Ash to Ash

It didn't take Issac long to confirm Leona's idea, and fortunate for them, she was correct—there was a list of purchases made by an empty-shell company that was identical to the movie props used in the chalet, and although they were unable to trace the owner of that company, they did have a location of this replica chalet: It was in the Mountain San Antonio, one and a half hour of car driving from LA town area, and they would need to walk into the forest.

When they got this info, it was already past 12 p.m., could be a little risky to go right away if they needed to prepare for a battle, and they didn't know what to expect: the appearance of that whole empty-shell scheme worried Issac, because Ash wouldn't be that clever and resourceful to pull this off, it could be the doing of that "occult" he mentioned before, which meant…they would expect company.

but time was the essence, and both Issac and Leona were eager to see this end, so them three would just give it a shot now anyway—after all, as the Baron of Hollywood, Mr. Abraham still got some "back-up tools" for "tough negotiations"… In fact, a trunk of them, and it should at least got them out of there safely.

"Is it your first time…to go into a battle?"

Sitting in his customized Rolls Royce with sunlight-proof coating, Issac looked at Leona, smiled and asked. She opened the window, looked at the flashing traffic light on the road as the car galloping forward without any barrier, groping the shotgun in her hands. It was filled with special rounds made for supernatural creatures—the bullets would explode into small blades once being fired, piercing deep into the flesh, deadly to Kindred if it was a shot at head or heart.

Leona chuckled, wondering if her facial expression was that obvious: "Well, not the first time to kill but…the first time I walked in while expecting it."

"Must be one hell of a friend for you, huh? To get you out of the blood van." On the driver's seat, Mercurio tried to chatted up to smooth the tension in the air, "Well, just…your suit will be definitely wasted. Pity."

"I can kick off the heels if they are slowing me down, but…can't do the same with the suit." Leona shrugged while saying, and the other two laughed. She didn't know why she joked about proactively, considering…what was coming for her.

"After this, I can ask a designer to get you a new one, if you want." Issac said, "A much better one. Consider it a bribe to get you in my crew. LaCroix doesn't deserve you."

"Hey, guys! I'm still here! Don't ignore me because I'm a ghoul!"

That's the only conversation they had on this trip.

Soon they arrived at the foot of the mountain, and under the darkness of the night, this famous hiker site became a horrifying, black giant standing in front of them, and the serene, solemn scenery of forests it presented to tourists had right now turned to a maze. Leona's eyes have no problem identifying every twigs on the ground and every lurking creature in the bushes, but still, she could feel the unfriendliness of wild places like this at night—it was like every rustle of trees was saying "you are not welcome".

Following Issac off the hiking route for some 20 minutes, they saw a source of light amongst the forests: a chalet, standing there with all lights turned on, shining like a beacon on the evening sea.

"This is it."

Issac murmured, took out the sword hid in his walking stick, glanced back at Leona, and she nodded, closed her eyes and focused.

This was the first time she used the discipline Auspex in real-life situation—a power of…looking at things beyond her usual senses, somewhat like letting her soul out of her body to explore the whole area from a high spot. It's a very abstract discipline, compared to Dominate and Thaumaturgy, and she spent much more time merely learning to use it at the most basic level.

She Auspexed the chalet and opened her eyes, with a worried and confused look.

"What?" Feeling like it was a bad sign, Mercurio asked, gripping his S&W 500s.

"I sense only one vampire and one human in the chalet…and in this area, too, apart from us." Leona hesitated while answering, "I'm not sure but…the vampire seems not aggressive, and the human is…dying."

She gritted her teeth at the last word, couldn't wait for the response of her companions and dashed right to the chalet at the full speed, then kicked on the door—and oddly enough, the door was already open, as if…the owner of the house was expecting visitors.

"So you are Leona Lee, right?"

Ash Rivers was in the living room, sitting at the rocking chair by the fireplace, looking at Leona with a peaceful smile. He was wearing the costume of Noah Müller, appearing just like the introverted Swiss boy with a sensitive, poetic heart in Laputa, only…a little paler.

Leona was startled, and so were Mercurio and Issac who caught up with her. They were expecting a psychopathic, bloodthirsty Kindred killer jumping at them, not…this.

"And it's good to see you, too, Issac. It's been a long time." Then Ash smiled to his Sire, "Don't worry, I won't attack you, and please don't bleed me, too, because…if you take in my body fluid, it will get you all infected…"

"Give me a reason for not killing you right now." But Leona had no patience of listening to him mumbling, "And where's Alice!?"

