Right, sooo I wanted to split this up, but I just couldn't see where it would have worked to split it imo. This is the longest chapter in the history of chapters people lol. Looooong. If you can't take it, and you're like 'whoa!', take a breather, go make a cuppa tea first, go drink some coffee maybe, eat a bar of chocolate, like NOW, chill out, then crack on. But I haven't updated since the 11th of May so i figure this will more than make up for that to anyone who has been waiting for it. Since its long, there'll be a typo or two, just read on by, they'll be dealt with :). Also wattpad has now switched the entire story to 'R'. Oh well. Anyway....I'm sleepy and off to bed now...
Chapter 20 – The Arms Of A Hunter
"Dan?" I said to Malcolm as I lifted into the seat next to him at the bar and settled by him. "You call him Dan?" I remembered with a smile at what he said to himself earlier.
He smiled at me just before a twitch of pain caught up with him and he winced. "The missus started it." He said, rubbing slightly at the left side of his ribs. "But you know, Dan, well, he's like my brother so I can get away with it." An almost searing ahh escaped him at the pain he traced beneath his fingers.
"You fight like brothers too if that last kafuffle was anything to go by."
"No, he fights like the whole world is against him." He said sombre, straightening up to find a more comfortable posture. "Even me."
Sometimes when I looked at Dante, he did look as though it was him and only him in his world. There were moments when it looked liked he was completely caught up in his own head, as if something was worrying him, like it was only a matter of time. Til what? I didn't know...
I could totally see where Malcolm was coming from, but clearly, Malcolm knew more about that than I did.
I received a slight shove to my shoulder which took me off balance as some guy edged closer to the bar to get his drink. Malcolm was not impressed.
"Hey! Watch it, you fucking prick!" he said getting up with clear confrontation in mind. "You can't see there's a lady here?"
The guy held his hands up and said "Hey, hey, cool it okay?' Before adding "Sorry darling." to me, his hand briefly on my shoulder. I nodded, and he cast a cautious look over to Malcolm before raising his hand at the barman.
The traces of his confrontation with Dante were clearly all over him. I had no doubt that Malcolm was still stewing over it and he was taking it out on anyone within near distance. I was sure he wanted to direct his frustration towards Dante if he were here right now, but Dante was off dealing with the other three, moving them on in fact. Well, that was the plan he'd told me, because it wasn't long ago he'd been stood in the dimly lit corner watching me just to make sure we left.
Dante had told me that he would lure the other three away from the main part of the club just to make sure things were safe for me here in the meantime before we made our move. But the three were no longer here. And from what I could see, neither was Dante.
I couldn't help but wonder what Dante meant when he talked about what they wanted from him, and I desperately wanted to think of anything else but what he was currently doing right now. Those two women...the rational side of me knew he was doing nothing with them, but I sure wanted to know what their intentions were. Whatever it was, he made it clear he didn't want me sticking around long enough to find out.
As I passed a look at Malcolm, his thoughts seemed just as deep as mine, so much so I wondered what else was on his mind as he cradled his drink.
"You okay?" I asked him with a tilt of my head as I noticed his slight shuffle.
"I'll heal." He said with a reassuring nod, glass held to his lips. "Thanks."
"I was talking about Dante."
He swallowed. "I know. But I was talking about this." He touched his side just under his rib.
"Dante—"
"Can be a ass sometimes." He finished for me. I smiled a probably untimely smile considering the circumstances. I think he knew that wasn't what I was going to say, but he was certainly thinking it.
Earlier, he'd bashed hard into the side of the bar when Dante had pushed him. I thought from the way Malcolm was sitting it had done damage to a rib, but he said it wouldn't take him too long now before he was back to his full self. He just wasn't as strong as he used to be; meaning his ability to heal quickly was now not so instant.
"Only women can calm him down though." Offered Malcolm. "You particularly, of course. But I tell you, even the missus is able to set him the fuck straight." He chuckled with another grimace. He twisted himself like he'd pushed a bone back in place. Settling soon after, he grabbed his glass and swallowed the last quarter of it. He looked to be thinking though.
I smiled at the thought of what Malcolm had said. I'd seen Nera rip into her brother once or twice before. Yeah, she was no nonsense.
"Nera huh?" I came right out with it.
He looked straight at me with narrowed eyes at the mention of her name. "What?"
