Warning: disturbing themes and events from here on out including dub-con and the vampire equivalent of spiking?🤷🏻‍♀️

C H A P T E R F O U R T E E N

{A twist of unfortunate events...and everything to lose}

Hesperia's POV

I leant against the cold, jagged stone wall to the entrance of the cave, watching the sea crash violently against the rocks. Salt water and foam lapped at the bottom of my boots and splashed up to slightly wet my dress, but I paid it no mind.

The tears that spilled endlessly from my eyes stung my skin as the bracing wind hit my face, and I gave up trying to light the slightly soddened cigarette clasped between tremulous fingers, chilled to the bone.

The breeze was too brash and the backlash of seawater that at uneven times roiled too violently and flicked some deluge at my face had made the cancerous stick, which would have calmed my nerves, damp and limp and not fucking worth it.

I couldn't even get my hands to stop shaking long enough to flick the lighter to life and steal its flame.

It was starting to feel like there was no point to anything as I meandered outside the strangers 'home.' At this point I didn't even care for the sea trying to drag me to an early grave, nor did I care for the stinging, salty drops rolling down my aching and frozen cheeks.

The stars were twinkling through the night's clouds, the howling gale was rushing just as violently as the ocean's tumultuous waves but...it all felt sort of surreal and helped me find a certain peace through all of this.

Life was pretty unreal to me most days anyway. I was an orphan with a fallen angel for a brother. But now, there were these four strange men who had turned my life upside down in the span of two days to take into consideration.

Thinking back to my earlier conversation with Cassius as I stroppily stuffed my lighter back into my pocket and flicked my cigarette into oblivion–the little chit chat where he'd dragged me into that cold corner of the cave against my will–it had illuminated some things for me. Thanks to being a supernatural creature, he was...mostly very good at spotting other ones; we were no strangers to others out there and had even made allies all over the world.

The first was a Yōkai in Japan. A Jorōgumo by the name of Isoka. Isoka had been peaceful and sweet and had sniffed Cassius out when we were staying in Osaka just as quickly as he had done to her. She was everything the legends of her people said she'd be, but that had made her no less wonderful to us and I didn't judge. A girls gotta eat after all and her diet of...young men, was her own business.

In Durness, Scotland, we had become privy to the knowledge that witches were real. The Lindsay coven, or peathraichean bròin as they were better known by the locals for their haunting singing that could miraculously heal, were the kindest group of women I had ever met and had even tried to convince us to stay, but I was a free spirit as was my brother and neither of us could be tamed to meander in one place for too long.

And even here, in the US, a plethora of creatures claim it as their home and we had made acquaintances all over the country. A young banshee by the name of Willow in Louisiana. Packs of werewolves in the Appalachians, a pod of mysterious and slightly creepy Sirens with eyes as black as the void at the bottom of the ocean in Tampa Bay. We were no strangers to the oddities of the world.

This, for whatever reason, was different. When we first arrived in Santa Carla it hadn't been clear to Cassius at first, like something had been stopping him from knowing.

Now, he was certain after spending time around them. They weren't human. A fact that should have me shivering in my boots, but the icy temperature blasting at me from the Ocean was the only thing doing that.

The star factor that had clued us in was that they could see him. Humans couldn't, so by that rule then they mustn't have been.

It was terrifying, even after all my adventures; not every being we happened across had been kind to us. Some out there were pure evil. True monsters. The unknown possibility about what these men could be, what they wanted from me scared the hell out of me. But what was even more petrifying was that I found it hard to care anymore. I had started this evening so scared, distrustful and full of disdain for them all and now I couldn't find any of those emotions in me, no matter how hard I tried.

What I was certain of was that I was feeling a little ashamed. God, it was an innocent question that Paul had asked. How was he to know family was a touchy subject to breach?

I had thought I had control of it. The grief, my stupid trauma, survivors guilt. But no. It was clear it all still kept me, even after all these years, in its dark, damaging clutches. Couldn't let me just live without having a breakdown every five fucking seconds.

I'd always been an over-sharer, contradictory to my introverted nature. Even as a child, making friends had been easy enough. I had a distinct desire to listen, learn, and not judge. Emotions were no small thing to me. Always open for discussion. No easy thing to brush aside.

But this was pushing it.

I was so embarrassed, and sure. Maybe I didn't need to be. But for all that I liked being open, crying two times in front of someone I didn't know in the same night was mortifying.

Sighing, I swiped angrily under my eyes, the tears there were beginning to grate on my nerves and I was offended to even see them glistening on my fingertips.

Gathering the strength to go back in there and face them all was hard but, realistically, what did I have to be embarrassed about?

Undoubtedly they would have prodded Cas for the details and I wasn't really mad about that. It just meant I didn't have to talk about it myself which was a massive relief.

"Fuck it." I muttered, taking a deep breath before beginning the tricky descent into the dark entrance of the cave.

As I reached the opening to the room they were all currently in, I heard Cassius talking about what I assumed he would be. Despite my wishes more tears glimmered on my waterline when I heard the way my brother was talking about how we met. He wasn't a very open person at times, often struggling to deal with the more emotional stuff after being alone for so long. It was touching to hear him be this transparent, especially to four random strangers who'd done nothing but mock him.

"We were meant to find each other. Through our pain we were bonded and neither of us would be alone again."

Trying to discreetly enter the room completely failed. My boot scraped against stone and like bats honing in on sonar every head in the room snapped in my direction. Grinning awkwardly, I sniffed tears back.

"Uhm...hi."

Cassius was panicked at first, maybe because he thought I would be mad but he relaxed and grinned delicately back at me when I smiled. "Hey, buttercup. How are you feeling?"

"Totally great, man. Glad I got my typical breakdown of the day out of the way." He laughed loudly at that and though the four men were worried, for whatever reason, they were also amused too at our banter.

Paul shuffled awkwardly over the fountain towards me, popping out of nowhere. Like, he seriously materialised as if he were a ghost.

He was very stoned if his red eyes were anything to go by. What also gave him away was the way his body was swaying, almost like he was dancing along to some invisible wind.

Reaching me he invaded my personal space without a thought, hugging me into his side. Classically, he smelt exactly as I'd expected. Heaps of weed, patchouli, something coppery.  A little weird, but not unpleasant. It only meant the odd stray boxes of incense I could see hidden away belonged to him. Perhaps David complained about the Earthy scent of his favorite activity and forced him to burn them.

The thought was a little funny, if I was truthful. Imagining David waving one of the scented sticks around while berating his stoner brother like he was his mother.

The subtle iron scent akin to pennies lingering on his skin was...yeah. The oddest part. But he was so glaringly exuberant I didn't have time to stay stuck on that point.

Hiding my smile, I looked at the rest of the odd group with exaggerated exhaustion for their companion, but their unbothered reactions made it clear. This must be typical of him.

"Wow, uhh...what's up Paul?"

"Not much, my sexy little Angel." He sighed, swaying us both softly from side to side, cackling madly when I smacked away his daring hand that had been aiming for my ass.

He was a fucking class act. Did he have any shame?

