremiah so formidable.

Standing on this now lone street as the last of the grounded humans fled, Jeremiah's fingers twitched. The many scrapes all over his body left stains of blood across his chest and arms. Even with the blaring sound of sirens weaving through the city in the distance, everything seemed so quiet as Jeremiah's angry eyes stayed on Eros and Nabadias.

These two beings wouldn't leave him alone! Wouldn't die!

"Jeremiah!" Another voice called then, Demiesius' accent gruff and commanding.

The crazed dhampir turned in the direction the voice had come from, and he laid eyes on this man he didn't view as his father; he was another approaching nuisance. With Eros and Nabadias at his rear when he turned, the empty white of Jeremiah's eyes took in the determination looking his way.

"I know you're still in there," Demiesius said lowly.

It could be heard in his voice that the last thing he wanted to do was fight, but he knew he hadn't a choice. If he didn't attempt to stop Jeremiah right here, right now, the humans that drew nearer would try to take matters into their own hands now that the true fearsomeness of Jeremiah was made known yet again. First, he'd have to stop this before it got any worse.

"We're not here to hurt you, my son," Demiesius wanted to promise. "Let us go where you will be safe."

As if analyzing the position he was in, now surrounded by these beings, Jeremiah snarled, angered by the appearance of what he viewed as a threat standing before him. His wings pulsed and he was lifted off the ground.

Demiesius kept his eyes on his eldest son, truly terrified for what he felt was inevitable now that he got a good look at this boy enveloped by his lost nature. He silently cursed fate, cursed the universe, cursed Lilith for bringing him into this life — for every moment he had lived through led to this place.

Here on a shadowy street in the middle of London, Demiesius would be made to fulfill the visions once brought to him in his nightmares. For a portion of his son's life, he hadn't been the greatest of fathers. He could admit that. They'd been at odds for the majority of Jeremiah's childhood and into his young adulthood. They'd fought with words, had arguments that usually led nowhere, but to physically lay hands on his flesh and blood, to feel this hope that he bested Jeremiah in this brawl about to take place, beat him into submission…that was what Demiesius hated the most. He didn't want to have these thoughts about his own child.

In all their life together, Demiesius had never laid a hand on any of his children. Yet, here he was, mere seconds away from entering a brawl he didn't know if he could win.

If he and his brothers didn't succeed in either lifting Jeremiah from his madness, putting him away, or ending him…

Demiesius' self-hatred charred his heart and he looked toward his hands, the black whirls of his mastering rising from his palms and fingers. With this ability, so much was possible. He'd killed with it in the past, manipulated those who came into contact with it, and as a quick remembrance of how he'd gained control over Florin long ago came to him, Demiesius could only hope he'd triumph now as he had then. All he had to do was fasten himself to Jeremiah's psyche and overhaul it to the point of shutting it down.

If he couldn't succeed in silencing Jeremiah's rage, the only way would be to kill him here and now.

As if able to hear his father's thoughts, no matter how woeful they were, Jeremiah hissed ferociously, and just as quickly as this passion entered him, he rushed for Demiesius without mercy.

***

A dhampir's hands were their greatest weapon. They didn't need a physical tool to cause serious damage; their quickness and savagery would do the trick.

Demiesius, Eros, and Nabadias were coming at him from all angles, never giving him a second to breathe, but still he overcame their onslaught of determination.

When Jeremiah slammed Eros' back into the side of an empty double-decker bus, it tipped over, and he made as if to ram his fist into the center of the elder's chest. There was no armor of any kind to protect Eros, but the second before Jeremiah's long nails touched Eros, his wrist was seized by the cold metal of an iron chain. It was something that'd been plucked from a chained barrier, and it wrapped around Jeremiah's forearm as Demiesius yanked his son back with all the force he could muster.

Jeremiah went flying and landed atop the roof of a one story cafe. When he brought himself to his feet, Jeremiah spread his wings, but ducked before taking flight. He'd heard the approach darting for him from behind, and the moment he'd ducked, Nabadias missed him by an inch. Instead, Nabadias' fist collided with the stone lip of the building and it crumbled under him.

Jeremiah laid eyes on Nabadias as the elder shook his hand and recovered. "Come, Jeremiah," his uncle said. "Let's put you to sleep."

