"Dante! Hurry the fuck up," Nikolai yelled at the closed door, as if it was him.
I winced at his tone of voice. He had been quiet this whole time, so hearing him yell out of nowhere startled me. But nonetheless, I was thankful he did. Mammon was taking an inhumanely long time in the shower, and I couldn't bear it. It wasn't because I was eager to go to the beach, like an unknowing child, but rather, I couldn't manipulate the awkwardness between Nikolai and I. Claude wasn't here to numb it either—he did say he was driving, so I supposed that he was in the car, waiting.
The sound of a door opening broke through the room before Mammon ambled out, leaving the door agape for the smell of his menthol body wash to come out. He was clad with all things denim—besides his chalk white shirt. He looked...nice.
"Took you long enough."
"Shut up, you're lucky we're even going," Mammon quipped as he grabbed the navy bag perched on top of the pewter couch.
Nikolai walked out of the stuffy apartment and I followed right after. I had almost forgotten how we had to act like this, like we hated each other; even when it couldn't be further from the truth.
Mammon fumbled with the cluster of keys in his hand before placing, rather driving one into the keyhole.
"Nikolai!" A voice exclaimed. All three of us poked our heads in the direction of the voice. It was a petite woman. She was leaning on her door frame, a small cardboard box sitting at the bend of her waist as she waved at the brunet. Loose auburn curls fell over the straps of her purple satin nightgown. I didn't know how she managed to spot him when Mammon and I were unintentionally covering him. But regardless, a rubescent Nikolai waved back at her just as the two began their journey down the stairs.
"So...you're fucking with my neighbor, huh Nick?"
He sure had a way with words, didn't he?
"Shut up," Nikolai answered, even redder this time, almost like he had been dipped in red paint. Mammon began laughing as I followed behind them, listening.
"What was her name again? Layla?"
"No, it's Leah."
"Leah," the raven-haired muttered. "You should ask her out."
"What? Fuck no! I don't even think s-she likes me like that."
"Oh trust me she does. She's always asking me about your ass, it's obvious she likes you," Mammon reassured, patting his shoulder blade gleefully.
"S-seriously?"
In that exact moment, I heard not Nikolai, but my younger brother. They were both so alike—how they both stuttered and flushed a sanguine when their crush was mentioned.
"Seriously. I mean what d'ya have to lose? The worst thing she could say is no."
"Maybe you're right but what if-"
"Shut up with that 'what if' bullshit. You've been crushing on her for months-" Nikolai pursed his lips at Mammon as he made a sharp shushing sound.
"You've been crushing on her for months, so just take the risk. Sorra's in a relationship, Vogel's in a relationship, I'm in a relationshi-"
Our eyes widened in unison at his slip-up.
"You're in a...what?!"
"I'm-"
"Don't tell me you got back with Andrea."
I could see the blanket of relief fall over the him, but I frowned. Andrea?
"Nah, she's fucking psychotic. I just- keep forgetting that we're not together."
"Sounds like you're having a hard time getting over her, Dan."
This triggered an amused snort from Mammon, "Oh believe me, I'm not."
"You sound happy. Y'sure you didn't find someone else?"
The raven-haired instinctively placed his hand on his nape, glimpsing at me as they reached the verge of the next set of stairs, "Maybe."
"Maybe? What do you mean maybe?" The brunet protested.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
"Come on, this ain't fair. At least tell me her name?"
I held back a chuckle as Nikolai stared at him—with what I assumed to be puppy dog eyes. Who said anything about a girl?
"Nope."
"Her age?"
"Nope."
"What she looks like?"
"Green eyes," the raven-haired disclosed.
Mirthful, I smiled. It was obvious he was talking about me—unless Andrea had green eyes.
"Well, it's obviously not Andrea."
"No shit."
The two of them stepped off together before aiming for the doors. Even though I was no where near the door, I could hear the sound of the blond's complaining, bonding with the revving up of the engine. Poor Claude, I couldn't imagine how long he had been waiting. I hurried out of the apartment block, only for a white car—parked before others—to introduce itself to me. The raven-haired was pushing Nikolai into the backseat of the car before throwing his bag, and hopping in himself as I stood there, staring at the long car.
"You gonna' get in or not dork?" Mammon asked through the window. Dork, really?
