Chapter 30

“Where are you going?” I ask as I trail after her.

She leaves the drawing room and goes into the foyer. She stops, looking right and left before proceeding to the stairs.

“Minnie?” I call out.

She doesn’t answer me.

She keeps walking, stopping every now and then to reorient herself.

“Do you even know where you’re going?”

“Don’t talk,” she mutters. “You’re messing with my focus.”

My brows draw up in confusion. But as she continues walking along the east wing of the first floor, I simply follow behind, curious to see what she’s up to.

Maybe she’s trying to find a more secluded place for us to talk. My heart beats faster in my chest as I let my imagination run wild.

She defended me in front of my siblings—something no one’s ever done before. That has to mean something, no? Maybe she’s decided to forgive me and she needs a quiet place to tell me that. Perhaps it’s because she needs to remove her veil so I can see her features clearly as she says those long-awaited words.

If I’m lucky, I might even get a hug. Or another kiss on the cheek.

The possibilities are endless, and my blood pounds mercilessly in my veins, flowing heavily to a certain region of my body.

Fuck.

It doesn’t help that I’m getting an exclusive view of her delectable backside as she moves her hips from side to side.

Minnie in heels is a force to be reckoned with—and one that has the potential to do permanent damage to my cock. But Minnie in black with frilly lacy details?

My heart cannot take that.

How she manages to look both sexy and cute at the same time is a wonder. But I’m not one to complain since she’s mine. My woman. My fucking girl.

She heads toward a room at the end of the hallway, and my excitement gets the best of me.

Anticipation boils in my veins as I get ready for this conversation.

I’ll even admit I was a tiny bit wrong. Anything to get those pretty eyes of hers to look at me as they did before—with quiet admiration instead of vehement disapproval.

“You don’t need to go that far, Minnie. I think we can talk here, too,” I tell her as I clear my throat.

She turns sharply toward me and presses a finger to her lips.

I frown.

Grabbing my hand, she leads me to the end of the hallway where she stops in front of a door. But she doesn’t open it.

I’m about to ask her what she wants to do when a loud voice echoes from inside the room.

“How many times do I have to fucking tell you, Cara? Don’t fucking disrespect me in front of other people!” Julien rages at his fiancée.

My eyes widen.

“What are you doing?” I mouth to Minnie.

She shakes her head and presses her finger to my lips.

“Listen,” she whispers.

“You know better than to fucking speak without my permission, don’t you?” He continues, his voice becoming increasingly more aggressive.

“I’m sorry.” Cara’s voice is barely audible. Submissive. Hurt.

I glance at Minnie.

Is this why she wanted to come here? Because she thought Cara might be in danger?

Minnie must read the question on my face because she nods.

“On your knees,” Julien rasps.

Minnie’s eyes flare up in concern.

Before she can say anything, I bypass her and kick the door open.

“What the fuck?” Julien shouts.

Cara is on her knees in front of him, her neck red. Julien’s trousers are half open and his fingers are wrapped up in her hair, tugging painfully.

“I should be the one asking that. What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Julien?” I grit out.

“This is a private matter,” he mutters as he pulls his zipper up.

Cara wobbly gets to her feet. She sways from side to side before Julien grabs her arm and pulls her to his side.

“Is he hurting you, Cara?” I ask.

“Am I hurting you?” Julien echoes, his eyes narrowed as he watches her.

“O-of course n-not,” she mumbles as she averts her gaze.

“I don’t know what your fucking deal is, Marlowe, but stay out of my business,” he grits out as he walks by me and pulls Cara behind him.

Minnie comes in at the same time as he’s trying to exit. She trips on the threshold and spills her glass of champagne all over Julien.

A loud, howl-like sound erupts from him the moment the liquid makes contact with his skin. He shrinks back, his entire body racked by pain. But it only lasts a few seconds as he quickly gets his bearings together.

He wipes himself, but as I reach Minnie’s side, I note redness on his hands where the champagne had spilled on him. It’s almost as if the liquid burned his skin.

“Fucking freaks, both of you,” he curses. He glares at Minnie, pure malice dripping from his gaze.

“You…” He grinds his jaw as he takes a step toward her.

I pull her to my side and meet his gaze, daring him to do something.

