Love & Loss

Chapter 34

Not like actively avoided me, but enough for it to be noticeable.

When I brought it up to Marcus, he said that they were just afraid of doing or saying something to me that might upset Nico.

Apparently, they were all terrified of the princes. Especially after I got drugged...

I snapped out of my thought once I heard Marcus draw in a quick gasp beside me.

I looked towards him to see that he was looking wide-eyed to our right.

Following his gaze, I saw a boy on the far side of the large lounging room we were passing through, casually walking in the opposite direction we were.

He seemed to notice us too, faltering in his step a bit.

Even though he was moderately far away, I could see his eyes switch between me and Marcus.

He looked like a sweet guy.

Although I couldn't shake the feeling that I've seen him before.

Smiling almost nervously, the boy sent a wave our way.

I returned it with a smile of my own, turning my head to see Marcus' rigid stance.

His gaze flickered to mine thinking over something.

He sent the boy a very quick wave before promptly grabbing my hand and picking up his pace to nearly a run.

I was stumbling to match his pace so he wasn't completely dragging me before I could even think to question his actions.

"Marcus?" I asked as he lead me out of that room and into a hallway that I wasn't at all familiar with.

"Just trust me for a sec," was all he said.

Those words caused even more questions for me.

Does Marcus not like him or something?

If that was the case then I didn't understand why.

He was the first slave I've seen other than Marcus to initiate some sort of communication towards me.

Even if it was just a simple wave.

He continued through this hallway taking what seemed like random turns to me, but strategic to Marcus.

Eventually, we both came to a dead stop when we nearly ran straight into Xander and Doe after turning a corner.

The four of us just looked at each other for a moment, none of us expecting the other to be there.

I mean, I didn't even know where I was.

I mainly just stayed to the main rooms and hallways.

Although I was surprised to see Xander here.

And both Xander and Doe's eyes seem fixed on the fact that my hand was in Marcus'.

Marcus quickly let go.

Xander looked confused for a short moment before his eyes flashed in amusement.

"Well, what were you two off to do?" he questioned smugly, causing the girl to his left to hide a laugh.

Both of our faces flamed red as Marcus immediately explain that he was just simply leading me somewhere.

Although, after my initial embarrassment, I knew enough about Xander to know that he was just messing with us and wanted to see our reactions.

Marcus didnt quite catch that and kept going off in a panic.

I eventually set my hand on his shoulder to get him to stop before I spoke.

"Shouldn't you be having lunch with your family?" I asked.

Xander shrugged, "Yeah but not for like 20 minutes. I was told to be there at 1:30."

"It's 1:39" Marcus squeaked, still calming himself down.

"What what?!" Xander exclaimed, reaching for the pocket watch Marcus had and opening it up.

"Shit" He bit out in a whisper before turning to Doe, "I'll be back in an hour," He told her before he was gone in a flash, leaving Marcus to catch the watch.

Doe just watched to where he sped off to before turning her attention to us.

"So what were you guys doing?" She asked.

"Yeah Marcus, what was that?" I followed up, "That slave was trying to be nice and you just took off."

Marcus stared at the floor for a moment, his hand moving up to rub his upper arm.

"Yeah I guess I could have handled that better, but I just panicked." He explained.

Doe and I exchanged a look.

"Panicked?" She asked before I did.

"Yeah," He breathed out, his hand now moving to rub his head," Look Khloe, one of my duties here is to protect you, so if you ever see him again, turn and run."

Confusion came over me as Doe spoke again.

"Just Khloe?" She asked.

"I think so, but you should be wary too."

Again, we shared a confused glance at each other.

"Why?" I began, "Is he dangerous?"

"If he's dangerous we can just get Xander or Nico to deal with him," Doe added.

"No!" Marcus snapped almost immediately, shocking the both of us.

The panic on his face had now reached a whole new level.

Silence overcame us as Marcus took a minute to regain himself.

"No," he repeated again, "Not yet. I'm suspicious of him but... but I don't have solid proof of anything yet. I just want you guys to be careful until I can figure this out."

Suspicious of him? But he looked so innocent and kind.

But I guess I can't gather that much information from just seeing someone once...

Marcus, on the other hand, seemed to be deep into something that I was just now hearing about.

Although his stance had calmed down I could still see the frenzy in his eyes.

He was so anxiously awaiting our answer.

This seemed really serious to him... whatever this was.

"Okay," I responded softly, noticing his eyes relax.

"Yeah okay, but if you need more help, I'm sure that one of the brothers can take care of it for you," Doe explained.

I nodded, knowing that Nico of all vampires would intervene if he thought one of us was in danger.

And I was sure Xander was similar.

"I don't doubt that," Marcus responded, his voice still moderately quiet.

Doe spoke up before any more awkward tension could rebuild itself, stepping between Marcus and linking our elbows with hers.

"Now can we go get some food? I'm hungry as hell."

Marcus finally smiled as we began walking.

"Yeah. And maybe one of us can beat Khloe in uno this time."