Before Nathaniel was able to witness what would happen next, he was pulled out of the vision by the Temhos, his eyes fixated on the ceiling. He stared at the ever dark ceiling barely forcing his eyes open. The Temhos screamed---RESIST THE TEMTATION, YOU MUST DEFY THEM---THEY ARE THE ENEMY, NATHANIEL!!
"I am resisting you bitch! You are not healing me fast enough!"
THE LIGHT…DESTROY THE ARTIFACT---GET AWAY FROM IT!!!!!!!---screamed the Temhos in his head in a witch-like voice but before he was able to make a move, the gates were opened once again and with it a beam of light entered the room. He turned his face away from it, the light was almost blinding.
"My, you resisted the pain…you are more messed up than I thought, Nathaniel!" Said Guthullu with a sinister smile, he was instantly faced with Nathaniel's eyes turning red and growing at him before he continued---"Well, as much as I wish I could keep you here for days and days without end, unfortunately our time is short. I have to release you from your torment and continue the trainings…the tortures shall continue some other time! I am sure of it!" he said with an evil laughter, ordering the guards to release them from their shackles.
He grabbed the artifact from the pedestal and continued to hold it high in his hand wondering if Nathaniel was going to make a move at them but to his surprise, he simply stood in his place, growling at him like a wounded lion.
Guthullu stood still, unmoved by his reaction, his hands on his hips, "That went smooth…. let's hope the rest of the day continues just like this!" he muttered, strolling away; some guards began to help Nathaniel, but he pushed them away, growling at them like a lion and trudged on his own while he gazed upon Daniel, his brother was being carried by guards out of the chambers.
As they all strolled out from the darkness and into the light, they were given a vial, "Here, drink this! It's saint's blood, it will heal you quicker. We have lost enough time and now we need to begin you daily trainings immediately!" Daniela said helping them drink the whole vial. After Daniel barely took the blood down his throat, he slowly gained some of his strength and got on his feet, pushing away the guards.
At the end of the hall, stood Alonso who slowly began to approach them, "Children, this is the saint's blood. It has served the past harbingers and it shall aid you too in your time of need when you are severely wounded, and the Temhos is unable to heal you fast enough."
"Awesome, I know it's blood but, there is something about it that ain't normal. What's in it, Father?" Nathaniel said holding on to the vial.
"The ingredient will be discussed some other time. All you need to know is that it is a saint's blood." Said Alonso with a smile looking at them for a reaction but got none hence he continued.
He held the palm of his hands, pointing them to walk with him, "I hope there are no hard feelings between us children! Because you had to be punished. Not only for stealing from the covenant but disrespecting your masters. The good news is that we have already recovered the book!"-----he stared at Nathaniel's face for a reaction but got nothing and continued, "If he was to hand it over to the heretics, then they would have deciphered the book and destroyed the foundations of not only us but the three orders and with it the world would fall in to erm-destruction."
"Whatever you say father; I am really holding myself back and resisting the temptation of ripping Guthullu's heart out right now!! So, no hard feelings friend" grumbled Nathaniel.
Pfff, said Guthullu, "Could not care less about your pitiful words, boy! We shall continue your training as planned with Miss Daniela as the head of the program." they walked in yet another hall with a stimulation machine; where new, unfamiliar trainers were standing with a wide grin nervously awaiting her to join their side.
Guthullu and Alonso left the halls once more, leaving the trainers to do the rest of the work, "The training today includes the testing of your resilience of resisting your urges. From the killing of innocent subjects; to partially sinful ones who were not meant to be killed ." she said patiently and thus; without any hard feelings or anger, the brothers exchanged a glance and continued to work.
After several hours, Guthullu walked in with four women barging into the room like he was about to start a war, "Ok, chuckle heads! These ladies are loyal servants of the covenant who have volunteered to be the test subjects for this resilience exam. I know Nathaniel has a harder time resisting the temptation of tearing through their necks but that does not mean that you Daniel are going to have it easier either." He paused and looked at the ladies briefly and continued, "You see; some of these ladies have to do certain Chores for the covenant that are deemed to be….unholy for some. Are you up for the challenge?" He said with a wicked smile.
"Oh, I don't feel insulted or inferior at all, thanks for the roast Guthullu; that was exactly what we were missing this morning after the torturing session…a tiny pinch of your weird humor. Either way, I shall accept this challenge and pass it with ease!" he said arrogantly, his eyes turned red for a nanosecond.
"Unfortunately, I don't have my brother's ultimate confidence or rather say arrogance however, I too accept this challenge."