His lip twitches. His light brown eyes are now eerily black, as if his pupils had melted into his irises. There are black ink blots around the white of his eyes. A protruding vein throbs at his temple, and I sense the anger radiating from him.

“Me?” Minnie asks in an innocent voice. “It was just an accident.”

He gives her a harsh stare before he hurries out of the room, muttering a string of curses under his breath. Cara looks back at us, her expression horrified. But she helplessly follows along as Julien drags her back to the party.

Minnie and I stare after them.

My instinct is to act and demand an explanation from Julien.

This isn’t right. He’s clearly hurting her.

“I think we need to call the police,” I add in a tense voice.

God, I never imagined I’d call the cops on my own family. Yet here we are.

Damn it all to hell. I still cannot believe that Julien would behave like this, our conflict aside. He knows how much our mother suffered under father’s autocratic rule; how she’d try to hide her bruises from us until it wasn’t feasible to do so anymore—until she was almost left for dead because of that bastard.

“No,” Minnie says, pressing her lips together. “This isn’t a police matter.”

“What do you mean?”

She appears deep in thought for a moment before she says, “I need to speak to your mother.”

“What? What do you think my mother is going to do, Minnie? That idiot needs to be held accountable for what he’s done and Cara needs a restraining order against him,” I tell her.

She shakes her head.

“Did you see how he reacted when I spilled the champagne on him?” she asks absentmindedly.

“I don’t see what that has to do with?—”

“It burned him. It burned his skin,” she adds.

“What?”

“We need to find your mother. I need to know something.”

She takes my hand and leads me back to the party.

Scanning the area, she spots my mother and Giles.

“There. Come.”

“What’s this about?” I keep asking, but she doesn’t answer.

“Oh, there you are, dear,” my mother says with a smile as we reach her.

“How long has Julien been with Cara?” Minnie asks directly.

My mother blinks and raises her brows in question.

“Let me think… Six months? Around that time. But why are you curious about that? You can ask him yourself.”

“And how long has he been abusing her for?”

“Minnie,” I hiss.

Mother’s eyes widen in shock. “W-what?”

“How long has he been abusing her for?” she repeats.

“I don’t… That is… What?” Mother stammers, her expression filled with shock.

Minnie then turns to Giles. “Do you know?”

Giles presses his lips together and sighs.

“I met Julien four months ago at an event. Things were strenuous between him and Cara, but I didn’t see any evidence of abuse.”

Minnie nods slowly.

“Abuse? But how could you even think of that? My Julien would never,” my mother exclaims.

“Cara’s arm is full of bruises, Mother. It’s bad,” I add with a sigh. “We just came across Julien being rough with Cara upstairs too. Her neck was red.”

“No. Maybe they had an argument or something. You can’t think Julien would do that. Not after what happened with your father…”

“I would have thought so too, but that girl is traumatized, Mother. Surely you noticed,” I add.

Now that Pandora’s box has been opened, the least I can do is try to make my mother see that Cara could be in danger. Julien might be her son, but she would never allow him to endanger another woman.

Her expression morphs to one of shock, then disappointment before she finally whispers, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Minnie replies. “Cara is terrified of him and with good reason.”

I pinch Minnie. She really has no tact, does she? I still don’t understand why she had to break it to my mother so directly. She should have let me do it, and not at her birthday party, for God’s sake.

“Minnie. Perhaps we should let my mother talk to him first,” I murmur in a low voice.

She shakes her head.

“There’s no time. We need to act fast.”

“What are you talking about?”

She takes a deep breath as she pulls me aside so Giles and Mother don’t hear as.

“Your brother is possessed by a demon, Marlowe.”

“What?”

She nods grimly.

“I could sense something was off at first, but I couldn’t tell exactly what since I’m trying not to use my powers too much. But once you said this was odd for him, I decided to try something.”

“The champagne?” I ask. She did something to it, didn’t she?

“Yes. I chanted a mantra to bless the champagne so it acts as a demon repellent. You could say it works the same way as holy water works for the church. They’re essentially results of the same process.”

“So you dumped holy champagne on him?” I chuckle.

“It’s not a laughing matter, Marlowe. This is serious. You saw how it burned him. That’s a telltale of a demon. And if this has been going on for more than four months, it’s very possible the demon has already consumed his soul and is looking for the next victim.”

