Nefarious

C14 - First hint

My mouth dropped open when I saw the place where Alex lives, a freaking castle. It was huge with wide windows scattered generously around the walls in fairly symmetrical patterns. The castle itself was made of cobblestone and it covered a ridiculously big area.

I never expected this from him, nor did it give me a good feeling. "Please tell me you're joking," I said softly as I looked over at Jace. He shook his head before he started walking towards the castle confidently. It looked a bit creepy, to be honest, it truly wasn't like the typical royal castles.

Jace spoke to the guards who were glaring at me. I'm not sure whether my paranoia was blurring my judgment or not, but It honestly felt like every person that laid their eyes on me gave wanted me gone. Their dark facial expressions strengthened my feeling of not belonging here, which I don't.  "Just don't speak to anyone in here, okay?" he said, looking forward. "Did you say that to me, or?" I asked. I had to make sure I was right because by now I was nothing but confused and kinda scared. "No, I was speaking to the ghost behind you obviously," he answered sarcastically.

Jace and I were walking down a long corridor with limited lighting. The time had just passed 1 am, yet the majority of the people here seemed to be awake. There weren't many people walking around, but I could hear indistinct chatter coming from random rooms and other corridors.

"Are all these people his family?" I whispered. "You don't need to whisper, most of us can hear you anyway." "What? How?" I asked. "I can't be bothered to explain," he rolled his eyes. "Who's the bitch?" a random girl asked. I almost walked straight into the girl who asked... "Alex's girlfriend," Jace answered shortly. "Did I say bitch? I meant girl, sorry. Welcome," she nodded once at me as a greeting. Well, that sure was interesting, to say the least. 

Once again, we met someone who asked who I was. This time it was a dark haired guy with dark brown eyes, he was quite slim, and tall in comparison to me. "As I'm weirdly known as I'm Alex's boyfriend," I introduced myself. "Hm, I didn't know that Alex had a boyfriend," he raised his eyebrows. "I meant girlfriend," I corrected myself, sighing at my own failure. "No need to be nervous, it's not like it's dangerous in here, right, Jace?" he snickered, casting a quick glance at Jace. The crook of Jace's mouth quickly moved up and formed a small and quick smile: "Right." "Anyway, I'm Xavier. Lovely to smell you, I mean, meet you," he said as he patted my shoulder. His hand felt icy cold in contact with my skin, so cold that it caused shivers running down my spine. I turned my head and watched him walk away from us. He turned his head once, and I could see his beginning smirk as if he knew that his touch brought me the shivers.

After some more minutes of walking, we finally reached the person Jace was looking for. "Hey there, sister," Jace said, leaning to the doorframe of what I assume is her room. "Who's the lady?" she asked as she put down her pen. Like several times before, Jace introduced me as Alex's girlfriend and not Valerie. A smirk formed on her face, and it looked much like Jace's. "Anyway, what do you want?" she asked Jace. She didn't ask for my name, nor did she introduce herself, which I'm totally okay with. I didn't really feel like small talking with people right now. "Have you seen Alex around?" he asked directly. "I've been out all night, so no," she shook her head. "Alright, I've fucked up then," Jace exhaled sharply. "Don't tell me you left him alone somewhere," his sister said quickly, worry dominating her voice. "It might have occurred," he let out an insecure chuckle. "You idiot!" she said through gritted teeth. "It was my fault," I blurted out. "Valerie!" Jace exclaimed, nudging my shoulder. "What?" I slightly gasped. "Put the blame on yourself in here and you're dead," his sister warned me. "Especially when it has got something to do with Alex," Jace added.

We headed for the very end of the castle, but we didn't get very far. Somebody came walking towards us, and from distance, I could only see that is was a male with dark blonde hair. "Alex?" Jace narrowed his eyebrows. He continued walking further while his head was slowly moving upwards. His bottom lip was covered in a dark substance, and it didn't take long before I realized it was blood. Dripping from his hands was the blood of another person. Alex's eyes were crystal clear with no certain look to them. I swallowed oddly at the sight of him like this, struggling to take in the fact that he was way different from what I had thought earlier. He was staring directly at me with a darkened look on his face, and it made me feel weird, intimidated and sick. "When?" Jace questioned. "Just now," Alex answered huskily. "What have you done?" I stuttered. "Leave me again and you'll never find out."