Page 10 of The Devil

From experience, I know normal painkillers aren’t going to make a dent in a migraine as bad as this one; I need my stronger tablets, the ones that usually knock me out for a lot longer. I have a vague recollection of Aunt Jen telling me she would leave them in the kitchen downstairs. I agreed to this idea in a semi-conscious, just-let-me-die, state of mind, but now that my head is a little clearer, I could slap my earlier self. Aunt Jen is a bit scatty, and even though she thought leaving them next to the sink in the kitchen was a practical idea, it now means I have to get myself upright and down the stairs in order to take them. I might end up having to crawl on my hands and knees like a drunken idiot after kick-out time, but it’s got to be worth it to stop the intense pain that refuses to go.

I feel down my body to check I’m at least wearing something. Thankfully, Jen must have helped me to put my camisole nightdress on before she left me to go to sleep. Just about able to get up onto my feet, I stagger out of the room, reaching my hand out to feel for any oncoming hazards. I still end up bumping into several pieces of furniture in the process, but so long as I can’t see blood or bone, I’ll keep going. Once I’m out the door, I hear a thudding beat coming from outside and lots of voices talking from down below. It dawns on me that this must be Lucius’s little event in full swing, which means I’ve been out of it for hours. His warning to keep away repeats in my head, but it’s not enough to make me stay in my room when blissful drugs await me downstairs.

I hold my forehead and breathe in deeply all the while reaching out for the blurry banister in front of me. My weak knees buckle, and I fall slightly, however, the wall beneath catches my legs and prevents me from full-on falling down. The impact of my knees hitting the ground feels like my brain has just slammed into my skull with full force and I groan as the pain radiates all through my body.

“Woah, this one’s totally out of it!” a male voice calls out and a couple of people start to laugh. “How much has she had to drink? Or maybe she’s had some of Eric’s dodgy weed.”

“Wait, is she in her underwear?” a girl’s voice joins in.

Oh God, just what I need, an audience to my pain and humiliation. Actually, I’m in that much pain, I don’t really care right now, I just need my pills.

“Where the fuck is Lucius?” the male voice calls out again…or is it the female? I can no longer tell for their voices sound echoey…tinny.

I move to my feet, then brace myself before attempting to walk again. Gripping hold of the banister, I begin to head down the stairs, praying I don’t fall down and break my neck. The blurry figures below continue to watch me, making no actual attempts to help or ask me what’s wrong. I must look like a complete drunk who only has herself to blame for her current predicament. I’m sure someone like me often appears at these sorts of gatherings.

When I eventually reach the bottom of the staircase, I put my hands out to steady myself, then try to move toward the blurry kitchen sink. The laughter around me continues; I must be looking more and more intoxicated. Fortunately, I manage to reach the sink unscathed. Unfortunately, I have to throw up again, which doesn’t help with how drunk I must be looking right now.

“Fuck, she’s bad,” a guy helpfully observes. “Hey, Matthews!”

“What?” another guy shouts back. It’s a voice that sounds familiar; I’m almost certain that it’s Eric, Lucius’ obnoxious friend from yesterday. Things seem to be going from bad to worse.Where the fuck are my tablets?

“Check this chick out, think she needs help to a bed…likeimmediately!” the first guy says. “Isn’t getting chicks to bed your area of expertise, Eric?”

Ignoring the unsubtle suggestion from whoever this creep is, I open the faucet and begin gulping at the running water. It’s either going to make me feel a little better or have me throwing up again.

“Oh, shit, she does,” he says with a somewhat concerned tone of voice. I can’t make out if it’s genuine or not, but then again, figuring that out isn’t exactly at the top of my list of priorities right now. “Helena? Are you ok, beautiful?”

“Dude, her tits are loose,” the first guy says and begins laughing again. I screw up my face, thinking how gross these guys are. I’ve just thrown up in the sink for fuck’s sake. The state of my tits shouldn’t really come into it, should it?

