Syn

Sprouts formed in the planters, growing taller until they blossomed into bright yellow sunflowers and I exhaled, rubbing that aching spot in my chest. She gasped as she noticed them and I brought my eyes back up to her. She looked at them for a moment, confusion pooling in her brown eyes before it registered in her head.

I could just see the moment the tension left her body as she bit her bottom lip, stopping herself from smiling as she nodded slowly. "Syn," she whispered simply. "If you're here...give me a sign." I rolled my eyes. I wasn't a fucking ouija board. "Please? Don't be offended."

She knew me too well.

I snapped my fingers, the petals immediately wilting and falling— making a smile form across her face before she stepped onto the balcony. "Okay." She nodded. "You're alive? You're okay and everything? If yes, bring them back to life."

"One question at a time, please," I muttered, reviving the plants with a single whisper as the pain in my chest became sharp. She winced- a hand over her own chest as she scrunched her face in pain.

"Okay sorry, no more questions." She groaned before rubbing her chest and looking somewhere in the distance with a sigh. "Okay, Syn. I have no idea what the fuck is happening right now, but I trust you."

"As you should."

As if hearing me, a slow smile spread across her lips and I sank back into the seat, not looking away from her. "I'll give you three days, max," she said. "After that, I'm tearing this bitch apart. Are we clear?"

Tear it up, Princess. I smiled before whispering, "Crystal." With another snap of my fingers, the plants died once again and she nodded, crossing her arms.

"Good," she said. "When you get the chance— not right now but when you..." She cringed, rubbing her chest. "...feel better, please bring the plants back- so I know this wasn't a dream."

Okay...

She waited a brief moment, a lingering pause for my "answer" before she turned back to the door. She walked a few steps before turning back around. "Listen," she began, blinking away tears. "I know you would have come in here by now if you could— and if you can't come in, that means I can't leave right now." I closed my eyes for a moment. "If anything happens to me..."

"Don't."

"Take care of yourself, and take care of Saint. He'll need you," she said, her fingers toying with the engagement ring. "I love you, and...umm." She sniffled." "...I'll see you s-soon. Let's go with— let's say that."

She wiped her eyes before rushing back into the room and I rolled my eyes— pissed at her for even thinking that there was even a possibility I'd let her leave me so easily. Nobody was dying- especially not her. I'd yell her ear off at some point for even letting the idea cross her mind— she was just scared right now and if I was being honest, I was too.

But her soul belonged to Hell— it was mine. If the worst happened and she did die, her soul would fall right onto my lap. Black magic was a bitch to deal with later and it fed on your soul- but I'd resurrect her until I was a fucking vegetable.

There would be pain and a lot of bloodshed— I knew that. But death was completely off the table.

I sighed, relaxing into the seat as I closed my eyes. I let the cabin move to the far back of my mind— the 'whooing' of the owls becoming a distant screech as my body sunk into the chair. After a moment, I felt myself being pushed like I was being thrust out of water after drowning for ages.

My eyes snapped open and I gasped, feeling a hand nudge me. I looked beside me at Paris whose brows were raised at my sudden jolt. "What?" I snapped, sitting myself up and looking around. It was almost sunset now, the orange skies casting a warm glow over the cabin as if what was happening inside was nothing but a dream. I would've thought it was if it weren't for the few petals of the sunflowers raining down from the balcony.

"Damn." Paris raised his hands. "Lilith is on the way," he said. "I didn't think you'd want to look like...this when she arrived."

"Like what?" I looked down at myself, blood staining my shirt and a large dark stain across my lap, the sweats uncomfortably sticking to my skin. "What the fuck?"

"You spilled your coffee all over yourself," he told me, an amused smile on his face. "It was pretty hilarious."

I shook my head quickly. "I can't go. Have Lilith come here."

"Listen, I wouldn't take you seriously if you tried to threaten me looking the way that you look right now. So I'm sure Lilith won't either," he said and I scowled at him. "Go get cleaned up. You'll be gone for no more than an hour or two...that'd be what? A few minutes for Queen? She'll be fine."

