Chapter 24 #2
“If you think about it… I’m almost like a vigilante! I’m protecting my fellow vampires from such a wicked thing getting out.”
“You’re a murderer,” I hiss.
He smiles at me. “Hey, you’re the one who agreed to work with me all these years.”
Julian tenses up, but I squeeze him tightly.
“I didn’t… I had no choice. You’d have killed me if I refused.”
“That is true. It’s a wonder I’ve kept you alive this long.
I kept telling myself that I was waiting until Atticus really loved you.
But I was sitting there the other day and it dawned on me that he’s already loved you more than allll those other people I killed.
There’s no way he’d have let them get away with a fraction of the shit he’s let you get away with!
So then I was thinking that I might as well kill you…
but I kind of like you. You definitely don’t make me happy like Anna did, but there’s a little tickle of joy when you come around and pester everyone. ”
“I’m… so glad my life is in your hands,” I say dryly.
Morpheus chuckles to himself, rather pleased.
“I’m pretty tired. Do you think I could sleep?” As if I could sleep like this, but I’m not quite sure what I’d even accomplish by speaking to him anymore.
“Of course. You can take any of the bedrooms.”
I head toward the master bedroom where I slam the door shut, wishing there was a lock on it.
I set Julian down on the bed before flopping onto it in misery.
Desperately, I reach for Julian, planning on using him as a body pillow, but he shifts before I can and I’m stuck clinging to a very naked man.
“Why is there never any warning?” I whine while debating whether I’m desperate enough to keep hugging him. The nakedness is a bit awkward but not so awkward that I’m unwilling to continue this.
“Give me your pants,” Julian says.
“Fine, fine,” I agree as I slide them off without getting up and pass them over. He pulls them on and I just belly crawl across the bed to him before putting my head on his lap.
“Pet me since I can’t pet you,” I say.
He pats my face a few times, and I feel like he’d pat Gustov with more vigor.
“Why did you recklessly come with me?” I ask.
“Because two heads are better than one… though it seems like you’re more familiar with Morpheus than I assumed… is that why you went with him before? Are you… you’re not working with him, right?”
“Not in the way you’re fearing,” I mutter. “But yes, I’ve been in contact with him and have even seen him in person many times in the past without Atticus knowing.”
“Why?”
I close my eyes and squeeze his leg. “Do you think Atticus will murder me or simply never speak to me again after he finds out?”
“I suppose I have to know what you did if you want that answer.”
“Urgh, puppers. Why can’t life just be easy? I nearly got Atticus to confess his love for me. He’s really so unfair and so prickly. It’s just three words; how hard are they to say?”
“They’re extremely hard if it means the person you love might die if you say them,” Julian says as he gives my hair a tug. “Now tell me what happened.”
“Before that, I’m assuming everyone was all right? I couldn’t see the others from where Atticus and I were hiding.”
“Yes, everyone was fine. Cyrus seemed certain he could handle getting them to safety, so I went with you. We need to figure out how to escape.”
I dangle the keys I’d snatched off the driver in front of Julian.
He looks delighted but says nothing about it, knowing they could be listening in on us. He looks around before finding a pad of paper and pen left by the hotel. Hastily, he writes: When the hell did you snag those?
I take the pen from him and jot down: When we were in the elevator. I made sure to bump into him when Morpheus dragged me inside.
Julian raises an eyebrow before writing: Good. Now how are we getting out? They’ll hear us.
I take the pen he offers me before writing: I’m hoping there will be a distraction. Maybe Niles will show up.
Julian taps the collar around his neck and quickly writes: If not, I think I know a couple of people who can be quite distracting.
“Now tell me about what Morpheus was talking about,” he says aloud.
“I don’t want to, Julian. I just want to be petted and loved on.”
“I am petting and loving on you.” He pinches my cheeks. “I risked my life to run after you, didn’t I? What says love more than that?”
“Thank you,” I whisper as I wrap my arms around him and pin him to me. “I don’t deserve you. I don’t deserve any of you.”
“Stop that nonsense,” Julian says, sitting cross-legged on the bed. I lie down beside him and stare up at the ceiling.
“So… I became acquainted with Atticus when I was a teenager… by stealing his money, lighting him on fire, and running off.”
“Sounds… lovely.”
“Right? Well, then we came across each other years later when I was being sold by a slaver. He saved me and killed the slavers and took me home to work as a servant… but I thought I was better than that, you know? Raised as an earl’s son, I had it all…
and I thought there were greater things for me out in the world, so I stole a bunch of his priceless jewels and had to sell them dirt cheap since no one actually had the money to give me what they were worth, and I sure didn’t know anyone to sell them to.
I knew rich merchants through my father, but I knew better than to go back to that place and show that I was alive. ”
“So… he saves your life and you steal his stuff? Got it.”
“Right? Well, he kept letting me come back. Over the years I’d just drop by now and then when funds were getting low…
or when I was feeling really lonely… because I just…
I couldn’t find a place for myself in that world.
He was the only solid thing in my life. He was always there and I…
I didn’t know how to be happy. I wanted someone to love me, and you’ve met Atticus…
he’s not the loving type. So I’d try to seek it elsewhere, but every time I did, it would end in a tragedy of some kind.
I felt like I was cursed… I wanted to stay with Atticus, but Morpheus was busy manipulating him, and as the years stretched on, he began to refuse to even allow me near him.
“I know it was to protect me, but he was my only happiness. I tried finding others. But one left me for a woman… and two others were killed. I started to believe everyone I tried to love would die besides Atticus… the only person I really wanted, and the one who continually pushed me away.”