Ch.19: Play With Me

Brown eye. Blind eye. Black hair.

Nicholas gaped at Julian, his pulse crashing in his ears.

Julian looked like the captors' dead son.

"You're..." Nicholas stopped even trying to get Julian off him. "You're their son?" With furrowed brows, he studied Julian's face, the uncanny resemblance to the boy he'd seen in the pictures back in the captors' house. The only difference was that Julian was missing a beauty spot, and that he didn't look dead on the inside. "But you don't have a beauty spot... And isn't their son's name Thomas? Isn't he dead?"

"That's right," Julian said. "His name is Thomas. He's dead."

"So you are...?"

Julian smiled, eyes turning into crescents. "His little brother!"

Nicholas's neck was about to snap from how hard he was straining to lift his head off the ground and keep looking at Julian.

"But they never said that," Nicholas mumbled. "They never said they had another son."

Julian maintained the smile, but his eyes were devoid of mirth as he looked at Nicholas.

"I'm sure they've mentioned a mistake?"

The back of Nicholas's head hit the ground again, and he stared blankly at the dark sky peeking through leaves and branches above him.

They had. The captors had mentioned a mistake - a mistake that ruined everything. They had insisted that this time around, they would be alone with their Thomas. Just the three of them.

Without Julian.

Nicholas felt hollow, like if someone tore his chest open, there would be nothing inside. Just a void. A blackhole.

They'd been referring to Julian this whole time. They'd been excluding him.

"It's a long story!" Julian said. "I'll explain it later. Right now, I gotta tie you up and go after Valentino and Milo!"

Tie you up.

It was like a wire snapped in Nicholas's brain at the word, like something malfunctioned.

Nicholas shook his head. "No," he mumbled, wide-eyed as he stared at the ropes Julian was preparing. "No, no, no." His aching, red wrists burnt at the sight of rope. "No. I'm not getting tied up again." He tried moving, but Julian was sitting carelessly on top of him. He thrashed. It didn't work. Julian wouldn't move. He wasn't even bothered. "I'm not getting tied up again!"

Nicholas desperately kicked and curved his knees, but it did nothing. He reached for Julian with his hands to push him off. In vain. Even worse - it worked in Julian's favor; he caught the hand Nicholas had raised to punch him with. Nicholas strained to wrench it free, his breath growing heavier.

"Oh, my," Julian said. "What's going on with you? Why are you being so dramatic?" He gave the ropes a clueless look, then glanced at Nicholas, then back at the ropes. His eyes widened with realization. "Ohhhh! I get it! Your wrists hurt from all the tying, right? Okay, then. I won't tie them. Don't worry."

Nicholas's chest still heaved, but he eased up on the thrashing, as pathetic and useless as it had been in the first place.

"I'll just tie you around your chest and arms instead!" Julian said, beaming.

Nicholas frowned. "No!"

"If I were you, I'd save my energy right now," Julian said as he worked on tying Nicholas around his torso, easily brushing off Nicholas's attempts to fight. "Because you're gonna have to walk uphill again with me, you know. We gotta find Valentino and Milo. Hopefully they haven't gone too far yet."

Nicholas glanced at the steep slope he and Julian had rolled down. Just the idea of having to walk all that distance again made his head spin.

Julian finished his work. Nicholas's arms were trapped to his sides, ropes winding around his upper body. He couldn't move his arms an inch, and he didn't even have enough energy to fight against the restriction anymore.

Dusting his hands off, Julian finally got off Nicholas's waist, and Nicholas exhaled, then groaned quietly at the pain. Julian caught Nicholas by his collar, pulling him to his feet. Then he grabbed his hand and towed him behind. Nicholas flinched, squirming and clenching his fingers, trying to slip out of Julian's clutch.

"See?" Julian said. "I'm a good person. You didn't want me to tie your wrists, so I didn't! Aren't you thankful for me?"

Nicholas struggled to keep up, stumbling every once in a while. "I want you to leave me alone..."

"Nicholas," Julian sighed. "I'm a good person, not a doormat." He looked around as he hauled Nicholas along, his strong grip about the only reason Nicholas hadn't fallen off and rolled back down. "Valentino's carrying Milo, so he couldn't have gone too far."

"He's far," Nicholas mumbled, his legs feeling like jelly at this point. "He's so, so, so far. And you'll never catch them."

