Chapter 31

GLASS WARNING: “They warned you about me, and yet yall never listen…  why would I warn you against me? I say come get a taste immediately~…”

I wanna be your slave, I wanna be your master
I wanna make your heart beat run like rollercoasters

THEIR POINT OF VIEW

“Why… didn’t you tell me about your mother?” Glass was getting choked with his words. He feels extremely hurt that his lover of a century didn’t tell him anything about his past. In fact… “I don’t think I even know you at all, Everest.”

That name stung like a stake to the heart, with Glass moving away from him. “Other than you being rich and being turned when you were 23, I know nothing about you. Who even are you? Are you even mine?”

“What—don’t talk nonsense, I am yours to use and kill if you wish, I love you! I just couldn’t bring myself to use your body! I’ve loved you for a hundred years—”

The restraints on Evie’s wrists snapped open as Glass snapped, “I don’t even know who you are!”

“My name is Everest Santiago, youngest son of a Grand Duke in Spain! I have four brothers before me. The eldest a Duke, the second a landowner, the third a doctor. All of them have families except I, who remained a bachelor because I was kept prisoner in the tight hand of my mother. My father had many affairs, until he died when I was young. I had suspected my mother had something to do with it… she always whispered the strangest stuff…

“You won’t leave me like he did, won’t you Everest? You won’t make that mistake…” her voice was like honey. A mixture of pollen and bee vomit.

“Yes, you only love Mummy… and mummy only loves you, that’s why you’re still alive.”

“Brothers? Oh, they have their own family. You’re all I have now. Your father is too busy kissing dirt…”

“But it was true,” Evie told Glass in the present, “I was all she had. I had even forgotten what my father looked like… until… until my brother told me…”

“She doesn’t love you. You’re just a splitting image of our father!” Evie recalled.

“And when I finally grew into my father’s shoes… when she finally looked into his eyes through mine…”

She stabbed me, one faithful night when everyone was asleep. “You’ll never be satisfied with me. No matter how much I take care of you, YOU’LL ALWAYS LEAVE ME!”

“M-mom… stop—” Before she could land another blow, I defended myself by pushing her away. What I thought was a defensive move turned into murder when the window shattered, causing her to fall.

I had committed murder. A cardinal sin… an unforgivable crime. I stumbled to our manor’s chapel, stomach bloody and eyes barely working. But I know the path to that chapel so well. We used to play as kids there, before mother would reprimand all of us. But only held my hand as she took me to my room. I was so special, I didn’t get in trouble like them…

Or so I thought.

I was kneeling by the altar, praying to a God I’m not sure will listen.

That’s when I heard it. A shriek… a shrill scream of a monster who smelled the blood of my mother by the flowers.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” A yell of shock, anger, until I could no longer hear a voice. Only a ringing in my ear that didn’t stop.

I stumbled out of the Chapel, carrying the hole in my stomach. Every step, I lost half a liter of blood. I shouldn’t be walking, and yet I keep going. Especially when I heard the screams of my brothers.

“Friedrich?! Albany!” More choked yells rang in my ear. And I as approach my third brother’s room, and stumbled back upon seeing his face permanently stuck in a scream because his guts is spilling out of his chest. “ALBANY!”

A shadow whipped past me, but I was losing too much blood to notice it. All I know is… my oldest brother fell in front of me, a giant hole carved out of his chest where I can see the carpet through his body.

“I… don’t know who did it…” said a monster of a woman, wearing a white peasant gown with her hands stained with so much blood it looks like she has long gloves made of it. “But I’ll kill each and every one in this house.”

She stood tall, with bloody hands almost to her shoulder and long black hair to her hips. She looked menacing, with all-white eyes and a mouth with large fangs as canines.

“I took care of her ever since she was a child. I made sure the others keep their fangs off her. I had yet to tell her who I was… I had yet to find out what I meant to her. I waited… for so long… only for her… to be lifeless on a bed of carnations.”

“What… are you…”

She stayed silent, as if she found something in my soul. This monster appeared when my mother died. And my mother was killed by me.

“You killed her…” she whispered, voice small and vulnerable. Her hair started growing abnormally long, whipping in front of her until thick strands of black hair wrapped around my waist. “YOU DID IT!”

She squeezed me where I bled, and the blood had to come out of my mouth. “You… you did it… and yet…”

She gasped, tilting her head. “She loved you the most. She won’t forgive me if I kill you… she won’t. Will she?”

“AHH—CKKHHH… CHKK…”

Her hair pulled me closer to her, and I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life before. Blood red eyes surrounded by pink pulsing veins, wide as her eye sockets. “She will forever hate me if I harm such a beautiful face… such a shame you don’t have hers. No, no… I will not kill you. Instead, you will suffer for all eternity as punishment. A suffering that will have you begging for a sad, pathetic death… a life of immortality.”

Evie couldn’t bare to look at Glass anymore. He stared up at the ceiling as if he bled out, just as he wished he did that night. He told his lover, “She killed everyone in that manor… everyone except me. And I was supposed to be the only one who died that night… I should’ve been. I wish I did.”