"Yeah! Sit at the front with me Luka," Claude interjected, thrusting his head towards the backseats to look at me.
I placed my fingers under the handle and pulled it before quickly getting in. I didn't want to seem like a complete idiot in front of the three. I sent a smile before putting on my seat-belt—it sort of looked like a conveyor belt more than it did a seat-belt. We never had vehicles in Heaven, rather, we were the vehicles.
I suppose you could blame it partially on the toy cars we had in Heaven. Mikkel's cars in particular. They had two wheels within wheels at the front with robotesque-wings at the back; it didn't have the matte white coating this car had, the same black leather seats, or the mini yankee candle that dangled from the rear view mirror.
"Niko, why are you so red?" Claude asked as the car began zooming down the narrow road.
"Um-"
"He saw Leah again," Mammon answered in a bored manner.
"Really? What did she say?"
"She just said hi," I replied.
"Luka you saw her too?" I nodded in confirmation. "Is she pretty?"
Nikolai glared at the blond, both dark brown eyes laced with ire. I didn't look at him with the same extent of anger, more so confusion.
"What? I haven't seen her. I just wanna' know."
"I'll let Nick answer that one."
"Claude because of that, I'll make sure you never see her."
"Not like he can," the raven-haired retorted. I could feel him nudging my seat with his foot. "He's goin' to Oslo for...how long?"
"A month."
"Bloody Hell Claude, why a month?"
"My parents wanted me to come home so we could celebrate Christmas okay."
"Aren't you like twenty-four? What is there to celebrate?"
"Tell me about it. My family treat me like a fucking child because I'm the youngest," Claude grumbled.
"Sounds like a real problem Claude," Nikolai mumbled bitterly.
Mammon and Claude both went quiet. The air of serenity in the car had transformed into something woeful. It was palpable that his answer upset the two, but I didn't understand why.
The raven-haired cleared his throat, "Claude...your hairs getting pretty long. Don't ya think it'd be better if you cut it?"
"Oh...yeah. I was planning on cutting it when I went, but I didn't expect it to get so long."
"You should get a buzz cut."
"No, what the fuck! I'd rather jump off a cliff than get a fucking buzz cut."
"What about an undercut? You and Nick could be twinning, or whatever gay shit Sorra says."
Claude raked a hand through his hair before shaking it to bring it back to it's natural style, "I could...but do you think it'd suit me?"
My hands ferreted around in my pockets for my headphones, ignoring the conversation they were having about hair. It was sort of awkward sitting there with nothing to contribute; so, I had came to the conclusion, why not put in my headphones and listen to music?
"I think so. It'd make you look more badass."
After untangling the black wire, I put in the buds, and stared out the window. At this point, the car was pretty far from the village, which meant no more slate-roofed buildings or curved lamp posts. But what it did mean, was seeing gnarled leaf-less trees and the occasional brick houses before it just faded into vast green fields. It didn't exactly look like a road you'd take to go to the beach, but who was I to judge? I wasn't familiar with the place.
Trips like these reminded me of when Mikkel and I were younger. I would frequently take him around with me when I was carrying out duties, even though he hated going out and about. Mikkel's wings had developed rather early and as a result of that, he would always try to fly back home. Other people considered it a remarkable feat (because the rate at which your wings developed would show how strong you would grow up to be. Many people even said that Ezekiel came out of the womb with fully developed wings.) but for me it wasn't, it was sore annoying, so I resorted to leaving him with Silas—who would always complain how Mikkel's wings were bigger than his.
I felt someone tap my shoulder so I swiftly removed one of the headphones and looked over.
"What type of haircut should I get Luka?" Claude questioned as his eyes returned the road after acquiring my attention.
They were still talking about that?
"Maybe just a trim."
"SEE! I TOLD YOU HE'D KNO-" The rest of his sentence was tuned out by the classical music—requiem. I reclined in the leather seat before laying my head on the seatbelt. I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there, but I was beginning to feel a bit tired. Though, it might be a little difficult to sleep in a moving vehicle.
I pressed the sound button on the side of my phone to lower the music. I couldn't sleep whilst listening to music, or any sounds really. If only I had my wings to cover myself, it would have made everything so much more enjoyable. I shut my eyes. I had slept in trees, marble gazebos, clouds, Ezekiel's sculpting room, and now I would be adding a car to my list. I began counting in my head, since it always helped me fall asleep faster.
