Chapter Eleven — Run
Chapter Seven — Poison Me
The storm knocked out the building power an hour later.
One second the apartment glowed dim toxic green beneath the city lights outside—
Then darkness swallowed everything.
The ventilation system died with a long metallic groan.
Silence followed.
Heavy.
Wrong.
Avery froze instantly.
Without filtration, the apartment air would turn stale fast.
Vinny sat slumped against the kitchen counter in near darkness, breathing shallowly while
rain hammered violently against the windows outside.
Lightning flashed briefly through the room.
Blood streaked his mouth silver-white for half a second.
Then darkness again.
“Avery?”
His voice sounded rougher now.
Weak.
Fear twisted violently through her chest.
“I’m here.”
Another flash of lightning illuminated the apartment long enough for Avery to find the
candles stored near the sink. Her hands shook while lighting them one by one.
Warm gold slowly replaced the dead green glow.
The apartment transformed instantly beneath candlelight.
Softer.
Older.
Almost human.
Vinny watched her quietly from across the room.
Something about the way he looked at her tonight felt different.
Not playful.
Not teasing.
Like he was memorizing her.
Avery hated it.
“You should leave before the ventilation fully crashes,” she whispered while setting another
candle beside the window.
Vinny laughed weakly under his breath.
“You really know how to set a mood.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
She turned toward him sharply.
Vinny sat with one arm resting across his stomach now, breathing unevenly beneath
bloodstained black fabric. Candlelight flickered gold against the sharp lines of his face while
thunder rolled endlessly outside.
Beautiful.
Dying.
The combination made Avery feel sick.
“You can’t stay here,” she whispered again.
“Why?”
“Because the air quality will drop.”
“I’ve survived worse.”
“That isn’t comforting.”
“It’s not supposed to be.”
Another silence stretched.
Rain.
Thunder.
Breathing.
The city outside felt impossibly far away suddenly.
Avery crossed toward the cracked window automatically, needing distance before panic
swallowed her whole.
Poison City glowed beneath the storm like a drowned graveyard.
Somewhere far below, sirens wailed faintly through the rain.
Vinny’s voice came softly behind her.
“You know what I think is funny?”
“Nothing about tonight is funny.”
“I think,” he murmured, “you’ve spent so long being afraid of killing people that you forgot
people can choose things for themselves.”
Avery closed her eyes briefly.
“Vinny—”
“No. Listen to me.”
Something in his voice made her turn.
Not anger.
Not desperation.
Certainty.
Vinny slowly pushed himself upright from the counter despite obvious pain pulling through
his body.
Candlelight trembled across the apartment walls as he stepped toward her carefully.
One step.
Then another.
Avery’s pulse immediately spiraled.
“Stop.”
Vinny stopped instantly.
Not offended.
Not frustrated.
Just watching her.
Always watching her.
“Avery,” he said softly, “look at me.”
She did.
That was the problem.
She always did.
Vinny’s eyes looked warmer in candlelight.
Hazel turning almost gold beneath flickering shadows.
Alive.
Still alive.
“How long?” she whispered.
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes!”
Her voice cracked violently enough to echo through the apartment.
Tears burned suddenly behind her eyes.
“I need to know how much time I have left before I kill you.”
The words shattered something open between them.
Vinny stared at her for one long ruined second.
Then crossed the remaining distance anyway.
Too fast for her to retreat.
Not touching.
Never touching.
But close enough now that Avery could feel warmth radiating from his body through the
cold apartment air.
Her breathing completely unraveled.
“You didn’t ruin me,” he whispered.
“You’re coughing blood.”
“I would still choose this.”
“You don’t mean that.”
A sad smile touched his mouth.
“Ave.” His voice gentled unbearably. “You are the only thing I’ve ever chosen for myself.”
The confession hollowed her out.
Because she believed him instantly.
Outside, thunder cracked hard enough to shake the windows.
Avery’s hands trembled at her sides beneath the gloves.
Vinny looked down at them briefly.
Then back at her face.
And softly—
dangerously—
he said:
“Poison me.”
Avery physically stopped breathing.
The words hung between them in the candlelit dark.
Rain hammered the city.
Thunder shook the glass.
Ventilation alarms screamed somewhere distant through Poison City.
But all Avery could hear was him.
Poison me.
Not accusation.
Not fear.
Devotion.
Something inside her broke apart completely.
“Vinny…”
His eyes never left hers.
“If I’m dying anyway,” he whispered, “I don’t want to spend what’s left pretending I’m
scared of you.”
Tears finally spilled down Avery’s face before she could stop them.
Vinny looked devastated by the sight instantly.
Not because she cried.
Because she cried over him.
“Ave.”
Slowly—
carefully—
he lifted one gloved hand toward her cheek.
A question.
Always a question with him.
