Chapter 3

It was a chilly evening. When Jack's feet landed on the pavement, he couldn't help but shiver a little. The moon was visible in the heavens after the sun had set a while earlier. At least as clearly as possible in a big metropolis. People were still strolling the streets at this time. Classy dresses and business uniforms were prevalent. Without a question, there were sharks and call girls there, but at least it wasn't as overtly filthy as his neighborhood in the Alley.

"I appear like a low-class pleb, even to the prostitutes," he said. He had to chuckle at himself and straighten his tie. Present, present, present.

It took about twenty minutes to walk to the bus stop, but it was busy and the police weren't exactly sleeping. For the most part, Jack didn't worry about the individuals. He could feel the onset of the chill and the numbing of his digits. Business sneakers weren't warm enough.

"Pardon me,"

Jack nearly leaped. The voice next to him was soft, seductive, feminine, and welcoming, but it was totally unexpected.

“Shit! Apologies, um, yes?" He fought to control his jaw from dropping as he turned to face the enigmatic woman. She was stunning. Dark lips, piercing blue eyes, and long, red hair. She was unbelievably beautiful. She was wearing a long, black cloak that hugged her figure and brought attention to her lean frame. Her eyes appeared to almost shine in the shadows as she stood in an alleyway between two of the buildings.

"Do you know Julias?" She spoke so gently and effortlessly that Jack found himself moving closer to her. Why was that sound so enticing? Her unwavering, yet alluring stare was at eye level with him. She moved forward by pulling him, almost like a hand was pulling at his throat.

Her irises matched Julia's exactly.

"Uh … yes…"

The same way Julias would when flirting with a female, she grinned at him and licked her lips in an overt manner. She beckoned the youngster into the shadows with a raised hand. Jack moved closer to her once more as the chill seemed to no longer be an issue. As he moved further into the shadows in the direction of the lady, the background shuffle of others grew quieter, and it did so again as his awareness of the situation became foggy.

"Did he seek for your assistance?" She touched his chest with one of her fingertips, but it only attracted him. Jack, who was still attached to her finger, was now far into the shadows. The stranger's eyes were still visible in the pitch-black, like the way a cat's eyes catch light, despite the fact that any light that would typically border the alley's walls had been blown.

The words just blurted out, "He did." There is nothing to overcome.

"You are the person I have been searching for, then."

Even the dagger escaped his notice.

~~Julias~~

Julias paced back and forth from his window, periodically glancing outside to observe the city lights, thinking, "I wonder if he took me seriously." His gaze was fixated on the red liquid in his hand. His final effort to keep eating patterns at least a little normal.

His eyes were fixed on his drink even though he leaned forward and rested his free palm against the window. His gaze became submerged in the turbulent crimson pool because it was opaque.

"How will I go about doing it?"  Julias walked back into his kitchen and set the glass on the counter with a weary sigh. "How could I explain... I mean... with Viktor it was... Yeah, I don't want that." He doesn't deserve that, and now that I've just dropped this bombshell on his lap, I don't want to harm him. I couldn't tell him half the truth. Stupid Viktor. The entire conversation had been a terrible effort to recreate Viktor's proposal, and just like then, the proposal had been terrifying. "None of that manipulative shit. Smart. How dare you, Julias, destroy everything."

He grabbed the glass and raised it with the basin in mind. He lowered the glass back down slowly, very slowly, with a strained hand and a tight grasp.

He grunted, "Don't smash the glass, control yourself," while gritting his teeth. He set the glass down and moved toward the entrance, looking at his trembling hand the entire time. He flexed and released it, his complexion turning progressively paler. Blood spots are a pain.

"Where did that child go?"Julias walked as quickly as he could down the street without being seen. Even though it was a chilly night, he didn't care. Julias stayed with the suit while the majority of people were wearing trench coats of some description. He felt good donning it because it was a nice suit. In front of these individuals, he felt tall. After all, they were just cattle.

