Beautiful Lies

Chapter Twenty Six: The Bait

See here it is, as promised. Enjoy folks!-😈

Remus is impossibly tired. Up all night on guard duty, and running the entire operation all day is exhausting, and yet it is still not enough to keep his thoughts from wandering towards the traitor who romanced him. Remus is not a romantic. He has no delusions of love at first sight, or a forever romance. But Remy abandoning him for Patton Hart strikes a brutal blow.

He rubs his eyes, watching the prisoners through the only functioning recording device, a rickety old computer that's attached to the cameras in the "prison" cells downstairs. Currently the seem docile, but Logan Hart is clever and Emile is devious. Remus isn't taking any chances with the only leverage he has on Patton Hart.

Their kidnapping of the two has slowly started to wreck the positive image, but Remus expected it and doesn't care. He is the leader, and he can fix this. He can fix this. He can-

"Remus! Remus wake up, wake up, we have a message!" Roman says, shaking him awake. Remus blinks up at his brother, he doesn't remember falling asleep. But he must have.

"Huh? Wha time is it?" he mumbles tiredly. Janus laughs softly, glancing at his red pocket watch, a gift from Roman no doubt.

"About eight o'clock at night." Remus bolts up.

"Oh gods, I slept through the whole day?" Janus snickers, Roman elbowing him even as he smiles slightly.

"Yeah, but I figured you needed it. I haven't seen you sleep since I got here," Janus shrugged, fiddling with the blasted ring on his finger. Before Remus can rush to defend himself, Roman interrupts.

"Yeah, that's awful whatever, but Remus look!" Roman says, showing Remus a cassette tape labeled To Be Opened by Intrusivity, Otherwise Known as Remus Duke. Remus gapes at it, grabbing it and turning it over in his hands.

"How does he know my name?"

"That is not the priority here!" Roman snaps, grabbing it back. "The point is this message." Janus places a calming hand on his shoulder, though his face is filled with inner turmoil. Remus feels his stomach churn. Whatever this message is from Patton Hart, it can't be good.

"Play it," Remus commands.  Janus does, placing it in the VCR case in the old TV, and the video turns on, glitching and jumping to create the first image.  An image of Patton Hart smiling coldly, staring right at the camera, two heaps on cloth slumped beside him.

"Hello Remus," Patton smiled. "I'm so glad you've received my message." A muffled cry echoed from the cloth bundles, Patton stepping over. "Now let's talk business." Patton drags up the first cloth bundle, the hood of the cloak falling off to reveal a thin boy with a bleeding cut down the side of his gaunt face. Remus's eyes narrow. It's that damn traitor, Remy, and he feels a sense of pride at seeing his exhausted expression.

Good. Maybe his guilt is keeping him up at night.

"I assume you know this man, Loyalty, Remy Nox," Patton says, tugging him to an upright position, as he yelps behind the cloth in his mouth, trying to steady himself with tied up hands.  "Well, I understand his betrayal to you was quite... tragic. So, to right some wrongs, I will give him to you, to punish as you see fit," Patton smiled, lips curling up coldly.

Remus feels his heart beat fast in his chest, the idea of vengeance so endearing. He watches Remy actively flinch and shake, and he hears a muffled scream from the bundle of cloth on the floor. It makes Remus feel alive and powerful to have someone's life in his hands, and it terrifies him. Remus barely notices his brother clutching Janus's hand tightly, frightened and furious, even as Janus continues to remain neutral.

"All you have to do in return is give me back Mr. Lyre, my son, and my husband. Oh,  and you can get a bonus of one free gardener if you bring them in soon," Patton smiles coldly. He drags the other bundle up, to reveal Virgil. Shaking, bone thin, sickly looking Virgil. He looks on death's door, and not for aesthetic reasons. Remus's heart clenches as Roman gasps, and Janus still remains dead silent.

"I'm afraid he'll expire after too long. Time is ticking, tick, tock." Remus feels the urge to punch the TV screen, and judging by the murderous look on Roman's face, he's not the only one.

"The choice is yours Mr. Duke. Time is of the essence," he smiles with a sarcchinely sweet smile, and the screen pauses, letting Remus see the full horrible picture before blinking to black.

For the next few minutes, there is nothing other than their breathing and their emotions rising and rising, slowly making the room humid with pain.

"I need a breath of fresh air," Janus says finally, after the tense moment of silence. He stands up, pushing away his chair, the sound of wood on wood deafening in the painful silence. Janus walks out, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"I'll go with him," Roman said quietly, following Janus. Staring at the screen, alone Remus feels guilt and revenge both grow inside of him, Patton Hart's mocking words still echoing throughout his head.

Tick tock. Tick Tock.