Chapter 11 Julien #2
“Is that…” Sai begins, but his own disbelief cuts him short. He shakes his head clear. “Is that her? And she’s… she’s texting you!”
Kane continues to type. “Yes.”
“And you’ve… you’ve given her a jingle?” Sai’s voice spikes, caught between outrage and shock.
“She can sense us fighting. She’s asked us to stop.” Kane never once looks up as he speaks. “To be specific, she asked me not to hurt you or Julien.”
Be still my immortal heart.
He keeps typing. “I’m trying to convince her otherwise.”
Then Ezekial’s phone vibrates. My eyes dart towards him, he removes it and immediately smiles down at the screen.
“Wait. Fucking hold on. Don’t tell me she’s texting you too? Both of you?” Sai’s head snaps between the two brothers, blue light flaring in short, angry bursts as they keep staring down at their phones. “Since when? How?”
They ignore him.
“She’s incredibly persuasive, brother, isn’t she?” Ezekial murmurs, delivering a sideways glance at Kane. That smile of his twists into something taunting as he continues to ignore Sai and me.
“This is cruel,” Sai snarls internally.
“Sadistic,” I add bitterly.
“She doesn’t understand the importance of punishment,” Kane elaborates, reading his screen. “Not yet.”
“Punishment?” I query with Sai.
“She should choose our punishment,” Sai snaps out, his pleasure embarrassingly clear.
I step forwards. “Yes. Whatever she wishes. By her hand, of course.”
Ezekial peers up with a loud scoff, his narrowed gaze flitting between Sai and me. “Sure, like you wouldn’t enjoy every moment of it, you sick fucks. It’s not a punishment if you’re arous—
“Done.”
Ezekial stares at his brother, mouth parted, eyes wide.
“Why brother?” Ezekial sighs, his tone drenched in exasperation and disbelief. Kane looks up, studying his brother with a frown. “Why would you tell her that?”
Kane’s brows furrow. “Because we’re telling the truth?”
“Yes, but not that!” Ezekial scrubs a hand down his face. “You get that they want her to punish them, right?”
Want? What a fool to use such a watered-down word.
I don’t want it. I crave it.
The very thought of Jasmine inflicting harm upon me, splitting my skin, spilling my blood, with her hands... I am suddenly ravenous.
Sai’s laughter crackles through the bond. “Split skin, spilt blood... careful, mate, you’re turning me on.”
My lips twitch and Sai smirks back.
“No, we tell her every truth. We don’t pick and choose, brother.” Kane’s stern voice as he speaks to Ezekial breaks my fantasying. “It has worked well so far.”
“We can all see that,” I murmur, noticing the marks of darkness no longer maiming him.
Kane’s dark, harrowing gaze snaps to me. “Elaborate.”
My lips curve into a small smile. I open my palm, indicating towards the room. “Your control, it was... magnificent.”
Kane’s stare somehow darkens.
“You did a clean 180 right then,” Sai decides to elaborate. “One second you’re choking me, not hard enough by the way.” He winks. “Then the next, you’re texting our girl like nothing happened. ‘Well’ might be the understatement of the century.”
“I’d say,” Ezekial murmurs, and there’s a hint of... is that... jealousy tinging those quiet words?
I arch a brow, and Kane turns towards his brother. “You need not tell them bro—”
“They slept.” Ezekial’s eyes sweep over Sai then me. “Both of them. Together.”
“Together? As in… skin-on-skin together?” Sai’s voice drops, the disbelief roughened by something darker. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
Kane stares hard at his brother. “Ezekial, there’s no need—”
But his words disintegrate, because all I can focus upon is the memory Ezekial shares.
Her. Asleep. On Kane’s chest.
Her skin slightly flushed and once more filled with a glow, her hair surrounding her in a plume of red like a radiant flame, a vibrant halo. And she’s... touching him.
Jealousy. No... envy. The bitter, acrid, feverish emotion swarms around us.
My fangs ache as I study the memory intently, fixating upon the tiny pulse beneath her smooth throat, how her delicate fingers clutch onto Kane.
I may not show my inner turmoil, not like Sai, who’s practically vibrating with envious rage, his markings blazing. But they all sense it.
Then the memory flitters away.
Without the image, more reasonable—justifiable—thoughts resume.
“Thank you, for healing her,” I manage.
“So you get a sleepover and text messages…” Sai tuts as he leans in, trying to glimpse Kane’s screen before he shields it.
“You should call her, put it on speaker,” he cooly suggests.
When Kane shoots him a warning glare, Sai shrugs.
“Relax. I can be quiet. I’ll be as quiet as the man whose tongue I ripped out this morning—”
The cheerful jingle silences us all.
Kane reads the new message, dark brows pulling together, then his gaze flits over each of us. “She wants a meeting. With us all.”
