“Not all,” he laughed, spinning the blade again as he took a step to one side, the crowd shifting to accommodate. “‘We can see further than ever, because we stand on the shoulders of giants’... I just expanded on what another man started. Turned it from function... to art. No, I didn’t kill all those people.” he grinned, letting his gaze shift to the crowd. “I’m going to kill all those people.”
Mike lunged forward, bringing his fist up from where it hung to connect with Derek’s jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. Derek spread his fingers wide, grabbing his shirt as he fell and bringing him down as well, both of them tumbling down and sliding on the slick court.
Mike felt his knee twist, gritting his teeth as he tried to ignore it and get back to his feet. He rose only an inch before he felt cold steel against the nape of his neck.
“I’ve been wondering about the ending,” Derek said cheerfully, his voice wet with anticipation as he ran the fingers of his free hand through Mike’s hair, straddling him from behind. “There’s this thing that burns out in a person right before they go to that big slaughterhouse in the sky, and try as I might, I can’t see it in me...” He pulled back on Mike’s hair until he could look him in the eye. “Do you think you have it too?”
“You could have killed me, and you didn’t,” Mike reminded him, trying not to swallow as he felt the sharp blade against his adam’s apple.
“You weren’t ready,” he laughed, bouncing up and down a little. “Now, though... I think you’re nice and plu--”
Sud shoved forward with his fist, brass knuckles clenched tightly over them as they connected with Derek’s cheekbone and sent him over Mike’s back and onto the floor. “Plump,” Sud finished, spitting onto the concrete as he brought his hands back up into striking position.
Derek clutched onto the table, scrambling to his feet. He laughed a little under his breath, feeling his mouth fill up with blood from the large crack now forming in the roof of it. He lunged at Tommy, still clutching his head on the floor, then stopped midway and stepped back to where he had been against the table.
“Give it up, man,” Mike pled, slowly rising to his feet.
“Oh, no,” he smirked, looking from Mike to Tommy and then back again. “You haven’t even seen the best part.”
Mike clenched, waiting for Derek to move.
Derek looked from Mike to Tommy and then back again, smiling wide as Mike watched his every move. “Shall we dance?” he coaxed, before lunging at Tommy once more.
Mike dove forward, fists clenched hard as he came to his knees just over Tommy, ready to lash out at Derek and finish it.
He wasn’t there.
For one stunned, silent moment; Mike stared at the empty floor in front of him with his blood boiling before turning to see Derek’s hand wrapped around Cathy’s throat, his knife pressed so hard against her side that even the slightest movement would send it coursing through.
“You see?” Derek laughed, spitting blood from his mouth onto Cathy’s shoulder. “That’s what happens when you forget who leads.”
Mike stared at them, Cathy biting her lip and trying her best not to whine as she felt the sharp point of the steel blade press into her.
“You ever get to be inside her, Mike?” Derek taunted, taking a long whiff of Cathy’s hair and then nodding toward the blade. “Because I’m about to be.”
“Please,” Mike began to plead, tears rolling down his cheeks. “Please, not her. Not - -”
“Oh, but I have to,” Derek smiled, nodding feverishly. “Nothing sells papers like dead hot, young ass after all.”
“Please,” Mike repeated, as he watched Cathy cry more and more.
“Please?” Derek spat, taking a step closer and pulling Cathy along with him. “Please? That’s all you can say is please? You’re about to watch the woman you love get gutted like a fish and the most you can say is please?” he screamed, taking the blade away long enough to slam Mike across the face with the handle, breaking his nose with one loud, wet snap. “Tell her you love her! Tell her how sad it’ll be when she’s gone! Don’t just sit there like a bump on a log and cry!” He lashed out with the dull end of the blade again, the sharp corner digging a gouge into Mike’s forehead near the temple and bringing more blood to the surface.
“I love you,” Mike said, his voice barely recognizable through the tears and the pain.
“I love you, too,” Cathy screamed, her voice shaking and blubbery as water streamed down her face from every orifice.
“Tell her how you want her to stay. How you’ll be better. Because in a minute...” he smiled, the blade piercing the tender flesh of her stomach and drawing blood. “You won’t be able--”
Xander grabbed Derek by the shoulders and pulled him backward, the knife coming back from Cathy’s side. He grabbed the killer by the throat and pressed hard, digging his thumb as far into his windpipe as he could.
Derek tried to say something, a large grin spread across his lips, but couldn’t get enough wind to speak. His lips were already turning blue as he met Xander’s dutiful glare, not even bringing his hand up to try and pry his away, instead keeping his fingers gripped around Cathy’s slender neck.
“I’m going to rip you in two,” Xander said finally, his upper lip curling as he watched Derek smile, his teeth stained with red.
He tried to speak again, but couldn’t.
“What?” Xander asked finally, not loosening his grip.
Derek spat a long tendril of blood from between his two front teeth, hitting Xander right
