Chapter Sixteen
CASIMIR
It’s like my merry mood is thrown right out the damn window the moment I walk up to the council hall.
“The look on your face makes me think you’ve gathered everyone here today to murder them,” Julian says, which wouldn’t be fully wrong.
“It’s a high possibility.”
“You should have brought Gustov. The moment you pet him, you’re much calmer.”
“I don’t need a dog to keep me from killing people.”
The look on his face tells me that he’s not so certain about that—he even waves at himself—so I scowl at him.
He just gives me a warm smile as we enter the building.
Unlike yesterday, there are already people waiting inside.
Of course, they’re segregated by wolves on one side and vampires on the other.
Though I plan to make a straight line to the front of the room, Julian stops in front of Genevieve.
I’m prepared to keep going and leave him to the nonsense of small talk until he snatches up my hand and jerks me to a halt.
There’s a brief moment where I consider dragging him to the front of the room so I don’t have to deal with this torture.
“You look so nice tonight!” he says to Genevieve who eats up shit like this.
She beams at him. “Gosh, you’re just the cutest. I could just devour you.”
“I’d prefer you didn’t!” Julian says, but she just laughs and kisses his cheek loudly. It’s irritating and I can’t help but glower at her as her eyes flicker over to me while she does it again.
“I see, only Casimir can nibble on you. How disappointing,” she murmurs as she runs her finger over his cheek.
Julian just laughs and tugs me over to the other side of the room where two wolves are smiling at him. “I’m so glad you two are okay,” he says. “Casimir, this is Olive and Willow.”
Neither of them seem to know what to do with this introduction as all of the wolves stare at them. I decide that I will help out by just giving them a nod and going on my way.
“Don’t mind Casimir. He’s shy,” Julian says.
Shy? I’m shy? Is he actually talking about me? I just think that all of this is absolute nonsense when I could be doing something else much more important like barking at them to listen.
“I don’t love meeting new people either,” the one called Olive says. “But Willow can chat your ear off.”
Olive holds her hand out and I hesitate before dropping Julian’s hand and shaking hers.
“It’s nice to meet you,” I say.
“Yeah… thanks for yesterday. I… I really appreciate it,” she responds.
“You’re welcome.”
And that’s when I see the asshole who bit Julian and turn my glare onto him. There’s really no use for him, so I will fling his body out into the road.
Julian, who is eerily good at reading me, grabs for me. “No! No, we’re being civil.”
“I’m going to civilly tear his body into two pieces. Why don’t you fight him and show him you’re stronger than him,” I suggest, because this could also be acceptable.
Julian sighs. “Or I could go, ‘Hey, Weston. It’s okay to see you.’ See? That wasn’t so hard. Try it with Steve.”
I look over at Steve who is just standing there looking like a dick. “Fuck you, Steve.”
“Fuck you too,” he growls.
“Needs some work but… you’ll get there,” Julian says as he continues down the line, greeting everyone with a smile on his face no matter who they are.
I trail after him while wondering how he could be treated like shit by both vampires and weres, yet stand up there and merrily greet them all with a smile.
“Looks like everyone’s here. Want to start?” Julian asks.
I head up to the front of the room and look out at them all. “You need to fucking get along and if you don’t, I will remove you, dead or alive. Goodni?—”
“Not goodnight!” Julian says as he pats my back. “What a good opening! Thank you, Casimir, for reminding us that our lives are limited if we don’t listen. I’ve asked Detective Torres here today. He’s going to go over the past few incidents for us.”
Cyrus walks up to the front of the room as Ezio claps wildly for the human. He’s the only one who does, so it makes it all that much more awkward.
Cyrus quickly gives everyone a detailed report of what’s happened. It’s very factual and he seems quite happy when it’s over since I get the impression he doesn’t like speaking in front of a large group. The moment he finishes, Ezio returns to clapping with even more vigor than before.
“GOOD JOB!” Ezio shouts, which makes Cyrus grimace and hurry over to an open seat as far from Ezio as he can find.
