IV
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"death is the only god
who comes when
you call."
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I SPRINTED OVER to Zane without thinking and crouched down, careful not to kneel on any shards of glass. His friends were nowhere in sight, and blood oozed from his back in a steady stream of scarlet. The gash ran across one of his wings, scarring the beautiful tattoo until it was almost unrecognisable.

"Zane?" I enquired with concern, studying the boy's face. A bruise had formed on his lip, and there was a cut running across the whole of his forehead. Anger seeped into my veins, wondering who had done this and why.

"Hey, you alright?" He obviously wasn't, but I felt the need to ask anyway.

The boy's eyes opened, and widened when he saw the pair of us above him.

"You need to go," Zane whispered. "Now."

"Sorry, what the fuck? Have you seen yourself?"

Evie pulled out her phone and typed '999' onto emergency dial. "I'll call an ambulance, you-"

"No," Zane grunted, interrupting Evie halfway through her sentence.

"No?" I half-shouted, my rage suddenly flowing out of my body like a tsunami. How the hell had he gotten himself into this mess? And how had he gotten those scratches from a supposed punch-up? "Zane, you're going to fucking bleed out outside a kebab shop if we don't do something."

Zane grunted and with suddenly determination opened his eyes fully. He tried to claw his way up to a seated position, but collapsed almost immediately. My heart skipped a beat, and I moved in the blink of an eye to catch his weight before he smacked back down onto the tarmac.

"Don't call an ambulance," He demanded, gritting his teeth. He tried to push me away but fell back into my arms once again. My body was bursting at the seams with adrenaline, so much so that I didn't notice the spark as our skin touched.

"Zane, what the hell?"

"I need to get back to my house," Zane grunted.

"Yeah, after a trip to the hospital," I retorted and pulled out my own phone.

I placed my thumb over the home button to unlock it, but Zane's hand grabbed mine before I had a chance. He squeezed roughly and I bit my gums to stop myself hissing in pain.

"Nadia," The man said sternly. "Trust me on this."

"You're bleeding out-"

"Trust me."

I had no reason or obligation to trust Zane - after all, I had only met him the night before - but for some alluring reason, I did.

I cast my gaze to Evie, whose eyes had widened to the size of saucers. She placed her hands on her hips, looking as unimpressed as my mother when I decided to get a nose piercing. And she was not impressed.

"Nadia, please don't tell me you're actually listening to him?" I stared at Evie. "Oh my God, you are?"

"If it's what he wants, then-"

"He'll die!"

"He just needs a few stitches," I sighed, reassessing the injury on Zane's back as he finally managed to sit upright without my help. He was panting, covered in a concoction of blood and sweat. His ebony hair was stuck to his forehead, eyes bloodshot. Still, despite looking as though he had crawled through a hedge and been drenched by a bucket of water, Zane was still beautiful. In a scary, horror-movie kind of way.

"Help me get him up."

Zane attempted to pry away my arm as I pulled him up, but I shot him my best death glare and he rolled his eyes. He didn't want help from two intoxicated teenagers, I could tell as much, but he had no choice.

Evie grabbed Zane's other arm and I got up the route to Zane's house on Google Maps, remembering the vague location from last night. My heart skipped a beat and I exhaled with relief when the dwelling came up as a ten minute walk away.

"I can't believe we're actually doing this," My best mate slurred, but we were both too drunk to think the wiser. "Who did this to you?"

Zane shook his head limply.

We started down the alleyway, and back to the street we had originally come from. The night was illuminated by the moon hanging above us in the black canvas of the sky, silver rays lighting our path. There was no one else in sight, and apart from the purr of distant engines, everything was silent. Zane managed to pick up his feet and walk, regaining his strength by the second. After crossing the road and emerging onto a busier street, we were greeted by numerous stares, but no one questioned us as we staggered by.