After hearing what could be deciphered as a threat, Jeremiah took a hard step forward, cracking the roof of the building and it collapsed under him. Falling through, he sank and crashed awkwardly amongst a cluster of tables and chairs. Screams arose around him, as there'd been a number of people who'd taken shelter from the commotion. Men, women, and children screamed and cowered further against the walls, too terrified to move, but Jeremiah paid them no mind as he rose from the splintered wood.

Jeremiah's focus remained on the capable auras that continued to surround him outside. Through the window of the cafe, he spotted Eros, and he used the strength of his wings to push him through the glass. Jeremiah smashed through, and he tackled the elder with force, but his move had been anticipated, and when he drove his uncle back, Eros threw him off and in the direction of Demiesius.

Jeremiah landed at his father's feet, on his stomach, and when he went to rapidly push himself up, he flinched when Demiesius drove a knee into the small of his back to keep him down and grabbed onto one of his wings.

In one quick motion, Demiesius tore the right appendage from Jeremiah's body; the sound of bone and cartilage cracking and flesh tearing was gruesome to the ear.

Although Jeremiah had taken numerous hits no mortal could possibly survive, it seemed the act of having a wing severed from his body was far more painful. It was the only way to get rid of his aerial advantage.

Jeremiah screeched and thrashed as his right wing was thrown, and when Demiesius aimed for the other, he managed to break it at the scapula as Jeremiah's thrashing became too much.

Working through the pain as if numb to it no matter its true hurt, Jeremiah was able to turn over, and he kicked out, shoving Demiesius away so he could stand again. Releasing a wail of agony, he reached behind him, his solo left wing now barely hanging on.

Demiesius had wanted to do away with both wings, but one would certainly do the trick of keeping him grounded. Without both, he couldn't fly away, but it was obvious the damage done wouldn't last forever, as it already appeared the severed one was gradually reforming. The healing process was slower than usual, but at any rate, Jeremiah would soon gain the ability to fly once more.

Not wanting Jeremiah to get the upper hand again, Demiesius wasted no more time and charged for his son, but after experiencing something as brutal as having his wing stripped from him, the maddened dhampir was aware of what he was doing in terms of defense. Still, he fought on and on, coming so close multiple times to tearing yet another Vampire Elder from the world, but all three of them were capable enough to withstand Jeremiah's power now that he was no longer airborne.

At least for the time being.

Without it, he was strong and bested them when it came to speed.

So much time went by as they clashed, several minutes turning into far too many without a hint of exhaustion, but as the brawl was nearing its end the more Demiesius barely dodged and stunned his son, the closer he was beginning to feel the fear of true death.

The streets had completely cleared of all terrified humans, but a presence had arrived with the appearance of uniformed officers of a higher rank. Streets were blocked off in the distance, far away rooftops were occupied by a plotting faction of mortals eyeballing the commotion, and some of them were quietly drawing nearer.

Camera crews from various broadcasting networks filmed from the safety of buildings and bothersome helicopters, each lens fixed on the fray. There were talks of monsters taking over the city, others spoke of an elaborate Halloween gag, but the sight of blood and frantic recounts from witnesses told the truth of how real this was.

It was going on for too long.

Nabadias and Eros were close to giving up. They could only suffer from close calls for so long. Everyone was failing to grab onto Jeremiah long enough to gain control.

Using the razor edge of a piece of glass, Eros had managed to cut his nephew's fingers off before being stabbed by the others and the digits eventually reformed. Jeremiah's ability to regenerate no matter the slowness of it was working terribly against them. His wild nature seemed to be protecting him from feeling the agony he was likely in.

It was becoming clearer they'd have to rely on the one way to bring all this to a stop before they lost their own lives. Demiesius hated to think about it, but it seemed that simply wounding his son in hopes that he would stop wasn't working. Death was becoming the only answer, and the one place he'd have to aim for would be Jeremiah's heart.

I can't.

Demiesius pushed on. He didn't want to say goodbye.

Continuing to fight with all he had, Demiesius put his own claws to serious use. The sting of their burrow and rake startled the dhampir, bringing him to a temporary standstill. A precise lash had dug into the meat of Jeremiah's chest, and when it seemed like his frustrations had enough, he powered through the next and shoved his father.

Demiesius' steps fumbled and he fell as Jeremiah attempted to gnaw at his neck, but when the elder held him off with a strong forearm, the dhampir sat up and set his sights on the middle of Demiesius' chest. If he ripped the elder's heart out, this would finally come to an end.