"Oh, I don't intend to live, you are welcome to kill me. I've made…terrible mistakes."

"No! Just…wait for a second, let me talk to him."

Couldn't tolerate the sight of his Childe being so careless and…indifferent about himself, Issac held down Leona's shotgun, asked for a conversation with Ash in an almost begging tone.

Ash, however, seemed very determined. In fact, he nearly looked like he was already dead: "There's no talking, Issac, not this time. The first time you talked to me, I got myself killed and you turned me into this…freak, and the second time you talked you convinced me to escape like a coward, and imprisoned me in a country where I couldn't even find someone to talk to…I lived like a livestock. So no, my Sire, not this time, you couldn't do anything to extend my worthless life. Since the moment that black woman…'changed' me, I'm a walking poison bag living on borrowed time. I will die, sooner or later."

"Who was that black woman?" Mercurio asked, "Was she from the occult?"

"I don't know, and I don't care. I didn't even ask her name…I just said yes to whatever she asked, so she could get me back to America, to see Ginger and ask her why…" Ash smirked bitterly at himself, "God, to think I used to love that woman, and covered her up for what she did to me…so that she could still have a career. But she was just a bitch, who would sleep with anyone who can help her climb up.

"I didn't regret killing her at all. And the other six women, too. Those…phony liars, claiming they so loved their life, their jobs, their husbands and boyfriends, but when I sent them messages and asked them to give up everything and come to me for audition in secret, they didn't even blink. No. Those were not the mistake I made. The mistake was…Alice."

That cruel contempt he held on his face melted away, and was replaced by…affection, almost love. Leona was clamping the shotgun in her hand when hearing that name come out of his mouth, so tight that she could break it, but Ash didn't mind, just went on by himself, as if having an audience or not didn't really matter to him:

"She didn't fall for my trap. Alice said she had to find you first, otherwise you could be in danger…so I used you, Leona, to tempt her. I know it's too low even for me, but…I have to have her, I know I have to." When speaking the last sentence, his body and voice were shaking in a morbid excitement, as if that kind of lust to obsess someone still stimulated him, "I said both you and me were suffering from a rare disease that caused us to have to avoid sunlight, and we were both receiving treatment in the same hospital. She was so disappointed when you were not here, but she still stayed. Such a kind, pure girl…if I taught her to act, she would be a much better actress than Ginger…"

"So what!? You bit her, hit her, and raped her!? Is that it, you monster!?"

Leona couldn't hold her rage anymore. She grabbed his collar, shouted with fangs growing out of her gum and tears streaming from her eyes, like a lioness growling by the bodies of its dead cubs…But then, there were salty waterdrops coming out from Ash's eyes, too, looking so astonished and wronged by Leona's charges:

"No…no, no! No I didn't!" He nearly whimpered, shedding his tears like a naïve child, "I…I just kissed her…just…a kiss…"

His reply astounded Leona. Astounded all of them.

"I told her it wasn't an audition, it's just…I've been here alone for my disease for so long, I felt lonely, and she looked so much like Emily, so I lied to just get her company…" Ash smiled for this good memory, "And she didn't get mad at me. She volunteered to stay, you know, for a few days then we would go look for you…I didn't even need to ask her. I wanted to let her go, confessing to her about the truth and told her to run, because I couldn't…humiliate her, profane and pollute her…like I did to other women. So I just kissed her, you know, when she was asleep, on the lips to say goodbye…and even that…even that had got her infected…I didn't know, the black woman just said biting and sex could do it, I didn't know…I'm sorry…"

Leona loosened her grasp. She didn't know what to do, facing this crying, sodden young man. She tried to hate him more, so that she wouldn't hesitate about killing him, and she did hate him in some part of her heart but just not...completely, not enough to let her put her shotgun into his mouth and pull the trigger.

In the end, he's just…too lonely.

Then Ash's sobbing turned into wry laughter. He stood up, raised both of his arms and declared:

"See? That's how evil I am! She's the only good thing I've encountered in my life, and I touched and destroyed it! I'm unforgivable! Just kill me! Kill me! Kill me…"

Ash screamed and pushed his chest onto Leona's muzzle in hysteria, staring right into her eyes, repeating his request of killing him, while Leona kept falling back, and he just kept coming closer, until she boggled and her firearm slipped out of her fingers…

"Bang!"

And so, someone did the job.