"Oh bite me!"
They began the challenge with ease at first yet, over time, the more they resisted the temptations of killing and hurting the subjects, the urges got worse. Every time they caught up to them, the temptation got stronger and stronger.
Guthullu grabbed one of the ladies by her neck and with her back towards him, pulled her and said in a seductive tone of voice "Just look at her beautiful, lovely, soft neck…the veins around it pumping fresh blood for you to feed and gain more strength. Come on Daniel, I can see it in your eyes that you are having a hard time resisting it! Just a taste, nothing bad can happen!" Daniel's eyes turned red and the veins beneath his eyes turned black while his fangs grew large.
"Why is the resistance getting harder?? What is the point of this challenge if we are not getting stronger at resisting it?" he yelled disturbingly.
"Now run, little girl, run before the big bad wolves get you." he let the woman go and she ran as fast as she could towards the exit. He turned to Daniel who was seconds from running behind her, "That is the point Danny; the more you resist, the worse it gets; the point here is very clear and that is to continue resisting while your inner-self gets weaker and weaker because that is not your inner-self, that is the Temhos trying to come out and overwhelm you. Do not worry about giving in, these ladies are fully protected from your powers and no real harm shall come to pass as I got an artifact of the light ready in my pocket…in case things go south." He said confidently pointing to the artifact well hidden in his sleeves.
Daniel's heart raised like clockwork, his breathing rate became heavier and heavier with only one thought in mind, to kill and drink this sinful woman's blood. He could no longer resist the temptation and so he look to the halls and located her with ease through the walls. She had almost reached the exit but with a blink of an eye, with the essence of the Temhos surrounding him. He ran towards her and grabbed her by her neck in an attempt to bite her and drink her blood, they all ran towards him and watch him struggle, "He is going to kill her, do something Master!"
"Silence! This is all part of the plan!" yelled Guthullu confidently.
Daniel was about to bite her neck his fangs caressing her soft skin, but he resisted the temptation. He fully stopped and let go of her. He grinded his teeth, his hands clutched, "The beast is clearly frustrated, but you managed to pass the test. Congratulations, Daniel! For a moment there I thought I had to use something more powerful than the artifact of light at my disposal to stop you and save our member."
Nathaniel crossed his arms and scoffed, "Nice save, brother! Hardly a challenge if you ask me, not that I would have cared if I accidently killed one of them ladies, they signed up for it, it's your lost not mine." He said arrogantly while he looked at them with a smirk.
"What do you mean by that Guthullu? What else do you have to control us other than your artifacts??" asked a curious Daniel who strolled back towards them.
"Do not worry, kid! Apart from the artifacts of the light, the Creator did leave a few loopholes for us to take care of you as well. One of them, for instance is fire. If we were to unleash the flames of punishment upon you, both you and your brother would burn like any normal human. The Temhos is not fireproof! As fire tends to brighten up the place it is ignited at." Guthullu said with a wink, a bit of sarcasm in his voice.
"What?!? What do you mean we are not fireproof; there were no mentions of such weaknesses in the books I borrowed." Protested Nathaniel in fury as he took a few angry steps towards Guthullu.
Guthullu ignored his protest and stood still, "Well; I'm pretty sure you have heard many tails about the vampire myth, but have you ever stopped and wondered about the weaknesses a vampire? Garlic, sunlight and holy water? Am I missing any?"
Nathaniel leaned against the wall, crossed his arms again and said with his eyes narrowed at Guthullu, "Sureeee, we have all done our homework on vampires when we were kids." He rolled his eyes, grabbed a chair and took a seat, "I got a feeling this is going to take a while!"
"Very well, because some of them are true. You see, when the Magi captured and killed the supposed last host Anatu; he killed him with fire however, what the crowd saw and thought to be true was that Anatu had finally come out of the dark and burst into flames because of the sunlight for he could only use his powers during nighttime. And to be fair, he was almost always absent during daylight or at least that's what the tablets left by the magi say."
"Whoa whoa whoa, what do you mean the supposed last host? There were more after him?" said a confused Daniel, his gaze meeting his brothers briefly who was not shocked or surprised and whispered with a shrug, "Told you!"
"You have surely heard about the tails of a count Dracula I assume."
"I am not sure about Daniel but I sure as hell have heard of him and his epic tails of conquest and the sick, delicious ways he tortured his enemies. He was in truth, Vlad the III prince of Wallachia, better known as Vlad Dracule or Dracula" Replied Nathaniel with his eyes so fixated on Guthullu, one of his legs began to involuntarily shake impatiently. "Boy, he got hooked rather fast." Whispered Daniel.
