It was a solemn hour at the psychiatric ward. A moment when MoonView Hospital came to acquire a living secret - humanity's greatest threat.
Prosper held his breath. His heart almost stopped when he watched through a one-way window, a pale translucent coffin descend into a cryogenic pool. The very coffin which now contained his husband. Frozen in time and locked in stasis to god knows what end. Prosper's chest tightens at the sight of it all. Twisting with a bitter relay of conflicting resentment and melancholy. The elf leans forward and rests his forehead on the cold glass. Strands of black hair fall past his pale face, veiling his expression. His skin cools instantly against the frigidness of the window. He closes his eyes momentarily, still trying to process what he just saw. The heart-wrenching scene now burned into his torn mind.
It was for the best.
He kept telling himself over and over again to the point it almost felt maddening. The man released a long, drawn-out sigh. He had become well aware of the unshifting weight in his heart. It was festering. Plaguing his conscience. It made him question whether it would be a matter of time before he'd eventually succumbed to the inviting madness of grief.
He wished he had never seen that coffin go down into the cryogenic container, but the elf knew all too well that it needed to be done whether he liked it or not. To him, Engel was his home, his family, his love - his everything. Whereas to the rest of the world, he was the devil incarnate, a villain. The dreaded emperor of the underworld. The criminal mastermind who yearned to overthrow mankind and subjugate them to his iron rule.
He envisioned a civilisation where humans would become second-class citizens, and those who were deemed supernatural in origin would have dominion over them. Engel never saw humans as equals.
To him, they were nothing more than cattle.
Prosper recalled the numerous times Engel would rant and rave at the dinner table while the family was eating, or just before settling off to bed, about the hypocrisies of co-existing with humans. Often emphasising on the double standards between species.
At the time, as far as the elf was concerned, it was just a rant - an opinion.
It didn't mean he had to agree with him.
The vampire was entitled to his own convictions, even though he would strongly beg to differ on what was being said.
But never could he have imagined that he was actually sleeping in the same bed with the actual dreaded emperor himself. They even had a family toegther.
Engel was supposed to be his eternal spouse.
Not his enemy!
For heaven's sake, the man used to read bedtime stories to their daughter and braid her hair before she went to school in the morning.
He even loved flower arrangements. Floristry!
None of this made sense to Prosper, but deep down, he knew he would have to accept reality sooner or later.
Then his thoughts immediately began to deviate and roam. Delving into the memories of his partner's arrest.
****
The elf clutches his semi-automatic pistol tightly, turning his knuckles white in anticipation. The SWAT team that the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent to him as aid was adjacent to his position and on standby, awaiting to receive his orders at any given moment. The agent kept close to the walls of the abandoned warehouse, blending into the shadows, while stalking along the building's perimeter. He made sure that his steps were utterly soundless and as fleeting as a phantom.
According to the briefing, the dreaded emperor was suspected of being a vampire or a half-elf at least, whereas the kingpin of the western region of the underground was presumed to be a half-orc.
Prosper kept his breathing even and calm as he rounded the back of the warehouse before entering inside. There was no door. No extra security. There were only cobwebs and old wooden crates stacked on top of one another, providing him with enough coverage to keep a low profile.
The agent crouched down and kept low to the ground, minding the loose brickwork displaced across the rotting wooden floorboards as he crept silently forward. Distant grumblings and mutterings slowly slithered into earshot, but they were still vague.
The further he delved, the more apparent the voices became. The first one was gruff and low, but the second was higher in tone - devious. Sly. Malicious.
He stops and peers through between two large crates. The elf spots a tall, hulking frame standing at the height of seven ft, and the silhouette of its protruding tusks in the dim lighting of the flickering oil lantern. It definitely fitted the description of a half-orc.
But unfortunately for Prosper, he couldn't get a clear view of the presumed dreaded emperor from this position. The elf takes out a second pistol from his underarm holster. He draws in a sharp breath and swiftly emerges from behind the crates, then shoots the half-orc in the back of the knees.
The kingpin roars in pain and collapses to the floor, swearing profusely. Writhing around. Struggling to come to terms with the tranquilizer agent already embedded in the bullet and now coursing throughout his system.
