The Wolf

Ch. 52: No Rest For The Wicked

"Don't touch me, snake!" I scream, backing away.

"Nico, enough. Lay back down and relax." Luca says firmly.

"Like hell, I will," I spit.

Luca's eyes are frigid as he appraises me. "Just. Do. It." 

"No. Why should I? What do you care?" My legs shake with the effort of holding myself up. Sweat drips into my eyes and blood leaks from the hole in my stomach that has re-opened once I stood up.

"I did what I had to, Nico. You would have done the same thing if you were in my place." He says calmly.

His voice is annoying. His face is irritating. The way he holds himself confidently is infuriating. How can he be so calm and collected? How can he not feel even the slightest bit of guilt?

"As if!" I hiss, "Not everyone is a traitor like you."

"My sister, who means as much to me as Alex means to you, was kidnapped by Nyx. She would have been murdered if I didn't do anything to prevent that. I couldn't even tell you because Nyx was always watching us through the mark on your neck."

My jaw hangs open in horror. It's true. I was a spy. My knees finally give out, the burden too heavy to carry. My ears are ringing from the shock. Is this really all that surprising? Or did I know this all along too, just like the voice in my head said earlier about me wanting to die?

"Did... Did you ever actually like me?" I whisper, terrified to hear the truth.

Luca's eyes look me straight on. "I hated you. You were pathetic and pitied yourself to no end, never thinking once about the others around you. And when you started getting over yourself and started to grow confident and happy, I despised you even more. 'Cause you were having fun while, somewhere, my sister was suffering because of Nyx's twisted desire for me to get closer to you. So, no, I never liked you."

Every time I think I can't get hurt any more than this, someone always finds a way to get beneath my armor and hurt me in a new, even crueler way. I lay down in the circle without a word. There are no tears to cry. Luca stands over me with a blank expression on his face. He grew into his handsome features. He cut his hair, no longer any sign of the blue hair I once knew. It was stupid of me to think that I'm the only one who is this cold.

Luca can't feel a thing either.

"You know, you're just like Nyx," I say softly. Luca flinches almost imperceptibly. "She took away the person who you care about the most, and then you took away the person who meant the most to me. But there's a difference between me and you, Luca."

"And what's that?" He scoffs.

"I'm willing to fight the source of my problems. I'm willing to put the blame on her and myself. I'm not going to betray someone and then blame them, saying that's what they deserve."

Luca works his jaw, clearly irritated with my words. I bet everything I'm saying is nothing new to him. Just like the Nyx in my head did, I'm goading him. I want him to freak out. I want him to hear the words he needs to hear because if I don't tell him, he'll just shove them deeper and deeper into his subconscious. I don't want him to suffer like me, even if he deserves it. 

"And there's one more thing, isn't there?" I chuckle and shake my head, despite the pain. "She didn't give you back your sister, did she? So in the end, everything you did was in vain. Wasn't it?"

A hand clenches around my throat, cutting off my supply of oxygen. Luca seethes as he sits on top of me. I smile and cough up blood as he irritates my wound. Voices around us call out his name, begging him to stop.