Axel
I watched Ezra carry her body into the apartment. He walked straight through the house into the bedroom and put her down. She looked so much at peace. Her body was pale...her lips were practically white.
"Clean her up" I turned to see the shirtless man behind us. A blonde woman walked passed him into the room and walked towards the bed.
He was probably her boyfriend or something since he was shirtless and she was in just a pair of jeans and a bra. That shirt that was hanging loose over her was soaked in blood on the left side. Flashes of earlier stared creeping in again.
The woman gestured to Ezra to and he nodded. He walked out of the room and I followed. The shirtless guy did too. He just stopped at the door and glanced at her for a second before shutting the door behind him.
Ezra had stopped infront of me. But before I could fully turn around to face him his fist collided with my jaw. Damnit. This fucker was strong.
"I just had to do that" he said as he took a step back. Satisfied. He was probably dying to do that for weeks. Killing his sister just gave him the opportunity to express it.
"She's not dead Ezra" i said while wiping my mouth almost as if I was checking to see if I was bleeding.
"I doesn't matter" I heard a voice from behind me. Ofcourse. He was till here.
"I doesn't?" The sarcasm in my tone made him shoot me a glare.
"Who the fuck are you?" He crossed his arms on his chest and frowned at me.
"Ezra.. would you like to do the honours" I smirked.
"Ethan" Ezra emphasized on his name as if he wad telling it to me "this is Axel "
"Cassius?" Ethan's eyes widened in realisation. Ofcourse he heard of me.
"Hello Ethan" i said as I stretched out my arm towards him. And he did the same.
"So you're the infamous Axel Cassius" he grinned.
"So you've heard of me" I said in a sarcastic tone.
He just gave me a grin.
"We got off on the wrong foot" I smirked back.
But he didn't get a chance to reply to me.
"What the hell was going on Ethan?" I heard Ezra from beside the fireplace facing us. Gesturing to something behind me.
I turned around to see a piece of cloth lying on the ground. Ethan walked over and picked it up and placed it on the counter. It was a top. It didn't take a genius to figure out who that belonged to.
"What does it look like Ezra?" His tone was cold and daring. He had to be an older vampire. He was pretty strong to fight. The boy did have guts. Talking to his king in that tone.
Ezra shot him a look. I could tell it took all his will power to not rip his heart out right then and there.
Ethan brushed passed me to pick up his jacket from the couch and put it on.
"Where have you been?" Ethan was beside Ezra near the fireplace. "Do you have any idea how worried everyone was?"
"I see" Ezra's voice was dripping in venom. I had a long tiring journey so these two fighting right now would indeed be very good entertainment for me.
"Ezra..."
"I was in Gervase" Ezra wasn't really a man of many words. Unless he was trying to provoke someone.
Ethan looked back and forth between the two of us and then rubbed his face almost as if he was waiting for Ezra to say something more. He didn't.
I saw a bottle of Bourbon on the side table and grabbed it. I picked up the glass from beside the couch and poured myself some and sat down on the couch. The glass smelt of peaches.
The Bourbon almost camouflaged it. Almost. As I was about to take a sip of the drink I noticed a lipstick stain on the rim. Sage. This was her glass.
That image of her eyes falling to the floor was flashed before my eyes. We were so concerned with bringing her up to the room I didn't realise I still had her blood on my hands.
I jumped up and in a second was at the kitchen counter to wash my hands . I knew she was going to be alright. She would take a few hours to recover. But I still felt bad for hurting her. Killing her.
I could hear Ethan and Ezra argue but my mind was swirling with other concerns. About the attacks.
" Cassius "
"Huntley"
There were words that caught my attention but I wasn't paying attention to them. I was more focused on scrubbing the blood off my hands.
I heard the name being mentioned in the distance. It was Ethan and Ezra. That somewhat brought me back to reality.
I rounded the counter and walked towards the centre where the both of them were standing.
"So are you going to tell me what the fuck happened?" Ethan's voice cut us off whatever Ezra was saying.