Ezekial frowns. “When? Where?”
“Tonight. Your meeting room.” Kane types out another message. “I’m trying to convince her Julien and Sai aren’t necessary.”
“You fucker.” Sai lunges for Kane’s phone, but the dark-being moves effortlessly aside.
Then the jingle returns and Kane exhales, glancing up. “She disagrees.”
Sai’s smirks. “Knew she would.”
Kane and Ezekial trade a look of distaste, which makes Sai’s smirk twist into something darker. “What?” he snaps. “You think we don’t deserve to see her?”
“After what you did? No.” Ezekial’s voice is all steel, his eyes burning silver. “You fucked up, both of you, and you think we should just forget about it?”
“No,” I interject before Sai explodes. “Not forget. But remember we have all made mistakes, and that it is Jasmine who decides how we move forwards. It’s her choice, not yours.”
My words strike a chord with both brothers. Their fury is warranted, expected, impressive quite honestly. It also reveals just how much our darkest brother has been lying to us—hiding.
Because his reaction, the revenge he wanted to enact on her behalf, was far beyond what I’d ever imagined. Dreamed of. It delighted me.
“What exactly did she tell you?” Sai asks with a small, teasing smile aimed at Kane. “Did she give you any details? Visuals?”
I glance at him. “Careful, Sai.”
Kane’s eyes bore into Sai until another text comes through, forcing his gaze away.
Sai smirks, sending me a sly look. “If she can feel us fighting, if that makes her text…” His expression is devious now, dangerous, especially given how close we were to the dark only moments ago. “Got an idea.”
“Sai, I’m uncertain an idea of yours is the wisest in this fragile situation—”
That sound.
He isn’t.
He hasn’t.
Sai doesn’t play a visual memory. No.
He shares a sound.
Her soft gasp, edging onto a whimper, on the cusp of—
It’s hardly a second, but I’ve memorised every nuance of it, painted a thousand images to compliment such a tantalising utterance.
Shadows spike out around Ezekial. “I’m going to fucking murder you.” He strikes, his hand around Sai’s throat in an instant, too fast for any of us to intervene.
Oh dear.
Sai grapples with it, teeth bared in a vicious grin. “Choke me… harder.”
Ezekial scowl deepens. “You sick fuck.” The room darkens as his grip tightens and blue sparks crawl up Sai’s arms.
“You’ll have to try… harder than… that… Lord.” Sai’s eyes blaze bright blue even as he struggles. “Come on… Do it.”
Ezekial’s jaw tightens, his light surging until it burns the edges of Sai’s skin as he snarls, “By the time I’m finished, you’ll wish I had, you psychotic little shit—”
A new jingle. Longer, louder, erupts around us.
All our eyes dart to the sound and its owner.
The sound is cut short as Kane answers, then listens.
“I did. It isn’t me,” he says, but he’s cut off. He waits. “We were, but that’s Ezekial and Sai. Why? Well... Because...”
Kane’s black gaze darts over us, landing on his brother and Sai, studying Ezekial’s hand still gripping Sai’s throat—albeit looser now.
I can’t make out her voice from this distance, just a small hum that fluctuates in volume as Kane listens intently.
I take a step closer.
“I know. I am. It’s just—” He stops. She’s interrupted him again, which is a shame, because I quite enjoy seeing my darkest brethren behave in such a way. “He shared a sound—of you—with us all.”
“What?!” We all hear her as Kane pulls the phone back from the sheer volume of her shout.
Sai uses the distraction to zap Ezekial’s hand, and the second he’s free from his grip, he rushes towards Kane. But just when I think he’s about to attempt another phone snatch, he stops right in front of him.
“Red, I only did it to make one of these fuckers snap and look. It worked,” he says, loud enough for her. Then, grin still in place, red marks around his throat, he slides to his knees. “Baby, I’ll kneel, I’ll beg, anything to—put the fucking camera on and show her.”
Kane stares down at him, impassive. “I’m not doing that, Sai.”
A new sound. One that makes my entire body tense, apprehensive to hear more. Did she…? Another step closer. Was that…?
Did she laugh?
No one speaks; we can’t. We’re too busy consuming that sound and picturing the way she looks when she makes it.
Sai recovers the quickest. “Red, I should’ve told you sooner.
I know. I begged the guys to let me.” Ah, so he’s going to throw us under the proverbial bus.
“I fucked up, and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you, I know.
That’s why I never let you touch me, because I knew if you did, I’d lose it.
I’m just not as controlled as these old fucks. I’m weak when it comes to you, baby.”
“Wow.” Ezekial rolls his eyes.
“Quite the performance,” I drone internally.
Kane releases a short burst of air, a rare sound for him, as his gaze settles on me. “She’s asking if you’re on your knees too, Julien.”
