The Ripper

William Jack Holloway

For nearly two weeks, William had been fueled by an ache in his chest that didn't seem to want to go away. After the events of the night that Vhalla had been so forcibly removed from his life, William had simply chose to spend as much of his time alone as possible. After all, it was the only thing that he could do. Everyone left him in the end. Even Sebastian would ultimately be gone. He had his boyfriend - the mysterious man that Will had yet to find out anything about - and eventually William would be but a human memory that they tried to cling to. Will had been avoiding him as of late. He'd crawl out of bed before the sun went down and wouldn't return until well after daylight. And well, he had no other friends in the city - not really - so his days had been entirely lonely.

But that was okay. William was used to being alone. Perhaps it was time to move on to another city. But something about the idea of that made him ache worse than the heartbreak.

No, it was the fact that he'd seen Vhalla just two days ago that made him want to stay.

He hadn't been following her - really he hadn't. He'd merely taken to walking around the city for hours on end. He couldn't sit still, and walking as far as he could would help that ache in his chest go away. It had been her voice that he'd noticed first. He would be able to hear her voice anywhere. After all, the last words that she'd spoken to him had been replaying in his mind for so long. He'd wanted to go to her then, but instead he had remained frozen in the shadows as she'd explained to the Faerie girl that she was in love with him and that her cruel words had been meant to protect him. She was in love with him.

He should have approached her then, but instead he'd continued his journey. But he couldn't get the words out of his head. She was in love with him. And he was in love with her. Oh, how he wanted to tell her.

It was that that had him in the Western district tonight. For hours he'd been stalking around the streets near her apartment and been trying to convince himself to go to the girl. But what if she denied it? Or worse - what if it hadn't been him that she'd been referring to. A second heart break from the girl would be enough to break him entirely. He was positive that he wouldn't be able to recover from that one. But he had to know. He had to talk to her. What if she was in love with him and they never made it work? What if he missed his chance with her just as he had with Sebastian? It was that alone that had him letting himself in the warehouse that she lived. He wasted no time in letting himself in and made his way up the metal stairs to the heavy door that separated the apartment from the training area. He knew how she felt. He knew, and this time he wouldn't be taking no for an answer. He reached up, banging hard on the wooden door.

"Vhalla! Vhalla, I know you're in there!" He yelled through the door, pressing his body up against the frame as though he could somehow melt through it. "I heard what you said. I know you're in love with me. I know that, and I need to talk to you!"

But darling -- it's only human nature.