"Oh joy. That nicknames sticking." I mustered up that smile from before, grimacing when he squeezed me a bit too enthusiastically. Fuck he was strong.

"Listen babe," He began, dragging us both over to the others. He navigated the cluttered space with ease, not even watching where he was going, staring down at me all the while with those twinkling eyes, "I wanna apologize for making you upset, wasn't my intention at all."

Through his joking tone I could detect how serious he was...and it was nice. That he was glossing past my outburst. That he was taking responsibility. It was a normal thing to do. But I got the sense these dudes were far from normal.

Marko chimed in, lifting his legs up from their perch on the oak chest littered with candles that was acting as a coffee table so we could walk past. "He's a dumbass that has no filter, you gotta learn to just ignore the dumpster fire he creates."

"Harsh. But true." Paul bit out, pouting at the angelically beautiful man. Little did I know Marko was more...infernal.

"Anyway," With his free arm, Paul rooted madly in one of his inside pockets, pulling something free after an odd wrestling of the flailing limb nearly smacking me in the face with a victorious 'aha!'

"Please, pretty lady. Accept this perfectly rolled joint as a token of my sincere regret."

By perfectly rolled, he meant crumpled and wonky but...it's the thought that counts so, with a smirk I plucked it from his fingers and leant upward, kissing him on his stubbled cheek.

I moved to sit next to Cassius who received me with an arched brow. I knew he wasn't happy I was being nice, we'd established that already, but to avoid mental interrogation I stuck my tongue out at him churlishly and was quick to move on.

I thought, from the corner of my eyes before I'd turned, that while Paul longingly watched me go, his eyes had flashed an unnatural yellow, staring somewhere I didn't much appreciate.

What I did was the loud yelp he let out when Marko kicked him in the shin with a frown for his leeriness.

Falling onto the couch next to Cassius, all the tension that had escalated between us tonight was now gone.

Tired and honestly just wanting some peace, I leant my head on his arm that was behind me on the couch and relaxed.

It was short lived though, as tranquility always seemed to be, because a thought so obvious it was ridiculous was slow to strike me. I sat up so I could look at David, though he had to have been anticipating what I was about to ask, smirking at me knowingly.

"Quick question. Do you guys know..."

"That your brothers a Fallen angel?" David cut me off, his smirk still securely in place.

I'd suspected that he'd told them that but it was still a bit of a surprise to hear. Scratch that, a huge surprise.

I had half expected Cas to wait until I came back to talk about that. He was a pretty nasty guy, and I was somewhat startled he'd acquiesced to tell them without blood being shed or someone ending up dead. He was that temperamental about his private life. His past.

"Okay..." I drawled, still thinking. Their lack of reaction was concerning. Point blank. A verifier of the truth of their supernatural disposition.

I mean even I had all but crapped myself the first few days we had been together. My brother could be pretty terrifying when he wanted to. The fact they were so chill wasn't normal and now, by extension and something I already knew, neither were they.

"Uh huh, so why aren't you more..."

"Scared?" David input again when it became apparent I was struggling for the right words. I nodded dumbly, distracted by how good the devious expression looked on him. Fuck he was hot.

I nearly face palmed.

Now was not the time to be checking him out.

That menacing atmosphere ensnared us all and Marko, Dwayne and Paul all sneaked glances at David...waiting for something. He assented to some silent question I hadn't heard and nodded and when he looked at me with no fear of ridicule, he said something that made me feel scared and sceptical all at once. "Because your brother is not the first supernatural creature we have met."

"What?" I scoffed rudely to disguise my lack of shock, but he just stared. Long and hard with those trance seducing baby blues and I wanted to shrink away from him and the other three who were suddenly all sporting brooding lours and silent menace. Before it had been light, carefree and easy to be around them. Now it was quite the opposite.

Cassius's arm dropped onto my shoulder and I peeked up at him to learn, of course, that he was entirely unsurprised.

"Enlighten us then, gentleman. I'm intrigued to know." He prompted in a goading way, a patronising way with a jeering smile curled over his lips.

From what I had discovered of the four men all lounging before us, such behaviour was bound to make them speak, even if they'd had intentions to keep things secret. They enjoyed putting on a show and it was a certainty they'd never backed down from someone challenging them. Why start now?

My brother was a smart one by pushing them. In ways they wouldn't see or realize, in ways to chance them exposing what they were. He hadn't mentioned the fact we already knew they were something supernatural. He wanted to hear them say it and I anticipated an explosion soon. A foreboding feeling was shrouding over me.

Something was going to go wrong...we were playing with fire and we weren't just going to get burned. We were going to be destroyed.

David was the leader and it fell to David to be the one to reveal what they were hiding. The others were menacingly quiet, but no less intimidating than him. In aura's and scare factor, they were all matched equally.

But David had a certain authority about him and as he leaned forward in his makeshift 'throne', it filled the room thickly like smoke from a fire. Discomforted, I was not pleased to see he wasn't looking at my brother. All of them, they only had eyes for me.

It wasn't nice. No way. 'Cause they weren't admiring me. It was...possessive. Obsessive. A weird, unsettling longing behind everything they did. Behind David's unyielding gaze and Dwayne's meticulous assessing of my body like he expected me to suddenly drop dead or something if he even took his eyes off of me for a second.

Nothing comforting behind Marko's blatant vulpine smirk of deceit and excitement as he tormented the panicking pigeon in his hold...as if he knew something I didn't. Like something was going to go down and he couldn't contain his glee.

There wasn't even anything placating in Paul's lazy grins he kept shooting me that I just knew were hiding something bad. Not anymore.

I don't think they were trying to scare me. It might have looked as such, their infatuation so strong it was coming across that way.

And infatuation it was. There was no other word for it. David was the only one slightly less obvious with it. He was apathetic in his pale face and his body was shrouded in black, so there was no indication to be found there in its language. I just couldn't tell what he thought. What any of them did.

A shiver of dread slinked down my spine. I was just beginning to be aware we'd made a huge mistake when David spoke.

"Indulge me, Hesperia. What do you know of the supernatural? What do you believe?" His voice was edged with...something, something ambiguous. Akin in its lulling pleasantness to the way one would talk if they were trying to pull your deepest secrets from you.

It was quite soothing...wasn't...wasn't I just afraid?

"I..." What the hell was I supposed to say? What had I been thinking? Fuck, what did he even just ask me? My head had gone kind of fuzzy.

Digging my hand into my temple I blinked hard, but it got worse the longer I looked into his eyes. "Only what I know of Cassius. Nothing more." I managed to grit out the lie through the sudden pain where before I'd been calmed. It was looking into those eyes, I just knew it. He hadn't like my answer or hadn't liked...something in my response.

My teeth clenched. His brows furrowed, conflicted.

A migraine was beginning to prick behind my eyes and pound against my skull.

He relaxed back when I audibly whimpered in pain, a frown dampening his darkly handsome face. Now he seemed aggravated about something and as soon as he fell back and broke eye contact, the pain stopped as did the haze of confusion filling my mind. I felt a thousand times better as the strange feeling abated, like I'd just been drowning and had finally scrambled to the surface to greedily gasp in air.