"Nera." I repeated. His eyes darted between both of mine as if he couldn't believe her name was on my lips. "I knew her. She's Nathaniels sister."
His eyebrows rose.
"Dante told me." I informed him. "That you're married to her."
He shook his head in wonderment. "You know my missus?"
I nodded. "Small world, huh?"
He smiled. "Small indeed. How? Do you know her, I mean."
"I dated her brother."
His lips quirked with disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."
I shook my head at him.
"You dated a hunter?" He said incredulously.
"Well, I didn't know at the time." And it was more than dating really, it was just over a year long relationship.
He laughed. "Fuuuucck." He couldn't believe it and shook his head. "Funny who you've now ended up with." He rubbed his head thinking. "Getting into relationships with people like us...God help you, mermaid. It won't be easy. I know that myself."
Yeah, I was beginning to realise that too.
"That's the problem with being a demon in this world. If you spend enough time here and something in your heart evolves, you'll develop human feelings. You'll eventually fall in love and want to live normal."
"Is that what happened to you? Is that why you're not with your wife?" I asked.
"I wanted her so badly, I defied rules when I married her." He said looking solemnly into his drink. "I shouldn't have asked her to marry me, I shouldn't have let it get this far."
It sounded like he was almost chastising himself. I wanted to put my hand over his to comfort him but he carried on. "I should have let her go, but she's my love, I couldn't...I loved her too damn much. No way would I be without her. And Nera, well, she was willing to sacrifice it all for me. Her friends, her family. Leave it all behind. We demons are selfish like that. We want things no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, her ass of a brother makes things difficult. "
I had no doubt about that.
"Where is she?" I asked him.
"She's safe."
"Where's safe?"
"Anywhere but here." He settled softly. I observed him. He swirled his glass, as if his mind had taken him away somewhere. Or to someone. I felt for him.
He looked back at me and seemed to snap out of his head just then. "Well, now that I know you know my missus, I'll have to keep an even closer eye on you too. You're on my list of people to look out for."
"List?"
"There's only two now." He smiled at me. "Dante can more than look out for himself. I'm gonna feel like I need to protect you now. Even if it's from Danny boy."
"You don't need to protect me from Dante." I almost laughed at how ridiculous that was. Within seconds the smile died on my lips as I looked at him. He was serious.
"He can be dangerous, Ariel. I'm not gonna lie."
I paused. What did he mean? "He wouldn't hurt me?" Why did I sound so uncertain?
"No." He shook his head once, his expression drawn in, his eyes were small. "I don't think so."
If I was drinking, I would have totally choked. "You don't think so?"
"Look, you're in a relationship with a demon, Ariel, not an angel. By our very nature we're not the good guys. We are first and foremost, demons, he probably reminds you of that all the time. Trying to fight that is a dark battle in itself. Sometimes you can't fight nature and win but I get the feeling you... I get the feeling that if anyone can save him, it's you." He said to me. "You're a light in his life that I can only compare to the light of mine. Nera...she's my fucking everything. But Dante...he's a different breed all together. Even to me. You're gonna have one heck of a ride with him. But if he loves you--"
"Do you think he loves me?" I asked him, I didn't mean to cut him off, just...
His eyes were comforting. "Mermaid, you have no idea."
I'd rested my arm on the bar and Malcolms hand came over the top of mine, he gave me a reassuring squeeze.
"He almost beat the crap out of me over you just for bringing you here. And when I was on shift all he could talk about was you. Half the time I don't think he even realises he's doing it, your name just keeps escaping his lips."
A broad smile left my lips. I felt lifted by that little revelation. I was happy.
"Do you know how many times he asked me if he should come after you just to give you your dress? Countless fucking times I was like 'dude, just do it already'."
I laughed a little through my smile. I felt my eyes smile too.
"I can't believe you don't see that. Hell, I do. I told you, he let you get this deep in his life. Look," he turned fully to me. "Doubt all the things you want, but don't doubt that."
I nodded to myself and smiled gently, my heart silently elated at the confirmation of Dante's feelings for me by his friend. If only I could hear him say it. But some things were worth more than words. Malcolm was clearly telling me Dante's actions were speaking for him. And Dante's earlier cupid quip...well, I kinda knew what that meant.
"Nera doesn't talk about the people in her life?" I asked him because he was surprised I knew her. So she must have been pretty guarded on that front, right?