When they both made to stand, Demiesius thought quickly, but when he made to grab for Jeremiah's face, the dhampir headbutted him in the nose, causing the elder to fly off.

Jeremiah rose in a blink and when he stepped forward, the squeeze of the chain Nabadias had taken hold of wrapped around his ankle and he was yanked. At last, as all three of the proficient elders were able to overwhelm Jeremiah, Nabadias coiled the chain around Jeremiah's legs and Eros captured his arms, locking them as Demiesius closed a hand around his son's throat to keep his head steady.

Jeremiah snapped at the air like a rabid canine, top and bottom fangs looking venomous and lethal. He shook himself to get away, but Jeremiah's efforts were brought to a sudden stop when at last Demiesius was able to clasp his misty touch over Jeremiah's eyes. A hefty burst of his mastering flooded the dhampir's eyes and ears in an instant, overthrowing the sights and sounds and thoughts ravaging him as the shadows slinked their way into Jeremiah's skull.

A sharp gasp was heard then, and a strange pinch met Demiesius' backside when Jeremiah's movements froze.

"What?" Demiesius uttered, the pinch that'd struck him leaving a pressure in him. He looked down on himself as the torrent of his mastering subsided, leaving Jeremiah as his son at last collapsed against Nabadias' hold.

"No…" Demiesius blinked incredulously and touched his chest. There was a hole directly over his heart, and his own blood came off on his fingers as the smallest of wounds healed shut. His eyes went for Jeremiah's chest and there upon his flesh sat a small entry point directly over his heart.

A thin stream of crimson seeped down the fairness of Jeremiah's body, trickling down his abdomen, and when Demiesius looked into what had once been the white vacantness of his lost boy's eyes, the two-toned blue and dark pools he'd seen much of himself and his husband in were now wearily looking back at him.

Jeremiah's breath was shallow, his vision now fading in and out as a sharp pressure like no other sat against the wall of his bruised heart .

What's going on?

"F—Father," Jeremiah voiced, aching confusion evolving into panic as a cough of blood tarnished his lips and teeth. The sensations rising from all over his body were excruciating, and it centered against his chest — his heart — as a soreness throbbed and unfurled. "It hurts," he spoke in quick breaths.

Everything hurt so much Jeremiah wanted to scream, wanted to cry and ask his father what was happening, but his head was both overloaded and empty. He couldn't think, could hardly speak, and he was getting so tired.

Tae-min.

The name came to Jeremiah as a wall of nothing blinded him.

Where are you, Min-jae?

"Son," Demiesius touched Jeremiah's face, keeping his face forward as all the strength in Jeremiah fell away. Shock and silence was present in his wounded heart, no breath left his lungs, and his consciousness slipped away. "Son?!" Demiesius tried again, but still he was met with nothing.

"Brother," Nabadias uttered, his and Eros' eyes spotting where the interceding disturbance came from. At the end of the road sat a building several stories high, and its roof was occupied by an assemblage of two men, one of which possessed a long-range rifle aimed directly for them. "Take Jeremiah away," Nabadias said.

"No, no, no, no!" Demiesius shouted for his son, a lethal shakiness making its way through him when the body of his son went slack in his arms, and he pulled Jeremiah to him as if holding him closer would save him from what was already done. "NO! My son! No!"

Another pinch met Demiesius then, this pierce striking his shoulder and grazing Jeremiah's cheek. The elder turned his blackened and passionate eyes in the direction it'd come from, vision landing on two faraway mortals with their sights on him and the extinguished target in his arms. He laid Jeremiah from his close hold and stood, thoughts immediately turning to eliminate those who sent yet another flurry of slugs his way. His blood boiled, rage fumed, and nothing more than the desire to retaliate pushed him on—

Until Eros stepped before him. "Go home, Brother," he instructed, not wanting to be so harsh when he shoved his fellow elder. He understood completely and an anger was seeping into him as well, but he couldn't allow this to go on any longer. Everything that'd occurred was bad enough. "Your son needs you. And so does your family. Go!"

When Demiesius blinked and the solid black of his eyes disappeared, the impulse to simply ignore Eros' insistence attempted to pull him along, but as the faces of his husband and children came to him, the elder did all he could to swallow his pride, his anger, and his hurt.