The other boys, Dwayne especially with his stern countenance and crossed arms, all reacted with concern too and I was getting really fucking tired of the way they didn't have to speak; it still looked like somehow they were communicating, sharing looks between themselves that were too knowing to be coincidence.

Could they...communicate telepathically like Cas and I could? If they were truly something supernatural, it wasn't too far–fetched a thought.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Cassius broke me from my reverie.

"It has to do with everything." David snapped, pissed the hell off now. It was unsurprising, his aggression, and I suppose to chill himself out he pulled the cigarette from behind his ear.

He lit it and inhaled the smoke the way a starving man would, confronted with a meal after days of not eating. It wasn't a habit I was keen on—only partaking myself in times of dire stress, like earlier where it hadn't even worked.

But he made it look good and I felt myself blush when he breathed the smoke out through his nose in bewitching rivulets that danced around him.

"Why?" I hadn't meant to speak, but something had pulled the question from me. A desire, though I wasn't fond of them all so far, to learn why he was vaguely upset. It didn't feel right, to see him that way. A part of me didn't like it.

I asked it with a childlike innocence out of my control, because he was so ambiguous and mysterious that I was fascinated by him. It did the trick and he cooled off, the hard gleam in his eyes softening a little when I did.

"It's hard to explain, chica." Paul supplied when David just stared at me with that stunned expression, the unbothered man flopped on the couch cushions in the throes of a pleasant buzz. Of us all, he was the one taking this the least bit seriously and he was appeasing me with such mischief that I felt a mix of anxiety and amusement roil butterflies of dread in my stomach. "Wouldn't wanna scare ya."

Well that was nerve wracking. Was what they were really so bad?

"Scare me how?"

He tsked at me scoldingly, wagging an index finger laden with two big chunky silver rings that would have weighed mine down. "Ah ah, girly. Davey's gotta be the one to tell you that. We're just innocent bystanders, ain't that right Marko?"

The curly haired man rolled his eyes, aggravated by Paul's mellow behavior and the way the stoner had thrown his feet to lay across his lap. "Whatever you say, man."

Amusement won out in me at Marko's exasperation.

Cassius interrupted my trawl through my thoughts yet again, squeezing me into his side protectively even as I complained under my breath over his tight hold. "Well come on then, Davey. Might as well tell us, huh? What's the big secret?"

Now I wanted to tell him to shut up, a cloying fear grappling its fingers into my heart and squeezing it because David, who had been simply observing us, looked pissed at my brothers gall. The chilly temperature already dispersed in the cave thanks to the sea bashing around outside physically dropped–you could feel it.

He tapped a gloved finger on the armrest of his chair and the moonlight cascading down on him through an abrasion in the cave's high walls was alike to a spotlight on a stage, illuminating his pale face in stark shadow. The light purple bags under his eyes seemed to glow and I swore, for a split second, those eyes I so feared and admired blazed a terrifying orange tinged yellow...like pure flames. It was like I was looking through a window straight to Hell.

The smirk that prowled over his lips was wolfish and brimming with animosity. He showed himself to be more intimidating than he had ever done in this moment and I could have thanked the vengeful God I so despised that he wasn't looking at me for once.

I shouldn't have been thankful, as it turns out. God only proved he was a sucky son of a bitch and that he had it out for me.

David graced Cassius with a short hum of derision and soon, he'd glided that emotionless stare back onto me. He couldn't seem to help himself, sticking the cigarette back between his lips to hide his frown.

Letting me squirm in my seat and turn a bright pink as he took his time and raked his eyes over me, I just wanted to disappear. I mean, I was dressed quite literally from head to toe, the only thing slightly immodest was the deep neckline of my dress that plunged into a 'v', but under his examining leer I felt naked. Totally exposed...and the reason I was so uncomfortable was because that approving, sultry stare seeing through me? It felt good.

"Would you like to know, Hesperia?"

I shuddered. An unstoppable reaction, for that deep tenor of his voice was echoing my name in my head alluringly and had that hypnotising numbness of my rationality clouding my senses once more.

Somehow, someway, it was equally addicting and terrifying to experience.

He was doing something again. That weird trick. Only this time there was no pain, David lacking frustration that caused it.

No, this time as he smirked softly at me, this little spell was nice. Too nice, too relaxing.

He breathed out plumes of grey smoke and as it flowed around his face, sharpening the azure of his eyes, I fell into it. The enchantment, like I'd plunged into a soothing pool of warm water. Capitvated entirely, I nodded, only just catching myself doing so.

Everything was blurring into each other, words, movements. I was dizzy in the best way.

Pleased beyond my understanding, he broke our eye contact once more, but unlike before the haze stayed and clung stubbornly to every recess of my consciousness. In all honesty I felt like I'd smoked and drank and done all the drugs under the sun but it wasn't unpleasant. No, if anything there was an urge in me to stay under its control.

As David motioned a hand at Dwayne and the tall man leaned so he could whisper in his ear, I slumped into Cassius's side. I was breathing heavily, my lids were drooping, long lashes obscuring my vision and I was so wonderfully warm. I could have drifted off to sleep right then if Cassius hadn't sat up. He gripped my arms and forced me to sit straight, eyes wide when I mumbled in protest and like a loon, he started to shake me.

"Ria?"

I grumbled and feebly swatted at him, just wanting to lay down but that made him worse, his dramatics pushed to their limits.

"Ria, what's wrong with you?" He shook me harder and this time it woke me a little bit, only because I was so annoyed.

Stubbornly, I pulled away and ignored him in favor of flopping back into the couch, engulfed in comfort as I sank into the pillows. My senses were heightened and I giggled. It felt like I was falling, floating, dreaming.

"Comfy, baby?"

I looked for the source of the voice. Paul, lay in the same position as me on the opposite couch. He was smiling at me, a secretive and somewhat wicked look on him but all the same, I smiled back and giggled again and as I nodded it made my head spin a little. In a good way, tingles flushing through my heavy limbs.Truly, I suddenly felt like I'd taken some big fucking hits from a bong.

Cassius hid it from them, but under his stoic tone I could hear the building hysterics. "She's not your baby you fool. What is this, huh? What have you done to my sister?"

The boys simply laughed at him, Dwayne coming back from wherever he'd disappeared to. I tilted my head to see as his shadow passed over me.

In his hands was a bottle. It was a dark emerald green in colour much like my dress, covered in pretty diamond shaped jewels and I could see a thinly viscous liquid sloshing about inside when Dwayne placed it in David's outstretched hand.

The atmosphere changed with its arrival, more serious and...sinister than it had been since we had arrived. I wanted to get up, eager to have a closer look but increasingly it was starting to feel like I couldn't move and my limbs had become paralyzed.

"Not for you, sweets." Paul whispered, his grin shark like when I met his pensive side glance with wide eyes of spacey wonder. He took a drag from his nearly spent joint, looking back up at the ceiling, uninterested in his surroundings. Secretive and confusing to no end, he chuckled, "Not yet, anyway."

