Kerr was thrown off balance in more than one way. Pushed away from Ben with gusto, he stumbled, managing to keep himself upright by grasping the end of the closest table and causing the television on the next to shake precariously. Then he saw a masterful display of telekinesis and was told he was in a select group because he’d rejected Ben. There was a bitter irony in that statement that the vampires would’ve laughed at if they’d been able to read his besotted mind right now.
The thing that threw him the most, though, was that Ben had let him go. Because he’d fought. It seemed to matter to him that Kerr was willing, which was just... astounding. Was it a matter of pride that the vampire he’d tricked many times in many ways now got his supplication? Would he relish the notion that he’d broken Kerr down to the point where he not only let him and Lazarus go, but he also surrendered all his assets and willing body, too? Or was he something even more rare, an honourable creature?
Kerr wished he could find out but he didn’t have the luxury of time
unless you go with them, to study them
learn everything
fuck Ben like you want
seriously, why not? What else do you have going for you?
It would make this scenario more convincing
you’d escape the Oligarchy and
be with him
Sex? Is that all this is about? Stupid, I can get sex anyw-
not with a vampire
not with HIM
he matters
Why not do it?
or perspective to figure it out. He shook his head as he picked up the discarded scabbard and sheathed the knife, fighting off his tumultuous thoughts as if he was conversing with someone. He needed two hands and to be thinking clearly so he tucked the knife into the waistband of his jeans (where Ben could reach it as easily as he could, if he truly wanted the knife and not just to test Kerr’s loyalty) as he approached the bottom of the stairs. It didn’t feel right to turn his back on Ben but he was more wary about what would come down the stairs than creep up behind him.
Truthfully, he hadn’t been told how to cancel this trap, just turn it on. He’d suspected it was different to anything he’d ever done because the witch had painted some sort of liquid (he’d suspected blood but she’d kept it to herself, her body shielding her actions much like his was to Ben right now) around the stones in rune-like gestures before telling him he should activate after the young vampire was trapped and when the sun was in the sky. Most traps worked the same way, though; destroy a part of their construct and the whole trap was voided, or undo the trigger.
Since he only knew how the trap was set, the latter idea was all he could go on. Praying his logic was sound, he stood before the space with his shoulders back, hands lifted and performed the activation ritual in reverse. From the first arrangement of his hands pressed together over the space, he felt wrong but he also knew he had no choice. He couldn’t exactly call the witch for advice. He pulled his hands apart, bending his hands towards his wrists as he did, describing a square. Twisting his thumbs downward, his fingers splayed, interconnected and separated, flicked back together and then described a backwards roll around each other before his fingertips pushed together, arms held parallel to the ground.
By the time he performed the final manoeuvre - pulling the line of his arms apart by jabbing his elbows towards the east and west simultaneously (for the basement was carefully oriented, he’d been told) - he was feeling deathly ill. When his arms reached the final position, an invisible wave of intense power pulsed outwards from the base of the stairs, rolling over him like he was in the ocean being dumped by a wall of water. Kerr, being closest to the point of origin, was knocked sideways even as his body doubled over and he began vomiting. As the remains of his earlier meal sprayed out of him indiscriminately, Kerr fought to stay on his feet and conscious but the retching didn’t stop and he lost his battle for lucidity after a few drunken staggers.
Kerr collapsed on the stone floor near Ben’s feet (mostly face-down, luckily), his body still heaving bile out of him, unconscious. His final thought, before blackness engulfed him, was that he was unsure if he’d even turned the trap off.