Three-thousand and sixty five. I had counted up to there—which took about roughly ten minutes—and I still couldn't find myself to fall asleep. The car was awfully quiet also. I wasn't sure why, but maybe they had caught wind of the fact that I was asleep—or at least trying to.
"Is he asleep?" Nikolai whispered. I could feel the blond shake me lightly. I remained still, shutting my eyes tight enough to not pry.
"Yeah, he's asleep."
"You realise this isn't the place to be talking about this shit. My...cousin is sitting right fucking in front of me," Mammon fumed quietly.
Suddenly, I was fully awake—internally—and mind's eye had activated, making me see the inside of the car from above.
"Dante you can't keep avoiding this. Everytime we try talk to you about it, you walk away. This time you can't, you have to address it."
Mammon was glaring at Claude's seat, his eyes working on burning holes into it whilst Nikolai stared at him, biting his scar. All the raging emotions inflated him even more with each passing second. I could tell the brunet was close to bursting.
"Dan, you can't just leave without giving us a proper explanation."
"I want to become a better person for- myself. What fucking more do you want from me?"
"This makes no sense Dante. All of a sudden that pricks in the picture, and now you wanna' act all good?" the brunet protested.
"Niko-"
"Don't fucking bring him into this. He didn't do shit."
My brows were jostled by instinct. Who were they talking about?
"No! All of sudden he comes in and you wanna' act like a good cousin for him and leave Crimson?"
"Nikolai, stop."
"What about me Dan?...You're like my older brother, you were the reason I was even able to live with myself in the firs' place. I don't fucking get it," he expressed.
I couldn't stop hearing Mikkel's voice. My entire body had tensed up as I clenched the cool phone. In a matter of seconds, I had become so vigilant, even with my brain telling myself that it wasn't him, and that I needed to calm down. Yet, my core wouldn't accept it. Why had I felt this way?
"Claude, make sure he's asleep." Mammon sighed and the blond began shuffling in his seat, shooting glances at me every so often.
"I'm leavin' because I want to. I'm tired of doing this, it doesn't bring me joy, or any of that bullshit. I'm sick of being a shit person, and destroying the town we grew up in. I just wanna' be good."
"But you aren't a good person...and neither am I. Nor is Claude, or Sorra, or Victo-"
"I know I amn't, but I wanna' try. Doing this shit brings you nothing but drugs, and misery. I don't want none of that shit." The raven-haired's voice got much louder, but no one hushed him.
"Niko...we have to accept it. One day, we might even want to leave as well."
"But that doesn't matter right now! It won't be the same without Dan."
"Nick do you even hear yourself right now? 'It won't be the same' is a bullshit excuse. Give me a real reason to stay."
Nikolai stayed quiet.
"Exactly. Nick, I know I did fucked up shit, fuck, we all did, but a lot of us went through fucked up shit too," he grumbled, sweeping his black hair back out of indignation, "I just wanna' get out. Just 'cause I'm leaving, doesn't mean I suddenly disappear."
I inhaled inaudibly through my nose. This was too much for even I to take in. I didn't know the context, but that didn't fetter me from feeling sorrow for them. The distressed expressions they were wearing, Nikolai's quivering breaths, and the desolation found in Mammon's voice. It was enough to make my insides feel horrible.
"Niko, it'll take a while to get used to, but it's going to be alright. Dante's still here, even if he's not in the gang.
The word "gang" echoed through the cave of my mind. I couldn't believe it, no, I didn't want to believe it. From my knowledge, gangs were groups of criminals that engaged in heinous crimes. And wasn't this gang they were talking about, the ones who broke into the jewelry shop?
"I...guess you're right."
I knew Mammon wasn't the most righteous being ever, but I had never thought he would be in a gang. I never would have thought that Claude or Nikolai were in a gang either. They seemed so kind, how could they ever engage in this?
An unwell feeling arose from the abyss of my stomach. I didn't want to even imagine the things he, or Claude and Nikolai, had done.
𓆩♡𓆪 𓆩 𓂋 𓆪 𓆩♡𓆪
"Luka, wake up! We're here."