Again, though I was spinning out and didn't get what he meant, I wouldn't have had time to decipher his cryptic musings anyway.

"You want to know?"

Cassius scoffed heatedly, obviously hating the sudden change in dynamics and grudgingly nodded at David's question.

The leader of this little rag tag band of mischief makers gave him no smile, and when he flickered a look at me something changed in him. He was serious and brooding anyway, but now he just seemed smug and cynical, like he was plotting something.

"Come here and find out." He taunted, spurred on by the maniacal laughter from the others.

I was getting uncomfortable, but what could I do? I wasn't even thinking coherently at this point. Paul purposefully kept distracting me by pulling funny faces to make me laugh and when Cassius moved away from me to engage in David's little game, Marko took the opportunity to skulk behind him with odd, silent grace. He reached where I was and held out his hand.

"Come with me, doll."

There was no input from my brain to deny him. Lethargically, I pushed myself to sit up and slid my shaky hand into his sturdy one, causing a dizzy spell to roll over me.

It worsened when he pulled me to stand,
hands quick to steady me by the hips. They didn't move once he had, only manipulating me further into him, our hips pressed firmly together, his fingers digging into them and bunching my dress in his hands. He ghosted smirking lips against my forehead, swaying me softly in his arms.

"Dizzy, Marko. Rooms spinning." I murmured, gripping desperately at his biceps, face pressed into his chest to stop the vertigo his actions were causing. Vertigo that was...in a way, enjoyable.

"Oh, I know, Ria. It'll pass." He hummed, advantageously using my spacing out to kiss me again, one to my brow, another to the corner of each of my closed eyes. "You can trust me,
beautiful. I've got you."

The way he said that. Such a lovely little promise.

I managed to steady the lightheadedness he provoked, directing a quick and bleary-eyed peek up at him. For a second, like with David, his eyes took on a dark look. A glimpse of yellow, his features sharpened...warping. But then I blinked and it was only that sweet face.

He took hold of one of my hands, turning with a nod forward and a soft whisper that barely reached my ears. "Come on, girl. Stick with me. You'll like what I have to show you."

"O...okay." My mind was whirring. It was like I wasn't thinking anymore, like there was no need to. All I had the desire to do was listen to him. Get closer to him. Because then the lack of equilibrium was sufferable.

He pulled me along, guiding us past David and Dwayne and my brother.

The two men watched me, I wasn't looking at them but I could feel it. The weight of their stares. There was a certain apprehension about it all, but then Cassius tried to make a grab for me.

"Ria, for gods sake. What the hell do you think you're doing?" He was exasperated with me. As if me dancing to the beck and call of a man I'd just met was normal. Couldn't he see, deep down like I could, that something wasn't right?

His hand barely brushed my elbow before I heard someone yank him back.

"Relax, big bro."

Paul was the one, then, chuckling at Cas as he struggled. He shushed him, presumably hanging all over my brother to stop him from following us.

I went to look back, the niggling worm of doubt eating it's way to the forefront of my mind pushing me to realize something was wrong with all of this.

I gasped. Marko had tugged a little too harshly on my wrist, so much so I almost tripped over my feet, now flushed close to his back. There was the dizziness again, all worries forgotten as his hand tightened it's hold on mine, as his smell wrapped me in a weird feeling of comfort. I couldn't stop myself from nuzzling my cheek against his jacket covered shoulder blades, sure in return that he sighed as if he was in bliss.

Paul was laughing now, somewhere behind us. I could just imagine Cassius's disgruntlement with him.

"My main mans just showing your sister the rest of our digs, yeah? Come on." I heard something pop. The cork, the release of air from inside that mysterious bottle. Paul's laid back attitude became more irritated. "Just drink, bud. Be one of us."

The haunting malefic tones of David piped into the conversation. "Do it, Cassius. You'll learn all you need to know. Come on. Join us," The next word was hissed, "Brother."

It all faded into nothing. Marko was leading me away, somewhere else and I followed him blindly, for some reason. My full trust put in him. I was eager to go with him, I realized. Practically stuck to him as if I was glued to his back.

He stopped, luring me closer and snaring me under his arm, trapped in his embrace. He angled his body so I could see where he'd taken me.

It was...really pretty. A bed, shrouded by drapery of soft pastels and whites and sheer lace material, creating a little hidden alcove.

Marko gleamed that tricky and mischief promising signature grin down at me. "Like it, baby?"

I was so enamoured with the sight that I didn't stop and question why two of them had called me that—just nodded, mouth dropped in awe.

That big Cheshire grin slipped a little, now an endeared and tiny smile of genuine satisfaction. Of adoration. "Good. 'Cause we did it up all pretty like this for you."

Some of the magic of it chipped away. I felt my happiness drop, replaced by furrowed brows.

"For me?"

He nodded, facial expressions changing so quickly I couldn't guess what was going on in his head. There was a calculated look in that gaze that flickered over my face, roaming to examine every snippet of a reaction.

Suddenly sceptical, suddenly smacked by an invisible hand of reason, I blinked profusely, trying to clear the haziness from my mind and my eyes. The more I fought the more the thing that was wrong with me did, too.

"W...Why?"

He was frowning now. The sight disturbed me.

One of his hands lifted, holding my jaw, his thumb stroking the line of my quivering bottom lip. How close was he trying to get? He pushed the boundaries, holding me so intimately near to him to the point I convinced myself he would kiss me.

Again, just like that, I was taken under. The longer he touched me, stared into my eyes, crowded my space: the anxiety evaporated. The pleasant numbness to concern creeped back over my psyche.

His tone was careful, testing, "You're our girl, Ria, aren't you. You remember?"

I...did. Paul had said that. Why did it feel okay now, when I'd so despised them for calling me that earlier?

Why had I despised them? I was their girl...wasn't I?

I nodded, and his affection for me made me lull a hushed whisper that had his jaw dropping, like he couldn't believe what I was saying.

"Yes. I'm yours, Marko." Something did feel like it had forced that acceptance out of me. It felt...fake. But that thought was gone. Marko snatched it away, because he was brilliantly beautiful when he bit back a grin. One that fought to be so bright, so ecstatic. He looked like it was taking all of his effort to suppress his suspicious delight.

I closed my eyes briefly when he kissed me on the crown of my head, smile intensifying at his happiness that disturbed and overjoyed me equally. It was a head spinning cocktail of feelings to have for someone my mind was telling me was mine.

He copied it, a slight edge of relief present. "You're my girl, Ri. Anything my lovely little birdie could possibly want, she gets." He tickled two fingers under my chin and as I erupted into a storm of giggles, he was almost beaming in delight. He jerked his chin toward the bed, "Lie down, dove."

I did immediately. Too quickly, with no fight, I barely was able to drag myself to flop into the pillows, drowsy beyond what was normal.

If the bed hadn't dipped and Marko hadn't laid down behind me and started spooning me, I had no doubts I'd have been asleep.

