29. Sisi
29
SISI
" I 'm worried, Vlad. I told the doctor he wouldn't try to kill himself, but what if he did?" I pace outside Marcello's salon. The nurses needed to sedate him after he'd woken up, begging Vlad to kill him right in the lobby of the hospital.
"He's going to be okay," Vlad says, taking my arm and tugging me to his side. "I don't think he was really trying to kill himself. But I suspect Catalina's abrupt departure from the house must have had something to do with it."
"How did you know?" I frown, leaning back to look at him.
"I spotted her at Agosti's. And she didn't look much better than your brother," Vlad purses his lips.
"What could have happened..." I mutter, confused.
How come everything happened all at once? Lina had left the house in such a hurry, taking Claudia with her and not answering any of my calls. For the first time, she'd truly shut me out, and I don't know what to do about it.
"It's for them to figure out, Hell Girl. We can only make sure that your brother gets out of this unscathed."
"Can you stay over? There's no one at the house and..." I trail off. I don't know why the prospect of an empty house scares me so much. Maybe because I'm still a little afraid of dark and lonely places.
"You don't even have to ask," he tells me, and I'm immediately more at ease. "I wouldn't dream of leaving you alone. Especially if rumors of Marcello's absence were to circulate."
I nod. I hadn't thought about that, but it makes sense that we'd be seen as easy targets. I'd learned a thing or two about the mob since leaving Sacre Coeur, and family is always the weakness most exploited.
"God, when will the misfortunes stop?" I groan out loud, sagging against Vlad's body.
"I trust your brother will figure things out," he sighs, "and as soon as he gets his shit sorted, I'm telling him about us. Including that I want to marry you," he declares, and my eyes widen at his words.
Pulling back, I look suspiciously at him, studying him from head to toe.
"What brought this on?" I ask. He'd casually said he was going to marry me before, but I hadn't taken it to heart, since Vlad has a flair for the dramatic. That and his dry sense of humor make for a deadly combination, ensuring that I rarely take his words seriously. But now? He seems pretty serious to me.
"I'm tired of hiding, and I'm tired of walking on eggshells around him. But mostly I don't want to be apart from you anymore," he tells me, a defeated look on his face.
I quickly sober up, knowing there must be more to this. Especially considering how he'd behaved last night, desperation clinging to him as I'd tried to comfort him in my arms. The pure shock I'd felt when I realized tears were flowing down his cheeks... Whatever he'd found out during his visit to the psychiatrist must have affected him more than he'd let on.
Even now, with his body against mine, I can feel the tension radiating off him, his usual smile gone as if keeping up the ruse of joviality is too much for him.
I know he's not telling me everything, and it's killing me inside to see him like this .
"Why?" I throw the question at him, doubt niggling at me.
His eye twitches as he forces a smile on his face.
"I told you, Sisi. You keep the demons at bay." Is all he says as he pulls me into him, his lips on mine.
I let myself enjoy the kiss, but a foreign thought invades my mind.
He's never told me what demons.
Hell, the most I know about his problems is that he has bad episodes. But besides that, he's still an enigma. I know his history, I know his quest, I know all the facts. But why do I feel like I'm missing the biggest piece of the puzzle?
The truth is that I'm too far gone to consider what that might mean for me or for our relationship. I already love him too much to ever consider leaving him, regardless of what he's dealing with. I'll just do my best to help him through it.
I know that as long as I'm useful to him he'll never leave me, so I'll just have to make sure I'm indispensable to him.
"Okay," I agree in a soft voice. "Never let me go and I'm yours. That's my only condition, Vlad." I take a deep breath, "I know who you are, and what you are capable of." I raise my hand to caress his cheek, his eyes pinning me with their intense stare, "And I accept all of you as you are." I brush my thumb against his lips, "The bad and the good. Just don't ever leave me." My own lips tremble as I utter the words, baring my soul and my one weakness to him.
"I don't think I can imagine a world where you're not, Sisi. Not anymore," he confesses and my lips tug upwards.
"Good." I give him a full smile.
Because I don't think I can imagine a world without you either.
It wouldn't be fair to say I'm not scared of the future, especially since Vlad is so... volatile. But I knew the moment I realized my feelings for him that loving him would never be easy. It will always be a battle with myself and him. With myself because I don't think I'll ever stop yearning for his love, even while knowing he's not capable of it. And with him because there might come a day when his logical mind will tell him I'm a liability, and of no further use.
As long as he never lets go, I will never let go .
