Chapter 2: Prologue [Part 2]

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Prologue [Part 2]

"Are you still trying to run?"

Sebastian stared at him.

Then laughed once, sharp and breathless from the pain.

"Yes, Nero. That was the fucking point."

Something dangerous flashed behind Nero’s smile.

Sebastian looked between him and the ruined cars, anger fighting with the growing certainty that none of this was going to make sense.

"What did you think would happen? That crashing into me would make me want to stay?"

"No." Nero looked almost offended by the question. "It made the car stay."

Sebastian stared at him.

Nero’s mouth curved again.

"You are much easier to catch without it."

"You could have killed me."

"I wouldn’t." Nero said, like believing wanting Sebastian alive was enough to make death impossible.

Nero’s gaze moved over the blood on Sebastian’s face and shirt, lingering just long enough to make the inspection feel intimate.

"I know how hard I can hit you."

Sebastian’s stomach turned.

Nero smiled at the expression on his face.

That sounded worse out loud."

He did not sound sorry.

"Nero, for the love of God." Sebastian took another step back, one hand pressed over his throbbing abdomen. "Please. I’m begging you. Stay away from me."

Nero tilted his head.

Gods, how could someone look like that after deliberately driving a car into another person?

Blood traced the side of Nero’s face and disappeared beneath his jaw. His long pale hair had come almost completely loose, bright against the smoke and night, while the fire behind him cast shifting gold over features too beautiful for the expression he wore.

Like a death angel.

One having far too much fun.

Nero’s mouth curved.

"Well," he said lightly, "if we’ve reached the begging already, we may as well deal with that first."

Then he dropped onto his knees.

Sebastian’s breath caught.

Nero did not care about the scorching asphalt or the broken glass scattered beneath him. His knees struck hard enough that Sebastian heard it, yet he did not so much as flinch. He only looked up, pale hair spilling around his shoulders, purple eyes still bright with anger and that same terrible amusement.

"How much begging would make you stay, Sebastian?"

Sebastian could not answer. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

Nero lifted one hand to his shirt and calmly undid the first button.

Cold spread through Sebastian’s stomach.

"No."

Another button.

"I don’t want your love, Sebastian." Nero sounded almost conversational, as though they were negotiating something ordinary instead of kneeling between two wrecked cars. "I’m not that delusional."

His smile sharpened.

"Possessive, yes. Unreasonable, apparently. Delusional? I do have standards."

"Nero."

Another button slipped free, exposing more of the pale skin of his chest.

Sebastian’s pulse began pounding hard enough to hurt.

He knew all of this.

"What more do you want from me, just to stay?"

A tear slid down his beautiful face, absurdly gentle against the smile that never quite left his mouth.

"Don’t you believe you already have my heart in your hands?"

Sebastian’s stomach dropped.

He had heard those words before; in one of those nightmares he had spent years convincing himself were only nightmares, Nero had knelt in front of him exactly like this, with blood in his pale hair and fire behind him, and asked the same question with the same terrible softness.

The road blurred.

The city lights vanished.

The fire grew hotter.

And suddenly Sebastian was no longer looking at what might happen.

He was watching what he already had.

Nero smiled up at him and placed his palm against the center of his bare chest.

"You still don’t believe me."

Sebastian tried to answer, but his mouth would not move.

He tried to step forward.

Nothing.

His body belonged to the memory now. All he could do was watch.

Nero’s fingers spread over his sternum, almost thoughtful.

Then his smile widened.

"Fine."

Sebastian knew what came next.

His mind screamed before his voice could.

Nero drove his hand into his own chest.

The flesh gave beneath his fingers with a wet, tearing sound.

Blood burst over his knuckles and ran down his wrist in thick, bright streams, spilling across the pale skin of his stomach and soaking into the open sides of his shirt. Nero’s body jerked hard enough that his shoulders curled forward, a strangled breath tearing out of him.

Then he laughed.

Sebastian felt horror crawl through every part of him.

Nero looked down at the hole he had opened in his own chest with open fascination, as if the fact that his hand was buried inside his body was merely another inconvenience created by Sebastian’s stubbornness.

"Nero, stop!"

Nero glanced up.

"Why?"

The question was almost playful.

"You wanted proof."

"I never asked for this!"

"No." Nero pushed his hand deeper, his mouth tightening when his fingers forced their way past muscle and bone. "You just kept asking for things I couldn’t give you."