He was right. It was night for her so even if I wanted to, I could be gone for days before she even woke up. I just didn't want to. I did, however, need to go get myself cleaned up. I felt fucking gross.

"Okay." I gave in, standing up. I looked at the cabin, the trance of it pulling me in slowly- my mind wondering what was going on now. Had she fallen asleep? Was she having a bad dream? Was he watching her?

"Nope, nope, nope. Not again." Paris grabbed my shoulder and pushed me toward the portal. "She's fine. If something is wrong, you'll feel it and we'll come right back. You need to get cleaned up and eat- not kill yourself watching."

"Paris, I envy you," I muttered, shuffling as he pushed me into the portal and I stepped into Drake's living room.

"Why is that?"

"You're not me right now," I said lowly.

"Oh, well...I envy you."

"For what?"

"Having someone you're willing to give up everything for and knowing they'd do the same for you. It's a rare thing," he said.

"It's nothing to covet," I muttered. "Having them one moment then knowing you could lose them the next...there's not a fear quite like it."

"Hmm, funny how envy works then, eh?" he replied.

"Well," Drake spoke up from the kitchen, looking away from the stove toward us and waving a hand. "I'm envious of whoever isn't in here right now smelling this shit. Please go take a shower."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm going," I muttered. "Any hotel recommendations? Preferably something nearby although I know you want me far."

He sighed, taking off his apron and lowering the fire on the stove. Whatever the hell he was making smelled amazing. It made my stomach growl— a sound the both of them heard and I clenched my jaw, crossing my arms as Paris laughed. Drake only scoffed, tossing a small towel onto the counter before walking toward the living room past us.

"Follow me, Syn," he said. "I'll show you where you can get cleaned up." I glanced at Paris, thinking this was some sort of trick and he shrugged in response.

I exhaled, following him out of the living room to the hall just before the foyer. He walked down the long hall- passing what seemed like a dozen closed doors before making it to the last room at the end of the pathway.

"Here you are," he said, opening the door and stepping in. "The room furthest from me."

"Perfect," I muttered, stepping in behind him. The room was nice— not my taste or his even judging by the looks of the rest of the house. There was a feminine touch to it that had me wondering just who might've decorated it. The walls were a light sage and a couple of paintings of plants hanging on the walls. There were hints of yellow littered about, the accents flowing through the floral comforter and grey headboard. Queen would've liked this.

"The restroom is over there." He tilted his head to the door at the left of us. "And the closet is past it. I believe your father and Xavier already put a bag of clothes in there for you."

"Ah, so this was already decided." I crossed my arms. "Here I was thinking you had a sudden change of heart."

"Funny," he said flatly before walking back to the door and I turned to him.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked and he sighed, turning around. "What is it that I've done to you exactly..."

"Listen," he said. "Despite my dislike of you...your parents and friends seem to care about you. For whatever reason, I'll never know, but I'm not going to cause them more pain or stress by kicking you out...even if you deserve it. Which you do."

"You're not answering."

"I'm showing you kindness," he said lowly, "which is far more than you've ever done for me or anyone I cared about. And it's a shit feeling but I'm doing it because I don't want to become you."

"I hurt someone you cared about." I put the pieces of his words together.

"No, you didn't hurt 'someone' I cared about," he said. "You killed people, that I cared about."

"Drake, I sincerely have no clue what you're talking about," I admitted.

He pointed at me. "That," he said. "That was what I dreaded hearing and I knew it's what you would say. Because you're a monster. You've killed so many people— destroyed so many lives...and you can't even remember their names—"

"Try me," I said.

"No." He shook his head. "I've told you more than you deserve and I won't give you the peace of remembering them and rationalizing what you did."

I looked at him, his pained expression not telling much before I nodded. "Fine. Okay."

"Fine, okay," he mocked. "You don't apologize to people?"

"It's rare that I kill anyone that doesn't deserve it," I told him honestly. "I can't apologize without knowing what exactly I'm apologizing for and if it's truly deserved." He let out a breath, seemingly exasperated and I sighed. "I can apologize for my actions obviously hurting you as much as they did, but that's all I can do if you're set on keeping their identities a secret."