"I love you." I lay my head on his chest, whispering the words so softly he can't hear them, because he wouldn't even know what to do with them. No, they're for my benefit only as I'm trying to materialize this love I feel so deep in my chest.
"What was that?" He frowns, but I just shake my head and smile.
"Nothing," I say, taking refuge in the warmth of his arms, the only type of warmth he's capable of giving me.
A couple of days in the hospital and Marcello is discharged to come home. For all his protests that he hadn't tried to kill himself, the doctor in charge asks me to supervise him so that he doesn't try anything again.
Vlad has been spending all his free time with me while I've been alone at the house, even though I know he has some outstanding matters to attend to as well. His gesture has been sweet, and we've found ways to entertain ourselves.
He's definitely been overly enthusiastic to share his favorite movies with me, even though I did not find them romantic in the least. Why, I should have known that with a title like Human Centipede, I wasn't bound to find anything remotely sappy inside—other than a lot of freely flowing bodily fluids.
Considering it was one of the rare times I'd seen him so immersed in something, I tried to share his enthusiasm, especially as he delved into the science part, gushing about the creativity of the scenes.
"Maybe you should try this next time you torture someone," I'd joked, and he'd turned to me wide-eyed, giving me a big smooch as he told me I was a genius.
"Why didn't I think about it before? Fucking hell, this is exactly what I need for my next experiment, and there doesn't have to be too much blood either." He'd become so excited and I'd listened patiently as he started designing the experiment, using some pointers from the movie, but putting his own spin on it.
But two days and I've been spoiled by his presence, and now that Marcello's back we need to be more careful. At least until things settle down.
I am still skeptical about whether Marcello is suicidal or not, and because of that I want to be extra careful with Vlad, already anticipating how Marcello's going to react to the news.
"Do you need anything?" I ask my brother as I help him to his room. The mere fact that he's allowing my touch when he'd been a beast to the nurses is astounding. I'd gotten some details from Vlad about his aversion to touch, but nothing concrete.
"No." He sounds surly as he answers, hopping to his bed and resting his leg on it.
"Marcello..." I start, but he doesn't even let me continue as he asks me to step out.
Sighing, I do, but that doesn't stop me from visiting him every few hours, just to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.
"He's not very cooperative," I tell Vlad on the phone after I've said good night to Marcello. "I don't know what could have made him behave like this..."
"Don't worry that pretty head of yours, Hell Girl. It's between him and his wife, and they should solve it at some point."
"You're right but," I lower my voice to a whisper, "I think I heard him cry, Vlad. I don't think he's doing fine at all. I'm worried." I bite my lip, my forehead creasing.
"Sisi," Vlad groans, "it's complicated."
"So you know what happened," I fire at him.
"Of course I do," he replies, almost offended, "I wouldn't be me if I didn't," he jokes, and I can already see his satisfied smile behind the phone.
"Well, spill. What happened?"
"I may know the circumstances, but it's not my story to share, Sisi. Your brother fucked up, but I can't say he was wholly guilty," he says cryptically, avoiding answering any of my questions on the subject.
"Fine, I'll figure it out," I mutter, hanging up.
I don't understand all the secrecy. Marcello is surly, Vlad knows what happened but won't tell me, and Lina won't even answer my calls. I'm one minute away from going to her brother's house and demanding a meeting.
"Sisi?" Venezia knocks on my door.
"Yes, come in." I give her a welcoming smile. If I'm in the dark, I can't imagine how Venezia feels.
She walks inside slowly, almost uncertain of herself.
"Sit." I pat the bed next to me.
"Do you think Lina and Claudia are ever coming back?" she asks in a small voice, her tone telling me that she doesn't think they will.
"They will," I try to reassure her, "they have to." I take her hand, squeezing it gently.
She gives me a tremulous smile, leaning forward to place her head on my shoulder. I tug her into my arms, giving her a hug.
"They will," I repeat, though even I'm not sure of that either.
But I can see my younger self in Venezia, and how the only thing I'd ever hoped for had been acceptance — somewhere to belong. For the first time she'd had a semblance of a family, and it had quickly disintegrated.
"I'm glad you're here with us," she whispers, her eyes damp with unshed tears. "I like having a sister."
"Me too," I reply, kissing the top of her head. "Me too."
The situation doesn't improve. With each passing day, Marcello becomes even more withdrawn, spending all his time locked away in his study. The few times I'd tried to reach out he'd made it clear that I'm not welcome and that I should mind my own business.
