This time, when Bernard lifted his head up off the grass, he was chuckling wetly.
“Fine.Have it your way.”
Bernard, despite being a meaty little fuck, still had some decent speed.Instead of running to attack, he ran for the nearest trees, and the cawing of birds two seconds later told Peter just why that was.
“Theo!Cover your face and eyes!”Peter yelled before going after Bernard.
Really, Peter should’ve stayed with Theo to shield him, but the best way to stop this was to get to Bernard and pluck something of his out.Now there’s an idea.
Despite his complexion, Peter knew he could hide in the underbrush, especially from one who’d never tasted battle.He caught up to Bernard, and just before Bernard turned to look over his shoulder, Peter went up a tree.
“Come out, you rich fucker,” Bernard said without raising his voice.
Peter didn’t see why he should let Bernard ask twice, so he jumped.That was slightly risky, but he needed to break Bernard’s concentration; Theo was back on the grass, and the birds were flocking.
Bernard, unfortunately, turned at just the right moment to see Peter descend, and while he didn’t manage a full block, he still brought his arm up.Peter held on to that limb, no problem, and used the momentum of his own body to land in a graceful roll.Bernard came down along with him, far less gracefully and with a lot more screaming on account of that arm breaking so badly the splintered pieces of bone split the skin wide open.
It’s the small things that bring you joy, like an open fracture for your lover’s stalker.
Peter was smiling the moment he pushed to his feet, and because he still had the momentum, he made a neat little turn, twisted Bernard’s ouchie arm, and tore that sucker off, just below the elbow.
This is nice.Ah, I haven’t done this in too long.Some things really are like riding a bike.
There was more screaming.Peter assumed the birds were no longer an issue, and Theo was safe from beak and claw for the time being.
“Couldn’t just leave well enough alone, could you?”Peter tossed the piece of arm into the underbrush.It hit a tree with a wetthunk, which made the whole thing less dramatic.Oh, the bother.
“My arm!”Bernard was on his knees, holding his stump with one hand and staring wide-eyed at where his meaty fist had been.
“You abused Theodore, so shut it, and suck it up.”Peter leaned forward.In a low voice, he said, “If I had my way, we’d be at this for hours, but I have to get back to him.You matter not, in the grand scheme of things.I assure you, the world will be a nicer place without you.”
Besides, he’s being very dramatic over just one arm.They reattach pretty well.
Bernard got to his feet, fury making spittle spray out of the corners of his mouth.Disgusting.
“That little slut belongs to me!I marked him, and I was whoring him out long before he did it himself.He’s mine, but you could have had a piece of him, for the right—”
Peter dashed forward, plunged his fingers into Bernard’s left eye socket, twisted, and moved back out of the vampire’s reach as fast as he’d gotten in.
“Brown, the color of shit,” Peter said over Bernard’s screams.He dropped the eyeball and stepped on it, grinding it to a pulp under his heel.“Means I’ll have to clean my shoes.The bother.”
A twig broke under a soft foot.“P-Peter?”
Theo had found them in the trees, and he looked scared out of his mind.He was also wet and smelled like the lake, which was why Peter had only just noticed him now.
Bernard had calmed down, and unfortunately, his remaining eye still worked fine.
“Perfect timing, fuck boy.”Bernard sneered, and then he attacked.
Peter hated how close he came to touching Theodore.He had no right to ever lay hands on Theodore ever again, and Peter knew it was his duty to see to that.
Full speed came easily enough to Peter though, and with it came the perfect, single-minded focus of the hunter.
He grabbed Bernard’s head, twisted, andtore.The crack of bone and gristle was loud, and the sound of skin and flesh and blood parting company was resonant and deeply satisfying.
Peter’s maker had been a warrior herself, and she had trained him in the art of combat from his first day as a vampire.Bernard had clearly never had any such training, and an overblown sense of self-importance really didn’t make up for it.
So Bernard’s headless body hit the grass with a squishy thud not two seconds after his fatal error.Among the trees, it was too dark for Theo to really see all of what had happened, but he would have heard some of it, maybe seen flashes.Peter dropped Bernard’s head and slowly walked over to Theodore, who stared at the heap of dead vampire at his feet.
