Can't Stop

Misa felt it first in her eyes, then in her chest and her abdomen. A burning sensation--hot as the sun, this time--had filled her body and sprung every nerve to life. When she breathed, it was with the heat of a furnace, like her blood was being boiled inside.

"Goodbye, heathen prince!" Prince Von shouted as he produced a sharp ice spear at the sole of his shoe and slammed his foot down over where Prince Ran's heart had been. An incredible shock rippled through the air. The magically appearing marble-like glass platform shattered under the weight of the Fae prince's foot and spear.

Prince Ran, defrosted and revitalized, moved clear of the attack with the speed of a bat, which he had transformed into. With an aerial flip of his pitch black, small, winged body, Prince Ran latched his fangs onto an exposed area on the left of the Fae prince's neck and bit into the elegant creature with a predator's fury.

The Fae screamed, "No! Get off me! Stop!" He made to grab the little bat off his shoulder, but Prince Ran had prepared for that and returned instantaneously to his human size.

Prince Ran wove his right arm underneath Prince Von's right arm and drew it backwards as his claws scratched into the Fae prince's hair. He yanked Prince Von's neck farther to the side, exposing his neck more openly, sinking his fangs in deeper.

"Stop, heathen!" Prince Von exclaimed, struggling fiercely now. With his right hand, he produced a large spear of ice and shoved it behind him with great speed, trying to stab Prince Ran with it.

This was easily blocked by the vampire who was in a more favorable position than his prey. He matched the speed of Prince Von's spear and cracked his closed fist against it, sending shards of ice spiraling through the air.

Then, he drank in earnest as Prince Von grew more desperate. As a last-ditch effort, the Fae prince called forth the rainfall of icicles once more, most a lot smaller than they had been the first time he'd used the attack. "Die! Die!" He cried.

Misa, from where she observed, could tell the Fae had far less power than he'd had before. Still, the icicles poured down from every angle with plenty even facing Prince Von himself.

Prince Ran didn't move. Nor did he move a muscle to block the icicles from sticking him mercilessly like a pin cushion.

"Ran?!" Misa called, alarmed. Her feet took her a few steps forward. Then, "Ran!!" She screamed when around forty tiny but sharp icicles began pummeling Prince Ran from the back and sides. And he didn't seem aware of the twenty or so more heading for the crown of his bent head.

Faster than she'd ever moved with her given abilities, Misa flashed to Prince Ran's side and, mirroring him, threw her open palm at the air. To her delight, the icicles evaporated right before her eyes and Misa breathed a sigh of relief.

That is, until she heard the suckling noises of Prince Ran still draining the blood and essence out of Prince Von. Misa whirled around to face him.

"Ran, you can stop now." She called, "It's over!"

There came no response from Prince Ran. Instead, he drank, and Misa watched in horror as Prince Von's fingers, struggling to hold on to the vampire prince's hair, slackened and started pulling long, black strands from Prince Ran's ponytail as his now limp hand slipped away.

"Prince Ran!!" Misa screamed. She shook his left shoulder with both hands, hard. Very hard. She could feel herself using whatever vampire strength she had to do it. Even still, Prince Ran did not dislodge himself.

Beneath the vampire's prowess, Prince Von's legs started going limp. Horrified, hot tears pooled in Misa's eyes. "Damnit, stop now!" She cried, slipping her fingers into Prince Ran's ponytail, gripping, and yanking downward hard. "Don't drain him! Stop!"

She used her other hand to beat against his forehead, slapping him open-palmed three times. "Stop!"

On her fourth swing, Prince Ran's head sprang up and he hissed ferally at her. His usually yellow eyes were now a vibrant chartreuse. Large, thick veins were popped at the corners of his eyes, leading up toward his scalp. His opened mouth was soaked red with blood, and his fangs fully borne. He held Prince Von, who was no longer in control of his body, like a heavy bag of bricks while his wild eyes watched Misa.

"R-Ran--" Misa began but had to throw her arms over her face to block the sudden lunge from Prince Ran.

She heard in her mind as her back hit the quick-to-support floor and the prince fell on top of her, Can't stop. Can't!

Prince Ran's voice.

She gritted her teeth with the effort it took to push his face away by the chin. "Ran! Listen! You can fight it!" She cried, not entirely sure that was true. "Please!"

The prince swatted her right hand away and went for the nearest vein. Misa did what she instinctively could and punched a blast of air at the prince's face, sending him to his back.

Breathing deeply, she scurried to her feet expecting another attack, only to see Prince Ran back at Prince Von's side, his fangs again puncturing one of the Fae's now visible veins.

Misa! She heard in her head. Stop. Me.

Elated that maybe she could stop the prince from senselessly killing, Misa scrambled to help. But then she stopped, remembering the words Ida spoke to her a week ago:

"We fall to craze upon a taste of their blood but gain significant power if we manage to drain them, retaining our sanity."

Those words now made all the sense to Misa. Prince Ran was in a state of craze and, if he stopped drinking now, if he didn't drain Prince Von whose Fae blood was so potent and powerful, Prince Ran would never return to himself. 

He would never be the same. 

Misa knew she couldn't leave him like that. There's no way. She thought, and she closed her eyes from him and turned her back, even with the lump in her throat and her mind telling her to pull him away--like a bad joke--to save his nonexistent humanity. 

When she opened her eyes next, they were out of the glass world and back in the woods. The enchanting tower gone, and the sky clear. 

Prince Von was dead, and she and Prince Ran sat within arm's reach of each other, silent. They were alone.