Aquilla Clairmont
Bar Haven (2nd Floor): Orphanage
Pounding.
The last thing I remembered is that Phoenix exiting the room that night. The look on his face was beautiful, he was blushing, but at the same time, his eyes hold no emotions.
Pounding again.
"You better not show your face to me again..." He said to me. "I'm going to accomplish this mission without you..."
I cried for minutes but after wasting my tears, my attention was pulled away when I said to myself that I have to let the girl know about General Dèmise' plan to ruin the two of them.
They didn't answer the first call.
But I was determined.
"Hello," I heard Raine's voice on the other line.
"Aksenov. Listen to me very carefully..." I answered.
I didn't tell her who was the traitor, I simply acknowledged her about the game Saccharide's father was going to play.
It's foolish of me not to say who was the imposter but I know that they won't believe me even if I tell them the truth. I'm just going to leave them that warning.
I hear pounding.
"F- Fuck."
Turning to my side, I saw a boy sitting on a desk. It's where the pounding was coming from. When my vision adjusted, I realized that I was lying on the wooden floor. I used my right arm to heave me up from the ground, but the throbbing pain on my head struck that I have to hold it with my two hands before it stopped.
The pounding continued as I got up from the floor. I looked around the space that I was in. All I see are paintings, portraits, and drawings covering the entire ceiling and the four walls of the room. The left side of the room has no windows just a door, the right side has two windows and a rusty-looking door.
'Who is this fucker?!' I thought and patted my pocket before grinning when I felt my crystal dagger inside.
I walked with the lightness of my feet at the limit. Feeling the hard edges of my dagger on my hands, I got ready to attack the boy then suddenly he spoke, "Awake?"
Frozen on my spot, I stared at the plastic ruler I was holding against Blood Shed's throat. My crystal dagger was on the hands of the white-haired shit in front of me and he was using it to crush charcoal in a pestle.
"You piece of white shit!" I screamed and retrieved my dirty, once transparent crystal baby.
"Just rinse it with water then you'll be fine..." he laughed and continued to pound the charcoal with his palm.
I rolled my eyes and let him use my dagger for crushing before saying, "Here! Anyway, I have no use for it anymore."
So he was using it to draw, I'm sure I'm the only one to know this one thing about Blood Shed. He was talkative, yet very mysterious. We know little about his life outside the gang. Even Target, his closest friend doesn't know where the hell this kid came from.
But Target is gone. None of us cared. None of us even knows the reason for his disappearance.
My vision blurred a little more so, I was about to sit on his bed when he shouted at me, "Don't you dare make contact with my sheets! I made you sleep on the floor for a reason!"
"Geez, calm down..." I sighed and sat on the floor again, leaning my back against one of his drawers.
"Whe—" I was about to ask when he interrupted me.
"Obviously, my room..."
Okay, let's try again.
"Wha—"
He turned his chair to face me before answering in a straight, no period sentence, "Before you could react, this is the orphanage upstairs. My mom told me to let you stay here because you're fell asleep drunk on her couch."
I blinked twice before holding my thumbs up to signal that I finally got ahold of what's happening.
"And that's why you need to pay extra..." He added in which I sighed and pulled out a couple of Euros to put on top of his bed.
"You can go now, Nightmare," he bluntly said before pointing to the right side of the room where a rusty looking door was located.
"I'm not Nightmare anymore. You can call me by my real name," I muttered, still leaning my back against the drawer and not having the energy to go.
"Wait," He chuckled and asked me after getting up from his seat to sit in his bed, "Did Saccharide ever tell you that he said the same thing to me last night?"
Saccharide, huh?
"I'm not going to ask 'what happened?' because that's cli—"
It's my time to get revenge so, I interrupted him, "He doesn't want me anymore."
"—chè," he continued and grunted before lying on his back on the bed with his legs hanging on the edge.
"Why do answers come flying straight to me when I don't need them?" asked Blood Shed.
Still looking down, I muttered and vent my sorrow on him. "I should have let us stay that way..." Not caring if he goes ballistic over this, I smiled and looked over at his funny reaction.
"Again, no one cares!" He growled.
"I really love—" I stopped.
He got up and stared at me like a hawk before saying, "If that's a boy... I'm going to puke."
"Phoenix—" I finished my sentence.
"Gross...!" He sprang up from the bed and walked towards his table again.
Grinning to myself when I finally pissed out the Homophobic male, I stood up and approached him on his table before looking at the guidelines he is sketching on the paper.
"Heh," I stated again to piss him off. "At least I got him to touch me before I go." — But he kept going on with the face sketch.