A woman passed by and took a minute to look Julias up and down. "Yeah, I wonder... how he'll feel walking down this street after it's done." She had stylishly styled blonde hair against the crown of her head, which added to her attractiveness. Julias was only able to acknowledge briefly before moving on. "Never again."  He could isolate himself even more, or he could... wither and die. I do not desire a second Viktor. He must want it if this is to succeed. He cannot be duped into doing this.

He went on moving. Then, that was it. Instead of allowing the man stew for days on end with all his half-truths, he would have to explain to Jack tonight what this was really about.

"Do you think he'll despise me? I'm unsure if he'll inform anyone. Don't even consider it. If he told anyone, and I had to clear up that mess and execute him." Jack was a perplexingly tenacious little guy who was also smart. He had faith in him. But crap occurs, and Julias would be responsible if Jack attempted to expose the truth after the secrets were revealed.

Not just my brain, fuck. This transaction goes beyond commerce. Your buddy, he is. He's your—" His voice broke off as he halted in the middle of the street and peered around. There was a problem. His internal organs pounded on his ribcage and pleaded for a fight. The name was occupied by someone. Inside his territory, someone was searching for them.

He began to run suddenly. Those in his path moved swiftly, and those who didn't were pushed away. A few unlucky individuals were more than pushed aside, and more than a few slammed into adjacent bystanders of the street crowd while yelling in agony. He accelerated and ran over a couple who were holding hands. They were both pushed to the side and fell against the sidewalk making bone-crunching sounds.

Nobody could possibly have chosen this night out of all evenings. Someone had to have seen him because they had to have known. Where is a Mekhet when you need it, fuck. Jack couldn't have traveled very far because there was only one path he could take and he could only look down each alley as he passed. Jack could have been simply taken by whoever was in his realm and fled, was pulled into the sewers, or worse.

His anger increased. He was going to destroy whoever it was. He intended to reach down and rip their extremities from their sockets with his fingers. There was no way this had been done accidentally, particularly not on this particular night. You do not just walk into someone's domain without permission.

He finally caught a whiff of his buddy. Jackpot. He only needed to cast a quick look down an alley to see a woman's coat and a boy's falling body. God forbid he arrived too late.

"Leave him alone!”

With a start, the lady abruptly withdrew. She gave him a glance, only one, before she turned and fled. She was fluid like. She moved with an incredibly fluidness, and her speed eluded his grip. Daeva shit. It was necessary. She must have attracted Jack, and then...

“Jack! Jack, sh*t! Julias crouched down and regarded his young companion. "Holy sh*t Jack, are you hearing me?”

Blood was coughed up by the small guy, who then collapsed on his side and spat some of it onto the pavement. He was always small, but now, against the soiled concrete, he appeared to be a spec. Just a young person in a bad suit, bleeding profusely, with a buzzed cranium.

"I... I was just wounded, is that right?"Jack's palms were pressed against his stomach, and blood was oozing out of them. Julias struggled not to fix his gaze on the enlarging water. He would use his teeth and his bare fists to kill that Daeva! Not now, he had to pay attention.

Julias tightened his hold around his friend's hands and yanked them away, saying, "Move your hands, I have to see." Jack struggled with him and cried out in agony, but Julia's strength quickly defeated him. "Remain still! I must assess its severity."

His hands raised Jack's suit and shirt from the ground. He even tore it in his despair, but it was only a cheap suit. After this, he would really need to purchase Jack a nice suit.

"Okay, I count ten holes."  Dude, Daeva is a b*tch! He allowed Jack to coil back up into a ball before getting to his feet. From a deep corner of the passageway, eyes filled with panic peered around. Jack could be taken to the street in less than a second, and into a hospital could take up to ten. Why would that be beneficial? He had received ten knife wounds.

The little man coughed up some blood in between saying, "I... I'm not a doctor, but I think... "I believe I am dead,"

How can you, Jack, you're dying! What the fuck!Julias guided Jack to the wall of the alley and seated him there.