Fifteen painstakingly long minutes later, we arrived at Zane's beautiful house. The ocean crashed beyond the sea wall, sending droplets of salty water into the air. The Halloween decorations had already been taken down, leaving the white detached house looking bare and uninhabited. Lights glowed through the windows, the porch-light burning orange as we hauled Zane up the step and banged on the door.

I was still nauseous from the alcohol, but the adrenaline pumping through my veins had distracted me from feeling anything other than worried. I wanted nothing more than to lean over and throw up, but the frantic opening of the door made me jump and forget my urge to chunder.

A shock of blonde hair caught my eye as Isarius appeared at the door, his tall frame lingering over us with an air of impatience. His thick, dark brows furrowed at the sight before him before his startling hazel eyes settled on Zane and widened.

"What the fuck happened?" Isarius asked, his voice strangely calm given the situation. He reached forward and grabbed Zane by his ribs, taking the boy from us. I sighed as the weight was relieved from my body, limbs suddenly feeling weightless.

"We found him in the street," I panted, bending over onto my knees in an attempt to catch my breath.

"Where's Ace?"

Confused, I asked, "What? She wasn't there."

"Fuck," Isarius commented before moving inside the house and signalling for us to follow. "They went a different way home from us, erm, wanted some chips." The man added, his voice wavering as though he was lying.

I narrowed my eyes - something was up. Surely they all would've gone home together or gotten food together? They all left together, after all. You didn't abandon your housemates on a night out, everyone knew that. Unless you'd gotten lucky, that was. It didn't add up, like a puzzle missing a crucial piece.

The door slammed shut behind us, and followed Isarius through the narrow hallway to the kitchen. There was no sign of the party from last night. Every cup, drink, and pumpkin had been cleared away as though the party had never occurred. Febreeze had been sprayed across the house to mask the stench of spilled drinks and cigarette smoke.

Isarius rushed up to the wooden kitchen table, moving off the empty plate and used cutlery before pulling Zane on top.

The kitchen was large for a University house. It was open plan, with black marble work surfaces, and large glass doors that gazed out onto the back garden. The modern walls were painted bright white, the lights blinding me as we gathered around the table and turned Zane on his side. The man moaned, but Isarius was too concerned about Zane's back than him being in pain.

"He told us not to call an ambulance," Evie stated as the room fell silent.

Isarius bowed his head. "Good."

Evie's face swivelled to mine with a look of disbelief and dread.

"What is wrong with these people?" She mouthed, to which I shrugged my shoulders. Health care was free, and Zane needed to get to the hospital to heal properly; the police needed to file a report about the stabbing. I found it difficult to say no, and that was the only reason we had ended up back at this house.

"Will he be ok?" I asked tentatively. The blonde boy dropped to his haunches and studied the scar across Zane's beautiful tattoo. The wings were still almost perfectly intact, and only one side of the ink had been damaged. "His back-"

"He'll be fine," Isarius said, cutting me off. His voice was beautiful, but that was where the beauty ended. His personality did not seem to match his looks in the slightest. As he stood up and grabbed a cloth from the sink, soaking it with water, his face was stern and as cold as ice. Even before tonight, he had never seemed welcoming. In fact, he looked at me as though I didn't exist. That he was god and I was a mere fucking particle of dust.

Zane hissed as Isarius touched the wet cloth to his back and started to clean the wound. I looked around the room, feeling completely useless. How had we ended up back here less than twenty-four hours later? How had this day already been more eventful than the whole year put together?

I jumped out of my skin as the front door slammed open once again, and the frantic clicking of heels entered the house. No sooner had I turned around, an angry looking Ace stormed into the kitchen, her knuckles bloody and bruised. Her crop top had fallen dangerously low, almost revealing her whole cleavage, and her make-up was smudged over her face like watercolours on a piece of paper. She was still striking to look at, and her clenched jaw made my heart race nervously.

Her eyes glazed over Zane, "Thank God," she exclaimed, before her attention settled on us. "What the fuck are they doing here?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but I could already tell we had outstayed our welcome.

"Get out," Ace demanded, "You don't want to see this."

I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from shouting at the girl in anger. I hated rude people, but she had a point. I did not want to see this.