The first part of his sketch was clear but when he drew the facial features, it looks dismantles. The right part of the face looks like a robot's jaw detached from its upper part. I don't know much about art, but it's peculiar from a normal portrait.
There is nothing normal about him so, what do I expect from his works.
"I didn't know you can draw. All I know is you're secretly a vampire who doesn't say a single bad word." I teased and continued watching his hand skillfully sketching someone's face.
"Now you know that I'm secretly a vampire who can draw and doesn't say a single bad word," he bluntly repeated most of my sentence.
"You know that all of us have been dying to hear you curse," I said, in which he stopped drawing and stood up to grab something from his drawer.
"Oh yeah... One of you died because of that," my companion chuckled before pulling out a medium-sized glass container of dark red paint from his drawer.
Yeah... One of us.
My eyes were startled by its appearance because it looks a lot more like blood than paint. I'm not certain, knowing the boy's obsession with blood, there's a big chance that it's from somebody or—
His victims.
He came back to sit in his chair before opening the jar, the iron smelled odor consumed the room and my suspicion has been confirmed within the first 10 seconds. I looked closely, only to witness him mixing little drops of the crimson liquid to the crushed charcoal.
"Is that blood?" I asked before dipping my finger in the container. Bringing it up to my nose to smell was a choice that I instantly regretted; the red liquid coated not only my fingers, but the strong stench entered my nose.
It's so strong that I can taste it...
I was about to wipe it off on my shirt when Blood Shed smirked, grabbed my wrist before sucking on my fingers.
"Obviously..." he stated after leaving his fingers clean, making a small pop when he removed his mouth.
"Shit! You're really sick aren't you?" I exclaimed while he just smirked.
"I'm not gay so, don't get your hopes up..." He proudly stated before turning back on mixing his "DIY" painting.
Profusely, I wiped my wet fingers and grunted, "Where did you even get that blood from?" I asked, still wiping my fingers on my shirt.
Before answering, he turned to me and looked me in the eye, "My last gay victim..."
I should have kept the dagger when I had the chance because it was tightly wrapped in his hands. He stood up and approached me with my crystal dagger twirling between his fingers.
"Are we going to do this cliché—ish or the real deal?" he questioned me, but I didn't answer.
Taking a step back, I was ready to run to the exit, but I anticipated that the door was locked so, I just made myself ready to defend with my own hands.
"Alright—" he chuckled, "No talking then, huh?"
He was in a charging chance with my dagger in front of him. I was ready to block and dodge him, but he suddenly dropped his weapon on the floor and sat back on his chair again.
With one swift motion, I ran towards the fallen dagger and grasped it in my hands.
"Thank me because I don't want to taste your booze-filled blood," said Blood Shed and grabbed a paintbrush from a cup between the columns of aligned books.
He started sketching a little bit more before dipping the tip of the brush in the mixture of blood and charcoal. As soon as he started painting the portrait, my eyes widened in realization and my breathing became ragged.
"Every victim has a unique color of blood."
He started painting the hair of the person. The color started with the pure charcoal but then he covered large areas of it with the blood charcoal mixture.
Blood soaked dark hair...
"But the taste never goes beyond that blandness..."
The right side of the boy's face was completely wounded, his jaw was detached and a few veins tried their best to place the jaw intact. His other eye was missing, the socket was empty but I can clearly see the bloody flesh inside.
Dilated dark green eyes...
"Their faces when they get hurt or killed don't differ with each other either..." muttered Blood Shed, "But I draw them anyway."
Immediately, I held my dagger against his neck; I added pressure just enough to draw blood. The white-haired boy stay composed and didn't budge nor flinch; he just kept completing the gruesome image.
"Poor Walter. He didn't get the person he loves before he disappeared," I commented and watched as he painted the blood drips on his lips.
"Aquilla, If you're ready to go..." He said and looked up to me, bending his head backward. The wound on his neck stretched wider because of his action.
"That's the exit," he pointed at the rusty metal door on the right side.
He watched my moves when I stepped away from his spot and walked towards the door. I stuffed my dagger inside the pocket of my pants before opening the rusty compartment.
The door was heavy so, I had to use all my might to push it open. I expected the blinding light of the sun, but I was greeted by a decapitated head hanging inches away from my face.
"What the f- fuck?!" I screamed, "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?!"
Gagging at the nauseous feeling, I emptied my stomach. I fell to my knees and felt the blood on the floor being absorbed by my pants. Before I could even make a move, a hard metal was put against the back of my head.
I couldn't see what it was, but Id did not dare to move and turn my head.