Demiesius reluctantly and carefully collected his son in his arms, and he transported himself and Jeremiah from the scene.

Another sharp piece of lead whizzed past Nabadias' head. Together, he and Eros traveled to the other rooftop in a second, frightening the armor-clad mortals who looked upon them like they were devils conjured from Hell.

As the authorized rifleman frantically raised the barrel of the weapon toward Eros, Nabadias grabbed it and slammed the butt of it against the man's temple, and Eros bashed a solid fist against the other man's face, leaving both men alive but unconscious .

At last, the night was quiet, but a heaviness burdened their shoulders at the realization of what had just happened. Demiesius had been successful when taking hold of Jeremiah's psyche, but the interruption of these damned men altered the course of the night, and the immense sorrow derived through their connection to Demiesius told them the worst.

They'd tried.

It was all they could do.

***

Materializing in the center of the grand foyer, it was the furthest Demiesius' legs would allow him to walk. The weight of his son in his arms felt heavier than anything he'd ever carried before, but he went unshaken as he took to a knee and laid Jeremiah on the cold tile. The scent of blood was strong as it lifted into his nose, the stains upon his shoes and all over Jeremiah leaving the white of the floor tarnished.

"Oh, Demi…" Hamilton's voice sounded, and the elder couldn't bring himself to look. He couldn't take his eyes off this still form that was his first-born. This was Jeremiah, his boy, his son, and he suddenly looked as he had when he was a baby and was new to this plane of existence, but when Demiesius blinked, the young man washed in blood appeared again.

In a second, the foyer was filled with too many eyes; the eyes of the elder's family, of Min-jae and the newly arrived Ramus twins as they could see Jeremiah in this form Demiesius would give anything to erase.

"My son," the elder struggled to say, and he placed a hand over Jeremiah's chest, the tiny hole leading a path to his heart still open and bleeding. "You must sleep," he practically begged. There were no wavelengths he could pick up on, no breath, no sign that he was heard, but still Demiesius made a plea for Jeremiah to merely shut his eyes for a while and dream.

"Jeremiah?" Min-jae whispered as he joined Hamilton in their fearful approach. From the quiet of the castle, it seemed Tae-min was now fast asleep.

As they neared together, Min-jae and Hamilton couldn't believe what they were seeing and didn't want to take it as the truth that this motionless figure lying before them was someone they could've never envisioned so still.

Looking toward his husband who appeared unable to draw any nearer out of fear, Demiesius wrapped Hamilton in his arms as he was clung to, feeling all the vibrations of Hamilton's heartache as he broke into a sob, trembled, and called out as if begging the universe to not take their son would work in his favor.

"I failed," Demiesius turned his hushed regret into Hamilton's shoulder, away from the stairwell where his young sons now stood as onlookers to the desolate woe crowding the castle walls.

"You can't," Jeremiah was told, his forehead touched by Min-jae's when the other dhampir knelt beside him. "You can't leave," he urged as if he could be heard. "You can't leave me, Jeremiah. We have to—. We have a son to raise, a home to go back to. You have to stay with us!" Min-jae's breathing stumbled when he reached forward and nothing that spoke of life showed itself. He bit his lip and shook his head in refusal, wrapping his arms around Jeremiah to pull his limp form into an embrace. "I can't do this without you, Jeremiah!"

There were streams of blood and waters of disbelief all about the room, confusion, and resentment from the four remaining brothers, from Demiesius, but the hardest of all cries rose from Hamilton's lungs. His heart was shattered, so torn to pieces at the sight of his first-born motionless and hushed.

It wasn't out of anger for this man who held him in his arms, but Hamilton shoved himself free from Demiesius' embrace, and he hurried from the foyer.

He had to get away but didn't travel far.

Out of sight on an upper floor, Hamilton screamed for his baby to be returned to him, returned to his own child and family. He couldn't possibly go on in a world where one of his sons was gone. They'd already been taken from each other once before!

Seated with Jeremiah pulled against his chest, Min-jae passed a soothing hand through the length of his lover's hair. He refused to let go, refused to accept any aspect of what was in front of him as true.

"I can't," Min-jae kept his voice low as he spoke against this familiar scent he'd come to love. "Don't leave me, Jeremiah. I can't live without you. I don't know how to live without you anymore."