Chapter Twenty-Five
JULIAN
The night seems practically useless for finding out anything. And all I’m left doing is awkwardly going back to Casimir’s place. Hell, he probably doesn’t even want me here.
“Can we talk?” I ask.
“Nothing to talk about,” he says matter-of-factly.
He’s giving me a headache.
I’ve never been so excited for Ezio to arrive until he gets in just before dawn looking horribly dejected.
Ezio hugs Gustov. “Cyrus said he changed his mind and doesn’t want to be picked up. Julian, will you shift so I can snuggle you?”
“I would love to,” I say. And that’s how I end up lying on the living room floor with Ezio’s face buried in my fur.
I’m perfectly aware it’s fucking weird. Casimir knows it’s weird.
But still, he stands over us and glowers down at us like he doesn’t want to talk about things but wants us well aware that he’s having a pity party for one as Ezio whines out his woes about Cyrus not returning his affection.
“This makes me feel immensely better,” Ezio says, unaware of the danger above him.
I wag my tail, which results in our heartfelt snuggle being immediately cut short as Casimir snatches up Ezio’s foot and starts dragging him like something out of a horror film.
“No! Please! No!” Ezio cries as he claws at the floor, leaving me behind as he’s tossed out the door.
I shift back and glare at Casimir. “You told me to date Ezio instead, so I’m trying it out. We are dating.”
“You are not,” he says as I tug my clothes on.
“Don’t forget, that’s what you wanted,” I tell him as I pull the door open and drag Ezio inside. The moment he’s in, I push him down in a chair and sit on his lap. “Let’s watch a movie and cuddle, Ezio!”
“Ha… ha… ha…” He’s looking a bit nervous now, but I’m not deterred.
He makes the sign of the cross and whispers a prayer under his breath. I’m not even sure if Ezio is religious, but I think he’s trying to make peace in case he’s sent into the afterlife.
I grab a blanket and pull it over us. “Oh! Ezio, don’t touch me there. I’m so sensitive .” Why do I love riling up Casimir so much?
Casimir’s standing in front of the TV, so all we can do is stare at him.
Ezio leans in to whisper in my ear. “Do you want me to die this badly? I thought we were friends.”
“Oh, Ezio! Your sweet nothings in my ear make my body burn with desire.”
“Oh? I thought maybe the burning was just coming from Casimir’s eyes! Ha ha! How silly. Silly me!”
“I bet a kiss would quench me!”
“Oh yes… a kiss with death!” Ezio announces as he puckers his lips.
I… didn’t actually think he’d go through with it, so then I’m also puckering my lips but there’s like a two-foot distance between us. I slowly move in as Ezio slowly moves in. At this rate, we should reach each other by Christmas.
“Watching the two of you makes me feel better about myself. Thank you,” Casimir says before heading upstairs to sleep, seeing as the sun is coming up.
Ezio gives a sigh of relief as he sinks down. “Okay… I don’t think this is working, whatever it is.”
“He was super jealous,” I assure him.
“Or maybe just super confused,” he says. “Just go talk to him like an adult.”
“He refuses to,” I say as I grab my phone before realizing I’d accidentally picked up Ezio’s phone.
“Whoops, that’s yours. Ooh, Cyrus texted you. What’d he say?”
“I’m sure it’s something like ‘You disgust me even if you’re beautiful on the inside and outside.’”
“Ah, I’m sure,” I say as I see that it does not say that.
Cyrus: I’m busy. I can’t come.
“Did you tell him about what we found?” I ask.
“I did, but then he sent me that, and I haven’t had the willpower to answer. You can answer him.”
I flash the phone at Ezio’s face so it opens and click to reply.
Me: Do you think the two cases are connected? This is Julian. I stole Ezio’s phone.
Cyrus leaves it on read… which he seems to do a lot to Ezio, but never to me. I switch to my phone.
Me: I really think you should come here. Are you home or still at work?
I groan as I remember that I have stuff from work to deal with.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just think it’s stupid for him to be alone,” I admit. “Maybe I’ll just go pick him up. It’s daylight, so I’m fine out. I need to run into my office to grab some stuff. Do you guys need anything?”
“Nope. You might try to pick up some common sense for Casimir,” he says.
“Will do,” I reply with a grin as I head upstairs to find Casimir. He’s in his room, so I knock until I hear a grunt that I deem means “Come on in!” and push the door open.
“Hey, I know you’re busy making absolutely no sense, but I’m going to run into the school and grab some work before I come back to sleep. It’s light out, so I’ll be fine.”
