• 𝓛𝓾𝓬𝓪 •

If I could find the goddamn psychopath, I could lock him up then get back to Mae, but the motherfucker was doing his best at avoiding me. The radio silence in my head told me that neither Noah nor Kite had found him either, and it was beginning to wear on my nerves.

We'd spread out to all of his normal zones and he was nowhere to be found. Someone had let Kite know that Seraph did leave the castle, but no one knew where the hell he went.

I was pent up. Frustrated. It didn't help that Mae melted against my body earlier. And fuck me if I hadn't imagined every little way I could pleasure her.

I stopped walking and sighed, running my hands over my face in an attempt to relax. At first, the chill in the air was enough to shock my senses, but the longer I walked around, the more irritated I was getting. I needed to feel her skin against mine. Hear her little noises of pain and pleasure. I'd been so close.

"Fuck," I muttered, my hands falling to my sides.

"Problem, Luca?"

I turned and eyed Seraph from over my shoulder.

'Found him,' I thought to Noah and Kite.

"Never a problem," I said, facing him fully. "Just trying to find you."

He held his arms loosely at his sides, his reddish-purple eyes narrowed and watching me. He looked irritated, like what Mae and him talked about hadn't quite left his mind yet.

'Did he kill someone,' Kite asked.

I searched him. Unless he drained someone dry, I doubted it. But that wasn't his modus operandi. I'd see blood somewhere on him. I would have smelled it.

'No,' I thought back.

"For what," Seraph asked.

I slid my hands into the pockets of my pants and grinned. "I heard you and Mae had a nice conversation. Though there's a reason Kite didn't want to tell her how to kill us."

He tilted his head. "Afraid she's going to lash out at one of you dipshits one of these days? What? Are you treating her so poorly that you fear her retribution?"

"Well," I shrugged. "We did bring her back here. She isn't too happy with that."

She wasn't happy, but from what I could tell she was understanding now. I didn't think she liked being locked up in a castle like some modern day Rapunzle, but her cottage had long since been re-occupied and the district was pretty much full. She didn't have anywhere else to go, and it was easier to keep an eye on her when we knew where she was. Though how long she would put up with it, I wasn't too sure.

"No kidding." He sighed.

"Why are you so interested in her," I asked. It was strange. Seraph disliked everyone, tolerated Zero - even though apparently he wanted to kill him - and the people Zero hung around with. But Seraph had stopped her and Zero from interacting multiple times. He was either interested in her, or he hated Zero that much.

Zero loved her fear, her anger. Any negative emotion he could pull out of her, he craved it. But what would happen if he pushed her too far? He already lost an eye, though it was almost done regenerating itself. What would be next?

Not that I really cared what happened to him. I just found her fiery attitude sexy as hell and wanted to watch.

"Why are you," he asked.

Treading on bad waters here. If he was interested in her and I answered in a way that ticked him off, I'd probably end up needing to watch my back.

"Noah and I were in the same foster home as her before the takeover," I said. "We've been friends for a long time."

Not really a lie, but not totally the truth. She was more friendly with Noah than she was with me back then, but I blamed that on the age difference and the fact that she gravitated more towards Noah for friendship. Also, I wouldn't consider us friends now either. I couldn't tell if she just absolutely fucking hated me or if she merely tolerated me.

But that was neither here nor there. I just knew she was attracted to me and it pissed her off.

He hummed. "Yet you're attracted to her."

"And you're not?" The fact that I didn't disagree seemed to amuse him.

Of course I was attracted to her. Look at her longer than five seconds and I popped a goddamn boner like I was ten years old and seeing tits for the first time. Truly problematic.

He didn't answer, which was answer in and of itself.

'Seraph has a hard-on for our princess,' I thought to them.

'Fantastic,' Kite thought back dryly.

Could be worse. The guy could be a blood obsessed murderer.

Oh, wait.

"I won't tolerate you harming her," I said.

He snorted. "Ditto."

I narrowed my eyes. What the hell? Did that mean I didn't have to worry about him hurting her, rather worry that he'd hurt me? I didn't plan on hurting her. I wouldn't do that to her, or Noah - because believe me, while Noah and I were close friends, he'd one hundred percent kick my ass if she got hurt because of me. And he wasn't a fighter.

Noah was dutifully loyal to a fault. He would bend over backwards to make sure that she was happy, even if she didn't reciprocate.

Noah turned the corner around a cottage and headed towards us, his hands stuffed in his pockets and his eyes tracking Seraph.

"I don't need to be locked away like some demon," Seraph said, apparently sensing Noah and turning to keep both of us in his sights. "I'm not killing anyone. I'm trying to walk it off."

"Why," Noah asked once he reached us. "You've never done that before."

Seraph sighed. "Would you rather I did? South District is getting close to being overpopulated. It wouldn't hurt anything. Especially since people might start being sent out to the less populated districts."

I eyed Noah, and his eyebrows furrowed.

I'd never heard of the different areas sending people out due to overpopulation, but it made sense, in a way. Especially with West and North Districts. West District had a tyrannical "king" who killed people for the hell of it, whereas North District seemed okay from the outside, but that's where overly troubled vampires and humans alike were sent. People died like crazy over there.

I didn't like the system the vampires made. Never had. I started out in East District and requested to move to South when I found out Noah was there. I hadn't expected them to approve...but maybe that had been the reasoning. Maybe they were becoming overpopulated with vampires.

That would be something I needed to ask Kite. I didn't think that Seraph would know, and even if he did, I doubted he'd just answer me like he did with Mae.

"Why did you answer her so willingly," I asked.

Seraph shrugged. "It's about time someone does something interesting around here."

I opened my mouth to reply, but he turned and walked in the opposite direction, completely cutting me off. The smirk he threw over his shoulder at Noah and I told me he knew exactly what he'd done and he felt no remorse whatsoever.

I scoffed as I watched him walk away.

"You think it's okay to let him go," Noah asked.

"Yeah," I said. "I don't think he's going to kill anyone. Not today, at least."

An odd look passed over Noah's face as he watched Seraph, and I couldn't quite decipher what it could be. But as soon as it came, it disappeared as he turned back to me.

"You seem frustrated," he said.

I looked at the castle in the distance. "Sexually, very much so."

He chuckled. "Go easy on her, Luca. I've told her what you're like, but I don't think she really has any clue."

I smirked at him before motioning towards the castle with a tilt of my head. Of course I'd go easy on her. I wasn't a monster. I understood limits and I didn't cross lines. And honestly, if he really worried about how I'd be with her, he wouldn't have said I could pursue her. He knew me.

As we neared the castle, my eyes were drawn to her window.

And she would too. Very soon.