Chapter 20 #3
“It’d be foolish to even engage Wick this evening with all of these vampires here. I can’t fathom they’d come here if they hated him,” Casimir says. “That doesn’t mean we can’t deal with him later.”
“Are we joining the dark side?” Cyrus asks.
“I thought we were already in it,” Julian teases.
“Let’s go back and split up before we look suspicious. We’ll mingle, get some deets on Wick, and decide where he stands on Morpheus. There is a possibility that he won’t believe us and will turn on us as well,” Ezio says. “We need to be careful.”
“Careful is my middle name,” I promise as we return to the great room where people are gathered.
“I have never once looked at you and thought of the word ‘careful,’” Atticus states.
“At least you’re thinking of me,” I say with a smile.
Atticus raises an eyebrow as he watches me, and I feel unsure of what to do with that fixed regard. I want to make some comment about him staring at me, but decide to keep my mouth shut.
Casimir seems particularly interested in Wick now and starts toward him. I look over at Atticus.
“I’m sad and feel like I would be really happy if you held my hand,” I say.
“Would you?” he asks nonchalantly.
I hold my hand out to him and he just looks at it.
“I bet Johnny would hold it if I ordered him to,” Atticus says like he has no idea what to do in this situation.
“You’ve surely held hands with someone before,” I coax while I wiggle my fingers like it might attract him. He just stares at them as if he’s come across something he’s never before seen and isn’t quite sure he wants to see more of it. “You’ve never held hands with anyone before, have you?”
He scoffs. “Why would I do such a frivolous thing?”
After spending a suspiciously long time staring at my hand, he turns from me, like he’ll be able to pretend it’s not happening if he looks away.
So I decide to just loop my arm around his and pull him close.
Atticus doesn’t seem to know what to do about this either, but he doesn’t pry me off, so I consider it a win.
“You really shouldn’t be so familiar with me, especially with Morpheus watching,” Atticus says, but he doesn’t force me to remove my arm.
“I don’t care.”
“I do. We both know what Morpheus can do.”
I’m aware that Morpheus is using me against Atticus, but is he just going to live his next thousand years in solitude because of that man?
Knowing him, he probably would. Hell, he already has.
Some people who recognize Casimir stop to talk to him, but Casimir mostly grunts at them while Julian joyfully talks to them in his place.
I look around at all of the vampires and weres packed into this place and wonder how many of them are monsters hiding behind an innocent exterior. Was anyone else there the day my family was slaughtered?
“What’s wrong now?” Atticus asks.
“With what?” I respond, as though I don’t know what he’s talking about.
“Your grip has become crushing. I’m not sure whether you want to hang off me or break my arm.”
I loosen my grip but refuse to let him go.
Wick seems to be bombarded by people, so we wander around and spend the next two hours interacting with others and getting an idea of where they stand with Wick.
During that time, I never see Morpheus again, but I have this odd feeling that he’s still around here somewhere, eager to watch the show.
“What do you think will happen if we don’t do what Morpheus wants tonight?” I ask.
“I’m sure we’ll find out,” Atticus says.
“So reassuring.”
“Want me to rub my crystal ball?”
“I wanna rub your crystal ball,” I grumble.
“Your sexy talk needs some work if you’re ever going to get laid.”
“Joke’s on you, I use my looks to get laid, not my words.”
“That’s really no surprise.”
I glare at him. “I will seduce you.”
We finally make it back to Wick, who beams at us. “I wanted you guys to meet my wife,” he says as he waves her forward.
“A pleasure. My name is Fanny,” she says with a warm smile. “We met once many years ago, Atticus.”
“Did we?” Atticus asks in a tone that shows he really doesn’t care.
“Atticus can’t even remember someone he met yesterday,” I explain.
“It was soooo fleeting. Truly,” she says.
“Speaking of fleeting moments… we’ve met before, haven’t we, Wick?” Casimir asks.
Wick assesses Casimir before smiling. “Maybe?”
Casimir’s quiet for a bit, reminding me that he really doesn’t like talking about his past. “I was one of the Warden’s… slaves.”
That makes Wick tense up. “The Warden? Oh fuck… Sorry. Wow, that’s not a name I’ve heard in a while. Despicable man.”
And how is he any better?
“You worked with him some, didn’t you?” Casimir inquires.
Wick shakes his head. “I never worked with him. There was an instance… where our end goals aligned and I assisted him, but I never came near him again after that. I couldn’t stomach some of the shit he did.
Such a ruthless man. I had no idea that you were raised by the Warden. I thought all of his vampires died.”
“Yeah… I like to keep it that way,” Casimir says, but his attention snaps to the front of the room and so does Atticus’s.
“What… oh fuck,” I whisper as I grab Atticus’s arm again.