I move closer, urging her to hear every word. “I’ll only go on my knees before her. No one else will experience that—only her and her alone.”
“Overkill much,” Ezekial chimes in.
“I’m not repeating that, Julien,” Kane says, deadpan.
But there’s no need, because that heavenly sound comes—a soft, light laugh. My heart has never pounded so loudly. At that faint sound, all our tension melts, even Kane’s gaze softening.
“Jasmine, I will apologise for my behaviour every day of eternity, if you allow it.” I’m towering beside Kane now, my fingers twitching at the urge to take his phone, to hold it, to be closer to her in any way.
“I never expected to find a being like you. I never expected a little empath to have such power over me. But I am sorry, truly, for... indulging when you were not fully aware of all factors.”
She doesn’t respond, but something happens.
Something that rushes through us all because the shadows of the room nearly disappear—more light enters.
I need more of this. I need more of her.
“I believe the most reasonable action would be for you to decree a punishment for Sai and me,” I say.
“Fuck, yes.” Sai rises with a manic smile, eyes alight. “Anything, Red. Blood, tears, whatever you want.”
“Don’t say a word, Jasmine,” Ezekial intervenes, silver gaze sharp. “Kane and I can help you decide a suitable punishment.”
“You fucking spoilsport.” Sai sneers.
Ezekial glares at him, voice low. “I still propose we don’t let them attend tonight.”
I’ve never wanted to harm Ezekial like I do right now.
A rage bubbles, hot, fiery, uncontrollable, deep in my gut, my gaze locked on the lightest brother.
How dare he suggest such a thing? Such a cruel, dire punishment. Haven’t I suffered enough? Haven’t I lived several hells?
“Peel off my skin, douse me in acid, let the birds peck at my remains—but do not keep her from me a second longer.” I glare at Ezekial, preparing to lunge.
I may not reach him in time, not with my current strength, but I, and the beast within me, are prepared to try.
Sai steps closer, eyeing my murderous stare. “Not sure about the bird bit, mate...”
“Don’t let them off so easily,” Kane suddenly says, clearly responding to something Jasmine’s said.
His endless gaze darts over us. Then he sighs.
Sighs.
Have I ever seen him perform such a mundane action? I find myself fighting back a smile, murderous thoughts forgotten, whereas Sai grins at him openly.
“I understand. Tonight,” Kane confirms, then he ends the call.
Just like that.
He didn’t even let us say goodbye.
Even Ezekial stares at his brother with a mixture of disbelief and frustration. But there’s no time to argue, not when Kane’s hard gaze lands on me.
“You need to feed,” he orders.
Orders.
And he knows, knows better than all my brethren, how I react to orders.
The room dips into darkness, my voice low. “I do not need to—”
“You cannot, will not, see her whilst you’re not fully grounded.” His voice is firm, definitive, incorrigible.
I seek out the others and grow furious as all three hold a similar look of concern—and agreement.
I stare at the newly emerging shadows. “You would punish me further, brothers?”
“You know we don’t take pleasure in this, Julien.” Kane’s voice is the clearest I’ve ever heard it, strong and convincing. “But you know it’s necessary. You must feed.”
“My darkness sees it as a betrayal.” Kane is ready to rebut me, but I continue. “If I cannot feed from her, it will not allow me to feed at all. Even the thought of tasting another—”
The room flickers in and out of colour, silencing me.
I’m very aware of how ironic it is for me to be saying such a thing about betrayal, but it is the truth.
“You know he’s right,” Sai says to me with a small shrug. “You’re not ready to be near her—not like this.”
Kane steps closer, his darkness trailing behind like a heavy cloak, one fit for a king.
Eyes level with mine, the darkness there thriving. “She wants you there, therefore, I will offer you a bargain.”
My darkness, if it had a true physical form, rears its head at his comment. The room is immediately consumed by thick shadows, pulling me under and rendering me dormant as my darkness rises to take residence.
“I’m listening.” My voice is doubled.
“You feed and I’ll share a memory with you.”
I know the significance of this. Kane is offering a piece of himself, a vulnerability. But my darkness… that is a beast, one that survives on animalistic instincts, and all it wants is—
“Of her, a memory of her.”
“Yes,” we immediately reply.
“So for future reference, guys, Red-based bribery works on Julien.” Sai smirks, nudging my shoulder.
“Listen, we all need to focus now, put all our disagreements aside, and come together as a unit,” Ezekial addresses us all, his eyes a softer silver, the calm after the storm.
“This is our chance, maybe our only chance, and we cannot fuck it up.” He glances at Sai, me, then Kane.
“We need to make it right. All of it. All of us.”
“We will.” I’ve never heard Kane so certain about anything, and when his dark gaze settles upon us, his conviction pulses down the bond.
We will make this right. No matter what it takes. No matter how long.