Paint it Another Colour

Chapter 9

Feliciano glanced behind him, blinked and then carried on walking. In his arms, he held bags of food, mainly pasta and tomato. He hadn't really been home since the last meeting having been busy sorting things out with his boss, so hadn't seen Lovino since his break down. He hoped pasta would help. It usually did. He passed a bag to another hand and stretched that arm, doing the same with the other, and turned onto the main road to find his car. It had definitely been parked here, but he couldn't seem to find it. That didn't matter. It happened quite a bit, but usually not when his arms ached like they did.

He sighed and wandered to the curb. He couldn't be bothered to find it right now. He'd come back tomorrow.

There it was again. The feeling of being watched. All the way back to the main road he'd had it on and off. Now it was back again. It was really off-putting. He shrugged it off and rested the bags against his legs, waiting for a taxi or something or the sort to come along. It only took a couple of seconds before one appeared. He stuck out a hand, waving at it and it pulled to a stop next to him.

"Where to?"

He gave the adress and sat back, frowning at the back of the cab driver's head. There was something horribly familiar about him, but he couldn't quite place what it was. After a while, Feliciano sighed, giving up and glanced out of the window. They'd passed his road ages ago. The last time he'd been in this area of their town had been around fifty, sixty maybe sevety years ago.

Then it hit him. Shakily, he glanced back at the driver. He had short, red brown hair, closer to the colour of dried blood than anything else, and was wearing a brown hat with a purple tassle on the end. Feliciano stiffled a yelp and reached over to the door, hoping to maybe jump out. It was locked. Well of course it was. Public transport doesn't just have the type of doors you can throw open when you please. He tried again and then went to kick it.

"Please don't damage the interior, be nice" Luciano said, not taking his eyes off the road. "I have to return this in one piece." Then he turned round, showing his red eyes. "And anyway, we have to get you there on time don't we?" He laughed and then clutched at his stomach. "Oh yeah, I still need to get back at you for that don't I? Where you killed me, it still hurts you know."

Feliciano gulped as quietly as he could and moved into the middle of the row of seats. There had to be someway he could casually throw himself out of here. Maybe... the other door? But that would lead into the middle of the road and there wasn't any guarantee he'd survive that. For the first time in his many years, he cursed the speed at which his people drove. Maybe if they drove a little slower it wouldn't matter and he could survive... but saying that... they did heal faster than normal people, so if he wasn't killed he'd be okay... but Luciano would get him then and that would make the pain worthless. It was maybe worth a shot though? There was that or getting Luciano to crash the car. That he didn't want to do.

He straightened himself up a little and kicked the door hard as he could. It crumpled in the middle and then tore off it's hinges, falling out into the middle of the road. A couple of cars skidded to a hault at it and there were angry shouts of protest. Luciano shouted a curse of some sort at him and swerved the car towards the pavement.

Before it stopped, Feliciano leapt out and ran. They'd stopped on  a bridge with a walkway along the side of the river it ran over, the only place where there weren't many people, so he jumped over the side of it, landing on the walkway. He ran under the bridge until he was half way and leant against the wall for a second. He had no idea where Luciano was. Maybe Luciano didn't know where he was either or was coming for the other side. He didn't want to run right into him, so waiting was the only thing he could do. Anyway, he'd damaged his foot or ankle when he jumped so there was only so much he could do.

Silenty, he appologised to his siblings to the pain he'd probably just caused them and then stepped as far back into the shadows as he could. Maybe, if he blended into the shadows as much as possible, Luciano wouldn't see him.

"Clearly I'm going to have to flush you out myself"

Feliciano took as quiet a deep breath as he could and held it. Luciano put a foot inside the tunnel under the road, waving his knife from side to side. It was all coming back now. The fight in the alleyway in Venice. The countless knives used... the one he'd had to use to kill him.

He shook his head.

No. He wasn't going to freak out. Not now.

Luciano carried on walking. Part of Feliciano right now wanted to scream and sprint away, chance it, but part of him wanted to chance it being quiet. Luciano was getting closer now and the breath that Feliciano had been holding in was harder to keep in. As it turned out, he didn't have to keep it in for much longer. Not giving any signs before hand, Luciano reached into the shadows where he was hiding, grabbed him by his neck and dragged him out.

"Didn't I say to be nice?" Luciano held him high, not letting his feet touch the ground, and walked over to the edge of the river. He plunged Feliciano's head into the water, holding it there. Feliciano, still not having recovered from holding his breath before, gulped in the cold water and choked, thrashing around, trying to kick Luciano off him. 

After a couple of seconds, Luciano became aware of a presence next to him. He glanced up for a split second and then looked back to Feliciano.

"You were required to bring him back unharmed you know" the person said.

"Shut up" Luciano grinned as Feliciano went limp. "He's fine. He's just unconcsious right now." He dragged Feliciano's body out of the river. "And anyway, I've just sorted out three others for you Flavio. Quit your whining."

Flavio sighed and gestured with his hands behind them where a boat was coming along. "Well we need to get him back fast then. Shall we get the others?"

Luciano's grin widened. "Of course we should. Out of everyone, we know round a-bouts where they'd be anyway. They'll all be out as well."

Flavio nodded. "Let's go then."

***

Hey, I found out today that I've now officially been on Wattpad for a year!!!! Thank you so much everyone for your support. As a thank you, have an extra chapter ^-^
MiddleEarth4eva