Ryan stood up, feeling the pain from the hits he had taken from Ethan. He rose slowly, though his leg had finally fully healed. He cautiously looked at Ethan, knowing he had to take this fight seriously if he wanted to survive. Ryan moved first, targeting Ethan. He aimed his left fist at Ethan's chest. As Ethan blocked the punch, Ryan followed up with a right fist toward Ethan's face. Ethan tilted his head slightly, and the punch missed. He retaliated with a blow to Ryan's gut.
Ryan knew this would be a tough fight and devised a plan. He pounced at Ethan. Ethan tried to dodge, but Ryan caught his arm and bit it hard, aiming to inject vampire venom and break Ethan's arm. As the venom entered Ethan's bloodstream, he felt a sharp pain and punched Ryan's head so forcefully that Ryan let go and fell to the ground. Ethan could feel the burn in his arm, as if the poison and his blood were battling for dominance.
His arm ignited, fire surrounding it. The spot where the venom had entered burned intensely, as though it had lost its fire resistance. While this happened, Ryan got up and rushed toward the distracted Ethan. He delivered a right and left hook, followed by a kick to Ethan's stomach. Ethan fell. Ryan wasn't going to let the opportunity pass. He climbed on top of Ethan and delivered strong blows, aiming to at least incapacitate him.
After hitting Ethan several times, while Ethan ignored the pain and defended himself, Ryan aimed to pierce Ethan's head. But Ethan's body flared with flames. Ryan ran as fast as he could, though even in that split second of contact with the fire, he felt its searing heat. Ethan chased him, his body blazing with flames. Ryan did his best to avoid the fire, desperate not to turn to ash, but he could only run so far before Ethan caught him.
Ethan grabbed Ryan's arm. Ryan felt the pain—the searing heat and his skin burning—but before he could struggle, Ethan punched his face. Ryan's face burned, and his mind grew groggy from the blow. Before he could think clearly, he felt a hand pierce his chest, followed by an extreme heat. He could feel all the organs around the hand in his chest turning to ash.
Ethan watched coldly as Ryan's body burned and turned to ash. As Ryan's ashes disappeared, carried by the wind, Ethan turned his head sharply toward a direction in the forest and stared intently. But before he could act, he felt the presence he had sensed flee. It was too fast and too far for him to pursue.
He turned his attention to where he had fought Ryan. Frank and Tyler's bodies had turned to ash because of the flames; only Alex's body remained. He walked toward it, knelt beside it, and activated his flames. It, too, burned to ash. After that, Ethan's eyes returned to their normal color. He appeared a bit lost. After a few minutes, a shocked expression crossed his face. He remembered nearly dying—his heart pierced—and losing consciousness. As he tried to recall more, the memories hit him hard.
He remembered fighting Frank and Ryan and killing them. He remembered controlling the flames; he had felt it deep inside his body. He could now control and manifest them anytime he wanted. But he couldn't dwell on that right now. He felt the urge to vomit. He had killed four people in one day, and that weighed heavily on his mind. Yet, what confused him more was that, no matter how much he regretted or cursed himself in his head, he couldn't feel guilt or remorse in his heart—it was as if it were stone cold.
He was puzzled by this but couldn't linger on it. He remembered that someone had been watching him, someone who had run away, and he didn't know who they were or what they would do. He slowly stood up and walked toward his bike. Another realization struck him: he could now control his senses, extending and retracting them at will, unlike before when they acted randomly.
He mounted his bike and started to ride home. He had a lot on his mind, and it weighed heavily on him. Never in his life had he thought he would take a human life, and he had taken four today. Though they were vampires, it felt the same. He got home, locked the doors, and sat down. His plan was to scroll through the internet to keep his mind busy.
He didn't even have an appetite to eat right now, so he didn't bother cooking. As he scrolled through the internet, he fell asleep, the day's fatigue overtaking him. Hours later, deep in the night, a call woke him. He looked at the screen and saw it was Jamie. He answered, "Hey, Jamie."
"Hey, Ethan, I'm so glad you answered. I've been sending you messages and not getting a reply was worrying me. Are you okay?" Jamie replied, sounding relieved.
"I'm fine, no need to worry about me. I was asleep," Ethan said.
"So how did your meeting go? Did you get the answers you wanted?" Jamie asked. As he heard those words, Ethan felt his stomach churn. The day's events came back vividly in his mind. He didn't want to tell Jamie what had happened, but he needed to say something. "How about I tell you about it tomorrow afternoon?" he replied. He still needed to decide if he would actually tell Jamie the truth, but right now, Jamie was the only person he could share these events with.
"Okay, no problem. I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Bye," Jamie said.
"No problem, Jamie. Bye," Ethan replied as he ended the call. It still puzzled him why, even though these events tormented his mind, his heart felt calm and undisturbed. For now, he got up and went to bed. He would try to unravel everything happening bit by bit.