How to Survive Your 19th Life [BL]

Chapter 92: Red's End

"He killed who?" I asked for clarification. "The ones that raised him after his parents passed?"

Rani scoffed and squinted his eyes at me. "He must trust you to have told you about them."

"He didn't tell me anything," I explained. "Well, some stuff but I want to know more about him. I didn't even know he had a cousin."

"That sounds like Em alright." 

Rani took a moment to slide out the booth. He went to the next nearest booth and grabbed a bottle of champagne from their ice bucket. The patrons complained but he then waved his hand at a bottle boy, who brought a replacement. Rani popped the cork, then drank straight from the bottle. He sat next to me again.

"Uncle Marshall and Aunt Constantine." He breathed. By the way he stared at the bottle, it was clear this was a painful subject for him. 

"So, Emiel went to live with them after his parents passed. That was nice of them." 

"You mean after Uncle Marshall killed Em's dad. Yeah, real nice."

My blood went cold. I looked towards the stairs but there was still no sign of Emiel. This was the craziest thing I'd heard in all my lives. It also served as a bitter reminder that I had no idea who Emiel Hugo was.

I tried to keep my voice casual as I then said, "Stop fucking around man."

He shook his head and looked at me, as handsome as ever. "Uncle Marshall lost his own son, and since he's the eldest of the Hugo's, he had a right to claim an heir through immediate family. Aunt Connie couldn't have any more kids." He paused to reflect on that, then continued as though telling me the local news, "Em's dad didn't give up his son, so Uncle Marshall had to take him by any means necessary. That's how it's done in our family. The House of Hugo has a long history with traditions your little middle-class brain can't imagine. I wish they could have taken me instead, lucky bastard."

"Why didn't they? Why resort to those measures?"

"I'm related on my mother's side. My father is a Dor, one of the lesser families. It had to be Emiel. Besides, he was a smart, good-looking kid."

"They must have treated him horribly if you think he killed them."

"Well, of course. I don't know the details but after losing their own kid, Uncle Marshall and Aunt Connie went batshit crazy. I used to play with Em all the time when his parents were around, but after he moved in with Uncle Marshall, he was like a ghost of himself." Rani took a swig of champagne. He offered me some, but I shook my head. "A few years ago, Uncle Marshall and Aunt Connie committed suicide together... apparently. Hanged themselves from their balcony."

"Suicide," I repeated, more to myself than to him. I then asked him, "Why do you think Em did it?"

"The note they left. It was some nonsense about missing their dead kid and shit... yeah sure, but it was signed, Love Marshall and Connie. Uncle Marshall would never end a letter with that. But Uncle Marshall had been acting so erratically, the rest of the families welcomed Emiel as the new Head. They are patiently waiting for him to finish college so he can take over. I'm just the stand-in for some businesses."

"You hate him don't you," I noted.

Rani nodded. "I'm older, you know. I went to college early, and already got my Master's. But Emiel is the golden boy. Fierce, smart, ruthless... I can't even fire the fucking bouncer."

This was all too much information for me to take in. I had to ask, "Is this whole families thing... is it the mafia?"

Rani laughed. "Of course not. Don't be ridiculous."

None of it made sense to me. Emiel was supposed to be an eccentric guy in my school who I developed a crush on. Not some sort of crime family prince whose family killed each other for heirs. 

Emiel returned to find me and Rani sitting in an awkward silence. Rani focused on drinking his feelings away using that champagne bottle and I was overwhelmed by all I had just heard. When Emiel tried to warp an arm around me, I flinched. To cover for this, I wrapped my arm over his shoulder instead and smiled at him. 

"Is there somewhere where we can be alone?" I asked him. "I want to consummate you."

"I'm not sure that's how you use that word." He smiled and got up, taking my hand and leading me through a doorway behind the DJ booth. 

For a moment, I wanted to hang out with the DJ as he blasted tunes, live it up for once. But that was not why I was here.

There was a large office down a long hallway near the back of the club. Several offices and employee bathrooms were down this hall, which got me wondering what other businesses this club was involved in. 

At the large oak wood door at the end of the hall, Emiel punched in the code to access it above the handle. Inside was an old-style office with wood panel walls, bear skin rug, and big wooden executive desk with a throne-like leather chair. I gasped at the ridiculous glamor of it all. There was a case with carved shotguns displayed and another display case with cigars. Animal heads lined the walls near the roof and a chandelier hung down the middle of the room. It was big enough to be the Oval Office.

"What the fuck is this, Em?" I laughed as I gawked. 

"This was my uncle's office," he explained. "Kept exactly as he had it."

He sat at the edge of the desk, gazing at me with those beautiful eyes with pure lust. I was more than ready to fuck him, but something about the animal heads staring at us killed my boner. With proper convincing, I could have come to enjoy it.

I recognized one of the animal heads beside the cigar case. It was a small bear head with a light brown muzzle and face, and crazy-looking eyes. I laughed. "This the sun bear your uncle made you hunt?"

I went over to it and touched the muzzle gingerly as though it would come alive at any moment. The fur was coarse, but surprisingly soft for taxidermy. It was low enough for me to gaze directly into its glassy eyes, which happened to catch the light of the room. 

"Solomon, how the fuck do you know that?" Emiel asked, his voice heavy.

Fuck, fuck fuck! 

"You told me," I said when I turned back around to him. He was standing now and I could see from his skimpy clothing that his muscles were tense. Wide eyes stared me down, just as crazy looking as this bear carcass. 

"No, I didn't. Don't fuck with me."

I was screwed and I knew it. No amount of begging or convincing would revive his trust in me. It only took me fifteen lives to figure this much out on my own.

"Was this bear your first kill or had you killed before?" I asked. Maybe being hard on him like this would stir the pot somehow.

Emiel furrowed his brow and took a step back from me. "What are you even saying? What has Rani told you?"

"You killed your uncle and aunt, didn't you? Or was it before that? Did you kill your own parents too?"

"I didn't!" Emiel roared at me. "I would never hurt my mom and dad. That fucker Marshall did and if Rani told you otherwise, then fuck him too! What's it to you anyway, Sol? Are you a spy or something?"

"I'm just someone who is wondering why you keep hurting people, Em. Why you keep hurting me!"

I was in his face without a care in the world, enraged and hungry for answers. Emiel looked so angry but also so sad. His big eyes searched my face for something I couldn't give him. 

"I love you, Solomon, okay?" Emiel said in a desperate plea. His hands closed in on either side of my face, but they felt like claws to me, though his touch was gentle. "I never want to hurt you. You mean everything to me."

Those fingers slowly slid to my throat as he kissed me. Emiel was broken. I wasn't sure who broke him, but I was eager now to find out. And it meant doing this over again. Not suicide in a sense, but as close as I could get to rushing into my next cycle.

"Don't make it hurt, okay?" I told him before my air was cut off.

A tear fell from his cheek, but he nodded. And he kept his word. It didn't hurt much at all.