"She keeps that part firmly away from me. Doesn't want me worrying about her and the people in it. I think she's just trying to protect everyone."
Hmm. In this world, the one I was now finding out about, the one I was now involved in because of the beautiful demon of a man I loved, I could understand Nera's stance. And considering who her brother was? Man, I didn't know what to say to that. I glanced over to where I'd last seen Dante; I couldn't help but think about him.
Malcolm said that currently as things stood right now, there was no obvious threat to me, the other three were not around, and he felt it was okay for only the shortest of moments to take a quick trip to the Gents before we left to go back to Dante's. He said he didn't fancy the idea of stopping at the side of the road for a piss break.
"You standing outside the door, or what?" he said to me.
Was he joking? "What? Like I'm waiting to take a leak in the Gents? I'll be fine here thanks."
"Can't take any chances, you saw how Dante reacted. Anything to do with you and he'll flip. I'd chain you to me if I could, but we'd probably get stared at while I get my dick out at the urinal."
I laughed.
"Stay here for me, please?" he said. "I swear if I come back and you're gone I'll wring your neck myself."
Within seconds of Malcolm leaving, I heard a familiar piercing laughter, a laugh I immediately tried to place. I came so close to figuring it out and then it instantly evaded me. It was frustrating knowing how familiar it was yet knowing it had been such a long time since I'd heard it my brain was trying to connect the laughter with the face and the name.
My head snapped around as my eyebrows drew in curiously at its sound once more. The laugh almost attacked the music. There was no escape from its annoying sound.
Nathaniel was sitting on a square padded leather seat, clearly knocking the drinks back and in the company of a few random women and a buddy. I recognised this buddy. He was an annoying prick from what I could remember. Nathaniel and his annoying prick friend Troy.
It was actually Troy's laugh that I remembered. Shrill and incredibly annoying. I couldn't believe they still hung out. Troy was such a kid for his age, and from the looks of it, things hadn't changed. Still an immature little so and so. I intended to ignore him. In fact, both of them.
But I didn't. As I watched, I had no idea why these women were acting like Nathaniel was some sort of rockstar. They were writhing around him like groupies. I stood quietly, observing the blatant display, tapping my foot and becoming increasingly agitated by Malcolms absence...
I also didn't want them to meet. The conflict was too great. I hadn't even told him that Dante informed me Nathaniel was here.
Shit.
As I looked at him before I decided to leave, the mind just boggled. Well, not entirely. I mean, Nathaniel was never short of female attention. And admittedly, he was now even sexier since he'd chopped off his dirty blond locks. His features totally suited it. Oh God...how long had I been staring before I realised I was looking into his dimmed hazel-greens?
I could only blame it on the fact that Nathaniel was making an absolute spectacle of himself. His eyes connected with mine and they widened. I blinked at him as he caught me staring but he just raised his glass to me as if inviting me over.
Even while taking a swig of his glass, I watched him touch his 'groupie' in a way that hinted to having known each other before tonight. Maybe from yesterday even. Yeah, that quick. It never did take long for Nathaniel to familiarise himself with any woman. I had no doubt they'd exchanged more than a kiss between them. He was the type.
The medium-length curly haired vixen with dark hair and equally dark eyes did a sort of coy over-her-shoulder glance back at him as she turned around and moved slowly, her hands smoothing suggestively over her hips. I watched Nathaniel smirk like a man with dirty thoughts as he sat there and looked up at her, his eyes stuck wickedly to her movements like he was a patron at a strip club admiring the sexualized view.
He reached for her and instead of sitting her on his lap; he stood up, grabbed her from behind and pulled her into him, her back against his chest. She giggled and he nuzzled her neck as she did it.
I remembered his hugs from behind. They were so sweet, comforting, incredibly cute.
This was not.
His eyes lifted to mine as his head rested over her shoulder. He wanted me to see exactly what he was doing. His hand was pressed against her ribcage just under her breasts. He wouldn't take his eyes off me as he felt her, even as she turned her head to where his head rested over her shoulder and his mouth sat over hers to snog her face off, he was still looking at me at the same time.
I huffed; as if that would bother me. She turned her head more and he kissed her slow and deeply, I could even see tongue from where I was standing. And all the while he kept his eyes glued to me.
You know when you kiss someone your eyes automatically close? You're so immersed in the kiss that's just what you do. Well, he never closed his eyes, or even looked at her, just kissed her, and looked at me.
