thewatchmaker: (Bloody Hell)
Character: Sylar
Author: [livejournal.com profile] thewatchmaker
Fandom: Heroes
Word count: 822
Rating: PG
Prompts: #026 Her Only Trick. for [livejournal.com profile] 100_fairytales 21/100
Joel Cairo: Might I remind you Mr. Spade that you may have the falcon, but we certainly have you. for [livejournal.com profile] scifi_muses
Notes: Sometimes you just need to hunt.


Water dripped somewhere in a steady ping, ping, ping. Each noise echoed through the miles of sewer and storm drain tunnels that ran under the city. Somewhere in the warren of stone and shifting torrents of filth my prey was hiding. I could hear his heart as it hammered in his chest.

The air stank of burnt fur and flesh, and I couldn’t walk half a step without the mummified corpse of a rat crunching under my boots. He’d sent them at me, a mound of beady eyed vermin with their yellowed teeth snapping at anything that got in their way, including each other. Some of the rats had been as big as a small dog, and even without him controlling them they had no fear of man.

But I was no ordinary human. I didn’t run from the rats, and it wasn’t until there were too many for me to fight off that they managed to take me down in a flurry of teeth. I held them off with my telekinesis as long as I could, but eventually there had simply been too many of them. I’d been bitten too many times, and the pain of the bites and the constant need to heal had worn me out.

I’d gone down to my knees, and they’d swarmed over me a living carpet of disease and filth. I sent out a blast of power. Blue electricity amplified by the damp surface of the sewer walls and metal in the pipes tore through the rats, frying them into crispy critters in a matter of seconds.

I staggered to my feet, holding onto the wall as my body finished healing. There was nothing I could do about my clothes. My coat and shirt were beyond repair. Thankfully my jeans and shoes would do until I could get replacements.

My prey was still afraid. He knew that I wasn’t dead, and it was possible that he’d felt his little friends die. I hope he did. It’d slow him down, and if his ability was fried too, it meant he’d be easier for me to kill. I wanted the power before, but now I had to have it.

“Why don’t you come out?” I tilted my head to the side, listening for the sound of his breath and any movement. He’d sent so many rats at me that I doubted there were anymore in his range, but he’d know that better than I would. It was obvious that he spent years living down here with Mickey and friends.

“You know you can’t get away from me. If you give in, I’ll make it easy for you.” I was lying. I had no intention of making it easy on anyone but me. As if I gave a shit about how he felt, he was meat and nothing more than that. “Did you love your little furry friends? I killed them. I killed all of them, and if you send more, I’ll kill them too. I know how your power works now. You won’t be able to hurt me again.”

I heard his breath catch and the fall of something along one of the side tunnels. I had him. Using a little telekinesis I vaulted over the water filled trench at the middle of the channel, and started running towards my prey. I heard him scramble, the sound of a rock shifting, another of something small landing with a splash into the run off.

When I got to the mouth of the side passageway I found him trying at the top of a rusted service ladder trying to force open the heavy steel cover with his shoulder. He saw me and yelped like a hurt puppy, as he tried to get his rag wrapped fingers under the edge of the lid to free it.

I slowed down my approach there was nowhere for him to go, and his fear was delicious. He wasn’t big or strong enough to move the cover even if I wasn’t holding it in place just in case. I watched as he splintered what was left of his unkempt fingernails leaving trails of blood as he tried to claw his way out.

“You’re not as smart as your pets.” I smirked and yanked him down with a flick of my wrist, slamming him hard into the curved wall. He opened his mouth and let out a ragged scream. I felt him try to use his power. “There’s nothing left down here to help you. Can’t wait to find out what kind of range I can get with your power.”

His feet beat against the wall as I started to slice his head open. I licked my lips when the blood splattered on my face. I let him down slowly and bent over to pry open his skull. He was still alive when I shoved my fingers into his brain to take what was mine.

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