Guthullu pointed his hands for them to leave and go to a better place to continue their discussion, they all passed by the many rooms, walked inside one and sat at a round table.
"Well, Dracula was the actual last harbinger of the Temhos. He is the main reason why they say vampires hate holy water, crosses or---garlic, that last one always gets me poor fella couldn't enjoy a nice garlic bread…" he thought to himself rubbing his chin.
"Can you pleaseeee continue! This is finally getting interesting!" Nathaniel said with a clenched jaw.
"But of course, where was I---oh yeah."---he took out a book from his brief case, opened it gently and continued, "Out numbered by the invading Ottoman Turks who were set to destroy his kingdom and kill and enslave his people, Vlad did the unthinkable, he reached out to our order and begged us to make him a harbinger of the Temhos to not only save Walachia but the whole Europe for the Ottomans would destroy and pillage everything on their path, leaving nothing but mass destruction wherever they went." He turned the page. Nathaniel looked from afar, it contained some decent drawings of Vlad's transformation and his battle with the Ottomans, "A typical history book will tell you that Vlad was ultimately defeated and his head delivered to the Sultan, Mehmed II but sadly he lived on." He sighed and turned the page again, "Fleeing from Vlad's lustful brother Radu, his wife hopelessly went atop the castle's tower. In an attempt to grab her, Radu accidentally pushed her off the tower, or at least that's what he said to the Sultan. The poor woman's body fell into the river Arges never to be found again. His ultimate defeat did not crush him as much as his wife's death. For a short while, our order gave him safe passage to escape the Ottomans and live on, but Vlad was continuously tormented by his failure of protecting his people and even worst the grief of his wife. The memories would not leave him rest thus; in an angry attempt to go against the Creator and his creation, he forsook Christianity and with that, cursed himself for eternity…or at least for a few years. The cross, the holy water and silver, which was the main material of treasures owned by the church became his main weaknesses."
"So, if his head was never actually severed then does he live on?!" Said Daniel his eyes narrowed, leaning onto Guthullu, fully focused on the story.
He laughed at his comments as if he was laughing at a naïve child's remarks of something very basic, "No, you got me there for a second Danny boy. The three orders could not allow him to roam the world free and kill innocent people just because he was tormented. He had to be dealt with and so, with the help of the locals, the hunters from the Guild of the Scarlett sun finally caught up to him and hunted him down, burying his corpse beyond anyone's reach.
"Well, that sure as hell explains the weird vision, I had on those cursed chambers…so the mystery figure was Vlad the Impaler…" Nathaniel muttered to himself, his eyes fixated on the last painting of Vlad being buried by the Guild hunters.
"Ok, that somewhat explains the majority of the weaknesses of a vampire but what about garlic; because boy I sure still love the garlic bread my girl Lea bakes for me!"
"That is also because of count Dracula. He really hated garlic or human food for that matter, he loved drinking human blood so much that he became obsessed with it."
"Why did they buried his body beyond anyone's reach, is there a way to wake him up or something among those lines?" Nathaniel said curiously with his typical cocky tone.
Alonso barged in the room and interrupted his question, "And that my children, brings us to the amazing topic of the Guild of the Scarlett sun. We will explain the rest after your trainings!" He said nervously with his usual, thick Italian accent.
"In comes the fun killer….fine….I guess as long as I can resist the temptation of killing Guthullu, I can also resist my curiosity regarding this guild of yours. However, this does not explain why he or the previous harbingers became so obsessed with human blood….can a normal human survive on a blood diet or is this just another one of Temhos' obsessive traits?!" Nathaniel said, slowly getting up from his seat, ready to continue his training.
Guthullu stroked his chin briefly and then calmly said, "A normal human being cannot fully survive on blood alone however, it is possible, with practice, to drink and survive on blood for a short period of time. Such was the case of Genghis Khan's messengers who survived on horse blood, when they had to deliver an important message through his vast empire. Despite that, another one of Temhos' marvelous trait is its addiction to human blood. If you start a blood diet then, over time, it will get worse and worse to a point of no return and so the hunters and mages of the Guild of the Scarlett sun shall come for you!" he said trying to intimidate them like the end of a spooky story.
"Wait, so mages are also a thing? Can they use real magic or something?" said Daniel curiously.
