Silver streaks of light shone from the clouds into the manor. Lycius was braced against the window so he could glare at the white outline of where the moon hid. The lights on this half of the house were out – his sight was not impacted. His eyes adapted to the darkness all too swiftly and caused him to take another anxious sip from the bottle. The change was already happening, and his father was barely cold in his grave.
He didn't want to be conscious for this. He didn't want it to be happening at all. His body was alert with every unfamiliar pang of pain in his muscles while his mind was softly numbing thanks to his drink.
Whatever curse his father had carried had now settled into Lycius like an infection. It was almost like he could feel something crawling all around his insides, gnawing at his organs and rearranging his very spirit. Maybe, just maybe, he was being paranoid. Maybe the curse wouldn't carry through and he was just having another panic attack. Or perhaps all these attacks were always part of the change, and the illusion of time was his sign that he had gone mad long ago.
Iris, his mother, had summoned him to attend the funeral. It had been a while since he had seen his relatives outside of holiday events, even then they were rare because his father's transformations were inconsistent. Erratic, much like how he was at heart.
Almost as if summoned by the thought of her, stilettos pummelled loudly across the parlour and Lycius' train of thought was stumped when all the lights of the house temporarily blinded him. He ran a hand over his face and spun on his heel to face his veiled mother and her new male companion.
'Darling, why are you standing in the dark?' she tucked her veil over her head to reveal the redness of her eyes. She looked like she had been hollowed out and that all that was left of her was a frail body waiting to be blown away in the wind. Her companion held her by her arm and had quite a bold gold moustache. He was a short man, not that much shorter than his mother but Lycius towered over the both of them.
'Come sit with me at the table. You need to eat,' she said, her eyes drifted to the wine bottle hanging limp at his side.
He gently though somewhat clumsily set the bottle down at an end table. 'I'm going out.'
'No, you're not,' she said sternly.
Lycius moved like a storm out of the house, snatching the car keys as he did. His mother didn't bother chasing after him, but the moustache man speedily paced behind him until they reached his car. The man put his hand on top of Lycius' as he reached for the handle and Lycius instinctively battered him away.
'Who the fuck are you?' Lycius said.
The man did not flinch and tucked his hands behind his back. 'You have until dawn,' moustache man said.
'You're giving me a curfew?' Lycius growled.
'No, sir. A warning.' The man shifted from one foot to the other as Lycius processed the meaning.
Lycius sat in the car and flicked through his phone for nearly an hour once the man had gone back inside. He sought out his own distraction, a means to a good end of the life he knew. Something that could keep his dark thoughts at bay. All he had was until dawn and, damn that weird moustache man, he could feel it. The curse gurgled somewhere in the pit of his stomach, or maybe he just really needed to throw up. The threat was there riding the wave and waiting to crash.
So, he scrolled through his friends' feeds checking where they were and whether their nights would be worthwhile. It was the first time he was ever being selective on who he wanted to spend his time with, and he swore under his breath when he realised that he hated all his friends. They were all parasites that only cared about the parties he ran. He didn't want to be surrounded by a needy crowd of posers until the idea of them being his first kill perked his interest. When he grasped that he was fantasising the death of these people he groaned in horror. Sure, they didn't deserve his company but to be butchered? Was this him or the curse? Was he already a bloodthirsty beast or just being an arsehole? He was about to throw his phone aside when a name glowed contently on his screen. A name tagged to someone else's selfie. He ignored the photo of some pastel goth chick grinning at him and focused on this name written in the caption.
OMG I feel like a proud mum. Celebrating Rhea Drakos first real show! I can't right now! Ah! Come see her live at the Medallion Lounge. 😍✨
Soon he was scrolling through Rhea's profile, or whatever was public as they were no longer friends on social media. He wasn't sure when that happened or what was the final straw for her to unfriend him. How had he not noticed?
She did have one recent post that was public that night. A picture of her from behind gazing over some empty bar from a stage in a black coat.
Performing live tonight at the Medallion Lounge. Finally doing it ✌🏻
He snickered. It wasn't the best way to sell it, but she had a hundred likes on this photo and many excited comments. When had she gotten so popular? He flicked through the names and didn't recognise any of them. They all must have been students from her university, her new life, her adult life. When was the last time he had made a new friend that wasn't a leech? He scrolled the comments and found that few of them would be coming tonight. All of them were apologetically unable to make it but promised to be there for the next one.
He imagined her disappointment and shook the image away. Why should he care? They weren't friends anymore. So why was his gut feeling urging him to go to the Medallion Lounge? He knew if he told all his friends where he was going they would follow him like the hungry wolves they were. Would she want his kind of crowd in the audience? He didn't even want them there. No, fuck them. Lycius tossed his phone aside, and after feeling a little hazy from the wine, he started the engine and took off at lightning speed.
