Chapter Fifteen
Kinzer rolled onto his back, his chest rising and falling, sweat rushing down his face from his forehead. It was like he’d had the most intense fuck of his life. He sat up, looking around anxiously. Several yards away, near a few packed dumpsters, blood gushed from Dedrus’s forehead and pooled onto the asphalt. He shook feverishly.
Kinzer sprang to his feet and ran to him. Kneeling beside him, he assessed Dedrus’s shredded body. It reminded him of the last time he had seen Janka. The last time he would ever see Janka.
“Kinzer.” Blood rushed from his mouth, dripping into his pool of blood.
It pained Kinzer to see his ex-lover in this suffering state. There was a time when all he wished upon Dedrus was pain—pain for hurting him so much. Right then, he would’ve given his life to take that pain away.
“You have to get to the child,” Dedrus continued. “You have to protect it from the Almighty.”
Here he was, with his last dying words, still concerned over the fate of mortals. It reminded Kinzer of all the time they shared together, discussing morality, equality. It reminded him of all those things that he had worshiped about Dedrus—those things that had been his reasons for falling in love with him.
“I will.”
Dedrus eyed his sword on the other side of the alley. “Take it. Find them. Put a stop to all this.”
Kinzer nodded.
“Promise me.”
Kinzer wrestled with his request. How could he promise that he could put a stop to this? For all he knew, Veylo had already killed Maggie and the child. For all he knew, the Christ could come and destroy them all. However, knowing that his friend was dying, more than anything, he wanted to help him have peace before his last breath.
“I promise,” he said.
“And Kinzer…” A tear rushed down Dedrus’s cheek. “I don’t care what you think. Ryson…it was, but it was nothing. I always loved you. That last night, before I went off, I was hoping you’d ask me…ask me to be with you…to be the one. When you didn’t, I assumed you weren’t ready. But I never stopped loving you.” His prickly face shook violently. “I wish I would’ve said something before I lost my chance.”
It was the most painful thing Kinzer could have heard. Had the immortal he’d loved so much really felt the same all this time? Was it true? Had it always been that simple? Had Dedrus been just as insecure as he’d been about their relationship? Had all those years of hating Dedrus really been for nothing?
Surely not. Had it turned out any different, he wouldn’t have ended up with Janka. Still, Kinzer couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like had he confronted Dedrus…had he realized how much he truly loved him.
He’d always loved him. Even when he’d hated him, it was only because he believed Dedrus could never love him in return.
It didn’t matter anymore. He was about to lose another love…just as he’d lost Janka.
He wrapped his arms around Dedrus.
“I love you, too,” he whispered.
He pressed his lips to Dedrus’s blood-filled mouth. He could feel Dedrus’s breath as it caressed his face, as it steadied.
Dedrus’s tremors subsided. Then, he was still.
Kinzer stayed in their embrace, because he knew it would be their last.
His mind flashed to his Janka.
He had rocked back and forth, massaging his fingers through his lover’s bloody flesh. From the corner of Janka’s blue eye, staring vacantly forward, blood slid alongside the tip of his full eyebrow, across his temple.
Kinzer had pressed his lips to Janka’s blood-smeared forehead and offered a gentle kiss.
As Kinzer’s thoughts returned to the present, he could feel himself losing control. A fire welled within him, but he wouldn’t allow it to consume him. Not just yet.
He pulled his lips from Dedrus’s, and turned back to the garage. His eyes filled with rage.
Veylo, here I fucking come.
***
