Chapter Thirty-One
JULIAN
“Well, well, well… look what I’ve stumbled across.”
I jerk forward as I spin around to face Yorick, of all people.
“Oh, don’t be afraid. I’m simply here to tell you that your fun little vampire is doing a skip and a dash right into a trap. But… I might be inclined to help.”
I hesitate before shifting so I can quickly talk to him. I know it’ll cut off my communication with Casimir, but if it’s just for a moment?—
“What do you mean a trap?” I ask, unsure if he’s lying to me.
“Oh, no, no. I… I just can’t seem to remember. I… I think I’d only be able to remember if you… if you promised me something,” he says as he walks toward me. I don’t know if he wants me to back away, but I stand my ground. I can’t run from everything if it means keeping Casimir safe.
“W-What do you want?” I ask, determined.
“I simply want to live. I… I’m starting to think that Ivo’s not going to last long. I mean… did you look in there?” He waves to the window that I look through and see the dead bodies lining the hallway, the blood splashed against the walls… I hadn’t looked because Casimir had asked me not to.
Yorick steps up behind me, mouth eerily close to my neck. “Your handsome friend is quite the monster.”
“He’s not a monster,” I snap as I push him back. “You’re a bigger monster than he’s ever been.”
“Oh yeah? What did I do? Toss a vampire out a window who healed perfectly fine? Set a wolf loose? But I’m the monster?
Honey, honey, do you not see the death he leaves in his wake?
A man like that has a mountain of bodies behind him, and I’ve realized that I really don’t want to be one of them. I’m much too pretty to die.”
“So you’ll tell me if I make sure Casimir won’t kill you?” I guess.
“Not just that. I also want him to protect me. Let me in his fun little circle. I mean… I can definitely replace the one who is about to betray him.”
“Who?” I ask anxiously.
“Is that a promise?”
“Yes, I promise Casimir will protect you,” I say.
“I don’t like liars.”
I don’t know if I’m lying or not, I just know that I need to keep Casimir safe. “I will keep Casimir from killing you.”
“Oh, you’re such a sweet wolf. Let me just say Dan has been playing sides. And if Casimir’s distracted, it might be all Dan needs to stab him in the back.”
Is that why Dan led Casimir to the woods the day of the bomb? Because he was trying to get Casimir killed? Did he also have some reason to take Casimir hunting for the bodies in the freezer? Maybe he thought he could pin the bodies on Casimir?
I shift and leap for the broken window.
CASIMIR
Why the fuck hasn’t Julian said anything? It’s been minutes now, but these fucking vampires keep slowing me down. At least Dan has my back; it allows me to drop my guard since it’s not like I can hear anything behind me.
“ Casimir, Yorick said that Dan’s going to betray you! ” Julian shouts into my mind.
Quickly, I turn just as Dan drives a stake right into my back.
The wooden weapon had to have missed my heart by mere inches, and if Julian hadn’t warned me, he could have killed me…
just like that. I’m slammed into the side of a table, shoving it back as the vampires rush me, taking the opportunity to keep me down.
I hit hard and twist as I lose the grip on my katana that’s kicked away from me. I still have my wakizashi which I use to drive into Dan’s heart, tearing it open before I slice right through his neck as the headphones are ripped away from me.
“Oh, there we go,” Ivo says, sounding thrilled to have my attention. “Finally. You’re just so fucking… dreadful . Can’t you just stop irritating me? Now, Casimir?—”
Ivo jerks back as Julian lunges at him, large teeth snapping. Ivo draws away quickly, not having expected the wolf, but Julian’s playing it safe. He’s not attacking him because he knows he wouldn’t win that fight; he was just distracting Ivo to give me a chance.
“ Casimir, get up. You can do this. Listen to me, only listen to me ,” Julian urges.
I throw the vampires off me as I tear the stake out and use it to replace my katana until I get it back.
“Stand down,” Ivo yells, and it’s as though the words hit me right in the chest. I stumble, like my limbs are weighed down.
“ Casimir, I’m right here. Listen to me, please listen to me .”
My eyes shift over to him.
“You want to die, Casimir? So do it,” Ivo orders as my hand tightens on the weapon I hold. It’s like his words flow over my body, making my limbs feel like weights. Making me feel like everything he says is what I need to do, until Julian’s words slam into my mind, pushing Ivo’s away.
“ I can’t wait to spend my life with you, Casimir. I can’t wait to paint Gustov until my hand threatens to fall off. I can’t wait to show you my super-secret stash of nude drawings I did in high school because I thought it made me look cool and ultra straight to draw boobs. ”
I snort as his words hit me. It’s like whatever Ivo says is washed out by Julian’s words right in my mind.
“Fucking hell, I can’t miss that, now can I?” I ask.
Ivo lets out a roar as he rushes for Julian, but there’s no fucking way I’d let Ivo touch him. “I will fucking kill all of you for what you’ve done. I will?—”
I see my katana soaring through the air as I look over at who chucked it at me. The stake is still in my hand, so I throw it right at Yorick who yelps and tries to dodge it. “What the fuck! I just threw you your sword!” he cries as he smacks the stake out of the way.