I frowned and shook my head, pivoting on my heels and walking away. Ignoring him was too good for him. I might as well wait for Malcolm at the front. I think he had my number? Damn. Left my mobile in the car...it was totally time to bitch-slap myself across the forehead right now.
I decided to just get away from the floor, no way would the demon meet the hunter, especially with Nera in common. And there was no way I wanted to get Malcolm into trouble again. He couldn't miss me if I stood near the front entrance, it would keep Malcolm off the main floor and away from Nathaniel. I didn't make it there though.
I could hear my name being called loudly behind me as I moved. It didn't take Nathaniel long. I turned around in the middle of the floor looking anxious. "What?" I said loudly over the sounds, my lips pursed. My stance was very stand-offish.
He slurred his words a little. But he stood very steady in front of me. Maybe he wasn't too badly intoxicated?
"You see that?" he said twisting back and gesturing over to his conquest. "She wants me. The other one too."
Oh for heaven's sake. "Go for it." I huffed. "What's that got to do with me?"
"I'm just saying. You're welcome to join in if you like." he grinned suggestively, that slanted groove to his mouth ever present again. A mouth that always had a look of the dirty about it.
"What's the matter with you?" I said, or was the glass in his hand the obvious answer?
"Nothing!" He said merrily, his arms flipped up as if he forgot he had a drink in his hand, and a slight slip of liquid spilled out of it. I stepped back at its escape. "That's exactly it. Couldn't be happier."
His admission seemed forced. I didn't buy it. Not one bit. The comfort he took in his drink was enough to show me he was trying just as much to convince himself as he was me.
I gave him a pitiful glare. "Sure." I said with a humourless huff, my eyes passed over him from head to toe. "And there you were saying you'd grown up at your grown age? Or has Troy made you remember the good old times." I mocked peaking a quick look over at his friend. Annoying troll. "It doesn't take much to get you to revert back, does it?"
"You seriously gonna stand there and judge me?" he said with a huff of disbelief in his tone. "What? A guy can't have a little fun?"
I sucked in my cheeks and rolled my eyes. I just walked away. I'd witnessed enough in this damn club already, I was done with the place. Now just to wait for Malcolm...
"Where 'you going?" asked a bewildered Nathaniel coming after me,
"Away from you." I flung back without stopping. "Just stay the hell away. It's pitiful watching you like this."
"Don't pity me, Aer. Not me. I don't need your fucking pity." He almost stumbled. I turned to him as he reached me. "I'm beyond it, I mean, look at me. Fucking stabbing demons an' shit." he motioned like his words weren't clear enough. "I'm totally living it." He said, arms spread like that famous line from the sunken liner. King of the freaking world. Please.
I took one look at him and said something that I knew would touch a nerve with him, but I said it anyway. "Don't make me call Sebastien." I said. "Don't let him see you like this."
His face suddenly straightened, almost washed of colour.
"You're a bad drunk."
"I'm not drunk." He spat out.
A final look between him and his glass was all I could muster. "What are you doing here anyway?" Okay, so Dante had already said something about his presence at the club tonight, but I wanted to know what he would say, if he would elaborate.
"I could ask you the same question." He observed.
"So? What is it?"
"Business, Aer. Business." He said, as if it were obvious. He swirled his drink and paused before swallowing the whole thing and motioning for another. Yes, to one of his wannabe 'groupies'. She came over and cast me a look, her eyes dipping down and upwards in a nano second to analyse me against her. Hair dark and curly like mine, eyes also similar. Slim, but shorter than me. She was a walking clone. Nathaniel was pathetic.
She was more than obliging as she put her ear to his mouth and he repeated what she obviously didn't hear over the music the first time round. She nodded and went to get him another, but not before launching another curious eye over me. I gave her a sarcastic smirk before her lips twisted with an unimpressed downward turn, and she walked over to the bar.
I realised this wasn't going anywhere, and I swear, this would have to be the last parting shot I gave him. The last. If he'd just let me go before throwing the next conversational piece at me.
"You here with the whatshisname?" he shouted after me as I shook my head to leave. He seemingly refused to give up and let me break the fuck away.
"You mean Dante?" I asked exasperated, swinging round.
"And all his dumb demon friends." He leaned over to me so that he was right in my ear. "I have a plan." He breathed knowingly, lingering there.
My eyes narrowed on him as I turned, my eyes hard on his. "Oh?" I curiously raised a brow. "And what would that be?"