Julian, who seems much more suited to this, takes front and center again.
“I know tensions are high and we don’t have the best track record for getting along, but vampires and weres can peacefully coexist,” he says.
“Look at us.” He reaches over and squeezes my hand.
“We’re proof that we can get along. We can work together. ”
“I’m not working with them!” Steve shouts as he quickly stands up.
“Then I will put you down right here and now,” I say, resulting in Steve slowly sitting back down, which disappoints me a little. I feel like it would’ve been nice to fling him out of the building along with Weston; that way I’m showing equal rights as I chuck both a were and a vampire.
Julian squeezes my hand. “Well… okay… maybe that’s not… the way, but it is effective. We need to remember that they’re trying to drive us apart. They’re using our instability to try to destroy us, but I firmly believe that if we work together, we can stop them.”
“It’s fucking vampires doing it! If there weren’t any vampires, we’d be safe,” Weston shouts.
“People are going to kill no matter what they are,” Cyrus says from his chair.
“Humans are hurt and killed by vampires and werewolves more than anyone else, yet I do my job and still work with them. I find the culprit and I make sure they won’t kill again.
Maybe they’d be safer without vampires or werewolves.
But I know there’s been more than one time when I needed a vampire or werewolf to help me stop a killer. ”
“Well said!” Ezio enthuses as he claps again. His hands are going to be sore by the time he’s done clapping for everything Cyrus does.
Olive raises her hand before realizing that no one else seems to be raising their hands and just speaks up. “Do we know anything about who is behind it?”
“I mean… I guess I assumed it was the guy who threw us from the building, but the others sure don’t listen to him like he is,” Julian responds.
“Elder vampires rarely do the dirty work,” Baldin says.
“I bet it’s Steve,” Genevieve chimes in.
“I concur,” I agree until Julian gives me a look. I clear my throat. “I concur that there’s probably someone pulling the strings.” Which is foolish when we could just place the blame on Steve.
“But we do know they’re somehow getting into our territory or have already taken refuge here,” Julian says. “And… I mean, I might not be the best at guessing ages, but the one we met at the apartment was quite old, right?”
“Yes,” I confirm. “Which means the one behind him will be even older. Likely even older than I am.”
“Until the full moon, we’ll try to help scout the territory,” Terrance says. “But I want my pack to stay together, which means we won’t be able to cover as much ground.”
“What if some of the vampires go with you guys? While you’re tracking, they can be guarding?” Julian says, and because he looks so damn cheerful while suggesting it, I’m not sure if anyone can even turn him down.
“That would be…” Terrance hesitates as Julian continues to give him an encouraging look. “Acceptable.”
“Fantastic! We could start by seeing if we can figure out where the vampires who attacked us last night came from,” Julian says.
“IDing them could help as well. Vampires tend to stick to their cliques,” Cyrus suggests.
“And I have access to the database that registers the vampires,” Ezio offers. “The likelihood of them being in it is slim, but there could be some trace of one of them.”
“This is excellent!” Julian says, looking positively thrilled.
I’m convinced that they’re just playing nice so they don’t have to deal with my wrath, but we’ll see how it goes from here, and Julian is kind of cute when he thinks people are actually getting along.
With Ezio in charge, we leave them to organize some groups that will search the areas the vampires had killed in. This leaves me alone with Julian who is thanking Cyrus for coming. Julian seems to be the only one Cyrus is fully at ease around, but he gives me a nod before heading out the door.
Julian turns to me and gives me a huge smile. “That went really well!”
“I’m positive ninety percent of them were just putting on a show.”
His smile falls a bit, and it makes me feel weird and bad for bringing him down. I’m not quite sure why I even care.
“Maybe. But you need to remember that change can’t be made overnight, okay? Sometimes change takes two baby steps forward and three giant leaps back. But as long as it keeps moving forward, you have to gently urge it along.”
“Hmm… you’re creeping me out.”
