Victor sighed as he ran a hand down his face "Okay look. I have seen a lot of horror movies. This won't work."

The presence shifted slightly and Victor tensed. He could pretend to be tired of it, but having a presence, supernatural or not, bugged him.

"Jesus Fucking Christ" He said loudly as he got up "Can you stop?"

Something slinked out of the shadows and Victor would've jumped had he not practiced the art of being intimidating.

"Eli?" Victor said before he took a second to consider the situation. He would not point out the fact that he was supposed to be dead. No, because he'd read enough books and seen enough movies to know that that's how cheesy villains launch into their monologues. Now Eli was not a cheesy villain, even though he did kill a lot of people (but so did Victor so he really shouldn't talk), but Victor didn't want to sound like the dumb heroes.

So he took a deep breath and leaned against the stone wall. Why he had decided to hide out in a rich man's (who was out of town) cellar was beyond him. It was a huge mansion, looking a bit haunted at night. That's why he had chosen it. So he could look creepily out the windows and hopefully spread rumors about a vampire haunting the lonely mansion. It wasn't a good idea to get noticed what with EON hot on his tail but he'd always liked a little drama. Besides, it was funny.

He straightened his eyebrows and tried to look bored "Well I sure hope I'm not hallucinating."

Eli tched and crept forward looking just as lazy "I thought you knew better than to blaspheme"

Victor rolled his eyes "Please don't tell me you've crawled out of hell to regale me your religious bullshit. I'm too old for this."

He looked amused, lip quirking up slightly, an eyebrow raised "You believe in hell?"

Victor straightened. This again. 20 years and they hadn't changed. Still the same bickering, as if they aren't pushing each other, as if this isn't a huge power play "You and I both have been there. The earth isn't for you Eli. Every time you've tried you've gone back down, back to where you came from, back to hell." He walked to Eli, hands in pocket slowly circling him as if hes a wolf "I'm an atheist, but even I know you're just trading hell for purgatory."

Eli stiffened and suddenly Victor's world went white. If he was a hallucination he wouldn't have. Victor reached out "You- you aren't a hallucination are you?"

Eli loosened immediately and terrific grin spread across his face, eyes playful and cruel "Guess you'll have to find out!"

Victor lunged and Eli dodged. He whipped his head around and caught sight of Eli jump behind a row of bottles. Victor rushed after him and his fingers nearly caught the end of his shirt before he turned away once again, redoubling back into the open area. Victor stayed behind. That was the worst part. In their little scuffle, not a single thing had been disturbed, nothing to indicate if it was just a hallucination or actually real.

Whoever made the shelves made them very sturdy and Victor wanted to thank them, as he climbed on top of it. He peeked over the top and saw an empty clearing. There was no one.

As he'd expected.

Suddenly a hand grabbed his leg and yanked him down. The shelf wasn't strong enough it seemed, as it went crashing down along with Victor and Eli.

Glass bottles rained down on top of them, the sound going on for the longest time as Victor shielded his head. He felt a piercing pain in his leg along with most of his body and arms. By some miracle he made out with his head intact.

He staggered up after he felt it stop and saw Eli already standing, pulling a large shard of glass out of his ankle which knitted itself back together. There were a hundred pieces sticking out from him, blood trickling everywhere. He wasn't going to heal unless they were out of his body.

Eli jerked a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at him. Victor lunged and the shot fired into a bottle. He tackled him to the ground, pinning his hands down as Eli looked up at him with disgust anger and a little bit of fear. Victor liked the fear. He inched closer. "How" he hissed.

Eli smirked "Sydney. Your little minion betrayed you."

It was certainly confirmation, since no one he knew other than Sydney could raise the dead "Yeah I got that part dipshit." he spat "But why? You were six feet under and in no shape to convince her."

Eli laughed, a beautiful thing but simultaneously scary "Oh I didn't." he grinned a manic grin "But her sister did."

Victor froze for a second and it was all that Eli needed to wrench himself free and punch Victor in the jaw.

He fell to the ground and tried to get up but Eli was already there, foot on his chest and gun to his head "The idiot child revived her mind controlling sister." He leaned in "You should really be careful about the company you choose to keep."

"And you should really respect personal space because you are really fucking close"

Victor jerked his hands and smashed a bottle into Eli's head which threw him to the side.

And then Victor was up, gun pointed at Eli's chest even though he knew he couldn't die "And that's why you shouldn't monolouge."

Before he could pull the trigger, something wrenched his arm back and he fell to the floor. A sharp pain spread from his leg, sharper than the glass, like fire which sent the world spinning for a few seconds. A dart filled with fluid. Haverty's serum.

A female voice with an Italian lilt spoke up "Stand down. I won't ask again."

A figure covered entirely in black vest with a helmet on had twin guns pointed at both of them. On the back of the garment in bold yellow letters was the word 'EON'. Agent Rios. The EO who could travel through walls.

Victor met Eli's eyes and he subtly nodded. 20 years of enmity forms a special kind of bond. The fact they were best friends before that also helped.

Victor twitched his fingers and turned the pain dial up. He could feel the serum already fading away. EON thought they had material to stop Victor's powers. They were severely mistaken.

With a snap of his fingers Rios went down with a cry. Victor felt the pain double back but Eli was already up and fired a bullet towards her head. She rolled away and disappeared. Probably to call reinforcement.

Sure enough they heard footsteps. A lot of them.

Victor rolled his shoulder and got up looking at Eli "I hate to say this but we should run."

"I could just leave you"

"No" Victor corrected him "/I/ could leave /you/. Already did that. Do you really want to go back?"

Eli got a distant look in his eyes before coming back to reality "I will kill you. Someday I will kill you and you will stay dead"

"Yes but we should run now."

And with a tentative alliance formed, they realized that there was no other exit. Oh well, they'd make one.

Characters from the book Vicious and Vengeful by V.E. Schwab. Should definitely check out those books. It's amazing I swear.