Julian hummed. "You think so?"

"Yeah."

Julian stopped. "Okay! I give up! Guess I'll take you home first, then. I'll see what I'll do with Valentino and Milo later." Turning around, he gave Nicholas a piteous look, pursing his lips. "No wonder you're so cranky, hahaha... You just need to sleep! I get cranky too when I don't get my sleep."

Nicholas clenched his jaw. "I'm not sleepy! And I'm not cranky! Shut up!"

"You are, Nicholas," Julian said with a startling sharp edge to his soft, innocent voice. One that contradicted his smile and attitude, and one that concealed a threat. His fingers tightened around Nicholas's wrist. Nicholas shuddered. "You are. And that's the only reason I'm letting the way you're shouting at me slide. Okay?"

Nicholas tore his gaze away from Julian, glancing up at the top of the hill. Home. So Julian was taking him back to the captors' house?

"Good job, by the way," Julian said as he continued his way uphill, dragging Nicholas behind him. "You're the one who tied my parents and chained the door on them, right? Thanks for making my job easier..."

"What did you do to them?"

Julian chuckled, raising his free hand, showing off the blood coating it.

"Just know that this isn't my blood."

Nicholas's eyes widened as Julian lowered his hand again, his heartbeats picking up. Part of him was relieved that Julian was working against the captors, not with them. Another part reminded him that Julian's intentions could turn out worse.

• • •

By the time Nicholas and Julian made it to the top of the hill, Nicholas was barely conscious, every step prolonged with exhaustion, his knees on the verge of buckling. Julian was mostly dragging him along.

Nicholas's memories here were as blurry as his vision. He remembered hearing the rattle of locks and keys, the sound of metal hinges squealing as Julian pushed the gates open.

He remembered a wave of terrible recollections attacking his mind: a whirlwind of clanging gunshots, a bleeding shoulder, a gash on his arm, fighting to jump over the fence. The stench of blood. A hand grasping his ankle. Milo's face as he threw a stone at the captor. Albert's face when he decided to give Nicholas a hand.

Nicholas couldn't recall how he'd physically reacted to these memories. He didn't even know if he did.

The most distinct thing he could recall was Julian walking him inside the captors' house, because that was when the frigid wind was replaced by warm air, and it thawed his face and hands and lungs out until breathing wasn't difficult anymore.

Nicholas's vision was still blurry as Julian put him down along his side on the carpeted floor. Crackling sounds echoed. Nicholas couldn't move a muscle, couldn't lift a finger, but he was pretty sure he was still slurring threats, because Julian said, "Nicholas, you're really silly... trying to threaten when you can't even open your eyes."

The smell of burning wood spread into the space around Nicholas, and heat radiated near him. Flickering red and orange hues leaked into the darkness behind his closed eyes.

Nicholas found himself relaxing a little more than he'd like to, melting against the floor, muscles unwinding, eyelids heavy. Head heavy. Heart heavy. His blood slowly circulated properly again, reaching all the way to his frozen fingertips.

"I..." Nicholas mumbled. "Won't... Sleep... Just wait..."

And he slept.

• • •

When Nicholas came around again, before he could even open his eyes, he rolled closer to the heat-source blazing next to him and sighed contently. Right now, there were no thoughts in his head. No fear. No anger. Just desperation for warmth.

"Woah," came Julian's voice. "Careful. Don't roll into the chimney."

Nicholas grimaced. He shifted as he blinked, struggling to clear his vision. He moved a little more, stretching out from how he'd curled in on himself, only for the top of his head to bump against something.

Frowning, Nicholas tilted his chin up, trying to catch what that thing was.

That thing wasn't a thing.

It was someone.

Blond hair was splayed across the floor near Nicholas's head, someone lying down beside him, breathing softly and quietly, tied around the torso as well.

Blond hair.

Nicholas's heart dropped.

No, he thought. Please. No. It can't be him again...

Nicholas fought to push himself up into a sitting position. With his arms and upper body restricted, it took a little while, and he whacked the person sleeping next him several times with his knee and leg as he struggled. The person made a distressed noise, burrowing into the carpet, trying to hide from the disturbance, and then finally stirred, rousing from his sleep.

Nicholas sat up and stared down at Valentino, who was sprawled on the floor next to him.

"Valentino?"

Valentino's lashes fluttered, then he tilted his head, glancing up at Nicholas with tired, sleepy eyes.

