Page 151 of Hurt

Ezra caught his smile. Stomping over to Kurt, he straddled him and grabbed him by the neck.

“You won’t be smiling when I kill your sister.”

Kurt twisted in his grip. “Not if Willow gets to you first.”

Ezra’s nostrils flared as he stared down at Kurt. He didn’t like the look of defiance in his plaything’s eyes. He thought he had beaten that out years ago, left it crying in the darkened alleys and dirty bar room floors. But it was glaring up at him. Burning bright and fierce.

“I’m going to kill your sister and then fuck you next to her dead body,” Ezra threatened.

Kurt bared bloody teeth at Ezra. “I’m not afraid of you.”

Ezra faltered. Even when he was just a teenager, when his skin was fresh and ripe to be scarred, Kurt didn’t have this look. This was new.

“You fucked up,” he croaked, his voice straining and bruised. “You hit too hard. Pushed me too far. There’s nothing more you can do to me.”

Ezra grabbed the discarded guitar string and whipped it across Kurt’s face. A thin line of red slashed across his right cheekbone up to the corner of his eye.

Kurt closed his right eye and turned his face away from the whipping. A line of fire raced across the side of his face, and he wanted to hold it, cover it with his hands as if that would prevent it from hurting.

Ezra whipped the guitar string across his face several more times. Each hit ripped skin off his bones. The metal strings dug deep.

Panting with his efforts, he leaned in close to Kurt. “Stay here and bleed. I’m going to get your sister so you can enjoy watching her take your place.”

The man pushed himself to his feet. With blood in his eyes Kurt reached for him, lurching to grab him around the leg and prevent him from leaving. He couldn’t let him leave this room.

Ezra tripped and kicked at Kurt, but he didn’t let go. His arms had no strength. They didn’t even feel like they were part of his body at all. There was a disconnect between his brain and limbs and he couldn’t make them work like he wanted.

“You must have a death wish!” Ezra jeered.

Face pressed to Ezra’s leg he began to laugh. A horrible croaking, wheezing kind of laugh. It shook his entire body and sent ripples of pain shooting through him.

“You already killed me,” he mumbled wetly against the rough denim. Dragging his eyes up he forced himself to look into Ezra’s twisted face.

Kurt died out in the desert, and he took his weakness with him. All his failures, his mistakes, his defects, and his hate. Kurt had killed them all when he took his own life.

The man that emerged was born from all those unshed tears and his voice formed from all the words never spoken. His lungs filled with the screams he bit down, and his rage jumpstarted his heart.

That Kurt died.

This Kurt was reborn.

Ezra didn’t like the look in his eyes. He batted Kurt off and wrapped the guitar string around his neck again. The textured wire slid into the lacerations it created the last time it dug into his neck. Ezra tightened and Kurt felt the breath catch in his chest.

With every second, his strength waned even more. He kicked feebly, but Ezra laughed at the attempt. Black dots filled his vision, and he was lightheaded. Lungs screaming, a final burst of adrenalin kick-started underneath his skin, and he pathetically struck out at Ezra, nails cutting against his cheek.

As his vision faded, he stared at the cut.

After all these years, he finally left a mark on Ezra.

An explosion rocked the building. Something crashed to the floor and Ezra paused in his murder, loosening the wire around Kurt’s neck just a fraction.

Moments later a klaxon sounded. The electricity snapped off and red lights illuminated the room. The siren was so loud it felt like mini-explosions in his ears.

Ezra dropped him, and he clawed the wire from his neck. Kurt sucked in lungsful of air and relished in the pain it caused.

Stepping over his prone body, Ezra jerked open the double doors and walked out onto a balcony Kurt didn’t know existed.

He pushed himself up onto his hands and supported his bad leg. Blinking the blood and tears from his eyes he could see the glow from a large fire illuminating the night sky. Screams reached their ears and the retort of automatic gunfire followed.