He laughed bitterly before glancing down the hall and looking back at me. "I'm going to walk away now."

"I understand."

He did just that, turning around and closing the door with him. When it didn't slam, a part of me hated it. He was angry and if I hurt him the way he said I did, then I understood it. What I couldn't understand was how or why he maintained his resolved— I don't want to become you.

Was I truly that horrible?

I'd done a lot...hurt more people than I could count but no one was ever innocent. I didn't know if he was keeping their identities a secret because he wanted me to stew in some sort of guilt I didn't have or because it was him that was afraid of the truth. Telling me who they were would make me give him the reason why...Was he ready for that?

I wasn't sure, but I wasn't a sensitive person. I wasn't nice enough to wait patiently for him to tell me when he was ready— if ever.

I'd figure it out myself.

I took a shower, getting dressed as quickly as I could in front of the dresser. I adjusted my cuff links, glancing at myself in the mirror before looking at my phone- it was laying on the dresser face up with Mario's contact looking up at me.

I had sent him a text before my shower with Drake's full name— requesting a background check and every single thing he could find on him. It felt like an eternity had passed before he called me back and I answered the phone. "Mario," I spoke.

"Boss, I sent you the background check," he said. "There's nothing new on him. It still has the same information from before when you checked."

"Great," I rubbed my temples.

"I dug a little bit deeper though, and I think there's something you should see," he said. "I attached a couple of newspaper articles and photos to the email. I umm...I think you should take a look, sir."

"Okay, thank you."

I hung up, going straight to my inbox and clicking on his email. There was a file and he was right, it had all the same shit from before when I checked— when he was first given the seat as vampire faction leader. Giving it one last glance, I moved to the attachments he mentioned and an old newspaper article popped up.

The browning paper looked weathered, giving me a clue just to how old it was as I looked at it curiously, my eyes dropping to the date and title as I froze.

Brutal Massacre at Jeradua Palace
November 7, 2000

I held on to my phone tightly, my vision blurring as memories of that day floated through my mind. I hardly remembered what I did. All I could remember was the seething pain of Julius's whip- scars from them that should've faded but were still painted across my skin due to the malnourished state he kept me in. If I closed my eyes I could hear the laughs of the guests just watching what he was doing- relishing in my pain as I was the closest they could get to my father.

It was their sick weekly ritual— the wounds on my body wouldn't even be healed before the next invitations to the show were sent out.

I managed to break free of the chains on one of those nights...

...and I just— snapped.

I swallowed a breath, anxiety scratching at the walls of my chest. I couldn't read past the title as memories passed through my mind...I thought being in that palace before that night was Hell...but it was everything that happened after that was hard to forget.

What did Drake have to do with this?

Did the people he cared about attend?... Did I kill them?

I was a fucking child— he had to have known that. How could he be holding a grudge for something I did when I had no other choice...

I suppose if he wasn't there he couldn't have known the truth of that night though. Anyone that knew anything about what Julius was doing was either killed by me or paid off by him. Evidence of it was wiped from any and all records in all the realms and I was painted as a monster instead of a little boy that saw a taste of freedom after so much pain and seized the opportunity.

It was fucked up, but I got over it. I let it go- leaving the distant memory in the past...just as I thought everyone had— that was naive of me. Because as evil and wretched as those guests were...they had families back home that had no idea of their weekly proclivities.

If I read further, I'd probably get more information...maybe see a picture of Drake with these people— the pictures that Mario mentioned. But I couldn't do it. If I saw their faces I'd remember and all these years of trying so desperately to forget and bury it would've been for nothing.

I wasn't ready for that.

I heard a knock at the door and tore my eyes away from the phone as Cleo peeked her head into the room. "Hey, you good?"

"I'm fine." I turned my phone off and shoved it into my pocket.

"Good." She gave me a small smile before raising her brows. "Because she's here."

꧁꧂

Damn...

Poor Drake— poor Syn...poor me. Poor everyone fr🥹❤️