"Yes, and you have met one already. My apprentice Diana! They are quite resilient beings. Now off with you two, we have revealed and fed your curiosity enough for now!" Guthullu said handing them to Daniela.
******
Nathaniel sat on the floor covered in sweat, wheezing and gasping for air. They were both exhausted from the training, "Isn't this thing supposed to regenerate energy faster or something?!" said Daniel sitting down far away from his brother, almost out of breath.
"That's the whole purpose of this training. We are trying to force it to make you stronger and regenerate energy faster. Once step at a time Daniel!" she said with a wide smile across her face, papers in hand. She strolled out of the room and in an instance Alonso and Guthullu walked in as replacements, "You know I kinda like her a lot better." Nathaniel muttered annoyingly.
"Well, now! It is finally time for the next part of our lessons. So, shall we?" Guthullu clapped his hands while he and Alonso led the brothers into a room with a huge board and a beamer. He nervously looked through the papers he had in hand, searching for something like his life depended on it while Alonso could not stop fidgeting. Curios yet alarmed at the level of the nervousness of their mentors; the two sat down and impatiently awaited their lesson.
Guthullu rose from his seat, cleared his throat, fixed his collar nervously and said loudly, "In the beginning God created the two kingdoms of Angels and demons, beings of pure goodness, and pure evil respectively. But there had to be balance in a universe purely based on black and white. Good and evil is utterly predictable; hence, God created a third kingdom, the kingdom of man. Man was the envy of the other two kingdoms with their sacred laws for he was free to roam the world and actually choose to do good or bad and for the most part, man chose the latter. Nevertheless, there had to be some kind of force; some deity which could police mankind and keep the balance in-check. Too much evil and the demons could win the eternal war and corrupt the whole creation; thus, the Temhos was created from the essence of evil, chaos and destruction. To bring about peace and prosperity to man's world." Ushered Guthullu with a serious look.
Alonso rose from his seat, he was wearing a casual wear which was not seen very often and uncomfortably opened his mouth for the next part, "This of course means that because of its evil nature; a good man should become the harbinger and control its negative nature and dangerous needs. But the Creator knew that man is a very weak creature and could give in to its whispers no matter how strong a harbinger could be; and so the Guild of the Scarlett sun was formed to always keep the Temhos and its host under control and if needed, to imprison the deity and obliterate its harbinger."
"Alright that explains quite a bit but, what about the last guy?! Why was he captured and imprisoned? Wasn't he a chosen one?" said Nathaniel his eyes narrowed at Alonso, fully focused on his answer.
"That poor chap was the scapegoat of the civil war between the three orders. Long story short, Xerxes the honorable was the real harbinger of Temhos. He was not only honorable but one of the best if not the best harbinger in this deity's history." Guthullu stopped and sighed.
"So what? What happened?" Daniel said impatiently.
"He was killed----murdered by the third order,"
"The evil ones." Said Nathaniel, a serious expression on his face.
"Yes, and through the scepter the Temhos was transferred into Anatu, making him the next harbinger. And of course, we all know how it all ended."
"No we don't!" said Daniel who was instantly faced with a exasperated huff from his brother who tried to control his frustration and said, "The third order was almost annihilated, the last harbinger killed by the grand Magi of the guild and the Temhos imprisoned for many, many centuries. You haven't listened to my tails of the Temhos, not even once, have you brother?!"
"And so that is how the last harbinger was killed and the Temhos imprisoned in ancient Mesopotamia." Said Alonso.
"So how come and why on earth would the covenant and the guild of the whatever release the Temhos again and hand it over to a chuckle head such as Vlad the Impaler. Why do we have to learn about this Guild anyways?! It is not like they are around or anything?!" said Nathaniel carelessly. Alonso and Guthullu exchanged a concerning look, "Awesome; so, they are around! When do we get to fight them? I like me a good fight!" he stood up an threw a few air punches, pretending to box.
"This is serious business boy! They can be dangerous people with the powers and tools to control, submit or even kill the harbinger. We have not been on the best of terms with their order for quite some time, however, their current leader is a woman of honor and virtue; we have already spoken to her about your trainings coming to an end soon and she has already sent invitations to a feast in your honor to meet them." Guthullu said the seriousness on his face unwavering.
Nathaniel scoffed and stayed silent. He exchanged a look with his brother who stood and examined the painting on the presentation, "If they are so friendly, why are the two of you so worried then? It is going to be fine, right?" asked Daniel curiously staring at his mentors.