“Anyone touches her, and I will fucking end you!” a new, low growl of a voice warns the room. I think it belongs to Lucius, though I’ve never heard this level of emotion from him before. He’s always so nonchalant, pissed-off, or silent even, but never animated like this. His footsteps come right up close to me as I fall in defeat against the sink. “Looking for these?” he asks me quietly as he places two tablets in the palm of my hand.

With no other choice but to trust him, I down them with a glass of water that Lucius has just given me. He then picks me up like he’s carrying the helpless princess away, all the while muttering, “I told you not to come, there’ll be payback for this, Topolina.”

If I didn’t feel so rough, I might laugh over the irony of him looking like the heroic knight coming in to save me. Lucius Hastings is anything but a knight in shining armor; he’s more like the devil who endangered me in the first place. As it is, I don’t even make a peep as we pass by all the blurry figures who have now fallen silent.

Lucius makes no apologies for kicking my door open as he carries me inside, slamming it back again with the very same boot he’d used to open it with. I moan a little when he places me back inside my bed, for I can’t seem to form anything more coherent. It would seem he’s feeling the same, seeing as he only offers me a grunt while he tucks me up tight. I lie completely motionless, feeling dazed like a deer in headlights.

After he’s happy that I’m securely in bed, I fully expect him to stalk out the door again. Instead, he wanders over to the window and peeks through the curtains. He then crosses the room to check outside the door before turning to look at me again. We stare at each other as if trying to ascertain what to do or say next. I am completely vulnerable right now, and yet, I do not fear him at all. Not even with his reputation, not even with the intensity with which he is staring at me right now. I am perhaps the only person who completely trusts Lucius Hastings, which either makes me incredibly insightful, being able to see the man beyond the mask, or incredibly stupid.

“Thank you,” I think I manage to mumble, but it’s not long before blackness shrouds me, and I’m knocked out again. The last thing I see is his blurry figure lowering to sit on the window seat, staying with me but maintaining his distance.

Lucius

I leave my little lost mouse asleep in her room and make a move back into the living room downstairs. Eric is sprawled out against one of Meri’s drunk friends, looking the epitome of smug. As I hit the bottom step, I’m suddenly accosted by another of her friends who slides her arm around my waist with a lustful glint in her eye. I don’t even look at her properly before taking hold of her hand and spinning her away from me. Eric all but pisses himself laughing, but I offer nothing but a roll of my eyes when the girl pouts at me from across the room where she’s just landed.

“Well, I never thought I’d see the day, fuck-face!” Eric laughs while continuing to fondle the tit of the girl who is lying across his lap. I sneer at the scene, quickly growing tired of Eric’s loud and intrusive laughing. The whiskey bottle sitting on the kitchen counter calls to me so I waste no time in closing the gap to give into temptation. I pour three fingers of the stuff into a glass and proceed to polish it off within a few mouthfuls.

“Youlikethe little virgin, don’t you?” he asks with curiosity in his voice.

“Don’t be so fucking ridiculous.” I scowl as I pour another drink to try and zone him out. His laughter falls flat, but he’s still wearing a punch-worthy grin on his face.

“Oh, well then,” he eventually says as he pushes the girl off his lap to get to his feet. I watch as he heads to the bottom of the staircase that lead up to Helena’s bedroom with angry anticipation. “You won’t mind if I go and ‘take care’ of her then.”

He waggles his brows about with a lascivious grin written all over his face, but before his foot even hits the first step, I throw my tumbler into the sink with such venom, it obliterates inside the basin. At least the bastard has the decency to look back at me, pausing in his mission to effectively go and sign his own death warrant.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” I point at him, with my voice remaining steady and eerily quiet. “She is not for you and if you so much as look at her in a way I deem inappropriate, I will make you disappear.” I then walk right up to his face, so we are almost nose to nose, just so I get my point across. “And you and I both know I can do that, Matthews!”

The room is silent apart from the background noise of music blasting away outside. Eric doesn’t look too impressed by my threat, but other people’s feelings rarely bother me. Besides, he’s about as deep as a puddle of rat’s piss, so he’ll get over it soon enough.

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