I opened my eyes, setting my hand on my forehead to defend my eyes from the unwanted light. Claude was standing beside the car door, right in front of me with a brown duffel bag. He extended an arm to help me up, and I took it.
How could Claude, a person who always greeted me with a warm smile and aura, be apart of a gang?
"Thanks," I said, smiling slightly. I noticed that the raven-haired and Nikolai were standing near the steel railings, having a conversation about something.
For some reason, I felt worried.
"No prob."
We both began walking towards them. I availed myself of this time to study the area. There was a steel fence going along the border of the pavement, so you could enjoy the vista of the seemingly endless indigo waters. Small wooden sheds were put in a row along the fence, near the top of the sandy stairs. I assumed them to be changing rooms.
"Hey guys!" Nikolai chirped as we got closer to them, to which Claude responded with a wave. I was a bit confused as to why Nikolai was so upbeat now, when he was quite aggrieved before.
The raven-haired grinned, flashing his criminally white teeth at me. "You're finally awake, huh? I was starting to think you died."
I rolled my eyes at his remark.
"Are you guys ready to go swimming?"
"Hell yeah!" Nikolai and the raven-haired exclaimed in unison before commencing the walk down the stairs. I quickly grabbed Mammon's forearm, pulling him back to face me. The others had paused also, poking their heads. All set of eyes were focused on me.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"I need your bag. My swimming trunks are in there."
Mammon frowned, "You didn't wear them under your trousers?"
I shook my head before taking the navy bag, from his hand, by the shoulder strap, "I'll be quick."
And with that, I slung the bag over my shoulder before jogging back to the wooden changing rooms. I was surprised that I wasn't going ballistic about Mammon being in a gang; I was somewhat calm—maybe because he had said that he was leaving.
I closed the tumbleweed coloured door before placing the bag on the ground and taking out my phone. If I couldn't get answers about said gang now, I could get them from online. I typed "crimson gang" into the search bar. It brought me to a page with numerous articles, each of which were about murder, theft, vandalism, and other ungodly things. I couldn't believe it. I felt sick to my stomach. Murder? There was no way Mammon would do that, right? Claude seemed so nice too, surely he couldn't be apart of this either. I scrolled back to the top, noticing that it had said "Did you mean: Crimson Fangs". Crimson Fangs? I remembered Helena mentioning that name-
"Luka? Are you done yet?" Claude called out.
"Nearly! Just wait a second."
I sighed. It didn't matter, I could check it later. I speedily took off my pants, and my flannel before stuffing them into the bag, leaving me with my blue trunks and t-shirt. I pulled at the rubbery fabric before stroking the singular white stripe. Mammon was right, it was a bit tight, but I was sure it would be tolerable. Slinging the bag over my shoulder once again, I opened the door and scurried over to the blond, who was wearing black swimming trunks. The duffel bag was still hanging from his shoulder and his blond hair was a scant mess.
"Finally! Come on, Nick and Dante already left without us."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah. They weren't bothered to wait," Claude admitted in a flat voice as we sauntered down the steep stairs. Unlike the blond—who was hopping down the stairs with utterly no worry about falling—my hand had settled on the steel banister for extra support.
"The view's real pretty, isn't it?"
I gazed up from my feet and at the fringing pale blue sky. Greyish clouds stayed low, but well above the ultramarine depths. "Yeah, it's really pretty."
The sun was nowhere in my peripheral vision—perhaps it was hiding behind a group of higher clouds, like it always did. In Heaven, the light never hid; it was always there like a loyal companion, though followed you around like a lost puppy. I looked back down. I was tempted to ask Claude about the gang, but I didn't know what other problems this could birth. So, I figured that I wouldn't ask another core.
"It's much better in the summer time though," Claude stated, pulling out a furled buffalo plaid blanket from the duffel bag as we began trudging across the sand, in attempt to find a dry pocket of land.
"Yeah I don't doubt that. We should definitely come back here during the summer."
"Honestly, we should. We could've went here so many times before but Dante's stupid ass never wanted to go. We spent hours trying to persuade him but it's okay. Because now we have you!"
"What, so now I'm in charge of persuading him?"
"Exactly. It'll be easy for you. I mean- did you see how fast he said yes when you asked?!"