"I never thought I would use Walter's gun on someone again..." I heard the bastard's voice.
"Blood Shed," I said, "You're the reason why Target disappeared."
"Better him than the real imposter, isn't that right?" he chuckled and made me stand up. My eyes were down to avoid the dead eyes of Target hanging from the ceiling.
"You're insane!" I exclaimed and turned around to attack him.
With a quick kick, I managed to kick the weapon out of his hand. My eyes widened when the plastic ruler made contact with the blood flooded floor. Blood Shed chuckled in victory before pulling out the real gun from his back and pointing it directly at my head.
I gritted my teeth and took a step back. The floor was incredibly slippery so, when Blood Shed hooked his foot around my right leg, my balance fell short and my behind splashed the mixture of blood, pee, and vomit.
"I'm right... You're Saccharide's spy..." I whispered and tried not to puke again.
"Why? You'll tell Phoenix?" Blood Shed asked. His voice sounded like he was hypnotizing me; it was the same voice that lured Target into his doom.
"I don't intend to show my face to him again..." I answered and tried to get on his good side. "And I'm done ruining the unbreakable bond of two lovers."
My voice cracked when Blood Shed pulled the rope holding up Target's head on the ceiling. It dropped on my lap and I instantly threw it away from me.
"Target's dead. The imposter has been killed by you," I screamed at him, still hoping that I'd get to his good side. I attempted to grab my dagger inside my pocket, but I felt nothing when I patted both sides.
Shit! He got mi amor!
"See? You're still fooling me..." He smiled innocently before sitting on the floor with me. "You just used Target to make us believe that the imposter has been removed from the context."
"Who is it?" he asked right away and cock the gun, aiming for my head.
"You knew Target was not the imposter from the start," I did not answer him, but I threw another question at him.
"—Why did you kill him?"
His smile turned into a frown before splashing some blood onto my face. Laughter filled the darkroom; I listened to his laugh but kept my eyes on the gun that he put on the floor unguarded. I took no chance wasted when he lay on his back because of too much laughing.
I thought he was in vain when I successfully got the gun from his side using my feet; the liquid made it easier to slide across. Straddling him was easy because he did not fight back, he did nothing to stop me point the gun at his head but continued to laugh hysterically.
"You're done! You son of a bitch! Wha—"
Click!
His laugh became louder, "Oh my! You also know that my mother is a bitch! Saccharide must have been your soul mate!"
—while my push on the trigger became rapidly faster and harder.
It wasn't working...
Click!
There's no bullet...
I dropped the empty gun when I felt something pierce my thighs; I looked and saw my crystal dagger digging deep into my flesh. My bone cracked when Blood Shed forced the hard crystal more.
"You overrated my character and abilities so much, Nightmare" he winked at me and pushed me off his body.
I wanted to scream in pain, but the smell and the humid atmosphere of the room made me dizzy and almost like hyperventilating. The room has windows, but the dust explains that they weren't up for use for a very long time.
"At first, I was confident that Walter was the imposter, but when he disappeared no one seems to be bothered." He stated and helped sit up. "And that person who always calls Phoenix... That person was the real imposter."
He leaned my back against the wall parallel to the door before I started talking, "The night when we found Raine at the cemetery. It would be a lot easier for you if you joined us to meet the so-called impostor..."
"Yeah," he answered, beaming me his usual smile.
I closed my eyes and exhaled, "You didn't go..."
"I work with fun." He chuckled and scooped a little blood from my thigh wound.
My teeth chomped down on my lower lip when he inserted his fingers into my wound and decided to find out how deep it is. He pulled it out and it was time for me to relax the tension.
"Finding the imposter with your help is like making Target dig his own grave at the cemetery." he continued again.
"He loved you." I simply said.
He answered after licking my blood off his fingers; his face showed that he was not happy with the taste, "I'm not here to love." he pouted, "Sad for his part, though."
"I ask again." He insisted, "Who's the impostor?"
'Imposter? Is this boy playing with me? Or he's doing this for the sake of conversation and thrill of making me feel the roller coaster ride?' I thought before turning to him.
"Don't fuck with me, little boy..." I muttered under my breath, feeling a little light-headed.
The blood was leaving my body at a fast pace so, I better deal with this boy fast, "You work with fun? You already know the impostor. That's why you didn't come with us that night."
Blood Shed stared at me for a minute or two before standing up and tossing my dagger back at me again, "You're no fun..."
The little light that seeped out from the door got less and less visible as he closed the door after giving one last look.
"You're no fun at all, Aquilla Clairmont."
Phoenix. Be careful...