A short laugh escaped him. His very pretty but equally sharp eyes glided slowly over my face. "There was a time I would have told you. Not now though. You hang on the wrong side, Ariel, you hang with the wrong kind. The fucking scum of this earth. A festering disease in this realm." He said having taken his drink from the obliging hands of his returning curly-haired girl friend.
She stayed and he looked at her over the rim of his drink and shrugged at her as if to ask what the fuck she was still hanging around for. She got the message, and flung a dismissive hand his way as she left.
When he talked about "the scum of the earth" and a "festering disease", his level of disgust....my days... I don't think I'd ever known him to despise anything or anyone so much. I could hear it with every word, every breath, every part of his tone. He almost spat the words out, his face twisted, his mouth turned downwards as if there was a nasty taste sitting stubbornly in his mouth.
I would never be scared for Dante or Malcolm, but what if Nate's hatred went so far and ran so deep that his actions were to be catastrophic? What the ever-loving hell was he planning?
"What are you up to, Nate?" I simply asked him, growing increasingly concerned.
He smiled. In context, it scared me.
"Don't worry." He said. "You'll see. I mean, if tonight is anything to go by, then Greco is now what he always should've been. And you'll finally be able to see it for yourself. Your precious Dante." He watched me over his drink, I was expecting him to look triumphant as a result of his words, but he didn't.
One look at him told me to go and find Dante, Malcolm too. I had to. I started to move again, immediately frantic in the start of my search. But Nathaniel came after me, stopped me and asked me why.
"What? What do you mean?" I asked back confused.
"Greco," he simply said. "Why?"
There was an agony to the way he said that one word. An inner sorrow. A need for an answer he just couldn't understand.
I just looked at him.
The music was still banging, people still immersed in the deep intimacy the club effortlessly offered. The particular part of the club that Nate and I were in was decidedly intimate now. We had moved into a darkened corner near the entrance. I shook my head and my body jumped when he shouted.
"WHY!" he screamed viciously. "Of all the trash you couldn't even find human trash?"
I jerked back, then stepped forward. "Screw you, Nate! Screw you." I said, warning in my eyes. It wasn't any of his fucking business why, damn it!
He watched me with the kind of stare that unsettled me. In that moment he was so concentrated on me I couldn't see alcohol in his stance.
"Why don't you just go back." I threw at him. "Or go home."
"I'm not going home. Not unless it's with you. Keep you safe an' that."
I snorted. "What?" What was he on? "I got enough people around me for that. Get one of your little groupies to lend you a bed for the night, with her in it."
He laughed. "You jealous?" he swigged his drink, he was smirking in spite of himself.
"Oh please." As if!
"Then why you acting like this?"
"Because it's sad! You're sad in this state. Get it together."
"What are you doing with him, Aer? I may be a jerk as you once called me but I don't wanna see you get hurt. Because you will. He'll hurt you, it's inevitable. That's what they do."
"Try saying that back to yourself and see how that sounds in your own ears because that's incredibly rich coming from you."
He stopped, no doubt at a slight loss for words it would seem and nodded, immediately knowing what I was in reference to. "Get over it, Aer."
I don't think that was what he initially wanted to say, he was just saving face. If I hadn't figured that out I would have had a go at him. But it seems he was trying to mask the fact that behind the drink, the women, the shaved head, even his hidden tatts, there was a man driven by clear hatred and loss, and he was vulnerable. I could see it.
He deflated. I didn't know what to say to him. It was strangely hard to look at him like this. It was a hell of a lot easier to berate him and attack him when he was cocky and arrogant and just a little bit smug. But when he was like this...What could I offer him right now? The eyes he cast towards mine were ones that searched for something. I wasn't sure what.
He nodded to himself, his eyes lowered as they lay downcast at the floor. He noted his drink again, lifted it to his lips and paused for a few seconds perfectly still, his thoughts were clearly roaming around his head or even in front of his eyes if his eye movements counted for anything. He then took the harshest swallow of his drink and grimaced as it went down his throat.
"What you did..." I shook my head, "I can't for the life of me understand it."
Abruptly, his stance became defensive, almost riddled with frustration with words to match as he explained, "You were practically living with me. You were getting too damn close to the truth."
My brows furrowed. "What truth?" I had to get this straight. "To finding out you were fu*king half the city? You really are a sad bastard."