I grinned as he set down the blanket, pulling the corners to make sure it spread out evenly. Expectedly, there wasn't many people around and even the people that were here, were quite far from the area Claude chose to lay the blanket on. We dropped our bags onto the blanket simultaneously before I pulled off my inky black shirt. "Are you ready to go swimming?"
"Well uh- geez Luka."
I cocked my head slightly. "Is something...wrong?"
"YES! I mean no- do you go to the gym often?"
"No?"
His jaw fell open, adding more to his already comical expression, "That's so unfair! I go to the gym seven days a week, and mine don't look anything like yours!"
The blond pointed to his abs, and they were more developed than mine. Was he doing it to make me feel good about myself? "Yours look fine, they're more defined than mine."
"I beg to differ. It's unfair how you and Dante have perfect bodies, when you barely go to the gym. I swear your whole family's just blessed," he replied, eliciting a guffaw from me. If only he knew.
"Well...anyway Claude, are you ready to go swimming?"
"Um." His gaze shifted around the sandy area. "I don't really like swimming..."
I mentally facepalmed myself. I wasn't one to judge, but he purposely chose to go to the beach, yet wasn't a huge fan of swimming? "Do you not know how to?"
"No it's not that. I just- well, it's really cold and-"
"Nonsense! You'll be fine once you get in," I comforted as I pulled him up.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you'll be fine."
Or at least, I wished for him to be—but that wish was rebuffed by Claude himself as soon he got into the water. The blond had turned into a shivering and teeth-chattering mess, which was understandable as it really was freezing cold. "Come on!"
"L-Luka it's so f-fucking c-cold. Can we g- wait is that Nick?"
I joined Claude in staring at the supposed brunet. His hair became a shade darker than his natural colour due to it being soused in salt water. I smiled sadly. Mammon wasn't with him, nor was he anywhere in sight. Where the hell was he? "Yeah that's him."
"HOW IS HE NOT FREEZING? WHAT THE FUCK."
"Calm down! His body got used to it and yours will too."
Claude and I swam through the water for awhile, until we were well away from the wet sand. The distance continued to increase, and so did the blond's bickering. But I paid no attention to it. I had learned to pretend not to care after becoming entangled in young Silas's tantrums. Claude latched onto my arm, but I continued on swimming.
"Lukaa, I can't do this anymore. Let's go back."
I began treading on the water, lips coming apart to say something before I caught a glimpse of his expression. The look on his face now wasn't comical like the last, this time he looked terrified to the point of instilling terror in someone who didn't even know what was wrong—me.
"What's wrong?..." My voice trailed off as I turned my head in the direction he was looking. My eyes widened as I realised what it was.
The grey colour around the bottom had faded into a darker grey with short diagonal lines going across it. The top of it was scarily sharp, kind of like a canine tooth. And it was coming right for us. I swallowed the emptiness in my throat and pitched a glance Claude's way before looking back at it.
"Claude...it's only a shark fi-."
The blond let out a blood-curdling scream and jostled my arm before swimming away. I was a bit thrown off by it, but I quickly remembered that he was a human and a shark bite could kill him—even though sharks weren't the most human-hungry animals. In my opinion, dolphins were more scary. "Claude! Wait up-"
I halted myself as I felt something grab onto my waist, almost like speaking would get me killed. I rapidly placed my hand on whatever was touching my torso, just to feel another set of hands. What the- I was then jerked down under the water with a swift motion. A pair of lips collided with mine before I even had the time to register who it was. Mammon. His tongue had escaped into my mouth—alongside the taste of salt—and his hands remained glued to my waist.
I planted my hands on his shoulders, shoving him away slightly as we resurfaced. The black hair that was once fluttering, was now stuck to his head, ridding it of any volume. He was wearing this headband with a faux fin standing erect from it; he looked silly, but I didn't really care about that.
"Mammon! You can't be doing that here. What if someone saw us?"
The raven-haired snorted. "Calm your shit, angel. No one saw us, and plus it's not my fault you looked kissable."
I exhaled as my face muscles wrestled the urge to smile. "You're impossible...and why the hell are you wearing that?"
"Oh this?" He pulled off the headband. "It was to scare Claude and clearly it worked. If you couldn't tell, he's scared shitless of sharks."
"Is that why he doesn't like to swim?"
"He probably went swimming with you just 'cause he doesn't wanna' seem like a pussy in front of you."