I craned my neck to try and look at him, not fighting him at all when he grabbed my by the waist and roughly yanked me onto my back. My dress had ridden up as I curled toward him, and as he propped himself up on an elbow and looked down at me, he had a twisted little look of glee on his impish face, fully able to show it now.

In the back of my head, something was trying to tell me things were off but everytime it nearly succeeded, the mist of that sibylline spell washed back over me.

Everything about Marko was pretty and called for your attention, but his eyes...they were ensconced with an unfamiliar gleam, something wicked, something fierce. It was the way he was looking hungrily at my legs where the skirt of my dress had ridden to bunch around the tops of my thighs that had me confused. I was covered, I had tights on for God's sake, but you would think I was in skimpy lingerie with the way he was looking at me.

Did I mind such attention from him? That intense, that...intimidating? I was shaky over it, but then he started to trace his fingers over my covered legs, inching them closer and closer to the hem of my skirt. I hummed, biting my lip, everything enhanced to the point it felt too good.

No. I guess I didn't.

He kept this up, just tracing his hand along the material of my tights, gaze getting darker and darker with something passionate and strangely, my eyes slipped closed, breathing heavy. It was sort of comforting, what he was doing, making me tired enough and content enough not to stop him.

My heart ached at the small ministrations. It was in a good way, not the horrid way it had two days ago and confusingly satisfied by what he was doing but knowing deep down there was some reason I shouldn't be allowing it, I listened out for the others to try and wake up.

Silence.

No.

Shit, that wasn't right.

Those alarm bells were ringing again but Marko's hands, coupled with my lethargy, left me no option to tell him as such.

I tried and tried but I couldn't even reach Cassius's mind with my own now. Normally that would've been a big red flag, but I became even more distracted as the bed springs squeaked under new added weight.

When something fluttered against my lips, when warmth pressed into the empty space beside me, Cassius was gone from memory.

Opening my eyes was a struggle, they felt like they were glued shut. When I did I was estranged to find Paul now cuddling up to me, sandwiching me between him and a glaring Marko presumably unhappy at our 'peace' being disrupted.

I blinked up at Paul, a silent question broadcasted.

He ignored my quiet wondering. "Sorry, sugar. Just wanted some quiet time with you before everything goes down the shitter, huh?"

I had no idea what he meant, and wearing an easy smile that tricked me into complacency, he held the joint in one of his hands, eyeing it with a line creased between his brows. He mulled something over, and the thing that had touched me and woken me from my spell was his other hand, fingers dancing against every relaxed feature of my face.

"You ever heard of shotgunning, babe?" He asked, sharing a secretive look with Marko who groaned.

"Don't be cruel, man. She's blitzed out enough on other things as it is. I'm pretty fucking sure she ain't gonna be able to handle weed on top of it."

"Nah, she's golden. Aren't ya, sweetie?" Paul crooned with a charming smirk, leaning down to tickle the tips of our noses together. I giggled and he sighed almost dreamily, "Go on, you pretty little thing. Tell that meany Marko you can handle what I wanna do."

"I can. I promise I can." I assured, the weakly mumbled words coming out like they'd been ripped from me. I didn't even know what he wanted, what I was agreeing to. I hadn't even had to think before speaking, it was just there in my head. The impulse to please him. To say whatever would make him happy.

I knew it was so, because when he smiled—a feature of his that suited him most—it appeased me of the compulsion and I was back to relishing the attention he was all too happy to give me.

"See? She promises." Paul repeated, shooting exaggerated puppy eyes at Marko. "You can't deny her what she's asking for, bud." Another look down at me, a sly snicker I'd almost take as patronizing if he wasn't showering me with affection at the same time. "Not when she's being such a sweet, good girl for us. Aren't you, baby?"

The praise had me blushing, ducking my head to hide my scarlet, flaming cheeks.

Marko scoffed and Paul stopped admiring me to scowl at him.

"Fine, sure. Great. Just don't complain to me when David rips you a new one, dude. He said we could have fun, that we could play and have a taster, but not this much. I'm not tempting that fucking demon to snap at me." Marko waved his hands in surrender, shaking his head, "It's gonna be your funeral."

"Actually, my funeral was about six decades ago and it was a fucking riot." Paul quipped, cackling when Marko groaned and hissed that he was an idiot.

It all went right over my head.

My answer to Paul's long since asked question was a simple shake of the head and a muttered, "Never shotgunned, Paul. Don't like guns."

"Fuck, you're adorable when you're out of it." He chuckled boisterously, bopping me on the nose. That seemed to be his favorite thing to do. Touching me.

"I'm not talking 'bout real guns, baby. I'm talking about your all American, purely sourced purple haze."

Oh...of course. He meant weed. Obviously.

Jesus. Why was I so slow?

My mind kind of felt like a whirlpool, my comprehensive skills drowning in the centre of it.

I was so blissed out it was difficult to talk or think about why Marko was pouting and disappointed and almost nervous as he sat back and watched us, or what they'd even been speaking about in the first place.

Paul smiled with bountiful excitement, blowing on the end of the joint to keep it lit. Stubbornly incessant, he scooted closer, copying my nose scrunch from sensitivity as one of his bracelets tickled my skin. "So, come on. Tell Paulie. You wanna try?"

"Um, well..."

Woah. Shit. My voice was hoarse, tone  deepened by the encroaching snare of sleep. I swallowed, throat dry, suddenly thirsty. Really fucking thirsty. "What do I do?"

"Nothing." He was quick to tell me, practically bouncing now and eager to fulfil his task, "Stay there, lookin' all pretty. Let me show you, yeah?"

I could have said no. Could have inquired why it was abruptly so quiet.

I didn't.

"...Okay."

He took a deep toke, so much so I knew I'd have choked on the smoke. He didn't even wince, didn't falter, just plucked the nearly spent roach from between his lips with his free hand when he'd deemed he'd taken enough and leaned down close to me.

Surprisingly, I almost immediately knew what he wanted me to do. The thought hit me out of nowhere, as if it had been implanted in my brain, but I followed his silent instructions as he coaxed my mouth open, thumb softly pulling at my bottom lip.

He blew the smoke into my mouth and I breathed in deeply, hit instantly by the rush...but then maybe it was also added to by him being so close, by him sneaking a quick kiss before he pulled away.

It was fast, it was not so innocent, and I only dwindled with a slight disturbance about him doing that before this out of body experience made it all seem okay.

"Hold it in, babe. That's it." He advised, completely bewitched as I lost myself to the haze.

Unable to do so anymore, it streamed out of my nose and had his jaw completely slackening. Apparently that was hot to him, though Paul seemed like a guy who'd find anything with a pulse attractive.

All I cared for, beyond speculating about him was the high and revelling in it. A contented hum escaped me when he lifted a hand, a large smile broadening across his prominent features, stroking his thumb against my lips again...as if to remember, to savor how they'd felt. Pleasure sparked beneath his touch and when I made a noise I couldn't stifle, I'd never seen a grin so big.

Had I been in normal thinking mode, the way he extinguished the last of the almost dead smoke on his fingertips would have had me wincing.