"Half the city? More like the one woman who--"
"Are you really trying to remind me?" I said. I didn't let him finish. I had gone from a sense of sympathy to anger in a nought to ten scale, and was now even more angry at the audacity of him to go into details about the whole screwed up situation.
I didn't need details. I knew the damned details already.
"You would have found out about me. About what I do. That I'm a hunter." He revealed to me. "You were getting too close, Ariel, can't you see?" He got so close I had to see.
"And you didn't even know it," he continued. "But I knew if it had been just a moment longer, you would have found out for sure even when you weren't looking. I couldn't have you know what was really going on, what truly existed in this world. There was no way you could know about what I was doing when you never saw me."
He came towards me and I backed up, my hands lifting to keep him at a distance. They were shaking.
I think he noted that my hands were shaking, and he stayed where he was. "I remember you even said it yourself to me one day that I was secretive, I never let you in, and my disappearing acts were steadily pushing you away from me. I knew it was. I was making too many excuses just to keep you, and I knew you didn't even believe half of them. It was exhausting. I couldn't keep that up. And you...getting so close on a couple of occasions...I had to do something. I had to find a way to let you go."
I stood there and swallowed at his revelation. Wait... "Wh--What are you saying?" I said through quickened breaths.
I was actually scared to know.
"I did it the only way I knew how and I made sure you found out. I made sure you found us together." He revealed. At that very moment my eyes stung. "I made sure it hurt by sleeping with Kya. Your mate."
"Best mate." I said into my disbelief. "She was the best fr..."
It was like a bolt hit me from the top of my head right through to the core of me.
Kya...The girl I'd known since I was nine that day in the playground when we discovered we liked the same movie because she was singing Girl For All Seasons and I joined in wanting to be Spring.
The girl who practised the school performance moves with me at lunchtime and joined the production soon afterwards. We toured the major London venues with our school for school competitions together. We even went to the Royal Festival Hall. My dad was so far in the crowd taking photos with rolls of brown film that when we got the pictures back I was a little dot with a splash of blue twirling around me as I spun. My mum made both our sixties-inspired skirts to sing along to Goin' to the Chapel of Love. Kya...I loved that girl. She had been my best friend. My longest friend.
"I knew you could never come back to me if it was her I slept with," said Nathaniel. "Forget all the other women. You could've forgiven me for that maybe, but her...? Nah, you wouldn't forgive either one of us. And I was right; you didn't. You dropped us both like a hot plate. I made sure you had no one. I made sure you lost everything."
My breath caught in my throat and the memories made me hurt inside. All over again.
He took a deep breath. "That's when I helped you get this job with Jacey. Seb worked there, he could watch over you for me and report back to me, it would also keep you in London. After the volunteering I knew you wanted to up sticks and leave. I read your socials status." He added.
My pulse quickened in my ears. My heartbeat at double its rate.
"I knew you wouldn't willingly let me back into your life and I counted on it," he said, this time he did get closer. "You weren't taking my phone calls, weren't responding to my emails or messages. You'd cut me off-- and rightfully so, I get it. It was a pretty fucking shitty thing to do, but I had to. And I did it for you."
Blinking several times it all came back to me. Feeling like I had to move out of London, maybe Manchester I'd thought.
But then I'd been offered this lifeline to stay in the city, but to just move to a different part of it and try to start anew without my friends, but with a new sense of purpose. Maybe then I could gradually forget...maybe then mornings would become bearable again. Maybe it wouldn't be the first thing I thought about when I woke up. You know, like I might actually be able to find the will to want to leave my bed. To just fucking forget. Or at least for the memories to no longer hurt so much.
Nathaniel looked at me, his expression strained. There was a line between his brows, tension all through his features as he regarded me, his hand reached over to me and I snapped back before he could hold me and turned away.
I actually ached so much I could have cried. It had completely overwhelmed me. Another moment where I was overwhelmed and stupid Nathaniel was there. Why the fuck was it always him? Maybe because out of everyone he was always hurting me.
"Ariel, listen to me." He stood there as I shook my head. I tilted upwards briefly and closed my eyes, hoping to stop the drip of tears if only they could avoid gravity. I couldn't look at him. I wouldn't. It hurt too damn much. Everything I'd lost...