He looks over at me from where he’s fixing Gustov’s collar. “Why didn’t we grab it earlier?”
“Because the college isn’t open at four in the morning.”
“You sure you can leave Ezio that long?” he asks, which results in a look from me.
“While I’m gone, I’d really appreciate it if you took some time to use your brain.
If you don’t like me, that’s perfectly fine.
I would never want to pressure someone… but I do think you like me.
Isn’t it really my own decision about whether or not I think you’re… worthy or whatever you have going on?”
He’s quiet.
“Give me one day,” I say. “Just think about it for one day, and if tomorrow comes and you’re like no, the idea of dating you makes me die inside, then I will drop it and we can have some super-hot make-up sex.”
“Will Ezio be there?”
“Uh… hadn’t planned on it, but if you want him to watch as I drop you to your knees and make you beg… then I might not complain. See ya in a bit,” I say with a wink before I head off.
By the time I take a shower, get dressed in something that I wasn’t wearing when I taught classes last night, and get to the college, it’s after seven in the morning. I quickly text Cyrus as I’m walking up to my office.
Me: After I’m done at work, I’m going to stop by your house. Give me your address or I’ll have Ezio look it up for me and trust me, that won’t be pretty.
Cyrus: Fine. I’ll send you a pin. Do not share it with Ezio. Burn after opening.
I reach my office and spend about half an hour going through things and submitting a few grades. Once I finish, I drive to Cyrus’s house and hurry up to the door. I’m dragging, ready to sleep, but just one last thing and then I can curl up in bed.
I’m ridiculously disappointed it’s not going to be Casimir’s bed, but one can only be so picky, I suppose.
When I knock on the door, Cyrus sends me a text to come inside, so I push the door open and immediately notice the scent of another wolf… is Cyrus not alone?
“Cyrus?” I ask as I step into the room, only to find him tied up on the ground with Benny leaning over him.
“B-Benny?” I ask, not expecting him to be there. Not expecting any of this, to be honest.
He slowly looks over at me and lifts a gun. Freezing, I watch him in alarm.
“Benny, what the fuck?” I ask. “What are you doing?”
“Get on your knees, hands up,” he growls, voice sharp.
Cyrus gives me a look of horror as he struggles against his tight binds, tape over his mouth, hands bound behind his back.
“On your knees,” Benny barks again, voice hollow.
I can’t tell if the gun has silver in it, but a gun is a gun any way you look at it, and I really don’t want to be shot. Putting my hands up, I try to think about what I should do, and why the hell Benny is doing this.
“Benny, what’s going on? Talk to me,” I say, but he continues to stare at me vacantly as something hits me.
This is how Casimir acted when Ivo worked his allure on him. Is Benny also being influenced? If he is, I’ll have no way to stop him without stopping Ivo, but then… it’s daylight out. How could Ivo even be controlling him?
I hear a car alarm start to go off and question whether they’re doing something to my car to keep us from driving off. Is there more than one person here? If I’m right, and the vampire is controlling Benny, I can’t hurt him. But if I’m wrong… he could kill me while I do nothing.
Benny stills for a moment before his attention shifts, maybe questioning what’s going on with the car alarm.
I use his momentary distraction to lunge forward, slamming into him.
He stumbles back before tripping over the chair.
The gun goes off, and I realize that going for it would be too reckless, so I grab Cyrus instead.
I jerk him back through an open door and slam the door shut, switching the lock in place a moment before I hear another gunshot. After yanking the tape off Cyrus’s mouth, I start working on his hands.
“Please tell me you have your gun on you.”
He shakes his head, a grimace on his face. “I don’t.”
“What the fuck happened?” I ask.
“He just… knocked on the door, and I know him from the pack—he’s one of the nice ones—so I opened the door without hesitation. I didn’t expect he’d just attack me.”
Benny slams against the door as I quickly send a text to Casimir that we’re being attacked, hoping to tell him more as soon as I get Cyrus free.
“I think he’s being controlled by the vampire,” I say.
“What? He can control them even from a distance?” Cyrus asks in surprise.
“I think so,” I say as I tear at the tape around his wrists a moment before a weird stabbing pain hits me. I grimace as I grit my teeth and duck my head. The feeling is far too familiar.
“What’s wrong?” Cyrus asks as he grabs for me.
What the fuck? Why is the silver in my blood affecting me?
I fed off Casimir, right? It hasn’t been that many days…
right? Fuck… I think I’m off a day. I think I’ve fucked up.
I thought I could go four or five days, so I’d been taking his blood at least every three days, but last night with everything going on and this morning…