Light in Your Eyes

07 | black wings

The three of us turn silent. I'm waiting for her to say more, trying to block the noises from the party.

I hate parties.

But then, Brea laughs boisterously. Gio chuckles again, shaking his head. "You can do better, little liar."

"I'm not lying," I say, raising my tone.

"That's impossible," Brea says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Jaxon couldn't have hired you. If he had, you would have had your Black Wings tattoo with red streaks on it. There are only three people in this fucking world who have it. So far, you have none." She pauses, raising her eyebrows. "Unless you can show me."

"Dream on." Gio smirks. "That's why little liars like you never survive this place. They always come here with zero clues about how things work here."

"I'm a caregiver--"

"Your lies have been exposed, Layla." Brea corners me again, and my back is pushed against the wall. "Did you actually think that it would make sense to create that kind of story so that you could step into this place?" She then urges her boyfriend, "Show her yours, babe."

Gio flips his left arm, showing me a tattoo of black wings on the inside of his upper arm.

"This is mine," he says. "My identity. You can't be here without it. The punishment is death. You can't fake it either. Same punishment -- death. I wonder how the fuck you could pass the guards outside. I'll make a note to tell Fenrir about that. The guys have been pretty lazy nowadays."

I don't have any idea about this man named Fenrir. It seems like he's one of their leaders.

Now that I'm staring closely at Gio's tattoo, it indeed has the same effect as the one I saw on Cole's wrist. It's hypnotizing. The tattoo is very detailed and well-crafted, it makes me feel like I'm seeing the real thing -- a pair of black wings.

Panic starts to build up inside me. Cole didn't tell me anything about the tattoo. He only warned me to stay close to Kellan so that everything would be alright.

What am I supposed to do?

"The black wings tattoo is the identity for all the regular members," Brea says matter-of-factly. "You just stepped into our base. Not only you didn't have your identity, but you were trying to fool us with some ridiculous made-up story."

I'm about to open my mouth again, but Brea drags me along the hidden wall under the staircase before I can utter another word. When she halts, my eyes land on the four polaroid photos attached to the wall.

"Fortunately, we have the photos of our leaders down here so you can have a better idea about how fucked up your lies were," she says.

"Fangirls," Gio retorts while Brea rolls her eyes at him.

The first photo is of Cole in a black leather jacket, smoking a cigarette. He's not looking at the camera. It's a candid picture. He looks good, just as he does in real life, but the monochrome photo doesn't do any justice to his captivating blue eyes.

"That's Cole, and I doubt you've ever met him. He's in Italy fighting our enemies," Brea says. "He's one of the Knights, which means that he has a black wings tattoo with red streaks. Kings choose Knights, and Knights choose regular members. If you were recruited by a Knight, you would have a regular black wings tattoo like what I have. Unfortunately, Cole never recruits. He couldn't have hired you."

My fist curls into a fist. "I never said he did." I'm itching to tell her that I did meet this man, but she'll never believe me anyway.

"But you did say that he brought you here. That's impossible too," she hums. "Now the second picture. His name is Levi. One of the Knights as well. He's our King's most trusted right-hand man, other than Cole, of course."