When a week's gone by and all my attempts at drawing him out of his shell are in vain, I resort to calling Vlad—the self-confessed thorn in his backside.
"You're hurting me, Hell Girl," Vlad complains on the phone when I tell him my idea.
"You know it's true. So go do your best and annoy Marcello into joining the world of the living again."
"Fineeee." He relents, even though I can tell that inside he's giddy at the prospect of messing a little with my brother. They certainly have a weird dynamic going on .
A while later, I can tell that Vlad's worked his magic, but not in a good way.
"Stay away from him, Sisi. I mean it. I made it clear to him that he's not to interact with either you or Venezia, but he can't seem to help himself." Marcello pulls me aside after his meeting with Vlad, looking pissed off.
"Marcello, I don't understand why you're so against him. You're friends, aren't you?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
"Friends..." He gives a dry laugh. "Vlad doesn't have friends. He only has people he uses. So don't try to feel sorry for him."
"What do you mean? What did he ever do to you?" I'm tired of Marcello warning me off Vlad but never telling me anything more.
"He isn't like other people, Sisi. Don't try to find anything good about him because there's none. Yeah, he's damned smart, and he makes sure to use that brain of his to manipulate everyone around him," he continues, and I stifle the urge to roll my eyes.
"You're still not telling me why you dislike him so much."
Marcello sighs. "I don't dislike him per se, but I know to be wary of him. He's... unpredictable. He has his interests and he doesn't care who he harms as long as he reaches his goals. Why, he might as well have been the one who put the gun in Valentino's hand," he mutters, and I still.
"What do you mean?"
"It's complicated, Sisi. I told you, he's not what he seems, and I need you to trust me that no good will come from you being anywhere near him. Only death comes to those who get tangled with him."
"Fine," I lie to placate him, even though he still hasn't told me why he's so wary of Vlad.
On the bright side, at least Marcello's speaking to me again.
As I'm starting to hope that harmony will return to our house, Marcello gets himself into trouble again. Granted, this time it's for saving Lina, but after what he's done to her it's the least he could do.
I don't realize how bad his situation is, though, until I get to the hospital. Vlad and Adrian are already there, and they tell me that Marcello's had a narrow encounter with death. Lina had gotten away with a few bruises only, and Enzo had managed to convince her to go home and rest.
"At least there's no more danger, right?" I ask Vlad when we're finally alone. Marcello's been moved to a private salon, but the anesthetic hasn't worn off so we can't see him yet.
"Yes. I killed Nicolo myself. In fact, I have his body in the trunk of my car and I should probably get rid of it soon." He scratches the back of his head, feigning an innocent look.
"Damn." I swat him. "That's reckless," I say, narrowing my eyes at him, and he looks bashfully away. "You do realize I'm not marrying you in prison," I add, watching a sheepish smile spread on his face.
"And miss the conjugal visits?" One finger trails down the front of my dress, lightly caressing my nipple.
"Get your head out of the gutter, mister." I catch his finger, pushing it away. "We need to get rid of that body while my brother is still out of it."
"I forgot you're not the squeamish type, Hell Girl," he drawls, caging me against the wall. One look around and I realize we're in full view of the entire hospital.
"People are watching." I raise my eyes to find him gazing at me with an amused expression on his face.
"Let them watch." He lowers his mouth to my ear, his voice making the hairs on my body stand up. "You know how my cock reacts every time you're talking murder," he whispers, his tongue sneaking out to lick the lobe of my ear.
"The murder has already occurred," I mention, trying to steer the conversation to a more serious order of business. "We need to do the clean-up."
"Doesn't matter, it involves a body. A dead body," he continues, twirling his tongue around my cheek, "you know I love it when you talk corpse to me," he says and I can't stop myself from giggling.
"Is that so? You love it when I talk corpse to you?" I grab him by the lapels, bringing him into me.
"Hell Girl, you have no idea how hard you made me the first time I saw you push your hand into that nun's guts. Fuck if it wasn't the hottest sight I've ever seen," he rasps against my flesh .
"Mmm, since it's confession time," I start, watching his pupils dilate with arousal, his nostrils flaring as he pushes himself into me, rubbing his erection against my stomach, "I was dripping wet when you choked me in the church."
"Sisi," he groans, his shoulders sagging. "You shouldn't say something like that."
"Why?"
"It makes me want to do more. Things that would make you scream in pleasure and in pain."
"Do it," I dare him, wanting everything he has to offer.
