LUCIAN
"A few days? Yeah… yeah, I'm going to do that." My voice came out strange, high-pitched, as if it were someone else's voice.
My legs wobbled as I lurched to my feet from the counter, my heart drumming in my chest. Adrian was just standing there. His face was half smile, half scowl, and his eyes were cold and hard. A chill crawled up my spine. I turned around, my hand fumbling for the door handle so much that I had a hard time grabbing it.
"And here I thought we were just shooting the shit," I laughed. It came out shaky.
"It's all right," he said, breezing past it like it didn't matter.
"So, uh, so this whole dish here, uh, this… this job, is there anything illegal about it?" I asked, my throat tight.
"Illegal? Not... really. It's a different world, my friend… with different rules."
"...Mafia. This sounds like mafia stuff. That's why you have all these suits." The words came spilling out before I could stop them.
Adrian chuckled, drink gliding in his hand. "Cherry on top. Just say yes to join me, and I'll get you a closet full of suits."
"Damn, man. That…" I paused with my hand on the doorknob. Those suits did tempt me for a moment. "It's something I'm really going to have to think about. Cya."
It was cold outside, and a cold slap of it struck me clean as soon as I walked out of the building. And even as I didn't want to die, I very much wanted to live, weirdly. I pulled my coat tighter, shivering, but that was no use. I felt little and out of place, slogging my way to the bus stop one leaden foot after another.
My head was a mess. Leave everything?For what… my family, my life… as shitty as it was? Some dark world Adrian would never talk about? I felt a gnawing dread, and a great confusion. Can I even do that?
"Excuse me."
I flinched, nearly tripping. There was a woman standing there. Red hair flowing down her back, pale skin reflecting off the streetlights, blue eyes staring right at me. She had a soft voice that complemented the mood.
"Shit! Sorry, uh... yes?" I stammered, turning to her.
"Do you know Adrian?" she said, her eyes piercing me.
"Uh... yes..."
She smiled, her tongue sliding leisurely over her lips like a carnivore's, and waved at me to follow her into the alley. My feet were going before the rest of me did. I was getting drawn into her like a moth into a flame.
"Did he ask for your help?" Her finger stabbed through the wool of my chest.
"He... did..."
"Then you're the one I've been looking for."
There was an explosion of pain in my side. I didn't see it, just felt the twist of the knife. I went to the ground, and then I hit the ground, blood all over my shirt. Retching, I tried clutching at the wound. Nothing. Then she pulled her gaze away, turned and stepped off, heels clicking, leaving me for dead.
The cold rushed in and my sight darkened. Panic became fear… I was blacking out. This is it.
ADRIAN
Did he even take me seriously?
I paced in front of my window, boots dragging across the polished floor, my thoughts in disarray. Outside, the city lights blinked, a smear of neon and shadow, but I scarcely took notice.
My gaze was fixed on the glass in my hand, filled with thick crimson liquid. My final weenie attempt to pretend that I'm still some weenie-ass human, hanging on to every last shred of weenie normalcy. It loomed there, dense and black, drawing my eye like a black hole.
I stood up, bent forward, my free hand hitting the chilled glass of the window. And the stretched skyline below it… the people and the cars and the lives I'd never touch, I just saw that damn red.
My reflection was stark, pale, with angular lines… the stranger that I hardly recognized.
Oh, fuck, how am I gonna do this? Just tell him straight and let him have it all… what I am, what this life is?
My chest throbbed, a soreness where my heart once pounded. But Corvin was another thing. I took the bait when he lured me in with promises and secrecy and lies, and I was a fool for it.
I can't do that to Lucian.
I spun on my heel, storming back to the kitchen, the gravity of everything bearing down on me. "I don't want to hurt him," I whispered to myself, placing the glass on the counter with a gentle clink. "He doesn't deserve this shit."
My voice sounded hollow, echoing back to me from the empty apartment. I'd just dropped a bombshell on the kid… leave everything behind, come join me somewhere dark and dangerous, and why?
To scare him off? To destroy the one real friendship I've got left?
"Damn Corvin," I snarled, my lip curling with distaste. "None of that manipulative crap." I tried to duplicate Corvin's pitch, all smooth and cryptic, but now it came out wrong.
Way to go, Adrian. You fucked it up.
My hand shot forward and pulled the glass back, holding it so fiercely I could feel the stem grating under my fingers. I wished I could throw it, so I could watch it shatter in the sink while the blood spritzed like a crime scene. Rage rose in me, hot and jagged, but I stayed put, arm shaking.
"Don't break the glass, you hold on," I hissed between my teeth, slowly pulling my hand down to the bottle inch by inch.
The glass landed with a dull thump on the counter, unbroken, but my insides were still screaming. I flexed my hand and watched the skin go chalky, veins black against white.
"God damn blood stains. Stuck with you forever," I muttered, shaking my head. Get it together.
I walked to the door, my boots heavy on the marble, my steps erratic to match the craziness in my thoughts. Lucian was out there, doubtless spinning, and I had sent him away with only riddles.
What if he bolts? What if he talks? If he tells anyone about this, I'll have to kill him myself, or shut him up, at least.
The thought hit me like a punch to the stomach.
He's my friend, not a loose end. But friendship is of no interest to this world. You make one false step, and it's on my head.
I tensed my hand once more, attempting to rid the tremble. I had to find him. Had to make this right.