"I suppose I'm just... thinking intellectually?" Being seated up again brought on a fresh coughing fit, and Jack tightly clutched at his stomach. "I'm sure... it'll hit me... later... when I'm dead," he said. Julias could tell the child wasn't only in agony; he was also attempting to contain the spilling of his insides.

"So quit being so cerebral! Goddamn it, Jack, I'm to blame for this."

“ … wha—”

"That  Deava cretin, eh? She attacked you in order to confront me and halt me. ... to harm me."

Another coughing fit cut Jack off, and he gave up attempting to speak. "Daeva, I don't un—" His draining gaze instead turned to Julias. The young boy's visage was turning a bright white.

"I screw it, Jack. I'm going to help you, Jack."

Jack pulled his hands away from his stomach, allowing more blood to spill over his fingertips as he said, "You... look at me." I'm dead, Julias, just transport me to the hospital so that my mother can come get me when I'm done."

What in the name of god was wrong with this kid? He was bleeding to death, and it was crazy how much blood was coming out of him. And yet, he was content to take it. Would his final minutes be spent simply caving in? No.

"No, you stupid bastard, fuck that, fuck that 'quietly into the good night' shit."

"However ... you can't." 

Blood stains are a genuine pain.

Julias reached down and lifted Jack into his arms, saying, "Yes I can... yes I fucking can." The little man had no weight. He led him deeper into the passageway before jumping.

Little Jack struggled to yell and even flaile a bit before giving up because he was cold and worn out. Good. It made it simpler to transport him up the building's side. Julias quickly climbed ten floors by leaping from one fire escape railing to another, then onto another, and yet another. He descended to the terrace, where only the night and the moon awaited.

"How did you—?"

"Do you trust me?”

"Julias" 

"Do you believe in me?"  This time, Julias shouted as he sat down, " Jack was placed between his thighs, his back against his own. The little boy was hugged and swayed back and forth by him. He was turning chilly.

“ … yes.”

"Now just unwind. Simply unwind and breathe."

When Julias sank his fangs into Jack's neck, his words faltered.

Julias understood the response. He was very familiar with it. Every time, it was the same. First, his prey would twitch for just a second while his bite first punctured and then numbed the area. They would simply unwind into the kiss after that. The blood that flowed into Julia's mouth was slow and lackluster, and Jack relaxed far too fast and too easily.

“What … are you…” Jack shivered a couple times, trembled, went limp against Julias’s chest. His breathing became increasingly slower, but Julias continued to imbibe.

How long had it been since he’d drunk someone dry? Years. His buddy, though? How long had he been doing this before? an eternity.

“I’m … getting … tired.” The poor little guy couldn’t even lift his arms anymore. He could barely talk. At least Julias was making the loss of blood feel good, right? He could feel it in Jack’s body. He wasn’t struggling, and he was probably high on the pleasure of it. But then, he probably thought he was dying and that his pleasurable feelings were his body’s chemical responses to death. Well, he was half right.

Jack trembled, and then as his trembles faded, he shivered, and then not even that. Now was the time, right? It had to be. The tiny man’s breath was almost gone. Julias could feel his anxiety growing. What if this didn’t work? Think, what had Viktor done? Viktor had drained him … completely.

“I can’t … feel … Please, Julias … I’m … scared…”

Jack started to shake. The blood wasn’t flowing anymore. He sucked forcefully now, actively, trying to pull the blood out of Jack’s body. No more came. Jack’s breath turn into nothing but a cold haze.

“ … a dream. That’s all it is. A dream, Jack. Just a dream. Now I have to wake you up.”

All it took was a slice of his fingertip to cut into Julias’s own wrist. The blood didn’t come; it fought to stay inside him. He could see it in the cut, refusing to fall free of his skin. He glared at the blood, at the Vitae that kept it within. All or nothing, Julias. Just another step toward damnation.

He placed his wrist against Jack’s mouth.