Avery should’ve stepped away.
Should’ve run.
Should’ve protected him.
Protected herself.
Instead—
she leaned into his hand first.
And both of them knew everything changed after that.
The moment stretched too long.
Avery leaned into his hand.
Vinny staring at her like the world had stopped ending for one impossible second.
Then he coughed.
Violently.
The spell shattered instantly.
Vinny jerked backward hard enough to knock into the kitchen counter, one hand flying to
his mouth while blood splattered across the floor beneath him.
“Vinny!”
Avery moved instinctively before terror stopped her halfway there again.
God.
The distance between them felt monstrous now.
Vinny braced himself against the counter breathing hard while black veins crawled visibly
higher beneath the skin near his throat.
Too fast.
Far too fast.
Fear surged cold through Avery’s entire body.
“This isn’t normal,” she whispered.
Vinny laughed weakly through another cough.
“Pretty sure none of this is normal.”
“Stop joking!”
The shout cracked out of her harsher than intended.
Vinny went still briefly.
Then his expression softened again in that horrible gentle way he always looked at her
now.
“Ave…”
“You’re getting worse.”
“I know.”
“You should hate me.”
“I don’t.”
“You should.”
Another silence.
Candlelight flickered violently through the apartment while thunder shook the windows
hard enough to rattle glass in their frames.
Vinny slowly wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
His fingers trembled slightly now.
Avery noticed immediately.
He noticed her noticing.
Neither spoke.
Then quietly:
“I found something.”
The words cut through the panic instantly.
Avery frowned.
“What?”
Vinny hesitated.
Wrong again.
Always wrong lately.
“A file,” he admitted eventually. “At one of the Moretti archives.”
Fear sharpened immediately inside her.
“What kind of file?”
Vinny’s jaw tightened.
“Avery…”
“What kind?”
Another cough interrupted him hard enough he doubled slightly forward.
Blood streaked down into the sink again.
Too much.
God.
Too much.
Avery physically pressed trembling gloved hands against her mouth.
Vinny saw the panic breaking across her face and straightened immediately despite
obvious pain.
“Hey.”
His voice gentled.
“Hey, look at me.”
She couldn’t.
Not fully.
Because every time she looked at him now she saw a countdown.
“I’m okay.”
“You’re bleeding into my sink!”
“That sink’s disgusting already.”
A broken sound escaped her somewhere between a laugh and a sob.
Vinny smiled faintly in exhausted victory.
Then his knees suddenly buckled.
Everything happened too fast after that.
Vinny hit the counter edge hard before collapsing downward.
“Avery—”
The sound ripped from him sharp and pained.
Avery moved before thinking.
Pure instinct.
She caught him.
Actually caught him.
Her gloved hands grabbed his shoulders while his body crashed against hers heavily
enough to steal both their breath.
Skin didn’t touch.
Fabric only.
Layers.
Barriers.
Still—
Vinny froze completely.
Not from pain.
From her.
Avery’s pulse spiraled violently as his weight settled partly against her chest.
Warm.
Real.
Alive.
For one terrible second neither of them moved.
Vinny stared at her from inches away breathing unevenly.
“Ave…”
His voice sounded wrecked.
Avery realized suddenly—
this was the closest they had ever been.
Chest against chest.
Breath mingling.
Bodies aligned without fear separating them fully.
And she didn’t want to let go.
The realization horrified her.
Vinny must’ve seen something change on her face because his expression softened into
something heartbreakingly tender.
Then blood hit the floor again.
Reality snapped back instantly.
Avery pulled away too fast.
Vinny nearly fell before catching himself weakly against the cabinets.
“You need help,” she whispered desperately.
Vinny closed his eyes briefly.
“I know.”
“No—real help.”
“I can’t go to a House medic.”
“Why?”
Silence.
Then finally—
“Because whatever this is…” He looked at the black veins beneath his wrist with quiet
dread. “My father already knows.”
Cold flooded Avery instantly.
“What?”
Vinny lifted tired eyes back toward hers.
“He knows I’ve been seeing you.”
Thunder cracked violently outside.
Avery stopped breathing.
“And?” she whispered.
Something dark crossed Vinny’s face.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
Recognition.
Like he finally understood how dangerous this had become.
“He called you contaminated property,” Vinny said softly.
Avery flinched physically.
Vinny’s expression immediately hardened.
Not at her.
At the memory.
“He said people like you should’ve been erased years ago.”
The apartment suddenly felt freezing despite the candlelight.
Avery looked away immediately before he could see how deep the words cut.
Contaminated property.
Not even human.
Vinny stepped toward her carefully again.
Slow.
Weak.
Still trying.
“Avery.”
“You should go.”
“Ave—”
“You need to leave.”
Because if he stayed—
she might finally break enough to touch him without fear.
And if that happened,
he would die.