“Back up a little and make me understand how this works,” I say, still not convinced.

“Remember there are two types of demons. This is the second type. Originally, it was a corrupt soul that’s now controlled by the Sons of Tenebreis for the sole reason of harvesting the power of more souls. He’s likely a low-level demon since only those can possess bodies while they consume the original soul. But that doesn’t make him any less dangerous. In fact…” She trails off as she glances back at Julien.

He turns to us at the exact time, an odd glint in his eyes. Somehow, Cara is not with him, and immediately, red flags go off in my head.

“If he’s already consumed your brother’s soul, then he’s already looking to harvest more souls. He can do it slowly, by possessing another body. Or he can do it fast.” A troubled expression crosses her face. “And the fast way is murder.”

“What are you saying? That he’s going to kill Cara?”

“Cara and anyone else who stands in its way. A low-level demon needs around one hundred souls to advance to the next level. And who knows how many other souls he’s consumed in the past. He could be close to ascending.”

She seems genuinely troubled by this notion, but I still cannot wrap my mind around Julien being possessed by a demon. I mean, sure, he’s an asshole. But maybe he just takes after our father instead.

“Really, Minnie?” I raise a brow. “Are you sure it wasn’t a fluke? Or I don’t know… Maybe my brother is just an abusive bastard.”

“The mantra always works,” she adds with a shake of her head.

“You only got a few drops on his skin. You can’t be sure it was the holy champagne that hurt him or if he was already hurt,” I point out. “Maybe Cara fought back.”

“But—”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. But we have to be sure.”

“So what do we do then? We can’t just let him be, regardless if he’s a demon or just an abusive piece of shit.” She sighs.

“Do it again. But this time, have him drink it,” I tell her. “Here.” I stop a waiter and grab a couple of glasses of champagne.

She takes a glass from me and, turning with her back to the crowd, she swirls her finger inside it while chanting her mantra. Then she gives me the glass and takes the other one, repeating the process.

“Done.”

I nod.

“Good. Let me handle this.”

Taking both glasses, I head toward Julien. Minnie remains behind, her eyes on me.

His eyes are narrowed with suspicion when he sees me approach him.

“I’m sorry about upstairs,” I start. “I shouldn’t have barged in like that.”

He watches me closely.

“You shouldn’t have,” he says in a low voice.

“Here,” I say and hand him a glass. “Why don’t we agree to get along for Mother’s sake? It’s her birthday party after all.”

He doesn’t seem convinced. He eyes the glass, but as he reaches for it, he changes his mind last minute and grabs the other glass. Alas, Minnie had the foresight to do her mantra on both.

But he’s not drinking. Not yet anyway. It seems he needs more persuasion.

“Really?” He raises a brow at me. “And am I to presume you didn’t already tell Mother everything?”

“And what would I tell her?”

He clicks his tongue against his teeth as he stares at me. He brings the glass to his lips, but then decides against it.

He takes a step closer so only I can hear what he has to say.

“Cara is not the innocent victim you think she is, Marlowe. So stay the fuck out of it.”

I release a dry laugh.

“Is that what you’re going with?”

“I don’t have to go with anything.” He shrugs. “And I don’t need to prove shit to you. Now Mother, on the other hand.” He shakes his head. “You just couldn’t keep your mouth shut and let me deal with it.”

“Deal how? Beat her up until one day she ends up dead?”

“You’re the one to speak about killing people?” he fires back.

“I don’t. Kill. Women,” I grit out.

“How virtuous of you, Marlowe. As it happens, I don’t either,” he spits out. “Stay the fuck out of my business and let me deal with Cara.”

He brings the glass of champagne to his lips and gulps it down in one go. He slams the glass on the nearest table, all the while staring at me.

There’s no sign of distress. No pain. Nothing.

Minnie said the holy champagne would burn if he was a demon. But nothing happens to Julien.

He wipes the sides of his mouth with a napkin.

“Stay out of it,” he repeats as he backs away.

When he’s out of sight, Minnie joins me.

“I don’t understand…” she murmurs. “I was so sure…”

“You saw him. He drank the entire thing and nothing happened.”

