AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Julian,” Nox said, raising a brow at the other man’s orange jail scrubs and the cuffs around his wrists. They were secured to the table with a chain so Nelson felt comfortable leaning against the wall by the door. He could see that Julian wasn’t interested in him and was fixated on Nox and didn’t want to get in the way.
“You have no idea what you’ve done or who you’re messing with,” Julian hissed at Nox, clawing at the steel desktop between them. “He is the light and he will burn you!”
“No thanks!” Nox replied cheerfully. “I think this pasty, pale glow works for me,” he said, gesturing at himself. “It’s part of this happy goth vibe I’ve got going.”
“Go ahead and make your jokes, professor.” He gave Nox a disgusted look and shook his head. “You’re supposed to be a genius but you’re an immature prick.”
Nox laughed, turning to Nelson. “Am I an immature prick?” He asked and Nelson raised a shoulder.
“Now and then, but you are a genius and people seem to enjoy the happy goth vibe.”
“Ha!” Nox was beaming again as he swung back around and pointed at Julian. “You, on the other hand…” He sat forward, resting his forearms on the table as he openly studied Julian. “What was it about you that Elsa didn’t like?” He whispered and Nelson was fascinated as Julian’s face fell, then twisted in bitter petulance.
“I wanted to give her everything! But a girl like her won’t even look at a guy unless he goes to the gym, drives a nice car, and can buy her anything she wants.”
Nox stared at him for several moments, then snorted. “Right… But, absolutely no one wants thousands of snakes!” His hand slapped over his mouth to hold back a laugh and he grabbed the edge of the table. “I mean, look at you with your long, flowing hair and your basement full of snakes! Who wouldn’t be into that?” He asked, then burst into a fit of giggles.
Nelson turned to the door, bracing his hands on his hips as he pulled a steady breath in through his nose and slowly let it out. It wouldn’t be right if they were both laughing so Nelson locked it up, glaring as he turned and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Fuck you,” Julian muttered at Nox.
He held up his hands and shrugged. “I’ve never had a problem getting laid. Elsa wasn’t a sad three like you, though. She was a beautiful girl who went to the gym, drove a nice car, and could buy herself whatever she wanted. What made you think you deserved her?”
Julian jumped as if he’d been slapped. “You don’t know what I am and I loved her!”
A stab of sick rage twisted in Nelson’s gut, and he tensed to dive at Julian, but Nox must have felt it. His hand shot out as if to hold him back. “No, you didn’t!” Nox shook his head at Julian. “I saw what you did to her—what you let them do to her—and that was not love.”
“I had to!” Julian shouted and slammed his fists on the table. “It was the only way to make her see and she would have been a queen!” Tears filled his eyes and his nose was running. “She would have belonged to a god.”
“Is that what he told you?” Nox asked, narrowing his eyes.
“It’s what I know.”
Nox nodded as he sat back. “So, you kidnapped Elsa from the store and locked her in your hell house until you had to move her to the MacCrorys’. Why did you have to move her? Did she get away from you?”
“You know?” Julian sat forward and stared at Nox in wonder. “He says you can read minds.”
“Does he?” Nox’s head tilted curiously. “What else does he say about me?” He seemed amused, but Nelson didn’t like it and the hairs on the back of his neck rose.
“He knows Professor MacIlwraith?” Nelson asked pointedly, but Julian shook his head and crossed his arms as he sat back.
“I’m not saying anything else. No one made me do any of this and it was all me.”
“I see…” Nox’s neck craned as he searched Julian’s eyes, then shook his head. “No. He’s not the one. All I see is a soulless lump of clay that’s been molded into a useless tool. And I fear he’s been discarded,” he told Nelson as he turned and straightened, preparing to leave. “We won’t get anything out of him because he wants to be a martyr. At the moment, he’s ready to die instead of turning on this wanna-be passing himself off as the Dagda.” He clicked his teeth sadly, pitying Julian for being so weak and feeble.
“You’ve got it all wrong!” Julian shouted at Nox, his eyes wide and brimming with fury. “He knows you’re trying to stop him but he’s not afraid of you. He’s going to burn the world and all who would deny him the sun. He will burn it all down and the earth shall be reborn for him and his children.”
Nox and Nelson exchanged exasperated looks, both shaking their heads as they gathered their things and buttoned their coats. “Yup,” Nelson agreed, getting the door for Nox. “He’s really bitter that the hair and snakes didn’t work.”
“You’re wrong!” Julian yelled as he tugged at the chains keeping him tethered to the table. “He will bring about the end and save the earth for his children!”
“I think…” Nox said, raising a finger. “You might talk to him about saving you from a life sentence. You won’t be a martyr because Virginia abolished the death penalty a few years ago.”
A sharp laugh slipped from Julian. “What is time when he controls the tides and the seasons? He will stretch a day into months and turn back the years when he has risen. And it is only a matter of time! He will regain his throne and his strength and you will serve him. He’s promised me that.” Julian had composed himself and looked smug as he clasped his hands together on the table.
That earned an unimpressed grunt from Nelson. “In the meantime, I still have a case to close and I’m filing this one under ‘dupes.’ Hope you get whatever he promised you because you’ll never see the outside of a prison cell again.”
“That’s not true,” Nox said as he gave Julian a dismissive nod, leaving him looking confused and deflated. “He’ll get a few hours of ‘exercise’ a week.” Nox curled his fingers and rolled his eyes as the door swung shut behind them.