His heart thumped violently in his skull till he reached the bar and was able to skip the line with a simple nod to the bouncer. The bars in the city knew him well enough now even though he hadn't come to this place regularly enough. It almost felt like fate, like he was meant to be there. He flinched in the doorway, hearing some roaring laughter coming from the street. He didn't want to risk being caught by people he knew and rushed up the sticky staircase into the club.
As I packed up the art supplies ready to depart, I quickly tucked my mother's journal just in case she came in useful.
I had called in sick with the flu, giving myself some days to work with. I wanted to quit but I wasn't confident that my stay at the Mavros mansion was going to be a lengthy trip. Even with the piles of ruined paintings that needed a caring hand, I was too afraid that I was one wrong move away from messing up everything. My fingers caressed the ribbon around my neck. I tried to take a calming breath, but I was a hyper wreck – a husk of a body dragging itself from room to room. I was accidentally up until dawn again going through my spells and notes from my mother. When I tried to have a nap, sharp teeth and menacing eyes poisoned my sleep until I gave up and called my friend instead.
I had told Martha half of the truth and she was more amazed that I even had an art gig than the fact that Lycius was alive.
'He wants you to paint for him?' she had said on the phone. 'Does he know you suck at the male anatomy?'
'Wow, and to think I was going to spend my first pay cheque on you.'
Believe it or not, she seemed in better spirits.
Arianna followed me around the house eager to know when she could come over and join us. When she could visit the Mavros Manor.
'I thought you hated him?' I said. We flinched at the crashing noises in the kitchen and rolled our eyes when Theia Alexandra had sworn death on us in Greek. She hadn't yet forgiven us for the car, so we had done our best to tiptoe around her to protect our chest from any sudden puncture wounds. I didn't accept Lycius' offer, I felt he was doing too much already. Besides, my aunt had Giannis as her emergency contact if she needed anything, and she needed him today for Gods know what. With that haunting thought, I packed as quickly as I could.
'Please take me with you.' Ari stared up at me all doe-eyed. She had been extra attentive to me in hopes I would miraculously want her company. To soothe her agony, we went out to a café to keep out of our aunt's way before returning to prepare for the arvo. This didn't stop her trailing me like a lost duckling.
'Sleepover at a friend's place,' I said.
'I didn't think of that.'
I bopped her nose with a paintbrush. 'Go now before Theia starts raging again. I'll be fine.'
Ari nodded her head however continued to linger around me. I prodded her with the paintbrush arching an eyebrow. She twiddled her thumbs and said, 'Why do you think I was born without it?'
'Without what?'
'You know... Mum's powers.'
I sighed. 'The Fates probably took one look at your future and thought: this girl is already too dangerous.'
She grinned. 'That's a fact...' her smile dropped as she stared out the window ahead of us. Giannis strolled across the front lawn with his hair covered in a beanie, a matching light grey set of sweatpants, and a hooded jumper with a red and black puffer vest flung on top of it.
'He looks like death,' I said.
'Yeah, but a hot death,' Ari said.
'Gods, okay you get the box, I'll carry the easel. The butler should be here any minute,' I said. We carried my things from my bedroom to the front door when Giannis' silhouette shadowed the stained glass window on the door. 'Try not to fawn over him again.'
'I can't help it. He's sooo hot,' Ari whispered.
I opened the door and didn't say a word to him. Instead, I slid past gripping the easel for dear life as I felt Giannis' toxic cologne wrap around me like a coat. Ari tried to slip past and managed a meek hello as we stood outside together watching the street knowing our backs were being watched too. As far as I could tell Giannis had not said hi back and after a long second of feeling like I had holes being drilled into me, I risked a quick glance to find that Giannis had gone inside.
Huh. Surprising but I had no complaints. I wasn't sure whether to gaze up at the cloudy sky or the dew-covered earth to thank the fates for a potentially easy way out. Then Arianna dumped my things on the pavement and claimed that she was very thirsty.
'Don't look at me like that,' Ari said. I wasn't looking at her at all and let her scamper away to enjoy the quietness of our quaint little neighbourhood.
'She'll grow out of it,' I muttered. 'She'll grow out of it...'
This momentary pleasure was cut short as a shiny car started to ride up the street, it purred quietly enough that it shouldn't have lured Giannis from inside the house, but you can bet that he stepped out like a curious puppy. Sniffing the air as if he could smell the petrol and expensive taste.
The black Aston Martin DBX pulled up in our crumbling driveway, like a beetle landing precariously on a leaf. Its windows were tinted so I could only see the silhouette of Calix inside. Sure, if it were the evening different story. However, even on this cloudy day, my eyes were irritated but any pains from the light of day dissipated in the next minute of events.
The easel slipped from my hands and clattered onto the footpath when the window rolled down. A pair of electric blue eyes shone over dark sunglasses and a tanned hand hung loosely out the window holding a berry-coloured lollipop.
'Are you ready?' Lycius said. My eyes fell on his full lips as he popped the lollipop back into his mouth.
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This was going to be a bit longer but I felt like this moment was better off expanded on in the next chapter.
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