I chuckled. I felt slightly bad for making him go swimming with me—even though he should have told me. I stared vacantly at his neck before something sprung to mind.
The gang.
"Erm...Mammon, I heard-"
I couldn't hardly finish my sentence before he shoved me, plunging me back into the water; a mouthful of salt water slipping into my lungs because of it. God damn this. I knew exactly why he had pushed me but seriously, there was no need for him to be such a brute. But in any second now, I-
And there it was. Two firm arms wrapped around my ribs, hauling me up before letting go. We both stared at one another as our heads bobbed above the surface.
"Are you okay?" Nikolai questioned, wet locks of hair sticking to the shaved sides of his head.
"Yeah I'm okay, thanks. If you don't mind me asking...what are you doing here?"
"I heard Claude scream so I came over." He glanced back. "And then he told me to come save you from...a shark?"
I laughed loudly—he really was afraid of sharks!
"Yeah. Well, Dante decided to scare him by wearing a shark's fin."
"Oh, typical."
"He does that often?"
"Mhm. Anyway, let's head back," Nikolai replied before turning away, the saltwater hitting my face as he catapulted himself through the water. I followed after him, a frown sweeping across my face. He didn't seem to like me that much, and I didn't really understand why. Perchance, this was just how he was. Cold and laconic at first but then warmed up to you. Just like Mikkel.
I gaped at the not so far away beach. It didn't take us long to reach the shore—it was a lot easier swimming without a blond clinging onto you and complaining about the cold. Nikolai seemed quite used to it though; I hadn't seen him shiver once. The ocean became shallower as we neared it, eventually making us walk through it.
We became aware that Claude wasn't sitting on the blanket he laid out, instead on one of the wooden lounging chairs beside the stairs. He was talking to a tan woman with a yellow towel on her lap.
"Well that's surprising," The brunet muttered as we strode over to the plaid blanket.
"How?"
"Because Claude sucks at talking to girls."
"Well he's talking to a girl now, isn't he? He's making progress."
"I don' know. I'm kind of tempted to ruin it, but I'm not a dick so no."
I snorted as I flopped onto the black and red blanket before reaching for Mammon's bag, and taking out my towel. It was all wrinkled due to the raven-haired moulding it into a make-shift ball. I patted my body dry with the white towel before letting it dangle around my neck. Nikolai on the other hand, covered his upper body with his towel and laid his head on Claude's duffel bag, clearly not bothered to dry himself. "So...how old are you?"
I knew how old he was, I just needed something to ignite a conversation.
"Twenty, you?"
"Really? I'm nineteen," I answered, shamming surprise.
"Oh. I guess it's nice to have someone my age."
"I know right? A lot of my friends are so much older than me."
"I can relate. Most of mine are in their mid to late twenties. I hate being the youngest of all of them."
"Yeah. They always underestimate me because I'm younger."
"Exactly. What bullshit." The brunet glimpsed at me, and then back at the ocean. "How's living with Dan going?
"It's alright. He's- annoying sometimes but it's manageable," I said boredly. It got sort of aggravating when people asked me that, because I would always reply with that selfsame answer. "How long have you guys known each other?"
"About five years."
I narrowed my eyes at him. They had known each other since Nikolai was fifteen? I wondered if they had met through the gang.
"Heh. Speak of the devil."
I raised an eyebrow at him and all he did was point his chin in the direction of the ocean. It was the raven-haired, wading through the water, and coming towards us. Water trickled down his face and the curves of his torso. His abs looked even more defined than last time. God damn him, and his sculpted abs. Mammon's lips curled into his signature smirk as he made eye contact with me, and that's when I realised, I was blushing.
"Dan!" Nikolai shot up from sunbather position.
"Hey guys, missed me?"
"No," We replied in unison.
"Wow, okay. All you teens are so fucking rude," Mammon deadpanned before taking the towel around my neck, a gust of wind taking the opportunity and immediately pouncing on my nape.
"Says the one. You literally just stole my towel."
He crouched down and used the towel to tousle my hair before leaving it there.
"Happy now?" Mammon looked up. "Wait is that Claude...with a girl..."
"Believe it or not, it is," the brunet answered.
He smirked once again and immediately, we both knew what his mind was plotting.
"Dan don't you dare-"
"What? I'm just gonna' go have a nice adult chat with them."