"Fuuuuck!" He takes a deep breath. "Let's get rid of the body."
A smile pulls at my lips at his obviously frustrated expression, and as we get to the parking lot, he opens the trunk to give me a sneak peek of Nicolo—or what's left of him.
"You couldn't have made this cleaner?" I shake my head at him. The entirety of Nicolo's skull had been blown to pieces.
"Well," he grimaces, "I got too into it." He shrugs.
"When do you not get too into it?" I mutter under my breath, amused. "Okay, now what's the next step?"
"Hmm," he strokes his chin pensively, "depends on what you want to do with it. We can burn him, chop him up and throw him at the bottom of the ocean, or even better chop him up and scatter him across the city. Like a treasure hunt." His face lights up.
"And the evidence? Wouldn't that be courting danger?"
"Isn't that the beauty of it?" He tilts his head back, smiling. "Why would anyone kill without the thrill of being caught? It's like a drug." He takes a deep breath, controlling his excitement.
"Is that what you normally do?" I raise an eyebrow at him.
Vlad might be volatile, but he's also smart enough to cover his tracks every time.
"Sometimes," he shrugs, "when I want to play with the cops. I leave them a crumb here, or there. It's awfully fun to watch them take the bait and follow fake leads," he explains, a wide smile on his face as he reminisces about some of his encounters with the FBI.
"One time, I was even brought in as a witness, if you can believe it," he chuckles. "I had to put on the best act of my life as I tried to look distressed. I might have even shed a tear," he recounts, proud of himself.
While he might find these events funny, I find them rather sad. Is that what he does because he has no friends to play with? It certainly looks like a lonely boy trying to get some attention any way he could—even if it was from the police.
"Right," I reply drily, "let's do bottom of the ocean. I don't think we need any scrutiny right now."
Especially with my brother in the hospital, the last thing we need is the police knocking on our doors.
"You're no fun," he complains, but he does get in the driver's seat, putting the car into gear and leaving the parking lot.
"Okay, we need to drop by your place and cut off the recognizable parts," I add, having read up a little on the subject.
Vlad might enjoy the thrill of being chased by the police, but I like the thrill of knowing that a dead body stays dead and unsearchable .
"Hell Girl, your knowledge astounds me," he praises, bringing my hand up to his lips for a kiss. "I might even let you do the honors."
"Why, Vlad, that might be the most romantic thing you've ever said to me." I bat my lashes at him, playing his game.
"Only for you," he murmurs softly, and I get a tingling in my lower region, the thought of him taking me on top of the car's trunk while my uncle's dead body lies beneath us, making me incredibly hot.
We're soon back to the compound, the moon high up in the sky as Maxim takes out Nicolo from the trunk, bringing him into one of Vlad's science rooms and laying him onto a table.
"What first?" I ask as Vlad starts the drain, the blood pooling under the table and into a system specifically built to get rid of bodily fluids.
"Hands?" He pulls on a pair of gloves, giving me one too.
"Come." He takes me into his arms, his back to my front. His cock is wedged right between my ass cheeks as he wraps my fingers around a blade.
His breath on my neck, he guides me as I push the sharp end of the knife into the dead flesh. His hand on top of mine, he supplements the strength needed for the blade to puncture the skin.
My breath hitches when he lifts my hand, bringing it down with so much force against the bone, cutting through it, pieces shattering around us.
"Yes," he whispers, "just like that," he rasps against my ear, and I instinctively push my ass into him.
"Yes," I repeat after him, entranced by the way my uncle's body gives way to the pressure, more splintered bone flying through the air, the flesh breaking, but little blood pouring out of the open cuts.
"It turns you on, doesn't it?" Vlad murmurs, his open mouth trailing up my neck. "Death, destruction, devastation... it makes you wet, doesn't it?"
I whimper, unable to respond as my legs part of their own accord. Vlad is quick to tug his gloves off his hands, his bare fingers trailing the inside of my thigh. I'm almost bent over the dead body, my back arched as the tips of his fingers light the fire in my veins.
"Cut," he commands, handing me the butcher knife, while he picks up another skinnier one.
I comply as I push the blade into soft flesh, a gasp escaping me when I feel him part my ass cheeks, a foreign object sneaking between my folds.
"So fucking wet," he groans, pushing the hilt of the knife against me. "Imagine this is my dick fucking you, pressing into you." His words are only making me wetter as the top of the knife probes at my entrance, easily sliding inside. It's almost the same size as two of his fingers, but the forbidden feeling of being fucked by a knife has me almost coming on the spot.
