• 𝓜𝓪𝓮 •

I froze when I stepped back into my room. Luca watched me, sitting on my bed. He knew. I could tell that he knew simply by the way he looked at me. There was no teasing smile in place, and his eyes were narrowed.

He waited for me to shut my door before he spoke.

"Where have you been," he asked.

"None of your business," I responded immediately.

His lip twitched, and I genuinely couldn't tell if it was out of irritation or amusement. He didn't move from my bed, he just kept sitting there waiting for me to answer. When I didn't, he sighed.

"I think it is," he finally said. "Seraph is not someone you want to get caught up with."

How the hell did he know that I went to Seraph? And so soon? I just left his room, there was no way for him to know unless he'd been watching me. Or someone else had been and told him.

Kite had eyes everywhere.

The realization had my body going cold. Why hadn't I thought of that? Was I so wound up by my anger that I didn't think that the fucking master vampire's son wouldn't know?

"Kite doesn't know," he said, as if reading my mind. "Not yet."

"Don't tell him," I whispered.

He tilted his head. "I won't, unless I have to."

I snorted, crossing my arms. Sure he wouldn't.

I may have gotten new information on Kite - somewhere in that thousand-year-old brain of his he finds me attractive - but it didn't negate the fact that he was the leader's son. It didn't change the fact that he could be an asshole any time the mood suited him. I didn't want to find out what he would do or say if and when he found out that I went to Seraph for answers he refused to give me.

Speaking of, why the hell did Seraph give me those answers so willingly? He didn't ask for anything in return, nor did he ask why I wanted to know. One would think a vampire wouldn't want a human knowing their weaknesses. So, why...

Luca's eyes raked over me, and my face warmed at his appraisal.

"What'd you go to Seraph for," he asked.

Did he already know? He knew that I went, but was that the extent of his knowledge?

I uncrossed my arms. "Because I believed that Seraph wouldn't bullshit me when it came to my question."

It took a moment, but realization dawned over his features. "What all was said, Mae? I need to know."

There was really nothing to hide. He already knew I went to Seraph, and he already knew why. What else could go wrong? So I explained it. Every bit of our conversation, right to the end where he gently pushed me out of his room, that strange darkness still surrounding him.

Luca's eyes were wide. "Fuck me, Mae."

My eyebrows drew together. "I'm not-"

He shook his head. "Not like that. Not yet. Fuck, Mae."

I wasn't sure what the big deal was, besides the fact that Seraph seemed a little off towards the end. But that told me just how much I truly knew about him, didn't it?

Luca tilted his head, his eyes moving to my door, and his lips pulled down at the sides. If it hadn't been for the fact that he wasn't outwardly speaking, I would have thought he was talking to someone.

His eyes slid to me, that silent conversation apparently still going through his head.

"Are you okay," I asked.

"Grand," he said. "Speaking to Noah and Kite."

I hummed. "And are they in the room with us now?"

He stared at me for so long that I started to think he didn't hear me. But then he laughed, standing from my bed. He walked over to me, and when I didn't step away, he pushed his body up against mine until I was forced to take a step back. He pushed me to the wall, pinning me there with his body.

"You're a brat," he murmured. "And while I'd love to show you just how much I love that about you, I have to stop our resident serial killer from killing someone because a cute little human girl set him off."

I stared up at him, into his otherworldly blue eyes, and knew I'd likely let him. His proximity was doing things to me, and I couldn't bring myself to hide it under a guise of indifference. He was magnetising.

I felt my breathing pick up as we stared at each other.

His eyes dipped to my lips. "Careful, princess, or I'll be taking care of your anger instead of his."

"And are you taking care of his anger the same way you'd be taking care of mine," I asked.

He smirked. "Never. The things I want to do to you are so ungodly you and I would spend eternity in Hell. And guess what?"

I blinked up at him.

He leaned down, placing his lips by my ear. "I'd continue fucking you so good in the afterlife, you'd think you landed in Heaven."

He nipped my ear before pulling away, leaving me pressed against the wall. He looked me over one more time before stepping out into the hallway.

Once the door clicked shut, I covered my face with my hands. My cheeks were on fire and I shivered, clenching my eyes shut. That man had no right to have such an effect on me. Every time his eyes met mine, every time his lips curled at the corners...

I breathed out, letting my hands fall to my sides. No good would come from his whispered words on my mind and no real release in sight. Because the only release would be through him. So I forced my thoughts elsewhere.

Was Seraph actually a serial killer? And why did my conversation with him set him off? If it was the bit about Zero, wouldn't every interaction he had with him, or any conversation he had about him trigger him? It didn't make any sense. Or had it been simply because I asked how to kill?

How many people had Seraph killed, and would Luca be able to stop him before he killed another person?

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