He couldn't get enough, of touching me apparently. Soon his other hand was back on me, stroking and caressing and tingling all of the nerves beneath my skin, sinking his waning warmth deep into my bones, taking advantage of my heightened receptivity.

I watched him as he watched his fingers touch my skin and I realized, for the third time and even when stoned out of my mind, that the voices had gone quiet. Too quiet. There was nothing anymore.

A flash of lucidity shot through me like a bullet and lifting a sluggish hand, I wrapped my thin fingers around his wrist.

His eyes flew back to meet mine, entirely unconcerned at my frenzy of movement.

"My brother." My voice was weak, thick with inebriation that wasn't just caused by the weed. He kept his smile, kept touching me from my cheekbone all the way down to my neck to cover my pulse and pass over my collarbones, even as my voice turned desperate. "Where's my brother, Paul?"

"Shhh, don't worry babydoll." Marko spoke and, still desperate, I turned my head back toward him having no idea of the danger I was now inadvertently in by exposing my neck to Paul. If I had still been watching him, I would have seen his eyes turn that nightmarish yellow as his predatory gaze honed in on the beating of my pulse beneath my skin.

Marko was observing my interaction with Paul, searching for something. He slid a hand to grasp my limp one resting on my stomach, bringing it to his lips. As he started to kiss my knuckles, I couldn't help but fall into any trickery he was doing. He was just so...sweet. So attentive, looking at me with that concern that I couldn't work out was real or not.

He laced our fingers together, the leather of his gloves feeling tough against my skin and smirked devilishly at me. It made his next words shallow and unbelievable. "Your brother's just sleeping, doll. Dwayne and David are taking care of him. Guess he partied a little too hard, huh Paul?"

The way he said they were 'taking care of him' sounded like it had two meanings. I had no recollection of Cassius taking anything at all throughout the night that would make him pass out. He was a fallen angel, human drugs and alcohol had never affected him.

"Couldn't hack it," Paul agreed in a distracted and quiet voice so characteristically unlike him. I soon discovered why.

"Paul," I gasped in fright when he bent to shove his face into the crook of my neck, forcing me to tilt my head back to accommodate his close proximity.

It was sudden. So sudden and I was inexperienced in this kind of thing. Never had a guy just done something like this, out of the blue...but Paul was pushing through boundaries no one had crossed. Kept doing things without provocation, without me indicating it was okay. It was either confidence, arrogance or straight up vanity to think he could do whatever the hell he wanted.

I really was starting to hate it.

...wasn't I?

I didn't know. My head felt fuzzy as he hovered above my skin with indecision. I wasn't so sure what I felt for any of them anymore. Antipathy, juvenile attraction, doubt. Like my surroundings, my reality, it was all blending together to leave me sort of pleasantly numb.

Was I Hesperia, or was I their girl? Had I always been?

"Woah, hey, w...wait..."

He didn't listen to my protests, nuzzling closer. My heart stared to pound, a smidgen of my straight thinking brain pushing through whatever was afflicting me. And it was making adrenaline course through my veins. Fight or flight, pushed to be crazy as he stayed so close to my neck.

Oh. This was not good.

His teased cloud of hair hid Marko from my sight but I felt his hold on my hand tighten and heard the warning 'Paul' that he growled at him.

It was all shocking and disorienting and I was slightly appalled when he breathed in deeply, his nose brushing along my throat. And then his lips...soft, silky, doubt crumbling lips. They replaced it, a kiss pressed to my jugular leaving me struggling for breath, the air too thin.

An odd whine of some emotion I couldn't place was pulled from me against my will when his cool tongue darted out, laving over the warm skin. Mortified, I could do nothing but lay there in suspended fear as something warped it and made everything feel good, my thighs twitching to rub together, a wave of arousal flooding over me.

Oh God, this was so wrong. Where the fuck was my brother?!

"Paul!" Marko snapped, truly growling like an animal now.

Despite his warning tones he made no move to stop the over affectionate man latched to me when he started sucking a hickey into my skin.

"You smell amazing." He slurred it with a heavy tongue, practically salivating. "I wanna taste you so fucking bad, sugar," He rumbled against the marked flesh he continued to attack, teeth biting with vicious ferocity.

He grasped at the underside of my thigh, pulling my leg over his hip, clutching at me like he was holding heaven in his hands and it was my turn, now. My turn to feel a spike, a rush of lust for him. Almost as if it weren't my own.

He was whining, his breathing a heaving rhythm of desperation as he mouthed and bit away to his hearts content—and then as he inhaled, a higher whine ruptured from him. Almost a growl, the guttural nature of it cutting deep through me. "I just know you'd be the best I ever had. Better than any fucking drug. God, you're driving me crazy, baby. Please, please let me taste you."

In response to the request I didn't understand, to the things he was making me feel with his touch, my whole body flushed with heat. Because, insanely, some subconscious part of my mind wanted whatever he was offering.

"Dude, don't." Marko warned, but it was strained as he clenched my fingers in his own. Trying to resist himself.

Still, he did nothing, and Paul just bit harder to flaunt he could do what he wanted. I flinched at the sting.

"Your heart," He shuddered out reverently, rolling to essentially be on top of me. Caging me in. For a fraction of a second, he lifted his face to grin maliciously at Marko who sat back and eyed him with suspicion. Then he looked down upon me and god, he must have seen something he liked, a fond smile replacing his heavy one slaked with poison. He looked like he was drunk, fluttering tremulous fingers over my chest with a coo so dreamy, so borderline condescending, "Oh, sugar. I can hear it beating like a drum. It's going crazy." He smirked, sliding his hand back to hold my thigh over his hip. "Wanna see if I can speed it up?"

I shrunk back, but there was no where to go. By then he was straight back to it, rushing down to achieve his goal.

Too slow for my own liking, my hand flew to embed itself in the surprisingly soft wild hair crowding my bleary vision and as I pulled to try and dislodge him, the sharp pain only gave him more motivation to leave me shaking and pleading with his advances.

He got what he wanted.

"Paul, please..." I was trying to tell him to stop, but the words died as they reached my lips. He didn't hear that anyway, nipping and sucking and kissing sweetly, lovingly, over my erratic pulse, my jaw, everywhere.

It was a little jarring considering I didn't fucking know this man enough for this to be okay. Why did it feel okay?

His teeth...they felt sharper, too, as they tugged and undoubtedly bruised the flesh they scraped against. "Paul..." I tried again, to make it sound like a stern warning. It wasn't. Embarrassing but unstoppable, it came out as a moan.

It was so wrong, what he was doing, but it...transformed from that, as I should've suspected it would. It was good, it was right and my hand in his hair stopped tugging, simply laying on the back of his head. It was weak, to succumb so quickly when my brother could be in danger, when I had made no consent for both he and a stiff Marko to be touching me, but being weak in this moment was all that made me feel stable. Any thought of denial made me hurt, made my chest ache.

Paul stopped abruptly, right when I was on the brink of giving in, releasing my neck with a lewd 'pop' that embarrassed me to no end, dragging his nose up my tender neck and quivering jaw until his face levelled to be close to mine.