It was enough to knock out an elephant. It didn't take long for him to quiet down and drift into a much-welcomed slumber.
Propelled by swift momentum, Prosper moves to his next target and aims the second pistol right between a pair of glowing crimson eyes. Pointing at the temples.
Then his blood turned cold, and the elf lowered his gun.
Those blood red eyes. The very same pair of eyes that belonged to a strikingly familiar pale face - his husband.
"Engel, what are you doing here?" The elf pressed in urgency. He could feel the tension straining in his shoulders and the adrenaline pumping through his fae veins. He grits his teeth. Has Engel been kidnapped? Blackmailed? No. Those two were talking, he was sure of it.
Just what is he doing here?
Prosper slowly moves closer towards the vampire, but Engel quickly looks the other way, refusing to look at him directly in the eyes - remaining deathly quiet.
He puts his one gun away, back into the strap holder underneath his black trench coat, and reaches out with his hand to cup Engel's chin. He gently directs his husband's gaze back to him, but the vampire slaps his hand away. His bright crimson eyes glow in the wavering darkness with a flickering glint of somberness.
He smiles halfheartedly at the agent.
"I know you are angry with me right now," he began almost solemnly. Dancing around his husband's question - abstaining from answering it outright.
He casts a sly glance behind him, studying the large, yet sealed, wooden doors behind him as though he knew what was lurking out there waiting for him. Ready to ambush him at any point.
He raises his hands up, and a scowl appears on the elf's stern countenance.
"Before you decide to take me in, I only have one request."
The moment he had spoken that sentence to him out loud and in the open amongst the frolicsome shadows, it confirmed the agent's greatest fear - that Engel was indeed the dreaded emperor. It was a cruel revelation. A nightmare born into reality. A reality he couldn't escape from.
"Please take care of our daughter, Amy. She doesn't know the world as we do. Just please look after her."
Prosper gnashed his fangs and spat on the floor in disgust. His expression twists in revulsion.
" Keep our daughter's name out of your mouth.You have no right to utter her name after all the atrocities you've committed."
Leaving no time to waste, the agent brings the radio to his mouth, but before he could give the order, Engel lunges forward and grabs him by the collar of his shirt. He crashes his lips into the elf's. Instigating a bittersweet yet passionate kiss. Engel bites down on Prosper's bottom lip, giving it a pull. Drawing blood. The vampire licks away the droplets with his tongue, purposely smearing it. Savouring the sweet taste of the fae and immersing himself in the cognitive aphrodisiac fog now clouding his mind. To him, it felt addictive. It enticed his bloodlust. Then he felt the newfound pressure of the gun pressed to his stomach. It felt thrilling to flirt across the red line of danger.
With that thought held in his mind, Engel smirks knowingly and brushes his fingers along the elf's jawline.
Prosper snarls and grabs a fistful of black raven hair, then pulls Engel back into a heated kiss. It felt borderline animalistic, and on the verge of unravelling both of them entirely. Realising now that there was nothing more to lose between them aside from their sanity. Prosper forces himself to break the kiss and gaze deep into the bloody ocean of Engel's irises.
He knew this would be the last time he would ever get to peer into the rose-tinted windows of his soul again.
The agent steps back and relinquishes his grip on the vampire, then hisses into the radio - finally giving the order.
"The dreaded emperor is with me. Do not shoot. We will bring him in alive. Over"
The large wooden doors behind Engel burst open, and the S.W.A.T team swarm in. They pour in their numbers and surround his husband in a number of seconds, with their guns at the ready.
"GET DOWN NOW! HANDS ON YOUR HEAD! DON'T MOVE!" One of the members of the team shouts, forcing Engel to get down on his knees with his hands on his head.
They all point their guns down at the vampire in unison. Prosper knew there was no going back from this.
It was over.
***
As his mind relived the memory, he clenched a fist and banged it hard against the glass, earning a subtle crack across the window. He lifts his head to behold his own glare staring back at him in the reflection. The primal golden irises burn with lividness - utterly seething.
Was it really over?