Glass bitterly looked away until Evie added, “Until I found you. I found someone I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. A beautiful soul, full of life. More than just a face and body, and yet people used you just like they did to me…”

Evie crawled out of bed and ended up kneeling in front of Glass, hands on the floor close to his lover’s feet. “Forgive me, for I have sinned. I’m a sinner… a monster who wants nothing more than to spend this painful eternity with you.”

Glass slowly reached down, his dark hands a striking contrast to Evie’s pale face, pink from crying too much. “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“I wanted to spare you the pain of my past. There was no need to look back when we could live this pathetic together in the present and future. I wanted to focus on you, not me.”

“Everest—”

“DON’T USE THAT NAME, IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE BELOW ME! I AM NOT YOUR MASTER NOR AM I YOUR CLIENT! I am YOURS, address me like I am!” Evie screamed so hard, Glass’ heart contracted in response to the anger of the Restraining, and he had to hold his chest because of the pain.

“Evie…” Glass chokes out, “You’re hurting me…”

That’s when Evie’s eyes turn back into green, realizing his powers have gone out of control. He gasped and caught Glass before he could fall back on the bed.

“My love…” he cried out, “I’m so sorry. I don’t mean to hurt you…”

“You always do,” Glass whispered, “We’re always hurting each other… maybe we… aren’t meant to be together.”

Evie’s eyes never turned red so quickly. “What do you mean… it was fate that led me to you, I was meant to save you and you were meant to save me from this isolated life—”

“I want a man that could give me everything,” Glass demanded, “Everything… that I want. What you want… you can find in Pryce or Archer. What I want…”

He got off the bed, resigning their relationship to fate. “I can have from Redd and Jude.”

“Are you… breaking up with me?” Evie raised his hand and his red eyes seemed to have a mind of its own. “You can’t…” when Evie twitched his fingers, all of them seemed to crack under the pressure of his anger. “Sit down, Glass…”

“It’s feeding time… I have to entertain the others. With, or without you,” But he turned and walked away. You will hurt me, and further prove that our relationship is as toxic as the apple that Eve bit.

“SIT THE F*CK DOWN!”

Meanwhile, earlier, Leo was going through yet another headache because Satan was setting fire to his Withholding. In his hands were a bottle of fresh goat’s blood. “Ahh… stop it… I swear I’m gonna get myself sedated…”

“You son of a catholic! F*ck you and your flavorless fruits, I want me some juicy grape and some juicy *ss, now let me out of here!”

“I’d rather kill myself than let you out,” Leo mutters as he went inside the clinic, carrying the bottle. Satan was still screaming in his head, “Let me out, let me out, let me—!”

He was about to ask for more pain killed when both of them saw Jude giggling with Redd as they both arranged the newly arrives medical supplies in the cabinets.

Jude laughed, “Forgive me for the f*ckery father Redd, but I do not talk like a spoiled valley girl, you’re the one who talks like you’re from Louisiana.”

“I am from Louisiana…” Redd finally spots Leo in the doorway and awkwardly smiled at him. “Hey, chef…”

“Nurse,” Leo approaches Jude with awkward tension between him and Redd, while Jude remains cheerful as Leo kisses him.. “I hope you had fun borrowing my boyfriend.”

Jude playfully slaps his cheek. “I am not something to be borrowed. Redd is taking care of me while you’re busy cooking.”

“So he’s doing me a favor, huh…” Leo glared at the taller man, who can’t help but feel intimidated against the one who carries the devil in his head.

Redd broke the tension by asking him, “Anything you need, brother? Is he yelling at you again?”

Surprisingly, Satan went quiet and is no longer setting his head on fire. “Actually…”

Before he can answer, Jude reached to grab his head and forced Leo to face him. “Devvy! Listen up, if you keep bothering Leo, I’m no longer visiting you! Be good and stop f*cking around!”

Meanwhile, Satan lay on his stomach, kicking his feet in the air and giggling with his head resting on his hands. “He’s so cute… anything for you, Jude~mmm, run your hand through your hair, these weak men won’t be able to resist you.”

“You’re making him say worse things, babe…” Leo pulls away because the devil was getting worked up in there. “Listen, Redd… I don’t care anymore if you guys f*ck or whatever, Jude clearly—questionably—likes you. Just leave some room for me and don’t try to steal my man away.”

The tension in Redd’s chest immediately disappeared through an exhale, while Jude happily hugs Leo. “You’re the best!”

He kissed Leo on the lips, before turning around to kiss Redd as well, standing on his toes. “I’ll continue helping out here in the clinic, okay? It’s better than roaming around and being found by Archer in the hallways, he creeps me out.”

“Tell me about it,” Redd shuddered, making the two other males curious about his encounter with the Geisha. “I’m not scared of him or anything, he’s just creepy… like Evie’s seduction method but on steroids.”