My fingers found Evie's arm and I lightly tapped the skin. "Let me know that he's ok, Isarius," I pleaded, before backing away from Ace's harsh stare and the scene before me. I wanted to stay, but the icy atmosphere made me want to run in the opposite direction of the house. I felt useless, unwanted, and scared for Zane's well being. But something about the tone of Ace's voice made me walk out of the front door, made me turn my back and neglect all my morals.

I was a puppet, and she held the strings.

"What the hell was that all about?" Evie asked as we walked down the path to the empty street beyond. The night air had an undisputed chill, and I began to shiver as my drunkenness subsided.

I shook my head and ordered yet another Uber to avoid the walk back, neglecting the negative figure in my bank account.

"I have no idea."

"There's something off about them," Evie continued. "I Just- why didn't they go to the hospital?"

Another question I couldn't answer. "I just hope he's alright. But I have to say, his housemates are arseholes."

"Agreed."

The Uber came surprisingly quickly, and we piled into the back without uttering another word. Sometimes, we didn't need to. For Eve and I, our company was enough. I rest my head against her shoulder, eyes drooping from a sudden veil of tiredness. When I opened my eyes, we had arrived back at Evie's halls. I thanked the driver and we headed through the reception, up two flights of stairs, and arrived at Eve's flat.

Nora and Aiden weren't back, so we decided to head to Eve's room and take off our make-up. She was still much drunker than I was, and after laughing over my smudged red lipstick and bad luck with guys, we collapsed in her double bed.

"What a night," I exhaled, flipping my head upside down to tie my hair in a messy bun.

"Can say that again," Evie exclaimed, picking at her perfectly painted nails.

"Sorry we didn't see Em."

The stunning blonde waved a hand. "You weren't good. Thought I should take you home. I can see her tomorrow, anyway. Think we might go to the cinema."

It was times like these that I felt truly lucky to have Evie as one of my closest friends. She was kind by nature, and always put me before herself when it came down to everything. She had given me the last slice of pizza more times than I could count, and held back my hair whenever I was throwing up.

"You guys are disgustingly cute," I said. "Please, for the love of Nando's, ask her out soon."

The woman began to fiddle with her nails more intensely: it was only something she did when she was very, very nervous. "I don't know."

I propped myself up on my elbow, and inhaled the sweet aroma of Eve's perfume-laced room. It was small in comparison to mine, but she had done-up the small space well. The caulk board on the left-hand wall was covered with over one hundred photos, from ones of us in Fresher's Week, to her and her brother, Noah, back when they were children. Fairy lights dangled from the shelves, glowing amber in the gloom.

"I know how hard it is for you, but you deserve her. I'm here for you, no matter what you decide."

"Thanks," Eve whispered, before a grin appeared on her face. "I'll ask her to be my girlfriend if you ask Zane out on a date."

It took a few seconds for the words to hit home, but as soon as I could comprehend them, I groaned. "Nu-uh. Not happening. More chance of me marrying my lecturer than taking him out on a date. And he's ancient."

Evie laughed. "Come on! You literally just pretty much saved his life."

"He just needed stitches."

"Saved his life," The blonde reiterated.

"I mean..." I gave in. "But looks like his tattoo is ruined, which sucks. It's so beautiful."

Evie fell silent for a second, and as time stretched out into what felt like infinity, I glanced over. My stomach fell like a boulder from a cliff when I noticed the confusion on her face.

"Nadia, what tattoo?"

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Oooooo

Ok but I actually love Evie and Nadia and luci?? Also I'm not used to fast paced books and feel like my writing is off, so if you have any constructive criticism please let me know!

Why does everyone think that Zane didn't want to go to the hospital?

Thank you so much for reading! Please, please do not forget to vote and comment if you're enjoying. Even a vote let's me know you're enjoying it and gives me motivation to write, plus supports me as an author who writes for free and is struggling for money!

Thank you so much! Lots of love, lotte xxx

dedicated to halfley