"Excuse me " we heard a dainty voice and we all turned to look back.
It was that blonde lady that was in Sage's room earlier. I still couldn't believe it had been only a few minutes since we entered this house. Time was dragging.
"Yes" Ethan responded.
"She's all cleaned up. She'll heal in a few hours"
"Yes. Thank You" Ezra's voice cut her off as if he was hinting at her to leave.
She understood and nodded her head and walked towards the main door.
"Ethan?" Ezra's voice filled the silence again.
"Let's go to the office" Ethan said as he walked towards the main door as well.
*******
We were in Sage's office for over three hours.
Ezra told his side of the story about what all had happened in Sicily and how he landed up in Gervase with us.
Ethan gave his side of the story as well, about Sage being attacked and the warehouse and the burnt bodies.
Something about that story wasn't quite sitting right with me. Why would anyone burn the bodies?
He told us all he knew about the hex. I shared whatever I knew as well, which was nothing different to what he had said. Which basically meant one thing. We all were stuck at the same point in this situation.
Ethan said their friend was headed to Gervase to find out about the situation there. But since Ezra and I had just gotten back from there, their friend, Nathaniel, i believe decided to go to Huntley.
Huntley was a dangerous place. Even for vampires. I offered to go along with him or send some men but he seemed pretty confident about going on his own. So we let him carry on.
Sage's office was on the floor below her house. And I was stuck here with these two idiots for over three hours. I needed some space. I wanted to be alone. I wanted to be able to think clearly.
I made my way up to the last floor of the building. I walked through the doors and sun was just rising and the light was hitting every inch of the room. I hadn't noticed earlier but almost the whole hall room was surrounded by glass windows. It looked over the entire city all the way to the Palace.
I took my coat off and walked out onto the balcony. The view was perfect. The sun rising up from behind the castle. Kind of ironic though. Which meant the sun would set behind the tower I was standing on top of right now. That must make a pretty view from the Palace.
I closed my eyes trying to savor a minute of peace without anyone talking to me... without anyone being around me.
I still had my eyes closed, taking in the dawn when my ears fixed on something. A heartbeat. It was faint yet almost steady. I turned around to follow where the sound was coming from. But I already knew where i was going.
My feet moved on its own. My ears locked in on the rythm. My hands reached to push the big wooden door open when I noticed the carvings on the door. Nordic art and symbols with one particular letter standing out among it all....a simple A.
I pushed the door and walked in. The room was dim but the light was still pushing its way through the white curtains.
And there it was. The sound that made me draw a breath of relief for the first time in hours.
I hadn't met Sage properly yet. But I remember her helping us alot during the War. We almost crossed paths a few times but most of her interactions were with my brother.
As I got closer to the bed I noticed she had kicked half the covers off her. So I moved towards her to cover her back up.
The colour was starting to come back into her skin. Her skin was no longer cold. Her lips were no longer white. She was no longer lying there lifeless but snuggled up into her pillow as if she was holding onto it for dear life.
I stood there for a few more seconds listening as her heart beat started picking up. I knew she would heal. I was just glad that she was recovering fast.
I didn't want to disturb her so I walked towards the window which took up practically the entire wall. I was surprised she had so many windows and so much brightness around the house.
Looking at her you wouldn't think she was someone that liked having alot of light around her.
I turned my back to her and again continued staring out of the window.
"Ahaa" . The window overlooked the Willow Bridge. That road led to Cohen which was wolf territory.
It must have been easy keeping an eye on everything from here. Even though the kingdom had forests on all sides, towering over almost the entire landscape probably did help.
I Was so lost in my thoughts and admiring the beauty before me I didn't realise when I was struck by a quick gush of wind.
My back was against the glass window and familiar hands on my throat almost repeating the scene from the previous night. Only this time i knew exactly what was happening. I was somehow aware of everything but all I saw were furious green eyes staring back at me.
"What are you doing here?"
*************
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