“Archer tried to seduce you?” Leo asked, even more confused now. Redd looked serious, so the chef adds: “Redd, he’s a top. Why would he seduce you when you look the least like a bottom here?”

“He’s a top?!” Both Salve and Redd asked. The latter further questions, “But he’s crossdressing! He looks like a woman!”

“I guess that’s how he lures his men. Yeah, he only sleeps with Evie, Glass and Margiela. That’s why I’ve never slept with him—I have standards,” Leo explains.

“I thought you were just being picky with your partners like you always were,” Jude mumbles, already aware of Archer’s preference.

Redd scoffed, “No way in hell I’m ever sleeping with him, even if he was a bottom. Never, especially him topping me.”

“I think you’d be cute together…” Jude says, sneaking a peak at Redd’s very thick and muscular glutes.

“No f*cking way—”

Suddenly, Jude gasped and dropped the glass of goat’s blood Leo offered him, splattering blood on the floor. He could hear something dangerous through the Echoing, he could hear someone struggle.

“Jude?”

Leo and Redd called out his name multiple times, but he can barely hear them. Finally, Redd placed a hand on his waist. “Jude? You look sick, what’s going on?”

“SIT THE F*CK DOWN!” says the voice picked up by his Echoing.

Jude can feel him. Heart being squeezed by a lethal force that made him fall to his knees and cough out blood. “No… no—LUCY!”

With the speed of a vampire, Jude ran towards the garden, Leo following closely behind. To their horror, Lucien was vomiting blood as he clutched his aching chest. Lucien looked up from his bloody mess and saw Jude, his friend, finally running back to him. But he couldn’t utter a single word—no “hi,” no “hello.” He could only collapse to the ground, where his blood met the grass.

“LUCY!” Jude pulled him off the ground, and the sound of the boy’s name made Redd and Leo rush outside.

“Sh*t!” Leo cursed, seeing the bloody mess on the sacred grass, “What’s going on?!”

Redd’s eyes turned all black as he scanned the convent for anyone that may have done this to Lucien. His vision caught Evie in a fight with Glass, his Restraining uncontrollably bleeding onto the innocent Lucien.

“It’s Evie…” Redd breathed out, “His Restraining is going out of control!”

In a flash, Jude vanished, leaving Redd and Leo to deal with Lucien. Jude doesn’t waste any time and slammed his fists against the locked doors.

“EVIE! You’re killing Lucien, you need to stop!” Jude stepped back and kicked the door near the handles, making the locks snap. Upon entering, he witnessed Evie’s hand being outstretched toward Glass, who sat against the wall as if he was thrown against it. The dark-skinned vampire cannot move from where he stood because of the Restraining, and he can only weakly turn his head towards Jude.

“Run… !” Glass cried, unable to breathe from Evie’s powers, “P-puppy, run!”

“I’ll kill your f*cking b*tch, Glass!” Evie yelled with eyes so red, his tears might turn into blood. “You are NOT breaking up with me!”

“Jude!” Salve fearfully yells, “Don’t get in between them, you know Evie’s capable of killing you twice!”

He’s hurting Glass… and the dark vampire looks at him with a face barely getting any oxygen, yet still trying to save Jude by commanding him to: “R-run… run!”

“Evie, stop this…” the walls are starting to crack, but it’s uncertain if it’s from Glass or Jude’s Sheltering. But Lucien was suffering, and now Glass, who dangerously looks like a vulnerable Salve at the moment. Jude’s eyes turn red as he held his hands out, “EVIE!”

Jude twists his hand and in his anger, caused Evie’s whole body to freeze. With him frozen, Glass can finally breathe, able to hold his own neck because the Restraining is disabled. But Jude wasn’t done, and so was the Restraining…

His eyes turn a deeper red as he imagined Salve in the place of Glass, being suffocated and hurt by the same vampire that killed him. There was murder in his eyes, homicide in his mind. He squeezed the air with his hands and the frozen Evie finally moved only because his heart is crushed inside his chest, until he vomited blood the same way Lucien did.

Lucien. He hurt Lucien, too. Jude watched as Evie’s veins is deprived of his own circulating blood. The hell I’m gonna let you hurt them, Evie.

F*cking die. The ribs started pressing against the lungs, not yet penetrating.

“Jude, stop…” Salve terrifyingly says, hearing the others about to come and witness the newborn about to kill Evie. “JUDE, NO! Don’t be like him, don’t do this! Please! Not for Glass, not for me!”

Salve begged, holding onto Jude’s arm even if he cannot touch him. “Please don’t… don’t let them see you like this. I can’t watch them punish you… don’t make them hurt you!”

Jude’s hand, upon the demand of his late lover, released the air and by extension, Evie’s heart. But it was too late—he had crushed the vampire’s organ, and Evie collapsed unconscious because his heart had stopped pumping.

“Jude?” Both Salve and Glass stared at him in horror, especially when Glass whispered with trembling breaths: “Why… do you have the Restraining, too?”

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