More blood poured down his abdomen.

It collected beneath his knees, black-red against the asphalt.

Sebastian could hear Nero breathing now, each inhale thinner than the last, but his eyes were still bright. Still amused. Still fixed entirely on Sebastian.

"So I improvised."

"Please."

Nero’s brows lifted.

"There it is."

Sebastian was crying.

He could feel the tears running down his face and could hear himself begging, but he still could not move.

"Please stop. Nero, please!"

Nero’s smile turned radiant.

"You’re finally begging me to stay."

"That isn’t what I meant!"

"Close enough."

His fingers shifted inside his chest.

Nero suddenly sucked in a breath.

His eyes widened.

Sebastian knew he had before Nero said anything.

Nero curled his fingers around his own heart.

The madness in his expression became something almost reverent.

"There you are."

"Nero!"

He squeezed.

His entire body shuddered.

"Nero, don’t."

"You said you didn’t believe me."

"I believe you!"

Nero smiled.

"Now you do."

Then he pulled.

Sebastian screamed.

Something tore wetly inside Nero’s chest, followed by another ugly rip when the organ refused to come free. Nero folded over with a choked sound, blood pouring between his fingers, but instead of stopping, he laughed against his own pain.

"Stubborn little thing."

"Stop!"

Nero pulled again.

His face twisted.

For one second there was nothing beautiful about him. His teeth were clenched, his skin had gone deathly pale beneath the blood, and sweat ran down his temple while his arm shook from the effort.

Then something inside him tore loose.

His hand came out.

Sebastian stopped screaming.

Nero stared down at what he held.

His heart sat in his palm, slick with blood and still contracting against his fingers.

Once.

Again.

The movement was grotesque.

Nero laughed softly.

"Oh."

He sounded delighted.

Then he looked at Sebastian.

Sebastian made a sound that did not resemble a word.

Nero extended his hand.

Blood ran from his elbow and dripped steadily onto the road.

"Take it."

Sebastian shook his head.

Nero’s smile disappeared.

"Sebastian."

The warning in his voice was absurd coming from a man kneeling with a hole in his chest and his own heart in his hand.

"Take my heart."

Sebastian’s body finally moved.

His knees struck the asphalt as he dropped in front of Nero.

"Put it back."

Nero blinked.

Then burst into laughter.

It ended in a cough that sprayed blood over his lips.

"My moon," he said, breathless with amusement, "I’m afraid we have passed that stage."

"Nero—"

Nero caught Sebastian’s hand.

His fingers were slippery with blood.

Before Sebastian could pull away, Nero turned his palm upward and placed the heart into it.

Sebastian gagged.

It was hot.

Heavier than he expected.

And it moved.

The muscle contracted against his palm so violently that Sebastian almost dropped it.

Nero closed Sebastian’s other hand around it.

"Careful."

Sebastian stared at him in horror.

Nero smiled.

"That’s mine."

"You fucking psychopath."

"Yours, technically."

"Nero!"

"What?" His smile widened, blood staining his teeth now. "You said you wanted me to prove it."

"I never said that!"

"You implied it."

"PUT IT BACK!"

Nero laughed so hard his body shook.

Then the laughter stopped.

His face went strangely blank.

The heart kicked once between Sebastian’s hands.

Nero swayed.

Another beat.

Weaker.

His purple eyes stayed on Sebastian.

"You’re staying now, though."

Sebastian could barely see him through the tears.

"Please."

Nero smiled.

Softly this time.

"Good."

The heart contracted once more.

Then stopped.

Nero collapsed forward.

Sebastian caught him.

The world snapped apart.

Sebastian was back on the highway.

His own breath tore painfully into his lungs as the smaller fire, the wrecked cars, and the distant city lights slammed back into place around him.

For several seconds he could not understand what he was seeing.

Nero was alive.

Still kneeling.

His chest was untouched.

His shirt was only partly open.

Sebastian looked down at his hands.

There was no other blood except his own.

But he could still feel that final beat against his palm.

Dread spread through him so quickly that nausea rose into his throat.

No.

No, no, no.

He had spent years trying to change this.

He had changed everything.

Hadn’t he?

Nero watched him with his head tilted, the faint amusement returning to his face as though Sebastian had simply become distracted.

"Sebastian?"

His fingers moved to the next button.

Sebastian’s blood turned cold.

Nero smiled.

"How much begging would make you stay?"