Chapter 27
CREED
S ince the Fight Night last week I’ve been watching the girl Annex seems to favour. Micai.
Annex was anything but normal, none of us really were , but he wore his darkness like a badge of honour and for all to see. He kept his distance from other people, only ever interested in inflicting pain or watching others bleed.
So why change now…why her ?
I’ll admit, she was different. Stubborn, annoying and uncontrollable . Not good traits I like in the women around my brothers.
At first I thought she was just another groupie-type, wanting to brag about being bedded by one of us, or someone trying to use us to climb some social ladder. Another girl that would soon run like the rest, if she was in any way smart.
But she surprised me.
At the fight, she had snapped that pathetic excuse of a warlock's fingers, with no hesitation or remorse. She didn’t whine or ask us for help, handling it with a swiftness and brutality I’d not seen in a woman before.
A small chuckle leaves my lips with the memory. The asshole had been almost twice her size but she hadn’t hesitated for a second. Her small hand broke his fingers like she was snapping a twig. And all while wearing a dark expression I never expected to see on that small soft face.
I lost a little reason when I saw him trying to hit her and let my power loose. I even pushed the busty blonde who was a definite for the night away to maim the bastard. She had come in with us, and he thought he could touch her?
For disrespecting us in our domain, he left without the appendages he used against her, and would be a good example to anyone in the future who would try the same.
If Annex hadn’t intervened earlier, I would have drained the life from him right then and there. Maybe her seeing a bit of what's buried inside me would have been for the best, maybe she wouldn’t be so stubborn or even want to be around us anymore if I had.
And the sooner she left, the better.
It would happen eventually, either when she got what she wanted or when she realised what we really were.
I lean back in my seat, watching as students enter and leave the Cafeteria, their eyes only briefly glancing toward me before either blushing or turning away quickly.
I watch as Ezra and Annex enter and stand either side of Micai as she drools over the food she’s handed by the server. She acts like she was deprived of food…
My brows scrunch together before I shake the thought away.
She was from a prestigious family. Even if she lacked power or favour, she still carried the ‘Bane’ name.
My eyes trail down her small body. Her figure seems quite toned, even with the academy's uniform I could make out the dips and curves sitting in all the right places. She flicks her free hand out, slapping Annex’s fingers away from her food as he chuckles.
Was he really serious about this, about her?
I shake my head, a heavy sigh leaving my lips. He couldn’t be.
It was Annex . And the only thing he was serious about was blood and carnage. This was a phase. Something to pass time. He would realise it soon and everything would go back to how it was before.
I look outside the bay window near our table, and out toward the dormitories in the distance.
I still never found the person from the night of Morgan's attack.
Annex and Mallyn had scoured the forest every night for a week, with Ezra pulling every bit of information he could from everyone around him. But there was still nothing.
No-one saw or even heard anything that night. Like the guy didn’t even exist.
Mallyn makes his way over, taking a seat in his now normal spot. Even he couldn’t get a trace on them, and his beast was…something else.
Morgan had also confirmed that they had actually helped her that night, but she couldn’t recall many details. She said it was too dark and to drop it, that they helped her and that's all that mattered. But I think she knew more than she was telling.
Even though I was grateful for them helping her, I still wanted answers.
And this assassin or ‘ninja’ as Annex liked to say, must have some.
And what I want, I always get my hands on, one way or another.
Micai’s POV
I make my way past Annex and Ezra and toward my seat, ignoring Creed and his usual cold stare. And the distance Mallyn chose to sit from me.
I notice the pointed stares and whispers as I walk over. More and more people had been paying attention to me, even more than usual.
Were they really that jealous that I was spending time with their ‘Infernal Four’?
I stifle a chuckle. It was a terrible name. Imagine, one small spelling error and they become ‘The Internal Four’.
It also sounded like some hell-bound quartet or demonic boy band.
I flicker my gaze between the four boys, an image of them wearing matching boy band costumes taking over my thoughts and it has a stupid grin stretching my cheeks.
I sit down and start to dig into my dinner, three extra-large slices of pepperoni pizza. It had become more normal over the past week to eat together, even Creed making more of an appearance since the fight night.
Annex, Mallyn and I would meet in class, sharing more of them than I had thought. I guess they just never showed up before. Then we head to the cafeteria together for lunch or dinner, sitting with Ezra and Mr. Sunshine over here.
“Lovely little message you left for me in class, Red.” Grins Annex, piquing Ezra’s interest as Mallyn shows a rare smirk.
“What message?” Asks Ezra as he grabs a slice of his chicken-barbeque pizza and starts eating, his eyes flickering between Annex and me.
I take a large bite of my own slice, the crispy dough and melt-in-your-mouth mozzarella making me hum happily, his question now forgotten as I eat.
Annex chuckles as he watches me, his own lips making their way around a huge meat-lovers slice as Mallyn opens his mouth.
“She made a little addition to Annex’s name on her seat in World History. Annex eats dick. ”
I stop eating for a moment, looking toward Mallyn. He had just spoken more today with that one sentence, than I’ve heard him speak since we met.
I’m staring at him, my eyes a little wide as a muffled laugh breaks out behind me.
“Annex eats dick…” Ezra puts his half eaten slice down and wipes his lips through his chuckling.
The psycho in question leans in toward me, his gaze flickering between my eyes and the food I’m eating.
“I’d prefer to wrap my lips around something a little sweeter, Red.”
The table falls silent.
Ezra whips around to Annex, his eyes widened. Mallyn’s mouth opens slightly, and Creed’s gaze seems to be burrowing a large hole in Annex’s face.