Guthullu sighed looked to the floor, shook his head and said, "Everything will be fine until Nathaniel inevitably kills an innocent person and or the leadership changes; and believe me when I tell you that some of the people in their ranks are fanatics of their guild and will do anything to keep the Temhos imprisoned. They would gladly kill both of you in a snatch!"
"Goodness, if only I knew being the harbinger was going to come with so many responsibilities, I would have probably thought about it twice----Said Nathaniel while everyone in the room stared at him for a while----he burst into laughter, "Kidding! I'm literally the most powerful human being on earth. I say bring it on! The harder the challenge, the more joyful the ride!" he clutched his hand and stared at the blurry symbol of the guild, one could only see the Scarlett sun in the background clearly, the rest was rather very blurry.
"So typical of you to say that brother, no matter how hard the challenge you always find a way to make fun of it!" Daniel said shaking his head.
"That is rich coming from you. You are just a couple clowns short for a circus, brother!" he growled; his eyes turned red for a slight second.
They began arguing, Alonso tried to stop them, but their argument kept heating up, "Boys!! Boys!" yelled Guthullu to no avail, their eyes turned red, and their fangs came out ready to fight. Without an alternative, Guthullu took out a silver cross from his blazer and held it high, "I believe, we still have to hold on to these methods to hold you accountable for your actions since you keep acting like kindergarteners!" at which moment, Daniela stride into the room, "Fantastic, your favorite instructor is here----Daniela, can you be a sweety and guide these two chuckle heads to their trailers?"
He hid the cross in his blazer and Nathaniel instantly got up and protested, "Trailers?! What?!? I need to go back home. I don't want to sleep in a god damn trailer!"
Guthullu scoffed, "Your call remember? You stole that damn book and handed it over to our enemies! This is just part of your punishment and a safe way for us to keep an eye on you! Or shall we continue the torture?" he pointed to the cross well-hidden in his sleeves. "And children, your phones please! We will be collecting every electronic thing you have with you. For safety purposes!" Said Alonso as Daniela collected their phones in a tray. Nathaniel growled but did nothing and followed her to the trailers.
He put his head on the pillow, his eyes heavier with each breath taken, "Oh boy, it's happening again isn't it? Either I am going to travel to the past or her holiness is summoning me to the forbidden forests—" Nathaniel yawned and instantly fell into a deep slumber.
Strolling inside Andrea's house everyone turned around and began whispering "Here come the King brothers!" They watched in awe how the brothers had finally put aside their differences and were hanging out again strolling around almost in a sync. The party was decent, surprisingly almost everyone showed up in time mainly because Andrea had a room for all the drug junkies to do their nasty business in, so no one had to do it at home or at a park.
Haze from the cigarette smoke and weed dominated the kitchen and the living room quite a bit but the brothers and their friends managed to find the VIP section which was filled with the popular kids, and they would not allow anyone else except the host inside. The room was Andrea's father's study room beautifully decorated with exotic books, a very unique, expensive chess board, and a nice set of armchairs, "And now you know why we only allow the most popular kids inside, in my world they are the most responsible who wouldn't dare to break anything, else Andrea's dad would hang him from his butt." Chuckled Daniel, holding the door for his brother and his friends, "Hope you two act responsibly!" he whispered strictly in their ears, reluctantly letting them in.
Seeing Nathaniel stroll in, everyone got a bit nervous, but they were quickly assured by Daniel in the most subtle way that everything was going to be alright. The room grew icy and cold, everyone went silent in his presence. Breaking the ice Daniel curiously asked, "So, I heard Michael stole some cognac from his dad's expensive collection…let's see that baby, now shall we?" said Daniel excitingly as he looked at his brother to cheer him up with some expensive booze. That was the ice breaker as everyone slowly began to talk again.
His friends turned to Micheal who was holding a laughter of joy and pulled out the bottle from underneath his chair, "Careful there, this one is a very potent one…I am pretty sure Nathaniel can handle it but not too much about you, Daniel. No offence Nate."
Nathaniel kept his arms closed, "None taken; I guess it is one of the few things at this point that I can be proud of in my life…taking a shit ton of booze without blacking out or puking….to be fair I am not even ashamed of it anymore." He took the bottle in hand, studying its ingredients with a wicked smile.
Watching the awkward reaction from the crowd present Daniel quickly filled up the gap, "Relax brother! I know you can handle that bottle and more but where is the fun in going down a slide so quickly; piano, piano fra! That's how one has fun."
Daniel pop opened the bottle and began pouring some in fancy glasses. Peter was so happy to have been able to join in and have some expensive booze with the cool kids that he lost all sense of his usual shyness and became bold.