His mouth fell open.

"Nicholas?"

"Valentino?"

"Nicholas?"

"What the hell are you doing here!" Nicholas said.

Valentino struggled to sit up too. "What do I look like I'm doing here? Relaxing? Having fun?"

Nicholas closed his eyes, his temples throbbing with rage.

"Why," Nicholas gritted out. "Why did I throw myself down the hill?"

Valentino's brows slanted into a frown. "Why did you what?"

"Why. Did. I. Throw. Myself. Down. The. Hill."

"I'm the one asking!"

"Because I wanted to give your stupid ass time to run away with Milo! How in the world did you get caught again? I took Julian down with me! He couldn't have gotten to you unless you were going at a turtle's pace, you useless shit!"

"Then clearly someone else caught me, smartass," Valentino said. "I couldn't tell who it was. And who's Julian?"

"The guy who was following us," Nicholas said. "Oh, he's the man and the woman's son, by the way."

"Wha-who-what? He's their son? Isn't he dead?"

"Second son."

Valentino looked like he might pass out again.

"It's Lian!" Julian said, frustrated. "Lian. Lian. Lian! I told you I like it when people call me by my nickname. Also, I'm only the man's son. The woman is my step mom. I'm Thomas's half brother."

Nicholas and Valentino moved in their spots, turning their backs to the chimney, staring at Julian behind them; he was sitting cross-legged in front of a brown coffee table with puzzle pieces spread out all across it.

Julian lifted a puzzle piece, observed it, then leaned over the table, slotting it onto the puzzle board.

"Wanna play with me?"

"Where's Milo?" Valentino asked.

Julian pointed at the couch behind him and leaned aside to give them a better view. There was a bundle of blankets on the couch, rising and falling with Milo's breaths as he slept beneath them. Color had returned to his face, and his lips weren't purple and lifeless anymore. Nicholas let out a small, relieved sigh. At least he was alive.

"His leg," Valentino said.

"Took care of that already." Julian leaned his elbows on the table, holding his face up. He had this weird kitten-like curiosity in his expression. He pointed at the puzzle. "So wanna play with me?"

Valentino looked at Nicholas. Nicholas ignored him.

"Ugh. So boring, both of you. Albert's nicer. If he was here he would've helped me with my puzzle. That's why he's my favorite so far. Nicholas is surprisingly a close second, though."

"Are you the one who planned this whole thing?" Nicholas asked.

Julian nodded. "Yeah."

"You're the one who told your dad and step mom about my cult?" Valentino's voice was wary. "You're the one who lied to them and told them I could revive the dead with a 'rare' ritual?"

"Yup! But not directly, hahaha... I didn't let them know who I was," Julian looked pretty pleased with himself, as if Valentino was praising him. "The bastards fell for it so fast." He let out a soft, mocking scoff. "They want to revive him, as if they're not the reason he killed himself in the first place. And they're so useless! I had to run around fixing everything for them! When Albert locked them in the basement, I had to help them get out without showing myself. And then again Nicholas got away from them and I had to knock him out and drop him beside them."

"...You've been watching everything happening the whole time?"

Julian nodded, yawning. "Mhm. Had to make sure my plan goes as planned."

"Why?" Nicholas said. "Just why?"

Julian smiled a small, psychotic smile. "Just to make them suffer!" He returned to his puzzle, looking through the pieces. "But no matter how much I hurt them, it won't make up for what they did to me and Thomas. Thankfully I found another way to make myself feel better! That's why I have you all here!"

"So you're the one who picked me to be your brother's vessel?" Nicholas asked, his gaze subconsciously moving to Milo. "And does that mean you're-"

"Hold on! Wait a sec." Julian straightened his shoulders, frowning to himself as he thoughtfully tapped his bottom lip. "I feel like I forgot to tell you something important..."

Nicholas wordlessly let Julian think.

Julian snapped his fingers. "Ohhh, right! I forgot to tell you that I'm the one who shot Albert!"

• • •

Fun fact: Julian is the youngest villain i've written so far (he's 21)! He's also inspired by Leo from Teenage Baby(which is another book I wrote)! Your thoughts on Julian so far? Theories?

Thank you for reading/voting/commenting, it means the world to me!!❤️also I'm seeing a lot of new readers, but most of them are silent readers, so i can't tell if they're enjoying the book or not 😅