He allowed me time to settle. He never said a word, and I appreciated that. I was thankful for the bass in this club, it disguised the collective sobs I swallowed back in my throat. I felt ill, like I was burning up. I felt hot actually. I reached for the wall and frantically said repeatedly "I'm getting out of here..."
He put his glass quickly on the ground and his arms came around me and calmed me down. "It's okay," he said.
"It's not." This was the man who'd done all this to me. The man who was the reason for my near collapse.
He picked his drink back up and took a larger swig of it as if it were a much needed crutch, and then immediately took another as if the first wasn't enough.
"I had to do what I did, View."
"You made sure I lost everything."
"It was the only way. You wouldn't ask too many questions. You were way too innocent."
"I wasn't fucking innocent!"
"I was your first, Ariel! Don't try and re-write history just because you've met some next dude who takes your fucking breath away."
I swallowed.
"You don't think I know? I see it. God, I see it. But he ain't even human for heaven's sake."
How would I confront this? I hadn't a clue. What would I say to him? "Just go home, Nate."
"No." He said defiantly, this time he gulped at his drink angrily.
"You're piss drunk."
"You're piss beautiful."
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"I know."
"Just—"
"Just stay the fuck away from that demon scum, Aer. Fucking piece of shit." He spat out. His disgust was so plain to see. "You're a fool if you end up with him."
I couldn't believe it. "You took my life from me." I reminded him. "Could Dante do any worse than that?" I said against anger and hurt.
"Honestly?" he said with raised brows at me. "When he breaks your heart—and he will—your question will be answered."
I swallowed. "Screw you, Nate. You son of a b—" I stopped myself.
"He's a demon, Aer, he didn't come here on white wings."
I looked at him. "You wanna tell me you fucked Kya for me, Nate?" I reminded him instead, the thought wouldn't leave my head. "I bet you tried it on with her. It was probably entrapment."
"Believe what you want, Aer. I didn't make her do anything she didn't want to. She was no kind of friend to have in your life. Just be glad she's no longer in it."
"Who do I have, Nate? Who? I sat there in my flat after spending the night with Dante, crying in your fucking arms when I should have been able to call up my best friend and spill my guts while she offered me a telephone hug." I told him upset at the pain of the memory. "I went to that town hall event, dressed to the nines and had no girlfriends to go shopping with, to get ready with, to giggle with and do my hair and even go with me. I go shopping and buy meals-for-one. My only social life is work. It's just me, Nate. If you thought you were doing me a favour by doing what you did, you couldn't be more wrong." I said on a choked breath, and stinging eyes. "I have no one."
He gulped at my declaration. My last words seemed to particularly hit him. He edged closer to me. His voice felt genuine when he started with "I'm s..." But typical him, he couldn't finish. He swallowed it.
"Is that why you're clinging onto him?" he asked. "To Greco? You need him that much? What, are you gonna save each other now? You act like he's your air."
"I had a close friend, Nate. Just one. I find Kya in bed with you. And my other friend, Nicole, remember her? Well, we fell out over you. She knew what you were doing and didn't tell me. Then there was your sister, but she's gone."
"Yeah well, you know what? You have to own your decisions, Ariel. You have to take some responsibility for the people you let into your life."
"Does that include you?" I bitingly spat out at him.
He huffed through a forced smiled. "Nice." He lifted his glass almost to salute me and swigged viciously, wincing as it slipped down his throat. My cutting remark clearly came as no surprise to him.
"Those two were both pretty shitty excuses for friends if you ask me." He said in his seeming defence. Flipping hell, he really did think he was doing me a favour.
"Sometimes we have to do things, Aer. The consequences don't come easy, and if I have to be the bad guy then I will be, but if in the long run it protects you, then I'll do it again in a pulsebeat." He said. "And you don't have no-one. I'm the closest connection to your life, you'll always have me. I'll never leave even if I'm not immediately around. I'll always be there for you. He on the other hand, he won't be."
"You say that like its definitive."
He shrugged. "It is."
"How do you know?"
"Did you see the guy who was here earlier? Longish hair, tattoo sleeve?" he pointed out. "His name is Lukas Hall. He's the new head sponsor for your boss' organisation. You don't know the full extent to what makes Greco who he is. I bet you don't even know what he can fully do. But Hall, he's the one who will take him back to his underworld. And that time is soon."
I looked up at him, I needed him to go on.
"Greco doesn't belong in this world, Ariel. He was never meant to stay this long. There are bigger plans for him and bigger plans for Willoway. And you...well, you complicate things."