A strange feeling wraps itself around me, a shiver working its way down my lower abdomen with the dark gaze Annex is giving me. I don’t think he was talking about dessert, at least not the edible kind anyway.
I shake my head, pushing the thought away. No, he meant the food. He had to.
“Then go get some.” I grab my last slice and take a huge bite as the grin grows wicked on his face.
“Is that an invitation, Red?” His eyes drop to my lips as I finish off my last slice, licking a little sauce from my lip. “Fuck. ” He mumbles as he shifts in his seat.
He moves closer, bending further toward me with an almost feral look in his eyes, just as a hand reaches out and smacks the back of his head.
Annex whips around, a widened look in his eyes before they narrow at Ezra.
Ezra shrugs, a small smirk stretching his cheeks. “Gotta treat a girl with respect, bro.”
“Girl?” Annex almost chokes on the word, his brows reaching his hairline as he stares at Ezra before he turns toward me.
A sinful expression quickly takes over his face as he watches me. His eyes slowly trailing down me before finally landing on my lips. “I don't see a ‘girl, ’ Ez.”
A heat begins to creep up my neck and into my cheeks with his words. The dark look in his eyes catching me off guard and wrapping me in its intense thrall. Maybe we weren’t talking about food.
A throat clears from my left and pulls our attention back. Creed.
“Funny,” he calls, leaning further back in his seat and propping his feet on the nearest chair.“All I see is an annoying chick who has issues sharing…” he flickers his gaze toward my empty plate and then to the chair below me, “ And is a little psychotic about where she sits.”
I scoff, turning toward the smug asshole.
“As if you can talk. Clearly your sharing issues are worse than mine.” I flicker my gaze between him and the table we’re all sitting at.
Annex chuckles while Ezra bites back a laugh, his gaze falling on Creed before he schools his grin.
“ And , if I’m psychotic…and he’s clearly demented,” I point to Annex. “What does that make the three of you?” I glance toward Mallyn, then Ezra, and finally land on Creed.
Ezra’s grin returns as he points toward Mallyn.
“He’d be the berserker, and I’d be…” He taps his lips, a playful smile spreading on them as he gives a casual shrug, “The loveable romantic?”
Annex chokes on a chuckle, “More like obsessive .”
Ezra’s smile falters, turning toward Annex as a scoff leaves his lips, “As if you can talk.”
Annex follows Ezra’s gaze as it flickers toward me, a strange expression forming in his eyes before he shrugs and grins. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”
I shake away the unreadable look they’re both giving me and turn back toward Creed, who seems completely bored with their conversation.
“What about him?” I point toward Creed.
“What about me?” Creed calls, his interest now piqued as a small scowl darkens his expression.
“What are you ?”
“What do you think I would be?” A dark amused look spreads in his eyes as the other guys fall silent around us.
“Major Asshole?” I reply, tapping my chin as Annex and Ezra begin to snicker, “Patronising Prince…Harbinger of Glares…” I shrug. “There's plenty more but we only get such a short break to eat.”
Creed's feet drop to the floor as he leans toward my direction, a dark gleam in his eyes. “Patronising Prince?”
I mock gasp, shaking my head before slightly bowing it.“My apologies, my dark Lord …how could there be anyone more patronising than you .”
After a seconds beat, I lift my head, waiting for the angry glare to split me in two, or rage-filled words to be thrown at me, but freeze instead.
Creed's dark brows are drawn together, but there's no anger in his gaze. His lips slowly tilt up as he slowly pulls back, a slight roll to his eyes as he leans further back in his chair again.
The others break out chuckling around me.
“You look like a deer in headlights, Red.”
Even Mallyn is chuckling.
“What were you expecting?” Laughs Ezra.
“Probably to be split in two.” Grins Annex.
“...Yeah,” I answer, looking back toward Creed. “I wasn’t expecting that .” I point toward Creed's face. “It's more terrifying.”
Creed’s grin grows wider and more smug with my words as he leans a fraction closer to me.
“Good that you–” Creed's words are cut off by his ringtone.
He looks down at the screen, his brows furrowing before he quickly taps out a response. Then he turns toward the guys, all playfulness now gone from his face as he straightens himself and stands.“We’ve got business to deal with.”
He gives them each a pointed look before turning and heading out of the cafeteria. Mallyn gives me a quick glance before he follows straight after him. Ezra sighs, pulling himself up from his seat.
He gives me a small grin, telling me he’ll ‘ Catch me later’ , before he joins Creed and Mallyn.
Annex grumbles as he looks after his friends before turning back to me, a small smile spreading on his lips as our eyes meet.
“Don’t miss me too much, Red. I’ve gotta go play for a bit, but I’ll be back soon.”
“Play?” I ask.
“Nothing too fun, just business stuff.” He pulls himself from his seat, rolling his eyes before he soon freezes.
A dark twinkle growing in them with whatever crazy idea probably formed in his head.
“Maybe, one day soon you can come and give me a hand.” A wicked grin spreads on his lips as his eyes become a little dazed, lost in his own thoughts.
“You would look so beautiful wielding a blade and covered in blood…” His voice lowers to a throaty hum as he bites his bottom lip, his gaze returning to me.
“And then afterwards, you and me can have some proper playtime.” He gives me a devilish grin, one full of sinful dreams and dark promises before turning and following the others out.
A familiar heat creeps into my cheeks and up my neck with his words.
Crazy bastard. Who wanted to ‘ play’ with him? His idea of fun probably ended with multiple corpses and a few hefty wanted posters.
But he did get one thing right…I do look pretty cool with a blade in my hand.