Chapter Eleven #2
“Fine,” Julian says, and even though he’s plastered a smile on his face that looks pretty convincing, I can still hear his heart beating out of his chest.
“Good.”
“Ezio okay?” Julian asks.
Cyrus shrugs. “I don’t know, I had to walk past his body to get here but didn’t bother to check.”
“He’ll be fine. A fall like that won’t kill him,” I say.
“Walk past? You STEPPED on me,” Ezio cries as he looks in through the doorway looking like something out of a horror movie with all the blood on him. “Then again… I kind of liked it.”
“I should have stepped harder,” Cyrus says dryly as he hurries over to Julian and starts checking him over. “I’m sorry you got injured. Let’s get you dressed, and we’ll get you cleaned up.”
“I’m fine, I promise,” Julian says with a smile. “Thank you.”
I guess that’s what a decent person does instead of licking them.
Cyrus gives him a reassuring look. “Oh, your feet look bad. Once you’re dressed, one of the brutes can carry you out. Ezio looks like a pack mule. Wait… no, that’s mean toward mules.”
“Oh, I’m fine,” Julian assures him, looking a little flustered.
“No, your feet are really bad,” he says as he fetches Julian’s clothes from the hallway and carries them over to him. As he helps him get dressed, I look around the room, but nothing seems out of order. The room looks like a regular empty apartment, waiting for a new renter.
I glance over at Julian who is being assisted by Cyrus. “Cyrus, switch with me. I don’t know how to do detective work. I know how to tear heads off,” I growl.
“Umm… that sounds concerning. Are you sure that’s who I want to give me first aid?” Julian asks as I come over to him.
“I assure you that your head will most likely stay attached during my medical examination.”
“Are you going to lick my feet like you did my neck because if you do… I’m going to be honest… I don’t think I could handle that.”
“I’m not,” I say, even if he smells absolutely delicious. Even if I want to sink my fangs—what the hell is this? Obviously, I’ve hungered for blood, but I’ve never desired someone’s specific blood like this.
After he gets dressed, I pick him up and carry him out of the room to give Ezio and Cyrus space to check out the area.
“Oh god, I don’t need to be carried. This is embarrassing.”
“I can make it less embarrassing,” I assure him as I cradle him like an infant.
Julian looks up at me with a raised eyebrow. “How is this any less embarrassing?”
“I could drag you. Would that please you?”
“None of those sound like good options.”
“When we’re sure no one’s looking, I’ll give you some of my blood. Here,” I say as I pull my shirt over his head.
“What are you doing now? Breastfeeding me?”
“I’m trying to give you blood where no one can see! Why are you so damn picky?” I ask as I bite my arm and stuff it under the shirt.
“Being picky? You’re carrying me like an infant while I’m left to suckle on your blood under your… shirt…” He clearly stops caring as he latches on like a ravenous beast. He moans from beneath my shirt, which, let’s be honest, is ten times weirder than whatever he claimed I was doing to him.
He’s persistent, even after my arm has healed up and the blood has stopped flowing. Julian seems determined to suck me dry as I try to retract my arm once I feel like he’s had enough. He whines as he tries to take it back from me.
The door opens and Ezio steps out with Cyrus.
“Do I even ask what’s happening?” Ezio asks.
Cyrus seems to be momentarily at a loss for words. “Casimir… I thought you were normal compared to Ezio.”
I growl at them as I turn away and hurry the wolf off. He seems so blissful that he doesn’t even start crying about the embarrassment until the elevator opens on the ground floor. Then he extricates himself from the shirt and looks up at me in horror.
“Please don’t… ever repeat what just went on. Why did you do that? Why did I do that?” He groans as he closes his eyes like he can forget it all happened.
“Which part?” I ask. “The part where you were moaning under my shirt?”
“Every part.”
I nod so he knows I agree with him. “I was embarrassed for you.”
“You’re the ass who shoved me under your shirt!”
“How do your feet feel, though?”
Julian looks down at them before wiggling his toes. “Huh. I mean, they’re not like completely healed, but they sure healed faster than they normally would.”
“Right?”
“I’m so glad I conned you into being my date. You’re now my personal nurse. Reminds me of a porno…”
I drop him into the passenger seat of my car and stare down at him for a moment as I try to think about this absolute mess. I should have torn that stupid vampire’s head clean off his body and chucked it out the fucking window. Instead, I was absolutely useless! What did I even accomplish?
“I can literally read you from here. You know you can’t do everything, right?” Julian asks.
“Of course I can. I’m Casimir the All Powerful.”
He raises an eyebrow. “Stop being a smart-ass, I’m trying to be nice.”
I grumble at that. “Niceties should be left for humans and… I guess wolves. Although the wolves I’m used to are cranky and smell like wet dog.”
Julian gives me a gentle nudge with his mostly healed foot.
“Listen here because I know best. You can’t blame yourself for not stopping him.
You helped me, which—I might be biased—I feel like is significantly more important.
I know this whole city seems to think that everything falls on your shoulders when it comes to disputes between wolves and vampires, but you’re only one person. ”
“Correct. I am the best person, which is why I control the whole territory. This is also why I shouldn’t be tested or provoked. And why I will tear his weak head from his body and proceed to shred it.”
“Ohhh, how lovely. I’m so glad my heartfelt talk turned into a bloody massacre.”
I shrug, not seeing the issue. “Well, your talk was boring. What do you think you are? A therapist?”
“No, I’m an artist.”
I hesitate. “You are?”
“Yeah. I mean, I teach art.”
“You must come over to my home. You have no choice but to paint Gustov. I will pick you up tomorrow.”
“That was a weird shift in topic but okay, yeah sure.”
“It is settled.”
“I’m always so confused dealing with you.”
Now I just need to keep from allowing rage to consume me, and by envisioning Gustov’s portrait, I might be able to do just that.
“You, wolf, are more useful the longer I know you. If you do a good job capturing how elegant and dignified Gustov is, then I might even play fetch with you.”
“Oh joy.”