"He won't leave?"
"No."
"Because of me?"
"I don't know." He shrugged, seemingly at odds to admit it. "Maybe he's having the best sex of his life and he doesn't want to let it go, it's not like he can take you with him."
"Don't you dare cheapen us. You just can't fathom that a demon could be driven by feelings, can you? And not by his fucking dick like you are."
"You know what? Forget me fucking your friend, I just wanna know something; have I ever done right by you?" he asked me seriously, an intense look to his eyes, his face straight. "Have I ever?"
I regarded him slowly. "Nate, what is this about?"
"I thought I was doing right by you," he said. "Genuinely. I was willing to take the hit."
I sighed long and hard at his declaration. It slowly hit me. "Nate—"
"Is Greco your boyfriend now?" He mocked the word 'boyfriend' in a tone that sounded disgusted. Full of distaste. "Ah well. No worries, it's cool. It's kinda fun for me to take comfort in hoes anyway," he said back over to the women he had entertained himself with just before. "Who needs anyone else huh? Not me. Nope."
I looked over to them too. They sure were entertaining Troy. "We're friends, Nate. You and I, we're friends."
He laughed. "Yeah?"
I know he was taking the piss but...yeah. We could be. There was too much history between us. Mutuals too. Seb, Nera...
"When I let you go," he said. "I never would've imagined in my shoddiest nightmares that you'd fall into the arms of a fucking Demon. If I'd known that I would never have did what I did. Maybe I coulda guided you into the arms of better men than me. But truth be told you'd be better off in the arms of a hunter, period, even if that hunter is me." He looked around. "Where is Greco by the way?" he pointed out. "You don't think he can see you right now? Sense you? There's cameras all over this place. But he's not here, ripping me away from you. Why is that?"
I looked up at the ceiling, the only one I could spot in this darkness was the one dark round globe stuck to the ceiling next to a spotlight. Somehow I doubted he was in an office somewhere watching me, observing this. He wouldn't have let it get this far.
"Don't try and stir things up between me and Dante. It's not gonna work."
"Does he make you happy, Aer?" he said slightly choked, his eyes penetrating mine.
I simply looked between his eyes repeatedly. "Nate," I said instead. "I wish you could find your happiness. You'll let go of this hatred finally when that day comes."
"I don't want to." he said, hate suddenly fuelled him inside. "I need it. It keeps me going. Without it I don't know what else I've got or what else I can do. So...yeah," he said and turned away. He never looked at me.
I knew what he did, the lengths to which he'd gone now, what he made me unknowingly sacrifice, he'd done horrible things, I know. Most of all, no matter what he'd done, I strangely understood it. I didn't have to like it but...well...
In a way I'd realised something. Maybe what he did was perhaps the most selfless thing I'd ever known a person to do for me. He'd sacrificed us to protect me. He let me go when he didn't want to. He'd done something for me in his own sick, twisted, fucked up way. And yeah, it was pretty messed up.
"No, you know what. Fuck that," he said storming back over to me, he grabbed me, and before I knew it within seconds his mouth was pressed hard against mine.
I pushed my arms against his chest and he broke away finally. "God, I missed that." He strained against me. I pushed from him, stepping back.
"Just so you know, Ariel." He said, his breathing heavy. "Your precious boyfriend, Greco? He's a dead man. Because--"
I tried to object but he stopped me before I could let any sound free from my mouth.
"If I have to suffer," he continued, "he does too. Demons can't just fucking come here taking and corrupting beautiful little souls like yours, like my sist—," he clutched a fist to his mouth and swallowed behind it before speaking again. "There's no place in this world for 'em. And I'll take them out of it, one by one. You'll thank me for getting rid of Greco one day. I promise you will."
"How'd you figure that one out? You're deluded, Nate. Falling out of his arms won't mean I'll fall into yours."
He cocked his head. "Maybe you'll come round." He said watching me.
"Don't hold your breath."
He looked at me with a returning anger before he turned to leave. "Oh," he said twisting back round to me. "And that kiss; look up."
I didn't need to. I instantly knew why he wanted me to.
It was Nathaniel's final parting shot to Dante.
As far as I could see it, the battle lines were now officially drawn.
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Authors note:
(To anyone waiting on Dante, sorry he was busy in this chappy, but it's cool, he's back from next Chappie 18 ;)