21. Please come back.
Chapter twenty-one
Please come back...
Luka
L uka winced as Marcus spoke the name. Gianmarco Nicoletti.
He’dseenthe brand earlier, the elegant filigree‘G’a familiar and sickening signature.
Itwasa seal he recognized from his time in Chicago, a mark of ownership he hoped never to encounter again.
Hehaddeliberately caged that memory, refusing to connect it to Nick.
But Marcus spoke the name aloud, dragging it into the fragile space between them.
Luka’s hands started to move, fingers forming a sharp, angry retort, but itwasalready too late.
A blur of motion tore past them. Caleb. He scrambled toward his brother, skidding to a halt just as Nick’s body folded in on itself.
The posturewasa perfect, horrifying replica of what Luka witnessed in the hospital.
The unnatural genuflection, a position of practiced submission.
Nick’s head bowed as his hand vanished beneath his own knee, the sickening pop of knuckles a punctuation mark to his complete psychic collapse.
Caleb reached down, his hands ready to shake his brother’s shoulders.“Nick? What’s wrong? Hey, what’s happening to you?”
Luka’s arm shot out, blocking Caleb’s path. His hands flew up, signing with furious precision.?Stop. Don’t touch.?
Caleb stared, his own hands half-raised, his rudimentary sign language struggling to process the command.“Why? What’s wrong with him?”His gaze snapped to Luka, his expression hardening with accusation.“What did you do to him?”
His beast bristled, a low snarl of outrage rumbling through his chest. Us ? He thinks this is our doing ? He links us with that filth ? The injustice of it coiled hot and tight in his gut.
“Caleb, it’s okay.”Marcus’s voicewascalm, a steadying weight in the chaotic room. He placed a hand on Caleb’s shoulder.“Let’s just hear what Lukahasto say before we do anything.”
Caleb shook the hand off but obeyed, crouching down to get a better look at his brother’s face. He recoiled as if slapped.“His eyes… they’re open, but…”His voice trailed off, strangled with horror.“There’s nobody home.”
Luka forced himself to look. Calebwasright.
Nick’s eyeswereglassy, fixed on a point in a reality only he could see.
Two dark, empty windows in an abandoned house.
A hollow ache spread through Luka’s chest, a phantom pain for a soul thathadretreatedso far inside it might never find its way back.
The air thickened with the scent of Nick’s terror—sharp and acrid that coated Luka’s tongue and clawed at the back of his throat.
He could taste the old fear, baked deep into Nick’s very being.
Luka forced his feet to move, to step back from the raw, open wound of Nick’s trauma displayed on the trailer floor.
It felt like abandoning him, every instinct screaming to shield the broken man from view, but crowding him would only make it worse.
He gestured to Caleb, a quick jerk of his head, then a flick of his fingers. Back up. Give him space.
Caleb’s facewasa mess of confusion and burgeoning tears. He glanced over his shoulder again and again, his gaze glued to his brother’s frozen body as Luka turned to Marcus.
His hands flew, the signs sharp with urgency and frustration.?When he gets trapped in a memory, ithasto finish before he’ll come out. I’ve stopped some before they take hold, but I don’t know how to pull him out when he’s this far gone.?
Marcus translated quietly for Caleb, whose face crumpled further.“What kind of memory?”Caleb choked out, his voice thick.“What could do that to him?”
Luka met Marcus’s amber eyes, his own expression grim. He let his gaze convey the warning before his hands formed the words. You might not want to tell him this next part. ?I haven’t pried. But that brand on his collar is Gianmarco Nicoletti’s seal. And that’s not the only damage.?
Marcus’s composure didn’t slip, but a darkness swirled in his eyes. He turned to Caleb, pulling the trembling young man into a tight, grounding hug.“Caleb, listen to me,”he said.“Think about what happened at the warehouse. What did Nick tell you then? About how he ended up with the Society?”
Caleb sniffled, scrubbing at his face with the back of his hand, his eyes never leaving his brother for more than a second.
“He said… the vampire who took him… took off pieces of him when he tried to escape.”His voice cracked.
“And Henderson… Henderson said they found him in a box. That hewaskeptin a box for two years.”He sucked in a ragged breath.
“He said Nickhada lot of scars… bad memories to work through… that a five-hundred-year-old vampire kept him as a… a pet.”
As Caleb spoke, Marcus’s gaze slid from the boy’s tear-stained face to Nick’s abject posture, then to Luka. Itwasa look of shared, terrible understanding.
Caleb saw it. His tear-filled eyes darted between them, catching the silent, grim communication. The look that said they knew more, something worse.“What?”he demanded, his voice gaining a hard edge of desperation.“What aren’t you telling me?”
Marcus moved between Caleb and Nick, his expression somber but determined.“Caleb, stay with your brother. I need to speak with Luka privately.”His tone left no room for argument despite its gentleness.
“What? No!”Caleb protested.“I need to know what’s happening to him!”
Marcus cupped Caleb’s face in his hands, pressing a tender kiss to his forehead.“Trust me, my love. I promise I’ll tell you everything once I have more information. Right now, just be here for him.”
Luka’s beast snarled with fierce protectiveness.
No. Won’t leave him. Need to stay. The scent of Nick’s fearwasgrowing stronger by the second, his heartbeat accelerating to dangerous levels.
Luka knew Marcus could hear it too—the frantic, hummingbird-quick rhythm that signaled distress beyond measure.
Every instinct in Luka’s body screamed against walking away, but Marcus’s eyes held a silent plea. With painful reluctance, Luka followed Marcus a few steps away from the kitchen, still keeping Nick in his peripheral vision.