Julian starts laughing as he gives my shoulder a light push. “I’m creeping you out because I use words filled with kindness?”
“Stop, don’t use that tone with me.”
“With hope! And dreams!”
I give him a look. “Julian, I’m not joking. That shit gives me a rash.”
He laughs again, and it makes me smile for some ridiculous reason.
“You two are so smitten, it’s so cute!” Genevieve announces. “It’s almost enough to make me stop pursuing you two… but not quite.”
“It’s never going to happen,” I remind her.
“Oh, don’t be so cruel to me.” She grabs Julian and kisses his forehead again. “I’ve never had a wolf before.”
He smiles at her. “Ha ha… thanks for the offer? But it’s still a no.”
She kisses him again before noticing my glower. Julian and I might not actually be dating, but he’s not hers to play with. He is mine to play with and torture.
Terrance walks up, and Genevieve scrunches her nose and hurries off without another word. It’s also what I’d love to do so I wouldn’t have to interact with the man.
But Julian gives him a smile, as forgiving as always. “Hey, Dad! I’m glad you showed up. How’s your arm?”
“A small facture, so it’ll heal quickly.”
“Ow, I hope it’s better soon.”
Terrance looks between the two of us, then decides that’s enough civility for the night and heads off.
“He likes you,” Julian says.
I raise an eyebrow, certain he’s talking about someone else.
“In what world do you think that’s true?”
“In my magic world filled with rainbows and kittens! So many kittens!”
Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what goes on in his head. “Do they turn into humans because if they do, I’m going to pass.”
“Wouldn’t werekittens be the cutest?”
“Now if Gustov was a weredog…”
“Would you still force that haircut on him?”
“He loves his haircut. Are you coming back to sleep at my place?”
“Uh… yeah, but with the full moon coming in a couple of days, I’ll stay at my house that night. I have a fun little metal crate. It looks like a sex thing but it’s totally just so I don’t escape and chew on people.”
“Ah, I’m glad you cleared that up.”
“I mean… we could make it a sex thing,” he whispers.
“My interest is piqued. You know, I could lock you in a room or something.”
“Eh, I don’t trust being elsewhere. It’s supposed to be cloudy so it shouldn’t be too bad of a night.
I usually lock myself in while it’s still daylight.
But maybe you… could… make Ezio come sit at my house or something?
There’s too much going on for you to waste a whole night staring at me, but Ezio… ”
“Ezio would be the same amount of useful staring at you or out there.”
“Isn’t he like your… detective or whatever?”
“It’s literally a title he gave himself. He wanted me to call him Detective O for a while.”
“Why O? Wouldn’t it be E?”
“Whatever you do, don’t ask him.”
“Now I really want to ask him.” He’s eyeing Ezio because his curiosity is far too strong. And just like that, he trots off to ask. He should have listened to me because the moment he asks, Ezio presses him against the wall and tips his chin up before whispering something in his ear.
Julian looks scarred as he makes his way back to me. “You could have stopped me,” he whispers.
“It was more fun to watch you from here.”
“He… he talked about… detecting my O. And it was horrific… the way he said it.”
“I did warn you.”
“I don’t think I can look him in the eyes again.”
“It’s bad.”
“So bad,” Julian agrees.
“Yet look at him. He’s so proud. He thinks it’s sexy.”
“He does. That’s so sad. Pitiful, really. How can you be… what? Hundreds of years old and think that pickup line would work?”
“I firmly believe he gets more foolish every year instead of smarter, but yes, I’ll assign Detective O to watch you.”
“I… I would rather watch myself. Thank you.”
“Are you sure? He seems eager to come.”
Julian snorts at my awful joke, which tells me that maybe I haven’t gotten better at jokes in my hundreds of years.
I head toward the door to see what else I can glower at when I hear a noise to my right. “And you even joke with him! What is this?” Genevieve teases. “Did the vampire get tamed by the wolf?”
I decide it’s best to ignore her.