The way he watched me was something, I was unaware, I'd grow to become too familiar with in the future: pure, innate, primal possessiveness.

All I could see in this moment wasn't that, blind to the malice within him.

Staring contemplatively at me as I breathlessly whimpered, each one stinging my soul like a cut, he quirked his head to the right and experimentally, he moved his hips. The wide eyes and ecstatic grin that shot like a bolt of lightening across his face had me just as stunned as the moan I let out.

He'd pressed against me with the not so naive shifting around, and it had sent a pulse of electricity, of thrill and pleasure straight down my spine. An ache right between my legs.

He did it again, ignoring Marko as he hissed at him to 'cut it out' like a goddamn animal, intent to focus instead on the low moan that tore up my throat and poured thickly from my lips, my own tongue tied now.

"Wait, Paul, please..." I clutched at Marko's hand, every breath never enough to stop my spiralling lightheadedness. There was something, white hot and tight and coiling like a taut spring ready to snap in my stomach.

"No, baby. It's okay. I'm just doing what David told me to. Taking care of you, huh?" He shushed me, nothing but pure adoration mixed with cunning devilry spilling from his half lidded eyes and his catching voice as I withered beneath him.

"You're sick, man."

The man hovering over me making me feel euphoric things I'd never felt before grunted at his friend, "I don't see you stopping me, curls. Can it."

Their bickering fell on deaf ears. I wasn't sure anymore, if I was afraid of him or if I wanted him to do what was making me so scared again when those tantalising lips lowered to barely touch against mine in the lightest of kisses, as his well placed grinds hit just the right spot.

He'd just begun to find a better position when he stopped. His eyes slid shut, frozen in the moment as if he wished to draw it out, to refuse whatever had made him pause. But he pulled away completely, grunting a despondent, frustrated sigh. No, an angry sigh.

Both he and Marko, presumably, heard something I didn't because he took hold of my hand that had been in his hair, getting me to let him go so he could shimmy off the bed with great reluctance, disappearing from sight.

"Funs over," Marko sighed, standing up only to bend and lift me into his arms as if I weighed nothing. It seemed to take him no effort or strain, even as I wiggled around. A part of the enchantment over me had been broken.

I remembered. I wasn't theirs. I wasn't anyone's. I didn't even know them.

"Marko." Tears bubbled up, his name said gravely. Reality set back in. The world fell back onto the right axis.

Now that sweet face of his terrified me, even as he tried to be soothing, taking advantage of my still burdened rigidness to steal a kiss I couldn't escape from.

"Don't look at me like that, Ria." That was rich. He couldn't even look at me. There was some shame, then. But not enough. He all but scoffed out to bury the guilt, "You are mine. You're Paul's. You're Dwayne's. You're David's. You just don't know it yet."

This was so uncomfortable. I was confused, terrified, trapped.

When he sat back on the couch, only keeping my legs in his lap but his stunning dark beauty out of my face, I could remember this was so very fucking wrong.

This horrid trance that David had put me in was not dwindling in its physical power over me, trying to make me succumb and I was...fearful that I would never wake from it.

Sluggishly pushing my tired body to sit up, Marko tutted at me and with a gentle shove he pushed me back down, shushing me when I whined in fear.

Paul reappeared and joined him in his efforts to pacify me, crouching by the side of the couch, passing a hand through my hair and twirling some strands around his fingers. "Relax now, sugar. I'm, uh, real sorry about that..." He grinned, tongue darting to taste whatever was making him shiver that was on his lips as he nodded to my sore neck. I knew he wasn't. "Got a little carried away. Just, let us take care of you and it'll all be okay in the end. Pinky promise."

He linked that finger through my own with a stupid little smile that tried to make me overlook what had just happened.

What the fuck was happening?

"He's right. It won't be long now, doll." Marko attempted to soothe me and Paul let me go when I just stared blankly at him.

They'd tried. They'd failed. It had the opposite effect, their care. Instead I still tried and still couldn't get up.

What...what the hell did that mean? It wasn't long until what?

"Please..." Great, now I was whimpering again in fear but my distress wasn't letting me speak normally and noises of sadness and fear were all I was capable of. The urge to cry was strong, beyond avoiding almost and I felt so stupid.

I told him! I told Cassius this was a stupid idea but does he listen to me? Does he fuck and now look at us! One of us is missing but not dead–through our link I could feel he was very much alive, though if he would remain so when I found him was up for debate–and the other was being borderline molested by two admittedly gorgeous men in a cave in the middle of fucking nowhere!

All I could do now was plead. Maybe they could do something to get me out of this, maybe I could...convince them, because I didn't know how far this all went. The reasoning behind it, why they were doing this. That didn't mean I shouldn't try.

I opened my mouth and discovered that it was getting hard to talk, to remember syllables. My tongue felt like lead in my mouth and there was this rapid...spinning, a spiralling in my mind, like I was sinking, my vision tunnelled and the corner of my eyes obscured by a creeping black.

"M–marko, please just l...let me go so I can find my brother." The fear in my voice broke my own heart and his, apparently. His big eyes I had thought were so kind were filled with sadness, the classic devious twinkle always sparkling in them and their was even satisfaction...over this? Over what they had done to me? 

He shook his head, with no remorse. No sympathy except for a small amount when a tear trickled over that he cooed at and wiped away, and I wanted to scream.

Someone spoke before Marko could lead me down another obtuse road that would end with no answers and it was not Paul who had been sat back, watching Marko touch me with thinly veiled antipathy.

"What have you two done?" Deep, powerful and only a few words but each one stoked by his anger. Dwayne drifted around the couch to gaze upon me, stopping by the crouched Paul who waved his hands and laughed a smug laugh.

"Nothing man! I swear on my mommy." He beamed childishly. If I had been in an alright head space and not drugged up by a combination of actual drugs and some scary unforeseen invisible force, I might have laughed along with him because he was so ridiculous. Now, though, his immature behavior was making me nauseous. I'd been let it on what he hid beneath the ruse.

"Well your mother is maggot food and you hated her guts so that doesn't give me much confidence in your little promise." Dwayne grumped, his dark eyes smouldering like the embers of a dying charcoal fire and he nearly snarled down at Paul. "What's on her neck, Paul? Huh?"

He waited for a response and simultaneously reached a big hand down to skim over the hickey Paul had left stamped into my skin. He didn't touch me for too long and though he was in on this, at least one of them knew how to keep their hands to themself.

He rounded on the eccentric man when Paul stumbled to his feet, his hands fisted in the fishnet top barely covering Paul's chest. They were face to face and Dwayne was snarling, the sound echoing like the braying and vicious noise of a chainsaw through the cave.

Marko had no reaction. He just held my hand, caressed me in ways I didn't want, his other hand crawling ever closer to places it shouldn't. I was powerless to stop him and either he knew nothing about my inner turmoil or didn't care a single iota for it. He was silent, watching them.

I hated the bastard, but now would be a good time for David to show up.

"You weren't supposed to touch her you moronic idiot!"

"Relax, Tiger Lily. It's a harmless hickey."