The moment theywereout of earshot, Marcus’s hands began moving in rapid, agitated signs.?What the hell is going on? How did you end up an hour away from town with Caleb’s brother? Radio silence for days??
Luka could see the hurt beneath Marcus’s anger—the betrayal of being left out of something so deeply connected to Caleb. His friend’s eyes darted between Luka’s face and Nick’s huddled form, desperate for understanding.
?Why didn’t you call me immediately??Marcus continued.?What happened every step of the way??
Luka sighed, his hands forming careful explanations.?Youwereright about Nick in November. He never went to Chicago. Killing Henderson to save you and Caleb painted a target on his back.?
Marcus’s expression softened, though the tension remained in his shoulders. Luka continued, his signs becoming more fluid as he explained.
?It started a few months ago. I noticed a scent Ihadn’tsmelledbefore, buried under gasoline and infection.?His hands paused, remembering that first moment—the distinctive vanilla smell that drew him like nothing ever had before.?It made me follow it. I didn’t realize itwasNick.?
Marcus’s eyebrows rose in surprise, and Luka pressed on.
?The man attacking me would strike once and flee. I thought itwassome rogue hunter.?His hands moved faster, the signs becoming sharper with remembered frustration.?I didn’t know itwasNick until that day in the junkyard.?
Luka glanced back at Nick, still frozen in his submissive posture. The sight sent fresh waves of protective rage through him. He turned back to Marcus, his expression melting fromanger to concern.
?You should have called me,? Marcus said, but the accusation had left his movements.
?I know,?Luka admitted.?But after seeing him like that...?His hands faltered, struggling to express the complexity of whathe’dwitnessed.?He’s so broken, Marcus. I just wanted to help him, but then some people from The Daylight Society showed up at the hospital—?
“In town?”Marcus asked the question aloud before his hands finished signing, his eyes darting back to Caleb.
Luka nodded. ?We barely made it out.?He glanced back at Nick’s hunched form.?They knew things about Nick. Used trigger phrases. Nick fought it, but itwasclose.?
Marcus followed his gaze, amber eyes darkening.?And after??
?We got to the safe house in Secor.?Luka’s fingers flowed faster as the story poured out.?I decided to contact the neutral hunter network. I thought they could hide Nick until we figured things out.?
Marcus’s expression grew grave as Luka’s hands formed the next words.
?When we got to the community center, Haley and Alexei were already dead. Everyonewas. The Society staged it like a message.?His hands trembled.?I don’t know how they found them.?
A soft whimper cut through the silence. Luka’s head snapped toward the sound; Nick remained frozen in his submissive posture, but the soundhaddefinitely come from him.
Caleb sat on the floor beside his brother, not touching but close, tears streaming unchecked down his reddened cheeks.
The sight tore at something in Luka’s chest.
He fought the overwhelming urge to rush to their sides. Nick needed him, but barging in now might only deepen the trauma response. Marcus’s gazewason him, probing, silently asking the question Lukahadbeen avoiding.
Instead, Marcus’s hands formed different words.?Does he know our connection to Nicoletti??
Luka shook his head emphatically.?I haven’t brought it up. Didn’t know how he would react.?
?You’ll need to tell him.? Marcus’s expression was grave.
Luka nodded. He knew. Of course he knew. But the thought of potentially losing the fragile trust they built made his chest ache with a hollow, gnawing fear.
Another whimper from Nick pulled his attention back to the kitchen. The air in the trailer felt heavier, charged with the electricity of escalating distress. Luka’s beast paced beneath his skin, urging him to move, to act, to protect.
“Nick? Nick?”Caleb’s voice rose with increasing panic as he leaned closer to his brother. His hands hovered uncertainly, afraid to touch but desperate to help. “He’s not breathing.Luka, what do I do? He’s not breathing!”
Luka moved before conscious thought could form.
Nick’s face turned an alarming shade of red, veins standing out starkly against his forehead and neck.
His eyes remained vacant, but his body was stone, muscles locked in a silent battle against unseen horrors.
His chest didn’t rise or fall—hewasholding his breath, the air around his body vibrating with tension.
Caleb’s fear escalated, his hands reaching for his brother.“Nick, please—”
Luka placed a firm hand on Caleb’s shoulder. The pain of speechwasworth it for this. “B-ack. Please.”
The shock of hearing Luka’s damaged voice seemed to penetrate Caleb’s panic. He froze, then slowly withdrew his hands, eyes wide with surprise and confusion.
Marcus appeared behind Caleb, gently pulling him into a protective embrace. He whispered something in Caleb’s ear, but Luka didn’t care to decipher it. All his focus narrowed to the man kneeling before him, trapped in a nightmare Luka couldn’t see.
Luka pushed all awareness of the others from his mind.
The trailer, Marcus, Caleb—all of it faded to background noise as he knelt beside Nick.
With infinite gentleness, he wrapped his arms around Nick’s rigid form, pulling him into a firm but careful embrace.
The position was awkward with Nick’s knees still bent, but Luka managed to cradle him against his chest, one hand supporting his head.
Hot tears tracked down Luka’s own face as he began to whistle—the familiar, haunting melody of Jupiter. The notes came slowly, deliberately, each one carrying a silent plea.
Please come back. Please breathe. I need you to breathe.
Nick remained unmoving in his arms, the unnatural stillness broken only by minute tremors. Luka continued whistling, the melody flowing from somewhere deep within his chest. His tears fell silently, soaking into Nick’s hair as he rocked them both.
Please, Nick. Come back to me.
I need you.