Chapter Thirty
CASIMIR
I hate killing in front of Julian.
How many times can I do it before he realizes that I really am a monster?
It has to sink in one of these days. But of course he’s stubborn and won’t stay back.
I’d already planned to leave him at the edge of the road where Ezio and Cyrus would care for him, but I forgot how reckless he can be.
The thing is, I know he’s afraid, I can hear his heart beating wildly, I can see the way his tail tucks and his hackles rise, but he doesn’t stop.
He never stops because he’s so damn good .
“ I don’t know what to talk about. I didn’t think this far ahead, but I’m just going to talk, and I sure as fuck hope it helps and doesn’t just annoy you .”
How could his voice ever annoy me?
I step into the hallway of the second floor as Julian continues to talk and the music pounds in my ears. It cuts off one of my senses, but I simply have to rely on the others.
So when the door to my right swings open, I’m already standing before it, and the moment I recognize that the man coming out isn’t one of my own, I can kill him with ease.
“ When I was ten, I accidentally shifted at school. I… I had a cold, I guess? And like lost all sense of myself or something? I really don’t know, but I was in the gym locker room and poof, I was a wolf and couldn’t shift back.
I was like… wound up in my clothes, rolling my way toward the toilets since I could hear others coming.
Like… imagine if I exposed my secret because I sneezed and turned into a wolf? ”
He’s so ridiculous and yet I love it… and he loves me…
But I couldn’t say it back because I’m still convinced that I don’t deserve that love.
But what if I could?
I sense someone behind me and turn just in time to see Genevieve making her way toward me.
She’s strong, stronger than Steve, but she shouldn’t pose an issue if I can just get her locked somewhere without hurting her.
She rushes at me like a feral animal as I see the glint of someone in the window.
I hate that I rely so much on my hearing that it makes me fumble like this.
I step to the side a moment too late, allowing the person to scratch me with their nails. I kick them back as Genevieve leaps at me. All I can do is dodge her as two other vampires join in, using my inability to kill her to aid their attack.
It’s wildly effective.
“ And as I crouched there on the back of the toilet, I realized that all of my classmates would see my ripped clothes and underwear all over the locker room, like I decided to tear off all my clothes and streak through the school or something and suddenly, that horrified me even more than the idea of them seeing me turn into a wolf. ”
What the hell is this ridiculous story he’s choosing to tell me?
As Genevieve stumbles, I kick her in the face—which I’m sure I’ll never hear the end of—and turn to the two vampires.
Driving my wakizashi up, I catch the first one in the chest, pinning him against the wall as I kill the other with my katana.
By then, the first vampire is up and coming at me.
But it’s a joke that he thought he could even slow me down.
“ Then suddenly I was naked in the principal’s office hiding under her desk and questioning all of my life choices. ”
Hold on… what the hell did I miss in my moment of distraction?
I grab Genevieve and simply toss her out the window. She’ll bounce and be back to irritate me, but maybe it’ll keep her busy for a bit.
I wish I could use my ears to tell where Ivo is, but he has no reason to fear me. Honestly… I just need to make sure he comes for me, so I make my way down the stairs and onto the casino floor.
“What are you waiting for, Ivo?” I shout. “Come on, now. All you’ve done so far is irritate me.”
The slot machines light up, flashing obnoxiously as I stand between them and the casino tables, all left in a state of disarray after the people fled. But what I’ve done is place myself next to a few machines that show reflections, so I can see Steve coming a moment before he rushes me.
Turning, I slide under his attack as another vampire slams into me, throwing me back into a blackjack table.
Where the fuck did that one even come from?
I skid across the table as I roll off, grabbing one of the dice and throwing it so hard it slams right into Steve’s eyeball.
His mouth opens and I’m mildly disappointed that I don’t get to hear him cry as Julian goes, “ And there I am, calling my mom and trying to explain to her how naked I am, and that I can hear the principal outside the office and the window won’t open more than a couple of inches .
Don’t fret, the tale doesn’t end there, I definitely tried squeezing through the window, which was how the principal found me, a wolf, absolutely stuck in the window. ”
Of course they did.
“ Boy did she scream .”
I drive my katana up, disappointed that I can’t impale Steve on it who is trying to retrieve the die from his eye. I pull a stake off my belt while juggling my wakizashi and drive the stake into the chest of the vampire facing me, pinning him to the table.
As I turn, I lift my katana and slow it before I accidentally cut Dan’s head clear off. Startled, he looks at me before shaking his head and saying something that I can’t hear.
Ah, so he isn’t being controlled.
“Get out,” I order.
Dan says something as he shakes his head again, but I can’t hear it and I’m left questioning how important it is. He looks rather panicked as he says it and begins pointing to the front… toward where Julian is.
Did Ivo realize where I’d stashed Julian?
I hesitate as I realize that in my fixation on what Dan was saying, I hadn’t noticed that Julian had stopped talking.
Fuck.