Page 56 of Heartless Heathens

Romina and I exited the shop into the alleyway, and I quickly turned to trap her between my arms.

Weexitedthestrangestore and within seconds I found myself imprisoned under Corvin’s hold. I was caged in between both his arms with nothing but a brick wall behind me and his body in front.

“W-what are you doing?” I asked him, doing my best to keep the fear out of my voice but failing miserably.

“I heard you screaming last night. Through the walls,” he said with a husky tone, narrowing his eyes at me.

I didn’t answer, but my exhale stuttered out nervously.

“Sonny,” he said, making my eyes go wide at just the sound of his name. “He doesn’t have limits.” He pulled the beautifully adorned metal in the shape of a crescent moon out from the brown paper bag. “This is for you,” he explained, handing it to me.

“Why?” I asked him, not sure what it was meant for.

“For protection. In case he—” I cut him off before he could finish.

“You mean, in case Sonny tries to do what you’ve already done to me?” I asked him and his upper lip twitched and his scowl deepened.

“Fuck,” he whispered, turning his head away. “Stay away from Sonny, okay? He can get a little…carried away.”

He was the second person to tell me that in the last twenty-four hours and for some reason all it made me do was want to go to him more. He looked like he was about to walk away but then he turned back to me. “Just take the fucking knife, okay?” He pushed it into my hand, and I closed my fingers around the sharp edge of the blade, feeling the sting of it against my skin. The crimson liquid broke through my flesh and coated the beautiful black gemstone that made up the other half of it.

“Don’t fucking hold it like that,” he yelled, prying my fingers open and letting the knife fall down to the ground without care. “Fucking Hell! Have you never seen a knife before?” he asked and I shook my head.

I’d seen knives that were utensils, used to cut and eat food.

This was a crescent shaped marvel with colors belonging outside of this world. It caused pain just the same as anything else in our universe.

He sighed heavily, tearing the edge of his shirt before wrapping the fabric around the palm of my hand then tightening a knot over it to keep it in place.

“The act you're putting on, it only favors Frollo, Romina. Whatever he’s holding over you, you don’t need to pretend for him. We can help you,” he said, almost seeming like he felt sorry for me.

But that would be impossible.

To be sorry he would need to have a soul, and heathens didn’t have souls.

Corvin looked exactly like Felix, a bit bigger in height but what Felix lacked in stature he made up for in charm. My stomach did a sickening flutter at just the thought of him. The two had the same dark eyes, same dark hair. But Corvin was covered in paintings just like Sonny. Even their faces had words in the same place.

Where Sonny’s brow had the words “Son of Satan” above it, Corvin’s read “Memento Mori.” I knew my Latin well from my weekly lessons with Father Frollo.

Remember to die.

Remember death.

Remember we all die.

Two words that held so much meaning and kept humanity in a false imprisonment. Who could live freely with the threat of death constantly looming over their head like a dark storm cloud, promising to burst?

There was a geometrical flower on the other side of his face and some other symbols I couldn’t recognize inked onto his temple. His throat was covered with a dark image of a goat’s face, its horns curved downward to the side of his neck and blended into a multitude of geometric patterns peeking out from his black t-shirt.

The three had that in common.

Always black.

Whatever control they had over Frollo, they used it even to exercise the ability to avoid the jade-green uniforms everyone else was forced to don.

“What do you want me to do with this?” I asked him again as I picked up the knife with my uninjured hand, trying to coat my voice with the closest thing to bravery that I could pull out from somewhere hidden inside of me.

“If someone gets too close, and you don’t want them there. Just plunge that into their gut, okay?” He raised his eyebrows up and didn’t wait for me to acknowledge my understanding before walking away.