“Maybe my mantra was wrong. Maybe I did something…” she continues.

“Minnie. Not everything needs to have a supernatural explanation. My brother is simply an asshole. That’s it.”

“But—”

“What I think we should do is find Cara and get her to file a report against Julien,” I tell her.

She purses her lips. Finally, she sighs.

“I suppose so. But I’ve never been wrong before…”

“You’re not using your powers to the fullest. Perhaps that’s why.”

She sighs.

“Maybe. Fine. Let’s find Cara.”

I still have the other glass of champagne in my hand, and though I’m not the biggest drinker, I find myself quite thirsty. I take a big swig of champagne and put the glass on the table, following after Minnie as she tries to find Cara.

The moment I swallow the liquid, though, I feel a slight discomfort in my gut.

I cough and sputter.

Minnie turns and frowns.

“Marlowe?”

“I’m fine. Must have gone down the wrong way,” I croak.

She looks at me for a moment then nods.

“Come on,” I say and fall back into step with her.

My throat is a little sore but nothing too bad. I guess this is what I get for not being a habitual drinker.

The party is in full swing as we leave the drawing room. Mother is a little concerned about what we told her about Julien, but Giles is doing his best to comfort her. Then again, she still has to put on a fake smile for the sake of her guests.

Minnie and I look around the ground floor of the house with no success. There’s no trace of either Julien or Cara.

“Can you sense anything?” I ask her as we go back to the first floor.

She shakes her head.

“There’s a small buzz, but I can’t pinpoint the location.”

As we reach the second floor, I suggest we split up.

“You take this floor and I’ll search for them on the third floor.”

“If you find them, call my name, okay?” Minnie says.

I nod and proceed to go up the stairs.

Even though Julien is not a demon, he’s certainly pretty demonic. I’m still struggling to reconcile the fact that he might be abusing his fiancée with the man I grew up with. Sure, he could be a pompous ass, but I never knew him to be aggressive. I also can’t begin to imagine what must be going through Mother’s head right now.

Realizing her son might be taking after our father must gut her to the core.

As I reach the third floor, I check the east wing first.

Stepping onto the hallway, memories of my childhood assault me—none of them too pleasant. Flashes of blood and screams invade my mind.

I swallow.

The noise had woken me up one night. I must have been around five or six. I walked slowly out of my room, following the harsh sounds, only to find my mother in the middle of the hallway in a pool of blood with my father looming over her. She was half naked, writhing in pain, while my father grunted on top of her.

Unfortunately, that’s only one of such memories. My entire childhood is filled with the image of my father in the throes of anger and my mother bleeding helplessly as she tried to protect her children.

I was helpless to help her back then—would be helpless for years to come.

But one day, I wasn’t anymore.

One day, I set her free.

I close my eyes.

I suppose that’s why the situation with Julien hits so close to home. No matter how much I might dislike my brother, I can’t help but be disappointed that he’d do the same shit we suffered in our childhood.

The east wing is clear.

I see my old room, but I don’t want to step inside it. It’s been years since I last went inside and every time it puts me in a foul mood.

Cursing under my breath, I pivot and head to the west wing.

I only take a few steps before I hear a creaking sound coming from the game room from the fourth floor.

Frowning, I go up the stairs to check. It might be nothing, but it could also be something.

What I didn’t expect, however, is to open the door and be greeted by the same sight that’s been replaying in my head for years.

Blood.

There’s blood on the floor.

So much blood it’s flowing in all directions.

And in the middle of the room, there’s a mountain of corpses. Four, to be precise.

The two at the bottom are my uncles. Their insides have been shredded, their entire chest cavity seemingly removed. Blank eyes meet my shocked ones.

On top of them is Marie, one of my mother’s friends.

But the last one… The last one is Julien.

His eyes are open and unblinking. Blood is pouring from his mouth, still trickling down his face and neck—a sign he must have been slain recently.

“What the…”

Behind the corpses is a figure swathed in darkness. It slowly turns. Dark, savage eyes flicker with interest. A dark, shimmery mist surrounds the figure, growing in size with every passing second.

Its lips slowly curve up in an unnatural smile before dark tentacles reach for me.

Cara.

Cara was the demon, not my brother.