Ch.33: Falling Masks

Nicholas kept glancing out the window to his right, past Albert: a car was parked there, and Sasha's men stood around, glaring at the building, waiting for an opportunity to grab Valentino and the rest again.

Sighing, Nicholas looked away. Inside was about as dark as outside, save for the specks and spheres of light provided by the candles that most of the cult members were carrying. Nicholas glanced behind him. All the wooden chairs were occupied, but more people were still flooding in, and they respectfully stood aside without complaint.

"Master," one woman spoke, her voice coming from the rear end of the room. "Are the candles making you feel better?"

Valentino's chair was the only chair with armrests in the entire room, and flowers were weaved along its edges. He nodded at the woman.

"Yes," Valentino said. "Thank you all. I'm happy my demon can serve my people and bring the souls of your loved ones back, but it's a curse too in the end." He let out a breath, relaxing back in the chair, a small, grateful smile on his lips. "The scent and the candles are really helping. Turn on the lights now."

A quiet click, and then yellow light fell from the ceiling lamps, illuminating the room.

Illuminating the huge rectangular picture hung on the wall above Valentino's head.

A young man and a woman stood in it, both with long hair and one braided strand: the woman's was blonde, half tied up, and half left to flow down her shoulders. The man's was dark brown and tied in a ponytail. They were both smiling, except it wasn't a normal, polite smile. It was a playful type, the one filled with mischief — mischief that reflected in their eyes, in their relaxed gazes.

Both looked like they were up to something, like play actors on stage, and the rest of the world was their prop. Perfect trouble-makers.

Between them stood a little boy, above five years old, holding onto the woman's coat tightly with one hand. His hair was long and blond, tied into a ponytail as well, his eyes a glassy, ghostly blue like the woman's.

Valentino and his parents.

What exactly had they done to make Sasha hate them so much?

Nicholas dragged his gaze away from the picture, focusing back on Valentino. As he spoke to his cult, his voice was levelled, his expression pleasant — a lot like that of his parents above him, and a lot different to the expression the five-year-old version of him wore in that picture; his brows were furrowed with fear and concern, his lips pouty, his entire body tilted towards his mom like he was trying to hide.

Currently Valentino was talking to his cult, telling them about the demon and the angels, explaining how the souls they knew were all begging to be returned to this world.

Leaning towards Albert, Nicholas pointed at the picture and said, "I thought he got involved when he was fourteen. He's like five in that picture."

Albert looked at the picture. "He started working and getting paid when he was fourteen. His parents got him involved ever since he was a baby. Half the cult members have known him since he was a kid."

Nicholas's brows slanted into a frown. "I've said it once already, Albert. But if you really give a shit about Valentino, you'd be the first one to stop this."

Conflict glistened in Albert's eyes, and he glanced at Valentino.

"Where—"

Before Nicholas could finish, a finger violently tapped his shoulder.

"Shh," a lady sitting behind him said. "Stop whispering and listen to the Master."

Nicholas grimaced. He ignored her and turned to Albert again. The moment he opened his mouth, the woman intervened again, only this time jabbing his shoulder with something wooden and heavy.

Nicholas turned to the lady, who slowly set her walking stick back on the floor. "Woman," he said, desperately trying to maintain a carefree tone. "Would you mind not hitting me with your blasted walking stick?" He smiled tightly. "Because otherwise I'm gonna break it."

"Would you mind shutting your mouth, boy?"

Only now did Nicholas remember that there was no reason for him to pretend to be Julian at the moment, so he didn't need to curb his anger. He started getting up. "Okay," he said. "How about I—"

"Sit down," Albert said, grabbing Nicholas and forcing him back down. Then he turned to the lady. "You listen to your Master. We'll lower our voices."

Nicholas huffed quietly to himself. "Yeah so where does Valentino even think his plan is gonna get him?" he asked. "So he gets you and Milo somewhere far away. What's next? Does he think the organization won't hunt you all down? They will. The three of you are at risk right now no matter what you do." He shrugged. "If you ask me, cut this short and turn yourselves in. If you rat the organization out yourselves, at least they'll put you in witness protection."

"You wouldn't care if Valentino and Albert went to prison," Milo said. "You barely know them."

Nicholas frowned, twisting his torso a little to his left to glance at Milo. Milo's lashes were downcast, directed towards his lap, then he lifted his gaze, setting it on Nicholas.