"I think all those books I read about charisma and self-esteem are finally working….that or the booze is very strong. Either way, I am going to test my luck and start talking to Anja. She is so very hot and intimidating but I am tired of waiting for so long. It is now or never!" Peter whispered in Nathaniel's ears but got no reaction. Regardless he turned to Anja, who was sitting right next to him, and started with a small, friendly chat, putting away all his anxiety and shyness appearing a natural speaker to her.
"Ah, Jesus…what is he on?!" Whispered Daniel trying his best to hide his discomfort of watching Peter talk to one of his friends, "Oh Dany, you know damn well I don't hang out with hard-core drug users….he began reading some of the books I recommended to an obsessive level. Up until now the poor loser has only had his first kiss…and uh look it seems there is magic sparkling between the two of them---I'll give it 2 months before she dumps his ass!"
"Always the supportive friend, Nate!" Daniel whispered rolling his eyes.
"What?!? I am just being realistic. That's what you have been preaching the whole evening, remember?"
The hours passed joyfully, there was no sign of Pia. Everyone was slowly getting drunk on some of the finest whiskey and champagne bottles available. Nathaniel seemed more relaxed and in control as he sparked interesting conversations with the people in the room. To their surprise, he was not some weirdo with severe drinking problems but a well-educated boy who obsessively researched psychology, history as well a bit of philosophy.
He had long conversation with some of the boys and girls as they finished up the expensive whiskey bottles and decided to move into the main party, taking place in the living room and the kitchen.
"Man, Andrea's house is huge. It is just a couple of square meters from a mansion if you ask me. What the heck do his parents do for a living again?" Nathaniel said out loud in his brother's ears through the loud music, "His dad is a diplomat and his mom inherited and runs her family business…I kind of forgot which type since Andrea is quite a boring person"
"Oh, careful Danny, your evil side is showing, pushing away the nice you to the side at last!"
"shut up Nate you are the Devil incarnate!"
Nathaniel laughed, "Touché brother! I take that delight compliment to my heart."
As they strolled around the living room, everyone kept staring at Nathaniel, hanging out with the popular kids; he was no longer viewed as the super dark emo boy, at least not entirely. They were followed by Peter who was still talking to Anja and David who was happy to find a can of beer in the kitchen.
He took a sip from his beer and noticed some girls at the corner constantly giving Nathaniel the eye and talking about him. "See! You already have admirers" he said to Nathaniel trying to cheer him up.
"Oh, big deal, those girls had had a crush on me since freshman year." Daniel noticed them and join in the conversation, Nathaniel turned to him, "You know, since growing up with our cold-hearted dear mother was such a nightmare, I have become a sucker for pain. It is like my body is filled with adrenaline whenever I have to chase a girl who doesn't want me back and deep down, I think my heart gets excited every time I think about Pia and her probably finally leaving me tonight…I enjoy the pain Humph she has damaged me beyond repair, what shall become of me?" he said in a sarcastic tone, watching the girls admire him and his style with a smirk.
"Please tell me this is the drunk effect and that you are not really too excited about the breakup like a sicko?!"
"Meh, a little bit of both; I think she finally manage to break me for good. It was inevitable, it was gonna happen to me one way or another by her or some other chick somewhere along the way so better now than later." He said in a state of despair trying his best to hide the sad expression while he picked up two beers from the fridge and handed one to Daniel.
Nathaniel moved away into a small group of people and began a conversation with them, fully suppressing his tormented emotions and playing it cool. He was so confident and careless he instantly became the center of attention, David approached Daniel "Man, Nate looks great. I can't believe he is taking it so well, never thought of him as a superhuman who could let go so easily!"
Daniel gave him an annoyed look and stared back at his brother, his arms crossed, "Oh please, I wish that was even partially true. He is really good at hiding his emotions. Right now he is going through such a deep emotional pain that he covers it with a smirk and the attention he is receiving from the fairer sex. I have not seen him suffer like this since early childhood….it is the calm before the storm, my friend." He patted Peter in the back, "I pray that Pia doesn't show up tonight else all hell will break loose." he said uneasily doing the cross.
David looked at the floor and sighed heavily, "I should have known. I will talk to Peter and get ready for the drama ahead since he is being so busy with Anja."
"It is alright; leave him alone maybe something good will come out of this party after all and just maybe he'll have a snowball chance in hell with her. I can handle my brother." In the midst of the dream, Nathaniel's alarm went off, it was 6 a.m. and he had to get up.