Backfire

Alby pushed all the air out of his lungs into the mouth of this figment in front of him before sucking it back in. That seemed to throw whatever it was so much that all the hands grabbing onto his legs let go and Alby was able to swim to the surface, gasping for air.

"Alby!" Toklo shouted, standing on one of the bamboos, reaching his hand out to him. "Grab my hand!"

The two locked hands as Toklo used all his strength to pull Alby up onto the bamboo, checking him all over.

"Are you ok?!?" Toklo asked, trying to see if he could make out any injuries on the man. "I was about to come in there for you."

Coughing, Alby stared at the man blankly, waiting until he calmed down before he spoke again.

"I'm fine." He said, sitting on the bamboo with a tired sigh. "It's good that you didn't come in. That creature in there … it is not something like the others we killed. It seems genuinely dangerous."

"But you are ok, right?"

"I am."

Toklo checked on him once more before breathing a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad you didn't die on me."

"Even if I died, I would have come back to life," Alby remarked, squeezing the water out of his clothes as he noticed the water levels rising under them. "I would not like to die with you there."

"I'm not sure if I should be happy that you are so determined or offended with that sentence of yours." Toklo sighed, frowning when he saw hand marks on his neck and arms. "How did this happen?"

Ignoring him, Alby looked around him. The bamboos seemed to create some kind of barrier that keeps the water in that small area, no letting it spill out.

Not only that, the water levels were rising on their own already. If they did not find a way to get out of there, they will soon turn into one of the skeletal hands that grabbed him under the water.

"Hello? Earth to Alby?" Toklo waved his hands in front of the man, back and forth, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

"Do you know what that creature down there is?" Alby asked, finally talking to him.

"I didn't see it," Toklo said, just happy the man is talking normally … mostly. "Did you see it?"

"No," Alby said, remembering the very familiar vampire's face that he saw in the murky waters. "But I do know that it preys on your desires."

"Desires?" Toklo thought for a second, the bell in his hair tinkling as the water grew closer and closer to them. "I think I know what it might be then. Though … it just might be a hybrid."

"A hybrid?"

"Yeah." Toklo paused the moment he felt the water just under his feet. "Ok, let's talk about this later. We will have to get out of here first."

"How?" Alby asked, trying to get to his feet but the handprints burnt with every movement he made. "Ow."

Toklo placed a hand on Alby's shoulder, "Look. I will see what I can do underwater. You look around here, on the surface. If I knew this has something to do with water I wouldn't have brought you."

"It's fine. No one knew." Alby said, swallowing what felt like a stone stuck on his throat as he wrapped a hand over his shoulder.

"I'll be right back," Toklo said, jumping into the water as Alby stared after him and then looking at the leaves of the trees creating some kind of ceiling.

'Ahhhh! It hurts!'

Alby quickly shook his head to get the voice out of his thoughts. Not now. Now isn't the time to be thinking about those things.

I need to find a way out first. Alby looked all around him as the water reached his knees and he could already feel the hands reaching to grasp him.

Maybe it was a moment of panic or it was a reflex, the reasoning didn't matter as Alby took a leap to the higher part of another bamboo, still trying to look for a way out.

No matter how hard he tried to break through the barrier surrounding the little pond in the middle, that was not really a pond anymore, it would not budge. He tried using the sword in his hands as well but nothing happened.

This creature. He thought, it is nothing like the ones I had to take care of in the past. It's so strong. I didn't think a creature like this could exist, especially in this city.

It doesn't help that I am nowhere near Lily and Roy.

As if on cue, he heard a voice that sounded exactly like his calling to Lily and Roy for help.

No. No. No. Alby thought, slamming against the bamboos. Why? I am not even calling out of them? If they come here, they could get stuck. No! I need to break out.

Toklo, you better be doing something useful.

________________________

Underwater, Toklo stared at the murky water all around him with bits of algae on almost everything, even the roots of the bamboos.

Frowning, he continued to swim, trying to find something out of the ordinary, that was when he saw the boy from earlier, still in his cage.

Swimming to the boy, he touched him as he disappeared into a thousand little fishes.

I knew it. We should have killed the boy when we had the chance.

"What's this?"

Toklo's eyes widened as he turned to see a woman swimming to him, her eyes bright with the colour of her pink hair.

"Toklo." The woman held her hand out to him, pulling him into her embrace as the man hugged her back. "I am so glad to see you once again."

"What are you doing down here, Lind?" The man asked, beaming at her brightly.

"What do you think?" She asked, smiling sweetly at the man as she did a twirl in the water. "I just wanted to see you once again."

Toklo looked at her with the fondest expression, "Really?"

The woman swam around the murky waters as hands slowly snuck their way to Toklo's legs' holding him in place though the man didn't seem to notice.

"Of course, silly." The woman said, giggling to herself. "Why wouldn't it be so? Aren't, you happy to see me?"

"I am. Really." Toklo said, raising an eyebrow at her as the hands started to grip at his torso. "But, Lind, didn't you say that you were allergic to water?"

He looked at his hands like he just said the most casual thing in the world while smiling sweetly at the woman.

"What?" She asked, turning to the man, confusion written all over her pretty face.

"Well, maybe I am remembering it wrong, but you would scream in pain every time your body touched water.

"You were made of fire and brimstone after all. So you have to forgive me for wondering how you are able to be underwater for this long."

The woman stared blankly at Toklo who's smile never faltered, not even for a second.

"I-I-"

"Maybe I am just overthinking it." He said suddenly, swimming to her, pulling away from the hands around his body as though he was a ghost. "I should just be happy to be able to see you again, right?"

Panic was written all over the woman's face as she moved back slightly with the man making his way to her, still smiling.

"Don't you think so, my dear?"

"Y-yes." The woman said, trying to put on the smile on her face once again. "You should just be happy to see me. Haven't you been wanting to for a while?"

"I am," Toklo said, nodding thoughtfully as the hands came back on his legs, gripping it tightly.

Ignoring that, the man tucked a stray hair behind the woman's ear as she leaned in for a kiss.

Toklo chuckled, holding a hand out to stop her.

"Sweetheart," he whispered, voice turning low. "Did you forget our first meeting?"

"What do you mean?"

Toklo studied her expression before clicking his tongue and shaking his head disapprovingly.

"You really must have forgotten," he said, sadly, running his hands through his hair.

Before the woman could say anything else, he started to grin again, "Well, no matter. I will just have to act like this is the first time we meet and make an even better impression of myself to you once again."

"You don't have to-"

Toklo sighed, "You were fire and brimstone and I was water, we are something like the modern-day Romeo and Juliet, don't you think so? So romantic. You were so beautiful when I undressed you.

"Well, they both ended up dead in the end but we can change that." Toklo placed his hand on her shoulder, the woman trembling the moment she heard flesh-ripping, unable to move once she looked into his glowing eyes.

"Show me how you beautiful look under your skin again, Lind."