Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
“I will tell you,” he says confidently, which already tells me this story is going to be ridiculous. “About seventy-five years ago, I was here in America and walking through this bar when a man bumped into me. It was at that moment that I met Steve, and we became mortal enemies.”
“Because… he bumped into you?”
“Correct.”
“There has to be more to that story.”
“There really isn’t,” Ezio says. “But what cemented the hatred is when Steve saw Gustov and guffawed.”
Casimir growls like he’s just been faced with his mortal enemy. “Anyone who laughs at Gustov deserves death.”
I grimace as I remember that I also laughed at Gustov the moment I met him. I guess the vampire wanting to do the nasty with you determines whether or not he holds a lifelong grudge.
“Does… does this mean my life is also limited? I… I laughed too,” I whisper.
“No, you’re allowed to do anything,” Casimir says.
Ezio’s head snaps around. “What the fuck? Why’s he allowed to laugh at your weird dog, but I can’t?”
“Because he’s cuter than you,” Casimir announces. “Stop here, we’re getting close to the casino.”
“We need to wait until all of the humans leave,” Cyrus says.
“I’ve been told they pulled the fire alarm and the humans have exited the building,” Casimir replies as Ezio pulls over on the side of the road. Casimir gets out of the car and shuts the door as I look at the others.
“Is this wrong?” I ask. “I don’t think he should go in alone.”
Ezio sighs as he tightly grips the steering wheel. “Wrong? No. We want to make it easier, not harder on him. We know Ivo can control any one of us… hell, we don’t even know if you being in Casimir’s head while he listens to music through the headphones will work. But it’s all we have.”
Cyrus turns in his seat and the look he gives me appears weirdly distant. No emotion seems to cross his face as he simply says, “He’ll be fine.”
“Yeah…” That didn’t encourage me at all .
And then he gets out of the car.
“Cyrus is acting strange,” I say.
“I noticed,” Ezio responds as he watches the human walk over to Casimir. “He… gets like this sometimes. I don’t know why.”
“How long have you two known each other?”
“About a year. But he gets like this when he has to deal with vampires. I… don’t think he likes vampires very much.”
“I’ve noticed,” I say as I get out and go over to the others. “You okay, Cyrus?”
He looks startled as he glances up at me. “Oh yeah, sorry. Vampires just… remind you how weak humans are, you know? It just makes me a bit on edge when I have to do things like this.”
“Ha… I can turn into a wolf and they still scare the shit out of me, other than these two. These two just scare me for different reasons. Like Casimir scared me when I looked into his secret cupboard of Gustov?—”
Casimir clamps a hand over my mouth. “I need silence to focus.”
Cyrus grins as Ezio stares at Casimir like he’s seen a whole new world. “What do you have for Gustov in the cupboard?”
Casimir ignores him and readies his headphones.
“What if someone tries to get your headphones off?” I ask.
He cups my chin. “The goal is to not let anyone close enough that they could even fathom trying,” he says. “You ready?”
“Nope,” I admit.
Casimir squeezes my shoulder. “I can do this alone.”
“Not going to happen.”
I pull my clothes off and toss them at him. “You wouldn’t mind holding on to them, right?”
“I’ll keep them nice and clean while I kill Ivo,” he assures me as he throws them at Ezio to hold. “I will keep these for good luck, though.” He holds up my underwear, which makes me laugh.
“Oh god, stop.”
“I’ll tuck them in my pocket so I can pat them for luck.”
“Now this has turned weird.”
“It’s always weird between us,” Casimir says with a grin before leaning in and giving me the smallest, lightest peck.
I want so much more, but he steps back before I can deepen the kiss.
“You can have more when I’m done,” he informs me before tossing my underwear at Ezio who gags… literally gags, like he wasn’t the man who tore off all of his clothes and begged me to paint him.
But what if Casimir doesn’t come back?
I choke those thoughts down and give him a nod. He puts some earbuds in his ears and then headphones over them and turns the music on loud enough that I can hear it from here. I don’t know how he’s going to hear them coming for him, but he seems confident as he walks toward the casino.
With one more glance back at Ezio and Cyrus, I take a deep breath and shift.
My heart is pounding as I catch up to him, but his footsteps are so steady, absolutely silent.
Everything about him is soundless and I suddenly realize I’m over here crashing around.
Trying my hardest to quiet myself, I walk beside him as he nears the casino.
His employees must have done a good job getting everyone out because there are only a few cars left that turn out just as we reach the road.
Casimir stops and then kneels down to cup my face.
“Will you do something for me?” he asks.
“ Anything ,” I say into his mind.
“Don’t watch.”
I hesitate as he stands, his hand lingering just a moment before he pulls it free.
“ I don’t hate what I see when I look at you, Casimir .”
He’s quiet, like he didn’t hear a word I said, even though I know he could hear it just fine. He starts across the road, and I have to jog to catch up.
“ You’re not the horrible man you’ve painted yourself to be. ”
Still nothing.
“ Casimir, I love you for who you are. Not who you think you are ,” I say.
That makes him pause and look over at me. He just holds up a hand. “Stay here.”
And with that, he’s gone.
No, no, no! He’s just going to leave me here. Was he never planning on taking me along at all? Did he say all that shit about me helping him just to appease me, knowing he could outrun me in an instant?
I race toward the casino when a vampire comes out of nowhere, moving straight toward me. Fuck, fuck, fuck . Startled, I step back, but I don’t want him to think I’m afraid. I don’t want him to think he can take control of the situation, but all too soon, I hear the footsteps of another.
“Little lone wolf come out to play,” the first man says, voice teasing.
Fear eats at me as I think back on the way they’d torn into my throat, ripped me to the ground?—
No! I can do this. I can fight them. I can do this.
The man’s headless body hits the ground faster than I can even take a step toward them. Casimir moves to another vampire who’d joined the first, moving so quickly that the man doesn’t even see him coming. Before I can even comprehend what’s happening, his body joins the first.
“I told you to stay back,” Casimir says, blood dripping from his long curved blade.
“ And I told you I was going with you. You told me to trust you. I said I would. So you trust me .”
He stares at me for a moment before giving me a curt nod.
It’s clear he’s not overly happy about it, but he lets me trail after him.
This time, he doesn’t run off without me.
This time he moves at my speed as I rush across the large parking lot toward the door.
Then he picks me up and jumps straight up on top of the overhang that hides valet vehicles from the rain.
“Stay here and stay hidden. I should be able to remain close enough to you to hear your words.”
“ Okay .” I crouch down as he makes his way over to a window which he breaks with his elbow before crawling in. “ Please be careful. ”
He’s gone in an instant and I’m left hiding out of sight.