“Yes, but I hate your fucking face,” I growl as I race toward Ivo.
“Stop!” he yells as he backs up, and while the vampires dash toward me, I find that Ivo’s words are meaningless in my ears when all I can hear are Julian’s. It makes me question how I ever listened to him.
Rushing up to Ivo, I drive my katana toward him. He scrambles back to avoid it as I realize that he really doesn’t even know how to fight because he’s never had to fight for himself. He’s never been beaten until he was forced to brutally kill. He’s never been?—
I drive him into the wall with my wakizashi as his crew come up behind me. Julian tears Steve down, likely in an attempt to save Steve’s life over mine. I mean… honestly, when else would I ever have a chance to kill him?
“Bro, look at this! Watch!” Yorick shouts before staking a vampire that’d been working for Ivo. “Look! I did good, didn’t I?”
“I will still kill you when I finish,” I growl.
Yorick gives me a look of shock. “What? No! But why? Look! Look at me stabbing! Stabby stab! Puppers, tell him!” he says, looking a bit worried.
“ Hey, Cas, maybe we don’t kill him… yet ?” Julian says.
“Yorick, kill?—”
I turn to Ivo and slide my sword right through his throat. He grabs for his neck as blood oozes out of the wound. He opens his mouth, but no words escape him.
“You were weak. It’s a wonder anyone ever thought I couldn’t kill you,” I whisper. “You could have come to me and told me what happened to this woman who died, and I could have done something, and instead, it led to your death.”
His throat is healing, so I know I need to end this.
“J-Just because you no longer wear a mask doesn’t mean you’re any less of a monster,” he whispers.
I cut his head off and drop his body to the ground as his words rip through me. They’re suffocating me. Choking me.
How the fuck would he know that? How would anyone know that?
“ Casimir! ” Julian calls.
I turn to look at the vampires staring at me, no longer with anyone to follow. Do they know what he said? Do they all know? I lift my katana and step toward them as they rush back, afraid of me, but fear doesn’t matter.
“Casimir, hey, let them run,” Julian says as he hurries up and into my arms in his human form. The moment he hits me, it’s like all sense of reason is slammed back into me. “Oh fuck. You’re safe. You’re alright.”
My hand is shaking as I reach out, careful not to cut him, and pull him in.
Right. Right. It doesn’t matter what Ivo knows, he’s dead. All that matters is this. All that matters is what is standing here before me.
I tuck my face against him and just breathe in his scent.
“Ah, man… I want a cute naked wolf to come running into my arms. Anyone? Here, boy… here, boy,” Yorick calls out as he holds his arms wide open.
“Can I please kill him?” I beg.
Julian grimaces but still says, “No.”
I growl and Yorick slowly looks over at me. “Ha… ha ha. I tease. I tease. I think I’ll take my leave.”
He turns to go but I pull Julian over with me and press my katana against Yorick’s neck. “Did I say you could leave?”
“Ooh, is there an afterparty or something I’ve been invited to? How fun!”
“Tell me everything,” I demand.
“Um… let’s see. Joanna was like ‘Hey, Ivo, there’s this fun new territory that I want you to take over.
’ And Ivo was like ‘Nah, I don’t feel like it, but you’re cute and I love you, so I’ll go with you anyway.
’ And she was like ‘Well if he won’t take it over, I’ll do it myself.
’ And she ran off with her mini vampire army trying to create turmoil between the weres and vampires and was forcing some of your own vampires to help her until they threatened to go to you because shit wasn’t turning out so good for them.
And then she’s like ‘I’ll just kill them’ and then was like ‘Boo-hoo, this mutt bit me,’ and she was so distraught over becoming a werewolf because she wanted to live her life as a vampire with Ivo that she killed herself.
Then Ivo found out that the vampires were trying to cover it up and started pinpointing the ones who’d led to her death, trying to blame them.
So he made them kill each other. And then, really, I feel like you guys know the rest, eh? Fun, huh?”
I stare at the man and question why he needs a head.
Julian gawks at him in disbelief. “So… you knew all of this… the whole time. You could have told me at the university, and instead, you were like, ‘Nah, I’ll watch them run around like idiots.’”
“Not like idiots! No, no, I would never call my new friends idiots.”
I scowl at him. “You are not my friend. Now if you want to live, you will fuck off, and I will never see you again.”
“I am fucking off,” he says before running from the room.
Julian sinks into my arms, taking a deep breath. “You’re safe… you’re okay.”
“I’m sorry for putting you in danger… but I guess I was wrong… I couldn’t do it alone.”
“You’re pretty magical, so you might have been able to… but isn’t it nice to know that someone has your back?”
“Just because it was you.”
“Well… and technically Yorick because I’d never have known Dan was going to betray you.”
“Never say that name in front of me ever again,” I urge.
That just makes him laugh, even though I was clearly serious.