"Vlad..." I moan at the sensation as the knife slowly moves in and out of me.
"Next time it's something bigger, and bigger," he rasps, pushing it deeper inside of me, "until you're ready to take my big cock into your tight little body." He brushes my hair aside, peppering kisses over my exposed back.
"Cut!" His voice booms into my ear as he continues to thrust into me, and I have to force myself to obey, bringing the blade over my uncle's body, the pleasure so intense I don't even know where I'm cutting anymore .
I'm just swinging the blade around, slashing haphazardly as Vlad fucks me with his knife.
"God," I moan when he increases the speed, and I feel a warm liquid coat the hilt of the knife as it enters me, lubricating the walls of my pussy even more.
"Come," he demands, one finger playing with my clit until he brings me over the edge, my voice ringing into the room as I tighten my hands over my own knife, hitting with as much force as I can, nabbing my uncle's chest as the blade lodges into his sternum.
Sagging against him, he slowly removes the knife from my pussy, bringing it up to his mouth and sucking in the mix of my juices and blood.
My eyes widen as I take in the blood dripping from the blade, but then I realize where it's coming from. Vlad's hand is wrapped around the sharp part of the knife, his skin broken and bleeding.
"What..." I grab the knife out of his hand, turning his palm up so I can see the damage. "Why did you..." I trail off, noting his intense stare, the darkness of his pupils as they engulf his eyes.
"I wanted to pour myself into you," he whispers, his palm sliding up my neck and smearing his blood on my skin.
I'm enthralled by his presence, even though I can feel he's teetering on the precipice as his gaze narrows on the red on my body.
Bringing his hand to my mouth, I suck on each finger, my eyes on his as I let my tongue lap at his open wound.
"Hell Girl, you're my fucking kryptonite," he says before he brings me roughly against him, our teeth clashing as his mouth opens over mine, kissing me with an unexpected ferocity.
I can taste myself on his tongue, as well as the metallic taste of his blood. Knowing he pumped his blood in my pussy somehow makes me even hotter, and I proceed to show him just how much by worshipping his cock with my mouth.
In the end, Nicolo gets thrown into a furnace, his body burned and turned to ash. Vlad's excuse, though, is that he wanted to see my savage side as I desecrated my own uncle's body.
I'd be mad at him if it hadn't been the height of eroticism, once more confirming that there's nothing Vlad could do that would turn me away from him—not even him fucking me on top of a dead body. In fact, one might argue that's his allure.
"I won't be able to come by tomorrow," he tells me as he drops me off at home, stopping the car across the street from my house. "I have a meeting and it might take the entire day," he sighs.
"What meeting?" I ask, hearing about this for the first time.
"I'm inviting the syndicate bosses from the East Coast for a small fête," he replies, not sounding in the least enthusiastic. "I want to see if they know anything about Miles." He explains why he thinks they might have some information, recounting how his brother had been a liaison with the other states and he thinks he might have met Miles or at least his partner through some of the other bosses.
"And you really think they'll talk?"
"No," he smiles ruefully, "but I aim to gently coax them into talking."
"You're joking." I raise an eyebrow at him when he tells me about his grand plan of organizing an all-out debauchery full of naked women, drugs, and alcohol.
"I can't just kill them," he pouts, "I'd become public enemy number one. Not that I'm not already. But I'm trying not to become everyone's target." He sighs, as if it's the hardest thing he's ever done—not killing someone.
"I'm with you on that account." I cross my arms over my chest, "Until the naked women part."
"Jealous?" He wiggles his eyebrows at me, a smile playing on his lips.
"If you want your dick to remain where it is—attached to your body." I lean into him, my fingers brushing against the front of his pants as I grab him. "You better be deaf and blind to anything that goes on there."
"Damn it, Sisi," he breathes harshly, maneuvering me on top of him, "how can I bear to leave you alone when you say something like that?" He nuzzles his face in my hair, "You know I love it when you threaten me."
"You're weird," I joke.
"And you're the only one for me. I thought we'd established that." He looks me in the eye, his expression serious. "Now run along before I decide to cuff you to my side."
"Tempting," I drawl, dragging my nails down his chest.
"But not productive. At least for now." He gives me an intoxicating smile. "Maybe later," he whispers against my lips as he gives me one last kiss.
Reluctantly, I leave him as I make my way back to my room, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with me.
But as I go to bed, I can only dream about how sweet the future will be.