"Bullshit Paul. You know your control is nonexistent! What if you'd have hurt her?"

"Cheap shot man." Marko said, shaking his head in an ashamed manner at Dwayne.

Paul nodded, jerking a hand in our direction. "Thank you, Marko! At least someone has faith in good ol' Paulie."

He turned lascivious, shoving Dwayne's hands off of him and bearing his body closer to the rugged man to taunt him with a shit–eating grin. "Admit it, man. You're just mad I got to do something with her first. Mad I've done what you want to do. Mad I'm a nasty piece of shit that doesn't let complications stop him from doing what's natural."

"They're not complications, Paul. My reluctance is called having morals." Dwayne stopped snarling long enough to sardonically insult the cocky man, narrowing his eyes.

Paul still roared with laughter, clapping his hands and continuing to push his luck. "Morals." He shook his head at Marko, an 'is he serious,' motion and rounded back on Dwayne, "When did you suddenly grow those? You're just like me, Dwayne."

Said man shook his head, obvious denial painted all over him and as his fists clenched, Paul's words hitting home, the stoner mockingly patted him on the shoulder, "You are, bud. You can have your false code of ethics and keep being the noble one among us, but you're missing out by being such a prissy uptight asshole and you know it. She was so fucking sweet..." Paul shivered, fleetingly sending me a smirk, leaning closer to Dwayne and whispering, "I can still taste her."

Indignant, I huffed and tried in vain to move. I wasn't about to sit here and listen to them talk about me like I was some delicious cupcake. This was so fucked up!

Dwayne was...hyperventilating now, jaw wound shut and mouth twisted unnaturally, only becoming more worked up when Paul leant to mutter more things in his ear that I couldn't hear. I knew they were about me, about what he'd done, because the mysterious man I'd come to view as the best of them was quickly losing the morals Paul had shunned, eyeing my neck like a hungry man.

And of course, when I'm planning my big getaway before Dwayne makes true on the urge I can see on him to do exactly as Paul had done, was the time David decided to come back.

He swept into the room and I froze, only having the strength to turn my head. His coat billowed around him as he approached us and there was annoyance taking him hostage in its claws. He was surpassing even just being tense, he was as rigid as fucking stone.

The others forgot their argument and proving he was in charge, they quieted at his approach. He had this ability to make any room he entered fill with a cold feeling, one that demanded respect.

"You good, dude?" Paul questioned innocently as if moments before the two men stood before me hadn't been trying to tear each other's throats out, side eyeing Dwayne who did the same to him, the tension between them thick.

David kicked his wheelchair to be closer to the couch I was being kept captive on and virtually collapsed into it, another cigarette quickly lit and stuck between his lips. Clearly he had some sort of addiction to the vile cancer sticks I tried so desperately myself to not indulge.

"Asshole weighs more than he looks." He mumbled around it, taking a long drag before he plucked it between his fingers and his head fell back in pseudo exhaustion. He let the smoke trail out of his mouth with his pleased, drawled words. "Good thing the plan worked. Prick was getting on my fucking nerves."

The plan? Oh, Cassius owed me a massive apology for dropping us in this shit when I find him.

"You think it'll hold him?" Marko asked, looking at David over me.

I was starting to feel like chopped liver or a rug on the floor—some discarded object no one wanted or gave a shit about. I literally was not being acknowledged anymore and with each second, that aversion I had to them came back stronger and stronger.

David scoffed and I gathered he thought anyone carrying the notion that the idea wouldn't work was insulting. The mastermind behind this had been him, that was a sure as shit. He rubbed a hand down his face and I could see something, grey and thick, stained on his sleeve.

"More than sure. He may be a fallen Angel but there's no damn way he's getting through three layers of brick and cement."

What? What the fuck?

They've fucking cemented him behind a wall? No. No. I must be hearing him wrong. If they had, though, then terrifyingly David is right. Cassius has many many powers and advantages over humans, but the strength to punch through brick? Yeah, that ain't one of 'em.

Crap. What was worse, with our mind connection severed at this drunk feeling plaguing me, I can't even call for him so he can teleport out of there. This is...so fucked.

Angry beyond belief, I grunt and all of them look at me as if suddenly remembering I exist. When I found the willpower to speak, David was my target and my glare was so deadly he looked moderately surprised by it.

"What the hell have you done you unbalanced, deranged bastard?!"

He chuckled airily and Paul laughed like a mad man and I felt so depressed that I just wanted to die, because he wasn't taking me seriously. None of them were. I wanted to punch that stupid, stupid smirk off of his stupid handsome face.

"That's cute, sweetheart. Except I don't think I want to tell you for talking to me so rudely." He flicked the ash of his cigarette, bearing forward with a creak from his chair and a large, toothy grin that was creepily real in its wicked pleasure, "But just to indulge you, we conducted a little test with the contents in that bottle that's got you so curious. Didn't think it'd work, of course, but some horrible God must be on our side."

They laughed. Hard. In hysterics at what? Winning? Fooling us? Earning my hate when I'd started to open up to them?

I actually felt my blood start to boil and Marko paid the price, touching me at the wrong time.

Not thinking at all I lashed out, my hand achieving its goal of slapping him across the face. There was a red print on his perfect skin and I should have felt...proud that I got to do what I wanted. But I really fucking wasn't.

He stopped moving. Entirely, with his head turned away. All I could do was stare at him and what I had done with eyes so wide they ached.

The cave was even silent as the grave.

That is, until he slowly turned back to face me with an unreadable expression.

Oh fuck...oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

His lip is split.

Some blood trickled out of the minuscule cut and his pink tongue rushed out to lick it up. The ruby liquid stirred something evil within him and his laugh was cold. Void. He yanked me much too harshly so I was sprawled across his lap, his arms around me in a crushing hold and if I could still function and move normally, even then I couldn't have escaped it.

I could smell the iron from the cut, his annoyed grumble laced with danger and his eyes that were so close to me thanks to our faces only being millimetres apart...there was something wrong with them.

They're that pretty olive green, but there was a hue of creepy yellow slowly fogging over and a sense of foreboding punctured and fought it's way into my chest to the point it was painful, making it's home there.

Yellow eyes. I know what that means. I've been warned countless times about what yellow eyes belong to but stupidly, I ignored the warnings. Naively I convinced myself this particular monster did not exist.

Panicked, I fought against him as best I could to move and it did nothing. In the clutches of him like this, the angles of his facial structure changing into something monstrous before my very eyes, a scream was lodged in my throat never to be released.

He had changed drastically and the sweet Marko I thought was adorable was buried beneath savagery. The bone above his brow had shifted forward, his cheekbones sharpened, his eyes a glowing amber now hollow and sunken. His teeth when he flashed them at me in a beastly smile were sharpened into deadly, razored points used to undeniably tear through flesh.

Vampires...actual vampires. We're screwed. Done for and as I feel myself unexpectedly slipping into an unconscious state the longer I beheld those nightmare inducing pits of fire, I could slap myself and then my brother for good measure.

I should have listened to the Frog brothers. There really are vampires everywhere.