"But I care," Milo continued. "I don't wanna lose them."

"Milo..." Nicholas opened his mouth to speak, but he closed it again. The attachment issues were too strong to be unraveled by a logical explanation. Milo wasn't going to like how the situation would end, and Nicholas feared he wouldn't know how to cope if it happened. He already didn't.

Nicholas didn't think stressing him out right now would do any good, so he just dropped the subject.

"—no, not really," Valentino was saying, elbow on the armrest, his palm holding his face up. "You must be new, right? The souls I bring back have a portion of the person's consciousness, and if you've really loved each other, then the soul would rather be close to you than trapped with the angels for eternity." He leaned forward, narrowing his eyes. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing. I don't like it when someone questions my work."

Everyone in the room turned and looked at the person who asked the question, all frowning, snarling faces, as if they were offended on Valentino's part.

"If you don't trust our Master," a guy who was sitting at the front said, "then get out."

The one who'd spoken to Valentino was an old man, and facing the wrath of the cult members, he quickly sputtered a shaky apology. Valentino waved him off, throwing intermittent glances at the window, checking the situation outside. Sasha and her men were still preying.

"Thank you," Valentino told the guy who'd defended him. On second glance, Nicholas realized it was the one who'd accompanied Valentino to Sasha when he was taking Milo, Albert, and Nicholas from them. 

"No need to thank me, Master. Anything for you."

Valentino straightened, raising his brows. "Anything?"

"Of course."

A cunning smile tugged at Valentino's lips. "Hmm, then I'm gonna have to ask you for another favor."

"Just name it!"

"Would you mind driving me and the man and the kid I brought with me home?" Valentino asked.

The guy, somewhere in his mid-thirties, shook his head. "I'll drive you anywhere you want."

Valentino leaned back in his chair. "Perfect."

Revulsion burnt Nicholas's throat. How many times was Valentino planning to use innocent, brainwashed people to get past Sasha and her men? What if Sasha found no choice but to hurt the cult members as well to get Valentino back?

For the rest of the meeting, people scheduled appointments for rituals to bring back the souls of their deceased, and some walked up to Valentino's chair, offered him flowers, and comforted him about the death of his parents. One old lady showed Valentino a picture of her and him together when he was still a kid. Valentino seemed a little off-put by that, but he just smiled and nodded.

Nicholas wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the weariness had seeped into his bones by the time Valentino finally stood up. The cult members didn't share his sentiment, though; if anything, their voices rose with disappointment, and they all stood and approached Valentino in a rush of chaos, all complaining about how short the meeting was, and that they wanted to spend more time with him.

"We'll arrange another meeting soon," Valentino said, trying to appease the crowd that, again, was swarming too close for comfort to him. "Thank you for coming tonight."

And this triggered another round of chatter, everyone appalled by his words and insisting that he shouldn't thank them. Nicholas's head pounded as he stood up. Milo and Albert rose to their feet as well, and all three waited for Valentino to filter past his over-eager people.

Once he weaved his way towards Albert and Milo, Valentino's polite expression and gentle smile vanished. Just like that. All gone, replaced by a revolted frown. He hastened towards Albert and Milo like he couldn't be happier to get away from his cult members.

"Let's go," Valentino said.

The four of them walked out, followed by the cult. Sasha and her men would have to control themselves with them around. And they did. Nicholas, Valentino, and the rest, passed peacefully by Sasha as they headed towards the cult's parking lot. Sasha stood by her car, following Valentino and Nicholas with ruthless eyes.

"Valentino," she said.

Valentino stopped and looked in her direction.

"I will flay you. Just wait."

Valentino blinked, and then continued his way, unfazed.

Before Nicholas could follow, one of Sasha's men hurried towards her, shoving his phone in his pocket.

"Sasha," he said, breathless. "I just got a call.  Nicholas woke up, but it's not Nicholas. It's Julian. They tricked us. This one is the real Nicholas."

Nicholas's heart skipped a beat, and the blood froze in his veins.

Sasha zeroed in on Nicholas. Horror diluted the anger in her dark eyes for just a second, and then the rage returned, and Nicholas knew she wanted to flay him too now.

A hand grabbed Nicholas's arm.

"Might wanna hurry now," Albert said, dragging him away.

• • •

Thank you for reading/voting/commenting, it means a lot to me!!❤️❤️ hope you're enjoying the book :D