“Excuse me!” Hux waves his hand erratically in the air, capturing the attention of a heavily-tattooed, muscular human. The man saunters forward with his hands in his pockets and a curious expression on his face. “Do you, my new human friend, require easing into?”
Jesus, no.
“Excuse me?” The man quirks one eyebrow, the curiosity on his face dissipating to be replaced by a dark expression.
“You’re delicate,” Hux states matter-of-factly. “And you’ll require me easing into you.”
“You motherfucker!” the man hisses, taking a lumbering step forward. I quickly wrestle with Hux for control of his mind. Not because I’m scared for my brother, but because I don’t want to be arrested for first-degree murder this early in the school year.
Hux puts up a fight, but soon, I have him shoved in the passenger seat while I take the wheel.
“What the fuck did you say to me?” The stench of body odor and sweat saturates the air, so intensely that I can taste it.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize sincerely. “I thought you were my old buddy from college.” I rake my fingers over my scalp as I flash a sheepish smile. “You look exactly like him. It was an inside joke between us.”
The man continues to stare at me for a long moment, eyes hard, before he releases me with a disgruntled huff.
“Fag,” he seethes before continuing down the aisle.
Let me kill him, Hux asserts in my head. He’s a… What word did the Google say? A cumstain? He’s a cumstain.
Ignoring him, I push the cart to the checkout lane and quickly pay for the three hundred dollars’ worth of flowers and chocolates. My left eye is practically twitching when I procure my credit card and hand it to the older lady behind the register.
Only when we’re in the car, driving back to campus, do I dare speak out loud.
“You can’t keep doing this,” I tell Hux sternly.
Doing what? If he was here, I have no doubt he would be batting his eyelashes innocently.
“Hijacking my body,” I state firmly. “The last thing I remember is waking up in the morning…”
Hux is silent for a moment, too silent, before his timid voice reverberates in my head. You don’t remember us leaving the school?
“No.” I drum my fingers against the steering wheel. “I don’t remember anything.”
I have lived with Hux for the last few hundred years. For the majority of that time, I have taken control. The few times I allowed Hux free rein, I remained relegated in a tiny sliver of darkness in the recesses of our shared brain. I was still aware of my surroundings and time passing, but I couldn’t interact with anything or anyone. I wasn’t even capable of using my senses. We have never actually met before Violet—never had a true conversation. We would leave notes for each other to read whenever we swapped. Only with Violet’s appearance have we been able to communicate telepathically.
But this new development? Disappearing for hours on end? It’s terrifying. Will one of us simply cease to exist? Is that the curse of being two souls trapped in one body?
Quit overthinking it, Hux hisses vehemently. You know I’ll never let anything happen to you.
“I know,” I whisper, but that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.
We’re both silent as I pull into the school parking lot and grab my bag from the backseat. I imagine Hux’s thoughts are a reflection of my own—if only one of us can live, how would we choose which one? Would we force Violet to choose between us?
I scrub a hand down my face as my thoughts begin to run rampant.
What class do we have right now? Hux queries as we step into the academic building. I leave the chocolates and flowers in the backseat of my car for Hux to grab later.
“Roaring with Dimitri. Which we’re late for,” I grumble, hurrying my pace.
Can you tell my precious treasure I miss her? And that I bought her roses and chocolates? Or should I just throw them at her like they do in the movies?
And…now I picture Hux throwing chocolate bars at Violet’s head while he stares at her with dopey, lovesick eyes.
I roll my eyes at his antics as I slip through the classroom door. Dimitri Gray is already perched on his desk, his long legs extended in front of him. I spot Alex and Cheryl sitting in the front row, Cheryl purposefully leaning forward to show a hint of cleavage. Violet sits in the back with Frankie, Mason, and Vin. I notice the latter two are joking amongst themselves, but Violet is uncharacteristically silent. Frankie has one hand on her knee, almost as if he’s offering comfort.
Precious Treasure! Hux screams in my head, causing me to wince. Instantly, I’m bombarded with images of me pulling Violet onto my lap and pushing aside her skirt to make love to her. Thank you, Hux. Because I really wanted to start my day with a boner.
Her golden curls are piled haphazardly into a bun at the top of her head. She wears a pink dress with a black leather jacket over it. She looks completely normal, except for her eyes. They’re…haunted almost. Shadowed with pain I can’t even begin to comprehend.
I move to sit at the desk on the other side of her, directly behind Mason.
“Are you okay?” I whisper softly, and her eyes flicker to me in alarm. She quickly tries to smooth over her expression before I can notice.
“Of course.” She forces a smile. “How are my two favorite men doing?”
“Hey, I heard that!” Mason exclaims, spinning around to face us. Violet sticks her tongue out at him, and Mason grabs his heart in mock pain. “You wound me, oh beautiful one.”
“We all know I’m the favorite,” Vin states with a derisive snort.
“I don’t know, man,” Mason teases. “Frankie and Violet are looking quite chummy over there.” He winks conspiratorially at the two, and I can’t help but note how Violet’s face pales and Frankie’s hand tightens on her leg.
Something’s wrong, I murmur to Hux.
With my precious treasure? he demands instantly. Did Frankie hurt her?
I honestly don’t know.
Before I can press Violet for information, Dimitri clears his throat at the front of the classroom.
“As a lot of you already know, this is a new class designed specifically to navigate the analytical portion of the Roaring.” He clasps his hands behind his back and begins to pace. “One of the main games is a test of sorts. But not a written one. You will be put in a situation with a small group of fellow competitors, and you’ll have to work as a team to figure out how to escape with your life.”
How does he know all of this? Hux asks in annoyance. Already, he’s itching for me to turn away from the stoic teacher and focus on Violet beside us. I’m pretty sure the man doesn’t know how to function when he’s not staring at her.
Didn’t you know? Dimitri won the Roaring a few years ago. They called it the Blood Bath. Every other monster died…except for him and one other.
Who was the other survivor? Hux inquires, only half listening.
Dracula himself.
I watched the games on television with my father, appalled by how gruesome they were. I had competed twenty or thirty years ago, but never again. I didn’t want to risk my life for a stupid title and trophy.
But Dimitri Gray and Vladimir Dracula? They won the games…and killed everyone else in the process.